Eight Key Facts about the Blackpool Illuminations

Every year, beginning in the autumn and lasting until November, the Blackpool Illuminations are on display. The Blackpool Illuminations are considered Britain’s most famous light show. The Illuminations are also considered to be one of the most iconic attractions in all of the United Kingdom. A person contemplating taking in the Blackpool Illuminations can really appreciate the event by understanding eight key facts about the spectacular event.

Switch-On Festival

The Blackpool Illuminations commence with the aptly named Switch-On Festival. The Switch-On Festival runs over a long weekend in late August or early September. The Switch-On Festival gives visitors a chance to see the new illumination displays as well as the tried and true ones that have made the Illuminations an iconic part of British life.

The Blackpool resort truly comes alive during the Switch-On Festival, with special events occurring throughout the community. This includes special offerings at local bistros and shops.

The Illuminations and a Pioneering Use of Electricity

The Illuminations have their roots in Blackpool being on the forefront of electrical power in the 19th century. Blackpool was the first community in the world to make use of electric street lighting. From this innovative move, The Illuminations ultimately were born. Additionally, the oldest electric tramway in service in the United Kingdom is available today for use during The Illuminations.

Eight Major Attractions at the Blackpool Resort by Mike Broemmel

Blackpool, located along the shoreline of the Irish Sea, is one of the most popular resort destinations in the United Kingdom, a distinction the community has held for generations. Blackpool is the most popular seaside destination in the U.K. A primary reason that Blackpool is so popular with holiday travelers, conventioneers and others is the many attractions that around found at the resort.

The Illuminations

Topping the list of popular attractions at Blackpool are the annual Illuminations. The Blackpool Illuminations as an event has its roots in the advent of electricity at the resort community. During the 19th century, Blackpool became the first locality in Britain to utilize electricity for outdoor and street lighting purposes.

Each year, from about the beginning of September until early November, magnificent lighting displays are featured over about a four-kilometer expanse of the shoreline as well as elsewhere in the resort. More than three million visitors come to Blackpool annually to take in the annual Illuminations.

The Grand Theatre

An iconic Victorian structure, The Grand Theatre has been staging entertainment of different types for generations, and continues strong today. Each year, The Grand Theatre is home to a wide array of different types of performances and entertainments. These include everything from plays, musicals, opera and ballet. The Grand Theatre also presents a good deal of children programming as well.

International Malpractice: Understanding the Demise of U.S. Foreign Policy Under Barack Obama by Mike Broemmel

Introduction

One of the primary reasons Barack Obama swept to electoral victory in 2008 was due to the abject dissatisfaction with the foreign policy of the George W. Bush Administration among a plurality of voters in the United States. Although the second President Bush enjoyed the highest approval rating of any U.S. President in modern times in the aftermath of the coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States that have since become known as 9-11, his approval rating dropped to lows unheard of since the Watergate era after the invasion of Iraq.

Many voters were war weary and believed that one, if not both, of the major military expeditions by the United States in the Middle East were misplaced or even wrongfully undertaken. Despite the world economy experienced a downturn not seen since the Great Depression, and financial issues eventually took the forefront of 2008 campaign discussion and debate, the foreign policy of the United States remained a top-tier concern for a good many voters as Election Day loomed.

And so Barack Obama became the 44^th President of the United States.

The Barack Obama “New Era” in U.S. Foreign Policy

            During the presidential campaign of 2008, Obama touted to adoring crowds that he would usher in a “New Era” in U.S. foreign policy – an epoch in which the United States would become a “friend” to nations across the political spectrum. The peace through strength strategy, which has been the foundation of U.S. foreign policy since at least the end of World War II was abandoned by a President who wants folks to like – perhaps even adore – him.

            As an aside, I disclose that during the 2008 campaign, I took a leave of absence from my “regular job” and worked full time on the Democratic campaign as an employee of a super PAC established by the AFL-CIO. I became a Democrat that same year and was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton.

I grudgingly accepted the reality of the Obama nomination attended much of the Democratic National Convention in Denver – save for absenting myself from Obama’s acceptance speech. In watching the Obama primary campaign, and in viewing the visuals selected from the Obama acceptance speech with its Greco-Roman colonnade, I sincerely felt at that time the nation was ignoring the rise of a true demagogue. (The importance of visuals and what they convey and portend should never be underestimated or ignored. Hitler proved that point 80-plus years ago.)

Many commentators have concluded that Obama foreign policy is adrift at best and lacking in both firm convictions and meaningful strategies.

The Demise of U.S. Foreign Policy 2008 – 2015

            The list of foreign policy problems during the Obama Administration are significant and profound. They are the fodder for entire textbooks. A couple examples underscore the demise of U.S. foreign policy:

            ISIS: The failure to acknowledge this organization for what it truly is coupled by what will likely be considered to be one of the most inept policy solutions in American history. The Obama Administration initiated a $500 million program to train nationals in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to take on ISIS. In the end, approximately 60 men were trained. When they hit the proverbial battle field, all but four were nearly immediately killed, taken captive or fled the scene. The remaining four quickly surrendered and gave their weaponry to ISIS jihadists.

            Russia: The Russian Reset strategy is a stunning failure. The Russian President has made it patently clear he intends to retake territory once a part of the Soviet Union. He has all but invade Ukraine. He is directly challenging the United States in Syria. He has stated he will retake the Baltic States before Obama leaves office, and Putin seems a man good on his word.

The Cause of the Failure of U.S. Foreign Policy in the Obama Era

            An individual who expends a great deal of time and energy examining the state of U.S. foreign policy under Barack Obama may come up with a number of rationales for what has occurred on the international stage vis-à-vis the United States in the past seven year. Indeed, there remains a handful of pundits who attempt to argue that Obama has been successful in the foreign policy realm. In the end, there exist four possible, plausible reasons why U.S. foreign policy has gone off the rails because of Obama and his minions: carelessness, incompetence, deliberate deconstruction and demagoguery. In the end, as is the case with nearly all things political, the explanation for demise of foreign policy includes more than one underlying reason. Under Barack Obama includes a smattering of all four of these underlying potential causes, with one being the paramount reason for the state and status of the United States on the world stage today.

Carelessness

            A possible cause for the disintegration of U.S. foreign policy in the Obama era is carelessness on the part of the Administration. Indeed, without uttering the word “careless,” this is the posture the Obama crew itself actually strikes in the aftermath of an international mishap time and time again. The list is long in which the “oops defense” has been parlayed by Obama and company: Syria, ISIS, Benghazi, Russian incursions, NSA spying on world leaders, ad naseum.

            In the end, the oops mantra promulgated by the Administration over and over defies credulity. While mistakes happen, this level of carelessness has not been seen since Bill Clinton occupied the Oval Office. In the end, President Clinton’s carelessness was confined to a White House intern and the distasteful misuse of a high-quality cigar and not world affairs.       

Incompetence

            Along the lines of the carelessness rationale for botched foreign policy in the Obama era is a claim of incompetence among those in power in the current Administration. Indeed, Obama probably has the thinnest resume of any person wandering into the Oval Office to assume the presidency. Yes, he was a U.S. Senator. However, during his time in that office he essentially was running for President and did nothing of substance while in the Senate. He was a state senator in Illinois, which in no way prepares a person for the presidency. And, alas, Obama was a community organizer … whatever the hell that really is.

            With that said, Obama took pains to surround himself with competent people to serve his foreign policy team, specifically during the start of his Administration and during his first term in office. (Arguably, the same level of competence has lessened in his second term foreign policy team, but not to the point of catastrophe.) The Obama foreign affairs team has been capable. The question is whether the President takes their advice. (Some who have departed the Administration have since stated he regularly ignored them.)

Deliberate Deconstruction 

            Beginning in the 2008 primary campaign when Hillary Clinton compatriots engaged in backroom shenanigans, the contention has been made that Barack Obama is not a U.S. loyalist. (Clinton partisans actually started the “foreign birth” rumor about Obama during the 2008 primary season.) Some bumpkins today go so far as to contend that Obama is a traitor, a closet jihadist, bent on intentionally deconstructing U.S. foreign policy at the expense of the safety and security of the nation. I try not to be dismissive in presenting a position in an editorial. But, to the concept of the President Obama acting to deliberately harm the interests of the United States on the world stage, I say: bunk, bunk, bunk – hooey!

Demagoguery

            A demagogue today typically is defined as a political leader who seeks support by appealing to the passions of the people, by appealing to popular desires and prejudices and not to rational argument and the needs of the populace. There is a self-serving aspect to demagoguery in that it permits a political leader appease his own sense of self-worth, a valuation that may not be necessarily supported by objective facts and circumstances.

            In 2008, I speculated that Barack Obama has tendencies towards demagoguery. In 2015, I unequivocally state that the current President of the United States is a demagogue. I believe this reality forms the structure upon which Obama conceives and implements foreign policy in his Administration.

Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned. Obama does something rather different but nonetheless strikingly the same. When confronted by media representatives multiple times about the world ablaze at this juncture in time, Barack Obama consistently responds that public opinion polls in other nations demonstrate that the citizens of these countries have a more favorable opinion of him than his predecessor. Perhaps nothing else is more a mark of a demagogue than a political leader who exposes his obsession with his own popularity when serious foreign policy issues face his nation.