.@POTUS welcomes U.S. Army Major Kyle Key, descendant of Francis Scott Key, onto the stage for his Independence Day remarks on the National Mall, where Major Key salutes the homemade American flag discovered in Nazi-occupied Belgium. 🇺🇸

The Japan Rugby League One 2025–26 runners-up: Kubota Spears 🥈 What a season for the Spears and the Orange Army 👏🍊🦄 After a final that went right down to the wire, congratulations to @Kubota_Spears on an incredible campaign filled with unforgettable moments, relentless rugby, and a fight worthy of the biggest stage #NTTLeagueOne#

As much as I hate pumpfun, it’s hard for me to put the blame on them. Pumpfun fulfilled its function. Even if that function was to extract, you can’t lay the blame on them for doing what they were designed to do. The blame lies squarely on Q, Mert, Toly, the Solana FDN, Andem, Joe McCann, Salami, Kang, Alliance, Multicoin, and all of their influenza underlings that battery packed ppl into embracing a culture of rugs and PnDs. I think all of those ppl are complete sociopaths. Evil even. I’ll never forget in 2024 I was watching a podcast with Q Qiow, and I was absolutely floored by the shit he was spewing. I was amazed that he believed himself and even more shocked that the hosts just sat there nodding in the air like bobbleheads. He was saying something to the effect that every single human being would create a memecoin and trade it Solana and that this was the natural evolution of the internet, all to justify price targets for his bags (which were fucking retarded). And then I’d check X and see an army of indented craniums regurgitating his nonsense, and calling for VCs to fund this degeneracy and for builders to abandon their projects in favor of building more memecoin apps. “Just build things ppl want to use bro” Remember how often we used to hear that? Fast forward to 2026, and the “trenches” have been bled dry. Starved. Depraved. Famished. Pumpfun is still extracting to this day. But the blame lies with the ppl who encouraged that culture. Go back and look at the receipts from January 2025. Everyone who celebrated the launch of TRUMP is to blame. Dw though, most of these ppl have either existed stage left or are about to. It’s sad that they butchered an entire class of onchain users but hey, at least they onboarded all those celebrities right!?

I hadn’t read the Declaration of Independence since high school history class. Ah, yes, history class! In fact we had American history throughout the tenth grade, then world history during our junior year. When I listen to the TikTok crowd spew the nonsense they champion today, I think how easily their knuckle-headed thinking could have been cured with a few good history classes. Alas, I don’t see much hope for the future, as long as the teachers in our urban areas are in the clutches of politicians and unions with a far different agenda from real education. Now rereading the document for the first time in decades (shame on me for taking so long), I had forgotten that the bulk of the text is a list of grievances suffered by the American colonists at the hands of the king and various elements under his tyrannical regime. What has truly stunned me these 250 years later, however, is how familiar these grievances feel in our contemporary situation. Let’s take a peek at the exact text, and see if anything feels uncomfortably close to home (the “He” refers to King George, of course, and I will use the original spelling and punctuation): “He has refused to Assent to Laws” Hmm, every “sanctuary state” governor today for starters… “He has made Judges dependent of his Will alone” Hmm, activist judges anybody? “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people” Hmm, 87,000 new armed IRS agents. Ring a bell? “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent” Hmm, ever looked at your tax bill? “…transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny…” Hmm, thirty million military-age males pouring across our open borders from 2020 to 2024… “He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us” Hmm, BLM and Antifa riots… SHORT VERSION: LEAVE US ALONE! The very essence of the Declaration of Independence is a concerted celebration of God’s gift of our “unalienable” right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It was argued, researched, debated yet again, drafted by Jefferson, then edited by Adams, Franklin, and others. Together the bravest men stood together against the storm of tyranny and gambled it all. As I reread it today, I literally shed tears at those miraculous words: “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 Fortune and our sacred Honor.” And then, of course, there were those who shed more than tears. They shed their blood, watched their homes burn, and too many gave the ultimate sacrifice. Whether they formed local militias or joined the Continental Army, colonists now dedicated to the cause, gambled their very lives. One of those Americans was my ninth generation ancestor. He fought in one of the most consequential battles of the American Revolution, the Battle of Cowpens. I am forever honored that his blood runs in my veins. I know that this will be a joyful and glorious weekend for all of you, God willing. It should also be, if I may presume to say, a solemn one as well. The sacrifices made by simple men and women those many years ago have made these precious rights and this glorious day possible. Take a moment and honor them in your heart. I know I will.

State House Speaker Lisa Demuth will win the Republican nomination for governor in Minnesota, CNN's Decision Desk projects. Demuth defeated MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and Kendall Qualls, an Army veteran and former health care executive, in a raucous primary fight. She'll face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar in November. Follow live updates:

The Premier League is going Coast to Coast for The Kick Off. The Toon Army is headed to the Garden State 🌼 Join Newcastle in New Jersey for a watch party to celebrate The Kick Off on Aug. 23. Register your interest now to learn more using the link in our bio.

Big win for gun owners and the Second Amendment! We've been pushing the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) to start selling over 100,000 historic M14 rifles to American citizens. After approvals from the Army and ATF, the first sales are now expected to occur in late 2026 or early 2027. Proceeds will fund marksmanship training and youth programs nationwide, including at the new Wyoming State Shooting Complex in Cody, which will partner with CMP. Thanks to the CMP, @atfhq and @secarmy for granting the approvals to make this happen.

We have Russian documents outlining targets for strikes in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities – political and military facilities where army leadership and government officials may be located, including here on Bankova Street. They have been nursing this plan for a long time, and now, after Iran, have become active again – trying to locate us and track our movements. The same applies to other members of the Ukrainian leadership, intelligence agencies, and our special services. Some in Moscow have still failed to understand that Ukrainians will never surrender their independence. One way or another – whether on Bankova or without Bankova – we will not surrender our land, our sovereignty, or our state.

Andy Burnham unleashed his barmy army of hard-left tax zealots - and you will pay. His easy-going blokey charm will quickly wear thin. He’s backed by a rabble of spiteful class warriors, and there’s nothing easy-going about any of them. They’re hardcore left-wing operators with just one idea in their heads: how to squeeze more tax out of the rest of us. And they're falling over each other to suggest new ways to punish homeowners, savers and pensioners. The £70billion blitz unleashed by Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves is nothing compared with what's coming under Burnham. Sadly, with every passing day, it becomes clearer that anyone with hope and prospects must leave this country. There is little incentive to be successful as a result of huge efforts to reward the feckless. There comes a time when the over provision of state benefits ruins the lives of all concerned. Instead of it becoming a temporary safety net, it has become a way of life for millions which is abhorrent. Britain used to be a land of fairness and justice, but no longer.

#BREAKING#: Iran says it has stopped its retaliatory attacks since the US has not carried out strikes on the country for the past two nights. Iranian Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia tells Iran state media that Iran’s operations have now been halted.