By the waters, the waters of Babylon

We lay down and wept, and wept.

Work Away Today, Work Away Tomorrow

Threshold:

You want a door you can be

            on both sides of at once.

                       You want to be

           on both sides of here

and there, now and then,

            together and—(what

                       did we call the life

            we would wish back?

The old life? The before?)

            alone. But any open

                       space may be

            a threshold, an arch

of entering and leaving.

            Crossing a field, wading

                       through nothing

            but timothy grass,

imagine yourself passing from

            and into. Passing through

                       doorway after

            doorway after doorway.

Maggie Smith.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Far be it from me to critique Independence Day in terms of accuracy, but I do have one quibble right from the start.  As the alien mothership approaches Earth, passing over the Apollo 11 landing site we see the Star Spangled Banner.

Problem: our flag is not still there¹.

Or, more precisely, it's not still standing (sorry, Rocket Man).  See, it's hard to plant anything on the moon because its dust ain't like dust down here:

The regolith...is formed by a sort of fine dust, but it's extremely sticky. It's curious to note, that it takes quite some efforts to plant the American flag in this material, an observation often contested by Moon landing conspiracists. On Earth, dust, formed by weathering of rocks, shows under the microscope tiny grains with smooth edges.  Moon dust is formed by tiny fragments of rock with sharp edges. The edges of the single grains tend to get caught into each other, like in a sort of zipper. 

Yeah, nobody had anticipated this:

[Armstrong] and Aldrin unfurled an American flag, stiffened with wire so that it would fly on an airless world, and struggled to plant it in the dust. As hard as they tried they could push the flagpole only six or eight inches into the ground. For a moment it seemed the flag would fall over in front of the worldwide audience, but at last the men managed to steady it; then they backed away.

So when they left (watch what the ascent engine did to Old Glory):

“We’re off,” Aldrin exulted. “Look at that stuff go all over the place.” Outside, a spray of gold foil and debris from the descent stage flew away in all directions. The flag toppled to the dust.

And that was a good learning experience, even if we littered.

In conclusion²: They could send a man to the moon, but they couldn't think to place the flag away from a rocket so it wouldn't get blown over.

1 - Not fluttering, at least!  I'll also cut them slack on the visible stars.

2 - Borrowing from Dave Foley, playing Apollo 12 LMP Al Bean.

God Speed the Year of Jubilee

July 5, 1852:

I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. 

You may rejoice, I must mourn...

My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is AMERICAN SLAVERY. I shall see, this day, and its popular characteristics, from the slave's point of view. Standing, there, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. 

Selah.

The Fidgets, the Whims, the Caprice, the Vanity, the Superstition, the Irritability of Some of Us

On this date in 1775:

The Congress resumed the consideration of the petition to the King, which being debated by paragraph, was agreed to, and ordered to be engrossed.

Thus the so-called Olive Branch Petition was passed, to be signed a few days later.

And you know how salty John Adams was about the delay in declaring independence?  Yeah, he was salty about this, too, writing to James Wilson on the 24th:

In Confidence,—I am determined to write freely to you this Time. —A certain great Fortune and piddling Genius whose Fame has been trumpeted so loudly, has given a silly Cast to our whole Doings —We are between Hawk and Buzzard— 

We ought to have had in our Hands a Month ago, the whole Legislative, Executive and Judicial of the whole Continent, and have compleatly moddelled a Constitution, to have raised a Naval Power and opened all our Ports wide, to have arrested every Friend to Government on the Continent and held them as Hostages for the poor Victims in Boston. 

And then opened the Door as wide as possible for Peace and Reconcilliation: After this they might have petitioned and negotiated and addressed, &c. if they would.—Is all this extravagant?—Is it wild?—Is it not the soundest Policy?

And then what happened?

This letter, a letter of JA to AA of the same date...and a letter of Benjamin Harrison to George Washington, 21–24 July, were all three printed in sequence in the Massachusetts Gazette. They were seized by the British when Benjamin Hichborn, the bearer, was captured on Narragansett Bay en route to Massachusetts...Copies of JA's letters were forwarded to England by Adm. Graves, Gen. Gage, and others... 

With the oblique reference to John Dickinson as a “piddling Genius,” this letter brought to a head the conflict between him and JA over whether conciliatory or more vigorous measures should be pursued in the congress. The expression of JA's impatience and frustration was not new, for he had relieved his feelings in earlier letters to Warren and AA... 

Copies of the letters arrived in England on or about 17 Sept. and were immediately printed in Lloyd's Evening Post and British Chronicle, 18–20 Sept., and then in other newspapers as well...Their immediate impact was probably limited, for the king had already, on 23 Aug., proclaimed that the colonies were in rebellion, and the Olive Branch Petition had been submitted to Lord Dartmouth on 1 Sept., in whose hands it died...

RIP, John Adams, you would've loved using Signal... 

Moving through the doorway of a nation

Pick me up and shake the doubt.

Crown Thy Good with Brotherhood

I, Too:

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

Langston Hughes.

#throwbackindependenceday

From the roof of Arrivé. (2019)

Everybody loves a llama parade. (2018)

Amateur fireworks in Estacada. (2017)

Off to the Moon

Cool story bro https://t.co/0HSgvygYI4 pic.twitter.com/lvwPG2YfQ8

— Chris Combs (iterative design enjoyer) (@DrChrisCombs) July 4, 2026

No shame in being an adolescent nation when we're still the only one to put A Man on the Moon:

With just eleven days to go until launch, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins spent the July 4 weekend at home, a last visit with their families before heading to the Cape. There had been precious little time off these past seven months; even their time at home was often claimed. A specialist would come by to give an informal briefing; evenings were spent holed up in the study with flight plans and training documents. Most of the time, though, they weren’t even home. 

Life’s July 4 issue, with the cover story, “Off to the Moon,” included the customary report from the home front—Armstrong fishing with his sons, baking homemade pizza, and playing piano duets with his wife, Jan; Collins trimming roses in the backyard; Aldrin taking his kids to AstroWorld—but the truth was, those things would never have happened if an outing with family hadn’t been a PR requirement. 

Since January, Slayton had tried to keep the press at a distance, simply because Armstrong’s crew had so much training to pack in. Even so, the men had made time for this or that reporter to come by the house and ask questions about their lives and their mission. Finally, Slayton gave in and agreed to a last press conference, and Armstrong’s crew spent most of Saturday, July 5, talking to the media. 

At this point, the men were well into their twenty-one-day pre-mission medical quarantine, and so on this summer afternoon they strolled onto the stage wearing hospital masks¹ and did not remove them until they had taken their places inside a plastic-enclosed booth. A few reporters grinned back at them from behind their own masks. One asked whether any precautions had been taken to prevent the men from catching germs from their own families. Collins answered, “My wife and children have signed a statement that they have no germs . . . . Seriously, there are no special precautions being taken.” 

But the journalists directed few questions to Collins; they were much more interested in his crewmates, and especially, his commander. For seven months now, Armstrong had been telling interviewers that he wished the press would convey that Apollo 11 was a massive group effort, that it was a mistake to focus on him, but he had not been successful. At the press conference one reporter suggested to him that, as the first man to set foot on the moon, he would be so famous that his personal life would cease to exist. He added, “Do you have any thoughts on this prospect?” 

“I suppose,” Armstrong said, smiling shyly, speaking in characteristically measured words, “if there is any recognizable disadvantage to being in the position I’m in then that’s it. I think that’s a fair trade.”

In other space news, I'm watching ID4:

Fingers crossed for today pic.twitter.com/OwYYEykhL4

— Terrible Maps (@TerribleMaps) July 4, 2026

In conclusion: Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind. 

1 - LOfuckingL. 

PS - The pic in that first tweet is Jim Irwin saluting during Apollo 15.

The Greatest Question Was Decided, Which Ever Was Debated in America

Jefferson, despite owning slaves himself, called slavery "morally depraved." Its shameful that so many so easily write off the evil these slavers committed as simply a product of their time. https://t.co/dRHLcuH4WT

— Emo Morales 🇵🇸 (@Gompers_Stomper) July 4, 2026

John Adams wrote to Abigail on July 3, 1776:

A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony “that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do.” 

You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the Causes, which have impell'd Us to this mighty Revolution, and the Reasons which will justify it, in the Sight of God and Man. A Plan of Confederation will be taken up in a few days.

Going back to the John Adams well, there's a scene showing the Declaration being read aloud in various milieu¹, including the Adams' home whilst the family was recovering from smallpox inoculation.  Unclear if it went down exactly as presented, but here Abigail's letter on July 21:

I have no doubt but that my dearest Friend is anxious to know how his Portia does, and his little flock of children under the opperation of a disease once so formidable.

I have the pleasure to tell him that they are all comfortable tho some of them of complaining. Nabby has been very ill, but the Eruption begins to make its appearence upon her, and upon Johnny. Tommy is so well that the Dr. innoculated him again to day fearing it had not taken. Charlly has no complaints yet, tho his arm has been very soar.

She also mentioned the pox on July 14:

Nabby and Johnny send duty and desire Mamma to say that an inflamation in their Eyes which has been as much of a distemper as the small pox, has prevented their writing, but they hope soon to be able to acquaint Pappa of their happy recovery from the Distemper.

So the miniseries got the timing right, at the very least.  But here's more important commentary in that same letter:

May the foundation of our new constitution, be justice, Truth and Righteousness. Like the wise Mans house may it be founded upon those Rocks and then neither storms or temptests will overthrow it.

I cannot but feel sorry that some of the most Manly Sentiments in the Declaration are Expunged from the printed coppy. Perhaps wise reasons induced it.

She first responds to John's remark about a "Plan of Confederation", but follows up with a lament about the same passage regarding slavery that Jefferson was so salty about.  Abigail was aware of the edit(s) because her husband sent along the original Rough draught that he'd copied out.

Naturally, her keen eye would spot the difference, and she was never shy about calling out our national hypocrisy.  F'rinstance, here's a letter from 1774:

I wish most sincerely there was not a Slave in the province. It allways appeard a most iniquitious Scheme to me-fight ourselfs for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. You know my mind upon this Subject.

Yet here we are in the Year of our Lord 2026, with reactionary forces trying to deny the history that Abigail Adams herself witnessed and rightfully found appalling.  It seems the real Greatest Question - whether our republic is strong and mature enough to own up to its past - has yet to be decided.

Selah.

1 - I can never not point out John Dickinson's appearance (starting at 1:40).  The man argued and voted against independence, then went on to fight in the war defending it.  We call that Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit.

8647

A couple weeks after Congress learned they'd been branded as rebels, Abigail Adams wrote her husband:

I am more and more convinced that Man is a dangerous creature, and that power whether vested in many or a few is ever grasping, and like the grave cries give, give. The great fish swallow up the small, and he who is most strenuous for the Rights of the people, when vested with power, is as eager after the perogatives of Goverment. You tell me of degrees of perfection to which Humane Nature is capable of arriving, and I believe it, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.

RIP, Portia, you would've loved the Trump Era.  Anyway, I like quoting AA's stuff because not only was she very wise and insightful, we actually have access to the real stuff she wrote, in contrast to a lot of ostensibly wise stuff the Founding Fathers allegedly said.

F'rinstance, at the end of that John Adams scene from my previous post, Franklin busts out a famous line:

God bless the King. Who else could have brought such a spirit of unity to this Congress? We will now all hang together. Or, most assuredly, we will all hang separately.

First of all, he didn't say that in 1775:

It is said that, at the signing [of the Declaration of Independence], Franklin had replied to John Hancock’s comment that the signers must all hang together by saying, “Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

I'm not mad at the script writers because, in fact, he didn't even say that in 1776:

[N]o biographer of Benjamin Franklin has ever been able to establish that he said, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”

That is according to Robert I. Fitzhenry in the preface of the “Harper Book of Quotations, Third Edition.”

“Tradition says that if he did not say it, he should have, and it has gone down in history as his,” Fitzhenry wrote.

He is, however, recorded truly making this observation in Convention, exactly 225 years before my daughter was born:

Docr. FRANKLIN was for retaining the [impeachment] clause as favorable to the Executive. History furnishes one example only of a first Magistrate being formally brought to public Justice. Every body cried out agst. this as unconstitutional. 

What was the practice before this in cases where the chief Magistrate rendered himself obnoxious? Why recourse was had to assassination in wch. he was not only deprived of his life but of the opportunity of vindicating his character. 

It wd.. be the best way therefore to provide in the Constitution for the regular punishment of the Executive where his misconduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused.

So I applaud that brave Air Force Major for reminding everybody of one particular remedy, ineffective as it has been to date.  I'd also like to remind our current obnoxious Executive that if he wants to have the same awesome legacy of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, he's got the opportunity to patriotically follow suit.

In conclusion (borrowing from Abigail's letter): may justice and righteousness be the Stability of our times, and order arise out of confusion.

A Flint, a Flint, My Republic for a Flint!

Didn't watch Gettysburg this year, but did return to John Adams in the lead up to this suboptimal bisesquicentennial.  Somewhere in the middle of the second episode (Independence), there's a scene wherein Congress learns of King George III's Proclamation of Rebellion, interrupting some speechifying by Mr Adams:

Tents, soap, shoes and blankets are also greatly wanting. The army recently took shipment of 50 crates of rifles, all without the flints required to shoot them!

Right after that, President John Hancock bangs his gavel and gravely intones the words condemning all present as rebels whose punishment will be death by hanging.  Very dramatic.  Presumably this is on November 13, 1775, although the record just dryly notes:

On motion made, Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to prepare a declaration, in answer to sundry illegal ministerial proclamations that have lately appeared in America.

No mention of flints (or soap, etc), but we'll come back to that.  First, Congress crafted a reply on December 6, which includes this rhetorical question:

Can proclamations, according to the principles of reason and justice, and the constitution, go farther than the law?

250ish years later, SCOTUS says, "no."  So we've got that going for us, I guess.  Anyway, back to the flints.  Same day:

A return being laid before Congress of the number of flints in this city, amounting to upwards of 200,000,

On motion made, Resolved, That the committee of inspection of this city ∥and liberties of Philadelphia∥ be desired to purchase said flints for the use of the Continent, and that in making the purchase, attention be paid to the resolution of Congress against raising the price of goods.

It was a real issue that came up quite a bit, which brings us to July 4, 1776:

Resolved, That an application be made to the committee of safety of Pensylvania for a supply of flints for the troops at New York... 

A Letter from General Washington, dated New York, July 3d, was laid before Congress, and read...

That letter?

I must entreat your attention to an application I made some time ago for flints. We are extremely deficient in this necessary article, and shall be greatly distressed if we cannot obtain a supply. Of lead we have a sufficient quantity for the whole campaign, taken off the houses here.

July 4 continues:

Resolved...That the Secret Committee be instructed to order the flints belonging to the continent, and now at Rhode Island, to be sent to the general at New York... 

Resolved, That Mr. [Henry] Wisner be empowered to send a man, at the public expence, to Orange county, for a sample of flint stone... 

Resolved, That the Board of War be empowered to employ such a number of persons, as they shall find necessary, to manufacture flints for the continent; and, for this purpose, to apply to the respective assemblies, conventions and councils, or committees of safety of the United American States, or committees of Inspection of the counties and towns thereunto belonging, for the names and places of abode of persons skilled in the manufactory aforesaid, and of the places, in their respective states, where the best flint stones are to be obtained, with samples of the same.

I focus on this to make a ponderous point: the Declaration wasn't the end of things (hell, it wasn't even the beginning).  The unsexy details of securing our independence like procuring flints and soap and tents continued.  In addition to those sundries, other larger matters also needed to be addressed.  Jefferson recalled in the lead up to July 4:

[T]t was thought most prudent...to postpone the final decision to July 1. but that this might occasion as little delay as possible a committee was appointed to prepare a declaration of independence...Committees were also appointed at the same time to prepare a plan of confederation for the colonies, and to state the terms proper to be proposed for foreign alliance. 

250 years ago, we didn't have a frame of government (Articles of Confederation, 1781) or necessary foreign alliances (France, 1778).  There was still a lot of work to do.  Which fact remains true today.

Selah.

There's one thing that I do know

There's a lot of ruins in Mesopotamia.

Out of the Way, It’s a Busy Day

Leisure:

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William H Davies.