@PraiseXenu As I understand it, she is the head of state but has no real political power. She is the ceremonial head, the spiritual head (Church of England), and the public face of the UK and its Commonwealth, but isn’t voted for, unlike the respective prime ministers of the various countries she presides over. Our HoS unfortunately is both the public face and political power of our country. My point is, she’s a helluva lot classier than the psychotic narcissist we have in Washington. I’ll take kind, thoughtful, controlled, albeit sometimes boring words from a leader over the bile and extreme boorishness that broadcasts via Twitter from 45. I’ll take corgis over casinos, pomp over Putin, class over crass any day. But yes, I love my country, I care about my country, and no, I don’t really want to go back in time and have us lose the Revolution, but I know we can do better.

@PraiseXenu I didn’t know that! Thanks for setting me straight. Here’s hoping the royal line doesn’t get a dose of Raging Narcissist a’la Cheeto into its DNA any time soon.

Her "House" is that of "The Battenbergs" German,married into the Greek Prince Phillips "House" Changed to Mountbatten due to war with Germany She is not my Queen! "The House Of Windsor" was later created for the family.Her grandsons Are" Wales" The whole "line" are Pretenders to the throne.Lady Diana Spencers family are more closely related to the actual line to the throne.The Stewards are the true line to the throne of Scotland & England, but will never be recognised because they are Catholic. Henry Tudor was once "The Defender Of The Faith" to the Roman Catholic Church until he started beheading his wives on a whim.The Pope threatened to "Excommunicate" him so he formed his own Religion "The Church Of England" complete with the new "Tudor Bible"

The problem is "the Powers that Be" in charge of our governance. Washington and our government is a cesspool of corruption. Electing even a perfect President would do little to change things (it is always easier to break something than to fix it). By design, our President (whoever) has little power except when backed by the ruling Party and the Will of the People. Our votes count little anymore (though they do count some, and we need to vote correctly). We need to embrace a more direct style of Democracy by shaming every bad acting Politician, every minute of every day. Short of Armed Insurrection this is all we have.

Do I detect a certain level of scepticism?

@Palindromeman NOOOOOO not at all

@Amisja Okies; the fireworks will be awesome!

@Beach_slim Isnt that the whole point? You are supposed to be "One nation" the vitriol from both sides in an increasingly polarized country cannot be a good thing.
Happy 4th

Canadians are too polite to invade

@Blindbird This is a parody, right?

No American is ashamed to be American - land of the free, home of the brave. The policeman of the world. The greatest democracy in the world. Home to Warren Buffett. And to Jimmy Buffett.

Oh, fuck, I can't keep a straight face any more.

Your country is increasingly a punchline, thanks to the Orange President. But enjoy the orgy of patriotism.

@Palindromeman understood, and thanks. But I can dream. ?

@Beach_slim the tiresome old line to just get out if you dislike something in your country ignores the obvious realities of family ties, investment in career, etc. It is reflection of the nationalist mentality that your nation belongs to you and those like you but that others who want change should just be shown the door out. Nice try.

@MikeInBatonRouge Love it or leave it. But hardly anyone leaves it. Wherever that is. That is a universal truth. We are tied by birthright to where we were born. I believe that. In my bones.

@273kelvin you are right. The polarization is not good. But having watched the progression of conservative public discourse on a variety of topics lurch ever further rightward since the early 1970s, the idea of compromise has felt decidedly one-sided, and not in favor of liberals. From the rise of the Religious Right, to the creation and mainstreaming of Fox News, which passes off calculated propaganda as if it were factual news, to the ever-increasing attacks on secular education, which in turn has severely eroded basic knowledge base and functional education skills of so many Americans (just look at the slide in our world rankings in education), to the relentless attacks on the basic social safety net and the corresponding rise in poverty even as a tiny elite get increasingly rich, the entire idea even of what is conservative vs what is liberal has moved to the right in America. Your more conservative parties in western Europe (aside from direct issues of immigration) still tend to be clearly to the left of even our Democrat party. Compromise with Republicans has meant getting the rug rudely pulled out from under us. It is to the point now that Republicans have a severely gerimandered districting and conservatively stacked courts to ensure outsized political power for themselves. And the party has forced out nearly all the moderate Republicans from the national level of government. They are a clear minority but get to rule like a majority. Just regarding presidency alone, Trump's is the second election since 2000 in which the candidate with the most votes LOST.

There is no sense playing nice with words when it comes to the Republican machine. They are responsible for us now having a fascist president who praises autocratic rulers (because he hopes to be one) and is a supplicant to Vladimir Putin. He repeatedly attacks the free press and the judiciary, even as Mitch McConnel, the Senate leader, has helped him cram the courts with very conservative judges. Our nation is in crisis, and people like Beach_slim have blinders on. There will be no happy 4th of July until we are past this crisis. Hopeful, maybe, but not happy.

Don't get to drunk bro! ??