Please join me in praying for 17-year-old Mikah Howell, a Mandarin High School football player, honor roll student, and young man with a bright future ahead of him. Today, Mikah is fighting for his life in a Jacksonville hospital after a savage tragically shot him. This young man had already earned college football scholarship offers through hard work, discipline, and dedication both in the classroom and on the field. His mother has remained by his bedside in intensive care, refusing to leave her son’s side as she prays for a miracle. No parent should ever have to endure such a heartbreaking trial. As the Howell family walks through these difficult hours, let us lift them before God and ask for His mercy, healing, strength, and peace. Pray for Mikah’s doctors and nurses. Pray for wisdom for investigators. Pray for comfort for his family. And pray that God’s hand would rest upon this young man and bring restoration to his body. “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise.” Jeremiah 17:14 Lord, we ask in the mighty name of Jesus that You touch Mikah Howell. Strengthen him, sustain him, and surround his family with Your presence. Amen. #AStoneGroove

Please pray for my boy Jax. I believe in prayer, maybe you do too. 5 hours after this picture was taken, Jax has been to 2 emergency vet hospitals and is now in the hands of the best at @LSUVetMed ICU. I’m not asking for miracles. Just your prayer. God bless you.

Challenge Accepted! McKinley of Massillon,Ohio has stepped up to make a difference and accepting our 50 yard challenge , committing to mow 50 free yards for those in need in his community. This is what it’s all about. Welcome to the family, McKinley!

🇺🇸 The 50 star American flag flying today was designed in 1958 by 17 year old Robert G. Heft as a high school class project. He got a B-minus on it. The teacher claimed the design "lacked originality" and jokingly remarked that if Heft didn't like the grade, he should get the flag accepted in Washington. Heft called his teacher's bluff. He sent his physical prototype to his congressman, Walter Moeller, who forwarded it to the design pool. Out of more than 1,500 submissions, President Eisenhower picked his design. His teacher later changed his grade to an A. Thank you, Robert! The flag is beautiful! 🇺🇸

Beauteous Staffordshire-style inkwell and pen holder, circa 1960s, in excellent vintage condition! Now available in our shoppy! RETWEETs are sweet! vintagetrunkandart.etsy.com/…

Vive l'Amérique

On this day in 1777, the United States chose its flag in one sentence, and the men who voted on it had no idea what they had just done. The timing could not have been worse. The country was barely a year removed from declaring independence and it was losing. The British had taken New York. Washington's army was battered and short on everything. Congress was drowning in crises: no money, restless officers, a war that might collapse at any moment. Survival, not symbolism, was the daily business. Yet on June 14, 1777, in the middle of all that, the Marine Committee tucked a brief resolution into the day's work. The full text was almost absurdly simple. "Resolved, that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." That was the entire thing. No record of debate. No designer credited. The popular story that Betsy Ross sewed the first one is a charming legend that appeared a full century later, told by her grandson, with no solid evidence behind it. The resolution did not even specify how the stars should be arranged, which is why early American flags came in wild variety, stars in circles, rows, and scattered patterns, each maker improvising. These exhausted men, fighting for their lives, voting between a dozen other emergencies, accidentally created one of the most recognized symbols on the planet. That flag would go on to survive a civil war, fly through two world wars, get planted on the summit of Mount Everest, and be driven into the gray dust of the moon, where it still stands today. 249 years ago it was a single afterthought in the minutes of a desperate Congress. That sentence is why we celebrate Flag Day. Happy Flag Day.

At 18, he fled Nazi Germany, was wrongly interned as an “enemy alien” in Britain, yet went on to shape our understanding of World War Two and the Holocaust through his powerful artwork. This is the only photo I have of Hans Jackson, on his wedding day in 1945:

🇺🇸 Ok America, it's with a heavy heart that my World Cup adventure has come to an end. USA / Boston - you've been incredible hosts, opening your hearts to the Tartan Army. Tartan Army - carry the dream and for the love of God stay hydrated in Miami. It's been a dream 🫡

La historia de Steve me tiene enamorada. Un boceto para un hombre que hace bocetos. 🥹❤️

Everyone knows John Hancock for his giant signature. Almost nobody knows the actual man, and his real life was wilder than the legend. He was an orphan. His father died when he was 7, and he was taken in by his uncle Thomas, the richest merchant in Boston. John was groomed to run the family shipping empire, inherited the whole thing in 1764, and became one of the wealthiest men in all of America before most people his age owned anything at all. He was also, by the crown's definition, a criminal. In 1768 the British seized his ship Liberty for smuggling, and Boston rioted in his defense. The man we now put on patriotic posters was, to London, a wealthy smuggler dodging customs. He didn't just resent the crown quietly. He bankrolled resistance and became such a thorn that the British wanted him gone. On the night of April 18, 1775, when Paul Revere made his famous ride, the warning was not vague. He rode to Lexington specifically to warn two men that the British were coming to arrest them: Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The opening night of the Revolutionary War was, in part, a manhunt for Hancock. Weeks later, General Gage offered a pardon to every rebel in Massachusetts who would lay down arms, with exactly two exceptions: Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Being left off that list was essentially a public death warrant. Here is the part nobody tells you. As president of the Continental Congress, Hancock actually wanted to be named commander of the army himself. He sat in the chair and watched as the Adams cousins instead rose to nominate George Washington. He was reportedly stung by it. Then he did the thing most people never manage. He swallowed his pride, signed Washington's commission, and spent the next eight years pouring his personal fortune into the war he could not lead. So when Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence first, big and bold across the top, it was not a cute flourish. He was already a hunted man with a price on his head, putting his name, his fortune, and his neck on the line before anyone else dared lift a pen. And that famous line about signing large "so King George can read it without his spectacles"? He almost certainly never said it. It is a myth stitched onto him generations later. The real story is better. He just signed first, as president, knowing exactly what it could cost him. The flamboyance was real, though. He lived in princely splendor in a granite mansion on Beacon Hill overlooking the harbor, with imported mahogany furniture and apricot trees shipped from Spain. In 1775 he married Dorothy Quincy, and the two became one of Massachusetts' first political celebrity couples, famous for endless lavish dinners that slowly drained his fortune. He went on to become the first Governor of Massachusetts, serving roughly eleven years, and died in office in 1793. His funeral was one of the grandest ever given to an American up to that point. Samuel Adams declared the day a state holiday. The orphaned smuggler with a target on his back had become the face of American defiance. That is why, 250 years later, we still say "put your John Hancock right here."

RT @AngryLevantine: I don't give a fuck about the Strait of Hormuz I want the end of the Islamic regime Share if you agree

Pals! This 60s Bowling Ball ice bucket is sooooo cool! Now available in our shoppy! Every RETWEET makes a huge difference to us! vintagetrunkandart.etsy.com/…

I am proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass' brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes. I hope their Thanksgiving dinner isn't too awks. I know ours hasn't been the same since last year...

If any nation ever launches attack drones and rockets into the USA, I would hope and expect the US government to defend us and pound whoever did it. If you don’t want Israel to do the same thing, don’t attack Israel.

This country. A driveway. My neighbor Dale owns a truck, and I have discovered who actually defends this nation. Monday, a family down the street moved. Dale's truck. Wednesday, a tree limb fell on Mrs. Carter's fence. Dale's truck. Friday it snowed, and an unspoken signal traveled the block, and Dale appeared with a plow blade like a one-man cavalry. No one pays him. No one drafts him. He is summoned by need alone. "Dale," I asked, "who do you serve?" "What?" "Who commands the truck?" He thought about it. "Whoever's stuck, I guess." WHOEVER IS STUCK. Eight hundred years of military philosophy in my bloodline, and this man in a hoodie has perfected it: a standing army of one, sworn to the realm of Whoever Is Stuck. In my land, a lord keeps soldiers for his own gate. Dale keeps a truck for everyone's gate. I offered him my loyalty. He offered me a beer. We were both confused by the other's gift and accepted anyway. That is diplomacy. I asked what I could do to repay the block's debt to him. He said, "Help me load a couch Saturday." I have never trained harder for anything. The couch was heavy. I was not strong enough. I want to say I was. I was not. Dale carried his end and most of mine and said "good lift" anyway, which is the kindest lie in the language. A man with a truck does not ask who needs him. He has already backed into the driveway. I cannot buy a truck yet. So I have become the man who shows up when the truck does. Every truck needs a vanguard. Dale has not approved this title. Dale does not need to.

Our room for the coming days in Houston. I don’t even know what to say about this. This is just unreal. No words. Huge huge thank you to JJ Watt for giving me and my friends the opportunity to stay at a place like this🙏🙏🙏

Portland, Maine - which was a thriving, vibrant city just 20 years ago - now has nearly half of its storefronts boarded up. Our only department store closed 6 months ago because they were losing too much money from shoplifting. We lost the downtown grocery and hardware stores before that. There is one place left in all of downtown where you can buy a Father's Day card: the CVS drugstore. It's open until 10 pm on Saturdays. I got there at 5:15 to a sign on the door: "We closed early at 5 pm. Sorry for the inconvenience." That happens constantly in the businesses that are left. Even the post office just randomly closes early. I had to walk through a homeless encampment scattered with needles that has taken over the sidewalk on Spring Street to get to the movie theater the other day. On Congress Street, there are addicts overdosing in the bus shelters. It's unbelievable how fast this city went downhill. It was a cool place to live two decades ago.

Thank you to The Full Movement for inviting me back for the third year to take part in the “Clean Up on Cermak” event in Chicago. It was amazing to see so many people come together with one common goal, making the community a better place. We broke up into teams, with some volunteers picking up trash, others mowing lawns, trimming hedges, and tackling various beautification projects throughout the neighborhood. Days like today are a reminder of what can happen when people come together to serve others and take pride in their community.

Colin Anson fought in the elite unit X Troop Commando. His wife Alice waged her own secret war in the WAAF, meticulously analysing V-weapon sites from photographic reconnaissance. They were remarkable, and I was honoured to know them both.