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United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence, headed The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America on the document directed to be engrossed by Congress on July 19, 1776, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continental Congress, who were convened at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. These delegates became known as the nation's Founding Fathers.
Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's vice presidential nominee under Senator John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. He also was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.
Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, and after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate was sworn in on February 18, 1988. After the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, he was considered the swing vote on many of the Roberts Court's 5–4 decisions.
In the United States, human rights consists of a series of rights which are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States (particularly by the Bill of Rights), but other amendments also, particularly XIV and XIII, state constitutions, treaty and customary international law, legislation enacted by Congress and state legislatures, and state referendums and citizen's initiatives. The Federal Government has, through a ratified constitution, guaranteed unalienable rights to its citizens and (to some degree) non-citizens. These rights have evolved over time through constitutional amendments, legislation, and judicial precedent.
Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala Harris defeated the incumbent Republican president Donald Trump and vice president Mike Pence. The election saw the highest voter turnout by percentage since 1900.
Transgender history dates back to the first recorded instances of transgender individuals in ancient civilizations. However, the word transgenderism did not exist until 1965 when coined by psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology; the timeline includes events and personalities that may be viewed as transgender in the broadest sense, including third gender and other gender-variant behavior, including ancient or modern precursors from the historical record.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was a United States federal initiative launched by the second Trump administration. It was first suggested to Donald Trump by Elon Musk in 2024, established by an executive order on January 20, 2025, and ceased operation on July 4, 2026, as scheduled. Its stated objective was to modernize information technology and maximize productivity within the federal government.
Reprisals against commentators on the Charlie Kirk assassination
After the assassination of American political activist and commentator Charlie Kirk in September 2025, there followed widespread disciplinary and retaliatory actions against people seen as celebrating, justifying, or trivializing Kirk's death, encouraging further political violence, denigrating Kirk, or tarnishing his legacy. These efforts were promoted and directly facilitated by the U.S. federal government: in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, President Donald Trump explicitly condemned "the left" for violence, and pledged to target left-wing groups and causes, monitor political speech, revoke visas, and designate Antifa and groups that might support it as domestic terrorists.
On the night of Kirk's killing, the Department of State announced it would penalize foreigners considered to be "praising, rationalizing, or making light of Kirk's death".