Fourth of July/ Independence Day

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From NBCnews.com : Fireworks explode over the East River with the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn bridge in the background as part of the 38th Annual Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks in Brooklyn, New York. [Picture : Andrew Gombert / EPA]
Here is an extract from the Declaration of Independence, signed by representatives of all thirteen founding states of the nation on July 4, 1776 :   .. we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. …  

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Here’s a screenshot of the telecast of the fireworks on Seattle’s Lake Union. Look for the Space Needle is at the bottom right.

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