To commemorate the Allied invasion of Europe, which began 70 years ago today, one of my favorite speeches, delivered thirty years ago at Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, by Ronald Reagan.  The text can be found in this Wall Street Journal article from yesterday, here.  June 5 was the 10th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s death.

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H/T Waltzing Mtilda!

It’s about living life.  Sometimes we fall flat on our face, and sometimes we soar.  The exciting part is in the striving and uncertainty, goals to chase, and dreaming dreams.

Here is our friend, Bill Whittle, again.  As Bill points out, the Declaration of Independence is demonstrative that its writers understood the essence of the human heart:

When Thomas Jefferson came back with his draft of the Declaration of Independence, Franklin and Adams and all the other Founders must have been amazed: life – yes. Liberty – absolutely. But the pursuit of happiness? That wasn’t just revolutionary – it was transcendental.

See, Jefferson knew you didn’t have a right to happiness – who can guarantee that? But he had a vision of place that didn’t guarantee the right to be happy, but the right – the inalienable right — to try to be. What Jefferson guaranteed in the Declaration was not the certainty of success but the guaranteed opportunity to fail.

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I thought you might like something positive.  This man has positive things to say.  It’s worth the listen!

From IJ Review

McRaven drew from his training to tell the students the 10 ways they could change the world.

Here are just a few of them:

He started off by telling them to make their bed because:

“If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

He described the importance of finding someone else to help you paddle:

“You can’t change the world alone—you will need some help— and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them.”

He let them know that SEALS do not check their privilege, saying:

“SEAL training was a great equalizer. Nothing mattered but your will to succeed. Not your color, not your ethnic background, not your education and not your social status.”

Admiral McRaven covered seven other areas, as well. One thing’s clear from his outstanding speech: It may have been one of hundreds of commencement addresses, but it also doubles as some incredible life advice for anyone.

“I happen to be one who cheers and supports the Sagebrush Rebellion. Count me in as a rebel.” Ronald Reagan

Watching the drama recently on the Bundy ranch and surrounding public land in Nevada, we may be forgiven if we didn’t remember, or even know, that this is only the most recent skirmish in a years-long battle over local control of public lands.

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From Wikipedia:

Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making a victim doubt his or her own memory, perception, and sanity. Instances may range simply from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents ever occurred, up to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim.

The term “gaslighting” comes from the play Gas Light and its film adaptations. The term is now also used in clinical and research literature.

On that note, here is Bill Whittle’s latest FIREWALL:

Update 2!  We Did It!

Message from Ann McElHinney, less than an hour ago:

BREAKING: Gosnell Movie is now 100% funded! Thank you so much for your support, we still have until midnight on Monday 12th to get more people in, we’d love to have at least 30,000 to be a part of this. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, WE ARE SO VERY GRATEFUL.

Update!

There are just ten days left to raise the money needed to produce The Gosnell Movie, and 84% of the money has been pledged – $1,763,347.  If the target of amount of $2,100,000 is not reached by the deadline, then none of the money will go to the project.

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I love this.  Stunningly good stuff.