BrandonT 🇺🇸

Good Ole Rocky Top and Smashville, USAF (Retired)

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

Speak! It! Brother!

[James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames]

You've probably heard this before, but it's always worth repeating. Something extremely cool about the "Star-spangled Banner," the American national anthem, is that it asks a question, and it's the question at the heart of everything in the American worldview.

"Oh, say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming..."

So the anthem begins with a question and a scene. One man, a patriot, is asking another man, another patriot, "can you see it?" at sunrise after a long, dangerous night.

The "it" in question is going to be revealed to be the flag, our "star-spangled banner," which they had last fully recognized and honored as the sun set, daylight failed, and night crept over them the evening before.

Can you see it? Say! Can you see it?!

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming..."

Here we find that the "it" is in fact the flag, our star-spangled banner, and we learn why the question is being asked.

The flag is described as having flown and streamed gallantly over ramparts of war through a perilous fight. All could have been lost. The flag, and even the fledgling country for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible.

Say! Can you see it? Now that the light is back?

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"--And the rockets' red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there!--"

They could see it through the battle in the light of the rockets and bombs that threatened them, here and there in quick glimpses. But it was still there throughout! But now? At dawn?

Say! Can you see?

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?"

The urgency is palpable with every refrain. They have to know. It's the first thing they must know as the sun begins to light the sky, even before it rises.

IS IT STILL THERE?!

Say! Say!! Can you see? Can you see it?!

At the heart of every American beats the fundamental truth and reality that what we have here is precious, that it's worth fighting for, to the death if necessary, and that it's fragile. That at any moment it can be lost. That we have to remember to look for it because last night might have been the night in which it failed.

Every day, every year, every generation.

The American fight for freedom, to live in self-governance within ordered liberty, is ongoing and never-ending. The price of the land of the free is that it must be the home of the brave. We have to defend it, defend it, and defend it again, against all enemies foreign and domestic, because what we have is amazing, rare, fragile, and worth every cent of treasure, every drop of blood, and every risk to our sacred honor to protect it.

Our anthem is not a declaration. It is not a proclamation. It is not a statement.

It is a question.

Every time we sing our wholly unique national anthem, we as American ask the question again. IS IT STILL THERE?! Are we still America? Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?

Because it's a question, the answer is not known. It is not a guarantee. It cannot be taken for granted and isn't. And what an honor to ask and take up our part in the story, in the American Experiment, in the greatest country the world has ever known.

For tonight, the last night of our first 250 years, as the sun gave way to twilight's last gleaming and darkness overtook our land once again, the answer was still yes. We can see it even tonight in the red glare of rockets, with small bombs bursting in air, fill the sky with the noble tribute of fireworks once again.

And we all ask ourselves, will it still be flying at dawn?

This is what it means to be an American.

Happy 250th, America! Now for many happy returns!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@LucasFoxNews Nice! Happy 4th of July from Farragut, TN!! Go Admirals!

[Secretary Doug Burgum @SecretaryBurgum]

🇺🇸

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@MCCCANM Hammer him.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@ShawnRyan762 @RealCandaceO Nope

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@MCCCANM Haha perfect

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@catturd2 @mtgreenee is complete trash and I consider her a traitor to the U.S. There is a lot of beachfront property in the U.S. she could have settled on. Her leaving the country is indicative of her motives.

[Mike Lee @BasedMikeLee]

We make it far too easy for senators in the minority to use the filibuster to kill bills supported by the majority.

The whole idea behind the filibuster has, from the beginning, been to protect and prolong debate—not to cut off debate, forcing the Senate to abandon any bill that doesn’t immediately receive the support of at least 60 senators.

Filibustering is supposed to require far more than opposing cloture.

Especially for bills of exceptional national importance—like the SAVE America Act—senators should be required to hold the floor and speak.

The minute filibustering senators stop doing that, the legislation can and should be passed at a simple-majority threshold.

This is not a radical idea.

This describes what the filibuster is, how it has historically operated, and how it should work today.

Share this message if you agree that the Senate—and the country as a whole—would be well served by a return to this approach.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@okron8 @WesternLensman Good lord. No, because of their own people.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@BuzzPatterson Diego Garcia

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@FreddyLA7 If you go, you have to ride The Maid of the Mist up to the base of the falls. You will get wet but it pretty incredible.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@ShawnRyan762 @RealCandaceO Nope

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@BuzzPatterson https://t.co/T7HuxpLuNB

[Tyler Rogoway @Aviation_Intel]

The reports from various outlets are wrong:

No, A VC-25A Air Force One Jet Isn’t Being Retired Just Yet

The ex-Qatari VC-25B “Bridge” aircraft is set to enter service soon, but, contrary to reports, the older VC-25As will keep flying.

https://t.co/vd5MooNTCc

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@MCCCANM I’m typically in a different country after every flight and the struggle is real. And BTW, I flew a 350 CI from ZAZ-HKG 2 days ago. Got in over 30 mins before scheduled.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@TheChadWithrow Jimmy Buffett
Pearl Jam
Led Zeppelin
Bob Marley

[TheIntelFrog @TheIntelFrog]

GWOT veterans...

Take 3 minutes and watch this explanation of the elements of the proposed GWOT memorial. It might change your mind. It did mine.

Thanks @JDKeelingIII for sending this my way.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@MCCCANM I have flown CI 600 a few times. Usually when we are behind schedule and they need the cargo there ASAP.

[BrandonT 🇺🇸 @jbtc130]

@BuzzPatterson Since I live 2.5 hrs to the east and a Nashville native, I would do my best to attend.