Happy Independence Day to my fellow mariners & congratulations to those who managed to get the day off or retired!
Another great speech about what we are celebrating today.
It will be a happy day when we are free of the madman who would be king.
Happier maybe? You gotta like the enthusiasm and good vibes coming from the World Cup visitors. Better times are in the offing…
America belongs to the people, not the politicians. I’m celebrating my hometown, the people who raised me, the schools that educated me, the towns and cities that accommodated me, the food that nourished me, the culture that shaped my sensibilities, the jobs that paid me… the desk jockey of the moment who presides over all this for me is VERY far down on the list of things that are important to an occasion such as this. It’s MY country.
Obviously He could not use Google search at the time of his speech neither the post author some 40 years later.
" Yes, you can become a French citizen after emigrating. The primary methods are naturalization and citizenship by marriage, both of which require you to pass a mandatory civic exam and demonstrate proficiency in the French language. "
Dude, you know what the heck you’re talking about! No politician or political party owned any real-estate in my head or heart today. Happy Independence Day to all. This evening we had 16 people in our back yard & still have a few stranglers drifting out. A little over half were born here in the US. A few were naturalized citizens, one is visiting on a tourist visa & the others are undocumented. ALL of us celebrated each other, our community & the gifts this country gave us. We were 4 yrs old to 69 yrs old & politics nor politicians came up once. We all know what we have here. Today wasn’t the day for division. God bless America, the folks in Holland for brewing Heineken & the people of Mexico for giving us Modelo Especial!
I think youre misunderstanding the quote here. Of course Reagan was aware that legal citizenship through immigration was never unique to America, he is moreso talking about cultural norms and attitudes in regards to assimilation. Like Europeans make fun of Americans for what they might consider vapid chatter about heritage (i.e., “I’m half German”, “I’m a quarter Italian”…) but thats a big part of our heritage and what makes American culture stand out, an entire civilization of immigrants who added all our parts to a greater whole. The Hungarian fella down the street who came here 20 years ago, works an American job, pays American taxes and votes in American elections is just as American as the neighbor who traces their ancestors to the Mayflower. He’s saying that in those other referenced countries, you can go through the process to get full citizenship but still carry stigma as an outsider. Since Reagans speech, of course, a lot has changed- multiculturalism has become far more common in a lot of other countries, and controversies with American immigration processes have piled up, but I still don’t think the others have been able to handle the assimilation quite as smoothly as we have.
Do you know why I like your post /answer ?
Would you agree , that gCaptain forum is an American microcosm mirroring America or American society in a certain way ? More or less of course.
If so , try to join it as a foreigner. 
and you may not be so sure about your thesis.
Anyway I will reply later as now I am in a very nostalgic mood looking at my palm tree bought in home depot and planted in 1997 in FL , in front of a porch that was once MINE!!!.
Looking at my pic in front of the White House , Lincoln Memorial , WTC roof and many other places which i visited in 1986 …WITHOUT MY effing PASSPORT !!!
This is what USA was and it is NO MORE.
The European mind simply cannot comprehend a random citizen playing the national anthem with a semi automatic rifle in their backyard shooting range.
Sir . You surely are right .
If so , can you elaborate how Australian mind comprehends or interprets a US random ( why random , why not average ? ) citizen playing national anthem with his rifle.
I see a skilled shooter and am wondering if it is the best shooter among musicians or best musician among shooters. What is the rub here?
Where is the wow effect that , should keep me riveted to my chair with mouth agape?
I would be more impressed if he painted his house in national colors or distroyed a swarm of 20 drons in 30 seconds or simply sang his anthem in … soprano voice. Just saying.
Did you smile? That’s the test.
I am smiling now
Honestly NO!!!
Because when I looked it up on my handy I had to answer the machine if I am effing human, then came the tsunami of X platform banners and I do not use X , then came invitations to install the effing thing accompanied by another interrogation about me being human , then redirection to google play shop to install it .
When I refused for a 100th time it gave up harassing me with info how fantastic X is and nailed my irritation with questions about cookies .
When i finally got the clip i could not find the unmute button and that was my last red line.
When my handy was in mid parabolic flight to unknown destination within my living room , I was sitting at my PC going through somewhat less irritating procedure to see the offered by X clip.
Even if it could generate smile it could not erase irritation accumulated due to above described reasons. Hence my impression was : another nut case.
Well there’s your problem. Remember, your computer is a subordinate and will do what it is told. Be kind to your computer, speak softly to it, and never, never smash it.
Ah so.
So the whole thing boils down to the following test:
If European mind smiles it means it comprehends if does not smile than it does not comprehend.
That simple. Who would have thought .