BOSTON: July 4 Events 2015: Independence Day Guide To Fireworks, Concerts And Harborfest

Fireworks explode over the Charles River with the city of Cambridge in the background during Boston's Fourth of July celebration in 2013. Mario Tama/Getty Images

On the Fourth of July, that blissful holiday of reveling in fireworks and barbecues with friends and family, there is no better city to celebrate in than Boston, the place most closely associated with launch the American Revolution. Its most popular Independence Day events regularly draw half a million attendees and viewers. Here’s your guide to the best of them.

The immensely popular Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular is a combination of music and fireworks. It’s a two-night affair, July 3 and 4, that takes place along the Charles River at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade that lies between the Longfellow and Massachusetts Avenue bridges. The Friday concert will begin at 8:30 p.m. EDT and end at 10 p.m. The Saturday concert will start at 8:30 p.m., and fireworks will be launched at 10:30 p.m.

Visit this official site to learn how to enter different official viewing points for the  fireworks, as well as what items visitors are and are not permitted to  bring -- backpacks are not allowed and have not been for several years. Those planning to ride public transportation can check the special Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority schedule here (the T is reportedly free for all after 9:30 p.m.). Those eager to avoid the crowds -- and the security checks -- should check out this list of unofficial spots that offer an excellent view of the pyrotechnics without the hassle.

And, of course, don’t forget the plethora of activities continuing throughout the day on the Fourth of July. For example, the Boston Harborfest, a festival running July 1-5, includes walking tours, historical re-enactments, the famous Chowdafest, an 18th-century chocolate-making demonstration and more, all celebrating Boston’s history and heritage. Most events are held in downtown Boston and along the waterfront. A full schedule of events can be viewed here.

For the historically minded, the Declaration of Independence will be read on the balcony of Faneuil Hall Saturday at 10 a.m. The event is free for all.

Bars and restaurants and bars are featuring specials for Independence Day, ranging from Cinquecento’sbocce tournament (a $200 gift card goes to the winner) and cheap oysters to numerous holiday brunch and/or drink menus throughout the city.

Via: International Business Times

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The History of Liberty

In 1559, a political dissident in Europe saw a fundamental problem with the reign of kings:

“It is very rare for kings so to control themselves that their will never disagrees with what is just and right; or for them to have been endowed with such great keenness and prudence, that each knows how much is enough. Therefore, men’s fault or failing causes it to be safer and more bearable for a number to exercise government, so that they may help one another, teach and admonish one another; and, if one asserts himself unfairly, there may be a number of censors and masters to restrain his willfulness.”

These words are so republican-sounding that an Englishman must have written them, if we are to take to heart Daniel Hannan’s argument in Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World.

The problem: An Englishman didn’t write them.

Hannan’s thesis is that the political principles that made England and America so great—principles of individual liberty, limited and representative government, and the rule of law—evolved from the dank peat of medieval England after the Angles and Saxons invaded the island. These principles were developed and refined through England’s struggles against autocratic kings, Hannan says, culminating in the Glorious Revolution of 1689 and the American Revolution of 1776, and resulting in the spread of an English-speaking empire across the globe.

“Elected parliaments, habeas corpus, free contract, equality before the law, open markets, an unrestricted press, the right to proselytize for any religion, jury trials: these … are specific products of a political ideology developed in the language in which you are reading these words,” Hannan writes.

Via: The Blaze

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[VIDEO] 7 Leadership Lessons of the American Revolution

Via: You Tube

A Failed Presidency of Global Proportions

"These are the times that try men's souls."  So wrote Thomas Paine in the midst of the darkest days of the American Revolution, when the fate of what would become the grandest experiment in human liberty hung in the balance.  In recent weeks, those words have found renewed relevance as it becomes clear to this generation that the fate of our nation hangs in the balance again.

This much is now clear: on every count, domestic and foreign, the presidency of Barack Obama has failed.

Though pride or egotism may prevent many from acknowledging it, there is simply no rational argument left to plausibly deny this unfortunate reality.  Whether it is the crumbling value of the dollar, the demise of an economy once in recovery into one now slouching towards another recession, the crushing debt that is spinning us dangerously close to the point of no return, a persistent unemployment crisis that has not been remotely remedied by the continued spending or quantitative easing of all our brilliant government central planners, or the skyrocketing energy costs that break the collective banks of American family budgets both at the gas tank and with the monthly heating bill, President Obama has been a domestic policy disaster.  One of the worst ever.

On the foreign front, a similar conclusion was perhaps more difficult to discern until last week.  To any informed observer, there was certainly always reason for concern as the terror obsessed Muslim Brotherhood stretched its influence and consolidated its power throughout the Middle East under the protective cloak of the Obama-approved label "Arab Spring."  Prudent minds questioned how such a development could possibly end well for those who desire peace, and why despite being reassured by their president that "[t]he day I'm inaugurated, Muslim hostility will ease," America's approval rating in the Muslim world continued to plummet to new lows. 

Via: American Thinker

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