This auspicious 250th Independence Day, I find myself thinking of what Om wrote in iAMerican when he became a US citizen in 2013.

On a globe, America is a landmass, a country. In an immigrant’s heart it is a belief that future is almost always better. It may not be perfect and it is certainly not equal, but it still is one of a kind — the only place where an absolute stranger with a funny name and a funny accent with no friends or contacts can show up, work hard and actually get to do what he was destined to do. […]

In most places in the world, outsiders like me don’t have that chance. That simple truth is what makes America so special. A chance – to be somebody even if you are nobody. America is a state of mind and I have opted-in!

I feel lucky to have been born here, and if I hadn’t been, I think I would have gotten here as fast as I could. I’m grateful to the public schools that educated me, the teachers who pushed me, the internet that freed my mind, and the culture of risk and innovation in technology that invested a million dollars in a 21-year-old dropout kid trying to build a company around (but not replacing) an Open Source project.

It’s not unimaginable that these things could have happened someplace else, but it would have been a long shot.

On the lighter side, SNL’s Washington’s Dream skit is one of their best ever, Google has a pretty funny commercial reimagining the Declaration being written, and another famous Matthew (McConaughey) gives a great 2-minute speech. “We need skeptics. Yes, we do. We do not need cynics. One cares enough to question, which we should, and the other one’s already quit.”

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Awake Freedom TV On Roku is Broken!  🙂

I could no longer maintain the costs on my own, so I moved the off of a dedicated server which was needed for the TV platform to work.  On top of that, I want to build an app Awake Freedom TV app, for mobile phones.  We need your help to first resurrect our TV channel, and then build the mobile app.   In order to do that, I need a minimum of 800/month on subscription payments.  Please help anyway you can with the form below.