America burned Japan's first gift of cherry trees. All 2,000 of them, on President Taft's direct order.

The 1910 shipment arrived in DC crawling with insects and nematodes. Agriculture inspectors condemned the lot, Taft signed off on the bonfire, and the State Department braced for a diplomatic disaster. Tokyo's mayor, Yukio Ozaki, responded by sending 3,020 more, grafted from the famous grove along the Arakawa River.

Those trees have spent a century paying the friendship back.

Four days after Pearl Harbor, vandals chopped down four of them. Park officials renamed the survivors "Oriental" cherry trees for the rest of the war to protect them from axes.

Then came the twist. By 1952 the original Arakawa grove in Tokyo, the parent stock, had nearly died from wartime neglect. Japan asked Washington for help. The Park Service shipped budwood from DC's trees back across the Pacific and restored the grove that created them. When a flood wiped out more Japanese trees in 1982, horticulturists took 800 fresh cuttings from the Tidal Basin.

These 250 new trees solve a real problem too. The Tidal Basin is sinking, and a $133 million seawall rebuild forced crews to rip out roughly 150 trees. Japan offered replacements before anyone asked, timed to America's 250th birthday.

So the genetics run in a loop. Tokyo's grove seeded Washington's. Washington's saved Tokyo's. The saplings going in this spring descend from both.

114 years of diplomacy, running on grafted branches.

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You have one day until Fable becomes API only.

The last possible day to escape the permanent underclass.

Godspeed.

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A military pilot flying an F-22 fighter jet shared a cockpit view while soaring over the nation’s capital during flyovers marking America’s 250th anniversary

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FOLLOWUP (0.77, took 0.3s):

Trump opens his speech for the Salute to America celebration after weather delays: "If we have to speak in front of one person at 4 o'clock in the morning, I'm gonna be here, there's no way we can be deterred."

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BREAKING: Smoke and flames were seen on part of the Brooklyn Bridge as the NYC America250 fireworks show continued along the East River.

ScooterCasterNY

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Borat talks about this

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WATCH: Indonesian troops recovered the body of American pilot Nicholas F. Goselin after he was shot dead by rebels in Papua

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The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds performed a breathtaking, tight-formation flyover above the National Mall in Washington, D.C., with the jets flying just inches apart

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Gorgeous flyover over the Hudson River

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The largest fireworks show in US history had begun over Washington DC

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Trump on America’s 250th birthday:

“These were the Stars and Stripes that flew triumphant when the British waved the white flag of surrender at Yorktown.”

“They were the greatest power of the world, and they surrendered, and that was the beginning.”

“Ever since, the entire world has been on notice that Americans will never let anyone take our freedom away. Won't happen.”

“And all these talks from the communists, they haven't got a chance. Not even a chance. We don't want communists in our country.”

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There is a new movement trending to make all human and animal life extinct to end suffering.

He has a valid point and this is a major reason why I don’t want kids. Why would you create life just to inflict pain and suffering on another human being?

Do you agree with him?

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More than 85,000 fireworks shells lit up the night sky during Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks spectacular, dazzling thousands of spectators who waited hours for the show

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BREAKING: The largest fireworks show in the history of the WORLD has just kicked off in Washington, DC

850,000 MUNITIONS — last year's was 20,000

Trump PROMISED to make it happen, and he MADE IT HAPPEN!

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The entire National Mall fireworks show in about a minute, seen from the webcam at the top of the Washington Monument starting with the B1 Lancer flyover

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Lots of oil & gas folks warned in March it would take several quarters if not years for global energy supply to normalize back. We’re barely into July and things look back to normal. What happened?

(Chart is physical oil prices)

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Me and my chud son

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Dragging my chud son out of his gooncave

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