diane zeleny

Let's make life suck for the bad guys. Promoting democracy, free speech, human rights and the good life. #workhard #playhard

[Melinda Haring @melindaharing]

Congress, this should be the first thing you do when you return from summer recess!

[diane zeleny @drzeleny]

You will be greatly missed. RIP Lindsey Graham. @LindseyGrahamSC

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Should a country that kills athletes be allowed to participate in international athletic competitions? My vote is no.

[diane zeleny @drzeleny]

Spacious skies.... I think John McCain is crying.

[MERICA MEMED @Mericamemed]

Wherever you are on this Independence Day, take a moment and watch the entire song (not just 8-10 seconds, as it's the average attention span of X videos) and appreciate the words and feeling you hopefully get when you listen to Ray Charles
.

[diane zeleny @drzeleny]

Some fine writing and some fine editing. Here's to real human editors.

[Michael Beschloss @BeschlossDC]

Thomas Jefferson's handwritten draft of our Declaration of Independence (with revisions by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin), 1776:

[USMNT Only @usmntonly]

No red card.
No penalty.
No yellow card.
No foul.
No review.

FREE FOLARIN BALOGUN.

[Julia 🇺🇸 @Jules31415]

A spectacular light show—a gift from France—took place at the Statue of Liberty ahead of America’s 250th birthday.

“The Statue of Liberty will be revealed to the public as never before, in a production designed to amplify its symbolic and emotional power,” the French consulate said, adding the light show would showcase “France’s excellence through its technology and its artists.”

“Our friendship goes back 250 years; it remains very strong, it is deep, and that is why we wanted to do something memorable,” France’s consul in NY, Cedrik Fouriscot said.

(🎥: secret_nyc, Instagram)

[RFE/RL Pressroom @RFERLPress]

Reports from @RadioFarda_ sources indicate a severe decline in conditions at Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Among those detained is American citizen & former @RFERL journalist Reza Valizadeh, whose health is already rapidly deteriorating under these harsh conditions. He must be released. @freerezav

[diane zeleny @drzeleny]

If you want to celebrate today, too. Here's your excuse.

[History Calendar @HistoryCalendar]

🇺🇸 July 2nd — The U.S.’s Almost Independence Day🇺🇸

During the American Revolution, the legal separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain in 1776 actually occurred on July 2, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.

The resolution declared the United States independent from Great Britain's rule. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision.

One day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

“The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

[The Associated Press @AP]

When something breaks, most of us replace it. At this Brooklyn repair cafe, volunteers are helping neighbors fix everything from lamps and jeans to vintage fans and old smartwatches for free. The events are part of a growing global movement to reduce waste, save money and bring back repair skills that many people say have been lost.

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

250 years ago today, on June 29, 1776, New Yorkers looked out at the water and saw a nightmare on the horizon. The British fleet had arrived, and so many ships filled the bay that witnesses said the masts looked like "a forest of pine trees" growing out of the sea. The timing could not have been more brutal.

This was the empire's answer to the rebellion, and it was overwhelming. The first wave of around 45 warships and transports dropped anchor off Sandy Hook and Staten Island carrying General William Howe and roughly 10,000 troops. Within days it kept growing. Then his brother Admiral Richard Howe arrived with more. It would eventually swell into one of the largest seaborne invasion forces of the entire 18th century, hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of professional soldiers and German mercenaries, aimed at one city.

Now sit with the timing. While that forest of masts was filling the harbor, delegates down in Philadelphia were in the final days of debating whether to declare independence. They voted for it on July 2 and signed off on the wording on July 4. So at the exact moment America was being born on paper, the most powerful military on earth was already anchored off its coast, getting ready to strangle it in the cradle.

The people of New York understood exactly what they were seeing. Alarm bells rang, panic spread through the streets, and soldiers sprinted to their posts to stare at a force they had almost no hope of matching. Washington's army was outnumbered, outgunned, and about to get badly beaten in the battles for New York that followed.

That's the part that gets lost in the fireworks every Fourth of July. Independence wasn't declared from a position of strength. It was declared with an enemy armada already sitting on the doorstep, knowing full well what was coming. They signed their names anyway.

[1776 Live @250YearsAgoLive]

Thomas Paine publishes an open letter in the Pennsylvania Evening Post, under the name “Republicus,” which advocates for the name “United States of America” for the new nation now emerging.

This is the first time such a term has been used.

[1776 Live @250YearsAgoLive]

Thomas Jefferson submits the final draft of his Declaration of Independence to Continental Congress.

[diane zeleny @drzeleny]

Of course we support NATO!

[Roger Zakheim @RogerZakheim]

Joined Brian @kilmeade on @foxandfriends to discuss American support for @NATO @USAmbNATO just released in our @ReaganInstitute Summer Survey

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Wow.

Soldiers in the Battle of Stalingrad lasted longer than that.

[🇮🇷 Association of Iranian Royalists @IranRoyalists]

This is Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri, a professional football goalkeeper who represented Iran's national team. He has long been a vocal critic of the Islamic regime, speaking out against the execution of protesters and other government abuses. Following the regime's massacre of innocent protests in January 2026, he posted a series of messages on Instagram calling Ali Khamenei "satan" and a murderer. He later joined protesters in the streets. Since then, he has disappeared, and no one has heard from him.

[Mark Dubowitz @mdubowitz]

I can write 100,000 words and give 1,000 interviews trying to explain this and then @TheBabylonBee nails it with 11 words.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

It is important that the world does not remain silent in response to this latest act of Russian barbarism. This strike on the Lavra is an attack on the Christian community and on the cultural heritage of humanity. There can be no justification for this or for any other similar Russian attacks. What is needed is more cooperation to stop Russia’s war and stronger protection to save lives from Russia.

[RFE/RL Pressroom @RFERLPress]

For 900 days, @RFERL journalist Nika Novak has been unjustly imprisoned by Russia. On December 25, 2023, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officers raided her apartment.

Nika’s mother watched as her daughter was violently dragged out of their home.