Aly Jaffer

RT's ≠ endorsements, all views expressed are my own

[Arnold Schwarzenegger @Schwarzenegger]

Happy Independence Day!

There’s a story from the end of the Revolutionary War I want to tell as we celebrate America’s 250th Birthday, and it’s one everyone in the world can learn from.

George Washington, at that moment, after commanding the American forces to victory, was the most powerful man in the new country. Many people talked about making him King of America.

Across the ocean, King George was sitting with an American painter, and asked what he thought Washington would do now that the war was ending. The painter said he believed he would go back to his farm.

The King said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

As the war officially ended, Washington came to speak to Congress and said, “Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theater of Action.” He returned his commission they’d given him in 1775 - after more than 8 years of leading the Americans to victory without pay, and he was home at Mount Vernon for Christmas.

Of course, he was elected as our first President a few years later, and after two terms, showed the same selflessness again when he willingly gave up his power and went back to Mount Vernon again.

That’s true greatness. He had all the power in the world. But power, alone, does not make you great.

Washington’s greatness came from being a true servant - to a cause much bigger than himself. His greatness was his complete lack of selfishness.

The whole story of American Independence is a story of selflessness. It’s a story of people who set their self-interest aside and worked for each other.

We’ve all heard the line about “We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

Apparently, Ben Franklin might have actually never said that.

But that’s fine, because the same mentality is right there in the last line of the Declaration of Independence, published on this day 250 years ago:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

We mutually pledge to each other.

No one was in this alone. No one was in it for themselves. This was a group of people with different backgrounds who were in it for each other.

Today is a reminder: greatness comes from what we do for each other, never what we do for ourselves.

That’s a lesson that applies no matter what country you call home.

It’s a lesson that doesn’t require any law passed by a politician, because, let’s be honest, if you’re waiting for selfless politicians, I really hope you are not holding your breath.

All of us have the power to be there for the people around us. For our families and friends. For our neighbors. For everyone.

All of us can reach for greatness.

It’s as simple as looking beyond yourself, seeing past the mirror, picking your eyes up from your phone, and pledging to be there for each other.

Happy Fourth. May you all find your own version of greatness today by lifting each other up.

Lift up your neighborhood. Lift up America. Lift up the World.

[U.S. Soccer Men's National Team @USMNT]

FOUND A WAY THROUGH! 🇺🇸

[Aly Jaffer @Aly_Jaffer]

Penalty kicks are incredible

[TopTierUtes @foxonabox_]

Penn State got a post-season ban, vacated wins, scholarship reduction, fired everybody, and the perpetrator went to prison.

Cody Campbell is a dumbass.

[Ms.Toney @tonichild75]

University Of Miami🏈
#G.A.B.O.S

[Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren]

Ban stock trading by the President.

Ban stock trading by the Vice President.

Ban stock trading by members of Congress.

End the corruption.

[Richard Hanania @RichardHanania]

James Comey refused to shoot hoops with Obama because it would give the wrong impression.

It’s hard to convey what a moral and spiritual decline we’ve suffered by having Kash Patel in his former position.

[CNN @CNN]

Kenya's Sabastian Sawe wins the London Marathon in world record time, becoming the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours. https://t.co/2ogIRtGK4j

[Tampa Bay Buccaneers @Buccaneers]

"What are you doing the next 5-10 years?" 🥹

Rueben Bain Jr.'s Draft call is what it's all about.

[Bo Wang @BoWang87]

Pancreatic cancer has one of the most suppressive tumor microenvironments in oncology.

But two pancreatic cancer results dropped today. Both matter.

1. BioNTech mRNA neoantigen vaccine: nearly all responders still alive at 6 years. 98% of induced T cells were de novo — the immune system learned to see a cancer it had always been blind to.

2. Daraxonrasib: 47% ORR, 92% disease control as first-line monotherapy. KRAS G12D, undruggable for 40 years, finally has a drug.

Different mechanisms. Same disease. Both working.

<13% of patients survive 5 years. That number is about to change.

great day for science! 🔥

[Frank Luntz @FrankLuntz]

#SlavaUkraïni 🇺🇦

[Lizzie Johnson @lizziejohnsonnn]

I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated.

[The Atlantic @TheAtlantic]

Donald Trump is already laying the groundwork to throw the 2026 midterms into chaos. His success could have dire consequences for American democracy, @GrahamDavidA argues. (From November) https://t.co/I7dCEM3yo1

[Nate Silver @NateSilver538]

Literally 2 hours apart

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

Perhaps even more sickening than the killing itself is your government telling you that what you saw with your own two eyes didn’t happen.

[Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25]

Great question.

[Marc Caputo @MarcACaputo]

What does the smartphone video apparently taken by Alex Pretti before he’s shot and killed by federal agents show?

What agency has this evidence?

[Sarah Longwell @SarahLongwell25]

Something @Timodc just said on our livestream strikes me as entirely true: This man, this ICU nurse, was killed for the free exercise of his 1st and 2nd amendment rights.

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

I’m about as boring and moderate a Democrat as they come.

There is zero justification for renewing ICE’s budget.

Shut the government down again if that’s what it takes.

When state power is being used to kill people in broad daylight, continuing to fund it isn’t viable.

We cannot aid or abet evil.

[Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson]

Owning a gun is legal.

Carrying a gun is legal.

The victim of today's ICE murder doesn't have the gun in his hands during the encounter from any of the video shown. He is on the ground having the shit kicked out of him and being pistol whipped.

Then he is shot repeatedly.

So much for the 2A.