Hard to feel much like celebrating the Fourth this year. My favorite restaurant sent this email out.
Leon & Lulu and Three Cats
Closed Monday, July 4, 2022
This is not a time for the usual celebration of our country's hard won freedom and independence. In
light of recent rulings, we believe it is a time to reflect and take a
stand against the freedoms we have all just lost and those we stand to
lose soon: as individuals, as families, women and men. For the love of our nation, we are choosing to take this day to pause from business as usual. We wish you a good holiday. I do admire a commercial business bold enough to put this out there. Anyone feeling celebratory this fourth? |
11 comments:
It is definitely hard to feel celebratory, Patti. I know we're not planning on doing much of anything. It's just...not the year for that.
No. By coincidence, Jackie said much the same yesterday, and I just read similar sentiments on Lesa Holstine's blog (https://lesasbookcritiques.com/).
Every time you hear some politician saying "that's not who we are" after some mass shooting, you have to think, "Yes, this is exactly who some of us are."
Sad, but the truth hurts and why pretend otherwise?
It has been a depressing few weeks. Nothing to celebrate.
Maybe we once were not, but now we are. Sadly bastions of sanity like Denmark also are struggling with this.
With the Supreme Court decisions last month, we are less independent and less free. More to come in the next session.
Despite the gloomy prospects for our country, Diane and I are enjoying Patrick and Katie visiting with us this weekend. Katie will try to fly back to Boston tomorrow and Patrick is taking AMTRAC back to New York City on Wednesday.
Stay safe!
Another reason not to go to big celebrations: somebody shot up the 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois and killed 6 people and injured 20. And he's still on the loose.
Well...too many of us always were. Whether Nazis looking for someone to shoot or hang or beat to death, or sitting in a boardroom devising new ways to cheat if not also kill fellow citizens of the only world we have.
I'll be redundant and reprint what I wrote in response to your posting on Fb:
My feelings about the Continuing Crises rarely run primarily to celebration, but this last few months have been pretty bad even by the usual standards, domestically and internationally. Nonetheless, that which shores us up to stand up to the constant bullying and worse the world's thugs and their sycophants will visit upon the rest of us is all to the good...particularly if it isn't in the service of fooling us into somehow thinking Everything's Just Fine the way it is. Ever. There's always room for improvement, and a whole lot of it was always overdue years ago.
Conservative Bill Kristol tends to have a rosier view of the 4th and its implications than I, and certainly sounds a more sensible note than many if not all of those further to the Right than he:
"@BillKristol
"4h
"July 4th is the anti-MAGA holiday: It stands for equal rights, consent of the governed, leaders with honor, and the belief we can help others enjoy these rights and secure government by consent of the governed. As the key American holiday, July 4th stands against 'America First.'"
A film I caught which I can mostly recommend which can touch most of the mixed emotions of the season is playing rather offhandedly on HBO platforms, BLUE BAYOU...among other things, one doesn't see every day a film about some of the Korean- and Vietnamese-American experiences in Louisiana.
That picture of those neo nazis marching in a Boston Parade wearing masks and sunglasses made me gag. Would love to hear one of these guys tell me who Hitler was and what were the aspirations of their platform.
I feel the same. Nothing much that I can add. We have never really celebrated on July 4th, so not much different for us in that respect. But it is a downer day.
I certainly am unhappy with recent changes. I remain optimistic about the country. I am only slightly optimistic about the January 6th committee helping bring people to legal account.
My family was invited to a to-do yesterday for the 4th. I ate too much, got home at 8PM, and went straight to bed.
I've been watching the third season of TACOMA FD on HBO and enjoy the escapism and silliness of the show.
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