I hope that everyone has a happy and safe July 4th, and remember what we're celebrating ........245 years of independence !

HAPPY 4th OF JULY DAWGS!
That is why the world is so envious of us.

I stated in the other thread... its the prices and huge portions of food. The cheap tobacco (and beer) and the MLB that we envy.. but independence is cool too..

Enjoy your celebrations and be safe dawgs !!!

Unfortunately, staying safer is getting harder every day.

Happy 4th! During the festivities, stop a moment and think about what many people have sacrificed for our freedom.

You’re right Ray. I think many only think of it as another day off! Or with extra pay and the partying and fireworks. Then again, if they saw each fireworks display as the blood of Patriots before us being shed to help preserve what we have and the hopes of what we COULD have to come they may never celebrate in a festive manner again. We MUST NEVER forget. For to forget the past is to forfeit the future.

I hope this is not inappropriate, (If any other Moderator thinks it shouldn’t be here, just delete this post or let me know and I will) but considering what we celebrate today, the words, I feel are appropriate .
Copied from an email from the EPOC TIMES.

From Editorial Board: (THE EPOC TIMES)

With a new initiative, Defending America, The Epoch Times seeks to remind Americans of the goodness of our country.

Such a reminder should not be needed.

From its beginnings, America has offered its citizens the most important freedom: freedom of belief. It has been a nation where the faithful can practice their religion without fear of persecution.

By protecting fundamental rights, Americans have asserted the dignity of each individual, and have guaranteed the rights of speech, press, assembly and protest, and property, among others. And so have opened the door to individuals to seek to better themselves. With everyone free to pursue their dreams, we have been an inventive, prosperous, and generous people.

From around the world, the best from other nations have been attracted to the United States: those who had the courage to risk everything to come breathe the air of freedom; those with talent who simply wanted the chance to prove themselves; those who wanted to give their families a secure and prosperous life.

And so the United States has been a nation of immigrants. And it has been a nation of scientific and technological advancement, of excellence in education, and of the steady lifting of living standards.

The United States has fought wars around the globe to defend freedom, and in times of peace has developed institutions to promote freedom and prosperity throughout the world.

But the excellence of America is now in dispute, and we are in a time of crisis.

Concerns about election integrity have cast doubt on our most recent presidential election.

Demands for “equity” replacing “equality” are part of a general turn toward socialism.

A cancel culture seeks to censor and silence those who do not toe the line of progressivism, and throughout our society—in schools, corporations, and governments at different levels—there is a new taste for authoritarian ways.

In recent memory the United States had unquestioned military dominance, but that has now disappeared.

In particular, communist China’s immediate and narrow goal is to push the United States out of the western Pacific. More generally, it seeks to displace the United States as the world’s superpower.

China’s campaign against the United States has been comprehensive. It uses cyber- and conventional spying to steal U.S. intellectual property and military secrets. It infiltrates and subverts American institutions, turning them to serve China’s interests.

It also seeks to change America’s political culture, promoting socialism behind the scenes.

The Chinese Communist Party exercises an unprecedented level of control over its population. It requires through the social credit system that every detail of daily life follow the CCP’s demands, uses cameras and visual recognition technology to monitor everyone, and censors email and social media so that people may only receive the CCP’s approved narrative.

It now seeks to export its system around the world. It seeks to defeat America’s promise of liberty with communism and social control.

While the United States is in a moment of crisis, there is no need for panic. In order for Americans to defeat these threats from within and without, one thing is most needed: Americans need to remember why their nation is great. They need to understand and feel the basic goodness of the United States.

The Epoch Times is well suited to this task. All too often, the negative trends in the United States have been pushed forward by favored narratives in the media and social media. Those narratives often construct an artificial reality through which our situation is viewed, and misunderstood.

The Epoch Times’ motto is Truth and Tradition. It strives to provide news free of an agenda. Independent of corporate or partisan interests, The Epoch Times seeks to provide its readers with the facts. If Americans are given the facts about U.S. principles and history, they will understand how to evaluate our current situation.

The Epoch Times also recognizes the wisdom and beauty in the traditions of the world’s great civilizations. Respecting tradition, The Epoch Times stands on firm ground when it criticizes and rejects the revolutionary doctrines of socialism and communism. If Americans seek, for instance, to understand the wisdom of our founders, they will find a profound alternative to the confusion of the moment.

With Defending America, The Epoch Times will use events, special editions, documentaries, and puzzles and contests to engage and instruct.

By reminding Americans of the promise of our nation, we will help give our fellow citizens the confidence they need to help put our country back on a sound course.

We hope Americans will join in this effort by spreading the word about our programs and publications to their friends and family.

To find out more about the events and activities relating to Defending America, please visit EpochTimesEvents.com.

^^^ Good post Randy.

Sad times weve fallen into to say the least.

In general, (I think I remember my history correctly) no nation (controlling government) has survived for more than 200 odd years.

I made this comment quite some time back. Nikita Khrushchev (premier of the U.S.S.R.) WAY BACK IN THE 1960’s, stated the United States would never be defeated in an armed conflict, but would be brought down from within. Strange that our greatest enemy at the time said we could not be defeated, but would destroy ourselves.

"Ya bUt yOU guyys DoNT KnoW hoW harD IT Is to be A MiILenial.."