Saturday,July 4, 2026. What I intend to do (or not) for the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The Betrayal of the Revolution.

Protest by non observance, that's what I intend to do.

Or it's what I intended to do.

My attitude, which is quite pronounced on this, is already getting me in some trouble around the house, but I won't be "that guy" who has to answer why they didn't do anything at all when a tyrant was on the rise.

Everyone always imagines themselves on the side of right.  "If I'd lived in Nazi Germany, I wouldn't have gone along. . ."  Well, bull.  If recent history has shown us anything, it's that people will continue to travel along a path well after its obvious that they're being lead by a disaster.  People stampeded into voting for the NSDAP in 1932 were still supporting them in 1936, and if disquieted by September 1939, they went along still.

That's exactly what's going on now.  Trump's administration is authoritarian to the core and has people in it who hold shockingly racist views.  Just this past week there were cries to sterilize foreigners if they entered the US.

"Oh, they don't really mean that. . .they won't execute the Jews".

When the United States declared independence 250 years ago, it claimed, amongst its justifications, the following:

• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

Trump has done this.

• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

Trump has done this.

• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

Trump has effectively done this.

• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their substance.

Trump has done this, in the form of DOGE and ICE.

• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislature.

Trump has done this, in the form of ICE.

• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

Trump again has attempted to do this.

• He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

Executive orders, anyone?

• For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

ICE and deployments of the National Guard.

• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

Trump is effectively attempting this.

• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

January 6?

Trump has always been a completely illegitimate President, although nobody has bothered to challenge this at law.  Insurrectionist, which he is, are not allowed to serve in the office, and it has never previously been the case that those known to be insurrectionist are required to be proven such at law.  As he is an illegal occupant, he has no actual authority, other than what negligence affords him.

And that has been done on a vast scale.  He's take the country all the way into a war in the Middle East he cannot win, and which Americans are going to pay the price for, for years.

Freedom wasn't taken from the American people.  They surrendered it to a demented oligarch.  They did it through their votes, and their not bothering to vote.  This is going to get much worse before it gets better.  Some of the damage will be permanent, but it may also be the case that necessary reforms will come about.

More than anything, this betrayal of the founding principals of the nation has come about due to the abject cowardice of the American people.  People know this is wrong, but they aren't willing to say anything to anyone about it.

A cowardly people doesn't honor their brave ancestors by setting off fireworks.  In this case, those people would be best honored by turning their backs to a celebration which King Donald has tried to make all about himself.  Indeed, at last, their starting too.  The large "state fair" King Donald admiration fest is being ignored.

The entire Fourth of July should be ignored this year.  The nation dishonors the Revolution by attempting to celebrate it with an increasingly fascistic would be monarch in office.

Other folks noting the same thing:

Also, I read in article in the Washington Post that a fairly percentage of people like me who can remember the Bicentennial are sitting this one out, upset about the country falling into fascism.  

***

But a fairly high percentage will also likely find, like me, that family celebrations and whatnot will likely intervene.  

We'll have to be careful.

Honest, but careful.

***

Pope Leo addressed the United States, his home nation, yesterday.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV

ACCEPTANCE OF THE LIBERTY MEDAL OF

THE NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER (USA)

Friday, 3 July 2026

Dear friends,

I am honored to accept the Liberty Medal of the National Constitution Center in this year that marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. On the eve of this momentous occasion, I offer a warm greeting to all those assembled at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. As a son of this great country, founded by courageous men and women who dreamed of liberty and of a better life for themselves and for their children, I join you in asking God’s blessings upon America’s future, that the lofty ideals enshrined at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence may continue to guide the flourishing of the nation in unity, justice and peace.

From our youth, most of us have admired the eloquence of those words, with their resounding appeal to the law of nature and to nature’s God as the basis of their assertion that all men and women are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. While couched in the language of the Enlightenment, that claim is ultimately grounded in an understanding of the human person inspired by the great biblical vision of man and woman being created in the divine image. It is indeed here that we discover the basis of human dignity; dignity which precedes the establishment of any State, and whose custody constitutes its very purpose.

In these past two-hundred and fifty years, for so many peoples throughout the world, it was the firm resolve to achieve the noble vision of the nation’s founders that made America a byword for freedom, as the country opened its doors to successive waves of immigrants, enabling them and their children to play their part in shaping the future of the nation. It was this same love of freedom that inspired the United States, in the darkest hours of the last century, at the time of the two world wars, to look beyond itself and, at great sacrifice, to champion the cause of freedom beyond its own borders. 

As every American knows, however, the path to building a society that would embody those high ideals of liberty and justice for all was not always easy and, in many respects, is still a work in progress.  Indeed, the effort to realize this vision is one that must be taken up anew in each generation and in the face of ever new challenges. Today, as we look to the future, this historic anniversary presents us with the opportunity to reflect once again on the nation’s founding principles in the hope that America will remain ever true to the dream that has earned it the title of land of the free and home of the brave.

The first right enshrined by the nation’s founders was the right to life, for no one who is deprived of life can enjoy liberty or pursue happiness. A country’s vitality is deeply tied to the value it affords to human life in every form and condition, acknowledging the dignity endowed upon every human person by virtue of their very existence.  The inherent worth of every human life has led the noble hearts of generations to praise the marvelous works of the Creator (cf. Ps 139:14) and stand in reverence before so precious a gift. Indeed, it is precisely this reverence that we must continue to cultivate — one that sways the hearts of individuals and inspires laws that recognize and safeguard the gift from the moment of conception to natural death.  Reverence, too, will aid us in discovering that we are guardians and stewards of those entrusted to our care. In this regard, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to support, protect and cherish the lives of all, especially the most vulnerable and those whose worth is questioned.

Following the right to life, liberty was and is preeminent among the principles revered by the men and women who have sought within this nation’s borders a new beginning, often equating it with previously undreamed-of hope. Though frequently understood as the ability to act as one would like, authentic freedom runs much deeper.  It is founded upon the human person’s capacity to know the truth and adhere to what is good, even at great cost — a sacrifice well known to many who have labored to shape this country.  The desire for truth and freedom, as well as the very pursuit of happiness, continues to inspire people of all generations to ask fundamental questions regarding the meaning of life, our ultimate purpose, and indeed about God, and it is proper for magnanimous hearts to endeavor to answer these questions with sincerity.  These answers inevitably determine the direction which we seek to give to our lives, and America has long championed the religious freedom necessary to follow responsibly the dictates of conscience in this regard, free from fear and coercion, as enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

It is this freedom that holds sacred the inner sphere of the person where convictions are formed and where conscience can guide the decisions made in the intimacy of the human heart.  This same freedom also ensures the right of every person to worship according to one’s own belief, and of individuals, communities and associations to give public expression to their faith.  In fact, religious freedom gave rise to the American tradition of allowing for interfaith dialogue and interreligious cooperation in promoting the public good and enriching the debates on the great moral and ethical issues that have faced the nation and shaped the course of its history. It is my hope that this tradition will continue to bear fruit in a public discourse marked by moderation, respect for the views of others and an ongoing effort to find common ground in promoting the cause of peace and reconciliation, at home and abroad. 

The forbearers of this country, men and women of diverse backgrounds, religions and languages, were able to find that common ground and the strength necessary to pursue a better future.  The principles that inspired America’s founders, rooted as they are in the truth of the human person, brought them together in a single cause, a common dream. Unity lent strength to that dream, giving rise, under God, to the United States of America. E pluribus unum — out of many, one.  In order for a nation to flourish, it must be truly united; united not by goals bound to momentary endeavors, but by ideals that do not fade with the passing of time.  May the principles we have reflected upon today — a shared human dignity, equality and the rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence — ever be a source of such unity and a guiding light for the present moment and for the years to come. 

In accepting this award, I therefore pray that this, the 250th anniversary of the founding of this great nation, may be the occasion of a solemn recommitment to these ideals that have made America a country that values peace and prosperity, a country characterized by generosity and nobility of heart. I commend all of you, as well as the future of the Nation, to the One who is himself the source of true freedom and lasting peace, the One whose very name is Peace.

May God bless America! Thank you!

This is, I'd note, copyrighted, but I'm claiming the fair use exception here.

Pope Leo has really been a shining light for Americans who are horrified by Donald Trump.  He's particularly a shining light for people like me, who are conservatives horrified by Donald Trump. He's proof to the world that not all Americans are some sort of strange Dixiecrat vandals.

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The Boeing VC-25B Bridge. A reminder to that it is time to be the people that founded the country.

Labels: 1600s, 1620, 1770s, 1776, 2020s, 2026, 250th Anniversary of American Independence, Agrarianism, American Revolution, Distributism, Donald Trump, Evolutionary Biology, Mexican Revolution, Russian Revolution, The Wealthy

Sunday, June 2, 1974. The Forest Brothers.

By Ivo Kruusamägi - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37550773

Kalev Gustav Arro, age 58, and one of the last Estonian Forest Brothers, was killed in a gun battle with Soviet authorities.

Jigme Singye Wangchuck was crowned King of Bhutan.  He had been king since 1972, but the coronation took place on this day under the direction of the kingdom's royal astrologers.

Algeria ended its partial embargo on the expert of oil to the Netherlands, breaking with OPEC in order to do so.

The African National Congress rejected proposals agreed upon by Methodist Bishop Abel Muzorewa, and later to become the only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, and Ian Smith, the only Prime Minister of Rhodesia, for a settlement in Rhodesia.

Bishop Muzorewa died in 2010 at age 84, Smith died in 2007 at age 88.

Last prior edition:

Friday, May 31, 1974. The Golan Heights.

Labels: 1970s, 1974, China, Colorado, Golan Heights, Israel, Malaysia, People's Republic of China, Syria, United Kingdom, Vietnam War, Yom Kippur War

Friday, March 29, 1974. Kent State Indictments

Eight members of the Ohio National Guard were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for violation of civil rights due to the shooting of thirteen students at Ken State in 1970.  Five of the charges were felonies.

All the charges would be dismissed for lack of sufficient evidence on November 8.

The Chinese Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang was discovered.  The massive statuary army was built to protect the Emperor, who was interred around 210 BC to 209 BC in the afterlife.

Speed limits on British highways, which had been reduced due to the Oil Embargo, were restored.

The Volkswagen Golf was introduced as the replacement for the Beetle.

Related threads:

The Tragedy At Kent State

1970, 1970s, Cambodia, Cambodian Civil War, Civil Unrest, Disaster, National Guard, Ohio, Vietnam, Vietnam War

May 4, 1970. Kent State

1970, 1970s, Civil Unrest, Vietnam War

Last prior edition:

Monday, March 18, 1974. Embargo lifted.

1970s, 1974, 1974 at the movies, Arab Oil Embargo, Movies

Monday, March 18, 1974. Embargo lifted.

Today In Wyoming's History: March 18: 1974 The oil embargo against the US by oil producing Arab states, called in protest of U.S. support of Israel during the 1973 October War, is lifted. U.S. dependency on Arab oil was already well known to the government, given successful efforts to have the Arabs keep the price of oil from rising during later stages of the Vietnam War.

The Robert Redford version of The Great Gatsby appeared on the cover of Time.  It's frankly not all that good.

Last prior:

Monday, March 11, 1974. The Obstinate

Monday, March 11, 1974. The Obstinate

Imperial Japanese Army Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda formally in the Philippines.  He had been recently informed by his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, that the war was over.

Originally part of a party of four such soldiers, one who abandoned the group in 1949 to surrender, they carried out guerilla raids which ultimately reduced Onoda to the sole survivor.  Their ongoing obstinacy was frankly irrational as well as deadly.

He found post-war Japan disappointing and became a cattle rancher in Brazil.

Contrary to popular belief, he was not the last Japanese soldier still holding out.  At least one more, Teruo Nakamura, who was Taiwanese, was in Indonesia.  He was actually a private and of native Taiwanese background, with a poor command of Japanese and Chinese.  He'd be captured in December 1974.  Another, Fumio Nakahara, may have been holding out in the Philippines as late as 1980, although that has never been determined.

A ceasefire between Iraq and the Kurdish Democratic Party was subject to an ultimatum, which provided that Kurdistan could be autonomous.  The offer would expire without acceptance, and a renewed war resumed.

The United Kingdom tended its Oil Embargo related state of emergency.

Last prior:

Friday, March 8, 1974. Exit Brady Bunch

Saturday, January 12, 1974. How revolutions begin.

The Ethiopian Revolution began with the mutiny of the Negele Borana garrison over bad food and a lack of water.

They sized Lt. Gen. Deresse Dubale, Emperor Haile Selassie's envoy, and forced him to survive on the same fare they had for a week.

Gasoline rationing commenced in the Netherlands.

Television started operation in Tanzania.

Wednesday, January 9, 1974. Oil.

OPEC voted to freeze oil prices for three months.  Saudi Arabia had been willing to reduce them, but Algeria, Iraq, and Iran, had not been.

Ronald and Nancy Reagan upon Reagan's 1966 Gubernatorial victory, and one decade away from his first run for the GOP Presidential ticket.

Actor turned politician Ronald Reagan delivered California's State of the State address, noting the oil crisis but asserting it was an opportunity to develop resources, freeing the US from foreign petroleum.

Monday, January 7, 1974. Sweden rations gasoline.

Gas rationing began in Sweden, the first Western nation to do so in response to the ongoign crisis caused by the Arab Oil Embargo.

The four-year-long Gombe Chimpanzee War broke out in Tanzania's Gombe Stream National Park.

Margaret Queen Adams.

Margaret Queen Adams, née Margaret Queen Phillips, the first female deputy sheriff in the United States died at age 99. She had served in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department from 1912 to 1947.  She worked in the evidence department.

Wednesday, January 2, 1974. 55 MPH.

The National Maximum Speed Law reduced the speed limit on the nation's highways to 55 mph.

While ultimately hated, the law had an immediate impact in reducing highway deaths, which of course was not its actual intent.  Reducing the consumption of petroleum was.

The first Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks were mailed in a program designed to address those disabled but unable to qualify for Social Security. The law allowing for this to occur had come into effect the prior day.

The People's Republic of China announced that eight senior military figures were being reassigned in an apparent attempt to disrupt their ability to form a base of power.

Early country music pioneer and actor Tex Ritter died at age 68 of what was believed to be a heart attack.  His son, John Ritter, would die in 2003 at age 54 of aortic dissection and its likely that this was actually the cause of his father's death.

Tuesday, November 27, 1973. Gerald Ford sworn in as Vice President.

Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn into that office.  Only three votes were cast against his appointment.

The Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act was signed into law in order to allocate petroleum distribution and control prices. This came about, of course, due to the Arab Oil Embargo.

The effort at price control and allocation would prove to be a failure, as generally such measures prove to be.

The House of Representatives passed a bill to put the US on Daylight Savings Time year around.  A similar bill recently passed the Senate, and then went nowhere.

This act passed and went into effect in 1974, and very rapidly it went from being popular to unpopular.  I can remember the reason why.  As a kid, we now went to school in darkness.

It escapes me why these bills always choose Daylight Savings Time over natural time.  

Thursday, November 22, 1973. Oily shifting sands and tides.

Japan, which had not yet come under the Arab oil embargo, dropped its support for Israel and joined the United Nations in calling for a separate Palestinian state.  In doing so, it was seeking to avoid the oil sanction.

Saudi Arabia warned the US that it would reduce oil production by 80% if the US did not stop supporting Israel, and that the country would destroy its oil wells if attacked.

Friday, November 16, 1973. Transforming Alaska.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 16: 1973     President Richard M. Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.

The building of the Alaska pipeline was huge news at the time. There were those then who expressed concerns about the environmental costs, but by and large, in the midst of the oil crisis, it was looked at by Americans with a lot of hope and often compared to big prior endeavors, such as the Transcontinental Railroad.

The oil would forever change the economy of Alaska, as it also had already, and was continuing to do, in Wyoming.

Before the Oil. And after it? The economies of Wyoming and Alaska.

Skylab 4 was launched.

Thursday, November 15, 1973. Lowering the speed limit.

Washington state lowered its speed limit to conserve gasoline.  Coincidentally, highway mortality drooped 11%.

Israel and Egypt exchanged POWS taken during the Yom Kippur War.

Wednesday, November 7, 1973. Congress overrides Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act.

 Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act.

The resolution was a direct byproduct of the Vietnam War, with Congress feeling that it had basically been led into war without a proper chance to vote on troop deployments to the conflict, although it had voted on the murky Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.  The still relatively fresh Korean War was also in mind.

The Constitutionality of the act, which as been questioned, has never been tested by the Supreme Court.  So far, however, Congress and the President have generally complied with it, not wanting to test it, even though early on President's would note that they felt it to be unconstitutional.  This is discussed further with a link here:

November 7, 1973 – Congress Passes the War Powers Act

Nixon addressed the nation on "The Energy Emergency".

It's fair  to ask in a way if the "Energy Crisis" presented a lost opportunity.

Even in 1973, contrary to the way some would like to assert it, there were concerns in the scientific community about climate change.  When the Energy Crisis arose due to the Arab Oil Embargo there was a serious effort to look at alternative energy sources, although nothing like there is today, and it was coupled with a massive effort to increase the production of domestic fossil fuels.  Solar energy was looked at seriously for the first time.  A lot of thought was put into home solar.  Energy saving regulations, in regard to appliances, and fuel efficiency standards were put into place as well.

Had the government gone further, and moved towards home solar in a large-scale way, and undertook efforts then to look towards conversion to non emitting energy sources, we may well have avoided what we're looking at today.

The Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District in Alaska was designated.

About the location, the National Park Service notes:

Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District - Designated November 7, 1973

Cape Krusenstern Archaeological District contains the cultural remains of peoples who have inhabited these beaches for 5,000 or more years. Adjacent to the ridges on unglaciated uplands in the Igichuk Hills are surface deposits that extend the record backward to the time of the end of the Pleistocene. The beach ridges of Cape Krusenstern provide a broad, horizontal stratigraphy which includes virtually all phases of cultural history known in northwest Alaska.

Sunday, November 4, 1973. Driverless Sunday.

 

By Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo - http://proxy.handle.net/10648/ac3c2404-d0b4-102d-bcf8-003048976d84, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67727372

The Dutch ban on Sunday driving due to the fuel emergency went into effect.

Tuesday, October 310, 1973. Sunday drivers.

 Netherlands banned private Sunday driving, with a start date of November 4, to conserve fuel.

The Judiciary Committee voted 21 to 17 to consider impeaching Richard Nixon.  The vote was split on party lines.

The Bosphorus Bridge was completed across the Bosphorus connecting Europe and Asia for the first time since Emperor Darius of Persia's pontoon bridge of 512 BC.

The bridge in 1973.

Thursday, October 25, 1973. Ramping up to and backing down from war.

The US military was alerted that the Soviet Union was "planning to send a very substantial force" to intervene in the Yom Kippur War.  On the same day, perhaps ironically, Egypt and Israel accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 340 creating a peacekeeping force between them that would omit US and Soviet troops.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973 was given royal assent.

Lebanon, which was not in a good place in relation to petroleum bans, provided that cars with even-numbered plates could only drive on even-numbered days, those with odd-numbered plates only on odd-numbered day.

Abebe Bikila (Amharic: ሻምበል አበበ ቢቂላ), Olympic marathon runner who won the1960 Summer Olympics in Rome marathon while running barefoot and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics marathon died as a result of an automobile accident sustained in 1969

Both his 60 and 64 runs were world records.

Saturday, October 20, 1973. The Saturday Night Massacre, Sydney Opera House, and Arab Oil Embargo.

Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox was dismissed by the Administration, and attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and deputy attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigned.  Cox was dismissed by Robert Bork, who later became an unsuccessful Supreme Court nominee, but who nonetheless was influential in the philosophy of the current Supreme Court.

The Sydney Opera House was inaugurated and opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

Saudi Arabia and Algeria halted petroleum exports to the U.S., the embargo now becoming a full-blown disaster.

Friday, October 19, 1973. The Oil Embargo spreads.

Libya announced that it would completely halt oil exports to the United States.  The U.S. Federal Reserve regards this as the beginning of the full Arab Oil Embargo.

President Nixon rejected the Appeals Court decision that he turn over tapes to Federal investigators.  Instead, he proposed to have them transcribed, and then reviewed by Democratic Senator John C. Stennis.  Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox rejected the offer and resigned the following day.

Solutions for the Yom Kippur War were being discussed on an international level.

Elizabeth II, on a trip to Australian, signed the Royal Styles and Titles Act and assumed the title of "Queen of Australia".  She had previously been "Elizabeth the second, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom, Australia and her other realms and territories, queen, head of the Commonwealth.".

Thursday, October 18, 1973. Creeping embargo and I go Pogo.

The IDF recrossing the Suez Canal.  The artillery pieces are M107's, a heavy US artillery piece much loved by the IDF. Amos1947, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Saudi Arabia cut its oil production by 10% and threatened to halt all of its oil shipments to the United States unless the US halt aid to Israel.  The United Arab Emirates completely stopped shipments to the U.S.

The Chilean Army's Caravan of Death, led by General Sergio Arellano, arrived in Antofagasta and summarily executed 56 left wing prisoners.  Military Governor of Antofagasta, General Joaquin Lagos, resigned in disgust, which actually brought to an end the Caravan.

Walt Kelly, cartoonist who started his career with Disney and the created Pogo, died of a cerebral thrombosis.

Pogo often dealt with serious themes and famously coined the phrase "we have met the enemy and he is us", a phrase truer now than ever.  "I go Pogo" was a bogus election phrases making fun of Eisenhower's "I like Ike" that also was associated with the cartoon.