Happy Independence Day, Pat!!! I wish it was cool here! Already 77 and humid; some possible storms later in the day but we’ll see. I’ve been a busy bee trying to get some things done – brought in 4 gals. of water from my truck; doing a load of laundry; put some other things away. By the time I sat down and started putting some lotion on my legs, I realized they were swollen up like tree stumps! So I’ll be keeping them propped up for a while.
I tried some ice cream w/caramel sauce @ 4 am – too sweet – but I was able to eat and enjoy just the vanilla ice cream. I’m going to make some jello w/fruit cocktail later.
I saw the female oriole this morning! she came to the jelly feeder. we only ave one pair of orioles that still come to the feeder but several make and female grosbeaks.
when you were shopping on line at walmart, did they have butterfinger ice cream balls?
I was busy in the kitchen this morning, brewing some fresh iced tea, making pasta salad and deviled eggs. hubby’s gonna grill later and we’re gonna watch The Patriot and Independence Day…lol
Strong evidence shows that corrupt FBI officials and former LADA George Gascón deliberately concealed CCP infiltration of U.S. election systems—because exposing it would have politically benefited @realDonaldTrump.
@Kash_Patel & @dbongino now have a rare opportunity: expose how deeply politicized the FBI became, remove CCP-controlled software from America’s elections, and finish an investigation that was already 90% complete before it was sabotaged.
At the center of the scandal is Konnech, a Michigan-based election software company secretly developed and financed by two Chinese firms—Jinhua Yulian Network and Jinhua Hongzheng Technology—under contract with China’s National People’s Congress and in partnership with state-owned giants like Huawei, China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, and Lenovo.
Konnech’s flagship product, PollChief, is used to manage poll worker scheduling, equipment deployment, and logistics in major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Washington D.C., Fairfax County, and St. Louis.
In early 2021, @TrueTheVote‘s Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips discovered that Konnech was storing the personally identifiable information (PII) of U.S. election workers, judges, and voters on servers in China. Using open-source tools like Binary Edge, they traced PollChief to Chinese IP addresses—where they found unsecured databases containing names, Social Security numbers, addresses, bank information, voter roll data, polling location schematics, provisional ballot serial numbers, and even passwords for voting machines.
They alerted FBI field offices in Detroit and San Antonio, where agents took the threat seriously and launched a 15-month counterintelligence investigation. But in April 2022—just before the release of Dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules, a film on 2020 election fraud featuring True the Vote—FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. intervened and flipped the investigation on its head.
Field agents warned Engelbrecht and Phillips that they, not Konnech, were now considered the threat. Two senior female FBI officials in Washington D.C. were reportedly preparing criminal charges against them rather than Konnech’s CEO Eugene Yu. Engelbrecht was warned she and Phillips might be prosecuted for accessing Konnech’s data on Chinese servers.
The FBI even tipped off Konnech about the investigation—compromising the case—and began circulating internal accusations that Phillips had committed cybercrimes, referring those allegations to the CIA and NSA. Phillips said their goal was to “Roger Stone” him—publicly smear and criminalize him as they had done to Trump allies.
In fear for their safety, a field agent advised Engelbrecht and Phillips to take the “nuclear option”—go public. On August 13, 2022, they did just that at The Pit, a closed-door briefing in Arizona with 200 cybersecurity experts, journalists, and election integrity investigators.
Two weeks later, Konnech sued them. In a stunning series of courtroom actions, Engelbrecht and Phillips were jailed and held in solitary confinement—until the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered their immediate release. The FBI stood by and let it happen. After their release, they published thousands of documents exposing Konnech’s ties to China. Within days, Konnech dropped the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, independent researchers quickly pieced together Eugene Yu’s background. Born in China, Jianwei Yu (于建伟) graduated from Zhejiang University in 1982 and worked for the CCP from 1983 to 1985 as a project manager in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. He moved to the U.S. in 1986 to pursue an MBA at Wake Forest University.
In 2002, Yu founded Konnech. By November 2005, he had launched a Chinese subsidiary—Jinhua Yulian Network—funded and overseen by the CCP. That same year, he was profiled as an “overseas scholar” in a Chinese-language publication by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and the American Zhu Kezhen Education Foundation (AZKEF).
CAST is a formal CCP arm linking Chinese leadership with overseas scientists and technologists. AZKEF, where Yu served on the finance committee, flew U.S. researchers—including Harvard’s Charles Lieber—to Chinese universities. Lieber was later arrested for failing to disclose his ties to China’s Thousand Talents Plan, one of the CCP’s many programs that recruit foreign experts to encourage the illicit transfer of intellectual property back to China.
Konnech’s Chinese ties ran deep. It partnered with Michigan State University’s Confucius Institute, developed software in CCP-run tech parks, and directly served China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
On January 25, 2006, Yu’s Chinese company was accepted into the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Jinhua Science and Technology Park—a CCP-controlled tech incubator. From that point on, Jinhua Yulian Network and Konnech, were financed, developed, and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Just a month later, on February 25, 2006, Yu registered the domain yu-lian .cn for Jinhua Yulian Network using his Konnech email address (eyu@konnech .com). Archived versions of the company’s Chinese-language website show Yu praising “Comrade Jiang Zemin” and the Chinese Communist Party, while promoting Konnech’s software products used by the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Election Management Solutions Detroit, and U.S. Overseas Voters.
In December 2006, Konnech partnered with the Confucius Institute to build a Chinese communication platform called ChineseBrief .com. Yu registered CNBrief LLC, launched http://www.cnbrief .com, and displayed a banner in Chinese that translated to: “Chinese Brief – Overseas Chinese Network.”
Confucius Institutes are CCP-funded cultural centers embedded in Western universities that U.S. intelligence agencies and lawmakers have long warned operate under the direction of the CCP.
On July 18, 2007, an archived Chinese government website showed Yu offering a 5 million yuan (~$700,000 USD) software development contract on behalf of Jinhua Yulian Network, again using his Konnech email address and website
you’re supposed to go to the NEAREST country if you’re escaping a country and seeking asylum–not fly/boat/walk to America because we have more perks for illegals. Now they have to pay $100 to file an asylum claim–down from the $1,000 fee the parliamentarian struck down and out of the bill. WHY? who is SHE to determine the fee????? she’s not elected. she should get no say in this.
FTA
Yes, the original idea, overruled by the Senate parliamentarian, was to make the amount closer to what the court costs are, at $1,000. And sure, it would be a good idea to penalize those throwing junk cases to clog up the courts and prevent them from dealing with real asylum cases.
But $100 is still a good start in disincentivizing junk asylum cases. As most would-be asylees aren’t fleeing persecution, the cost of being unable to fool the judge has just gotten higher.
Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Thursday night announced that he would host an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at the White House next year as part of the United States’ 250th birthday celebration.
Trump is known to support the sport and has been spotted at multiple matches in the past. He is also a friend of UFC CEO Dana White.
“Every one of our national parks, battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of ‘America250’ and I even think we’re going to have a UFC fight,” Trump said in remarks at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. “Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We’re going to have a UFC fight. We’re going to have a UFC fight — think of this — on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there.”
Trump said that White will be the person responsible for making the fight happen, but said there will be other events to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday as well.
“We’re going to have some incredible events, some professional events, some amateur events. But the UFC fight is going to be a big deal, too,” he said.
Other planned events include reenactments at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and national parks across the country. A complete guide to events to mark the country’s birthday can be found here.”
“Never Forget What the 4th of July Represents: WHAT IT TAKES TO STAY FREE”
Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET), Jul 04, 2025
“On this special day, the 4th of July 2025, let us NEVER FORGET what this day truly represents. America endured a BOLD beginning, and I want to provide a reminder of WHO WE ARE and what it takes to STAY FREE.
On July 4, 1776, a courageous idea changed the course of human history. A group of defiant colonists declared that freedom was not a privilege handed down by monarchs but a God-given right. A small band of patriots signed the Declaration of Independence, and in doing so, they declared a radical idea: that liberty isn’t granted by kings, but endowed by our Creator, God Almighty.
They pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to a cause greater than themselves. It was a risky and uncertain experiment rooted in moral courage and an unshakable belief in freedom. They didn’t just write about liberty — they bled for it, and that same spirit of sacrifice has echoed through every American generation since.
You can’t speak honestly about the Fourth of July without honoring those who have defended it, our men and women in uniform.
From the ragtag Continental Army that stood up to the most powerful empire in the world, to the modern warrior defending freedom in every corner of the globe, the American military has always been the shield that protects the promise of July 4th. Every flag waving proudly today does so because someone stood ready to defend it.
Those who wear the uniform have bought and safeguarded every right we enjoy, free speech, faith, voting, and living as we choose. Our military doesn’t just defend borders; it defends America’s virtues.
On this day, we must remember that freedom isn’t free. It never has been. America is more than a place, it’s an idea that must be renewed, lived out, and passed on.
Military families know this truth deeply. They endure long deployments, shoulder the burden of war, and return to their homes forever changed. They do this out of love for country, freedom, and one another. Their sacrifices aren’t just for Memorial Day or Veterans Day. It’s woven into the meaning of Independence Day. Every firework is a tribute not just to our birth, but to our survival.
This isn’t about politics. This is about patriotism. It’s about gratitude for the past, the present, and the defenders of our future.
Stand for something greater so this Independence Day, remember that our freedom was won through valor… and preserved through vigilance.
Let’s teach our children that the American flag stands for more than a holiday. It stands for sacrifice, unity, and an enduring dream worth defending. Let us each recommit to the bold spirit of liberty that lit the fuse of revolution nearly 250 years ago.
To our troops, our veterans, and their families, THANK YOU. Your service is the reason we celebrate.
Happy Independence Day. May we never take it for granted.
“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.” – Declaration of Independence, 1776
“This Independence Day, Ditch The DNA Test And Learn More About Your American Ancestors — In a frustratingly divided nation, we need stories that unite us to a shared American vision of the good life based on our nation’s founding principles.”
The Federalist, By: Casey Chalk, July 04, 2025
ENTIRE ARTICLE: “In recent years, Americans have become obsessed with learning about their ancient heritage. Only a few years ago, companies such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA celebrated their tens of millions of customers, whom they encouraged, in ridiculous commercials, to travel the world to find and develop deep connections with their far-flung roots. Then 23andMe — possessing all manner of private genetic and medical information — went bankrupt and was sold on July 1 to a nonprofit organization run by the company’s former CEO.
Nothing is inherently wrong with wanting to know about one’s ancestors — everyone should want to know from where and from whom they come. But the excessive interest in “the mother country” (or countries) often comes at the expense of learning about, and taking pride in, one’s American lineage. This Fourth of July, Americans should rekindle a knowledge and appreciation for how their family story plays into the greater American narrative of freedom and opportunity.
Remember, Your Ancestors Came to America
One irony of Americans’ interest in their roots from Europe, Asia, or Africa is that it tends to elide the fact that our ancestors chose to come here. Many immigrants came to America not because they hated their home country, but because they were fleeing something, such as religious persecution, political oppression, or poverty. However, many also believed the United States (or her predecessors — the colonies) offered something uniquely exciting and promising: freedom, opportunity, advancement.
It’s amazing to think our forebears often forfeited much, if not all, of their connections to their homeland, staking everything on the chance to prosper elsewhere. That takes an incredible degree of courage, given that they would have to start all over again, separated from their extended kinship networks in a foreign land. Millions arrived having little, if any, comprehension of English. Still, they prospered.
That alone is a story worth remembering, regardless of how successful our ancestors have been in the United States. Yet so many of our forebears thrived — often incredibly so. Families, who had been stuck in generational poverty since the colloquial “Dark Ages,” found that, with hard work and a little ingenuity, they could make enough money not only to survive, but to enter the middle- or upper-class, bequeathing wealth to their descendants that their own grandparents never would have imagined.
Day laborers became factory workers, private farmers, and independent businessmen, and their children either carried on the family business or went on to college and enjoyed a level of education and credentialed employment once reserved for the wealthy and noble few. Those who had never had the freedom to worship God were able to build entire communities around their particular faith tradition.
A Personal Anecdote
I’m personally familiar with the contemporary American proclivity to chase one’s ancestry across the seas. As a young boy, I loved studying the Irish heritage of my mother’s side. I listened to Irish music, sought out Irish cuisine, and planned to visit the Emerald Isle as soon as I could.
In college, I studied abroad in Dublin. The first thing I discovered, as a recent Saturday Night Live skit amusingly parodies, is that literally millions of Americans have returned to Eire in search of their family story. In my case, like most, my Irish ancestors came to America during the Great Famine. Those forebears lost contact with their relatives, though one of my ancestors briefly returned to Ireland after serving in the Civil War to find a wife. Thus, even though I met plenty of Irish who shared the same last names as my mother’s side of the family, they could not have cared less about our distant connection. Though it is a beautiful country with a remarkable history (and delicious beer), that trip proved it was not my country.
As I got older and encountered the various expected difficulties of adult life, I became much more interested in those predecessors of mine who had made a new life in America. How did they find the diligence and fortitude to press on in the face of so many hardships? What was it like for my great-great-grandfather to serve as an Indian Agent in the West? How did my grandfather take a chance starting his own business as a middle-aged father with young children? These stories were far more proximate and meaningful to me than old, perhaps even apocryphal tales about ancient Irish clans. I wanted to understand my American progenitors, so I could appreciate their stories.
Drop the Escapism and Embrace Your Americanness
Natural human curiosity inclines us toward the distant, both chronically and geographically, shrouded as it is in a certain mystery. I still love traveling the world when I get the chance.
But our obsession with an ancient past — largely, if not entirely, disconnected from our own family story — can reflect a certain escapism as we chase after the exotic. It even tends toward the absurd, as men with distant ancestors from Scotland suddenly wear kilts, or women whose forebears came from Scandinavia begin experimenting with paganism. This is little more than childish cosplay.
If you’re a U.S. citizen, it means your family has an American story. It may have started in 1620, 1850, or even 1970, but it is still uniquely American. Almost always, there’s at least something to be proud of in that narrative, and it need not be a family member’s participation in a war. Hard work, entrepreneurship, or serving as a pillar of a community — these are all qualities of the American ethos worth celebrating. In a frustratingly divided nation, we need stories that unite us to a shared American vision of the good life based on our nation’s founding principles.
John Jay wrote in Federalist 2:
“With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people — a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.”
This Independence Day, consider afresh how your family plays its part in that providential story. For those histories are the ones your children and grandchildren can most easily grasp as their own.”
This does not please me but perhaps there’s something behind the scenes…..
“White House, Pentagon Won’t Say Why Admiral Who Allowed Drag Shows On Navy Ship Was Nominated For Promotion”
The Federalist, By: Jacqueline Annis-Levings, July 03, 2025
ENTIRE ARTICLE: “President Trump recently recommended Rear Admiral Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, who is known for allowing drag shows on his ship when he was a captain, for promotion to command of the Navy’s 7th fleet.
“Adm[iral] Donnelly wasn’t in drag himself, but any military leader will tell you he is responsible for everything that happens under his command,” tweeted William Thibeau, director of the American Military Project at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life.
During his campaign, Trump promised to remove woke elements from the U.S. military and return the armed forces to their former glory. He even puncuated this campaign message with a video that spliced clips of Full Metal Jacket (the military under Trump) with clips of Admiral Rachel Levine and Navy drag queen “Harpy Daniels” (the military under Biden).
“Harpy Daniels,” whose real name is Joshua Kelly, is an active-duty sailor and drag performer who claims to be nonbinary. He was made the Navy’s digital ambassador in 2022. In 2017 and 2018, Kelly performed drag onboard the USS Ronald Reagan in Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department events. Donnelly captained the ship at the time.
Now Donnelly is up for promotion, nominated by President Trump.
Donnelly is a career aviation officer who has previously commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 154, the USS Denver, the USS Ronald Reagan, Carrier Strike Group 5, and U.S. Naval Forces Korea. He is currently the head of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Air Warfare directorate. If promoted, he would command up to 70 ships, 150 aircraft, and more than 27,000 sailors.
While his experience is extensive, Donnelly’s allowance of drag aboard the USS Ronald Reagan is directly opposed to Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s vision for the U.S. military. Since his appointment, Hegseth has reinstituted Trump’s ban on recruiting trans-identifying individuals and is removing members of the military who identify as transgender. Trump and Hegseth also promised to fire woke generals and admirals.
One of Donnelly’s previous promotions was temporarily blocked by Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in 2023 for unrelated reasons. Tuberville vowed to block all military nominations until the Pentagon rescinded a policy that offered paid leave and reimbursement of travel expenses for service members’ abortions, but lifted his block on all but the most senior promotions after significant pressure.
The White House did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment. The Secretary of Defense’s Office referred The Federalist to Navy Public Affairs, which did not respond.”
Working with the White House on this EO for the past six months has been an honor.
I’m grateful for @realDonaldTrump & his team for their leadership. This is an incredible step that will leave a positive mark for our environment for generations!
hubby just nailed the corner of the garden fence with the tractor, so i was out trying to figure out a way to fix it without putting in a new fence. this one is wooden, pretty old, but still holding its own till now. lol
while i was out, I strolled up to the grapes to see what’s what up there since we remove part of that fencing. the grapes are growing wild–everywhere! it’s hard to walk between the rows because i didn’t trim the feelers, but from what I can see–the vines are loaded with grapes–or grapelets…lol
“Guest Column: Dr. John Eastman on Birthright Citizenship: On Independence Day, Eastman presents his argument in support of President Trump’s birthright citizenship proclamation and his criticism of SCOTUS’ dissent in universal preliminary injunction matter.”
Dr. John Eastman is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute.
EXCERPT: “The Supreme Court’s blockbuster cases—in other words, those that are politically controversial—always seem to be decided in late June at the very end of the term. October Term 2024, which ended last Friday, is no exception.
Planned Parenthood does not have standing to challenge South Carolina’s decision to exclude it from Medicaid funding, the Court held inMedina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. Texas’s law requiring that websites publishing sexually explicit content verify that visitors to the site are over 18 is constitutional, stated the Court inFree Speech Coalition v. Paxton. And Mahmoud v. Taylor indicates that parents of children in grades K-5 entitled to a preliminary injunction allowing them to opt their children out of “LGBTQ+inclusive” storybooks.
But the case causing the most apoplexy on the left isTrump v. CASA, Inc., which held that lower courts exceed their authority when they issue nationwide or “universal” injunctions that block the implementation of executive orders beyond the actual parties to the case.
The CASA case involved challenges to President Trump’s Day-1 Executive Order articulating that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment does not mandate automatic or “birthright” citizenship for children born to parents present in the United States only temporarily or illegally. Within 24 hours of the issuance of that order, seven cases had been filed challenging it, and another five followed in the weeks after, all clearly forum shopping in districts with judges overwhelmingly appointed by Democratic presidents.
A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) just two days after the order, which, as he admitted from the bench, he had signed even before the hearing for TRO began. Stunningly and not-so-subtly, the judge threatened the government attorneys with sanctions for daring to defend the president’s order.
Preliminary injunctions soon followed, and although a couple of them were properly limited to the parties in the case, the injunctions issued by the district courts in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington in the three major cases were all nationwide in scope.
The greatest angst from the left over the CASA decision was its holding that nationwide injunctions, which go well beyond the parties to the particular case, exceed the district courts’ power under the Act of Congress which created them (and, quite arguably, the Constitution’s Article III text that limits the judicial power to “cases or controversies,” though the Court did not reach that alternative argument). This outrage is undoubtedly explained by the fact that the only power the left has at the moment is in black-robed, Obama- or Biden-appointed judges bent on thwarting the agenda President Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people last November to advance.
Same Relief, Different Name
The Court’s decision in CASA clipped those left-leaning judges’ wings, although to be candid, only by a bit. A ruling by a lower court on remand that would have the same effect as a nationwide injunction might be had via a nationwide class action. And although in their concurring opinions both Justices Alito and Kavanaugh cautioned the lower courts against granting class certification without undergoing the rigorous analysis required for such certifications, it is very likely that forum-selected, agenda-driven lower-court judges will not heed their warning and instead will certify a nationwide class and then enjoin the president’s Executive Order against all members of the class……”
“A motorcyclist was mauled to death by a bear in Romania on Thursday after posing for a selfie with its cub. Italian tourist Omar Farang Zin, 49, was riding on his motorbike along the Carpathian Mountains in the central region of Arges when a vicious bear attacked him and dragged his body down a ravine.
Police and emergency services said in a joint statement that tourists had alerted them to yesterday’s attack, and after an hour of searching for him, they found Omar’s lifeless body.
Okay, so here’s the question. Is the guy in the picture the guy that got killed? ‘Cause if it is, then some sick motherfucker got a hold of his camera/phone/ whatever, checked out the pictures on it and when he found this one he released it to social media and the press. That is one sick fucker if that’s the case. Juss’ sayin’…”
Democrats want every non-American on Planet Earth to have the right to come to the USA illegally and receive free redistributions of the wealth you and I create.
In return, they get counted in the census in Democrat states and get to vote illegally for the Democrats who give…
Just The News: “Authorities were conducting a frantic search Friday for 20 girls missing from a summer camp after ferocious floods in central Texas swamped entire communities, killing more than a dozen people. The Kerr County Sheriff’s Department confirmed at least 13 fatalities in its community about 75 miles west of Austin and authorities braced for more victims.
Rescue operations were underway in multiple communities, with a frantic search for 20 girls missing from the Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp where about 700 attendees were camping when torrential rains struck. “Within 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet and it was a destructive flood — taking property and sadly lives,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told a news conference Friday afternoon.
Patrick said approximately 20 children were unaccounted for on Friday. “If they are alive and safe, we will find them and bring them home to you,” he said. The camp said in a statement, read by Patrick, there had been a “catastrophic level” of flooding and if parents had not been contacted, their child is accounted for.
Authorities said an entire month’s worth of rain rushed down in central Texas, triggering warnings Thursday night and Friday morning as residents were preparing to celebrate Independence Day.
“Conditions are life-threatening! DO NOT go out onto the roads,” the local National Weather Service warned Friday morning. “Expect roads washed out and rapid rises on rivers and creeks.”
The flooding has resulted in fatalities in Kerr County, just about 75 miles west of Austin, Texas, per local officials. “This is a catastrophic flooding event in Kerr County,” the Kerr County sheriff’s office said on Facebook. “…The entire county is an extremely active scene. Residents are encouraged to shelter in place and not attempt travel.”
Storms have brought between 4 and 6 inches—and in some locations a reported 10 inches—of torrential rainfall to the central Texas region since Thursday evening, prompting several flash flooding emergencies.”
“The Original Liberty Letter: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”
Ashe in America, Jul 04, 2025
“One of the most beautiful and consequential documents ever written, the Declaration of Independence enshrines the ideals of the founders 249 years ago. Tomorrow, we begin our 250th year since casting off the chains of the British crown, and, again, God-fearing Americans find ourselves at a moment of choosing. We celebrate the stories of our nation’s independence, but are we still willing to fight for it? What would our founders say about our governments?
Beginning tomorrow, we’re going to talk about our founding history, the march toward nationhood, and the fight to keep it ever since it was won. Today, read the words that ignited the spark that changed the world. The original Liberty Letter.
Happy Independence Day, everyone!
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.
Sew Colorful 
Happy 4th
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and to you, Mom, and your pup!
hope there’s no loud scary noises to bother your pup tonight!
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Fireworks were going off last night so I was carrying around a beagle
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growing up our three dogs hated them too. we put the dogs in the basement during the evening.
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Morning All!
chilly out there…barely 50* but the skies look semi clear. we’ll see what today holds!
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Happy Independence Day, Pat!!! I wish it was cool here! Already 77 and humid; some possible storms later in the day but we’ll see. I’ve been a busy bee trying to get some things done – brought in 4 gals. of water from my truck; doing a load of laundry; put some other things away. By the time I sat down and started putting some lotion on my legs, I realized they were swollen up like tree stumps! So I’ll be keeping them propped up for a while.
I tried some ice cream w/caramel sauce @ 4 am – too sweet – but I was able to eat and enjoy just the vanilla ice cream. I’m going to make some jello w/fruit cocktail later.
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Morning Filly!
I saw the female oriole this morning! she came to the jelly feeder. we only ave one pair of orioles that still come to the feeder but several make and female grosbeaks.
when you were shopping on line at walmart, did they have butterfinger ice cream balls?
I was busy in the kitchen this morning, brewing some fresh iced tea, making pasta salad and deviled eggs. hubby’s gonna grill later and we’re gonna watch The Patriot and Independence Day…lol
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I’ve lost my taste for BF, unfortunately. At this point, I need to stick to as plain as possible.
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SAY IT ISN’T SO!!!!
that’s a tragedy!
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Sounds great!
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Gudthots(@gudthots)
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Reply to Gudthots
July 4, 2025 03:09
KanekoaTheGreat
@KanekoaTheGreat
Jun 2
🚨EXCLUSIVE: @FBIDirectorKash & @FBIDDBongino: Expose the FBI and Gascón’s Konnech–CCP Election Software Cover-Up
Strong evidence shows that corrupt FBI officials and former LADA George Gascón deliberately concealed CCP infiltration of U.S. election systems—because exposing it would have politically benefited @realDonaldTrump.
@Kash_Patel & @dbongino now have a rare opportunity: expose how deeply politicized the FBI became, remove CCP-controlled software from America’s elections, and finish an investigation that was already 90% complete before it was sabotaged.
At the center of the scandal is Konnech, a Michigan-based election software company secretly developed and financed by two Chinese firms—Jinhua Yulian Network and Jinhua Hongzheng Technology—under contract with China’s National People’s Congress and in partnership with state-owned giants like Huawei, China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, and Lenovo.
Konnech’s flagship product, PollChief, is used to manage poll worker scheduling, equipment deployment, and logistics in major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Washington D.C., Fairfax County, and St. Louis.
In early 2021, @TrueTheVote‘s Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips discovered that Konnech was storing the personally identifiable information (PII) of U.S. election workers, judges, and voters on servers in China. Using open-source tools like Binary Edge, they traced PollChief to Chinese IP addresses—where they found unsecured databases containing names, Social Security numbers, addresses, bank information, voter roll data, polling location schematics, provisional ballot serial numbers, and even passwords for voting machines.
They alerted FBI field offices in Detroit and San Antonio, where agents took the threat seriously and launched a 15-month counterintelligence investigation. But in April 2022—just before the release of Dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules, a film on 2020 election fraud featuring True the Vote—FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. intervened and flipped the investigation on its head.
Field agents warned Engelbrecht and Phillips that they, not Konnech, were now considered the threat. Two senior female FBI officials in Washington D.C. were reportedly preparing criminal charges against them rather than Konnech’s CEO Eugene Yu. Engelbrecht was warned she and Phillips might be prosecuted for accessing Konnech’s data on Chinese servers.
The FBI even tipped off Konnech about the investigation—compromising the case—and began circulating internal accusations that Phillips had committed cybercrimes, referring those allegations to the CIA and NSA. Phillips said their goal was to “Roger Stone” him—publicly smear and criminalize him as they had done to Trump allies.
In fear for their safety, a field agent advised Engelbrecht and Phillips to take the “nuclear option”—go public. On August 13, 2022, they did just that at The Pit, a closed-door briefing in Arizona with 200 cybersecurity experts, journalists, and election integrity investigators.
Two weeks later, Konnech sued them. In a stunning series of courtroom actions, Engelbrecht and Phillips were jailed and held in solitary confinement—until the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered their immediate release. The FBI stood by and let it happen. After their release, they published thousands of documents exposing Konnech’s ties to China. Within days, Konnech dropped the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, independent researchers quickly pieced together Eugene Yu’s background. Born in China, Jianwei Yu (于建伟) graduated from Zhejiang University in 1982 and worked for the CCP from 1983 to 1985 as a project manager in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. He moved to the U.S. in 1986 to pursue an MBA at Wake Forest University.
In 2002, Yu founded Konnech. By November 2005, he had launched a Chinese subsidiary—Jinhua Yulian Network—funded and overseen by the CCP. That same year, he was profiled as an “overseas scholar” in a Chinese-language publication by the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and the American Zhu Kezhen Education Foundation (AZKEF).
CAST is a formal CCP arm linking Chinese leadership with overseas scientists and technologists. AZKEF, where Yu served on the finance committee, flew U.S. researchers—including Harvard’s Charles Lieber—to Chinese universities. Lieber was later arrested for failing to disclose his ties to China’s Thousand Talents Plan, one of the CCP’s many programs that recruit foreign experts to encourage the illicit transfer of intellectual property back to China.
Konnech’s Chinese ties ran deep. It partnered with Michigan State University’s Confucius Institute, developed software in CCP-run tech parks, and directly served China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
On January 25, 2006, Yu’s Chinese company was accepted into the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Jinhua Science and Technology Park—a CCP-controlled tech incubator. From that point on, Jinhua Yulian Network and Konnech, were financed, developed, and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Just a month later, on February 25, 2006, Yu registered the domain yu-lian .cn for Jinhua Yulian Network using his Konnech email address (eyu@konnech .com). Archived versions of the company’s Chinese-language website show Yu praising “Comrade Jiang Zemin” and the Chinese Communist Party, while promoting Konnech’s software products used by the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Election Management Solutions Detroit, and U.S. Overseas Voters.
In December 2006, Konnech partnered with the Confucius Institute to build a Chinese communication platform called ChineseBrief .com. Yu registered CNBrief LLC, launched http://www.cnbrief .com, and displayed a banner in Chinese that translated to: “Chinese Brief – Overseas Chinese Network.”
Confucius Institutes are CCP-funded cultural centers embedded in Western universities that U.S. intelligence agencies and lawmakers have long warned operate under the direction of the CCP.
On July 18, 2007, an archived Chinese government website showed Yu offering a 5 million yuan (~$700,000 USD) software development contract on behalf of Jinhua Yulian Network, again using his Konnech email address and website
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h/t Marica
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you’re supposed to go to the NEAREST country if you’re escaping a country and seeking asylum–not fly/boat/walk to America because we have more perks for illegals. Now they have to pay $100 to file an asylum claim–down from the $1,000 fee the parliamentarian struck down and out of the bill. WHY? who is SHE to determine the fee????? she’s not elected. she should get no say in this.
FTA
Yes, the original idea, overruled by the Senate parliamentarian, was to make the amount closer to what the court costs are, at $1,000. And sure, it would be a good idea to penalize those throwing junk cases to clog up the courts and prevent them from dealing with real asylum cases.
But $100 is still a good start in disincentivizing junk asylum cases. As most would-be asylees aren’t fleeing persecution, the cost of being unable to fool the judge has just gotten higher.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/07/bbb_passes_in_house_illegals_to_pay_for_their_own_phony_asylum_filings.html
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Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Thursday night announced that he would host an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at the White House next year as part of the United States’ 250th birthday celebration.
Trump is known to support the sport and has been spotted at multiple matches in the past. He is also a friend of UFC CEO Dana White.
“Every one of our national parks, battlefields and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of ‘America250’ and I even think we’re going to have a UFC fight,” Trump said in remarks at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. “Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White? We’re going to have a UFC fight. We’re going to have a UFC fight — think of this — on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there.”
Trump said that White will be the person responsible for making the fight happen, but said there will be other events to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday as well.
“We’re going to have some incredible events, some professional events, some amateur events. But the UFC fight is going to be a big deal, too,” he said.
Other planned events include reenactments at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and national parks across the country. A complete guide to events to mark the country’s birthday can be found here.”
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“Never Forget What the 4th of July Represents: WHAT IT TAKES TO STAY FREE”
Michael T. Flynn LTG USA (RET), Jul 04, 2025
“On this special day, the 4th of July 2025, let us NEVER FORGET what this day truly represents. America endured a BOLD beginning, and I want to provide a reminder of WHO WE ARE and what it takes to STAY FREE.
On July 4, 1776, a courageous idea changed the course of human history. A group of defiant colonists declared that freedom was not a privilege handed down by monarchs but a God-given right. A small band of patriots signed the Declaration of Independence, and in doing so, they declared a radical idea: that liberty isn’t granted by kings, but endowed by our Creator, God Almighty.
They pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to a cause greater than themselves. It was a risky and uncertain experiment rooted in moral courage and an unshakable belief in freedom. They didn’t just write about liberty — they bled for it, and that same spirit of sacrifice has echoed through every American generation since.
You can’t speak honestly about the Fourth of July without honoring those who have defended it, our men and women in uniform.
From the ragtag Continental Army that stood up to the most powerful empire in the world, to the modern warrior defending freedom in every corner of the globe, the American military has always been the shield that protects the promise of July 4th. Every flag waving proudly today does so because someone stood ready to defend it.
Those who wear the uniform have bought and safeguarded every right we enjoy, free speech, faith, voting, and living as we choose. Our military doesn’t just defend borders; it defends America’s virtues.
On this day, we must remember that freedom isn’t free. It never has been. America is more than a place, it’s an idea that must be renewed, lived out, and passed on.
Military families know this truth deeply. They endure long deployments, shoulder the burden of war, and return to their homes forever changed. They do this out of love for country, freedom, and one another. Their sacrifices aren’t just for Memorial Day or Veterans Day. It’s woven into the meaning of Independence Day. Every firework is a tribute not just to our birth, but to our survival.
This isn’t about politics. This is about patriotism. It’s about gratitude for the past, the present, and the defenders of our future.
Stand for something greater so this Independence Day, remember that our freedom was won through valor… and preserved through vigilance.
Let’s teach our children that the American flag stands for more than a holiday. It stands for sacrifice, unity, and an enduring dream worth defending. Let us each recommit to the bold spirit of liberty that lit the fuse of revolution nearly 250 years ago.
To our troops, our veterans, and their families, THANK YOU. Your service is the reason we celebrate.
Happy Independence Day. May we never take it for granted.
“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.” – Declaration of Independence, 1776
May God continue to Bless and Protect America.”
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Amen!
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“This Independence Day, Ditch The DNA Test And Learn More About Your American Ancestors — In a frustratingly divided nation, we need stories that unite us to a shared American vision of the good life based on our nation’s founding principles.”
The Federalist, By: Casey Chalk, July 04, 2025
ENTIRE ARTICLE: “In recent years, Americans have become obsessed with learning about their ancient heritage. Only a few years ago, companies such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA celebrated their tens of millions of customers, whom they encouraged, in ridiculous commercials, to travel the world to find and develop deep connections with their far-flung roots. Then 23andMe — possessing all manner of private genetic and medical information — went bankrupt and was sold on July 1 to a nonprofit organization run by the company’s former CEO.
Nothing is inherently wrong with wanting to know about one’s ancestors — everyone should want to know from where and from whom they come. But the excessive interest in “the mother country” (or countries) often comes at the expense of learning about, and taking pride in, one’s American lineage. This Fourth of July, Americans should rekindle a knowledge and appreciation for how their family story plays into the greater American narrative of freedom and opportunity.
Remember, Your Ancestors Came to America
One irony of Americans’ interest in their roots from Europe, Asia, or Africa is that it tends to elide the fact that our ancestors chose to come here. Many immigrants came to America not because they hated their home country, but because they were fleeing something, such as religious persecution, political oppression, or poverty. However, many also believed the United States (or her predecessors — the colonies) offered something uniquely exciting and promising: freedom, opportunity, advancement.
It’s amazing to think our forebears often forfeited much, if not all, of their connections to their homeland, staking everything on the chance to prosper elsewhere. That takes an incredible degree of courage, given that they would have to start all over again, separated from their extended kinship networks in a foreign land. Millions arrived having little, if any, comprehension of English. Still, they prospered.
That alone is a story worth remembering, regardless of how successful our ancestors have been in the United States. Yet so many of our forebears thrived — often incredibly so. Families, who had been stuck in generational poverty since the colloquial “Dark Ages,” found that, with hard work and a little ingenuity, they could make enough money not only to survive, but to enter the middle- or upper-class, bequeathing wealth to their descendants that their own grandparents never would have imagined.
Day laborers became factory workers, private farmers, and independent businessmen, and their children either carried on the family business or went on to college and enjoyed a level of education and credentialed employment once reserved for the wealthy and noble few. Those who had never had the freedom to worship God were able to build entire communities around their particular faith tradition.
A Personal Anecdote
I’m personally familiar with the contemporary American proclivity to chase one’s ancestry across the seas. As a young boy, I loved studying the Irish heritage of my mother’s side. I listened to Irish music, sought out Irish cuisine, and planned to visit the Emerald Isle as soon as I could.
In college, I studied abroad in Dublin. The first thing I discovered, as a recent Saturday Night Live skit amusingly parodies, is that literally millions of Americans have returned to Eire in search of their family story. In my case, like most, my Irish ancestors came to America during the Great Famine. Those forebears lost contact with their relatives, though one of my ancestors briefly returned to Ireland after serving in the Civil War to find a wife. Thus, even though I met plenty of Irish who shared the same last names as my mother’s side of the family, they could not have cared less about our distant connection. Though it is a beautiful country with a remarkable history (and delicious beer), that trip proved it was not my country.
As I got older and encountered the various expected difficulties of adult life, I became much more interested in those predecessors of mine who had made a new life in America. How did they find the diligence and fortitude to press on in the face of so many hardships? What was it like for my great-great-grandfather to serve as an Indian Agent in the West? How did my grandfather take a chance starting his own business as a middle-aged father with young children? These stories were far more proximate and meaningful to me than old, perhaps even apocryphal tales about ancient Irish clans. I wanted to understand my American progenitors, so I could appreciate their stories.
Drop the Escapism and Embrace Your Americanness
Natural human curiosity inclines us toward the distant, both chronically and geographically, shrouded as it is in a certain mystery. I still love traveling the world when I get the chance.
But our obsession with an ancient past — largely, if not entirely, disconnected from our own family story — can reflect a certain escapism as we chase after the exotic. It even tends toward the absurd, as men with distant ancestors from Scotland suddenly wear kilts, or women whose forebears came from Scandinavia begin experimenting with paganism. This is little more than childish cosplay.
If you’re a U.S. citizen, it means your family has an American story. It may have started in 1620, 1850, or even 1970, but it is still uniquely American. Almost always, there’s at least something to be proud of in that narrative, and it need not be a family member’s participation in a war. Hard work, entrepreneurship, or serving as a pillar of a community — these are all qualities of the American ethos worth celebrating. In a frustratingly divided nation, we need stories that unite us to a shared American vision of the good life based on our nation’s founding principles.
John Jay wrote in Federalist 2:
This Independence Day, consider afresh how your family plays its part in that providential story. For those histories are the ones your children and grandchildren can most easily grasp as their own.”
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This does not please me but perhaps there’s something behind the scenes…..
“White House, Pentagon Won’t Say Why Admiral Who Allowed Drag Shows On Navy Ship Was Nominated For Promotion”
The Federalist, By: Jacqueline Annis-Levings, July 03, 2025
ENTIRE ARTICLE: “President Trump recently recommended Rear Admiral Michael “Buzz” Donnelly, who is known for allowing drag shows on his ship when he was a captain, for promotion to command of the Navy’s 7th fleet.
“Adm[iral] Donnelly wasn’t in drag himself, but any military leader will tell you he is responsible for everything that happens under his command,” tweeted William Thibeau, director of the American Military Project at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life.
During his campaign, Trump promised to remove woke elements from the U.S. military and return the armed forces to their former glory. He even puncuated this campaign message with a video that spliced clips of Full Metal Jacket (the military under Trump) with clips of Admiral Rachel Levine and Navy drag queen “Harpy Daniels” (the military under Biden).
“Harpy Daniels,” whose real name is Joshua Kelly, is an active-duty sailor and drag performer who claims to be nonbinary. He was made the Navy’s digital ambassador in 2022. In 2017 and 2018, Kelly performed drag onboard the USS Ronald Reagan in Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Department events. Donnelly captained the ship at the time.
Now Donnelly is up for promotion, nominated by President Trump.
Donnelly is a career aviation officer who has previously commanded Strike Fighter Squadron 154, the USS Denver, the USS Ronald Reagan, Carrier Strike Group 5, and U.S. Naval Forces Korea. He is currently the head of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Air Warfare directorate. If promoted, he would command up to 70 ships, 150 aircraft, and more than 27,000 sailors.
While his experience is extensive, Donnelly’s allowance of drag aboard the USS Ronald Reagan is directly opposed to Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s vision for the U.S. military. Since his appointment, Hegseth has reinstituted Trump’s ban on recruiting trans-identifying individuals and is removing members of the military who identify as transgender. Trump and Hegseth also promised to fire woke generals and admirals.
One of Donnelly’s previous promotions was temporarily blocked by Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., in 2023 for unrelated reasons. Tuberville vowed to block all military nominations until the Pentagon rescinded a policy that offered paid leave and reimbursement of travel expenses for service members’ abortions, but lifted his block on all but the most senior promotions after significant pressure.
The White House did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment. The Secretary of Defense’s Office referred The Federalist to Navy Public Affairs, which did not respond.”
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yeah that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either.
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that’s one way to frame it without facing a lot of backlash.
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“Friday Funnies: Let Freedom Ring and other true stories”
Robert W Malone MD, MS, Jul 04, 2025
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THIS^^^^^^^^^^
can you believe this guy claimed to be asian and african american on his Columbia College application?
https://www.dailywire.com/news/mamdani-said-he-was-african-american-on-columbia-university-application
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Never forget – we had to beat the British twice! They came back and burned our White House in 1814….so we unleashed holy hell on them!
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hubby just nailed the corner of the garden fence with the tractor, so i was out trying to figure out a way to fix it without putting in a new fence. this one is wooden, pretty old, but still holding its own till now. lol
while i was out, I strolled up to the grapes to see what’s what up there since we remove part of that fencing. the grapes are growing wild–everywhere! it’s hard to walk between the rows because i didn’t trim the feelers, but from what I can see–the vines are loaded with grapes–or grapelets…lol
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“Guest Column: Dr. John Eastman on Birthright Citizenship: On Independence Day, Eastman presents his argument in support of President Trump’s birthright citizenship proclamation and his criticism of SCOTUS’ dissent in universal preliminary injunction matter.”
Dr. John Eastman is a Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute.
Julie Kelly, Jul 04, 2025
EXCERPT: “The Supreme Court’s blockbuster cases—in other words, those that are politically controversial—always seem to be decided in late June at the very end of the term. October Term 2024, which ended last Friday, is no exception.
Planned Parenthood does not have standing to challenge South Carolina’s decision to exclude it from Medicaid funding, the Court held in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. Texas’s law requiring that websites publishing sexually explicit content verify that visitors to the site are over 18 is constitutional, stated the Court in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton. And Mahmoud v. Taylor indicates that parents of children in grades K-5 entitled to a preliminary injunction allowing them to opt their children out of “LGBTQ+inclusive” storybooks.
But the case causing the most apoplexy on the left is Trump v. CASA, Inc., which held that lower courts exceed their authority when they issue nationwide or “universal” injunctions that block the implementation of executive orders beyond the actual parties to the case.
The CASA case involved challenges to President Trump’s Day-1 Executive Order articulating that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment does not mandate automatic or “birthright” citizenship for children born to parents present in the United States only temporarily or illegally. Within 24 hours of the issuance of that order, seven cases had been filed challenging it, and another five followed in the weeks after, all clearly forum shopping in districts with judges overwhelmingly appointed by Democratic presidents.
A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) just two days after the order, which, as he admitted from the bench, he had signed even before the hearing for TRO began. Stunningly and not-so-subtly, the judge threatened the government attorneys with sanctions for daring to defend the president’s order.
Preliminary injunctions soon followed, and although a couple of them were properly limited to the parties in the case, the injunctions issued by the district courts in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington in the three major cases were all nationwide in scope.
The greatest angst from the left over the CASA decision was its holding that nationwide injunctions, which go well beyond the parties to the particular case, exceed the district courts’ power under the Act of Congress which created them (and, quite arguably, the Constitution’s Article III text that limits the judicial power to “cases or controversies,” though the Court did not reach that alternative argument). This outrage is undoubtedly explained by the fact that the only power the left has at the moment is in black-robed, Obama- or Biden-appointed judges bent on thwarting the agenda President Trump was overwhelmingly elected by the American people last November to advance.
Same Relief, Different Name
The Court’s decision in CASA clipped those left-leaning judges’ wings, although to be candid, only by a bit. A ruling by a lower court on remand that would have the same effect as a nationwide injunction might be had via a nationwide class action. And although in their concurring opinions both Justices Alito and Kavanaugh cautioned the lower courts against granting class certification without undergoing the rigorous analysis required for such certifications, it is very likely that forum-selected, agenda-driven lower-court judges will not heed their warning and instead will certify a nationwide class and then enjoin the president’s Executive Order against all members of the class……”
https://www.declassified.live/p/guest-column-dr-john-eastman-on-birthright
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that is sooo true. the only branch they have any real power in is the judicial.
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Stupid, stupid fricking people!!!!
“A motorcyclist was mauled to death by a bear in Romania on Thursday after posing for a selfie with its cub. Italian tourist Omar Farang Zin, 49, was riding on his motorbike along the Carpathian Mountains in the central region of Arges when a vicious bear attacked him and dragged his body down a ravine.
Police and emergency services said in a joint statement that tourists had alerted them to yesterday’s attack, and after an hour of searching for him, they found Omar’s lifeless body.
Okay, so here’s the question. Is the guy in the picture the guy that got killed? ‘Cause if it is, then some sick motherfucker got a hold of his camera/phone/ whatever, checked out the pictures on it and when he found this one he released it to social media and the press. That is one sick fucker if that’s the case. Juss’ sayin’…”
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bears are dangerous when they’re hungry and outright lethal when there’s cubs involved. sigh…
but yeah IS that the guy?
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Apparently so…..
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idiot
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oh hey I like that deport/abort one!
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Perfect, right???
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absolutely!
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great photos!!!!
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Jeez! What a PITA! I had one pair of sweats with the elastic totally worn out – just spent 45 minutes threading a shoelace thru them.
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gees…if we lived closer, i would have replaced the elastic for you! it’s a simple task. i did it for my mom all the time!
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this intern DOES look like Barron Trump to me!!
this is the one who was murdered.
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Just The News: “Authorities were conducting a frantic search Friday for 20 girls missing from a summer camp after ferocious floods in central Texas swamped entire communities, killing more than a dozen people. The Kerr County Sheriff’s Department confirmed at least 13 fatalities in its community about 75 miles west of Austin and authorities braced for more victims.
Rescue operations were underway in multiple communities, with a frantic search for 20 girls missing from the Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp where about 700 attendees were camping when torrential rains struck. “Within 45 minutes, the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet and it was a destructive flood — taking property and sadly lives,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told a news conference Friday afternoon.
Patrick said approximately 20 children were unaccounted for on Friday. “If they are alive and safe, we will find them and bring them home to you,” he said. The camp said in a statement, read by Patrick, there had been a “catastrophic level” of flooding and if parents had not been contacted, their child is accounted for.
Authorities said an entire month’s worth of rain rushed down in central Texas, triggering warnings Thursday night and Friday morning as residents were preparing to celebrate Independence Day.
“Conditions are life-threatening! DO NOT go out onto the roads,” the local National Weather Service warned Friday morning. “Expect roads washed out and rapid rises on rivers and creeks.”
The flooding has resulted in fatalities in Kerr County, just about 75 miles west of Austin, Texas, per local officials. “This is a catastrophic flooding event in Kerr County,” the Kerr County sheriff’s office said on Facebook. “…The entire county is an extremely active scene. Residents are encouraged to shelter in place and not attempt travel.”
Storms have brought between 4 and 6 inches—and in some locations a reported 10 inches—of torrential rainfall to the central Texas region since Thursday evening, prompting several flash flooding emergencies.”
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hoping these girls are found alive!
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“The Original Liberty Letter: “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”
Ashe in America, Jul 04, 2025
“One of the most beautiful and consequential documents ever written, the Declaration of Independence enshrines the ideals of the founders 249 years ago. Tomorrow, we begin our 250th year since casting off the chains of the British crown, and, again, God-fearing Americans find ourselves at a moment of choosing. We celebrate the stories of our nation’s independence, but are we still willing to fight for it? What would our founders say about our governments?
Beginning tomorrow, we’re going to talk about our founding history, the march toward nationhood, and the fight to keep it ever since it was won. Today, read the words that ignited the spark that changed the world. The original Liberty Letter.
Happy Independence Day, everyone!
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.
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Good night, Pat!
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Good Night Filly!
we’re watching Independence Day. we watched The Patriot earlier.
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