President Biden enlightens and cheers Western World with speech in Vilnius

July 15, 2023

People wave American and Lithuanian flags from a window as President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Vilnius University in Vilnius, Lithuania, Wednesday, July, 12, 2023. Biden’s speech seemed to be preparing Americans and his NATO allies for a confrontation that could go on for years, putting it the context of conflicts in Europe’s wartorn past. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Helluva speech. Dramatic difference between Biden’s triumphant reception in Vilnius and Trump’s trip and actions with NATO, and remarks in Vilnius, a few years earlier.

This is why Biden should be re-elected, among many other things. 38 minutes that should lift your spirits.



Before the speech, Deutsche Welle said:

“US President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a public speech at Vilnius University following the annual NATO summit in Lithuania. During the summit, there was a significant emphasis on Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. President Biden and other NATO leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the newly established NATO-Ukraine Council. This permanent body serves as a platform for the 31 NATO allies and Ukraine to engage in consultations and request emergency meetings. This comes after Ukraine was neither granted immediate membership in NATO, nor a clear timeline for accession.”

DW provides a transcript at their YouTube site, if you’re looking for one.

See also:

  • “With an eye on 2024, Biden touts successful NATO summit,” Justin Sink and Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg, JapanTimes, July 13, 2023.

Leave a Comment » | foreign affairs, History, NATO, President Joe Biden, Ukraine | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

“Founding Father’s” big mistake — we don’t celebrate July 2, John Adams; we’ve forgiven the error

July 1, 2023

John Adams, by By John Trumbull, 1793. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
John Adams, by By John Trumbull, 1793. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

“The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
— John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776

Surely John Adams knew that July 4 would be Independence Day, didn’t he?

In writing to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776, John Adams committed one of those grand errors even he would laugh at afterward. We’ll forgive him when the fireworks start firing.

1776 filled the calendar with dates deserving of remembrance and even celebration. John Adams, delegate from Massachusetts to the Second Continental Congress, wrote home to his wife Abigail that future generations would celebrate July 2, the date the Congress voted to approve Richard Henry Lee’s resolution declaring independence from Britain for 13 of the British colonies in America.

Continental congress DSC_0607
Scene of the crime — Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Second Continental congress approved the resolution to declare the colonies independent from Britain – (Photo credit: National Park Service)

Two days later, that same Congress approved the wording of the document Thomas Jefferson had drafted to announce Lee’s resolution to the world.

Today, we celebrate the date of the document Jefferson wrote, and Richard Henry Lee is often a reduced to a footnote, if not erased from history altogether.

Who can predict the future?

(You know, of course, that Adams and Jefferson both died 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence, on July 4, 1826. In the 50 intervening years, Adams and Jefferson were comrades in arms and diplomacy in Europe, officers of the new government in America, opposing candidates for the presidency, President and Vice President, ex-President and President, bitter enemies, then long-distance friends writing almost daily about how to make a great new nation. Read David McCullough‘s version of the story, if you can find it.)

(Yes, this is mostly an encore post. Another history issue that arose in conversations today — I thought everyone knew this.)

More, and Related articles:

The Lee Resolution.
The Lee Resolution, passed by the Second Continental Congress on July 2, 1776 – Wikipedia image (Wait a minute: Are those numbers added correctly? What are they?)
This is an encore post.
Yes, this is an encore post. Defeating ignorance takes patience and perseverance.

Leave a Comment » | 1776, Declaration of Independence, Famous quotes, Historic documents, History, John Adams, July 4 1776, Quotes | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

July 4, 2023: Fly your flag! 247th anniversary of public reading of the Declaration of Independence

July 1, 2023

At Four Mile Historic Park in Glendale, Colorado, Abraham Lincoln actor John Voehl pauses before delivering the Gettysburg Address at a 4th of July celebration (yes, Lincoln delivered the address on November 16; it's a great statement of the meaning and history of the Declaration of Independence, and probably appropriate for July 4, remembering that the actual independence resolution passed on July 2, 1776 . . .) Denver Post file photo

At Four Mile Historic Park in Glendale, Colorado, Abraham Lincoln actor John Voehl pauses before delivering the Gettysburg Address at a 4th of July celebration (yes, Lincoln delivered the address on November 16; it’s a great statement of the meaning and history of the Declaration of Independence, and probably appropriate for July 4, remembering that the actual independence resolution passed on July 2, 1776 . . .) Denver Post file photo

It’s a day of tradition — oddly enough, since we are in reality a very new nation, and Lee’s resolution to declare independence from Britain came on July 2.

A soak in Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub is nothing if not a steeping in tradition.  Fly your flag July 4, or the whole weekend, to celebrate the independence of the American colonies of Britain.

Fourth of July: NPR has already read the Declaration of Independence (or will soon, if you’re up early), PBS is ready to broadcast the Capitol Fourth concert  (maybe a rebroadcast is available, if you’re off at your own town’s fireworks — check your local listings), your town has a parade somewhere this weekend, or a neighboring community does, and fireworks are everywhere.

At the White House, traditionally, new citizens are sworn in — often people who joined our armed forces and fought for our nation, before even getting the privileges of citizenship.  Fireworks on the Capital Mall will be grand. President Obama’s White House would host a few thousand military people and their families from some of the best views.  Traditionally, five photographers, chosen by lottery, get to shoot photos of the fireworks from the windows of the Washington Monument; will that occur, with the Monument open again after repair from the earthquake?

There will be great fireworks also in Baltimore Harbor over Fort McHenry, the fort whose siege inspired Francis Scott Key to write the “Star-spangled Banner” from his boat in the harbor, in 1814. Fireworks will frighten the bluebirds nesting at Yorktown National Battlefield.  I suspect there will be a grand display at Gettysburg, on the 154th anniversary of the end of that battle. July 4, 1863, also marked the end of the Siege of Vicksburg; tradition holds that Vicksburg did not celebrate the 4th of July for 83 years after that. I’ll wager there will be fireworks there tonight.

In Provo, Utah, the city poobahs will have done all they can to try to live up to their self-proclaimed reputation as having the biggest Independence Day celebration in the nation.  Will the celebration in Prescott, Arizona, still be muted by the tragic deaths of 19 Hot Shot firefighters a few years ago; will drought halt the fireworks, too?  There will be fireworks around the Golden Gate Bridge, in Anchorage, Alaska, reflecting on the waters of Pearl Harbor, and probably in Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas Islands.

Fireworks on the Fourth is a long tradition — a tradition that kept John Adams and Thomas Jefferson alive, until they both died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, in 1826, the sounds of the fireworks letting Adams know the celebration had begun (Adams erroneously celebrated that Jefferson, the Declaration’s author, still lived, unable to know Jefferson had passed just hours earlier).

Remember to put your flag up today.

Astronaut Eugene Cernan and the U.S. Flag -- Apollo 17 on the Moon (NASA photo)

Last flag on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and the U.S. Flag — Apollo 17 on the Moon (NASA photo)

If you’re not on the Moon, here are some tips on flag etiquette, how to appropriately fly our national standard.

Also:

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photo of the Apollo 17 landing site.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photo of the Apollo 17 landing site. NASA caption: Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger descent stage comes into focus from the new lower 50 km mapping orbit, image width 102 meters. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

This is mostly an encore post, but I so love that photo of the flag with the Earth in the distance.

Happy birthday, Kathryn!

Fireworks in Duncanville, Texas, for July 4

Fireworks in Duncanville, Texas, for July 4 — Kathryn Knowles’s birthday. We’re always happy the town chimes in with the celebratory spirit.

Tip of the old scrub brush to Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and the cast of thousands of patriots including George Washington.

Save

Leave a Comment » | 4th of July, Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, Independence Day, Patriotism | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell