How July 4 Threatened the Confederacy
Posted By: zoidberg, 7/4/2021 7:34:55 AM
One of the most regrettable developments of this summer in the United States is the way in which certain commentators have tried to pit the spirit of Juneteenth against the spirit of July 4, as if the two were in tension with one another. In fact, they are not. The essential concord that exists between the two holidays has been pointed out by other writers who stress that the final extirpation of slavery on Juneteenth was a follow-through on the promises and principles of July 4, not a repudiation of them.
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How July 4 Threatened the Confederacy
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One of the most regrettable developments of this summer in the United States is the way in which certain commentators have tried to pit the spirit of Juneteenth against the spirit of July 4, as if the two were in tension with one another. In fact, they are not. The essential concord that exists between the two holidays has been pointed out by other writers who stress that the final extirpation of slavery on Juneteenth was a follow-through on the promises and principles of July 4, not a repudiation of them.
July 4 offers us a day to reflect on the American Revolution. Because it coincides as well with the conclusion of the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg in 1863, it is also a time to look back on the American Civil War. The men who led the Confederate States of America fought for a much worse cause than did the Founding Fathers, yet they drew inspiration from the Founders’ battle for independence. Why did they fail?
Clarence Thomas, one of the Supreme Court's most conservative justices, said Monday that because of the hodgepodge of federal policies on marijuana, federal laws against its use or cultivation may no longer make sense. "A prohibition on interstate use or cultivation of marijuana may no longer be necessary or proper to support the federal government's piecemeal approach," he wrote.
As expected, the Biden administration released proposed new rules for pistol braces and model legislation for "red flag" laws that make it easier to confiscate privately owned firearms. Also as expected, the proposals are ludicrous. On the one hand, they are pointless and nitpicky rules that are ultimately unenforceable, and on the other hand they are dangerous end-runs around due process that threaten fundamental rights. Taken together, they illustrate the unserious nature of gun regulations which are crafted more to appeal to political audiences than to achieve positive results.
The U.S. is likely soon to have a fourth vaccine approved for the fight against COVID-19. Novavax just released the results of its Phase 3 clinical trial: Its two-dose vaccine demonstrates 90 percent overall efficacy and 100 percent protection against both moderate and severe COVID-19 disease. The doses are injected three weeks apart.(Snip)The Novavax vaccine uses a technology similar to hepatitis and pertussis vaccines, in which copies of viral proteins provoke the immune system to create antibodies that protect people when they are exposed to the actual viruses. In this case, Novavax employs the coronavirus spike protein that the virus
Most Americans now favor legalizing marijuana, including large majorities across the political spectrum. Just this year, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia have eliminated state bans and opened the door to legal markets in the stuff. Even Congress is considering federal legalization (though the White House isn't necessarily on board). Via the ballot box and through legislation, authorities in the United States are reforming the treatment of marijuana and those who enjoy its use. But, as is so often the case, the impetus for change came much earlier—from scofflaws who did as they pleased, normalized the use of an
Public support for marijuana legalization has reached a new high. According to pollsters at Quinnipiac University, 69 percent of all Americans and clear majorities in every demographic group now favor the legalization of marijuana. That's up from 51 percent of Americans who said they favored legalization in 2012, the first year Quinnipiac included questions about marijuana in their national surveys, and up from 60 percent who backed legalization in 2019. (Snip) Support isn't just growing, it is broadening. The Quinnipiac poll found that 78 percent of self-identified Democrats, 62 percent of self-identified Republicans, and 67 percent of self-identified independents favor legalization.
An Atlanta high school that bears the name of a Confederate Army general who was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan will be renamed for Hank Aaron, the Hall of Famer who broke baseball’s career home record and challenged racial barriers. The Atlanta Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to change the name of Forrest Hill Academy, named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, to Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy. School district policy requires a five-year waiting period after the death of a notable person unless the vote to change the name of a school building is unanimous.
Do immigrants bring with them the worst attributes of the countries they left behind? (Snip) In their new book, Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions, the Cato Institute's Alex Nowrasteh and Texas Tech University's Benjamin Powell take an exhaustive look at the data and find that destination countries not only benefit economically from immigration but that key markers of liberal democracy—such as support for the rule of law and limited government, belief in private property rights, and trust in government—improve when newcomers arrive en masse.
Rep. Justin Amash (L–Mich.) on Thursday introduced a bill to end civil asset forfeiture, which allows the government to take property from someone without ever charging them with a crime. Law enforcement on the local, state, and federal levels can seize assets if they were thought to be used in connection with illegal activity. That's often based solely on suspicion, though. Many people never receive their items back, even if they were acquitted or never charged in the first place. Since 2000, state and local governments have robbed people of more than $68 billion.
Drugs Declare Victory in War on Drugs
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The 2020 elections delivered a resounding victory for drug policy reformers, who won everywhere their proposals were put to a vote. Across the country, in red and blue states, on both coasts and in between, in the Midwest and the Deep South, voters passed ballot initiatives that not only continued to reverse marijuana prohibition but also broke new ground in making drug laws less punitive and more tolerant. New Jersey's approval of marijuana legalization was expected. Preelection surveys consistently put public support above 60 percent, although the actual margin of victory was a few points bigger than the polls suggested
‘Conservative’: A Term Up for Grabs
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Twenty-five years ago, I met Scott Morris, when we both worked at The Weekly Standard. He asked, “What kind of conservative are you? What is the basis of your conservatism?” I attempted a couple of answers, which did not satisfy him. Scott was an intellectual, who had studied philosophy, including over in Oxford. Finally, I said to him, “Look, Scott, I’m a simple fellow: I just hate the Reds. Hate, hate, hate the Reds.” He laughed and laughed, and let me off the hook, for a while.
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Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush sparked controversy on Sunday with a tweet in which she said Independence Day was only a holiday for white people.
'When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people,' she wrote. 'This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.' Bush, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in November, has been widely viewed as the newest member of the so-called 'Squad' of congresswomen known for being outspoken on their left-wing views, and she is no stranger to controversy.
The Statue of Liberty is a 'meaningless symbol of hypocrisy' because of America's history of racism, sexism and anti-immigrant sentiment, according to the Washington Post's art and architecture critic.Philip Kennicott, a Pulitzer Prize winner, argued in an essay Saturday that the monument - which has stood for a century as one of the most iconic examples of American freedom - represented 'unfulfilled promises'.He added that the statue was irrelevant to non-white Americans, using as evidence the absence of representations of the statue when he visited a Chicano art exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington.
Those of Joe Biden’s public behaviors that align with classic dementia symptoms are escalating. In the past few days, he strongly exhibited two symptoms: A type of belligerence that’s a cover-up for confusion and memory loss and a paranoid fear of those in charge of him.
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House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) criticized the Declaration of Independence in a tweet on July 4th, suggesting it is a racist document because it was written almost 250 years ago, when there was slavery in the United States.She tweeted Sunday: July 4th… & so, the Declaration of Independence says all men are created equal. Equal to what? What men? Only white men? Isn’t it something that they wrote this in 1776 when African Americans were enslaved? They weren’t thinking about us then, but we’re thinking about us now!
Biden on Saturday visited a cherry farm near Antrim County with Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and democrat senators Peters and Stabenow.About 25 people lined up along the route to King Orchard to see Dementia Joe. Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow bragged about the 2 dozen people (probably paid staffers) lining up along the road to see Biden. 25 Biden supporters.But he got 81 million votes. VIDEO:(Tweet/Video) On the very same day, over 45,000 people came out to see Trump in a rainstorm and another 375,000 watched his live speech on RSBN Rumble.
Barack Obama moved his way up into the top 10 of C-SPAN’s presidential leadership survey for the first time this year, while Donald Trump clocked in at 41st on the list, months after the end of his term in office.C-SPAN released the rankings from its Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, which is taken after each presidential transition, on Wednesday. This survey marks Trump's first appearance on the list, on which the one-term president placed higher than only three other presidents: Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson and the perpetually last-ranked James Buchanan.
The young midshipman needed a date one evening while he was home from the US Naval Academy, so his younger sister paired him with a family friend who already had a crush.Nearly eight decades later, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are still together in the same tiny town where they were born, grew up and had that first outing. In between, they've traveled the world as Naval officer and military spouse, American president and first lady, and finally as human rights and public health ambassadors.'It's a full partnership,' the 39th president told The Associated Press during a joint interview ahead of the couple's 75th wedding anniversary on July 7.
The country’s largest teachers union has moved to undermine the left-wing talking point that critical race theory is not taught to children -- by voting promote it and arguing it is "reasonable and appropriate" to use CRT in social studies classes.
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Students on the campus of Georgetown University said they are not proud to be an American when interviewed shortly before the Fourth of July holiday, adding that they would give up their American citizenship. The students, however, were unable to name better country than the United States.With Independence Day just around the corner, Campus Reform‘s Ophelie Jacobson went to Georgetown University to ask students if they feel proud to be an American.“No,” one student said. “I feel embarrassed to be an American every day. I think a lot of things about this country are really embarrassing, just, like, I mean, racist history, colonization, even currently, just what’s going on
SAN FRANCISCO -- According to the California Retailer's Association three cities in our state are among the top 10 in the country when it comes to organized retail crime--Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento. Already we are seeing the negative impact it is having in San Francisco with stores permanently shutting down or closing early. It has become one of the most pressing issues in our city today. Target has now acknowledged that San Francisco is the only city in America where they have decided to close some stores early because of the escalating retail crime. For more than a month
PBS has divided opinion with its decision to have Vanessa Williams sing the 'Black National Anthem' during its July 4 celebration, in a nod to Juneteenth being made a federal holiday. The singer and actress, who was the first black woman to be crowned Miss America, will perform the song 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' while hosting PBS's 41st 'A Capitol Fourth' annual celebration, which airs Sunday.The song was first written as a poem in 1900 by NAACP leader James Weldon Johnson and has long held the nickname as the 'Black National Anthem.'
Actress and singer Vanessa Williams will be singing the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” more commonly known as the Black National Anthem, as she hosts PBS’ 41st annual “A Capitol Fourth” celebration.
Williams said that she is singing the song as a way to promote “Juneteenth” on the Fourth of July.
“It’s in celebration of the wonderful opportunity that we now have to celebrate Juneteenth. So we are reflective of the times,” she told the Associated Press.
Juneteenth was made a federal holiday this year and already took place on June 19.