Virginia’s Resolution on Independence

 #OTD 250 years ago, Continental Congress convened that Friday morning June 7, 1776 in the Pennsylvania State House. Delegates waded through reports about the compensation due a ship owner whose sloop was impressed into military service and about defective gunpowder produced by a local mill.

Then, with neither thunderclap nor fanfare, Richard Henry Lee stood and introduced Virginia’s resolution on independence, declaring the colonies “free and independent states … absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.” Over the next month Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee and their allies in Congress would work to persuade the undecided and unwilling that the most consequential act of political self-determination the Atlantic world had yet witnessed was, in truth, the only choice that now made sense. It was no longer a question of whether the colonies would be free, but only whether that generation would have the steel to claim and defend independence. They did.

Congress adopted Lee’s resolution for independence on July 2, 1776, and after Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris settled the question by force and diplomacy, now came the difficult work of achieving for all the new world of unalienable rights our founders envisioned.

#OnThisDay #ThisDayInHistory #StratfordHall #StratfordResearch #VirginiaResolved #History #AmericanHistory #VA250 #America250 #AmericanRevolution #AmericaMadeInVirginia

THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM

 

Let us celebrate America250!

THE LIGHT OF FREEDOM (words and music composed by Daniel Abbott/Songer)

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]

In the dawn of a new land, where dreams take flight,

A leader arose, guided by heavenly light.

George Washington stood, with courage so bold,

Against the mightiest army, a story unfolds.

With faith in the heavens, he charted the course,

Through valleys of struggle, he drew on divine force.

His vision was clear, for a nation of gain,

To free every soul from the shackles of pain.

[Chorus]

Oh, the light of freedom, shining bright,

A beacon of hope in the dark of the night,

With God's hand guiding us, we rise and we stand,

A nation united, free in this land.

[Verse 2]

Through battles and hardships, he weathered the storm,

With valor that kindled, a spirit reborn.

From the fields of Virginia to the shores of New York,

His courage ignited, a country's proud lark.

With every small victory, the heart of a land,

Where opportunity flourished, united we stand.

From the prayers of the faithful to the cry of the free,

A legacy born, an unwavering decree.

[Chorus]

Oh, the light of freedom, shining bright,

A beacon of hope in the dark of the night,

With God's hand guiding us, we rise and we stand,

A nation united, free in this land.

[Bridge]

With wisdom and strength, he forged a new path,

Leading with honor, unyielding in wrath.

A nation emerging from shadow and strife,

With faith as our armor, and courage as life.

We sing of his triumph, of the battles he won,

For every lost dream, a new day begun.

From the mountains and valleys, let freedom resound,

With God on our side, true peace will be found.

[Chorus]

Oh, the light of freedom, shining bright,

A beacon of hope in the dark of the night,

With God's hand guiding us, we rise and we stand,

A nation united, free in this land.

[Outro]

So let us remember, with hearts full of pride,

The faith of our leader, our nation’s great guide.

In the tapestry woven, with threads of the brave,

May we hold high the light for all the world to save.

Oh, the spirit of freedom, let it never fade,

For in this land of opportunity, our dreams are made.

Benjamin Franklin’s Join, or Die

 

Benjamin Franklin’s Join, or Die began as a call for colonial unity long before independence was declared. It reminds us that America was built not by perfect agreement, but by the courage to unite around liberty when it mattered most.

The Tree of Liberty

 

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” — Thomas Jefferson

James Madison- Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788

 

"An ELECTIVE DESPOTISM was not the government we fought for; but one which should not only be founded on free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits, without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."

James Madison- Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788

Milton Friedman's greatest regret, payroll withholding tax

 

Milton Friedman's greatest regret.

The federal government discovered the perfect crime in 1943: make employers collect taxes before workers ever see their paychecks. You think you earn $60,000 per year, but you actually earn $75,000 and hand over $15,000 to politicians without ever touching it. The psychological difference is enormous.

Before payroll withholding, Americans wrote quarterly checks directly to the Treasury. Picture yourself sitting at your kitchen table, writing a $3,750 check to the IRS every three months. The pain was immediate and visceral. Politicians faced constant pressure to justify every dollar because citizens felt the extraction in real time.

Withholding transforms this concrete loss into an abstract accounting entry. Your employer becomes an unpaid tax collector, and you never experience the actual cost of government. Worse, most people celebrate their tax refunds as government generosity rather than recognizing them as interest-free loans they provided to politicians. The Treasury collects your money throughout the year, spends it immediately, then returns your own cash and receives gratitude.

This system enables the explosion in government spending you witness today. Defense contractors billing $640 for toilet seats, agricultural subsidies for corn syrup, and congressional salaries for 535 people who rarely show up to work. When taxation feels painless, voters stop demanding accountability for how their money gets spent.

Milton Friedman helped design withholding as a wartime emergency measure and later called it his greatest regret. Free market economists recognized that the psychological pain of direct taxation creates political pressure for fiscal restraint. The temporary always becomes permanent in government hands, and the emergency justification disappears while the extraction mechanism remains forever.

The Corruption of Central Banks

 

Andrew Jackson destroyed the Second Bank of the United States in 1836, delivering the single greatest blow to financial tyranny in American history. You won't hear this story told correctly in any economics textbook, because it reveals how central banking works: as a government-sponsored cartel that redistributes wealth from productive citizens to politically connected bankers.

The Second Bank held a 20-year federal charter starting in 1816. It controlled the money supply, issued currency, and held government deposits. Sound familiar? Nicholas Biddle, the bank's president, wielded more economic power than any elected official. He could trigger financial panics at will by restricting credit. He bought newspapers and bribed congressmen. When Jackson opposed recharter in 1832, Biddle deliberately crashed the economy to punish him.

Jackson called it "a hydra of corruption" and he was right. The bank created artificial booms through credit expansion, then triggered busts when politically convenient. Biddle openly bragged about manipulating markets. Free market economists and Jackson both recognized the core insight: this was legalized counterfeiting with government backing, not free market banking.

The political establishment united against Jackson. Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and the entire Whig Party defended the bank. Biddle spent millions buying influence. The press attacked Jackson as an economic ignoramus. Every "respectable" voice supported recharter. Jackson stood alone with the American people.

After Jackson killed the bank, the country experienced the strongest economic growth in its history. From 1837 to 1862, America operated without a central bank. Industry flourished. Wages rose. Innovation exploded. This wasn't coincidence. When you stop subsidizing financial speculation and let productive capital find its natural home, prosperity follows.

Central banks don't stabilize economies: they destabilize them for private gain.

Astronomical Seasons 2026

 

The summer solstice marks the start of summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is in June; south of the equator, it is in December.

According to the astronomical definition, the start of summer falls on the summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the June solstice; south of the equator, it is the solstice in December.

Meteorologists use a different method of defining the first day of summer. And, in some countries, the beginning of the seasons is determined by average temperatures rather than fixed dates or astronomical events.

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Theodore Roosevelt "The Man in the Arena"

 

The former president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt, slightly more than a year out of office, delivered perhaps his most famous speech at the Sorbonne in Paris on 23 April 1910.  Although its formal title is “Citizenship in a Republic,” it is probably more widely known as “The Man in the Arena.” His statements at the Sorbonne were part of a larger European trip that also included visits to Vienna, Budapest, and Oslo, where on 5 May 1910, he delivered his acceptance speech for the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, which he had won for his efforts in bringing an end to the Russo-Japanese War.  I share here the most famous passage from “Citizenship in a Republic” — a personal favorite of mine, for whatever that’s worth — accompanied by the important paragraph that precedes it and some of the important lines that follow it:

Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes second to achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life’s realities—all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority, but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affectation of contempt for the achievement of others, to hide from others and from themselves their own weakness. The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride or slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of the great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur, spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and the valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who “but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier.”

America 250: Boston Tea Party Led to A Nation

 

252 years ago today, the British Empire closed the busiest port in North America to teach one colony a lesson and accidentally turned thirteen colonies into one country. On December 16, 1773, a few dozen Bostonians had thrown 342 chests of East India Company tea into the harbor. The damages came to roughly £9,659. Lord North, the Prime Minister, decided to make an example. Parliament passed the Boston Port Act. King George III signed it on March 31, 1774. It took effect at dawn on June 1. The Royal Navy moved warships into Boston Harbor and dropped anchor. Every dock was sealed. No ship could enter or leave. Not a barrel of flour, not a load of firewood, not a letter. The port would stay closed until Boston paid the East India Company in full and promised to behave. The intent was to isolate Massachusetts and force her neighbors to watch her starve. What happened instead is one of the strangest political miracles in modern history. Down in Williamsburg, a 31 year old burgess named Thomas Jefferson and a few friends, including Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, pulled a dusty old book off the shelf of the House of Burgesses library, a record of how the Long Parliament had once handled a tyrant, and proposed that the entire colony of Virginia observe June 1, 1774 as a day of "fasting, humiliation, and prayer" in solidarity with Boston. The Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the House two days later for treason. The burgesses simply walked across the street to the Raleigh Tavern and kept meeting. June 1 came. In Virginia, every Anglican church was draped in black. The bells tolled all day. Plantation owners shut their doors. Jefferson wrote later that "the effect of the day through the whole colony was like a shock of electricity." The same shock ran through every colony south of New England. Wagon trains of food started rolling toward Boston from as far away as Charleston. The Marblehead fishermen offered to give the Boston merchants the use of their docks for free. A Quaker miller in Pennsylvania sent a hundred barrels of flour. Israel Putnam personally drove a herd of sheep from Connecticut to feed the city. Three months later, 56 delegates from twelve colonies sat down together in Philadelphia. It was called the First Continental Congress. None of them had ever met under one roof before. Parliament wanted to punish a city. It created a nation. 252 years ago today, in a harbor full of Royal Navy frigates, the American Revolution stopped being a Massachusetts problem.

His Third Temptation

 

"In his third temptation, the devil casts away all subtlety and scripture and all deviousness and disguise. Now he staked everything on a blunt, bold proposition. From a high mountain he showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them—the cities, the fields, the flocks, the herds, and everything nature could offer. Though they were not his to give, Satan offered them all to Jesus—to him who had lived as a modest village carpenter.

With wealth, splendor, and earthly glory spread before them, Satan said unto him, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” (Matt. 4:9.) In a final ploy Satan was falling back on one of his false but fundamental propositions, one which resulted in his leading one-third of the hosts from heaven and continues to direct his miserable efforts against the children of men here on earth. It is the proposition that everyone has a price, that material things finally matter most, that ultimately you can buy anything in this world for money.

Jesus knew that if he were faithful to his Father and obedient to every commandment, he would inherit “all that [the] Father hath” (D&C 84:38)—and so would any other son or daughter of God. The surest way to lose the blessings of time or eternity is to accept them on Satan’s terms. Lucifer seemed to have forgotten that this was the Man who would later preach, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

“Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36–37.)"

Howard W. Hunter

Spiritual Success

 

Angelica De Dios

⚜️Spiritual Success⚜️

 The greatest discovery within my heart is the realization that one of the highest forms of success is not found in status, wealth, recognition, or power, but in truly feeling the “Love of God” alive within me.

I did not always understand this truth. It was not learned through achievement or gathered through the approval of the world.

It was revealed to me little by little, through stillness, through breath, through surrender, through moments where His presence became more real than anything my eyes could see. The deeper my awareness became, the clearer I understood who truly breathes within me, walks with me, and loves me endlessly.

The world teaches us to chase temporary crowns.

Some seek gold, influence, admiration, possessions, or earthly kingdoms believing these things will finally satisfy the soul. Yet everything the world offers eventually fades. Wealth can disappear. Beauty changes. Power shifts hands. Human applause is fragile. Even the grandest palace built by man cannot compare to one moment of divine communion with God.

What value is there in gaining the whole world while remaining disconnected from the eternal love that created us?

What treasure could ever compare to waking up and feeling the peace of God surrounding my spirit, filling my breath, calming my mind, and reminding me that I already belong to Him?

I could possess riches beyond imagination, sit among luxury, be served by many, and still feel empty without His presence. But when I seek the Kingdom of God, I discover a treasure that cannot decay, cannot be stolen, cannot be shaken by time or death. His love becomes my true inheritance. His presence becomes my home. His Spirit becomes my wealth.

Now I understand that true success is spiritual awareness.

It is living conscious of God in every breath.

It is walking through life knowing I am eternally loved, eternally guided, eternally held.

It is realizing Heaven is not merely a distant promise after death, but a divine reality I can experience now through union with Him.

So, I choose differently now.

I choose to seek the Kingdom of God above everything else.

I choose inner peace over worldly pressure.

I choose divine presence over temporary applause.

I choose eternal truth over temporary illusion.

I choose the richness of Spirit over the riches of earth.

And in this choice, I have found the freedom my soul was always searching for.

Because the greatest blessing is not merely to know about God, but to feel His love living within me so deeply that nothing in this world could ever compare.

I no longer measure success by what I own, but by how deeply I remain connected to the love of the Father.

For to feel loved by God is the soul finally remembering where it came from, who it belongs to, and the eternal beauty it was created to carry forever.

May you receive this experience with a heart elevated to God. So you can experience the same.

Angelica De Dios

Where is the Love?

 

Christian Daniel Readmond

💔 WHERE IS THE LOVE? 💔

We must ask ourselves how bad does the world have to get for us to start questioning what is going on?

If leaders of nations are not loving we must ask ourselves where is it going to come from?

Could you honestly look in the mirror and say it's going to come from me?

Because I know a Man who truly gave Himself up for all of the world.

Let us take a moment to remember..

A covenant was made with Abraham.

Animals were ripped apart.

Blood and bones were scattered on the ground.

Who broke the Covenant becomes as they did.

Abraham was willing..

As he also was when he was called

To sacrifice his only son...

But then a miracle happened, Abraham was put to sleep while standing.

And the Creator of The Heavens and Earth

Walked both sides.. Alone.

He knew we'd fail.

But just as He sent a ram in place of Abraham's only son unto us a Child was born..

She shall give birth to a Son, and they shall call His Name Emmanu'ĕl... — Matthew 1:23

He became a Man who gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, healed the sick, raised the dead, and brought Good News to the poor.

He loved widows, orphans, the lowly, the afflicted.

He loved the lost, sinners, the broken, the possessed.

He loved those who hated Him.

He loved those who would pour out His blood

And reveal His bones..

Just imagine being so badly beaten

That you could count your own bones..

"I count all My bones;

They look, they stare at Me."

Psalm 22:17

Bloodied and beaten..

To the point of being unrecognizable..

...so the disfigurement beyond any man's, and His form beyond the sons of men—" Isaiah 52:14

And as He was crucified, He cried out for us.

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."

I was lost but now I am found because

If you ask me that is where the love is. ❤️

He is love ❤️

But in a world full of believers..

Where is that love...?

See it is written:

"A renewed command I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all know that you are My taught ones, if you have love for one another."

—  John 13:34–35

As I.

Have.

Loved.

You..

He showed us how to love.

He told us how to love.

He taught us how to love.

He commanded us to love.

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those insulting you and persecuting you"

And it is written:

Beloved ones, let us love one another, because love is of Elohim, and everyone who loves has been born of Elohim and knows Elohim. The one who does not love does not know Elohim, because Elohim is love.

— 1 John 4:7–8

If you do not love just as He loves

You don't even know Him..

What does the Scripture say about those who do not know Him?

"And then I shall declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!'

Matthew 7:22

It is written:

If you love Me, keep My commands. (John 14:15)

Again, what is His command?

"This is My command, that you love one another, as I have loved you." (John 15:12)

I have dropped down to my knees in tears and asked of Yahuah how could I possibly love like You...?

This Scripture was spoken:

"With men this is impossible, but with Elohim all is possible."

And He opened my eyes to the Scriptures.

We cannot love others as He loves us....

But He can in us.

That is the secret of the Good News.

"The secret which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His set-apart ones, to whom Elohim desired to make known what are the riches of the esteem of this secret among the nations: which is Messiah in you, the expectancy of esteem." — Colossians 1:26–27

That same Esteem that dwelt above the Ark in the Most Set-apart Place is now made available through Messiah Yahusha, so that we become His dwelling place.. ❤️‍🔥

Therefore when Messiah is dwelling in us, it is His love that pours out through us..

And that is the Love that changes the world. 💞

I ask again, do you have it? 🪞

Are you willing?

He said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his stake daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Good News', he shall save it." — Mark 8:34–35

Shalom beloved

The Soul Beyond the Algorithm

Many faith and interfaith groups have been actively promoting ethical AI use that enhances, rather than inhibits, human flourishing and spiritual connection.

Read more: The Soul Beyond the Algorithm

The Declaration’s God

 

The Declaration's God

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Founding, it’s important to point out that the Declaration of Independence does not begin with politics. Before it speaks of rights, consent, or government, it makes a claim about the structure of reality itself. The rights it asserts are not the product of historical circumstance or collective will. They are grounded in a prior truth: that human beings are created by God.

The Declaration’s appeal to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” is not ornamental or rhetorical—it is the foundation on which its entire argument rests. The founders believed they were obligated to explain to mankind the reasons for their separation, and those reasons started with God and his law.

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Sensible Truth Ep. 34: Law and Moral Agency

 

The question, “How does this proposed law align with the principles of the U.S. Constitution?” reflects a deep respect for foundational truth, moral order, and accountability. The Constitution was established to preserve liberty, justice, and God-given rights through limited government and the rule of law. Wise citizens understand that not every law proposed is automatically good or just simply because it is legal or popular.

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Pete Hegseth: Americans to follow Washington’s example and pray for the nation “on bended knee”

 

Pete Hegseth just gave a speech that hit millions of Americans right in the heart because he reminded the country of something the modern political class desperately tries to erase: America’s story has always been tied to faith, prayer, sacrifice, and belief in God during the darkest moments of history. Standing in front of thousands of Christians, Hegseth spoke about George Washington bowing his head in prayer during the Revolutionary War, when defeat, uncertainty, and despair surrounded the colonies and nobody knew if America would even survive. Instead of surrendering to fear, Washington turned to God. That image still resonates with Americans centuries later because it represents humility, courage, and faith under pressure. What made this moment powerful was how unapologetic it sounded. Hegseth openly called on Americans to follow Washington’s example and pray for the nation “on bended knee,” invoking Jesus Christ directly and reminding people that faith was never something hidden away quietly in America’s founding story. At a time when so many institutions seem afraid to even mention Christianity publicly, speeches like this stand out because they speak to millions of Americans who still believe the country’s moral and spiritual foundation matters. You can already tell why this is spreading online so fast. People are exhausted by empty political slogans and leaders who sound robotic and disconnected from ordinary Americans. Whether someone is deeply religious or not, there’s something emotionally powerful about hearing a national figure speak openly about faith, struggle, sacrifice, and the belief that America’s strength comes from something bigger than government or politics alone. That’s why moments like this resonate far beyond one crowd or one speech.