Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

In 1976, I went to jail to celebrate the Fourth of July

America's 250th birthday is nothing like its bicentennial

Published July 3, 2026 9:10AM (EDT)

I am an unabashed lover of the Fourth of July. I always have been. In 1992 I spent the holiday in jail trying to protect a confidential source. That wasn’t my favorite Fourth, though you’ll forgive my hubris if I think it was my most patriotic. My favorite Independence Day was the bicentennial. I also went to jail that year. Sort of. 

My love for the Fourth comes from my grandfather, who emigrated to this country from Lebanon. He was a proud American. Each year he celebrated this country by claiming it was “always filled with possibilities.” We had a family barbecue and fireworks. After he passed, my dad continued the tradition.

Nothing in my experience as a child compared to the family fireworks display. We lived next door to a police officer who often helped dad produce our summer extravaganza. One year, my six-year-old brother unceremoniously dumped some gasoline on a large pile of “duds” and then tossed in a lit match “for fun.” Dad had to save him from the ensuing explosion and took a skyrocket across his chest. It left a scorched black mark on his orange rayon shirt that made him look like a superhero. No other harm befell him or my little brother. At nine, I was impressed with my father’s athleticism as he scooped up my little brother during the pyrotechnics, as well as the colorful chaos........

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