Douglas Collins

Love theology, music, and entertainment, especially playing bass.

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

On this day in 1863, Robert E. Lee bet the entire war on twelve thousand men walking a mile across an open field into the center of the Union line, and he did it over the loud objection of the general he trusted most.

Lee had spent two days hammering the ends of the Union army and gotten nowhere. So on the third day he reasoned it out like this. If the enemy had reinforced both flanks to survive all that pounding, then the middle must be thin now. Hit the center, hard, with everything, and break it, and the road to Washington opens up and the South wins its independence in an afternoon. It was bold and it was logical and it was, as it turned out, a catastrophe.

James Longstreet begged him not to do it. Longstreet had walked that ground with his eyes, measured the distance, seen the guns waiting on the ridge, and he told Lee flatly that no fifteen thousand men who ever lived could cross that field and take that position. He said it more than once. Lee heard him and said do it anyway. When the moment finally came to launch the attack, Longstreet was so sick with certainty that it was murder that he couldn't say the word. He just bowed his head and nodded, and the assault went forward on a nod.

First came the guns. The Confederates opened the largest artillery barrage of the entire war on this continent, well over a hundred cannon roaring at once, trying to smash the Union center to rubble before the infantry stepped off. The ground shook for miles. But most of the shells sailed just a little long, screaming over the heads of the front line troops and blowing up the rear. When the smoke drifted off, the Union center was battered but very much alive, and the gunners there were waiting, loaded, and furious.

Then the infantry came out of the tree line, and even the men about to kill them said it was one of the most beautiful and terrible things they ever saw. About twelve thousand Confederates, dressed in neat parade lines nearly a mile wide, battle flags up, stepping off in perfect order into the open like it was a drill. They had almost a mile of naked field to cross, uphill, in the July heat, with nowhere to hide.

The Union artillery went to work on them the whole way. First long range shells punched holes clean through the marching ranks, whole files of men vanishing at a time. The survivors closed up the gaps and kept coming, which somehow made it worse to watch. As they got closer the cannon switched to canister, basically giant shotgun blasts that scythed men down in swaths. Then the rifles opened up from behind the stone wall. The neat lines dissolved into a struggling mob still pushing forward into the storm.

And they almost, almost did it. A few hundred men under a general named Lewis Armistead actually reached the wall, Armistead out front with his hat jammed on the tip of his sword so his men could see him in the smoke. He climbed over, put his hand on a Union cannon, and for one heartbeat the Confederacy was physically inside the Union line at the very center. That spot is called the High Water Mark now, because it is the farthest the tide of the Confederacy ever reached. Armistead was shot down right there, dying a few feet past the wall. The handful who got over with him were killed or captured in minutes. The breach slammed shut.

And that was it. That was the whole war, decided in about an hour. The survivors streamed back across that awful field, and Lee rode out among them with his hat off, saying over and over, it's all my fault, it is all my fault. He told Pickett to rally his division for a possible counterattack, and Pickett looked at him and said, General Lee, I have no division. It was gone. Roughly half of the men who made that charge were dead, wounded, or captured.

The next day was the Fourth of July. Lee started his beaten army on the long, rainy retreat back to Virginia, and he would never invade the North again. And far away on that same Fourth of July, the river fortress of Vicksburg surrendered out west, cutting the Confederacy in two. The high tide had crested and broken on the same little Pennsylvania ridge, and from here on the water only ran one way.

[Johnny Midnight ⚡️ @its_The_Dr]

Never heard it sang like that. Sounds awesome!

[Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson]

Robin Williams’ emotional tribute to the American Flag leaves an entire stadium speechless — then in tears.

Is there a single Hollywood star who would give this performance today?

Total Patriot.

RIP Legend 🇺🇸

[jimmystewartmovie @jimmymovie2026]

He had fame, success, and Hollywood at his feet.

Then Jimmy Stewart chose to serve his country.

Watch the incredible true story of #JIMMY. Trailer out now.

Only in theaters November 6.
#JimmyMovie #JimmyStewart #ItsAWonderfulLife

[Chris Pratt @prattprattpratt]

Celebrate America’s 250th birthday at the box office!!! There’s a lot of great choices this weekend. But considering it’s July 4 weekend I humbly suggest “Young, Washington.” I was actually blown away. The movie is incredible. Like Braveheart for Americans. Jon Erwin crushed it. William Franklin Miller did a great job as young Washington. Remember the name! A star is born! The movie is awesome! Way to go!!

[Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog]

I used to be entirely in the camp that said you should kick your kids out at 18 and force them to live independently and make their own way in the world. I don’t feel that way at all anymore. I want all my kids to live with us until they get married. Even after they’re married, if they want to live on our property, or close by, my wife and I would love that.

The important thing is to teach your kids responsibility, which we’re doing. They need to contribute and help around the house, which all of our kids do from a very young age. Provided you aren’t raising ungrateful useless moochers, why kick them out? Why drive them away from your family home? I don’t see the point in it anymore. I actually like my kids and like being around them.

Maybe they’ll all end up scattered to the wind. But I’d prefer to keep the family together. Why wouldn’t I?

[CoveredGeekly @CoveredGeekly]

First promo for the animated 'Firefly' series just dropped

They need fans to like their post on IG "to convince folks that this is something people want."

(via IG | https://t.co/6A8rICEQhF)

[Right Angle News Network @Rightanglenews]

BREAKING - A 92-page report by the California State Auditor has found that over $70 billion in taxpayer funds have been lost, including $2.5 billion in SNAP fraud, $24 billion on fighting homelessness, and $18 billion for a high-speed rail where not a single track has been laid.

[Karoline Leavitt @PressSec]

California has among the WORST laws for securing elections in the entire nation.

Governor Newscum and the rest of the radical Democrats in California blatantly refuse to adopt commonsense election integrity measures.

I will lay out the facts for one of the worst governors in America to understand:

California doesn’t require voters to show photo ID before casting a ballot – despite nearly 90% of Americans supporting photo ID laws.

California uses universal mail-in-balloting, which we know is extremely vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

In the 2024 election alone, California mailed nearly 10 million mail-in ballots that were never returned.

The bipartisan Carter-Baker Commission in 2005 found: “'absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud' and 'vote by mail is . . . likely to increase the risks of fraud.'"

San Francisco even allows non-citizens to vote in local elections, which creates a high risk of fraud in federal elections.

California reported 2,178,551 duplicate registrations in the 2024 election cycle – 15.6% of total registered voters – and seven counties completely failed to provide data on duplicate registrations.

California only removed 378,349 registered voters for death (11.9%), which was well below the national average.

Now stop tweeting at me and do your job, @GavinNewsom!

[Carl DeMaio @carldemaio]

Proposition 50’s passage is an absolute disgrace, and if Democrats think we are going to wallow and surrender, they are wrong! Now is the time to redouble our efforts to pass the Voter ID initiative.

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

@NVIDIAGeForce GeForce Day

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

@innoutburger_ Grabbing some now!

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

Excited!

[Wowhead💙 @Wowhead]

In celebration of 11.2 releasing on August 5th, we're giving away some Vulpine Familiars! - Only for North America, South America, and Oceanic regions.

For a chance to win, give us a retweet and a comment that we'll forward to Dimensius📨

#wow_partner

[Wowhead💙 @Wowhead]

In celebration of 11.2 releasing on August 5th, we're giving away some Vulpine Familiars! - Only for North America, South America, and Oceanic regions.

For a chance to win, give us a retweet and a comment that we'll forward to Dimensius📨

#wow_partner

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

@pcgamer I played this game more than it deserved and really wanted it to be great. So much potential with it!

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

PC

[Marvel Rivals Media @MRivalsMedia]

🔥Marvel Rivals Lattice GIVE-AWAY🔥

🏆Prize:
1x 5,680 #MarvelRivals Lattice

➡️ TO ENTER:
✅ Follow @MRivalsHub
✅ Like & RT this post
✅Comment your platform
✅ Turn on Notifications 🔔

⏰Giveaway ends in 5 days! All platforms and regions can participate.

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

PC!

[Marvel Rivals Intel @RivalsAssembled]

‼️ We're doing FIVE #MarvelRivals giveaways to help people buy the new skins🔥

❄️Mirae 2099 Luna Snow
⭐Infinity War Captain America

Follow @RivalsAssembled
Like + Retweet this post
Reply with your platform and region! (PC is Steam only)

Randomly chosen Feb 8th AM

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

@FiraxisGames A friend gifted me the standard edition of Civ 7 through Steam. Any way to upgrade it to the Founder’s Edition now so I can be a part of that Early Access?

[Douglas Collins @theunificator]

@CivGame A friend gifted me the standard edition through Steam. Any way to upgrade it to the Founder’s Edition now so I can be a part of that Early Access?