Lazy Caturday Reads: Independence Day Edition
Posted: July 4, 2026 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: just because | Tags: 4th of July, Antwerp World Diamond Center, Clean Air Act, Declaration of Independence, Donald Trump, Epstein Files, General Charles Q. Brown, Independence Day, Jr., Maj. Jason Watson, Mt. Rushmore, Trump Corruption, Trump Pardons, Zohran Mamdani |
Good Day!!
I had a procedure done on my right eye on Monday–a shot to treat macular degeneration–and something went wrong. I’ve been dealing with awful pain for days, and I still can’t see very well. Getting old is no picnic. Nevertheless, I’ll do my best to produce a post.
Today is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, Trump made the celebration all about him instead of our country. He ruins everything. Fortunately, cities around the country are holding their own 4th of July events.
Here in Boston, there will be the usual outdoor concert with even more fireworks than usual. NBC10 Boston: Here’s what to know about the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular today.
Happy Fourth of July! It’s time for the 2026 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular — in addition to other Independence Day events that are being held across the city on Saturday.
This year’s Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, scheduled for 7-9:30 p.m. at the Hatch Shell, is expected to be bigger than ever as part of the ongoing celebration of America’s 250th birthday, with performances from Lainey Wilson, Chance The Rapper, Trombone Shorty and Megan Hilty, with Jane Lynch serving as host.
People celebrating at the event are being held off the Charles River Esplanade until later in the day this year, however, due to the extreme heat our region has been experiencing. The gates will open to the public at 4 p.m. It was previously scheduled for 12 p.m.
Temperatures are expected in the mid-90s with heat indices running around 100-105 for Saturday’s display, and public health officials have stressed the importance of celebrating safely, drinking water and finding shade.
The free event, which anchors a multi-year, statewide commemoration of Massachusetts 250, will conclude with a fireworks display illuminating the Charles River and choreographed with music performed by the Boston Pops, beginning at 9:15 p.m.
“Massachusetts is where the American Revolution began, and this July 4, we’re proud to welcome people from across the state and country to celebrate 250 years of our nation’s history right here in Boston,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement. “From the incredible lineup of artists including the Boston Pops and fireworks over the Charles River, this year’s Spectacular will honor our past while celebrating the energy, creativity and diversity that define Massachusetts today. We’re excited to share this special moment with millions of people here in Boston and watching around the world.”
“This year’s Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular will be an unforgettable celebration for our residents and visitors from around the world, honoring Boston’s revolutionary history, the courage of our communities, and the traditions that bring us together,” Mayor Michelle Wu added. “Boston’s July 4th festivities are a cherished opportunity for friends and family to come together in celebration. We are proud to host this iconic event and to provide a memorable experience for all.”
The City of Boston is also hosting a series of events on Saturday, July 4, including an Independence Day Parade at 9 a.m. starting at Copley Square, a reading of the Declaration of Independence from the Old State House Balcony at 10:15 a.m. and an Independence Day Oration at Faneuil Hall at 11 a.m., featuring special guests including Nathaniel Sheidley, president and CEO of Revolutionary Spaces; award-winning writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates; and Imari Paris Jeffries, president and CEO of Embrace Boston.
I’m sure there will be celebratory events where you live too. I’m too old and I can’t tolerate crowds and, but I like the idea of it.
In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave a wonderful, inclusive speech. NBC News: Mamdani offers a contrast to Trump’s vision for America in a 250th anniversary address.
In a speech marking America’s 250th anniversary, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani rejected President Donald Trump’s view of the nation, and especially of its immigrants, without naming him directly.
Mamdani criticized Trump’s immigration policies from City Hall while sitting behind a desk that once belonged to George Washington and flanked by recently naturalized U.S. citizens, rebuking the view held by “the powerful” that America “becomes less the more people it welcomes.”
“America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for merely being allowed to visit. How small they are. How weak, how unoriginal,” the mayor said.
“The irony” of American exceptionalism, he said, was that the country’s history was often written “by those who were told by others with power and influence and wealth that they were anything but exceptional.”
Mamdani was surrounded by some of America’s newest citizens waving U.S. flags, the same week that the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, dealing a major blow to Trump’s immigration agenda.
“The work of fulfilling the values first enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, that work endures, and it belongs to us all. It belongs, too, to our newest Americans, those standing here with me today, all of whom were recently naturalized,” Mamdani said.
“Nearly a decade ago, I too felt what you feel, the joy of no longer being just a New Yorker, but an American, too,” said Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 2018.
Read more at the link.
Last night Trump gave a speech at Mt. Rushmore that, predictably, was angry and partisan. Shawn McCreesh at The New York Times: At Mount Rushmore, Trump Veers From Patriotism to ‘Communism.’
Four months before tough midterm elections, President Trump used the backdrop of Mount Rushmore one night before the nation’s 250th birthday to characterize his political opponents as “godless,” “evil” communists.
“We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms, if we are foolish stupid and unwise,” he said on Friday, demanding that Congress pass his so-called SAVE America Act, which would impose stricter voter ID rules that would make it harder to vote. He called for terminating the filibuster.
The larger purpose of the speech was hard to miss. He was sharpening a line of attack that the White House has started to use to head off a newly insurgent progressive wing of the Democratic Party that appears to be resonating with liberal voters.
Mr. Trump read from an apocalyptic script as the stony faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln looked on. He said the word “communism” so many times, you might’ve thought the Cold War was still on.
He was not subtle. Communism, he said, “is the enemy of July 4, 1776.” He called it a bigger threat than Pearl Harbor and even 9/11. He name-checked Karl Marx.
A bit more:
The speech began on an upbeat note. The president painted a proud and optimistic portrait of the United States, describing it as nothing short of the greatest society in the history of civilization. The whole first half of his speech boiled down to this line: “You live in a very special place — congratulations, everybody.” The crowd ate it up.
He soon began to pivot. There were people out there who didn’t want English to be the dominant language of the United States, he warned. There were people out there who wanted to take away everyone’s guns, he warned. He promised never to let that happen.
He warned of “newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success.”
It was not the first time he’d used this backdrop to make a speech like this. Six years ago to the day, he spoke here at the end of his first term, when he was campaigning unsuccessfully for a second. Back then, the country was in the throes of the pandemic and gripped by civil unrest after the death of George Floyd, which inspired a national debate about statues and historical figures. Mr. Trump used his speech that night to warn of a “new far-left fascism” creeping up.
He switched ideologies in his second Rushmore speech on Friday.
“Communism is the exact opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he declared. “It’s death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil.”
Trump has no clue what communism is.
Tom Schaller offers an alternative point of view on the Declaration at Public Notice: Declaring War on The Declaration. How Trump is shredding our founding document 250 years later.
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a landmark moment in American and human history. Celebrations and fireworks aside, what does the Declaration mean two-and-a-half centuries later?
The Declaration is loaded with meanings, some of them inherently self-contradictory. Its opening paragraphs are spine-tinglingly profound, but the bulk of the document is a grievous rant. The document set a global standard for freedom and self-governance as naturally inherent human rights, yet bounded those rights to a privileged white, male minority. It is timeless yet also somewhat outdated for American politics today.
Unfortunately, the Declaration of Independence penned primarily by Thomas Jefferson allows self-interested parties to validate their agendas by importing into that sacred document their preferred interpretations of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Precisely because the Declaration is so ripe for political manipulation, having Donald Trump lead the nation during this semiquincentennial anniversary offers a fitting, if bleak, opportunity to litigate anew the Declaration’s political utility….
The litigants are many. Netflix, for example, has leaned heavily into the revolutionary moment by releasing two new documentaries, plus biographical docudramas about presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
Produced and directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, “The American Revolution” is a fantastic, six-part series that focuses almost exclusively on the war. Burns and his team deftly use war narratives as a trojan horse to subtly — and sometimes not-so-subtly — smuggle onto viewers’ screens the message that women, slaves, and Native Americans also played vital roles in the fight for independence.
When “Revolution” was released last autumn, Burns made the rounds on Capitol Hill, cozying up to Republicans in ways that alarmed some critics. From a purely strategic standpoint, he shrewdly played Washington politics the same way contemporary lobbyists do when building coalitions to protect their interests, which in Burns’s case is ongoing federal support for PBS programming.
Although “Revolution” avoids mentioning Trump, its inclusive set of narrators and topics delivers an implicit corrective to the white-washed histories of the founding moment. “Revolution” is Burns’s anniversary gift, carefully but not too obtrusively wrapped with a multicultural bow.
Then, last month Netflix released a five-part series called “The American Experiment.” Shepherded by nearly a dozen producers headlined by Tom Hanks and directed by Brian Knappenberger, “Experiment” mixes recreations with interviews from both notable colonial scholars and contemporary politicians to explain the principles contained in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. (The documentary includes an important, useful interlude about the failed and often forgotten first attempt at an American republic: the doomed Articles of Confederation.)
Read the rest at Public Notice. I think I’ll give those documentaries a try. They are bound to be a better alternative than Trump’s speech tonight.
Trump’s “Great American State Fair” has been a complete flop so far with very few people bothering to show up. Tonight Trump plans to give a political speech, and I’ll bet he’s nervous about the turnout.
BBC News: Fireworks, flyovers and a ‘really long’ Trump speech ahead as US celebrates 250th.
US President Donald Trump will head to Washington DC’s National Mall on Saturday for what he has billed as a “spectacular rally” celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.
The event, taking place as a sweltering heatwave grips swathes of the eastern and central US, will include flyovers by hundreds of aircraft and a fireworks display organisers hope will be the biggest of all time.
Military flyovers over Washington DC will happen every hour between 13:15 local time (17:15 GMT) and sunset, the organisers said, and Trump’s new Air Force One will feature in one of the formations over the capital.
The president, however, has been accused by opponents of politicising the nation’s anniversary event and several music acts dropped out soon after being announced.
Extremely hot, humid temperatures of approximately 38C (100F) and a later-than-anticipated start time may also have an impact on the size of the crowd that attends.
The intense heat has already led to events being cancelled. On Friday, organisers of the National Park Service’s Independence Day Parade in Washington DC said they had cancelled the annual event over safety concerns. Some celebration events have also been cancelled from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland to as far west as Colorado.
There is also the potential for evening thunderstorms that could disrupt the events, which have been organised by a White House-backed public-private partnership….
The Washington DC event, formally known as the Salute to America 250 Celebrations & Fireworks – is due to begin at 19:00 local time, with Trump expected to speak a few hours later at approximately 21:45.
He has promised to make a “really long speech” at the Fourth of July festivities, despite the heatwave, “to show that I can do anything”.
A few news stories:
The New York Times: Air Force Detains Officer Who Called for Trump’s Impeachment at Capitol.
An active-duty officer was placed into Air Force custody after he was arrested in uniform on Wednesday after an event in which he called for the impeachment, conviction and removal of President Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The U.S. Capitol Police arrested the officer, Maj. Jason Watson, who identified himself as an active-duty service member, on the Capitol steps.
He was attending a news conference organized by the Removal Coalition, a grass-roots activist group. Representative Al Green, Democrat of Texas, who has filed articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump at least six times, also attended the event.
During his speech, Major Watson, who said he was not a member of the Democratic Party, accused the president and vice president of violating both the Constitution and their oaths of office.
“Congress remains unconvinced of the urgency and necessity for them to honor their oath,” he said, “so we must persuade them, with our unrelenting, uncompromising civil resistance.”
Major Watson ended his speech, in which he criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies as well as its actions in Venezuela and Iran, by calling on Americans “to peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights.”
After the news conference, he stood on the Capitol steps holding a sign with the words “Impeach,” “Convict” and “Remove” stacked one atop the other. Shortly afterward, he was arrested on suspicion of “crowding, obstructing and incommoding,” the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement on Friday.
“It is generally against the law for the public to demonstrate on the House steps unless they are with a member of Congress,” the police said. The statement noted that Major Watson had been “escorted to the House steps by a member of Congress” and that after the member left, “our officers gave the man lawful orders to stop the illegal demonstration.”
The Daily Beast: Top Retired General Issues Scathing Trump Takedown.
A retired top general has landed a well-placed blow on President Trump and his use of the military.
Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., was one of three authors of an essay in the journal Foreign Affairs, published Friday, that slammed the politicization of the military.
Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have tried to deploy the National Guard in blue cities, successfully in Washington, D.C., while simultaneously carrying out a purge of top generals.
Known for his balanced messaging and aversion to partisanship, Brown did not name Trump or Hegseth, but the targets of his words required little decoding.
“In the face of a genuine national disaster, the public will readily embrace the military’s help,” Brown wrote. “But when presidents use the armed forces for more politically contentious missions, such as addressing domestic crime in cities, the work of the military becomes more fraught.
“Resorting to a military solution rather than fixing the underlying incapacity or dysfunction in civilian institutions diverts the military from focusing on its primary combat mission,” he continued. “And as [George] Washington knew, it is not the military’s job to save the republic from political impasses. Indeed if you ask too much of the military, you risk the entire enterprise.”
The Independent: DOJ refuses to hand over Epstein files after judge’s order.
The Department of Justice is refusing to hand over redacted information from investigative files connected to Jeffrey Epstein, despite an order from a federal judge to either release the documents or explain why they were withheld.
Hours before a deadline to turn over the materials, Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward asked the judge to delay the deadline for another two months, or to dissolve the order entirely by accepting the Justice Department’s explanation for withholding those documents.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan sided with journalist Katie Phang after she filed a lawsuit accusing Donald Trump’s administration of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which the president signed into law last year.
The lawsuit, which was filed against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, accuses the government of obstructing the public’s right to access materials connected to investigations into Epstein. The judge gave the Justice Department until Thursday to respond.
On Thursday night, Woodward wrote that the government is “committed to transparency and compliance” but “strongly disagrees” with the judge’s order.
PBS News: A Belgian diamond group is gifting Trump a lavish ring after that industry won tariff relief.
Dozens of diamonds spell out two giant letter T’s next to the Stars and Stripes and “1776” and “2026.” Dozens more frame the numbers 45 and 47 in the shape of Superman’s logo. A diamond-winged eagle carries a ruby shield and clutches an olive branch of emeralds, below a radiant “250” and atop the phrase “250 YEARS USA” etched in 18-karat gold.
All told, 321 diamonds, 56 sapphires, 13 emeralds and six rubies encrust the watch-sized gold ring presented this week to Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, to give to U.S. President Donald Trump.
“A very special thank you to my friends from Antwerp for the magnificent Freedom 250 ring,” Trump said in a prerecorded video message during an event marking America’s 250th birthday in Brussels.
Isidore Mörsel, president of the Antwerp World Diamond Center, or AWDC, gifted the ring on behalf of the centuries-old diamond community in the Belgian port city, a central node in the worldwide trade of the precious stones that found itself struggling last year under the weight of Trump’s sweeping trade war.
Disgusting.
The New York Times: Trump Pardons Violators of the Clean Air Act and a Major Donor.
The White House announced on Friday that President Trump had issued pardons to 11 men, most of whom had been convicted of crimes related to the Clean Air Act, a bedrock environmental law.
The president also pardoned Adam Kidan, a major donor to Republicans, including Mr. Trump. He had served about two and a half years in prison for his role in a fraud scheme involving the disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The Clean Air Act pardons benefited people who had sold or installed devices for diesel trucks that defeated their emissions controls, making them far more polluting. It was the latest move by the Trump administration to undermine laws intended to fight climate change and curb air pollutants that harm human health.
Republicans and their allies in the business community have cast enforcement of the Clean Air Act as a hindrance to commerce and an undue burden to those who rely on diesel engines.
Mr. Trump, in a social media post announcing some of the pardons on Friday afternoon, echoed that framing, minimizing the scale of the crimes and casting the law, which was first enacted in 1963, as a tool used by his predecessor to target political enemies.
“It is my Great Honor to have just signed Pardons for six people who were persecuted by the Biden Administration, and were in, or being sent to, prison, for ‘fixing their car,’” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Sickening. We have to get rid of him. This country can’t survive 2 more years of his blatant criminality.
That’s all I have for today. I know this isn’t much of a post, but it’s so difficult for me to see what I’m doing. Take care everyone, and I hope you enjoy the Independence Day weekend despite our fascist overlords.
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I can’t believe people keep falling for the idea that there’s anything close to Communism in the world. It’s just a small group of people that still follow the basic philosophy and they’re really in a small minority. The Right always events these bugaboo mythologists and stupid people fall for it. Both Capitalism and Communism are Marixist philosophyical ideals and neither exist in reality, anywhere. They’re just manipulative tag lines now.