245 Comments

Hoping everyone gets some rest, enjoys a few cold beers, and will be ready to renew the fight tomorrow. Whatta a great community of people here. Thanks to all of you. ✌️💙

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Sounds like a plan Susan… I am grateful for this community here where at least I can feel like there are other people who think and feel the way I do about our country being in a place I never thought we would be… Happy fourth to you, and enjoy those cold beers!

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This is my go to place for a dose of awesome. I was on Facebook and saw that Jeff wrote a thing; came here to read it because there are no trolls. Happy 4th!

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I used to follow him on Twitter and was so happy to find him here. He’s my dose of sanity every day.

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And thank you, Susan.😀😀❤️😘

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HUGS! ❤️❤️😘

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💙🇺🇸❤️

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Back at you, Susan!

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Thanks to Susan and everyone else for the great ideas. And thanks to Jeff Tiedrich for starting the column and the conversation.

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Sounds like a plan to me! 👍🏼

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Luv ya, Susan! Over the last few days, I realized I have to go to Pennsylvania, where my family roots are, and I've gotta register me some voters. Then when voting has begun, I'll make sure those little monsters go out and do some voting. Then I will go to a trumpy bar the night before election and buy cheap whiskey (no beer) for anyone who has NOT yet voted. Hopefully, they'll all get legless. (That's British slang.). No rides to the polls for you!

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Living in a red county in CA, that's a great idea!!! Unfortunately, CA has early voting - ballot drop-off - beginning October 8th and mail in ballots. Chances of finding anyone who hasn't voted would be slim to none. And those hadn't voted, probably wouldn't vote anyway. Maybe drive to the Nevada side of Tahoe. There's an idea - with a vacation too!

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Brilliant, in its way 😆

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Thanks, Susan. Get some R&R, drink what you like and enjoy your day.

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Love you, Sharon! Same to you!

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Love you back, Susan!

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Happy 4th, Susan! I am so thankful for you and Jeff and everyone else here. If's the one place I can go and realize that I'm not alone in how passionately I feel about what is happening in our country right now. And that what little I can do to try to fix it, I have to do, even if I'm the only one who thinks it will help! Take care everyone, and in honor of Joe...I think I'll have some ice cream! (It's hot out here in CA)

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Back at ya Deb. Finding this community has helped me so much. Ice cream? Yes please! I just picked some up! ✌️💙

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How about Happy Donate To Democrats Day and save democracy!?!

I’m going to have a cold one and donate.

Thank you Susan, for helping to keep me sane. Enjoy your day! 💙

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Us 'Susans' need stick together! 😀 Have a great one and indeed, donate...whatever you can afford, it all adds up. 💙

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Same to you Susan, Jeff and everyone else here on what feels like a funhouse ride more times than not. Just for today though enjoy the day as it comes. Love those important to you and put the rest on the far back burner. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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🥰🥰🥰

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Cheers to you too!

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You Too Susan!!

Chill with a nice bottle of wine.

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Thank you Susan!! Have a wonderful day!!

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Right on sistah! You guys are my people and I appreciate you more than mere words can say.

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I can only imagine what fucked up “inspirational” message he’ll bleat out today saying how fucked up everything is, and he should know…he’s the best fucker upper this country has ever seen!

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It's infuriating that people I know (some are relatives) do not see that! It's been nothing but chaos and a free for all $$$$ since 2016. Of course he's had A LOT of help. To those stubborn souls who say they can't vote for either candidate, I say vote defensively, just like you drive defensively. Sometimes you have to veer out of your lane to avoid a crash. You can't reason with them, so creating a metaphor or an image is worth a try. We have to keep trying.

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Excellent metaphor. Thank you!

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Well, one guy is a sexual predator. A rapist. The other guy is not a rapist.

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Yes, you'd think that would work but it doesn't. Look at all those women wearing Trump spangled togs and screaming for him like he's Elvis.

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And that awful woman in that photo with the T-shirt with an arrow pointing down to her crotch with some wording about how Donald could grab her there or something.

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DJT is the quicker fucker upper!

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Trump paper towels -- now more self-absorbent than ever!

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Good one!

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😂😂

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😂

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Fuck him!!

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There must be someone in the Secret Service who can figure out what's needed and do it.

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They won’t; they hid text messages to protect him. We do have the second amendment for citizens to take up arms against their government. Let the rednecks use that.

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The Secret Service hid text messages to protect him?

I'd say America is corrupt.

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I wish Raylan would pay him a visit.

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Where’s Sirhan when you need him ?💥

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sideways.

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👍👍

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And the horse he rode in on.

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With a red hot poker!!

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With a 10 foot pole, sideways and hope the pole doesn't get lost in all the shit.

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I'm hoping he breaks it off!😂😂😈

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Fuck him with a sandpaper dick!

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Perfect! How about Bannon, too!🤣

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HELL YEAH!😈🤬

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😂😂😂

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Agree. He’s a one man clusterfuck but he does have a lot of help keeping it going.

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That's why we need to recognize who all the helpers are and work against them, too.

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Helpers = conspirators. Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society. SCOTUS. The horrifying Heritage Foundation and their sickening Project 2025. All the elected GOPers who are just fine with this! Now we have the SCOTUS saying gratuities are ethical? This is a government, NOT A HOTEL. We've gone from Corporations are People BS to gratuities for services rendered? Good lord.

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Especially Stephen Miller.

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My bingo card has squares for: radical left; leftist Marxists; broken cities; open borders; something along the lines of poisoning the blood; bad economy (even as the Dow roars to new highs); something along the lines of he's the only one who can fix it; "Sir,"; and -- dare I even hope -- a big, strong man with tears streaming down his cheeks, cheeks that have never before been damp with tears, not even when the big, strong man was a tiny, weak baby.

Happy 4th, everyone; you help keep me from going off the rails. May each and every one of us do as much as we can between now and 11-5-24 so that we're all shrieking with joy (and relief) that night. (And may we never forget that the fight to patch up democracy and hold on to it will be eternal.)

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My center square has him starting with “ happy 4th of July to everyone even the haters…”

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Perfect! And, made me laff aloud. Thank you -- I needed that.

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I hear ya!

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He can blow it out of his fat felonious ass. What was very disturbing yesterday was when Trump's wannabe proctologist, Sen. Tim Scott said Trump will be president even if he loses the election. On that note of a stinky heaping pile of horseshit, fuck Tim Scott as well. Have a great and safe 4th everyone.

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I try hard to avoid criticizing a person's appearance, but I make exceptions for the most heinous of the MAGAts. So I'll note that it gives me ginormous pleasure that scump has a very feminine fat distribution, on his thighs and hips (men typically gain only in their gut); google for pics of him in tennis shorts.

I'm guessing that this is source of shame for him -- not being fat (in an ideal world, no one would feel ashamed of that) -- because he so loathes women, yet he now has a somewhat feminine silhouette.

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Oh yes of course, let's guess! "Happy Independunce to a False Country that DOES NOT ALLOW Independence to its BEST and MOST HIGHLY REGARDED CITIZEN, me, your beautiful favorite President! I am FORBIDDEN to do anything and UNJUStly PERSEUCTTED! Crazed felon Jack Smith and deranged Joe Biden are out to destroy our beautiful country which is on its LAST LEGGS, becaus of the HATERS AND LOSERS who want us to be ELECTROCUTED by SHARK BATTERIES! It is all RIGGED AND STOLLEN! Nancy Pelosi!"

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ROTFLMAO thank you

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Again - how did we go from having to HIRE ppl to fill the seats @his rallies - to he’s POISED to retake the Oval Office?… I mean what poppy field are we in NOW? #%&@🤬 FTS

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I'm alone in Italy this July 4th. I've never been as glad as hearing from Jeff just now. I am thinking of our big, beautiful, messy country. I'm 70 years old and will never, ever lose the faith. Happy Independence Day to all who still believe in its promise!

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I have my flag out today, waving right above my Black Lives Matter yard sign, and wondering if next year, the yard sign will be legal and whether I'll even want to fly the flag. For now, I'll put in what I can to try to make sure that next year, there will still be something about this country that I can be proud of.

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Love this! Thx :)

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Happy 4th America. For those of you hoping to escape to Canada, you might want to rethink that. We will be going through the same thing next year. Enjoy your holiday, then unite and fight.

#WeBackBidenHarris

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Indeed - we here in the Canadalands are in BIG trouble. Between Doug Ford-the-Trump-wanna-be, and Pierre Poilievre-the-Victor-Orban-Steven-Harper-wanna-be, looks like we are heading for at least five years of rabidly fascistic "conservative" government (oh, and let's not forget Alberta!). Ford (premier of Ontario for those who don't follow Canadian politics) has a super-majority; I don't THINK Poilievre will have the same at the Federal level, but he will do damage nonetheless, as he adheres to the playbook "How to Kill a Democracy." Sigh. I'm not a big fan of Justin's, but I will certainly continue to vote for the candidate who has the best chance of defeating the Conservative in my riding. Good luck wherever you are, Anita!

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What do you say cousins how about we all join up and get rid of the scumbags in both countries aye ?

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Is Doug Ford the late mayor of Toronto's brother that we read so much about several years ago? Wasn't his name Rob?

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Yes indeed, one and the same. Rob was simply an embarrassment; Doug was always the craftier one, having learned how to hold power and wield influence during his days as a hash dealer in high school! He is owned by the mob and does their bidding (Margaret Atwood has famously said he is "terrified of the cement boots" if he doesn't do what they want!) I could go on and on, but I won't -- it's all too appalling. Cheers!

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Well ugh. Didn't know Canada politics were also scary. I'd always admired our chaos free sister to the North for your lack of drama. It's worldwide- look at France now.

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I really believe it’s the international mob that backs these candidates

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I'm sure you've seen this snippet from The Simpsons, but just in case:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI4bRqjobbw

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There is no explanation for the complete reversal & capitulation of the Republicans who spoke out initially against tRump. The international crime mob, of which Putin is a member, are incredibly brutal & will threaten one & ones family

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We have a provincial election coming up in BC. I am afraid for the outcome. And I went to school with Scott Moe's parents. Imagine my shock when I moved in 2015 and he was elected premier. What is up with people?

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I know, eh? I'm in rural Northern Ontario -- Conservative country. Everything up here is Fuck Trudeau. People have it painted on the sides of their barns, on flags flying in their yards, on yard signs. Honestly, WTF??? We are still suffering from Convoy fever up here. O, Canada!

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I know. I went home for a visit and it was downright depressing to see a big "Hometown of Scott Moe" sign on the highway. I went to visit my friend in Ontario on election day and was really depressed when Ford won again. So was she, because she's a friend of Maryam Monsef.

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There are many other countries to choose from. My Social Security is penthouse money.

Given what is almost certainly coming, keep your passport current and keep a bugout bag packed. Yes I really think it's that bad. I left in 2010

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I left in 1983!

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You moved north. I went to another continent. I speak a very weird language and I eat rice every day.

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I left in 2021

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I doubt Canada has anyone like Trump. No other country does. He's an American original. Happy 4th!

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Yes we do. He just looks more like Peewee Herman.

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Yeah, yeah we do. We've got lots of Trump wannabes. During our last Provincial election here in Ontario the guy running for the seat in my rural riding, Derek Sloan, was head of something called the Peoples' Party of Canada. His party hired Roger Stone (yes, THE Roger Stone) as a campaign advisor. Sloan didn't win, but he got over 2,000 votes in a small riding. Crawled back under a rock somewhere, but I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him. He's a Stephen Miller type -- looks, talks and walks like a Nazi.

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I think the idea of immigrating to Canada has lost its shine for many Americans.

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I'm going OT, but Canada makes me think of the late, sublime Alice Munro, a Nobel winner and the unparalleled master of the English-language short story. If anyone reading this comment hasn't yet read her work, I strongly recommend it; I'd start with "Friend of my Youth," published c. 1991.

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I'm still very grateful that my 2 great grandfathers left the US with their families in the early 20th Century.

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My grandparents all came to the US from Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If they hadn't, my family lines probably wouldn't have survived WWII.

I graduated from McGill University in the late 1970s. Even though there was some ugly anti-Pakistani action at that time, and mistreatment of the indigenous population comparable to that in the US, I was shocked to see the recent wave of anti-Jewish violence sweeping through Canada.

My comment was not to suggest that Canada is awful, but that the mythological niceness attributed to is pretty much gone.

I believe that American democracy can be saved, so we need to stay here and work to preserve it.

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I wish I could agree but the trend is clear.

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It's okay. You don't have to agree with me.

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Funny, I was looking up apartments to rent on Victoria Island just yesterday.

Damn

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Vancouver Island is beautiful and Victoria is great. We have a provincial election coming up. That should be some indication of where we're headed.

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Yes! Vancouver Island! My mistake.

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My in-laws used to live in Sidney, on the Saanich Peninsula and I have a grandson in the Victoria suburbs.

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🇨🇦 Novie is beautiful this time of year ,but we’re all needed here !🇺🇸

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My best friend of 50 years is from Cape Breton, but I've never been to the Maritimes.

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My Ma who I just buried Dec 7th last year was from Cape Breton Island a little town called Glacé Bay ,I still got people there !Used to visit there often camp out around the causeway area ,Beautiful!🇨🇦If you have ever seen the Scottish coast you’ll know why this Provence is named New Scotland .😃👍

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Small population up there your friend might be a cousin !🤔😊

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I live in a Mexican town with lots of expat Canadians. They are here for the same reasons we Americans are. It is not a bed of roses there, plus its cold and very expensive

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I have some cousins down there. I think my cousin's wife might still be there too, but he passed away. It's fine if you're free enough to do that. Someone has to stay and work. I grew up on the Prairie, so I am used to cold weather.

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The most critical of July 4ths in my lifetime

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That is true.

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👍

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Happy 4th!💥. Let’s hope we’re all here, standing united, this time next year! I fear a very long and bumpy road ahead! ✌️💖🥃

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The Taxes in question were NOT a tax increase - they were a **tax cut** for the wealthy British Monopolies so they could undercut the american entrepreneurs/smugglers prices.

Tax Cuts.

For The Rich.

King George's Original Party

GOP

Tax the rich.

It's as American as the Revolution.

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It was also because they wanted to keep (the economic benefits of) slavery which was illegal in the UK.

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Thanks for the link.

From the 1619 Project:

“Conveniently left out of our founding mythology, [sic] is the fact that one of the primary reasons the colonists decided to declare their independence from Britain was because they wanted to protect the institution of slavery.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1619_Project

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Unfortunately, their citation is little more than "it stands to reason", and fails to differentiate between Northern and Southern colonies, doing their fine work a disservixe.

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I will do more reading on it.

It’s not an area of expertise for me. It is one of several areas of interest that I read about at times.

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It isn't a *bad* reading of history, but it is unnuanced. There were abolitionists in both England *and* the colonies, both Norrh and South (obv more in the North). They were far from a politically powerful force at the time. And the most overarching concern at the time of the declaration was unifying a coalition of *widely* disparate parties. It wasn't pretty, but it set us on a pth.

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Just a quick reminder from me - stamps go up in price on July 14th. If you are planning on writing letters or postcards for any of the marvelous groups trying their damnedest to protect democracy take a quick moment today, head to usps.com and buy what you think you'll need. I work today (my job is in death care and as we all know death never takes a holiday) so I wish everyone else a pleasant, restful day. Ooh. One more thing PLEASE look up your local Democratic organization and sign up if you already have not. Ok. Have a good one my brothers, sisters and others.

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Thanks for doing the hard work of death care, and thanks for the USPS reminder. Best wishes.

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You're welcome. I've been at this for nearly 12 years now. It really has changed how I think of Life and what I believe about death. The hardest ones are the children who have decided to end their journeys due to bullying. I've had kids as young as 10. Many are autistic or LGBTQIA. Admittedly the gross orange man started me seeking mental health care for myself, but seeing this many kids dying daily also led me to my therapist's couch.

A tip: Make sure you have a GOOD photo of yourself available for your obituary (if you're going that route.) Hokey Smokes have I ever seen some awful photos. In Japan elders take portraits when they become a certain age as a gift for their families and these can be used in obituaries. It's really a wonderful thing. I'm not sure something like that would catch on here as Americans are so afraid of death. However, it's coming for us all, best to be comfy with it.

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July 14 th Bastille day French Independence Day another democracy in the shit !did I spell that right ?

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Thanks for that reminder about stamps! I will go get mine tomorrow.✌️

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Thanks for the heads up.

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Jeff your humor and sharp take-no-prisoners observations are saving me right now - have a great 4th 🇺🇸✨

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Sorry - I meant ‘take-no-f*ckin-prisoners’.

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Not even Heather Cox Richardson could have summarized the creation of the US of A more truthfully than you just did. Thank you for sticking your neck out there. It helps more than I think you know.

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Absolutely. But I've never felt less like celebrating America than I do this year.

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Allan, agree. It's definitely a rough ride right now. Today we rest. Friday we FIGHT LIKE our DEMOCRACY depends on each of us! 🇺🇸🇺🇸

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I’m dressed in my patriotic black today. Enjoy a few beers and unhealthy food everyone. Power up for tomorrow.

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Your values are in the right place but it's not going to happen.

Still ...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ3BnJKUcb7tCgjHYYLFUPn29dbVDnT7NQ8sQ&s

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Fabulous. Thanks for the link!

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Any other place to follow her? I'm not getting on Twitter.

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Thank you.

She has a Substack.

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Ah. Just heard her as a guest on podcasts…

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Excellent link, thank you! Now following Tracy….

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Anything to spread the word Liz

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Holy Flipping Shit!! Best, most important tweet I've ever read!! Must Read. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

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Yes explains the beauty of voting, loyalty and respecting each other - thought it might help. (Struggling today hearing all the holiday music on the radio) :/

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Thank you!

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Thanks for that-Tracy is extraordinary!

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And to you, Jeff. And to all the rest of you great folks here.

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Have a great 4th of July, Jeff. You deserve it. We ALL deserve it! 🇺🇸

Many thanks for being here. You help keep me partially sane.

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Everyone enjoy their day. It's Reds vs. Yankees for me, then maybe golf.(Weather permitting) You guys are great.😀😀🎉💥

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Lifelong Yankee fan here thanks to my Dad but whoever your team is, I hope they win. You and I are on the same team where it really matters.. Happy 4th!

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How about those Red Sox ?

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Them’s fightin’ words lol, but again we are on the same team where it really matters.

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You got that right! ☮️🇺🇸Damn Yankees

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Thanks.😀😀❤️

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I live in a mansion with 25+ other senior citizens. We have a ‘shindig’ today with food, fun, and social interaction. I’m relaxing and enjoying my neighbors. I’ll be back in the fight tomorrow.

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Enjoy. Go Giants.

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