Two days ago when we reported that the Illinois House had voted 72-45 to pass a 32% income tax hike (and a $36 billion spending plan), in an last ditch scramble to provide the state with its first budget in three years (or else suffer the first ever US downgrade to "Junk"), we said that "ultimately, the fate of Illinois' credit rating is now in the hands of Rauner, and whether and how fast his imminent veto is overriden."
As American's rush out to buy $7 billion dollars worth of Coors Light, hamburgers and hot dogs to celebrate the Fourth of July, it seems that roughly one-quarter of them should probably do a quick google search to figure out what exactly they're celebrating. According to a new Marist Poll released yesterday, nearly 25% of Americans can't identify which country the U.S. declared its independence from in 1776. Moreover, a shocking number of those surveyed attributed the holiday to a split with Mexico. Per the Marist Poll:
An angry Italy summoned Austria's ambassador after the government in Vienna announced it was ready to re-introduce border controls and deploy troops and armored vehicles along the border to block any migrant influx out of Italy. Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil told Kronen Zeitung daily that troops could go to the Brenner Pass and that four Pandur armoured personnel carriers had been sent to the Tyrol region with 750 troops were on standby.
After a three day state of emergency and government shutdown, on Tuesday morning New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a compromise budget bill ending the state shutdown that became an embarrassment for the outgoing governor when he was photographed lounging on a beach that had been closed to the public for the holiday weekend.
Authored by Ryan McMaken via The Mises Institute,
It's difficult to say what most Americans commemorate or celebrate on Independence Day nowadays. Many appear to focus on some vague notion of "America." Others even take to jingoism equating the United States government with the very notion of "freedom."
Lost in all of this is the fact that the Declaration of Independence - the document we're supposed to remember today - is a document that promotes secession, rebellion, and what the British at the time regarded as treason.