Controversial Document

A mysterious document appeared on Twitter on the 4th. Who is John Handcock?
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/nprs-declaration-independence-tweetstorm-confuses-48451252

A friend on mine posted about this on FB earlier.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/07/05/some-trump-supporters-thought-npr-tweeted-propaganda-it-was-the-declaration-of-independence/?utm_term=.4002612ea35e

Maybe you (or the document) meant Herbie Hancock?

Well, the founding fathers did, I suppose, believe in freedom of speech, even if a person did not know what document they were speaking about. As we know, many students feel they have a right to keep someone from speaking even if they are ignorant of what that person has said in past documents or is going to say in the present. I doubt this was the intent of the founding fathers.

Could have been a misprint-- but I doubt anyone named "Herbie" signed the Declaration of Independence. Seriously, though, Herbie probably contributed more to American culture, as attested to by his being receiving the Kennedy Center Award for his artistic contributions to our society, than did the other Mr. Hancock, who it now appears is less famous than Herbie.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEWNUJuoJlA

Of course, a celebrity, who goes by Tommy Boy, understood that it was Herbie, and not John. Tommy Boy - Herbie Hancock - YouTube

As to preventing someone from speaking their mind, it would seem that even learned students of the law can be proactive.

That group also seems to like to offer its own interpretation of the document

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/07/04/dear-george-the-declaration-of-independence-as-the-greatest-break-up-letter-of-all-time/?utm_term=.e6bbeb76be1c

Professors imagine how it might be improved upon.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/07/03/the-declaration-of-independence-as-read-by-president-trump/?utm_term=.6c656aecb91f

The sole female with a known association with the document, gets no recognition.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/this-womans-name-appears-on-the-declaration-of-independence-so-why-dont-we-know-her-story/2017/07/03/ce86bf2e-5ff1-11e7-84a1-a26b75ad39fe_story.html?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_rhp-card-columnists%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.3dc823cc945a

jamielih wrote: "Of course, a celebrity, who goes by Tommy Boy, understood that it was Herbie, and not John." Some of us are musically gifted, some of us love history. At least Tommy Boy filled in the blank, for I fear that some of his classmates did not answer at all.

Mr.Shkreli: Even judges are subject to the zeitgeist of their times. There are a very few individuals who are so irritating that they are beyond the normal application of the law, and must be dealt with by invoking the procedures of Meta-law, which in Mr. Shkreli's case the judge deemed necessary, and, thus, the order to shut up.

There are breakups and Breakups with a capital B. I would guess that Mr. Jefferson, in addition to his superb handwriting and composition skills, had some experience with breakup scenarios from another quarter, experience which some of his rebel colleagues secretly were aware of. That is to say, it is hard to imagine that the mother of some of his children, who was also a slave, did not attempt on more than one occasion to break off her relationship with this noble statesman. If true, though I doubt Sally Hemings could read or write, Mr. Jefferson, at the least, must have listened most acutely to her oral pleas to end their relationship. Perhaps some of the content of the Declaration of Independence is derived from these pleas. I guess there is always room for improvement, but the risk of writer's block is always lurking about as well. But the Breakup with George III did occur and the document remains. Sally Hemings may be the 2nd woman associated with this document.

Perhaps some on the 4th thought this mysterious document was an old commie trick. 66 years ago, there was one fellow who agreed to put his John Hancock on the document. How many of us would do so today?

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/07/an-old-commie-trick-conservatives-getting-triggered-by-the-declaration-of-independence-is-nothing-new/