In Washington, You Can't Even Trust the Fireworks

At a time of historical distrust in the nation’s capital, it should come as a bit of comic relief to a faithless public that we can’t even believe in Fourth of July fireworks anymore.

PBS—partly funded with taxpayer dollars—was called out Monday night for cutting its live coverage of the spectacle with previous years’ footage, a decision the broadcaster attributed to poor weather. While this year’s show did go on, Washington was hit with cloudy skies and rain for the holiday, prompting PBS to make what it termed was a “patriotic” and proactive decision.