Good evening to all. On this day in 1775, the Olive Branch Petition was sent from the 13 Colonies to King George III. Thomas Jefferson composed the original petition, but one John Dickinson didn’t like it, so re-wrote it, toning it way down, including claiming the colonies didn’t want independence. Fortunately, John Adams had written to a friend “expressing his discontent with the Olive Branch Petition. He wrote war was inevitable and he thought the Colonies should have already raised a navy and captured British officials.” Somebody–now who in the world could it have been?–managed to get Adams’ letter to Great Britain at about the same time the Olive Branch Petition arrived, and, well, as they say, the rest is history–all because of a leak.

International Developments

❖ “Deadly cross-border shelling hits Lebanon ” from Syria. The attacks occurred in the Wali Khaled region of Lebanon, the site for many Syrian refugees and armed rebels.

❖ “Special U.N. envoy Kofi Annan acknowledged . . . that the international community’s efforts to find a political solution to the escalating violence in Syria have failed.” He added “that more attention needed to be paid to the role of longtime Syrian ally, Iran, and that countries supporting military actors in the conflict were making the situation worse.”

❖ A video is now online , apparently of a “US helicopter crew singing ‘Bye-bye Miss American Pie’ before blasting a group of Afghan men with a Hellfire missile.” Think it’ll add to the “already deep resentment owing to civilian deaths and a perception among many Afghans that US troops lack respect for Afghan culture and people”?

❖ Newly-elected Egyptian President Morsi’s decision to recall parliament has taken the generals by surprise. They’re meeting on the matter.

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