On Fourth of July, Americans celebrate life, liberty & the pursuit of hot dogs

What a perfect metaphor for the US:

Life (for those who can afford to pay big pharma and big insurance for the privilege), liberty (unless your child has been abducted by the state in order to blackmail you into leaving the country), and the pursuit of happiness (so long as you define "happiness" as consuming bland, processed meat products in such quantities and with such rapid efficiency that you don't even notice how it feels to your body to do so.)

Nothing to celebrate today- sorry. We are living in a nightmare under the current president. My flag is remaining in the closet until this president and his corrupt cabinet is out. 

The multitude of deeply ugly, selfish, racist, bigoted liars and apostates that support Trump have unalterably changed my foolish conception of The United States. What an eye-opener.

In recent years, law enforcement agencies have been on the alert for suspicious activity during the holiday celebrations.

I wonder how many of these suspicious activities can be connected to the many and various US home-grown extremists.

The multitude of deeply ugly, selfish, racist, bigoted liars and apostates that support Trump have unalterably changed 

The ruling demographic has indeed taken the sheet off its face exposing the ugliness many of us have long known had been only lightly veiled.

Nothing to celebrate today- sorry.

Because liberals didn’t get their way?

We are living in a nightmare under the current president. My flag is remaining in the closet until this president and his corrupt cabinet is out. 

Well, as much as I hated the last President, I was still happy to be an American and from the greatest nation, been a patriot and will remain so regardless of who’s occupying the WH, I’m just happier NOW than I was over the previous 8 years.

The multitude of deeply ugly, selfish, racist, bigoted liars and apostates that support Trump have unalterably changed my foolish conception of The United States. What an eye-opener.

Hmmmm....I think liberals need time to heal and to reflect, they have their feet half in the US and the other half the tip of their toe in fliting with socialism. Anyway, I’m stocked! BBQ and beer all day! Happy 4th everyone!!!

The document declared the young nation's independence from Great Britain and advanced the principle "that all men are created equal," and had "certain unalienable rights" including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

It was a nice principle that never translated into practice. Ask Native Americans, chattel slaves, Asians excluded & interned, blacklisted leftists, gays, transgendered people, or women who lacked voting rights until only a 100 years ago. Or take a look at how justice is administered. As Glenn Greenwald put it:

"The [dystopic] future toward which the United States is inexorably heading is not difficult to imagine. At some point, serious social unrest is the inevitable result when ... ordinary people are threatened with imprisonment for petty offenses while they see elites illegally spying, invading, torturing, and plundering with nearly total impunity. Such a two-tiered setup is simply unsustainable."

Or that despite having only 5% of the world's population we have 25% of the world's prisoners. It's almost like we're running gulags to prevent unrest or an explosive revolution.

The fundamental contradiction between being created equal and actively pursuing the most unequal society in the developed world never fails to astonish. A nation where the wealthy can afford safe neighborhoods, good education or health care, but the overwhelming majority toils harder for less, one bad illness or accident away from the street. Trump was elected in response to all of this but his policies merely distract voters from who the real culprits are. A larger concussion is looming and one can only hope it targets the malefactors of great wealth who would bleed us all dry if it meant having a few more billions to offshore.

It was a nice principle that never translated into practice. Ask Native Americans, chattel slaves, Asians excluded & interned, blacklisted leftists, gays, transgendered people, or women who lacked voting rights until only a 100 years ago. Or take a look at how justice is administered. As Glenn Greenwald put it:

Yes, you can make that argument about virtually any country of its past transgressions, but I have nothing to do with the past nor will I be bullied into being shamed for something I have no control control or were never witness to. If people want to feel like you, that’s their prerogative, I choose not to. I acknowledge the past, the present and the future. I’m proud of my country and my heritage.

It was a nice principle that never translated into practice. Ask Native Americans, chattel slaves, Asians excluded & interned, blacklisted leftists, gays, transgendered people, or women who lacked voting rights until only a 100 years ago. 

You are dwelling on the past and ignoring the fact that those principles have largely been acted upon - and continue to be in an orderly system designed to allow just that - and benefitted millions.

No B&Q in Japan today.

You’re not American, I wouldn’t expect it. But I will be having one.

Big rains and evacuation standby with floods and landslides.

Not where I’m at.

Quite a few with one foot in Japan and the other in Japan. Expats are more crazy about this than those back home.

Not where I’m from, the odds in California, perhaps

There's no socialism in America.

California and now that Queens elected their first Socialist representative, they will try....try.

Do the Japanese have a fourth of July? Yes, it is between the third and fifth of July. May 3 is the day of honor and respect in Japan.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." —Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy 4th of July, friends

The kid and I were both just granted holidays due to the 警報 . Happy 5th of July peeps!

Let the U.S. leftists wave Mexican and other Central American flags, celebrate MS-13 and scarf down detergent pods; the rest of America is observing today with parades, and sharing a bounty of great food with family and friends knowing we live in the greatest nation on the planet.

Happy 4th of July from Deep in the Heart of Texas

The document declared the young nation's independence from Great Britain and advanced the principle "that all men are created equal," and had "certain unalienable rights" including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

I know people from the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and other communist countries who were lucky to escape the tyranny and totalitarian system of their native countries. They often wonder why leftist Americans criticize and denigrate the very government and country in which they enjoy the freedoms of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that the U.S. government and Constitution accords.

I have found these immigrants from these former totalitarian countries are happy and grateful to live in the U.S and be considered Americans and celebrate the meaning and symbolism of the 4th of July in more earnest and pride than many (leftists and apologist) Americans themselves.

Belated happy 4th to the families and descendents of those who perished directly or indirectly thanks to the USA.

And a salute to those who seek to make the country a safer, welcoming and equal country.

There's work to be done.

I know people from the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam and other communist countries who were lucky to escape the tyranny and totalitarian system of their native countries. They often wonder why leftist Americans criticize and denigrate the very government and country in which they enjoy the freedoms of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that the U.S. government and Constitution accords.

Translation: I have some like-minded immigrant friends who share my authoritarian-follower tendencies. Their purely anecdotal statements confirmed my pre-existing biases about why leftists suck and unblinking patriotism rocks.

And a salute to those who seek to make the country a safer, welcoming and equal country.

There's work to be done.

Thank you, Mr. President

Translation: I have some like-minded immigrant friends who share my authoritarian-follower tendencies. Their purely anecdotal statements confirmed my pre-existing biases about why leftists suck and unblinking patriotism rocks. (jcapan)

Obviously you have never lived in a communist or totalitarian country. Perhaps you should emigrate to North Korea and see how much "freedoms" you can enjoy there.

The "like-minded immigrant friends' you so willingly denigrate know what it is like living in a totalitarian country. That's why they came to the U.S. They appreciate becoming U.S. citizens and living in the U.S. and are proud to be Americans. They acknowledge the U.S. is not perfect, but they all agree it is far better country than the country, politically speaking, they originated from.

Of course anti-US leftists can't appreciate or respect that experience.

Of course anti-US leftists can't appreciate or respect that experience.

We all have experiences and anecdotes. Highlighting the hipocrisy of the current system is a sign of concern for the US, not hatred.

Of course there are countries far worse than the US, that still doesn't mean America has carte blanche to dictate, destroy and pi$$ on its values. That's why so many people are upset.

Perhaps you should emigrate to North Korea and see how much "freedoms" you can enjoy there.

Because it has to be the old go-live-in-Russia variant. No room for criticism or protest. You're either for or against us, right.

Anyways, your comment isn't allowing up/down votes from yours truly, so I thought I'd disagree in person.

Thank you, Mr. President

I guess you got confused between your wannabe dictator and the people. Was saluting the people who matter, and fight back. Not the elitists benefiting from the gurrier's gains.

Still, at least the flag is looking more honest now.

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2018/07/04/prototype-for-new-american-flag-unveiled/

Perhaps you should emigrate to North Korea and see how much "freedoms" you can enjoy there

This is akin to saying that America hasn't always been great so we need to Make America Great Again. If you think it needs to be made great again, you think it's not great now. In the immortal words of ignorant conservatives, "America, love it or leave it."

We all have experiences and anecdotes. Highlighting the hipocrisy of the current system is a sign of concern for the US, not hatred.

Oh really?  Yet when the right highlights the hypocrisy of the left or criticizes the left, it's called HATE.  How hypocritical of the left.

Of course there are countries far worse than the US, that still doesn't mean America has carte blanche to dictate, destroy and pi$ on its values. That's why so many people are upset

And it doesn't mean the leftists has carte blanch to dictate, destroy and pi$$ on American values either.  But they do. 

Because it has to be the old go-live-in-Russia variant. No room for criticism or protest. You're either for or against us, right

North Korea, Russia or China doesn't tolerate criticism or protests against their system.  In their system, you are either for or against.  If against, you are executed or sent to the gulags.  You guys are lucky to be living in a system that is tolerant.

 In the immortal words of ignorant conservatives, "America, love it or leave it."

Obviously you don't.  And yet YOU are benefiting from the very system you hate.  Which is hypocrisy and an observation my friends from the former Soviet-bloc don't understand about Americans.  They often ask if these Americans don't like America, whey don't they leave?

I guess you got confused between your wannabe dictator and the people.

Gee, if you’re talking about a dictatorship the left and their brown shirt tactics are unmatched.

Was saluting the people who matter, and fight back. Not the elitists benefiting from the gurrier's gains.

So why aren’t you rallying against Google, Facebook and all the other big wig social warriors?

Still, at least the flag is looking more honest now.

Love that flag.

Gee, if you’re talking about a dictatorship the left and their brown shirt tactics are unmatched.

Gee, I guess someone needs to check their history. The brown shirts first demonised, then brutalised, then locked up socialists and communists claiming they were enemies of Germany:

From its rise to power in 1933, the Nazi regime built a series of detention facilities to imprison and eliminate so-called "enemies of the state." Most prisoners in the early concentration camps were German Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, Roma (Gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005144

https://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007720

So why aren’t you rallying against Google, Facebook and all the other big wig social warriors?

When they start caging kids and threatening to invade countries, I'll step up.

Love that flag.

Gee, looks like you didn't read that link.

Oh really? Yet when the right highlights the hypocrisy of the left or criticizes the left, it's called HATE. How hypocritical of the left.

Whataboutery. Running round in ever decreasing circles.

And it doesn't mean the leftists has carte blanch to dictate, destroy and pi$ on American values either. But they do. 

Whataboutery. American values are currently about screwing the poor, oppressing the marginalised, meddling with other nations and built on a long history of murdering millions. Those values of yours need to be fixed.

North Korea, Russia or China doesn't tolerate criticism or protests against their system. In their system, you are either for or against. If against, you are executed or sent to the gulags. You guys are lucky to be living in a system that is tolerant.

Hmmm. Is this a points system of who's the best? Again, criticism is showing concern and fears. Those Americans who voice their legitimate grievances are patriots. Whereas those who can't take criticism and lash out are nationalists.

Don't worry. I think patriotism will win over nationalism. It may take a civil war, unfortunately.

The left in the US are trying to eradicate freedoms? What an asinine statement. It's not the left infringing on personal felreesoms by trying to overturn Roe v Wade. Wow. Facts and logic clearly are antithetical to a certain poster.

The left in the US are trying to eradicate freedoms? What an asinine statement. It's not the left infringing on personal felreesoms by trying to overturn Roe v Wade. Wow. Facts and logic clearly are antithetical to a certain poster.

I like how men get themselves involved in women’s womb issues. Even if that were to happen, the ruling would fall back to the individual States and they could rule as they please and as of right now, there are 8 States that have and uphold abortion laws, so an outright ban is extremely unlikely. Either way, a conservative is coming and there’s nothing the left can do to stop it.

Those Americans who voice their legitimate grievances are patriots.

I agree. There are Americans voicing their concerns against the very liberal policies that are ruining and destroying this country.

Whereas those who can't take criticism and lash out are

the liberals, Trump-haters and leftist anti-US people. They still can't get over Hillary's loss and are vehemently displaying their HATE.

Don't worry. I think patriotism will win over nationalism. It may take a civil war, unfortunately.

Hmmm....you may be right about the civil war concern. The liberal Democrats will make illegal immigration the major issue of the 2020 election. The liberals advocate open U.S. borders, elimination of U.S. citizenship requirements, amnesty and free entitlement privileges for those illegal aliens; the very policies that are destroying the meaning of U.S. sovereignty and citizenship. 

Are you familiar with La Raza and MEChA? Their motto is "For La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada." This translate to: "For the (Latino) Race everything. Outside the Race nothing." That's a very nationalist statement if I ever heard one. 

The Democrat Party under the leadership of Tom Perez, embraces La Raza's and MEChA's agenda. 

But don't worry. Their "nationalism" will win over U.S. patriotism and bitterly divide this country, which is what the Democrat Party and the anti-patriotic liberals wants.