June 14, 1775 is not only the birthday of the US Army but of the 1st Maryland Regiment, later the 115th Infantry.  These are the guys for whom the state’s nickname, “The Old Line State,” came about.  It was George Washington who bestowed that name on these exceptionally reliable troops. Unlike a lot of Revolutionary War units, they were professionally trained at the outset and performed admirably in every engagement without exception.

At the Battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776), the “Maryland 400” (probably only 270 guys) charged a very surprised force of 2,000 Redcoats, which turned out to be the key to protecting Washington’s retreat and the preservation of his army.

Hi there. Just me, popping up like Punsxutawney Phil on Groundhog Day, only I tend to pop in at Ricochet more quarterly than annually. But I did see my shadow this morning, which means 6 more weeks of district judges in their magical black robes working tirelessly to “save our democracy” by gumming up the will of the people. It’s a thankless lot in life to be a legal lilliputian (say that five times fast), but they’re down for the struggle and the bonus of getting an occasional worthy mention in the legacy media.

Plus, you can make fairly decent money staying in the good graces of progressive media types, as several progressives are learning as they cash in on books containing the approved narrative describing their utter shock upon learning that the former president of the United States had the cognitive acuity and mental capacity of a potato.

In 1993, President Clinton tossed away his hard-won centrist image by making gays in the military, abortion, and a big increase in spending (a thumb in the eye to Perot voters) his opening priorities.  The following year, in a highly unusual and never-repeated development, Republicans under Newt Gingrich ran on an actual affirmative agenda (The Contract With America) such that voters could not only register a protest vote over the Clintonian bait-and-switch but actually have a positive reason to vote for the opposing party. The 54-seat swing gave the GOP a majority in the House for the first time in over four decades.

Democrats are now openly supporting rioting, urban decay, illegal alien gang members, partisan judicial tyranny, mass illegal immigration, violence against law enforcement, Hamas and Jew-hatred, street crime in general, males taking over women’s sports & bathrooms, and waste, abuse, inefficiency, and open theft in federal spending.

News item:

BREAKING: USAID official and 3 company executives plead guilty in fraud and bribery scheme involving at least 14 contracts worth over $550 million

USAID Official Roderick Watson took bribes, was showered with lavish gifts— including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets… pic.twitter.com/jBpXTIHxg9

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 13, 2025

We were assured by the chattering classes that, by now, inflation – ignited by Trump’s tariffs – world be devastating the American economy.  But today’s CPI numbers were, again, benign.  The month-over-month number was less than 0.1%  (0.08%).

Toward the end of the Biden (or whoever was driving) administration prices were accelerating.

My part of NJ is drenched in Revolutionary War history. I live at the foot of the Watchung Mountains, known to Washington as the Blue Hills. They were a natural barrier behind which the Continental Army was safe from incursions by the British out of New York. The Blue Hills run more or less east to west and parallel the main agricultural region of the state. From the heights, Washington’s troops could keep tabs on any British activity on the plains below. The Continentals were a menace to British security and frequently raided British foraging parties before returning to the safety of the ridge tops. Washington, with his main army, kept to the shelter of these hills. Down on the plain were some local militia and General Sullivan’s division to support them.

During the summer of 1777, General Howe tried to entice Washington down from the safety of his Middlebrook encampments and to bring about a general engagement. Howe was confident that he’d be able to crush the Continentals if he could meet them in open combat.

There is big news today in women’s swimming.  Canadian Summer McIntosh broke the world record in the 400 Individual Medley (IM) twice in one week!  Today she swam 4:23:65, eclipsing the world record she just set on Wednesday.  Amazing job!!!  But the point here is to compare and contrast the difference between the men’s and women’s events.

Last year at the Canadian Olympic trials in the 400 IM, the slowest man swam 4:20:67.  He didn’t make the team.   That’s almost exactly 3 full seconds faster than today’s women’s world record.  The fastest Canadian man who didn’t make the Olympic team swam 4:16:90.

Many years ago, when my sister-in-law had just joined our family, I got her a calendar for Christmas. As she opened it, under the tree, she exclaimed, “Oh, good, ours was just running out.” My brother, her husband, responded, “That always seems to happen this time of year.”

Paper calendars are not passé, of course, appearing on those social media surveys that say, “Give yourself a point if you ever used…” along with rotary phones and floppy discs. We still have a paper calendar on the fridge, but we’re pretty old school.

Many of us used to choose between pocket calendars: Month at a Glance or Week at a Glance. And there were, of course, the calendars that had just one day at a time. But they also had a Far Side cartoon or a Bible verse or something else to keep us tearing off the sheets to get to the next day.

Champlin Park High School won the Minnesota Class 4A high school girls softball state title last week, with a six-foot-tall, 17-year-old man who identifies as a girl pitching three dominant complete games in the state tourney.  What bravery!

Just another toothpick of insanity on Tim Walz’s bonfire of a state.  The Minnesota Star Tribune and the other state legacy media have completely hidden the trans-component of the story, but everyone in the softball community was well aware of the cheating.  Glad Outkick has been providing some coverage.  And in Minnesota, all you have to do to change your gender is amend your birth certificate–no surgery or drugs required.  You can keep your genitalia and hang out in the opposite sex’s locker room, all while dominating on the field.  Title IX no longer applies here.  You’ve come a long way, baby!

I am listening to the incomparably wonderful Stephen Fry read his own brilliant and entertaining summary of all Greek myth and legend, Mythos. It is an experience both informative and deeply revealing about the nature – and failures – of pagan cultures.

For starters, I think we can all agree that myth satisfies the deepest human intellectual need to try to understand how we got here, and why, and what, really, life is all about. No thoughtful person is immune from these deep-seated questions. The answers we have available to us are impossible to prove, either way – which is why it comes down to faith. And even though it is fashionable to suggest that the Greeks didn’t really believe in all that silly Pantheon stuff, it still did not stop them from sacrificing children to the gods.