Tag Archives: Fourth of July

President Trump presides over July 4th holiday with military show

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump smiles as he as walks on the South Lawn of the White House upon his return to Washington from South Korea, U.S., June 30, 2019. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will preside over July Fourth Independence Day celebrations on Thursday with a speech about patriotism and a show of military might that critics say is politicizing an important holiday and wasting taxpayer money.

Trump, a Republican who admired flashy displays of national pride and military strength put on by France, has dismissed concerns about the expense and militaristic overtones of the Washington event, which will take place in front of the Lincoln Memorial and feature fireworks, a flyover by Air Force One and a display of tanks.

Democrats charge the president with staging a campaign rally. Though the White House has said his remarks would not be political in nature, the president has a history of veering off script with sharp partisan attacks even at events that are not meant to be overtly political.

“People are coming from far and wide to join us today and tonight for what is turning out to be one of the biggest celebrations in the history of our Country,” Trump tweeted on Thursday morning.

He is set to give a speech at 6:30 p.m. ET (2230 GMT), followed by fireworks later in the evening. Asked earlier this week if he could give a speech that would represent all Americans, he said he thought he could and then launched into an attack on Democrats’ policies on healthcare and taxes.

Flights will be suspended at nearby Reagan National Airport from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. ET (2215 to 2345 GMT) and then again later in the evening for the festivities. “Perhaps even Air Force One will do a low & loud sprint over the crowd,” Trump tweeted, encouraging people to get there early.

Some at the White House were worried about the crowd size, according to an administration official. Trump fumed about reports in 2017 that the crowd at his inauguration ceremony on the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol was smaller than it was for President Barack Obama. The Lincoln Memorial is at the opposite end of the monument-covered Mall.

Republican political groups were given prime tickets for Trump’s speech, and the Washington Post reported that the U.S. National Park Service diverted $2.5 million in park entrance fees to help pay for the event.

“Instead of addressing something like veteran homelessness, he’s spending it on boosting his ego with a parade that’s fundamentally about him and then getting tickets in the hands of wealthy donors for the Republican Party. What a waste of money,” Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro said on CBS “This Morning” on Wednesday.

Fellow Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders also weighed in with criticism: “This is what authoritarians do: @realDonaldTrump is taking $2.5 million away from our National Park Service to glorify himself with a spectacle of military tanks rolling through Washington,” he wrote in a tweet.

Trump downplayed the expense.

“The cost of our great Salute to America tomorrow will be very little compared to what it is worth. We own the planes, we have the pilots, the airport is right next door (Andrews), all we need is the fuel,” he posted on Twitter on Wednesday. “We own the tanks and all. Fireworks are donated by two of the greats. Nice!” Andrews is the name of a nearby military base.

The July 4th holiday celebrates the U.S. founders’ declaring independence from Britain in 1776.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Trump plans tanks and flyovers at Fourth of July celebration in Washington

U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. first lady Melania Trump wave from the Truman Balcony during a fireworks display celebrating Independence Day at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

By Andy Sullivan and Makini Brice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Monday that he plans to display battle tanks on Washington’s National Mall as part of a pumped-up Fourth of July celebration that will also feature flyovers by fighter jets and other displays of military prowess.

The military hardware is just one new element in a U.S. Independence Day pageant that will depart significantly from the nonpartisan, broadly patriotic programs that typically draw hundreds of thousands of people to the monuments in downtown Washington.

An M1 Abrams tank sits atop a flat car in a rail yard after U.S. President Donald Trump said tanks and other military hardware would be part of of a Fourth of July display in Washington, U.S., July 2, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Fogarty

An M1 Abrams tank sits atop a flat car in a rail yard after U.S. President Donald Trump said tanks and other military hardware would be part of of a Fourth of July display in Washington, U.S., July 2, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Fogarty

While past presidents have traditionally kept a low profile on July 4, Trump plans to deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

Also on the agenda are an extended fireworks display and flyovers by Air Force One, the custom Boeing 747 used by U.S. presidents, and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels jet squadron.

“I’m going to say a few words, and we’re going to have planes going overhead,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “And we’re going to have tanks stationed outside.”

Democrats in Congress have accused Trump of hijacking the event to boost his re-election prospects in 2020. They have also questioned how much the event will cost the cash-strapped National Park Service.

Trump has pushed for a military parade in Washington since he marveled at the Bastille Day military parade in Paris in 2017. His administration postponed a parade that had been planned for Veterans Day in November 2018 after costs ballooned to $90 million, three times the initial estimate.

Trump said modern M1 Abrams tanks and World War Two-era Sherman tanks would both be on display. District of Columbia officials have said the heavy military equipment could damage city streets.

“You’ve got to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks, so we have to put them in certain areas,” Trump said.

The antiwar group Code Pink said it had secured permits to fly a “Baby Trump” blimp, depicting the president in diapers, during his speech. “Babies need enormous amounts of attention and are unable to gauge the consequences of their behavior – just like Donald Trump,” co-founder Medea Benjamin said in a news release.

The Interior Department, which oversees the event, has not said how much the event will cost. Two fireworks firms will put on a 35-minute display for free, which the agency said was equal to a donation of $700,000.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Diane Craft and Peter Cooney)

On July 4th, Americans celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of hot dogs

Children in costumes march down Main Street during the annual Fourth of July parade in Barnstable Village on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S., July 4, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar

By Peter Szekely

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans celebrated their nation’s 242nd anniversary of independence on Wednesday, with concerts, parades and a voracious display of hot dog-eating prowess in New York, as many cities and towns prepared for traditional fireworks displays after sundown.

At the White House, President Donald Trump planned to host a picnic for military families on the South Lawn during the afternoon, a few hours before fireworks were scheduled to light up the National Mall.

Independence Day festivities scheduled for Washington featured a concert by the National Symphony Orchestra on the lawn of the Capitol. “Margaritaville” singer Jimmy Buffett, The Temptations, The Beach Boys and Luke Combs will also perform.

The Fourth of July holiday marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by congressional delegates in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

The document declared the young nation’s independence from Great Britain and advanced the principle “that all men are created equal,” and had “certain unalienable rights” including “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

More than two centuries later, however, it was the pursuit of hot dogs that defined the holiday at Coney Island on the waterfront of New York’s borough of Brooklyn, where Nathan’s Famous held its 46th annual hot dog-eating contest.

Joey Chestnut once again dominated the competitive eating spectacle. The 34-year-old from San Jose, California, won his 11th “Mustard Belt” by downing an astonishing 74 wieners -topping the record of 72 he set last year.

In the women’s division, Miki Sudo, 32, of Las Vegas, won her fifth title by putting away 37 hot dogs.

Heat and humidity hung over the competition, as well as much of the country. The National Weather Service issued heat advisories for the Plains states eastward to the Mid-Altantic region. Temperatures were expected in the 90s with the humidity making it feel like 105 to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (40-43 degrees Celsius).

On a day that features countless patriotic parades nationally, the pro gun control group Moms Demand Action held several marches around the country, including one in Webster Groves, Missouri, where Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill joined them.

“It was hot! But wonderful,” McCaskill said on Twitter.New York is preparing to put on an evening fireworks display that ranks as the country’s largest, according to Macy’s, the retailer that sponsors the annual event.

More than 3 million spectators and 12 million television viewers are expected to watch 75,000 shells illuminate the night sky over the East River to the music of singer Kelly Clarkson.

Bostonians will celebrate with the Boston Pops along the Charles River, joined by pop vocalist Rachel Platten.

Los Angeles is also planning fireworks, as well as a concert and other celebrations at the Hollywood Bowl. Up the coast, San Franciscans can watch fireworks on the bay near the Golden Gate Bridge, if fog does not obscure the show.

In recent years, law enforcement agencies have been on the alert for suspicious activity during the holiday celebrations. Officials said they were taking extra precautions this year, but have not detected any credible security threats.

An Ohio man was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of planning to detonate a bomb at Cleveland’s Fourth of July celebrations.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; editing by Frank McGurty and G Crosse)

FBI nabs man it says planned July 4 attacks on Cleveland, Philadelphia

Fireworks at Morningside 7-4-17

By Makini Brice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI has arrested a man who it said planned to bomb Cleveland’s Fourth of July celebrations and then stand by and watch “it go off,” federal officials said on Monday.

Demetrius Pitts, 48, who had expressed allegiance to the al Qaeda militant group, was arrested on Sunday after a meeting with an undercover FBI agent where he said he planned to plant a bomb at a parade celebrating the U.S. Independence Day holiday and intended to target other locations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

Many major American cities mark the holiday with fireworks and parades, and typically ramp up security around such events.

An undercover FBI agent helped Pitts pick the location for his planned attack, near a planned fireworks show and multiple U.S. government buildings, the FBI said.

“I’m gonna be downtown when the – when the thing go off. I’m gonna be somewhere cuz I wanna see it go off,” Pitts told an undercover FBI agent who he believed was affiliated with al Qaeda, the FBI said in court documents.

Pitts also suggested giving the children of military personnel remote control cars packed with explosives during the parade so the kids would unwittingly detonate the bombs, the FBI said.

Pitts was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

An FBI source gave Pitts a bus pass and a phone to conduct surveillance ahead of his planned attack, prosecutors said.

Pitts, who lives in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, also discussed possibly traveling to San Francisco for reconnaissance for al Qaeda, the FBI said.

It was not immediately clear if he had retained a lawyer, and relatives could not be reached for comment.

“This defendant, by his own words and by his own deeds, wanted to attack our nation and its ideals,” said Justin Herdman, the U.S. attorney for northern Ohio.

Officials said Pitts is an American citizen who had been radicalized in the United States.

In 2015, U.S. law enforcement officials said they had arrested more than 10 people inspired by the Islamic State militant group ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, saying the arrests had disrupted planned attacks.

A pair of ethnic Chechen brothers inspired by al Qaeda killed three people and injured more than 260 with a pair of homemade bombs at the Boston Marathon in 2013.

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Diana Kruzman in New York; Editing by Scott Malone, Jeffrey Benkoe, Frances Kerry and Jonathan Oatis)

FBI Head Claims Several July 4 Terror Attacks Stopped

FBI Director James Comey told reporters at FBI Headquarters that a least 10 people radicalized by ISIS were arrested in connection with plots to kill Americans on July 4th.

“I do believe that our work disrupted efforts to kill people, likely in connection with July 4th,” Comey said.

Comey did not release details of the arrests or investigations but said they involved “very serious efforts to kill people in the United States.”  He could not confirm all those arrested were plotting Independence Day attacks but said “some of them were focusing on the Fourth of July.”

Comey had previously told Congress this week that ISIS and westerners being radicalized by the Islamic terror group had been using sophisticated encryption to keep investigators from being able to track their plans.

He said that because of the system being used, ISIS can activate potential terrorists on any day or the terrorists themselves could just decided to launch their plans.

“Rahim in Boston, I believe, was bent on doing something in the future,” Comey said referring to terrorist Usaama Rahim, “and woke up on the morning of June the 2nd and said, ‘You know what, I think today is the day,’ and just went out to try and kill people.”

Russian Bombers Fly Near U.S. On Fourth of July

Officials at NORAD have confirmed that four Russian long-range bombers flew close to U.S. shores on Independence Day.

The first set of two bombers was intercepted by military fighter jets off the Alaskan coast.  The second pair were intercepted off the California coast.  Both sets stayed just far enough away from the coastline to be international airspace.

The first incident happened around 7:30 a.m. Pacific Time when two Air Force F-22 jets scrambled to intercept two Tupolev Tu-95 bombers.  Both of the two Russian planes were capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The second incident happened 30 minutes later off the central California coast.  The bombers in this case were the same as the previous incident where they could carry nuclear payloads.

Officials would not say how close to American airspace the bombers reached before being intercepted by American aircraft.

“These are not unprecedented flights, but we are postured to respond whether Alaska or California,” NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said. “At no time did the bombers enter North American sovereign airspace.”

Carl Gallups Morning Worship And Our Covenant with God

Sunday morning, July 5th, worship began at Morningside with gratitude. This was the last day of an incredible seven day Fourth of July Celebration! The congregation expressed thankfulness to our Lord for all of the amazing prophets that have spoken over the past week, for the fellowship with people from all around our nation, for the healing by God’s merciful love and for the hard work and dedication of the staff and volunteers that made this week possible.

After a truly powerful prayer and worship service, Morningside opened their hearts and ears to hear a message from Pastor Carl Gallups.  Carl Gallups is a Pastor (since 1987), a best selling author, conservative radio talk show host, and the founder of the online PNN News and Ministry Network.

Pastor Gallups spoke to the congregation on what is happening now in the United States and the Covenant of God that was made at the foundation of this Great Country.  He stated that, “The United States of America became the most powerful and richest nation the planet had ever seen and the most benevolent. The U.S. has been used by God because we made a covenant with God at the very beginning.  Israel is the ultimate covenant nation.  Israel is the nation that God came to and said I am in covenant with you. But, the U.S. is a covenant nation like no other planet the world has seen.”

Reminding all of us of what is in the Declaration of Independence, the first document in the creation of this nation that this is the creed upon which our nation was founded:

“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.”  

Pastor Gallup went on further describing the moment that George Washington took his oath in office, swearing on the Bible and then in front of a nation, kissed the Bible in his hand.  “Please remember that in his first inaugural address, Washington prayed to God and afterward prayed with other members of leadership for two hours at St. Paul’s Cathedral that sits now at Ground Zero.  In the Constitution it states quite simply at the bottom of the page… Signed in the YEAR OF OUR LORD!   Don’t let anyone tell you that this nation was not founded without God in it!”

In this timely sermon Pastor Gallups described the darkness we feel that is covering our country and that while we may have patriotism there is something else that is needed now more than ever.

“Preserve the freedoms we have.  Take that freedom in these prophetic days to proclaim the gospel!  Now even in America darkness is beginning to move in quickly.  I am a patriot.  I am patriotic! But I am convinced now that America doesn’t need more patriotism, it needs more repententance! We need more of God’s Word! ”