BRYAN PRESTON: Do We Still Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident?

Taking the words of the Declaration together with the preamble to Constitution and Douglass rightly saw the ideas that would inevitably end slavery, as long as the republic endured long enough to see it. In 1852, as now, this was not ironclad. So, to the free man, the Fourth of July represented his guarantee. To those still enslaved, the Fourth of July represented hope of freedom to come. Frederick Douglass’ experience led him to see this more clearly than anyone else of his age and probably anyone since or now.

The storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake Douglass spoke of came, in the form of a destructive civil war. America paid in blood and treasure as it never had before, and slavery was ended. Douglass lived through it as one of abolitionism’s most ardent, eloquent, passionate, and heard spokesman. He had risen from slavery to become a friend of presidents, as a citizen, though not yet in full. Few have the power of oration without experience, and Douglass had experienced it all. He had lived under unjust law. He had broken that law. And he also respected and served the higher law, the Constitution, which he respected as a means of reaching understanding and offering hope. He was a true American on July 4, 1852, more true than many others.

On July 4, 2020, people as yet unknown damaged and toppled the statue of Frederick Douglass in Rochester that marks his moment and his speech. The damage was so extensive that it will probably have to be replaced.

Read the whole thing.

MY LATEST FOR THE PJMEDIA MOTHERSHIP: Charlie Daniels, RIP: He Saved the Republic. “Maybe you think I’m indulging in hyperbole, and maybe you’re right. Nevertheless, that’s how I think of Daniels whenever his 1980 song, ‘In America’ comes on.”

This one is just for our PJMedia/Townhall VIP members, so if you’ve been thinking of becoming a member, you can do so here — and don’t forget to use that VODKAPUNDIT discount code.

HARSH, BUT FAIR: Dems and Media to Blame for Countless COVID-19 Deaths After Anti-Hydroxychloroquine Hysteria.

MY HOME TOWN: Rowdy Protestors Return to Armed St Louis Couple’s Home Threatening ‘Justice.’ “I used to live maybe a whole mile from where this happened, on Lindell Boulevard a bit east of Kingshighway, and have nothing but fond memories of the area. I remember it as an eclectic, almost-entirely peaceful mix of rich and middle class and poor, of black and white, and of gay and straight. But that was 30 years ago.”

HOW DO YOU SAY ‘GLEICHSCHALTUNG’ IN MANDARIN? China requiring churches to praise communist government, sing national anthem in order to reopen after lockdown.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT: China’s threats on behalf of Huawei are becoming desperate.

In the face of growing momentum against Huawei, which many Western governments fear will be forced to spy for Beijing, Chinese embassies have been doing a full court press in countries that have not yet made a decision.

In Germany, the Chinese ambassador threatened that country’s auto industry in China. The Chinese envoy to Denmark threatened the free-trade agreement with the Faroe Islands. In France, Beijing’s ambassador warned the government not to discriminate against Huawei, lest it threaten the development of European companies in China – this is the same envoy who, during his previous appointment to Canada, threatened “repercussions” if Ottawa rejected the Chinese company.

In the U.K., where the government had agreed in January to allow Huawei to supply as much as 35 per cent of the 5G network’s peripheral system, political pressure has mounted to reverse that decision. The government has initiated a club of 10 countries, called the D-10 – with “D” representing democracy – comprising the G7 plus India, South Korea and Australia to collaborate on 5G technology alternatives. The Chinese ambassador to Britain has now said that China would put a halt to its planned nuclear reactors and high-speed rail network in the U.K. if Huawei equipment is banned. And the chair of British bank HSBC warned the bank would face reprisals in China.

Chinese Communists are just bullies with money.

Mobsters, in other words.

2020, MAN: China Imposes Quarantine to Fight the Black Death as Bubonic Plague Reported in Inner Mongolia.

HARSH, BUT FAIR: A Little Girl Is Dead Because Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms Doesn’t Have the Courage to Clear a Wendy’s Parking Lot.

MADNESS: Statue Honoring Frederick Douglass in His Home City Toppled on Anniversary of His Famous Speech.

WHO? BidenWatch for July 6, 2020. “Biden wants to raid your wallet and destroy your suburbs. And the many, many, many oversea trips of Hunter.”

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Patriotism Wasn’t Racist When Obama Celebrated Independence Day.

TWANLOC: Protesters Scream ‘America Was Never Great’ as They Burn the Flag at the White House.

I DON’T KNOW BOTS BUT I KNOW WHAT I LIKE: This Hotel Has a Robot Named Rosé That Will Deliver Wine to Your Room Without Human Contact.

WELL, GOOD: America is rapidly pulling troops from Afghanistan. “It was only in 2001 that American forces toppled the Taliban regime, when the mullahs who led the movement refused to hand over Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks. But nearly two-thirds of the population is less than 25 years old, and so has little or no memory of the Taliban’s rule. They are having to brush up on their history, however, as they contemplate the prospect of the Taliban returning to power in some form. The American troops that have propped up the Afghan government and held the Taliban at bay for the past 19 years are on their way out.”

If Kabul can’t make it after nearly 20 years of American blood and treasure, they never will and were never going to.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump’s Mt. Rushmore Speech Is What We’ve All Been Waiting For.

DECOUPLING: Boris Johnson now has ‘sound reasons’ to keep Huawei out of UK 5G.

Sir John Sawers said new US sanctions imposed on the company meant that allowing Huawei to expand its grip on the UK telecoms market posed security risks that did not apply when the government announced a compromise solution in January giving it up to 35% of the market.

Sawers spoke out following reports – not denied by the government – that the National Cyber Security Centre has also concluded that the balance of risk has changed, and that Huawei must be excluded from 5G.

The decision, which is expected to be confirmed by the national security council within the next fortnight and announced in a statement to parliament before the summer recess, will be warmly welcomed by many Conservative MPs, 38 of whom rebelled in a vote on this issue in March.

In an article for the FT, Sawers said the original decision to allow Huawei a partial role in building 5G was a “reasonable balance” but that was no longer the case because of the sanctions, which would stop the firm using technology reliant on American intellectual property.

The security risks of relying on Huawei — a Communist front corporation — were always real. Trump’s sanctions just gave Britain the little extra impetus they needed to make the right decision.

SHOW OF STRENGTH: U.S. sends carriers to South China Sea during Chinese drills.

HMM: Charles Leclerc Among F1 Drivers Who Declined to Kneel Before Austrian GP.

UNEXPECTEDLY: How Covid-19, BLM protests and a liberal mayor are turning the city into a no-go zone as murders skyrocket, shops are looted and 500,000 middle-class residents flee.

WATCH: Antifa Rioters Throw Bricks, Mortars, M-80s at Police as Portland Descends Into a War Zone.

TYPICAL: Anti-Extremism Researcher Exposes How the Left Drives People to the Far-Right, But You Won’t See It on Wikipedia.

WOW: FBI Brings in Decadent Nigerian Scammer ‘Hushpuppi’ for 100s of Millions in Cybercrime.

BUT THE NARRATIVE! Trump Vindicated? New Peer-Reviewed Hydroxychloroquine Study Shows Reduced COVID-19 Mortality.

WHY NOT TAKE A BREAK FROM THE SERIOUS NEWS FOR A FEW MINUTES? Florida Man Friday: 99 Cans of Pabst on the Wall.

OBSESSED: Senate Democrats Won’t Condemn Mob Violence Without Taking a Jab at Trump.