2026-07-04. July 4th, 1776

Administrivia. Wheatie Wisdom.  If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.  No running with scissors.  No food fights. 

AI stuff posted, requires a link. Please use spoiler, for longer posts.

Wolf Speak.  No obnoxious behavior towards fellow QTreeper(s). Freedom of Speech is honored here QTree.  But Do Know, every poster, IS personally responsible for what they post. 

Formailties complete. Please do consider, putting your feet up & relax.

Perhaps, skip the scroll wheel. Grab a beverage. Coffee, tea, juice, water…

Something light to munch on.

Before celebrating America’s 250th Birthday.

A few minutes to

Honor Unknowns, Forgotten, Fallen…

Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery 

9:03

One more minute before celebrating America…

Honor Those “Who Gave It all”.

“Taps” – Bugle Call: USMC Drum & Bugle Corps

1:19


Let’s Celebrate.

4th of July.

America’s 250th Birthday!

Ponder, America’s Unique Greatness.

Everything America, Everything Americans have endured, achieved…

Appreciate, The Blessings, We Enjoy Daily.

A handful, of what I think are treasures, to listen in on.

An inspirational document read.

Historical story or two.

Beautiful music, celebrating America. OUR America. Bursting with pride here.

1st up.

Excellent reading of,

The Declaration of Independence.

Truly worth listening, to every word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uE-tqe0xsQ

The Declaration of Independence . 10:21

Superb listen. Explanation of the words of,

Our Pledge of Allegiance.

Red Skelton’s Pledge of Allegiance 4:08

Personal observation.

As I go through life, observing flags in folks yards, some ragged. Once upon a time, the ragged flags irritated Slow Guy.

These days, I reflect on Johnny Cash’s, Ragged Old Flag.

FWIW, most every flag in the hood refreshed this year.

Nearly 50% homes in the hood, have a Flag on their home, flagpole or streetside.

Please listen in on…

Small Town Pride – Old Glory.

Johnny Cash – Ragged Old Flag 3:10


Henry Battle Tested…~84 years after 1776. 🙂

The Revolutionary Henry Model 1860 Rifle – The Weapons of the Wild West 


Henry Rifles | “Made in America”

Put a smile on your face. ONLY one minute. 🙂

1:01

Whitney’s Unforgettable, Star Spangled Banner. 1991 Super Bowl.

Whitney Houston – Star Spangled Banner (National Anthem) 3:36


Sneaking this one in. Lived in Ridgecrest, Mojave Desert, CA 2010-2015.

Annual, 1000 Flags Parade. A beautiful sight and pure joy to participate in.

1000 Flags Ridgecrest California 9/10/2011

God Bless The USA. Trump Rally Staple

Lee Greenwood – God Bless The U.S.A. 3:10


Inspiring and beautiful…

The Battle Hymn of the Republic. 5:18

Pure Americana.

The Stars and Stripes Forever. 4:43

Every 4th of July, celebration should have,

“The 1812 Overture”

The National Symphony Orchestra Performs “The 1812 Overture” | 2024 A Capitol Fourth. 4:01

Couple more. Also worthy of our time.

ht TT. IIRC,TB wrote about British Prison Ships – Martyr Ships, in his American series…

With the above refreshed in our minds.

THIS

Every American should know this story.

Frances Scott Key.

Star Spangled Banner As You’ve Never Heard It. 11:38.


Fantastic rendition of, America The Beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZYH8v42a2w

Ray Charles – America The Beautiful. 3:35.

OK, I fibbed. One More. Kate Smith.

Kate Smith’s Heart-Stirring ‘God Bless America’ – This Is the Army. 5:06.


Returning to select, “Simply Saturday” stuff, inline with America First

Talk about, Can’t Fix Stoopid.

250 years later.

Dumb Ass Brits, have learned NOTHING, since America told the Brits, PISS OFF.

Image AI. From American Thinker

Trains are awesome. BNSF For The Win.

Freedom Train… Trump Train…

American Spirit, Winning…Jack Hughes


American Spirit, Winning…Alysa Liu.


Merica…The Land that I, We Love.


All American 4th Of July Saturday.

Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue

Made In America

3:13

Let Freedom Ring ( My Country ‘Tis of Thee ) Abby Anderson – with Lyrics

4:45

Seriously…

…We’ll get through this, just fine!

T A W

Relax. It’s Saturday. Back To Basics…

ht to a QTreeper. Perhaps Coothie.

I Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore

2:55

Thank You for your time on, our,

Americas 250th Birthday.

Go have some fun. CELBRATE.

Safe and Happy Fourth of July Folks.

Night crew, your nickel.

KK

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TheseTruths

A fantastic open! You knocked it out of the park, Kalbo!

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🇺🇸 Happy 250th to all! 🇺🇸

RedLegLeader68

This!!!!!!!!

patfrederick

PRESERVE AMERICA!

pgroup2

Everybody gets a 4th of July.

But only we Americans get an Independence Day.

cthulhu

On the contrary, I understand that it is perhaps the most celebrated holiday over the entire planet — only it’s held on different days in different countries. It is celebrated by Muslims, Jews, Chirstians, and atheists. The sun never sets on regions that celebrate this holiday……

It’s the day they threw off the shackles of the British.

pgroup2

So you’re Mister Grumpy today. Well you can make everybody in the former British Empire the same if you want but we Americans are the only ones that get an Independence Day on the 4th of July.

And the date is written on the Declaration. Show me another Declaration from those countries. If you can.

Last edited 12 hours ago by pgroup2
cthulhu

I’m not grumpy about it — I rejoice to find common ground with all other nations that slipped the yoke.

patfrederick

cheeky little fellows, weren’t they? (the Brits)

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Last edited 6 hours ago by patfrederick
Gail Combs

And unfortunately they STILL have not given up.

I hope POTUS’s present to us this year is getting the heck out of NATO and the treaty with Mexico & Canada and telling those ungrateful people to go pound sand. We are done being your piggy bank and cannon fodder!

Momma’s in a bit of a mood. I have been up since 4 and finally got to sit down.

The black smith decided to trim hooves at 5AM this morning and I also got to deal with the neighbors horses too since the entire neighborhood took off for the lake a few days ago.. So the day started with catching and tying critters, cleaning and refreshing water tanks, making a pasta salad, unloading the bags of feed from the pick-up (It was too hot to touch yesterday afternoon)…

and back out to feed at noon.

I am so happy That I can celebrate the 4th here with the great selections provided.

patfrederick

welcome to Club Miami

Momma’s
In
A
Mood
Inc.

Last edited 2 hours ago by patfrederick
patfrederick

Amen!

TheseTruths

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patfrederick

he has 2 choices: 1) cement his place in history–aligning with our President and millions a Americans by stepping up and LEADING or 2) continue to channel his inner Benedict Arnold and become another hated disloyal stain on history.

TradeBait2

An open message to the Senate Majority Leader –

What a miserable place you have chosen to be, John Thune. You appear to be supporting the indefensible dying globalist monster by your actions because your words have been proven to be worth spit. You appear to have abandoned your post – to have deserted as traitors often do, while serving the oppressors of We the People. Time is running out. Choose this day who you will serve…

Last edited 4 hours ago by TradeBait2
Wolf Moon

Love that video for Henry rifles!

MADE IN AMERICA.

duchess01

President Trump Delivers Remarks at Mount Rushmore, Jul. 3, 2026

Wolf Moon

Excellent Birthday Message!!! Thank you!!!

Wolf Moon

Dumocrats!

cthulhu

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cthulhu

So, The Fiancee was feeling a bit low so I offered to pick up some dinner at a local pizza place — they told her it would be ready in five minutes. When I got there, the customer ahead of me had a clusterfark order because he was supposed to enrolled in their loyalty program, so I had to wait an additional 10 minutes for our food. Then, when I went to leave, my car wouldn’t start.

I called The Fiancee to bring over our jump-start battery, but that did nothing; neither did trying to jump-start it from her car. My leading theory is that the ignition switch was damaged when they stole my car.

So I had the car towed to my local mechanic (that I can walk to) only to find that he took off to Vietnam for vacation for most of June. He should be back on the 7th. I was supposed to have the car smogged tomorrow, but it has to be operable to do that.

I’m supposed to meet my new PCP on Monday, July 6. I’m also supposed to have my divot inspected and re-covered tomorrow.

None of this is overwhelming, but it is annoying as hell.

Gail Combs

Now you know what counties to NOT live in.

cthulhu

A while back, I printed a NC county map and put an X through all the counties with smog tests, figuring that they’d be full of unreasonable commies.

patfrederick

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patfrederick

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Gail Combs

CHINA!!! We should ship them all to CHINA!

patfrederick

  :wpds_lol:   :wpds_lol: 

patfrederick

Charlotte99
July 4, 2026 5:25 am
Reply to Charlotte99

The above was in reply to this:

Socialist Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, just gave a speech on what he thinks it means to be an American on America’s 250th Birthday. He attacked our nation as “an arena of supremacy” that “persecutes” and claimed ICE is “invading our streets”.

https://nitter.poast.org/america/status/2073090764892979260#m

Mr Mamdani-get the F out of America

And a comment:
Go pound sand you communist pig excrement. You have zero idea what it means to be an American. Go back to Uganda.

duchess01

FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND ALL IN NEED OF PRAYER

PRAISE AND WORSHIP

MORNING WITH JESUS | 3 Hour Morning Prayer Piano with Comforting Scriptures


_____________________________________

patfrederick

unseen1
@unseen1_unseen
I’m old enough to remember when the entire democrat party forgot to have one U.S flag at their national presidential convention, when they declared the star spangled banner a racist song, when they not only refused to stand but took a knee for that national anthem, when they spit in the faces of US soldiers returning home from war, when they proudly burned the America flag at every protest, and when they nominated for president whose agenda that he ran on spoke of fundamentally changing the US as founded, while his pastor unequivocally preached that God should damn America.

 It’s been going on for more than 30 years. It’s just now reaching critical mass inside their party and they can no longer hide the hatred they have for the US as it was founded and for what it stands.

patfrederick

agreed…like a classroom when the teacher’s out…they ran rampant and rip shod over whatever they wanted.

Gail Combs

To me it went back to Fabian Socialist, John Dewey with money from John D Rockefeller, founded the University of Chicago Laboratory School in 1896 as a progressive, child-centered educational experiment to determine the best way to turn independent thinker into whining little dependent commies wanna-bes.

patfrederick

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Gail Combs

NAILED IT!

duchess01

EACH DAY WE TAKE UP THE OFFENSIVE WEAPON OF THE WORD OF GOD – THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT – ONE VERSE OPENS THE DOOR TO THE CONTEXT OF THE CHAPTER MESSAGE

Verse of the Day for Saturday, July 4, 2026

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

Galatians 5:1 (KJV)

COMMENTARY FOR GALATIANS 5:1

An earnest exhortation to stand fast in the liberty of the gospel. (1-12) To take heed of indulging a sinful temper. (13-15) And to walk in the Spirit, and not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh: the works of both are described. (16-26)

1-6 Christ will not be the Saviour of any who will not own and rely upon him as their only Saviour. Let us take heed to the warnings and persuasions of the apostle to stedfastness in the doctrine and liberty of the gospel. All true Christians, being taught by the Holy Spirit, wait for eternal life, the reward of righteousness, and the object of their hope, as the gift of God by faith in Christ; and not for the sake of their own works. The Jewish convert might observe the ceremonies or assert his liberty, the Gentile might disregard them or might attend to them, provided he did not depend upon them. No outward privileges or profession will avail to acceptance with God, without sincere faith in our Lord Jesus. True faith is a working grace; it works by love to God, and to our brethren. May we be of the number of those who, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. The danger of old was not in things of no consequence in themselves, as many forms and observances now are. But without faith working by love, all else is worthless, and compared with it other things are of small value.

Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.
__________________________________
When the World Turns Cold: Standing Firm in the Light of Truth


_______________________________________

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Thank You, Jesus, for blessings received and prayers answered !!!

patfrederick

I would love to have one too!!!

duchess01

WE ARE FIGHTING A SPIRITUAL WAR OF GOOD VERSUS EVIL

PRAYING ON THE ARMOR OF GOD

Father God, I now follow your command to put on the full armor of God, because my battle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the unseen world.

I first pray on the Belt of Truth that it may be buckled around my waist, may I be centered and encircled by your truth dear Lord. Hem me inside all that is true and right, and may I be protected and held up by the truth of your living word, in my Lord Jesus name.

I pray on the Breastplate of righteousness, please protect my vital organs and my inner man, cover my integrity, my spirit, and my soul. Guard my heart for it is the wellspring of life, please strengthen and guard the most vulnerable places in my life with that which is right, good, and noble that I might not receive a fatal blow from the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.

I pray on the Gospel Shoes of Peace. I choose to stand in the shoes of your good news, and on the firm foundation of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the solid eternal rock. All other ground is sinking sand, I pray that I will not slip or fall, but that my feet would be firmly fitted on your lordship, my Lord Jesus. I choose to stand on you, so that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus, the eternal Rock of Ages. I receive your holy peace now my Lord, from the sole of my feet to the crown of my head, in my Lord Jesus name.

I pray the Shield of Faith into my hand now. As I take up the shield of faith, I ask that you might extinguish every dart and arrow that is launched from the enemy to take me down spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and every attempt of the enemy to destroy my joy. I ask that my faith in you would make it flame out. Extinguish every flaming arrow that would come against me, my life, my family, my home, or my ministry. May my faith always be out in front of me like a shield. Give me the courage to “faith my fears” by choosing to walk by faith and not by sight, in my Lord Jesus name.

I pray on the Helmet of Salvation, that you might protect my mind from the thoughts that can lead me astray. I choose to take every thought captive, and arrest all intentioned ideas and motives that would harm others, or distract me from your holy will for me. I submit every captured thought to the Lordship of my Lord Jesus Christ, and ask that you would imprison those thoughts that are not of you my Lord. Transform my mind and renew my thinking that I may think God thoughts, and have a sober mind that is focused on your glory. Please protect me from being double minded that I may allow my mind, I reject to live an earthly life, because I choose to live a holy one, governed by you My Lord Jesus, the prince of peace, please have my mind to be saturated with the holy mind of Christ, in my Lord Jesus name.

Finally, I take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the holy word of God, I pray this powerful offensive weapon into my hand, and ask that your holy word would be fitting for every encounter I face. As the enemy gets close to me, please give me the insight, wisdom, and skill to wield the word of God to drive away the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.

May the enemy and his team flee from me, upon hearing the word of God spoken by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. Give me the sword of the spirit to cut through the wiles of the devil, so that I may discern the schemes of the enemy when he is near.

With all kinds of prayers, supplication, and intercession I pray to you my Lord God as the one who fights my battles. Now that I’m in your holy powerful armor, I walk away covered and ready to face my day as you go before me, and please protect me in the midst of the spiritual warfare in this unseen world, in my Lord Jesus name.

Thank you my Lord, for the spiritual weapons of armor and prayer that you have given me. It is written no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses me. 

Thank you Father God, my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that I am more than a conqueror in my Lord Jesus. I pray all of this in the mighty name of my Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

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patfrederick

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patfrederick

please excuse the personal question–why do your shirts need pockets? do your pants need collars?

patfrederick

LOL…you could do what my hubby does…he hands stuff to me and asks…can you put this in your purse?
  :wpds_lol: 

patfrederick

my purse is HEAVY!
and i like it that way. some punk tries to steal it? he better have my guns (arms) and legs to run like hell with a couple of bricks in his hands.
see, I may look like an older lady, but I’m an older lady who is never without exact change…lol. about $20 worth of change to be precise…lol

Gail Combs

Mine has a nice long shoulder strap as well as a couple short handles so it makes a great weapon.

patfrederick

NICE

TradeBait2

Cannot wait. 😂

Gail Combs

I also like the pocket Tees for the same reason. Good place to stow the $$$ I plan to use in a store. Reach for my boobs to steal the $$$ and you are going to lose your eyes.😂

duchess01

PLEASE PRAY FOR ABUSED, MISSING, AND TRAFFICKED CHILDREN

BE MY VOICE
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CHILD NOT CHOICE
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JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN
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duchess01

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St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

duchess01

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patfrederick

BRING IT ON!

duchess01

PLEASE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
MAPA = MAKE AMERICA PRAY AGAIN

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duchess01

STAND TALL
We are children of the Most High GodWe are peculiar people to be awedIn His image and likeness guaranteedFor whom God will intently intercede
Robbed of our inheritance by evil seedJesus defeated him and we were freedTo this day we are told we must acceptWhatever evil deems we are adept
In bondage we have been found and wantingThey hoard the resources they are flauntingTaxed to the hilt we can never surviveWhile they live in luxury and thus thrive
This was not what God intended to beBut what has occurred throughout historySome have sold their souls for power and gainAnd over the common man they have reigned
Slaves to a system created by manFour hundred years ago when it beganAs God’s people were enslaved in EgyptWe too have been severely ill-equipped
What did God do to end the tyrannyPerpetrated upon not conspiracyHe sent His Prophet to demand releaseTo insist the bondage abstain and cease
I AM the God of Heaven and EarthStand Tall My People for all you are worthIn this Great Year of the JubileeAn Exodus I have planned for thee
D01: 08/28/2023

duchess01

STAND TALL

We are children of the Most High God
We are peculiar people to be awed
In His image and likeness guaranteed
For whom God will intently intercede

Robbed of our inheritance by evil seed
Jesus defeated him and we were freed
To this day we are told we must accept
Whatever evil deems we are adept

In bondage we have been found and wanting
They hoard the resources they are flaunting
Taxed to the hilt we can never survive
While they live in luxury and thus thrive

This was not what God intended to be
But what has occurred throughout history
Some have sold their souls for power and gain
And over the common man they have reigned

Slaves to a system created by man
Four hundred years ago when it began
As God’s people were enslaved in Egypt
We too have been severely ill-equipped

What did God do to end the tyranny
Perpetrated upon not conspiracy
He sent His Prophet to demand release
To insist the bondage abstain and cease

I AM the God of Heaven and Earth
Stand Tall My People for all you are worth
In this Great Year of the Jubilee
An Exodus I have planned for thee

D01: 08/28/2023


duchess01

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duchess01

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duchess01

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patfrederick

we tend to be a competitive people generally.

duchess01

Psalm 91. The most powerful prayer from the Bible. God’s protection, healing

#psalm91 #psalms #prayer

Pray Everyday

https://rumble.com/v57jz8d-psalm-91.the-most-powerful-prayer-from-the-bible.-gods-protection-healing-p.html

Sleep Well with Psalms. Psalm 91, Psalm 121, Psalm 3, Psalm 4, Psalm 139.
#faith #god #psalms

prayeveryday777

https://rumble.com/v57jvfg-sleep-well-with-psalms.-psalm-91-psalm-121-psalm-3-psalm-4-psalm-139.faith-.html

______________________________

HAVE A VERY BLESSED DAY !!!  ❤️❤️❤️

patfrederick

update on my water lilies:
there are now SIX of them!!! since hubby ripped out a bunch of cattails in the pond, the water lilies can get sun again and they’re not being choked by the taller invasive cattails…horray!!!

Aubergine

Happy 250th Fourth! It’s going to be a great day!

Gail Combs

HOT! Over 100. I am NOT looking forward to feeding in a few minutes!

Aubergine

This is a great article about why being against teaching the Bible in school is stupid and anti-intellectual. Without a working knowledge of the Bible, a true understanding of lots of other great literature is impossible:

https://thefederalist.com/2026/07/03/outrage-over-texas-teaching-the-bible-is-anti-intellectual/

Gail Combs

Hubby, the physicist, is an atheist and took college courses in the Bible.

TradeBait2

It’s a shame I can only 5 star this thread just once. Wow – Kal. Grand slam! Thank you. What a start to this GREAT DAY IN AMERICA!!!

patfrederick

your patriotism is showing and that’s okay again!

barkerjim

Thanks, KK!!! AMEN!!!

duchess01

America at 250: The System Britain Stole and Trump is Taking Back

Firefly

You’ve outdone yoirself Kalbo! Many Thanks! Have a fantastic Fourth! https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/svg/1f1fa-1f1f8.svg

Last edited 4 hours ago by Firefly
duchess01
patfrederick

Jake
July 4, 2026 9:10 am

Marxist Muslim Who Came To America A Few Years Ago Lectures Americans On What It Means To Be American

https://notthebee.com/article/marxist-muslim-who-came-to-america-a-few-years-ago-lectures-americans-on-what-it-means-to-be-american

This makes me laugh. What a joke this guy is.

Bro, you don’t get to tell any American what it means to be an American, just like you don’t get to tell a Ugandan what it means to be Ugandan, even though your rich daddy has a home there.
My family has been in America since the 1680s. I was born here, and I’ve gone through nearly four decades of triumphs and sorrows with my countrymen.
Even so, I wouldn’t need to lecture them about what it means to be an American. Americans know what it means to be an American without saying a word.

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barkerjim

https://elizabethnickson.substack.com/p/is-disclosure-the-luciferian-endgame

Is Disclosure the Luciferian Endgame? Is it Dark MAGA, Eternal Life and “Destroying the Cathedral”?
Spielberg, Messengers of Deception and End Times Madness

barkerjim

https://www.malone.news/p/the-amendment-that-changed-america

How the Sixteenth Amendment Broke the Constitution

patfrederick

Mike Robinson
July 4, 2026 9:39 am

Somehow, I forgot that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died, hours apart, exactly two hundred years ago … today!
Both of them lived exactly(!) long enough to see the fiftieth birthday of what they had together created.

TradeBait2

And as he lay dying Adams rued that Jefferson outlived him. They had reconciled friends, but remained competitive rivals to the end. When he died Adams did not know that Jefferson had passed away a few hours before him.

My hope is the Lord had Jefferson greet Adams as he entered Heaven. 😂 🇺🇸

slowcreekno

Happy 250th anniversary Independence Day, everyone!

And what a wonderful start of the thread today!

PAVACA1

kalbo
Thank you so much!
“The Star-spangled Banner”
“God Bless America”
“The Stars and Stripes Forever”
“America the Beautiful”
“The Battle Hymn of the Republic”

The music says it!

Amen and Amen!

barkerjim

WINNING: Unanimous federal appeals court says Trump can continue to remove ahistorical, irrelevant and negative signage from national parks:

“But in the unanimous decision on Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that Mr. Trump’s directive was unlikely to cause “irreparable harm” to the plaintiffs, a coalition of advocacy groups including the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.”

nytimes.com/2026/07/02/cli…

Last edited 3 hours ago by barkerjim
patfrederick

but…but…muh feelings got hurt.

TradeBait2

lol.

PDT continues using the courts to build the patriot legal box around America.

barkerjim

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patfrederick

OMG!!!!~!
I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS JIM!

barkerjim

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patfrederick

  :wpds_lol:   :wpds_lol:   :wpds_lol: 

patfrederick

agree with this. Independence Day, The Patriot, and JAWS are on our movie docket for this afternoon.

zoom
July 4, 2026 10:51 am

always liked this monologue, doesn’t take much to recognize our common enemies,
and it’s a good reminder to focus on our common interests.
we are definitely still in a fight for our country and our freedom.https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/svg/1f1fa-1f1f8.svg
(plus, it’s a rockin’ good movie.https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/svg/1f601.svg)
President’s speech from “Independence Day”, released 1996 by 20th Century Fox:
“We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. 
We must be united in our common interests. 
Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom.
Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. 
We are fighting for our right to live. 
To exist. 
And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, 
but as the day the world declared in one voice: We will not go quietly into the night!
We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! 
Today we celebrate our Independence Day!”

barkerjim

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Happy go lucky

Kalbo thanks so much, it’s all great!

I love Independence Day. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🎊 🎊 🎊 🎊 🎊 🎊 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 Today is my favorite holiday. My little brother and I always read the Declaration of Independence together on today. When we were kids we made tricorns and costumes and made everyone at our backyard cookout listen.

I stayed with him last night because his town did fireworks last night. They did a red, white, and blue 250 up in the sky.

Passed a Circle K on the way home on the interstate, gas was $2.50 per gallon until 7:00 tonight or until they run out. I understood it to be a nationwide thing, so fyi if you have a Circle K near you.

Happy Independence Day everyone.

AMERICA forever!
🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

barkerjim

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patfrederick

absolutely!

patfrederick

NebraskaFilly
July 4, 2026 at 11:46 am Edit
“A Salute to America”
StateDept, Jul 04, 2026
Author: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio
“Two hundred and fifty years ago today, in a brick hall in Philadelphia, our forefathers declared their independence from the most powerful empire on earth.
They were not fools. They knew exactly what the words on that parchment would mean. They knew that in that moment, they were convicting themselves of treason in the eyes of their mother country – and that the penalty for treason was death.
And so at the bottom of that document, beneath the soaring words about self-evident truths and the rights of man, they wrote one final sentence: “With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Their lives, their fortunes, and their honor – everything they had and everything they were. All of it was on the line.
Think about the kind of men we’re talking about here. It’s easy to forget: These were not impoverished, destitute paupers with nothing to lose. They were some of the most successful and prosperous men of their day. Lawyers, merchants, wealthy landowners and planters – men with families, with farms, with fortunes.
Common sense would dictate that they would be the last to lead a revolution – let alone risk everything, including their lives, to do it. But they did it anyways. And they did it against impossible odds.
On one side was the British Empire – the most formidable power the world had ever seen. On the other was a scattering of colonies at the final edge of the known world, with a small agricultural economy and a ragtag force of poorly trained farmers and militiamen – what one British General at the time scoffed at as “a preposterous parade” and “a rabble in arms.”
Very few people in 1776 believed these American rebels stood a fighting chance. Across the Atlantic, the elites in Great Britain dismissed them as a minor nuisance, and nothing more. The cabinet minister for the Royal Navy declared that “the very sound of a cannon would carry them off…as fast as their feet could carry them.” General James Grant – the former royal governor of East Florida – boasted to the House of Commons that he knew the Americans very well, and “they would never dare to face an English army.” King George himself predicted that “once those rebels have felt a smart blow, they will submit.”
The early months of the war seemed to prove them right. George Washington’s army was brave, but hungry, untrained, and poorly supplied. They had left their farms, shops, and frontier settlements to fight for their country – only to lurch from defeat to devastating defeat.
By December of 1776, the Revolution was near collapse. The Continental Army had been chased out of New York, across New Jersey, and into Pennsylvania – beaten and freezing in the frigid northeastern winter. The army itself was rapidly shrinking in size. That month, George Washington wrote to his brother: “I think the game is pretty nearly up.” Unless something changed, the cause of independence would die, the rebellion would be crushed, and the men who had risked everything to lead it would be hanged as traitors to the Crown.
But they did not surrender. That’s not what Americans do. On Christmas night, Washington gathered what remained of his army and crossed the icy Delaware River under the cover of darkness. His men marched through the night with broken shoes and rags wrapped around their feet, leaving blood in the snow. At Trenton, they struck. A few days later, at Princeton, they struck again.
Two resounding victories – and the aura of inevitable British victory began to crack.
Still, one miracle was not enough to carry the patriots to victory. The war dragged on. The next year, the British captured Philadelphia, and the Continental Congress was forced to flee. Washington’s army staggered into their winter quarters at Valley Forge – starving, freezing, and barely clothed, sleeping in huts they had built with their own hands. There, in that brutal winter, something extraordinary happened. The Continental Army did not collapse. It was transformed into a disciplined, hardened, professional fighting force: trained by Prussian officers, bound together by common sacrifice, the Americans emerged – against all odds – as an army that could bring down an empire, powered by an unbreakable belief in the country they were bringing into being.
Every American knows what happened next. From the beginning, Americans have done the impossible. It is who we are. It runs in our people’s blood.
It is the deepest and most fundamental feature of the American soul, dating back long before the Revolution. We saw it in the wood forts of Jamestown, in the first colonies of Plymouth, on the decks of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria carrying Christopher Columbus across the Atlantic to the shores of a new world. It is a spirit that scoffs at constraints, that yearns for new frontiers; a boundless ambition to do what others can’t, to go where others won’t, to venture out into the darkness and find what lies beyond the horizon.
America was not a clean break from the past, but the culmination of an ancient story that began millennia ago. We owe much of ourselves to the very country our Founders went to war with 250 years ago: As President Trump said earlier this year, “this land was settled and forged by men [whose] veins ran with Anglo-Saxon courage”; whose language, culture, and fierce love of liberty was a “majestic inheritance” from their ancestors across the sea. Our destiny was shaped, over centuries, in the kingdoms and empires of Europe, before bursting forth onto this continent to build a new world in its image. Its seeds were planted by the philosophers of Athens, the imperial majesty of Rome, the monks and kings of medieval Christendom – centuries of European exploration, science, faith, and restless ambition finally unleashed from every constraint on the boundless American frontier.
America was the destiny of an entire civilization. It was here, in our country, where thousands of years of history came to fruition, and painted the fullness of their promise on the blank canvas of a new world.
And look at what that has wrought.
In a mere two and a half centuries – a blink of an eye, in the full view of history – Americans have blown past any and every precedent that came before us. From microchips and atoms to railroads and rockets, across every new frontier and plane of human progress, we not only transformed a wild and unmapped land into the most powerful nation on earth; we carried the whole of mankind into a new age of history.
We didn’t do these things because we had to. We did them because we could. Because no one else had ever done them before. Because Americans have always been pioneers – the sons and daughters of the frontier. There is nowhere we can’t go. There is nothing we can’t do.
And for us, the frontier has never closed. When we ran out of land at the westward edge of this continent, we began to build upward – airplanes and skyscrapers that pierced the horizon. When we ran out of sky, we went further still, building machines that could carry us to the moon.
Now, we stand at the dawn of another new age, filled with new frontiers and possibilities that our forefathers could scarcely have dreamed. And just as we have in every chapter that came before, Americans will lead this one, too.
We Americans are the creating people: the spirit of world history is here, on this land, in our hands. This is who we are. For 250 years, this has been a land of miracles, where larger-than-life men have done larger-than-life things. Tonight, we rededicate ourselves to our country, and to the sacred duty of ensuring that America’s future will be every bit as proud as her past.”

patfrederick

wow…I’d be sitting by his bedside night and day too…she went to chi-na

Aggiegirl
July 4, 2026 12:22 pm

Well, well, well, things are coming to light? May we live in interesting times.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/07/former-u-s-transportation-secretary-elaine-chao-jets/
“Former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao flew to Beijing on June 17, 2026, for a cozy meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, just three days after her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell, was rushed to the hospital following a reported cardiac arrest at their Washington, D.C. home.”
The obscenely wealthy have different values than the rest of us, you know, the ‘unwashed masses’…
Me? I would have been at the bedside, telling the doctors and nurses what to do, while holding his hand.

TradeBait2

She’s a business wife, his handler.

patfrederick

yup…flying home for instructions on how to proceed. phones are not secure.

Last edited 34 minutes ago by patfrederick
patfrederick

timing issue???

Ron B
July 4, 2026 1:21 pm

Reply to  Sherri Young

His staff are trying to get to early August before pulling the plug, since if he dies within 90 days of the election, the Dem KY governor will replace him with one of 3 people that Republicans will submit to him, and that person will serve until the next general election after the midterms. And you know that all 3 of those people on the list will be RINOs. But if he dies before then, there will be a special election this November between that RINO selection and a MAGA candidate(s) that we need.

Aubergine

First report of the day, from Medora, ND, home of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Of course, there has to be a glitch, first thing.

I have a very small Class C RV, 22 feet, so I just drive it and park it like I would any vehicle.

There’s no parking at the Library.

You have to park a couple of miles away and take a shuttle in and out. Fine, except…

A couple of years ago I adopted a very sweet rescue dog. She is my baby, and is with us for the trip. We have a brand-new generator on a tailgate rack to run the A/C while we are at the Library. I did NOT, however, count on having to park away and shuttle in, which makes me somewhat apprehensive about leaving her. The generator seems to be doing a great job, but I am anxious about it. It is going to be really hot here today. I’m sure she will be fine for a couple of hours, but I still worry.

There is a hoard of people in the parking area. Literally a hoard. Apparently there is quite a bit to do in Medora even on an ordinary weekend, even excepting the new Library. So, we left the immediate area and found a small National Forest campground (THANK YOU, Teddy Roosevelt. lol) to hang out in for a bit, as our tickets for the Library aren’t until 2pm. We’ll head back about 1. We’re only about 10 miles away.

We plan to park and shuttle in, with the gennie running. But I won’t linger as long as I might have otherwise. It’ll be enough just to see it.

On the plus side, I am typing this having set up the Starlink Mini when we parked at the campground. It literally took a couple of minutes to be online in the middle of nowhere. There’s not even phone service here. I highly recommend the Mini based solely on this experience! I may store the thing in my car!

Back with more after the experience.

patfrederick

thanks for checking in!
HAVE A GRAND TIME!

Aubergine

Thanks!

patfrederick

THIS is why immigration as a whole should be stopped or paused indefinitely. This time it’s Romanians defrauding and stealing benefits and identities from Americans!
FTA
3:06
A pair of Romanian brothers, who are in the U.S. illegally, have pleaded guilty in North Carolina to a nearly $1 million scheme to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which involved the theft of American identities.
Romanian nationals Marian Ovidiu Dumitru, 37, and Catalin Dumitru, 39, have both pleaded guilty to wire fraud, according to Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Prosecutors say the pair were members of an identity theft ring between July 2024 and August 2025 that stole the personal information of Americans and used it to apply for SNAP benefits in a number of states. In one case they stole more than $760,000 from the program. They are also accused of using electronic skimmer devices at ATMs, gas pumps, and other locations to steal cash from Americans’ SNAP cards. The stolen info was then transferred to fraudulent bank cards that were used to buy items to be resold on the black market. The bank card scheme also totaled into the tens of thousands of dollars in fraud. At least ten Americans had their identity stolen, causing them extreme hardship, prosecutors say.
The two were reportedly found in possession of the counterfeit bank cards when police arrested them.
The brothers “preyed on some of our most vulnerable citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. “They stole benefits from those who actually need them and then resold products bought with those benefits for their own profit. We will use the full force of the federal government to hold accountable those who exploit taxpayer funded programs and victimize citizens on government assistance.”

https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2026/07/03/illegal-aliens-from-romania-plead-guilty-in-nearly-1m-food-stamp-fraud-scheme/

Aubergine

Another quick Starlink Mini update/comment:

The campground we found is out of cell range. No phone service, period.

I wanted to see if I could use the Mini to make calls. Guess what?! It works! I turned on “Wifi Calling” on my Android, stepped outside (not sure if that was necessary) and called my son. Perfect reception, no problems whatsoever.

This thing is awesome.

TradeBait2

Today would be a great day for ICE to arrest a zillion illegals. Most will be too drunk to resist.

barkerjim

Could be interesting