There are many lessons that we should have learned from the 20th Century; one of them is that tanks have no place in cities.
Warsaw 1944:
Budapest 1956:
Prague 1968:
Beijing 1989:
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On the other hand, Brett Arends, a columnist for Market Watch, is upset that the tanks won’t roll through the nation’s capital on July 4th:
I’m pretty disgusted that they can’t roll these Abrams babies through Washington, D.C., in a massive parade. Turns out our government roads and buildings are so bad they can’t take the strain.
Think about that: Apparently our “enemies” have stronger roads and buildings than we do. What is this place, a Third World “hellhole”?
“I want to see these military beauties because I paid for them,” he says.
Arends notes that the government will spend $686 billion tax dollars on the defense budget:
That’s our money.We should get something for it. A parade seems the least they can do. . . . I want all these toys we’ve paid for on display.
You can read Arends’ satirical article here:
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What would Independence Day be without a flag controversy?
Marcus Lemonis, identified as a “Chicago entrepreneur” and the CEO of something called Camping World Holdings Inc., is brazening it out against Statesville, North Carolina, a modest burg with a population of 27,000.
Lemonis has hoisted an American flag above a Camping World property in Statesville and is being fined $50 dollars a day for having done so—because the flag, which is 40 by 80 feet, exceeds the legal limit of 25 by 40 feet.
Lemonis admitted the flag’s size was illegal but said he would rather go to jail than remove the flag."There's no question that I violated that ordinance.”*
But Lemonis asserts, "The ordinance doesn't matter to me.”
After all, how dare the laws of the town reduce his über-patriotism by 68.75 percent?
Not as resonant as
“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,But spare your country’s flag,” she said.
the words
“It's just not going to come down. I would rather go to jail,” he did wail.
will likely not long be remembered.
***
NOTE:
I have previously written about flags and patriotism:
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