“Happy Freedom Day, Esther!” said Mr. Locke, stopping just long enough to knuckle the brim of his cap before scurrying down the street with his bag of supplies.
“Comply no more, Mav!” said Grandma, returning the greeting with a raised pointer finger.
Calls of “Happy Freedom Day” and “Comply no more!” rang in the distance as we made our way past the other families, frazzled fathers and beaming mothers and laughing children, rushing home to begin the preparations. Hover cars buzzed to and fro overhead.
Grandma nearly tripped over a firework that had fallen out of the Roses’ shopping bag. “I think you dropped this!” she called after Mrs. Rose.
“Oh, thank you so much. I absolutely—”
“Mo-o-o-m!” cried Lysander.
“Excuse me, Esther, I have to—”
“Don’t worry,” Grandma laughed, waving Mrs. Rose away. “We’ll see you at the celebration.”
“Yes, you will! Happy Freedom Day!” cried Mrs. Rose, already halfway down the street and bending over to pick up a glowstick that Lysander had dropped behind him.
When we got home, I helped Grandma unpack the supplies as she began preparing our picnic for the Freedom Day celebration.
“Grandma?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Can I hear the story?”
“Already? But we’ve just begun the—”
“Grandma, I need to hear it now.”
Hearing the tone of my voice, Grandma stopped short. She nodded, looked me in the eye and smiled. Drawing me to the sofa, she pulled the book from the shelf.
Without another word, she cracked the hefty tome and began to read.
This is beautiful. You have to write more of this kind of thing! How wonderful to see this creativity.
I agree! Yes, please write more stories like this one! Your talent is much appreciated.
Transforming the narrative with creativity indeed! Hats off Mr. Corbett!
“Hear, hear!”
Timely is this April 16, 2026 news story by Kyle Anzalone via The Libertarian Institute…
Trump Argues Warrantless Surveillance Is Needed to Secure America
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/trump-argues-warrantless-surveillance-is-needed-to-secure-america/
EXCERPTS
President Donald Trump said Congress must extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) even if it means giving up “rights and privileges.”
Section 702 allows for the collection of Americans’ data without a warrant.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump urged House Republicans to reject any amendments to the legislation that would extend Section 702. “I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor,” he wrote. “We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN!”
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie attempted to introduce three amendments to the legislation that would have required law enforcement to obtain a warrant before collecting Americans’ data. His amendments were rejected.
Trump argued that he and Americans should be willing to sacrifice their 4th Amendment right to privacy in exchange for security.
“While parts of FISA were illegally and unfortunately used against me in the Democrats’ disgraceful Witch Hunt and Attack in the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA Hoax, and perhaps would be used against me in the future, I am willing to risk the giving up of my Rights and Privileges as a Citizen for our Great Military and Country!”
He added,
“Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield.”
Congress last voted to extend Section 702 in 2024. If Congress does not pass a new extension, the government’s Section 702 powers will expire on Monday. The House is currently considering an 18-month extension.
During the debate in 2024, Trump, who was then a Republican Presidential candidate, demanded Congress terminate FISA.
“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” Trump wrote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is seeking to fulfill Trump’s demand to extend Section 702 before the deadline. However, he is struggling to pressure enough Republicans to vote for the legislation without amendments….
Hey Homie,
I’m quite certain the frame work for FASI caused this. Surveillance of everything, what can go wrong?
This from thecilvilrightslawyer.com. John H Byran looks at a Georgia case of warrantless raid on a Georgia woman. He speculates it was all generated from Ai surveillance incorrectly identifying the woman or possibly one of her two sons. It came very close to a tragic outcome. Horrifying.
https://youtu.be/0aCVoLhNlJM
Zionists have taken over the U.S. Government from the inside. They run the covert side of the CIA and use it as a means to kill or discredit anything or anyone that gets in their way.
The Nazi’s were never beaten, they just changed their name to Zionists and found a way to discredit those who dare to expose them by calling them Antisemitic. Zionists have taken the game of lies and deceit to new levels.
You are a sly one, Mr. Corbett,
If I were to report , This is beautiful , I’m sure this will be beautiful without questioning why is it beautiful.
If I were a PR person I’d say it’s beautiful because James’s young daughter asked her father about what freedom really is? The pride of a father is undeniable when a child asks on their own, what does this or that mean. Count the ways.
My own daughter recently asked me what’s the difference between a philosophy and a religion? It made Dad a little soft in the heart. I wish so many things , asking the right question is one of them. You now know more about my daughter then we do about James’. He certainly has legitimate concerns that I don’t know of and that’s ok . He’s a brilliant creative English Major. The litmus test for me is does he share the bigger questions in life with his children as he does with us.
The old neighborhood I grew up in had WWI, WWll and Korean and Vietnam veterans. Grandfather to head of house hold fathers. One parent could be substituted by any other. One parent families was very rare. The strange ones were the John Birchers. Everyone was anti- war, anti violence. But held on to a kind of statism not known today . They weren’t perfect for there was racism, that was an undercurrent, pervasive but never took as it was passed down and diluted with over riding reason , reason prevailed.
Even as a kid , I saw the statism stayed in the background. It didn’t seem to be the fertilizer for the growth and prosperity of the city. The bomber plants closed but there was work for those that lost their jobs. It didn’t effect our freedom untill 1971. There was no excess money in the community. No support. Family fun closed up shop like an autumn fair disappearing overnight. Cracks developed . The wholesale selling of our freedom, our community spirit for our greater security began in earnest.
My daughter is 41 now. She keeps asking the important questions of her family. So long as that exists we have a chance. What’s going on in your family? Yours too James?
Let’s get a real on. I can just see Ernest Hancock saying that
wow! thanks <3
James, I was the first to comment this morning and my comment is missing??
Seems there’s a little nod to Candles in the Dark at the end.
Really wonderful story!
Did grandma show her philosophy of liberty on her device? 😉
Well, first a device is required, then Grandma says “Watch this” to the little girl… So it has to be a video, has it not?
Maybe “The best of The Corbett Report”?
Beautiful James!
This was a great idea, James… Using a fun and easy-to-read-and-understand story to seed ideas of freedom in people otherwise too rigid to bend. Nobody can get defensive with such an approach. Kudos…
«At first, they merely listened for an answer from their devices, as they had been trained to do. They listened to a silence they had not heard in years. Some had never heard it. The silence of phones and TVs and tablets and radios that would not turn on. The silence of a world without digital noise and electronic chatter. Gradually, they noticed other sounds amidst the silence: birdsong and buzzing insects and the rustle of leaves in the wind.»
Sounds like Spain, April 28th 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackout
So what is this truthful idea the little girl already knew yet still had to watch on Grandma’s device to fully understand the history behind Freedom Day?
Do we have to guess? Or is the story to be continued?
Some fireworks have started…
Is this science fiction? Or is it psyop friction?
🙂 lovely stuff
James I’ve been holding off on making a recommendation to you for quite a while now, waiting for an appropriate time. In fact it’s been more than a year now. The last chapter in your book Reportage titled ‘Why I Write’ got me thinking.
In particular, on the second to last page of your book you wrote:
You answered your own question with:
I immediately thought to myself that you could easily kill two birds with one stone,
just as you did with this month’s newsletter ‘The Story of Freedom Day’.
My recommendation to you is to continue writing books, but fiction, rather than non-fiction.
Why? To reach a much much larger audience than you now do.
Your stories would contain the ‘existential threat’ messages that you want the world to learn about, and you would tell the stories in the creative writing style that you love doing.
It would be a win-win situation.
One day you might even make the New York Times Best Sellers book list!
Good idea. Maybe some of both.
Much easier to accept if there is a pleasant coating for a bitter pill.
Please write more of these!