Tourists "dangled their tired feet in the Reflecting Pool in front of the Washington Monument, or they waded — fully clothed and often knee-deep in water — across the pond in front of the Lincoln Memorial" - Washington Post 7-5-1976 reports July 4th Bicentennial fireworks

Re-upping this thread on Thomas Paine since he seems to have entered the Bluesky chat on this July 4.

Roll up, roll up, sign this pretition for Humanities At Hertfordshire! Signing to support them is supporting the #Humanities - it might be them now, and whilst for many it's also us now, if it isn't already, it'll be you next. Sign!! #Skystorians 🗃

She’s the only one in this group brave enough to show her face. She has no shame for what she’s doing.

She’s the only one in this group brave enough to show her face. She has no shame for what she’s doing.

“And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” I suppose Diamond consortiums don’t count?

“And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” I suppose Diamond consortiums don’t count?

The next administration is going to have create an entire Department of Restoring Deleted Information

I'll summarize this: Mamdani asked NYers to keep air conditioning at 78 degrees. A wave criticism hit online. A MSNBC broadcast pointed out the US Department of Energy recommends that 78 degree figure. Immediately after, the US Department of Energy deleted 6,000 web pages related to energy saving.

the Cape Verde national anthem is quite lovely. With dignity, bury the seed In the dust of the naked island At the escarpment of life Hope is As big as the sea Which embraces us Sentinel of the oceans and winds Persevering Between the stars And the Atlantic Intone the Chant of Freedom.

If you're an FBI analyst surging to Atlanta to review records, reach out to me. I'll keep you anonymous. Signal in bio. Please share this post widely.

The Prize Papers team, led by Dr. Amanda Bevan at the UK National Archives, has been finding so many historical treasures and discoveries. Here, a rare Copy of the Declaration of Independence —captured by a British warship from an American privateer off the Coast of Spain in 1776–

Somehow this just encapsulates him.

Cartoon by @andertoon.bsky.social.

I don't think any American--regardless of party, despite fondness for aviation (which I share)--would enjoy being under the nonstop low-altitude, high-speed, incredible-volume of the Caligula overflights of our nation's capital right now. It feels and sounds like being under aerial attack.

Breaking: Per MSNOW’s Vaughn Hillyard, acting DNI Bill Pulte is now firing dozens of intelligence officials at agencies beyond his own office as part of removing the “deep state.” Reportedly, the officials may have refused to provide him requested intel.

Mamdani: "As we mark 250 years ... we see the wealthiest country -- one where children go to sleep hungry while the world's first trillionaire hungers for more ... we see masked agents terrorizing our streets, eating food cooked by undocumented neighbors before spiriting them away in unmarked vans"

we have some fun 4 July news over at The National Archives! a new copy of the US Declaration of Independence, with an amazing story behind it (privateers! printers! prisoners!) - but also, a find that shows the power and importance of our volunteering and cataloguing projects.

Four years ago, a coordinated right-wing smear campaign condemned Monticello for "going woke." Bridget Gillespie was working there at the time, and she gives this revelatory inside account of the harassment staff endured and ultimately how the institution buckled. Amazing piece.

As an American history professor, I regularly read new books, articles, and dissertations, and also evaluate unpublished manuscripts for journals and book publishers. I would not categorize the recent and emerging historiography in the binary way that Ezra Klein does.

As today's air-show sonic booms continuing echoing over DC, I can only think how many $millions in fuel, training, equipment, safety backup, etc go into each of these self-indulgent "we are big boys!" passes. And the loss for traffic stalled at DCA today and tomorrow. Would Ike/JFK do this?

British Academy President's statement on the UK's higher education crisis, July 2026.

Jack Smith: "I think we are facing an attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime"

The Prize Papers team, led by Dr. Amanda Bevan at the UK National Archives, has been finding so many historical treasures and discoveries. Here, a rare Copy of the Declaration of Independence —captured by a British warship from an American privateer off the Coast of Spain in 1776–

The problem with the legal academy is that too many people distort history to suit their needs and/or to give methodological cover for their partisan motives from attacks on moral lines. And then elected officials pick up as truth. And then collective memory fails. And then rules get made.

Damn. @nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Cartoon by @dennisgoris.bsky.social

BREAKING: The Vatican excommunicates bishops from a breakaway group of traditionalist Catholics that consecrated them without Pope Leo's consent.

Hm. We’ve been here before. What did they call “make the blacks work” as a “policy approach demanding an integrated implementation” in the eighteenth century? Let’s see, it started with an S. Took a civil war to get rid of.

He creates his own reality & expects us to believe it. The FELON's FANTASY: Meanwhile, back on EARTH 1:

It's July 2nd...the deadline for Todd Blanche to comply with Judge Sullivan's order in my lawsuit over the Epstein Files. Let's see what his "compliance" looks like today... storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Remember NFTs? Remember the Metaverse? Oh, right, those are dead now despite tech bros and their bootlickers repeatedly insisting for years that they were "the future" and "inevitable".

Physical books. You own them. They don't require updates. They don't surveil you or collect and sell your data. They are a genuinely safe hallucinogen that leaves you smarter and more empathetic and with a longer attention span the more you use them. Free from the library. What's not to like?

So much economic ‘planning’ reminds me of a proposal I once saw to reduce the university’s deficit by cutting 10% of the academic staff. I pointed out that they also generate 10% of the income and asked how the shortfall would be made up. (Much then was per capita funding.) The plan was dropped.

According to Forbes "In a future where data is ubiquitous, a company’s competitive edge won't be based on access to information but the ability to analyze it—precisely the skills sharpened through the study of literature, history, philosophy and the arts.” www.forbes.com/councils/for...

Our water plant is old and busted and we have had so many issues with that. Electricity high as hell. 37 data centers in Henrico. I don’t even want to know how many are in Richmond. We are on a voluntary water conservation right now. These people “in power” are useless.

I didn’t think I’d live to see it, but the US has come out as Constitution-fluid.

Marco Rubio is against birthright citizenship. But Marco Rubio *is* a birthright citizen. Ted Cruz is against birthright citizenship. But Ted Cruz was born in Canada. He only got US citizenship by a birthright citizenship law because of his US mother. They are both shameless hypocrites.

Business leaders back the Humanities and Social Sciences, noting their important to economy and culture in Exeter, Cornwall and the Southwest. This is one vital strand in defending the SHAPE subjects. Don't ignore it (or carp about it). Build on it. biz4humanities.com

Tesla must have an entire team devoted to covering up crash data. Lots of cases of the computer being taken from the vehicle on the tow lot, and it's happening everywhere.

Wow who’d have thunk it, vaccines work 🤔 Great news to celebrate.

President Claudia Sheinbaum is rolling out Universal Healthcare for 120 Million Mexican residents. Now that is leadership, I’m both jealous and very happy for the people of Mexico.

'The proposed industrial action is over plans to cut 200 jobs as the Brighton facility attempts to save £35m annually. It comes after more than 600 staff were put at risk of redundancy across academic, technical and professional services departments.'

Folarin Balogun, who is a US citizen because he was born here, scores a go-ahead goal for the US team in a knockout game. Score one for birthright citizenship.

“Although Palantir has always been a leader in the field of human suffering, we know our investors see a huge potential in adding the Pentagon’s ballistic missiles, directed energy weapons, and nuclear arsenal to our ever-expanding portfolio.” The onion fake-quoting Alex Karp…

Bernie has been patiently saying exactly the same thing for DECADES

writers wanting credit for their work isn’t hard for any artist to understand, and the need to cite sources isn’t hard for anyone who thinks “non-fiction” means something to understand sometimes these points overlap, sometimes not, neither is difficult unless you have an interest in finding it so

Who knew?

By itself, this is both impeachable and cause for radical reform. The GOP Supreme Court does not even bother to explain the majority of its decisions. It's apparently too much to ask they at least barf up dishonest, unprincipled, poorly-reasoned excuses for their arbitrary exercise of power.