In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
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.
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.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
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:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
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.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Deleted passage regarding slavery: “He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.”
Happy Independence Day. Peace out, Glibbies.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
Compare that to 2026.
There are a few other grievances in there too which have come back today with a vengeance.
I was reading something that was discussing how the government is much more intrusive on our lives now that King George ever imagined.
And every one of them whined when they got the Yankee boot.
In the Declaration Jefferson only mentioned one right twice and the second time stated it was a duty. The right to revolution.
The Bill of Rights in the 1A lists a bunch of things the government can’t abrogate, and in the 2A gives the people the ability to enforce the Constitution and BoR from an unresponsive government.
What a testament to the inherent rights of mankind. Good work gents.
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants”
I also read that democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what’s for lunch. The second amendment gives the sheep a say.
It’s a wolf and two sheep; wolf promises to never ever eat one of the sheep if it votes for eating the other sheep.
Thanks Creech, 1 wolf majority ’cause the wolf does the counting
It’s almost the eating time of the day
https://ibb.co/tT0RQtzw
What I really like about our revolution – Brits kept telling our Founders “comply or else”.
They chose “or else” every single time. Well done.
Rights are created and granted by the government. Everybody knows that.
Always an appropriate march for today. Mahalo.
When I was assuming command of my battalion the division sent part of the division band there to perform at the required times. The leader asked the outgoing commander if he would like a march for bringing us onto the field. He looked panicked and so I suggested the “Liberty Bell March” be played. I could see he got it, and brigade commander who was presiding got it. But only a few troops got it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-xKri5Jmik&list=RDK-xKri5Jmik&start_radio=1
I am sure this group will get it after only a bar or two.
LOL I never knew the name of that or that it was Sousa.
As the incoming BC, I expect you rectified it with mandatory fun Monty Python night followed by a rousing course of Benny Hill.
I didn’t have time since we were jetting off to OIF 1 to support the 4ID. From the plan to enter during the invasion through Turkey it turned into waiting for gear to arrive in Kuwait and “sprinting” north to keep the fight going north of Baghdad.
The division did have a “secret” movie and music drive on the network once we settled in the Sunni Triangle. By the time we left in 2004 EVERYBODY who was there could give you huge chunks of dialogue from “Groundhog Day” and “The Big Lebowski”. Both movies fit the “idiom of our day” very well.
“Important papers…”
*watches*
That was fantastic.
It’s weird that I have loved some of that Brit Walton’s coronation marches for decades but I own nothing by Sousa.
Another bit of music for that most American of movie genres:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yulmgTcGLZw
Happy CCL!
And the best sample of it:
https://youtu.be/wgI4q6OzoyE
This was written over 10% tariffs and the rough equivalent of a $4 per gallon tax on molasses and $2 a copy stamps on official documents, btw. There were no income taxes. No capital gains taxes. No energy taxes. No departments of transportation, labor, housing, health, or education. No securities and exchange commission. No interstate commerce restrictions on growing grain on your own property for your own consumption. No secret police, authorized by secret courts. No spy agencies. No mass surveillance. No vaccine mandates. No truancy laws. No Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Temporary Assistance for Need Families. No minimum wages or price controls. 25,000 people over the course of 8 years got themselves killed fighting off the world’s most expensive and powerful military at the time over impositions of authority that are now so trivial they wouldn’t cause a rural town of 500 people to vote out their mayor.
No building permits or inspectors.
“By today’s standards King George III was a very mild tyrant indeed. He taxed his American colonists at a rate of only pennies per annum. His actual impact on their personal lives was trivial. He had arbitrary power over them in law and in principle but in fact it was seldom exercised. If you compare his rule with that of today’s U.S. Government you have to wonder why we celebrate our independence….”
…Joseph Sobran
I celebrate our ndependence not necessarily for everything that we’ve become, but because it ensured that we haven’t yet turned out like the Brits.
A “least worst” kind of thing.
*insert weak yay sound effect*
We have our problems.
Arresting people for tweets and hundreds of thousands of young girls being raped by savages while we keep quiet for fear of being called racist aren’t among them, however.
America does have problems, but considering our geographic and demographic size, and the resources and land available? The US is/was as successful, effective, polite and charitable as ‘a group’ of humans could possibly achieve.
The Constitution is the pinnacle of the political Enlightenment. The cultural traditions, beliefs and practices that led to it are not ‘available’ most places in the world.
With all the power we had and still have, every other country would’ve destroyed and/or taken over the world. Britain would’ve been the 2nd most polite and they’d have maintained and furthered their global empire.
We, The People, have done really well.
Meanwhile, New Jersey is saving us from dynamic pricing
New Jersey is one step closer to banning surveillance pricing after lawmakers passed legislation that would limit how retailers use shoppers’ personal data to set individualized prices.
State lawmakers passed the Fair Price Protection Act on Tuesday, which would prohibit retailers and third-party grocery delivery platforms from using consumers’ personal data collected through electronic surveillance to charge different prices for the same grocery and food products. The bill now awaits the signature of Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill.
How does that even work?
I can see how it could conceivably work on line, but for in person grocery shopping? Does Safeway implant RFID chips in customers’ necks? Is there really that much money in overcharging “disfavored” customers?
Something tells me this is a “fairness” issue similar to risk-based financing or insurance. You can’t charge crazy poor people a higher interest rate just because they’re more likely to default. That would be wrong.
Sounds like it ends shopper discount cards to me.
There is a carve out noted below, but I’m not going to parse it to figure out the holes.
Like a car dealer, total up all the accessories, tax and transportation and your trade in and find out how bad the hosing is going to be.
https://njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2026/A4523/bill-text?f=A5000&n=4523_I1
I’m assuming it’s future proofing. A purple person walks in is scanned by the surveillance camera and all the shelf tags change via magic AI.
Online as you note is a different reality.
Wegmans got in hot water recently for scanning entering visitors. And they didn’t really claim a satisfactory reason for doing it, either.
Surge pricing of hot dog buns on July 3.
How does that work when multiple people are in the same aisle?
Preponderance of purple people?
Polarized shelf tag only visible when you directly look at it?
Surreptitiously checks your credit card balance and sets the total price.
The most polite and clearly outlined Fuck You letter of treason in human history, against the most powerful empire in human history. It’s quite remarkable, how all the people, events, legal, political, cultural, and geographic realities came together in America to create this place. Could only happen here. For all its fuckery, it’s still better than all the rest.
~J̵o̵h̵n̵ Herbie Hancock
And hoo-boy does Pat give a long list of fuckery up there.
Evan finds the third room
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcD_YXCxxZM&list=RDQcD_YXCxxZM&start_radio=1
*gaze intensifies* Why am I finding this room, now? Huh? Why is this song named after me, again? What is it you’d say … I DO around here? (That’s China, but those alleys are fondly reminiscent.)
My name continues to take over. Not sure how I feel about it. Worked with two other Evans at Walmart, but I can easily conquer them.
I remember that movie.
Paraguay – a team of thugs and I think the Ref was paid-off. Thankfully, France still won.
I don’t like either team and watched maybe 20 seconds of it.
Tomorrow’s matches look more promising. At least I don’t actively loathe any of the teams.
LOL:
I’m almost more amused at some of the ethnic rivalries we’re not supposed to be paying any attention to than the games.
You don’t loathe England or the Putos?
Not really. Should I?
Every American should hate Mexico with the heat of a thousand suns.
And England are consistently overrated and given more coverage than they deserve. It’s a variation on the star-fucking most sports coverage does.
Agreed – tomorrow is a great soccer day. Meals and snacks already lined-up!
History Channel’s showing their ‘George Washington: Father of his Country’ special. A lot of time spent on his earlier days as a loyal (and not terribly good?) British officer. Pretty well done, didn’t see all of it.
It was on maybe yesterday, but I’m shocked ‘Independence Day’ isn’t running 24/7. ‘Patriot’ was on earlier, as it should be. There are far too few Revolutionary movies. Hell, just do Johnny Tremain. I liked that book in 4th grade. (Haven’t read it since.) There’s lots of secret, civilian spy shit to have fun with, as well.
I think I was happy to stick a fork in my eye than finish “Johnny Tremain” – blecch.
Have some Independence Day.
Johnny Tremain is a Disney live-action movie. Disney tends to keep its stuff in the vault.
I just saw they made that in the ’50s. Never seen it. Fuck, that’s at least something that could actually use a reboot. Just don’t make it a damn musical. And be rated R. With a hot chick, who may or not be a honeypot spy. So make it for me, Disney. (Or think about it. Just make a good flick for kiddos. That’s my actual preference. (But do think about that other one.))
John Tyler is the father of his country, considering how many kids he had.
Locals having their own early fireworks show. I can hear them but too many trees to see anything.
Ditto here, although not as many trees.
I hear some too.
lol I usually watch the Macy’s fireworks but I was watching Dr. Who instead and missed it. Oh well.
The local cable news is showing something taking place on the brutalist New York State government campus in Albany. Gah, pass.
I really wanted to watch a good fireworks show tonight, but all of the local ones are trash, and the very spectacular show in Louisville every year is overpacked to the gills. You have to make reservations upwards of a year in advance to get a good view.
Having grown up in Florida, I’ve been pretty spoiled by Disney fireworks shows which are nothing short of amazing. It’s hard to watch podunk fireworks after seeing some of those shows. I saw a 4th of July show there running on 2 decades ago that still blows my mind when I think about it.
Fucking power is out here. Like 20 minutes so far. 🤬🤬
I thought I lived in a first world country…
A lot of people are furiously working to end that so… yeah.
*looks at hydro plant just upriver*
I hope nobody notices and kills it.