Some consider the Nation’s Capital as “Fantasyland on the Potomac”. Other outsiders are “Fed Up” with the Federal City. It's better to consider D.C. as “the District of Calamity” (sic).
Happy Birthday to the Gipper! His favorite candy were Jelly Bellys, which inspired artist Peter Rocha to to use 10,000 little candies when making his portrait.
If the mural that was made out of Jelly Bellies, Reagan's favorite candy, wasn't sweet enough, let them eat cake.
A dozen years ago, two planes were hijacked by jihadist terrorists under the direction of Osama bin Laden and they were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Within two hours, both towers fell, killing 2,118 civilians in the building, 147 crew and passengers from American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 along with 11 hijackers.
Here is raw footage with raw sound from that chaotic day in lower Manhattan--
New York City chose to memorialize all of the innocent dead by creating a park with two waterfalls in the footprints of the Twin Towers, building a 1,176 foot high One World Trade Center (originally designated the Freedom Tower) and a$600 Million museum to memorialize the horrific day.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (third from right) assists with the injured at the Pentagon 9/11/2001
.The 184 victims of the attack on the Pentagon were honored in an outdoor memorial on the southwest corner of the Pentagon which was designed by Julie Beckman and Steve Kaseman with 184 illuminated benches arranged by age and whether they were in the building or aboard the terrorist hijacked aircraft. United Airlines Flight 93, the Newark to San Francisco scheduled flight with a crew of seven and 33 passengers was hijacked by four jihadist terrorists. The passengers revolted against the hijackers after learning of the other hijackings. Flight 93 crashed in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was believed that had the jihadist hijackers prevailed, the plane was headed to crash into the US Capitol. But in 2009 a high ranking al Qaeda detainee revealed that Flight 93's specific target was White House. Whatever the case, these heroic passengers were first conscious US combatants in the War on Terrorism. There was some controversy with the original design of the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The memorial originally was supposed to include 40 groves of red maple trees shaped like a crescent. To quiet the debate, the 93 foot Tower of Voices has 40 wind chimes and a grove of 40 red maple trees which circle the walkway, following the bowl shape of the former surface mine.
As time has passed, the September 11th 2001 attack could fall into the recesses of memory for many Americans directly untouched by the fanatical atrocity. May we always remember the 9/11 victims and never forget the American virtues which made US a target of those wishing to establish a world-wide Caliphate.
Seventeen years ago, two planes were hijacked by jihadist terrorists under the direction of Osama bin Laden and they were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Within two hours, both towers fell, killing 2,118 civilians in the building, 147 crew and passengers from American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 along with 11 hijackers.
Here is raw footage with raw sound from that chaotic day in lower Manhattan--
New York City chose to memorialize all of the innocent dead by creating a park with two waterfalls in the footprints of the Twin Towers, building a 1,176 foot high One World Trade Center (originally designated the Freedom Tower) and a $600 Million museum to memorialize the horrific day.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (third from right) assists with the injured at the Pentagon 9/11/2001
The 184 victims of the attack on the Pentagon were honored in an outdoor memorial on the southwest corner of the Pentagon which was designed by Julie Beckman and Steve Kaseman with 184 illuminated benches arranged by age and whether they were in the building or aboard the terrorist hijacked aircraft. United Airlines Flight 93, the Newark to San Francisco scheduled flight with a crew of seven and 33 passengers was hijacked by four jihadist terrorists. The passengers revolted against the hijackers after learning of the other hijackings. Flight 93 crashed in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was believed that had the jihadist hijackers prevailed, the plane was headed to crash into the US Capitol. But in 2009 a high ranking al Qaeda detainee revealed that Flight 93's specific target was White House. Whatever the case, these heroic passengers were first conscious US combatants in the War on Terrorism. There was some controversy with the original design of the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The memorial originally was supposed to include 40 groves of red maple trees shaped like a crescent. To quiet the debate, the 93 foot Tower of Voices has 40 wind chimes and a grove of 40 red maple trees which circle the walkway, following the bowl shape of the former surface mine.
As time has passed, the September 11th 2001 attack could fall into the recesses of memory for many Americans directly untouched by the fanatical atrocity. May we always remember the 9/11 victims and never forget the American virtues which made US a target of those wishing to establish a world-wide Caliphate.
In promotion of ex FBI Director James Comey's new book Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership (2018), he gave a five hour interview with former Clinton press flak George Stephanopolis. Instead of revealing new information about his untimely exit from the helm of the FBI after the Clinton Email scandal and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Comey's tome seemed to be a self justifying exercise to settle scores, particularly against President Trump. Clinton loyalists like Lannie Davis still think that Mr. Comey cost Hillary Clinton the 2016 election, and label his self righteous antics as being a retrograde narcissist. While those on the right look his stated philosophy about investigations and contrast it to how he wrote an exoneration for Hillary Clinton weeks before interviewing the principal witness, concluding that he was a dirty cop.
Either way, Mr. Comey sure enjoys the limelights as he blames others for the messes which he is embroiled. Perhaps surrealist artist Claude Martin conveyed could convey Comey's persona best.
The 6821 Quintet performing at the National Gallery of Art, March 26 2018
For the last few years, the National Cherry Blossom Festival has been privileged to feature the 6821 Quintet, an ad hoc group of musicians, which was formed in 2015 and is comprised of members from Japan, New York and Philadelphia with through the support of the Ryunji Ueno Foundation. The 6821 Quintet derives its name from the distance between Washington, DC and Toyko, Japan. This year’s ensemble is comprised of violinist Mayu Kishima, violinist Eric Silberger, violinist Meng Wang, cellist Clancy Newman and pianist Jason Solounias. Sakura on the Potomac, which premiered at the 2018 National Cherry Blossom Festival was composed by Japanese composer and producer Kunihiko Murai. Sakura is the Japanese word for Cherry Blossom Tree, which includes the twelve species of Cherry Blossom Trees that encircle the Tidal Basin in the Nation's Capital since Japan’s generous gift to America in 1912.
The 6821 Quintet also played Songs of Spring and Portraits of Sakura– our memories of bloom, which were respectively the prior two years commissions for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. During the final performance at the National Gallery of Art, two of the three composers of National Cherry Blossom Festival commissions were present. Michael Djupstrom had performed with the 6821 Quintet for a couple of years, but also composed Songs of Spring for the 2016 Cherry Blossom Festival. Mr. Djupstrom commended the 6821 Quintet for their remarkable cohesiveness in their artistry, especially since they only perform together one week a year.
Kunihiko Murai had written over 300 songs and 30 film scores, so composing a tone poem like Sakura on the Potomac was a new adventure. Mr. Murai revealed that he associated lyrics in his head for Sakura on the Potomac but did not reveal them. The composer, however, noted that he was inspired by the T.S. Eliot quotation “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land”. This seems apt as the blossoming of the Sakura on the Potomac signals Spring in the District of Calamity (sic), a.k.a Washington, DC.
The 6821 Quintet pose with Sakura on the Potomac composer Kunihiko Murai
Alas, the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors was not just about recognizing career contributions to the arts, but was serving as a platform for artists to make political statements to and about President Donald Trump.
James Woods pointed out that the vast majority of stars in the entertainment industry have reveled in rebuking the 45th President, so why in the world would you subject yourself to attend in order to be abused.
As we enter into the Awards season, in which celebutards congratulate themselves and take turns exchanging engraved Lucite blocks or gold plated statuettes, it will be interesting if they are retrospect about the rampant sins of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry. But it is more likely that they will assume that being in the limelight makes them illuminated to pontificate about politically correct policies which are commonplace in Hollyweird (sic), a.k.a. Hollywood.
Hollywood comedic actor Bob Hope was renowned for making 57 tours to entertain military troops for the USO over 60 years, including 79 shows in the Southwest Pacific in 1944. Writer John Steinbeck, who then served as a war correspondent, wrote of Hope:
When the time for recognition of service to the nation in wartime comes to be considered, Bob Hope should be high on the list. This man drives himself and is driven. It is impossible to see how he can do so much, can cover so much ground, can work so hard, and can be so effective. He works month after month at a pace that would kill most people.
By an act of Congress, Hope was named an honorary veteran in 1997. Hope's humble response to this honor was: "I've been given many awards in my lifetime — but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most — is the greatest honor I have ever received."
Thanks for the memories and entertaining those who serve to preserve our freedom.
The National D-Day Memorial is located in Bedford, Virginia. This site in in the Blue Ridge Mountains in rural southwest Virginia was chosen because it was the community the suffered the most per capita D-Day losses in the nation.
There were 150,000 Allied troops that landed on the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy, including 34 troops from Bedford. Of the 9,000 killed and wounded during the D-Day invasion, 19 of the Boys of Bedford paid the ultimate price to preserve freedom and four more died later during the Normandy campaign.
The National D-Day Memorial was dedicated on June 6th, 2001 by President George W. Bush. America's 43rd Commander-in-Chief implored:
"Fifty-seven years ago, America and the nations of Europe formed a bond that has never been broken. And all of us incurred a debt that can never be repaid. Today, as America dedicates our D-Day Memorial, we pray that our country will always be worthy of the courage that delivered us from evil and saved the free world."
The National D-Day Memorial honors by name all 4,413 Allied soldiers who died on D-Day during Operation Overlord (the actual invasion) and Operation Neptune (transporting the troops across the English channel). But the 88 acre National D-Day Memorial does much more serve as a site for necrology. The Memorial seeks to tell the story of D-Day , from its planning, execution and aftermath.
The first Plaza is a stylized English garden symbolizes the planning and preparations for the greatest amphibious invasion in history. The Reynolds Garden is dedicated to the visionary industrialist who forsaw America's need for aluminum. In the late 1930s, Richard Reynolds put his fortune and reputation on the line to provide enough aluminum for the United States to build and sustain the air force that gave the Allies overwhelming air superiority for the retaking of Europe on D-Day.
The plaza is in the shape of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force combat patch. Following British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's sense of history and drama, the invasion code name was Overlord, evoking crusader knights and chivalric quests, the SHAEF insignia features a crusader shield with a flaming sword of expulsion.
The Reynolds Garden is peaked by a domed Tuscan folly with a full figured bronze of General Dwight Eisenhower standing below a canopied mosaic of the D-Day battle map. This classical revival feature recalls the architecture of Southwick House, where Ike decided to launch the invasion despite less than ideal weather.
The parameter of the plaza also includes busts of the six Allied Generals who were involved with D-Day invasion: Air Chief Marshal Tedder, Air Chief Marshal, Leigh-Mallory, Admiral Ramsey, Field Marshall Montgomery, Lt. General Omar Bradley, and Lt. General Walter Smith.
Circle of Generals involved in Allied D-Day Invasion, Reynolds Garden, National D-Day Memorial [photo: BD Matt]
The next level is Gray Plaza is an assault tableau which depicts the landing and fighting stage of the invasion. Across the Beach (includes an invasion pool with beach obstacles in the water, a Higgins invasion craft and sculptures of soldiers struggling to get onshore. The names of the American fallen appear on the western walls of the central plaza while the rest of the Allied losses are on the eastern wall.
Soldier under fire detail of Across the Beach (2008) by Jim Brothers at National D-Day Memorial [photo credit: BD Matt]
Across the Beach tableau (2008) by Jim Brothers, National D-Day Memorial [photo credit: BD Matt]
Across the Beach tableau (2008) by Jim Brothers, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford Virginia [photo credit: BD Matt]
POV from Higgins boat, Across the Beach (2008) tableau by Jim Brothers, National D-Day Memorial
Scaling the Wall , National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia
[photo credit: BD Matt]
Detail, Scaling the Wall (2001) by Jim Brothers, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford Virginia [photo credit: BD Matt]
There are also airplanes which represent the importance that air power had in the Allied invasion.
Representation of Aircraft used on June 6th 1944, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia
Propellers from D-Day era aircraft, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia [photo credit: BD Matt]
The upper level is the Estes Plaza which is dominated by Overlord Arch which is flanked by the twelve flags of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The Arch stands 44 feet and six inches tall.
Honor Guard practicing before D-Day ceremonies, National D-Day Memorial
Valor, Fidelity Sacrifice Bronze by Jim Brothers (2001) and Overlord Victory Arch at D-Day Memorial,
Bedford, Virginia [photo credit: BD Matt]
Valor, Fidelity Sacrifice Bronze by Jim Brothers (2001), National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia [photo credit: BD Matt]
The planners of the National D-Day Memorial had not forgotten the horrors of war along with the valor, fidelity and sacrifice of Allied troops. The final section of the National D-Day Memorial includes a haunting bronze of Edmond de Laheudri's Le Monument aux Morts (1921), which stood monument to those fallen in combat in the Great War (a.k.a. World War I) besides St. Aignan in Trevieres, France. Shortly after the Allied D-Day invasion, there was an intense battle around the statue during which removed the face and some of the fingers of the dough-boy Nike.
Recast bronze of Le Monument aux Morts (1921) by Edmond de Laheudri,
National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia [Photo credit: BD Matt]
Transformed by battle, Le Monument aux Morts stands in Trevieres and at the National D-Day memorial as a haunting testament to the destructiveness of war, the fleeting fruits of victory and the fragility of peace.
Brronze of Le Monument aux Morts (1921) by Edmond de Laheudri, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia [Photo credit: BD Matt]
Inverted M1 Garland Rifle bronze by Matt Kirby (2001) at National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia
The National D-Day Memorial's attempt to tell a broader story about the Second World War caused some controversy. As the Reynolds Garden is circled by the military leaders of D-Day, the planners wanted to include a garden which depicted political leaders after D-Day who ensured the peace after World War II. The circle included President Franklin Roosevelt (who died shortly before V-E Day), British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who was ousted from office shortly after victory over Germany), President Harry Truman, Prime Minister Clement Attlee, French leader Charles De Gaulle and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.
The latter bust went over like a lead zepplin with veterans' groups as Stalin had no involvement with the Allies in the Western front and arguably triggered the Cold War with forceful imposition of communism in most places where the Red Army occupied. While the National D-Day Memorial board still believed that war makes strange bedfellows and wanted to depict that within the site, they bowed to public pressure and relocated the Stalin bust. Perhaps when the interpretation center is completed with a monument to post World War II Secretary of State George Marshall, there will be a fuller picture of the interpreted history. For now, Stalin is not in "The Winner's Circle". However, based upon the horrors depicted in the transformed Le Monument aux Morts, it is questionable if anyone is truly a winner in the aftermath of war.
There has been some controversy concerning the 9/11 memorials at Ground Zero in NYC. It took over a decade to erect a new building which was meant to show American resolve. The signature new World Trade Center building legally changed its name from the 102 story $3.1 Billion Freedom Tower to accommodate a 21 year lease with Vantone, a Chinese commercial realty company. The 9/11 museum drew fire for featuring the jihadist hijackers "for the historical narrative". Some have complained that political correctness has gone made at Ground Zero erasing anything heroic, patriotic or influencing the narrative. Atheists even tried to exclude a cross formed by two steel beams in the WTC collapse that gave many Ground Zero rescue workers solace, but fortunately courts denied this claim.
Sakura on the Potomac, which premiered at the 2018 National Cherry Blossom Festival was composed by Japanese composer and producer Kunihiko Murai. Sakura is the Japanese word for Cherry Blossom Tree, which includes the twelve species of Cherry Blossom Trees that encircle the Tidal Basin in the Nation's Capital since Japan’s generous gift to America in 1912.
By an act of Congress, Hope was named an honorary veteran in 1997. Hope's humble response to this honor was: "I've been given many awards in my lifetime — but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most — is the greatest honor I have ever received."
The National D-Day Memorial was dedicated on June 6th, 2001 by President George W. Bush. America's 43rd Commander-in-Chief implored:
The National D-Day Memorial honors by name all 4,413 Allied soldiers who died on D-Day during Operation Overlord (the actual invasion) and Operation Neptune (transporting the troops across the English channel). But the 88 acre National D-Day Memorial does much more serve as a site for necrology. The Memorial seeks to tell the story of D-Day , from its planning, execution and aftermath. 
The latter bust went over like a lead zepplin with veterans' groups as Stalin had no involvement with the Allies in the Western front and arguably triggered the Cold War with forceful imposition of communism in most places where the Red Army occupied. While the National D-Day Memorial board still believed that war makes strange bedfellows and wanted to depict that within the site, they bowed to public pressure and relocated the Stalin bust. Perhaps when the interpretation center is completed with a monument to post World War II Secretary of State George Marshall, there will be a fuller picture of the interpreted history. For now, Stalin is not in "The Winner's Circle". However, based upon the horrors depicted in the transformed Le Monument aux Morts, it is questionable if anyone is truly a winner in the aftermath of war.
