How an authoritarian functions.

He gets involved anywhere he feels like it.

As for us, he sullies anything he touches and spoils our fun.

Vessel forced out of New York ship parade over 'politicallycharged' banners

NEW YORK, July 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said "politically charged" messages led to the removal of an environmental ​group's vessel from a fleet of sailing ships gathered in New ‌York on Saturday to celebrate the country's 250th anniversary.

A ship owned by the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater environmental organization was forced out of the Sail4th 250 parade in New York Harbor, ​the Coast Guard said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

The ship had ​banners that read, "Save the Clean Water Act" and "Indigenous Rights, Racial Justice, ⁠Climate Solutions".

Participants in the event had agreed to refrain from displaying political or ​politically charged messages or statements, according to the Coast Guard, which said it enforced ​the agreement on behalf of Sail4th.

The United States celebrates its 250th anniversary on Independence Day in New York City.

"The owner of the sloop Clearwater was contacted and requested to remove the message being displayed or be removed from the parade of sail," the Coast ​Guard said. "They declined to remove it."

Jen Benson, director of advocacy and communications ​at Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, disputed the claim. She said the Coast Guard did not ask ‌for ⁠the messages to be taken down, but requested the ship leave the sailing route or risk arrest.

"We don't feel like advocating for clean water is a politically charged message," Benson said. "People on all sides of the aisle, and no sides at ​all, have been fighting ​in the United ⁠States for clean water in different ways."

Sail4th 250 was one of the events organized by Freedom 250, a group ​created by the Trump administration to plan celebrations for the ​country's 250th ⁠anniversary. More than 40 tall ships from 20 foreign countries participated, traveling through New York Harbor from near Sandy Hook, New Jersey, up to the George Washington Bridge.

⁠Hudson River ​Sloop Clearwater's website says the group's mission is ​to "protect the Hudson River by stewarding an intergenerational community of river advocates through education, advocacy, sailing, and ​music." (Reuters)

‘Excited but Shocked’: U.S. Soccer Fans Struggle With Trump’s FIFA Call.

Americans wrestled with definitions of fairness, after the president intervened in the World Cup to reinstate a star player.

The joyful, communal festival of World Cup soccer that had seemingly brought the United States together has now been interrupted by a controversy that cuts through notions of fair play on and off the field.

And it was not hard to find opinions about it.

Last week, President Trump placed a phone call to the president of FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, that ultimately led to the reinstatement of a star U.S. player who had been suspended from Monday night’s game against Belgium in the round of 16. The player, Folarin Balogun, had been barred after getting a red card last week in a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Reaction to the reversal ran from incredulity to condemnation to a few Hallelujahs.

Patrick McDonald, 48, who coaches high school soccer in Birmingham, Ala., said he agreed with the decision and pointed to his own league, where he says controversial calls have been reviewed and later reversed.

“I know an injustice was corrected and it benefited my team and I’m happy with it,” he said.

Other American fans were excited to see Balogun play — he has scored three goals in this World Cup — but they had misgivings about Mr. Trump’s influence.

“I was shocked,” said Ethan Engelken, 23, from Milwaukee, as he was getting coffee at Pike Place Market in Seattle on Monday morning. “Excited but shocked. And confused.”

He could see how a U.S. victory on Monday night might appear tainted now.

“I’d probably celebrate it like it never happened,” Mr. Engelken said. “But I can see that argument.”

When Charnita West Jenkins, from Stonecrest, Ga., learned about the call, she looked at a replay of the foul.

The red card was a bad call, she said. But she believed it should stand.

“I definitely didn’t like the call, but there shouldn’t have been interference by the president,” said Ms. West Jenkins, who has been a soccer fan since spending the summer in England during the 2006 World Cup. “Once you change the rules you taint the game.”

Beyond the game, Ms. West Jenkins, 55, also objected to the politics around Mr. Trump’s call. In her eyes, his intervention also highlighted what she described as his convenient stance on birthright citizenship. While the president has tried unsuccessfully to limit it, he seems to have made an exception for Balogun, who was born in New York to Nigerian parents but raised in London.

“The president is talking out both sides of his mouth,” she said.

Others criticized FIFA.

Matt Gilley, a Maine lobsterman, said he disagreed with the organization’s handling of the episode.

“The issue I have is not with the president making the phone call, it is with them suspending the suspension for a year,” said Mr. Gilley, 41. “If they, like others, thought the call was wrong, they should have reversed the call, not kicked the can down the road a year.”

Balogun was given a red card after coming down hard on a Bosnian player’s ankle in a match last Wednesday. A red card had meant an automatic suspension for the next match.

But hours later, Mr. Trump called Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, and on Sunday the organization reversed itself, saying that Mr. Balogun could play against Belgium.

Mr. Infantino has made extensive efforts to win Mr. Trump’s favor. Last year, he gave Mr. Trump a “FIFA Peace Prize” after the president’s unsuccessful campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize. FIFA had never awarded such a prize.

Stephanie Brock, 50, who runs a commercial interior design firm in Portland, Maine, said Mr. Trump’s intervention and the resulting reversal was “a bad look for the sport.”

“It just undermines the credibility of the whole tournament, and adds to the ‘of course the U.S. gets special rules’ narrative,” she said. (New York Times)

The U.S. is eliminated from World Cup after loss to Belgium.

Where was the best celebration of America's 250th.

By his existence and by his behaviors, Trump stood ready to dominate the festivities, desecrate the day and ruin the 250th. But instead, he became a failed footnote, with his empty American State Fair, algae-covered reflecting pool and fireworks that covered DC with debris and smoke.

Personally Eve and I loved watching first MS Now's celebration for the 250th, taped on July 2nd in Philadelphia, followed by CNN's broadcast of the Macy/Gucci fireworks.

Standout moments on MS Now? Ali Velshi's walk through American history and every time friends of ours in the first row, caught again and again by the camera. Our friends cheered again and again.

Hope your 4th, wherever and however you celebrated it seemed the best to you.

Axios thought Philadelphia won the whole kit and kaboodle.
Here is their write-up.

How Philadelphia threw America a 250th birthday party to remember

Triple-digit heat. A canceled parade. An evacuation of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. None of it could spoil Philadelphia's party for America's 250th birthday.

Why it matters: The nation's birthplace delivered the kind of weekend only Philly could — reminding the country that Philadelphia remains at the heart of the American story.

The big picture: Philly's big celebration reflected the contradictions that have defined the nation since its founding — pomp, protest and hometown pride all unfolded in the city where Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.

Nothing dampened the mood — not the extreme heat that forced the cancellation of the Independence Day parade, nor a three-hour lightning delay that temporarily emptied the Parkway.

As Seal sang "Fly Like an Eagle," more than 68,000 fans packed Philadelphia Stadium to watch France and Kylian Mbappé face Paraguay in a World Cup knockout match.

Zoom in: By the time Mbappé coolly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and buried a penalty in the 70th minute, people were streaming into Eakins Oval as the sun mercifully began to set after a day of record-breaking heat.

Earlier, dozens of Benjamin Franklins — many donning wigs and tricorn hats — gathered at the Liberty Bell for a spirited lookalike contest.

"They cannot cancel the Bens," organizer Elena Jackdoff told the crowd.

Nearby, activists at the President's House exhibit — the site of a tense court battle between the city and the Trump administration — reminded visitors that even 250 years later, the nation is reckoning with its history.

Seal braving the heat. Photo: Isaac Avilucea/Axios

What they're saying: "People can come here and just work their hardest, lift themselves up in a land of opportunity," Jacob Erling, 36, told Axios on the Parkway before the storm blew in.

His mother immigrated from Brazil decades ago and later started her own window-installation company.
Inspired by her example, Erling launched a web development company three years ago. He's endured many sleepless nights getting it off the ground and said he's finally "turning the corner."

Ain't no party like a Philly block party. Photo: Isaac Avilucea/Axios

Flash forward: A few hours later, the party was back on.

"Saturday in the park. I think it was the Fourth of July." Technically, it was Sunday when the Roots returned to the stage.

As brassy jazz spilled from a tuba, Black Thought took the mic.

"We're just getting started," he said, before introducing a packed lineup of legends. (Axios)

This 'n That.

Memories of past wins at Wimbledon.

Makes me smile, though makes me sad too. I love Arthur. I love Billie. I love Althea.