Chief

USAF Retired, Kentucky resident, father of 2, grandfather of 7 or so, great grandfather of 1.

[Jeff Carlton @JeffWCarlton]

Good Sunday morning and welcome to Flag Day...

Copied from the National Flag Foundation:
Every June 14, Americans raise the Stars and Stripes to mark the day the flag was born. The date is fixed, but the holiday behind it was anything but inevitable. It took a single line of congressional record, a devoted schoolteacher, and the better part of two centuries to turn an anniversary into a national observance.

The story begins in Philadelphia. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed a short but momentous resolution: "Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." With those few words, a new nation gave itself a new symbol. There was no ceremony, no fanfare, no holiday. Just a young country, at war, deciding what it would fly.

A schoolteacher's idea
For more than a hundred years, the anniversary passed largely unmarked. Communities held the occasional observance, and Hartford, Connecticut, is often credited with one of the earliest, in 1861. But the man most responsible for turning June 14 into a tradition was not a politician or a general. He was a teacher.

In 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, a young schoolteacher in Wisconsin, asked his students to observe what he called the flag's "birthday." He had them write essays on what the Stars and Stripes meant to them. It was a small gesture in a one-room schoolhouse, but Cigrand spent the rest of his life expanding it. He wrote articles, gave speeches, and pressed anyone who would listen to set aside a day for the flag. History remembers him as the Father of Flag Day.

One teacher believed the flag deserved a day of its own, and he never stopped saying so.

A proclamation and a law
The idea gathered momentum. Cities and states adopted their own celebrations, and patriotic societies took up the cause. The turning point came in 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation officially establishing June 14 as Flag Day across the country. For the first time, the anniversary had the weight of the presidency behind it.

Even then, it was an observance rather than a law. That final step came in 1949, when President Harry S. Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14 as National Flag Day. What had begun as a schoolteacher's classroom exercise was now written into the statutes of the United States.

Not a federal holiday, and that is the point
Here is the detail that surprises many people: Flag Day is not a federal public holiday. Banks stay open and the mail still runs. It is a day of recognition, not a day off. In a way, that suits it. Flag Day asks nothing of us except attention. It invites every American to step outside, raise the colors, and remember that the symbol overhead is older than almost anything else we share.

From thirteen stars to fifty, through war and reconstruction and reinvention, the flag has been there the whole time. Flag Day is simply the moment we stop to say so.

[Farm Girl Carrie 👩‍🌾 @FarmGirlCarrie]

James is absolutely right!

[Shannon 🇺🇸I stand with America @thewriterme]

I feel sorry for socialist, communist, Democrat Trump haters.
They are missing the best time of their lives.

We are blessed to live in such a time as this!

Thank you @POTUS for all you do, for all you sacrifice.

Happy Birthday! 🎈President Trump is simply the best.

[Gina Milan @ginamilan_]

Deporting Ilhan Omar on July 4th would be the ultimate birthday gift to America.

[Farm Girl Carrie 👩‍🌾 @FarmGirlCarrie]

No matter how much time passes, Jane Fonda is still the same despicable woman who posed next to North Vietnamese anti-aircraft guns that were used to target men like my husband.
We will always despise this traitorous b*tch.

[Farm Girl Carrie 👩‍🌾 @FarmGirlCarrie]

🙋‍♀️

[Juanita Broaddrick @atensnut]

Tomorrow is the 80th Birthday of the greatest President in History.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONALD J. TRUMP.

[Dr. Mark Young @MarkYoungTruth]

But the naked trannies or Clinton cigar escapades were dignified?

[Clown World ™ 🤡 @ClownWorld]

Funny how the people who lecture you about tolerance are the most intolerant

[Rose Smith @itsrosesm]

I'M GONNA LOSE FOLLOWERS FOR SAYING THIS, BUT IF YOU THINK THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IS THE RIGHT TIME TO BOO, THEN YOU SHOULD LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE.🤷‍♀️

[SaltyGoat @SaltyGoat17]

Obama’s ICE Chief got a Presidential Award for removing almost 1 MILLION illegal aliens.

Trump's ICE Chief got called a Nazi for doing the same thing.

Y'all wanna know what's funny?

It is the same person!!

Meet Tom Homan

[🎹 Ames™ 🎹 @Real_Ames]

Karmelo didn't cry when the jury heard the 911 call after Austin Metcalf was stabbed.

He didn't cry when Austin's twin brother, Hunter, could be heard screaming in anguish and praying his brother wouldn't die.

He didn't cry when the jury was shown Austin's autopsy photos.

He didn't cry when they saw the blood-soaked shirt used in a desperate attempt to save Austin's life.

But he cried when he was found guilty.

And he cried again when he was sentenced to 35 years.

The only tears the jury saw were for his own fate, not for the life that was taken.

Austin Metcalf was robbed of his high school graduation, he will never get another birthday, another chance to live the life that was stolen from him.

Thirty-five years may be justice under the law, but for many, it doesn't feel like enough.

[Amber Smith @AmberSmithUSA]

My thoughts on the Apache that was shot down by Iran:

I cannot begin to explain how lucky that Apache crew was that was shot down. Yes, UXOs happen, but that is just part of the luck (especially since it was on fire!).

Apaches have a tandem cockpit, which means the pilots sit one in front of the other, like a fighter jet, rather than side by side like most helicopters.

The fact that the drone hit between the two pilots without actually hitting one of the pilots is just wild…there isn’t that much room for that not to happen.

Then, having to ditch in the Strait of Hormuz after a drone crashes into you and your helicopter is on fire with flames likely filling your line of sight. Sounds like they likely did power-on ditching procedures, but once they jettison the canopy and hit the water things happen fast. Helicopters roll when they hit the water and start to fill up with water. It’s very disorienting and the water is dark. You also still have to worry about the rotor blades.

When train for this. We refer to it as “dunker training.” But in the span of most standard Army pilots careers, they usually only complete the initial training, not the annual follow on training that is preferred.

The pilots were able to get out and find each other and wait in the water for two hours while a drone boat came and rescued them…. Technology that those pilots likely didn’t even know existed until it picked them up.

A lot of things that could have and likely should have gone wrong, didn’t. Things very easily could have ended much differently.

Very grateful those pilots are ok. 🇺🇸🙏

[TaraBull @TaraBull]

Accurate

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

It was April 30, 2019. The kind of ordinary Tuesday that nobody remembers — until they do.

Inside a classroom at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, students were finishing end-of-semester presentations. Laptops were open. Notes were scattered across desks. It felt like any other day at the end of a semester.

Then everything changed.

A gunman entered the room and opened fire. In an instant, normal life gave way to panic. Students rushed for exits, ducked behind desks, and searched desperately for safety.

Most people ran from the danger.

Riley Howell ran toward it.

At 21 years old, the ROTC cadet had no weapon, no protective gear, and no time to think through a plan. He saw what was happening and reacted.

He charged the shooter.

The tackle was sudden, direct, and decisive. Howell threw himself into the struggle, forcing the gunman off balance and disrupting the attack at its most critical moment.

He was shot multiple times.

But the shooting stopped.

Later, investigators confirmed what many already suspected. The gunman himself admitted that Howell's actions ended the attack. Police also discovered multiple loaded magazines that had never been used.

The attack could have lasted much longer.

It didn't.

Because Riley Howell acted.

The tragedy still claimed lives. Fellow student Ellis Reed Parlier was also killed, and several others were wounded. Families were forever changed by what happened that day.

But amid the grief, one fact remained impossible to ignore.

Riley Howell's decision saved lives.

The story quickly spread beyond the university. People across the country saw in him something rare — courage without hesitation, action without certainty, sacrifice without expectation of reward.

He was buried with full military honors. He also became the first civilian ever to receive the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Medal of Valor.

Yet his legacy was never about medals.

He wasn't on a battlefield. He wasn't wearing a uniform in combat.

He was a student sitting in a classroom.

And when others needed time, Riley Howell gave them his.

There is no formula for that kind of courage.

There is only character.

And on an ordinary Tuesday, Riley Howell showed the world exactly what that looks like.

[AJ Inapi (Allan) @aj_inapi]

HISTORY IS POWERFUL.

When history is taught honestly, societies gain perspective, wisdom, and balance.

When history is taught selectively, it becomes a weapon.

Take slavery.

Many people are taught a version of history that begins and ends with white Americans enslaving Africans. That is a chapter of history. It is not the entire story.

The reality is that slavery existed for thousands of years before America existed.

African kingdoms enslaved rival tribes and prisoners of war. Arab slave traders operated across Africa and the Middle East for centuries. Europeans enslaved other Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians. Human beings have been enslaving other human beings throughout recorded history.

One of the most uncomfortable facts is that many Africans were captured, traded, and sold by other Africans before being transported across the Atlantic. Without local African rulers, merchants, and slave traders participating in the trade, the system could not have operated on the scale that it did.

Another fact often ignored is that slavery was not ended by a magical change in public opinion.

Technological innovation during the Industrial Revolution reduced dependence on labor-intensive agricultural systems. At the same time, abolitionists, religious leaders, activists, politicians, and ordinary citizens fought to end slavery despite fierce opposition.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans died during the American Civil War, a conflict that ultimately resulted in the abolition of slavery throughout the United States.

History also shows that the political landscape was very different in the 19th century than it is today. The politicians and factions that defended slavery were largely concentrated in the Democratic Party of that era. That is a historical fact. And the same party for some reason has been able to hold black Americans captive for decades even after slavery had ended.

The lesson is bigger than slavery.

The danger begins when educators, politicians, activists, or media figures present history as a simple story of permanent villains and permanent victims.

History is complicated.

Every civilization has committed injustices.

Every civilization has produced heroes.

Every race has been oppressed at some point.

Every race has oppressed others at some point.

A healthy society teaches the full story - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Because when history becomes propaganda, people stop learning from the past and start hating each other in the present.