THIS WAS SURE TO HAPPEN:  Keystone XL Pipeline Developer Seeks $15 Billion in Damages from US.

HISTORY!:  On this day in 1937, Hormel Foods first marketed SPAM.  Since then, billions and billions of cans have been sold.   There’s even a Spam Museum.

Among those who have had a good word to say about Spam are Margaret Thatcher, who called it a “wartime delicacy” and Nikita Khrushchev, who wrote, “Without Spam we wouldn’t have been able to feed our army.”

WHEN YOU’VE LOST THE TROTSKYISTS:  I must have missed it when it happened, but a year ago the Trotskyist Fourth International declared the New York Times’ 1619 Project to be a load of hooey. The following is from the World Socialist Web Site:

To the extent that there is a method to the 1619 Project, it is pragmatic in the most vulgar sense of the word. The writers rummage carelessly through the past, cherry-picking incidents to concoct a narrative that conforms to their preconceived racialist viewpoint. They explain historical events in terms of what the authors claim, often incorrectly, to have been the immediate motives of the actors….

The Times justifies its racial approach by claiming that slavery and the experience of African Americans are subjects long neglected by historians. In fact, the slave system—its origins, changing economic role in pre- and post-revolutionary North America, and its social, political and cultural significance over a period spanning several centuries—has been the subject of voluminous research. The essays that introduce the 1619 Project evince no familiarity with the massive body of work produced by generations of historians.

So if Trotskyists are willing to say out loud that the 1619 Project was ill-informed drivel, who is left to view it as scholarly?  The University of North Carolina for one.

LIFE IN LOS ANGELES:  If trans women are women, they’re at least a bit more violent than most of the women I know.

I MAY HAVE TO LIVE IN CALIFORNIA, BUT AT LEAST I’M NOT IN SAN FRANCISCO:  San Francisco Target, Walgreens Stores to Close Early Due to Rampant Theft.

I DOUBT MELANIA IS LOSING SLEEP OVER THIS, BUT …: Why Did Vogue Call Jill Biden a “Goddess in Stilettos”?  Even the Jerusalem Post feels obliged to ask that question.

REVIEW BY WILFRED REILLY:  “One ‘Maverick’ Documents Another–Jason Riley’s Biography of Thomas Sowell.” So one maverick documents another documenting yet another.  Sowell should now write about Reilly thus making the circle complete.

JOE MANCHIN’S COMPROMISE BILL:  Still not great, says John Fund.

WE’RE FIGHTING BACK!:  Concerned shareholders take action against Coke’s racist demands.  (It’s possible that I’m biased, since I am chairman of the board, but I believe the American Civil Rights Project, which is representing the shareholders against Coke, is a great new organization.)

NEW HOLIDAY SLOWS THE FEDERAL LEVIATHAN FOR ONE DAY: Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed and Biden signed into law a bill declaring Juneteenth to be a federal holiday.  Since Juneteenth (June 19) falls on a Saturday, that means today (the very next day after the bill became law) will be the work holiday.  A meeting of the Commission on Civil Rights, which had been planned for a long time and noticed in the Federal Register, had to be called off.  I assume similar activities have been called off throughout the federal bureaucracy.  It’s interesting that even our nation’s leaders are unconvinced that what the federal government does is important.

A DUBIOUS EXPEDIENCY: HOW RACE PREFERENCES DAMAGE HIGHER EDUCATION: Don’t forget my new book, which is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble (though for reasons I can’t explain it cost more at Barnes and Noble).

The book contains eight essays. The authors are John Ellis, me, my Commission colleague Peter Kirsanow, Heather Mac Donald, Peter Wood, me & Carissa Mulder, Lance Izumi & Rowena Itchon, and my co-editor and USD colleague Maimon Schwarzschild.  If you haven’t done so already, please take a look.

STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS V. HARVARD:  Supreme Court stalls.  By asking the Department of Justice for its views, it succeeds in putting off a decision on whether to take the case.

COMRADE ROCKSTAR: Dean Reed may be the biggest rock star that you’ve never heard of.  An American from Colorado, Reed was a huge star in the Communist Bloc, but not in his native land. “Comrade Rockstar” is just one of the nicknames that have been conferred upon him over the years.

His failure to make it in America was not for lack of trying. Born to a Goldwater-supporting family, he left for Hollywood in the late 1950s, where he got a contract with Capitol Records. Alas, his records never took off in this country.

For some reason, however, his music was especially popular in Latin America. He therefore moved down there in the early 1960s (during which he began his political lurch leftward). From there, he went on to Europe, finally winding up in the early 1970s in East Germany, where they absolutely, positively, no-doubt-about-it, loved him and his music. Communist bloc teens swooned.  To them, he was “the Red Elvis.”

Reed always professed to love America, and the lyrics to his songs sometimes reflected this, but he seemed to spend as much time denouncing the United States as he spent singing, songwriting, and acting in movies.  Of course, denouncing the United States is pretty common among rock musicians.  But Reed’s wholesome style (by the standards of the time) made him different.  Here, for example, he sings “Bye Bye Love” with Phil Everly.  No wonder the Communist Bloc authorities encouraged his rise to stardom, while condemning what they viewed as degenerate forms of music.

Reed died on this day in 1986 at the age of 47.  Six weeks earlier, he had appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes — one of the rare occasions on which his by then fading fame was acknowledged in the Western media. During that interview, he defended the building of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and compared Reagan to Stalin.

Although officially recorded as an accident, Reed’s death was almost certainly a suicide. His body was found in knee-deep water in Zeuthener Lake a few miles outside Berlin.  His wrists were slashed, and he had taken an overdose of sleeping pills.  A suicide note was later found.  “Wholesome” musical style or not, he was an all-too-obvious troubled soul.

GRASSROOTS AMERICA:  Voters reject “woke” education in Rapid City, South Dakota.

I THINK I KNOW THE ANSWER: Are Activists Protecting Asians from Hate–Or Protecting Their Narrative of White Supremacy from Criticism?

BOTTOM LINE: The California Senate doesn’t give a crap about Down Syndrome workers. It wants them priced out of the job market by phasing out the federal program that allows them to be employed at something less than the soon-to-be $15 minimum wage.

What those nice senators don’t tell you: Parents of Down Syndrome workers overwhelmingly oppose this kind of thing.  They understand that their son or daughter will soon be out of a job if it passes.

I’M NOT SAYING IT’S ALIENS, BUT …:  Mystery Shaking Felt, Boom Heard Across San Diego County for the Third Time in 2021.  (Yes, I definitely felt it.)

UGH: The Left is gearing up to return to the Obama Administration’s wrongheaded policy on school discipline. They are claiming the Commission on Civil Rights has “discredited” the Trump Administration’s position. In reality, it was I who discredited the Commission’s position.  Its report was unusually awful even by Commission standards.

To understand why the Obama Administration’s policy against “disparate racial impact in school discipline” is both counterproductive and illegal, read my article here. The Biden Administration is getting ready to make an error that will have serious long-term ramifications.

THE CURRENT CROP OF PROGRESSIVES AREN’T SO KEEN ON THEM EITHER:  Why the Early Progressives Rejected American Founding Principles.

CHARLES LIPSON:  Who Loses When China’s Bat Cave Implodes?

THE DEMOCRATS MAY BE STARTING TO WORRY:  GOP Sweeps in Texas Races Signal Growing Hispanic Support.

UP, UP & AWAY: On this day in 1783, the Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrated their new invention—the hot-air balloon.

Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne were the sons of a prosperous French paper manufacturer. Of the two, Joseph-Michel is thought to have been the “obsessed inventor” type, while Jacque-Étienne was the steady businessman.

Not surprisingly, it was Joseph-Michel who first became intensely interested in aeronautics. Among other things, he was fascinated by the way laundry drying over a fire would billow upwards. He began experimenting with directing heated air into a paper or fabric bag, thus causing the bag to rise. He wrote to his brother, “Get in a supply of taffeta and of cordage, quickly, and you will see one of the most astonishing sights in the world.”

By June 4, 1783, they were ready to demonstrate their invention to a crowd of dignitaries in the town of Annonay. The 10-minute flight was unmanned and undirected, but it was said to have achieved an altitude of about 5200 feet. That’s not bad, especially when compared to the 12-second, 120 feet in distance achieved by the Wright Brothers on their second effort at heavier-than-air flight.

In order to really grab the public’s attention, Jacques-Étienne wanted their balloons to be beautiful. He collaborated with wallpaper manufacturer Jean-Baptiste Réveillon to produce a sky blue one with golden representations of suns and zodiac signs. On September 19, 1783, this balloon was launched from Versailles with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette in attendance. It had passengers of sorts—a sheep, a duck and a rooster. (more…)

LISTEN MY CHILDREN AND YOU SHALL HEAR: … about that other guy who took a midnight ride during the American Revolution: Jack Jouett.

On the night of June 3, 1781, Jouett—sometimes called “the Paul Revere of the South”—rode 40 miles on back roads to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson and the members of the Virginia legislature that Col. Banastre Tarleton and his army were coming to get them.

Months before, an unprepared Jefferson had fled Richmond as Loyalist and British soldiers, led by turncoat Benedict Arnold, swept into the largely undefended capital city.  Jefferson was now ensconced at Monticello; members of the legislature had gathered in nearby Charlottesville.

But the British were not inclined to let them alone.

Some say the 27-year-old Jouett was asleep on the lawn of the Cuckoo Tavern when he was awakened by the sound of Tarleton’s “White Coats.” Others say he was at his father’s home. In any event, he sprang into action and managed to get to Monticello and to Charlottesville before Tarleton. Jefferson and most of the legislators were able to flee in time (though a few slow pokes were captured).

The year 1781 was not Jefferson’s happiest. He was widely criticized for what was seen as Virginia’s lack preparation for the advance on Richmond. Having to flee twice was humiliating for him. But Jouett was a hero.  The legislature re-convened in Staunton and voted him a commendation plus a pair of pistols and a sword.  He got the pistols in 1783.  Alas, it’s not clear he ever got the sword. Politicians have never been that great at delivering on their promises.

THANKS, POWER LINE:  Power Line reviews my book.  (You can buy it here.)

THE NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY RIDES AGAIN:  This time, they’re in Tulsa commemorating the Tulsa Riot of 1921.  (The last time I dealt with them was when they were involved in voter intimidation in Philadelphia.  They’re not exactly your average civic organization.)