“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed....”
It has been a tragic, almost surreal Fourth of July for reasons that require no repeating. And after last week’s Supreme Court rulings and the one about elections looming in the fall, “...Governments...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” feels like an obscure concept.
Love and honor to you and Buddy, Heather. Deepest gratitude to you for all you do for us, guiding, educating, elucidating, bringing us all to understanding and comprehension. I love who you are and am ever grateful for the privilege of your teaching. Blessings upon us all.
This is what I was reading when HCR's message containing the preamble to the Declaration of Independence and a photo of The Capitol was delivered:
'Parade Shooting Live Updates: Man in Custody After Hunt for Gunman'
'Gunshots rained down from a rooftop onto a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., killing six and injuring dozens. Celebrations were called off across the region amid fears of more violence.'
A fitting juxtaposition between celebration of Independence Day and reality. It is an example of the cruelty at this time in the United States of America.
I love my country. I can no longer protect my 23 year old daughter. Unless, I move her to a state that protects her rights. This breaks my heart tonight . July 4 , 2022.
Such a solemn and dark day today, for so many reasons - known well by all who read HCR regularly. And by those who read the news today. Two years from now, we must be able to look back and say that we have given our all to protect our Democracy. May those efforts be successful and our course be true. It’s time for good, honor and our best angels to rise up. Rise up and prevail.
Oh Heather, I am so sad tonight - as a woman, as an African American, as a queer person who was raised to believe that this was the “land of the free.” I cannot celebrate in the sweet and simple way I could as a child, and I mourn that. I trust that we will survive as a species amongst all kindred species, but I’ve lost faith that this great experiment in human freedom has failed (ironic that it did not include women, Black, and Indigenous folks). Perhaps not a bad thing - humans are creative and will undoubtedly come up with the next idea, but for tonight I grieve. Thank you for being such a steady voice in such uncertain times.
I am very sorry but I feel like unless you are a white male in this country you do not count. I hate to think that way as I never did before. It is very upsetting and disturbing to see how has this happened over the years and that one man like Hitler was able to fuel the storm. It is a very horrible commentary that the US Supreme Court has come under scrutiny over these latest decisions. What does a decision by that court mean when they can overturn it on a whim of their choice. I truly hate what is happened to this country and how the rest of the world views us. Very sad. I hate to say this but we are headed to the end just like the Romans. I am of the age that hopefully I will not see this happen but is tragic for the younger generation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all PEOPLE are created equal, EVERYWHERE AT ALL TIMES, that they are endowed by their Creator (not THE Creator, or A Creator, but Their Own individual unassailable self determined relationship as they choose) with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Unalienable Rights are for everyone. Not just Americans.
This Aspiration, this Proposition, is America's Vision statement.
Children were put in a dumpster by their father and told they were playing hide & seek to protect them from an active shooter at an Independence Day Parade in Illinois:
Today, my town’s high school kids protested the Roe decision on the county courthouse steps. Then they marched in the parade with their signs. So proud of them and look forward to them leading us to a better tomorrow. I can’t say I feel very patriotic. I don’t. We are equal in the eyes of our own beholders but not by the 6 illegitimate court justices. Actually, a very sad day.
My heart is breaking. What has happened to our beloved country? I weep and feel hopeless. Then I read Heather and try to lift my head and heart higher. You are a gift and a light in this dark world. Thank you for your words, your insight and your heart.
I’m ready. One can do an analysis of the key swing states, and the most competetive legislative districts in each of those states. Focus should be on voter registration and turnout, and a mass migration, iinto those districts from safe Blue states, in order to wrest control of the statehouse to non republicans.
A mass migration and mass registration campaign to swing these state legislatures before they can install King Don or Ron or Ted on the throne in 2024. If that’s what it takes, I’ll move there. Not away from these states, towards these states.
If that’s the rules the Supreme Court wants, that’s what we’ll give them. State control, and people voting in record numbers and with moving vans to swing these states.
I really got into it at 10 PM on FB with folks I know who had posted and responded to one of those 2nd Amendment memes showing Minute Men firing muskets and promoting the right of everyone to own any weapon they wanted. The original post was made before the shooting spree started yesterday. These are 3 of my replies to them:
these guys are not worthy of the name "Minute Men" nor share any of their proud traditions. They are little boys playing at being "patriot's" with a focus on the "riot" part of that word.
you want to do something useful with your weapons? Form up a regiment and go to Ukraine and kill Putin's soldiers. That would be helpful. Be the La Fayette Escadrille of the 21st Century. Or the Billy Fiske of the 609 Squadron during the battle of Britain. That would impress me.
are you feeling good about what happened today with those " extrordinarily heavily regulated for nearly a century" weapons today. One of my friends who lives near there had friends whose children witnessed the violence, death and chaos up close. They will NEVER be the same again. Please don't lecture me. I'm done with this thread. You guys are clueless. Call me all the names you want. Hope you sleep well.
After the last 2 of my responses they all shut up. There was none of their clever banter, or skewed history....or calling me names. The f-ing bullies, shut up. But there was no "sorry the children were traumatized" either. Just quiet.
It has been a tragic, almost surreal Fourth of July for reasons that require no repeating. And after last week’s Supreme Court rulings and the one about elections looming in the fall, “...Governments...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” feels like an obscure concept.
Love and honor to you and Buddy, Heather. Deepest gratitude to you for all you do for us, guiding, educating, elucidating, bringing us all to understanding and comprehension. I love who you are and am ever grateful for the privilege of your teaching. Blessings upon us all.
This is what I was reading when HCR's message containing the preamble to the Declaration of Independence and a photo of The Capitol was delivered:
'Parade Shooting Live Updates: Man in Custody After Hunt for Gunman'
'Gunshots rained down from a rooftop onto a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Ill., killing six and injuring dozens. Celebrations were called off across the region amid fears of more violence.'
A fitting juxtaposition between celebration of Independence Day and reality. It is an example of the cruelty at this time in the United States of America.
I love my country. I can no longer protect my 23 year old daughter. Unless, I move her to a state that protects her rights. This breaks my heart tonight . July 4 , 2022.
Such a solemn and dark day today, for so many reasons - known well by all who read HCR regularly. And by those who read the news today. Two years from now, we must be able to look back and say that we have given our all to protect our Democracy. May those efforts be successful and our course be true. It’s time for good, honor and our best angels to rise up. Rise up and prevail.
... from Langston Hughes:
"Let America Be America Again".
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
(It never was America to me.)
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)
Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!
I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.
Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”
The free?
Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
"Let America Be America Again", Langston Hughes
I hope you have a joyful Fourth of July.
Oh Heather, I am so sad tonight - as a woman, as an African American, as a queer person who was raised to believe that this was the “land of the free.” I cannot celebrate in the sweet and simple way I could as a child, and I mourn that. I trust that we will survive as a species amongst all kindred species, but I’ve lost faith that this great experiment in human freedom has failed (ironic that it did not include women, Black, and Indigenous folks). Perhaps not a bad thing - humans are creative and will undoubtedly come up with the next idea, but for tonight I grieve. Thank you for being such a steady voice in such uncertain times.
I am very sorry but I feel like unless you are a white male in this country you do not count. I hate to think that way as I never did before. It is very upsetting and disturbing to see how has this happened over the years and that one man like Hitler was able to fuel the storm. It is a very horrible commentary that the US Supreme Court has come under scrutiny over these latest decisions. What does a decision by that court mean when they can overturn it on a whim of their choice. I truly hate what is happened to this country and how the rest of the world views us. Very sad. I hate to say this but we are headed to the end just like the Romans. I am of the age that hopefully I will not see this happen but is tragic for the younger generation.
Updated:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all PEOPLE are created equal, EVERYWHERE AT ALL TIMES, that they are endowed by their Creator (not THE Creator, or A Creator, but Their Own individual unassailable self determined relationship as they choose) with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Unalienable Rights are for everyone. Not just Americans.
This Aspiration, this Proposition, is America's Vision statement.
July 4, 2022:
Ukrainian military orchestra and singers perform "The Star-Spangled Banner:"
https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1543860217380741120?s=20&t=URdoLMBVHj0dNYsxONogpw
Children were put in a dumpster by their father and told they were playing hide & seek to protect them from an active shooter at an Independence Day Parade in Illinois:
https://twitter.com/AshIsHereForIt/status/1544113932113248256?s=20&t=URdoLMBVHj0dNYsxONogpw
Make your plans to support state legislature races in key states, Get Out The Vote, and recruit your friends and family to do the same.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
https://statesproject.org/
Today, my town’s high school kids protested the Roe decision on the county courthouse steps. Then they marched in the parade with their signs. So proud of them and look forward to them leading us to a better tomorrow. I can’t say I feel very patriotic. I don’t. We are equal in the eyes of our own beholders but not by the 6 illegitimate court justices. Actually, a very sad day.
nuf said. Now we must do it. For all time. For everyone.
Today's letter is eloquence itself.
My heart is breaking. What has happened to our beloved country? I weep and feel hopeless. Then I read Heather and try to lift my head and heart higher. You are a gift and a light in this dark world. Thank you for your words, your insight and your heart.
I’m ready. One can do an analysis of the key swing states, and the most competetive legislative districts in each of those states. Focus should be on voter registration and turnout, and a mass migration, iinto those districts from safe Blue states, in order to wrest control of the statehouse to non republicans.
A mass migration and mass registration campaign to swing these state legislatures before they can install King Don or Ron or Ted on the throne in 2024. If that’s what it takes, I’ll move there. Not away from these states, towards these states.
If that’s the rules the Supreme Court wants, that’s what we’ll give them. State control, and people voting in record numbers and with moving vans to swing these states.
I really got into it at 10 PM on FB with folks I know who had posted and responded to one of those 2nd Amendment memes showing Minute Men firing muskets and promoting the right of everyone to own any weapon they wanted. The original post was made before the shooting spree started yesterday. These are 3 of my replies to them:
these guys are not worthy of the name "Minute Men" nor share any of their proud traditions. They are little boys playing at being "patriot's" with a focus on the "riot" part of that word.
you want to do something useful with your weapons? Form up a regiment and go to Ukraine and kill Putin's soldiers. That would be helpful. Be the La Fayette Escadrille of the 21st Century. Or the Billy Fiske of the 609 Squadron during the battle of Britain. That would impress me.
are you feeling good about what happened today with those " extrordinarily heavily regulated for nearly a century" weapons today. One of my friends who lives near there had friends whose children witnessed the violence, death and chaos up close. They will NEVER be the same again. Please don't lecture me. I'm done with this thread. You guys are clueless. Call me all the names you want. Hope you sleep well.
After the last 2 of my responses they all shut up. There was none of their clever banter, or skewed history....or calling me names. The f-ing bullies, shut up. But there was no "sorry the children were traumatized" either. Just quiet.