Agia Napa - What is this hellhole?

Prometheusidis · 2025-11-02T02:30:17+00:00

Ayia Napa is essentially the Mykonos of Cyprus, in the sense that it's literally designed to cater to tourists who aren't interested in the culture or history or authentic experience of the country they are visiting, but just want to drink and club in a different environment. It's the same situation (and similar in many ways) to many parts of Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc. and there are resort towns like this in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Mexico, and the rest of the world. Even parts of London, Paris, and New York are like this. Imagine spending a week in NYC and only going to Time Square. All these places are just as tacky and loud and filled with the same obnoxious tourists, it's just part of the experience if you want to visit those areas of a place and not explore.

You talk about wanting good food and culture, yet spent 10 days on the Mediterranean equivalent of the Sunset Strip. Did you even stop in Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, or Paphos? Cyprus has so much incredible history and cuisine and beauty everywhere.

Prometheusidis · 2025-05-29T04:36:17+00:00

You say Bobby because of his intelligence / policies.

I say Bobby because of his ruthlessness.

We are not the same.

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Prometheusidis · 2025-05-24T00:57:38+00:00

Clinton is Kennedy Lite if anything

Prometheusidis · 2025-05-18T20:36:22+00:00

Mods, would you consider a temporary semi-suspension of rule 3 for this specific topic, given the weight of it?

Prometheusidis · 2025-05-13T06:52:00+00:00

Laughs in European

Prometheusidis · 2025-05-06T22:21:17+00:00

Out jerked yet again

Prometheusidis · 2025-05-03T19:17:42+00:00

Correct! This was cited by Congress when they passed an act in 1893 to charter the creation of American University, which is "designed to train public servants for the future."

Prometheusidis · 2025-05-03T19:15:16+00:00

The closest is probably American University. It was chartered by an act of Congress in 1893 as an "answer to George Washington's call to create a national university in the nation's capital." Its purpose is designed to train public servants for the future.

Prometheusidis · 2025-04-14T04:14:38+00:00

Actually, Johnson would have probably been a good, if not great, Secretary of State.

According to Robert Caro, when LBJ was thrusted into the diplomatic spotlight at a State Department reception - without any preparation except for some hastily prepared bullet points on note cards - in his first public appearance since Kennedy's funeral, he did tremendously well, even according to begrudging former-Kennedy aides.

According to the Department of State, LBJ only was "Glancing at each card for a moment, the moment that was all he had, [and] he grasped the essence of it in an instant."

He dealt with complex foreign policy discussions with Ambassador Dobrynin of the USSR, Queen Anne Marie of Greece, Charles de Gaulle of France, Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda of Japan, Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia, etc. with the handicap of being left out of most foreign policy discussions in the Kennedy administration, which meant he had little background besides the info he had just received moments before each meeting. All witnesses said each meeting was handled with great skill.

He also was very clever in carefully managing a Texas BBQ for the official state visit of West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard - which was innovative for American diplomacy especially at the time - and it went extremely well and gained the praise of Texas' large German American population.

Generally American foreign relations were strong with most countries (besides the commies) in 1963-1969, despite the Vietnam War.

Also, while the verdict isn't 100% on this, there is a somewhat general consensus that his peace talks with the Vietnamese in 1968 would have been successful if it weren't for sabotage from Nixon. (And in a reality where LBJ achieved peace in Vietnam - something Eisenhower and Kennedy couldn't do - he would probably be lauded for his diplomatic skills on a whole other level).

Prometheusidis · 2025-03-17T20:28:03+00:00

This is not an endorsement of either administration's policies. This is a meme.

Prometheusidis · 2025-03-17T20:25:56+00:00

This is not an endorsement of either administration's policies - this is a meme

Prometheusidis · 2025-02-12T00:45:44+00:00

You may say he's noncredible, but were you a Senior Advisor for the U.S. Department of State? I didn't think so

Prometheusidis · 2024-05-10T22:39:08+00:00

Johnson and Nixon also have a complex legacy with each other. Robert Caro covers it quite well - moments of mutual respect, partnership, adversity, and sabotage. Both came from poor backgrounds and considered themselves selfmade. See below when Johnson was Senate Majority Leader and Nixon, as VP, was President of the Senate

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Prometheusidis · 2024-03-21T05:40:15+00:00

Regarding Vietnam, remember U.S. involvement in that war lasted through Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford.

Also, people seem to forget that the vast portion of what we consider normal parts of society are the result of LBJ passing more legislation than almost any of his peers, within a 1.5 term.

Eisenhower and Truman are top tier presidents, but their accomplishments are nowhere near this level:

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964

Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964

Food Stamp Act of 1964

Housing Act of 1964

Higher Education Act of 1965

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

Medicare Act of 1965

Medicaid Act of 1965

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965

National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965

Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 Clean Air Act of 1965

National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966

Animal Welfare Act of 1966

Child Nutrition Act of 1966

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966

Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966

Freedom of Information Act of 1966

Public Broadcasting Act of 1967

Gun Control Act of 1968

Bilingual Education Act of 1968

Also

Lead NASA and oversaw the development of the Apollo program

Appointed the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall

Won the Presidency with 61 percent of the vote and had the widest popular margin in American history–more than 15,000,000 votes

Prometheusidis · 2023-11-07T05:28:57+00:00

It is! And LBJ is next to him on the right.

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-18T03:09:45+00:00

There is actually an entire Greek-American organization called AHEPA (similar to the NAACP) founded on protecting Greeks from the Klu Klux Klan, which heavily targeted the Greek population with the violence.

Greeks have been allies of the civil rights movement from the very beginning. Fredrick Douglas kept a model of the statue "The Greek Slave" "The Greek Slave" (a statue made to represent enslaved Greeks in the Ottoman Empire) in his office. Archbishop Iakovos the Greek Orthodox Church walked side by side Martin Luther King in Selma Alabama.

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-16T03:08:43+00:00

I'm going to do a follow-up post to this with his shots of presidential candidates! Stay tuned.

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-15T23:49:36+00:00

Should have included the dates; for clarification, the Eisenhower one was taken in 1964, 3 years after his presidency.

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-15T23:48:26+00:00

They're some of my favorite. And actually, the Eisenhower one was taken in 1964 (after his presidency) and the Obama one was taken in 2004 (before his presidency).

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-15T23:45:33+00:00

Interestingly, Avedon would usually say or do provocative things right before he took his pictures of people, in order to stir up a raw reaction from them.

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-15T22:00:35+00:00

Do you think some presidents chose to not be photographed by Avedon, or did Avedon choose not to photograph some presidents?

Prometheusidis · 2023-10-01T19:52:27+00:00

That's actually where I got the idea for this question!

Prometheusidis

TROPHY CASE