u/DukeofBraintree918

I've been to a lot of my friends' weddings throughout the years, I've gone to Big extravagant $250,000+ weddings with a hookah lounge and fire dancers, and I've been to a wedding that cost about five bucks in decorations and a trip to Applebee's and everyone paid their own way for (and whatever the marriage license cost)

I'm noticing more and more of my friends that are getting married now are doing very low budget cost-effective marriages, for example : a Thursday night or a Sunday night wedding, pot luck/home cooked food, public parks, back yards, Bluetooth speaker instead of dj etc etc

I got married 2 years ago and my wife and I decided to do it in the Dominican Republic, it was at an all-inclusive resort, we had a saxophone player, dj carnival dancers, 8 hours of video and photography with drone footage and an 8-hour wedding obviously with open bar since it was at an all-inclusive resort, for 50 people the wedding was about $14,000.

How much did you guys spend on your weddings?

I've always felt the Constitution says nothing about abortion, so it should be up to the states.

One side argues it's murder the other side argues it's routine healthcare, and I think it's best to leave people of each state to decide how they view it

I'll be honest with you abortion has never been a top issue for me, I guess if pressed to the flames I would say I think it should be left up to the states, but overall I am pro-choice but within reason, Ive taken the personal responsibility try to do my best to mitigate the risk of pregnancy with any woman I've ever had sex with, and my wife had her tubes removed because neither of us want children and she wanted to get off birth control, I do believe abortion is akin to murder but I can see how sometimes it can be a necessary evil.

I live in Massachusetts and the other day the governor just signed an abortion bill in the law that would allow abortion up until birth.

I believe we are now one of nine States that allows that , and it makes me absolutely sick, before anyone says that a woman would never abort a 9 month pregnancy I can send you probably a hundred news articles of a woman killing her newborn, killing her toddlers or just killing her children in general, so I don't think you're exactly accurate in that assessment, and I believe there are enough activist doctors out there that would have no problem terminating a late term pregnancy for the mothers "mental health" or something.

I think a good compromise would be like a 20-week abortion ban id prefer to see it done through an amendment action but a law may suffice. that way the people that want a mother to be able to kill her baby 8 months into her pregnancy are not happy and the people who want to totally outlaw abortion and not happy an actual compromise, abortion is a tricky issue and you're never going to please everyone, so a real compromise would piss off everyone.

I think like a 16-20 week (with the exception of mother's health at risk) is reasonable.

I'd say abortion is one of the issues that I've changed the most on when I was younger I was strictly and staunchly against it and then as I grew older I could kind of see the nuance of it and now I feel like it's completely gone off the rails.

I'm not advocating to get rid of abortions just some common sense abortion reform.

John Adams thought July 2nd would be celebrated,

And honor of that here is some random declaration of Independence facts

250 years ago today the vote on the Lee Resolution for independence occurred on July 2nd 1776, the final text of the Declaration was approved and adopted on July 4th

The Lee Resolution, introduced by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee on June 7, 1776, was the foundational three-part proposal passed by the Second Continental Congress. It declared the Thirteen Colonies independent of Great Britain, called for foreign alliances, and outlined a plan for a unified confederation

A "Committee of Five" was appointed to write it: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.

John Adams famously predicted to his wife, Abigail, that the "Second Day of July 1776" would be celebrated with "Pomp and Parade" as the nation's anniversary.

The 56 delegates didn't begin signing the engrossed parchment copy until August 2, 1776.

Some delegates signed even later, with the last signature added in January 1777.

The youngest signers were 26-year-old Edward Rutledge from South Carolina. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest, signing the document at age 70.

Not Everyone Signed, There were delegates present who did not sign. Most notably, John Dickinson abstained from voting and refused to sign, holding out hope for reconciliation with Britain.

The elegant script was not written by Jefferson, but by an official scribe named Timothy Matlack.

On July 4, about 200 copies were printed by John Dunlap to spread the news known as "The Dunlop broadsides" , only 26 of these original printed copies survive today.

8 of the 56 signers were foreign born.

More than half of the signers (24 men) were lawyers or had legal training.

8 of the delegates went to Harvard, but five were entirely self-educated

9 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence died before the Revolutionary War officially ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, none of the signers died at enemy hands. Most passed away from illness, natural causes, or accidents.

Only 6 men signed both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution: Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, George Clymer, James Wilson, and George Read.

4 signers were taken captive by the British as prisoners of war, and nearly all of them were significantly poorer by the end of the Revolutionary War due to property destruction

Only one signer, Richard Stockton of New Jersey, is historically documented to have recanted his signature as a prisoner of war in brutal Provost Prison in New York, though he reaffirmed his oath of loyalty to the United States in December 1777 before a local Patriot committee

Two signers eventually became president (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson) three signers that came vice president (John Adams Thomas Jefferson and Elbridge Gerry)

Charles Carroll the only Catholic to sign was also the last surviving signer, dying in 1832 at the exceptional age of 95

Having a discussion in someone trying to compare Ayn Rand to Karl Marx (as a freeloader who died with broke)

They referred to her as a "conservative icon"

I think some of her views overlap with conservatives but I wouldn't consider her conservative and I wouldn't consider her a conservative icon by any stretch.

Am I alone in this.

Do you consider her to be an icon in the conservative world?

One month from today is the 250th anniversary of USA declaring Independence.

What does it mean to you?

4th of July has always been my favorite holiday, beers, hot dogs burgers and blowing shit up and most importantly history, what could be cooler?

Growing up in and around Boston I was always extremely fascinated with Revolutionary War history, walking the same streets that John Hancock and Joseph Warren did always made me feel some kind of way.

Being able to visit Sam Adams grave, or see the steeple where the two lanterns were held to tell Dawes and Revere how the British were advancing towards Lexington.

Looking at the obelisk on the hill where the Battle of Bunker Hill happened, trying to imagine what it was like 230ish years before.

Driving by Dorchester heights, seeing where George Washington sent the British packing out of Boston, it was always really inspiring to me.

I remember specifically during the 4th of July during covid when I wasn't that proud of what America had become and what we allow our government to do, I kind of had a realization, I don't celebrate the 4th of July for modern times, I celebrate the 4th of July for 1776, for the men and women that sacrificed everything including some their lives to secure something better for posterity, The people who choose to fight so their children could choose to study.

They were men from all walks of life, they were rich men, poor men, free men, enslaved men, gay men, foreign men, there were wives who held down the fort at home, they were even some women who pretended to be men to join in on the fighting, or women who would care for the camp and fighters and then take their place when they would fall. They were slaves fighting for the country's freedom and didn't even have their own.

We all know the stories of George Washington and Sam Adams , and I do enjoy them but I love the unsung heroes, people like Peter Salem, James Amistad Lafayette, Debra Sampson, Abigail Adams, Molly Pitcher, Joseph Plum Martin and the countless others.

So whatever your plans are for the 4th, I hope you have a great time, and you put all that sacrifice from those before you to good use.

A kid born on your graduation day is very likely graduating high school this week.