deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.)

Washington DC, formally known as The District of Columbia. It is located on the east bank of the Potomac River which forms its southwestern and southern border with the U.S. state of Virginia, and shares a land border with the U.S. state of Maryland on its remaining sides. The city was named for George Washington, the first president of the United States and a Founding Father, and the federal district is named after Columbia, a female personification of the nation.

Washington DC has a population greater than Vermont and Wyoming. It has a mayor and three non-voting members of congress. It has three electoral votes in the presidential election. It is one of the most visited cities in the country with over 20 million tourists each year.

Since the 1880s there has been discussion about making it a state. In 2021, the House of Representative passed a referendum in approval of making it a state. In 2020 residents and businesses in DC paid more federal income taxes than 19 states. The unofficial motto of Washington DC is “No taxation without representation.’

The flag of Washington, D.C., consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is an armorial banner based on the design of the coat of arms granted to George Washington‘s great-great-great-grandfather, Lawrence Washington of Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire, England in 1592. This coat of arms was used privately by the president in his home at Mount Vernon. In heraldry, the stars are called mullets and the coat of arms is blazoned (a technical term used in heraldry to describe what is seen on a flag or coat of arms) as argent two bars gules, in chief three mullets of the second.