Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, is one of the most significant holidays in the United States.
It is a day filled with patriotic fervor, fireworks, parades, and barbecues, as Americans come together to commemorate the nation's independence. But what is the history behind this iconic celebration? I believe it is more. Much more than that.
The story of Independence Day begins on July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress, comprised of delegates from the thirteen American colonies, adopted the Declaration of Independence.
This historic document, drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson, proclaimed the colonies' separation from British rule and established the United States of America as a sovereign nation.
When the first settlers arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 at Plymouth, they had hopes and dreams to found a Nation free of Religious persecution and constraints of the then King of England, King James.
Read more: 4th of July - a Day that Means More than Fireworks, Fun and Festivities
How many people around the world have been warning about the danger we are in? All around the world, we have been called conspiracy theorists and accused of peddling misinformation and disinformation. Yet we are being proven correct mere months after.
As America is about to celebrate its Independence Day, one can't help but think back to the man who warned of danger. Thank goodness, back then, people listened.
Paul Revere, a silversmith from Boston, is one of the most celebrated figures of the American Revolutionary War. Born on January 1, 1735, Revere's life and actions have become an emblem of the spirit of American independence. His legendary midnight ride on April 18, 1775, to warn the colonial militia of the approaching British forces has etched his name into American history.
However, Revere's contributions to the American Revolution extend far beyond this single act of heroism.
How low Australia has fallen - our once-great BHP now has a “Vice President for Climate”, the number of Australian students choosing physics at high school is collapsing, and our government opposes nuclear energy while pretending we can build and operate nuclear submarines.
Our Green politicians want: “No Coal, No Gas, No Nuclear” while Our ABC, Our CSIRO and Our Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) are telling us that wind and solar energy plus a bit of standby gas, plus heaps of batteries and new power lines can power our homes, industries AND the mass electrification of our vehicle fleet. This sounds like Australia’s very own great leap backwards?
There are two troublesome Green Energy Unions – the Solar Workers down tools every night and cloudy day, and the Turbine Crews stop work if winds are too weak or too strong. And wind droughts can last for days. The reliable Coal and Gas Crews spend sunny days playing cards, but are expected to keep their turbines revving up and down to keep stable power in the lines.
Read more: Battery Baloney, Hydrogen Hype and Green Fairy Tales
How many of us are sick and tired of the School Bully? You know the one... who runs the playground on fear and gathering favour by fear. By that I mean he always ruled because we were scared of him, not because we liked him.
It obviously got me thinking about how politics is run today. We are run by the School Bullies: the unpopular bloke we all secretly hated but pretended to like.
Sometimes, a hero came onto the playground and we all thought how great he was, but were too afraid to voice our support. At least publically.
This is where we are at. We are back to our childhood nightmares where we professed to support the School Bully but secretly cheered when that brave kid came out of the woodwork and stood up against the bully. How we wished we could have been so brave. But we were not.
Yet, years ago, people did stand up against the school bully. And didn't they do it well.
Read more: Is it time to get rid of the troublesome 30% and get rid of the School Bully?
When I was a lad, life was simpler, harder yet straightforward and honest. As the world is flooded with newfangled gadgetry and newfangled woke spoke, I find myself looking back on the post war years with a strange regret. Life is so newfangled that it is a complex place of ever-increasing innovation, and gratitude for the simple things in life is a far distant memory. We should consider how imprisoned we have become in this newfangled world which has rewarded us with so much and yet taken even more by stealth.
As our freedom of movement, speech and even thought is being slowly but surely stolen from us, I feel as though we are under some kind of intoxicating drug of newfangledness imposed by the nerds at the behest of their hidden masters, and I fear that this stupour which has overtaken us, may lead us to craving its comforting numbness, and to forgetting what we had in times gone by before we woke up into perpetual slumber.
Read more: When newfangled stuff didn't exist and summer wine was not some whine
When nations all over the world are being led by idiots, fools and people in ivory towers, laws enforced by over zealous generals and troops all too eager to do the government's bidding....... it seems timely to look at what went wrong and consider a bit of deja vu.
People Power. Being slowly destroyed by governments all over the world. The right and ability to fight back.
It was the militia who won the American Revolutionary War ...... no wonder the American government wants to get rid of the guns and the right to form a militia. And it is a tragedy that in so many Nations they have already succeeded.
Without the right to form a militia, the people have a very reduced power to fight back against a " perceived" government overbearance....
How many of you have visited a cemetery lately? Wandered among the graves of people long past and long forgotten? The tombstones crumbling and the weeds sprouting up in a place that looks neglected, unloved and of no matter?
After watching the presidential debate in America, I have to feel that we are witnessing the fight between the War Graves and the Civilian Graves throughout the world: except, we have one candidate who wants to keep everything from yesterday well tended and cared for, and another who is happy to see us all sink into neglect, decay and misery.
In my opinion, President Trump is all for taking care of things. President Biden is all for letting the grave robbers in. For myself, I am no fan of grave robbers who seek to hijack our past in order to import people who have no love for our nations so that our "leaders " can get votes. It somehow seems ghoulish to me.
Read more: A Grave Problem - but one that works in Favour of our Veterans.
We have seen the return of Julian Assange to his land of birth. the conversation here is divided.... hero or traitor? And it got me thinking about people who have done things and how history will remember them. For myself, I believe that Julian Assange is not and never was a traitor. He was a truth teller, who, unfortunately, ruffled the wrong feathers along the way.
We may never know the full truth, but one thing is certain: a coerced guilty plea is no different to a coerced vaccine. No one made you take it. Yes, sure..... unless you wanted to keep your job, your home and feed your family.
In my opinion, his plea of guilty is no more than a tired and lonely man who was offered an opportunity to join his wife and children, be reunited with his father and all he did was agree to something, anything, in order to be free.
Today, I want to look at what a traitor is and highlight how easily we can leap to conclusions ...........................
Phung Xuan Vu was just eight years old when he accompanied his brother to the food distribution center. His belly hurt from hunger, and he was anxious—filled with worry that he would lose his food voucher or be chastened by the officials distributing food.
“The officials were not friendly. They were bossy and had power,” Vu recalled decades later. “We felt that we had to beg for food that was rightfully ours.”
Vu’s family was poor, but not by local standards. They owned a bicycle, something not all families in Vietnam could say. Yet waiting for hours for food was difficult.
In the book The Bridge Generation of Viet Nam: Spanning Wartime to Boomtime, Vu recalled how schoolchildren, weak and thirsty, would wait hours on end in the heat for food rations only to get cheated by officials, who would mix rocks in with the rice to fool the scales.
“That made us angry, but we could not fight or argue with the officials,” Vu told authors Nancy Napier and Dau Thuy Ha. “What could we do, as children?”
Read more: How Vietnam Went From the Poorest Economy in the World to a Prosperous Exporter
WikiLeaks released a statement which said Assange was en route to Australia.
"Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there," the statement published to X on Tuesday morning (Australian time) said.
"He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK."
About bloody time!
One thing that I am wondering however, is the timing. Why now? just before the British elections? Before the first presidential debate? Just when Australian Labor is in its death throes? Call me cynical but I feel that this is a political move.
But I am sure that when he touches down in Australia, he will kiss the tarmac. But so much to ask and so much to understand. And what was the plea deal about? Keep quiet and you can be free? If that was " the deal ", who could blame him?
Think on this: " ... once telling the truth has become a crime, we will all be living in tyranny.”
Read more: "A man more sinned against than sinning". - Julian Assange is free......Or is he really?
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