Hello and greetings. Welcome to Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Today is National Donald Duck Day, marking the day in history when he debuted. It’s National Rhubarb Strawberry Pie Day and National Forklift Safety Day.
1772: First naval attack of the Revolutionary War takes place in Providence, R.I.
1915: William Jennings Bryan quits as Secretary of State.
1931: Robert Goddard patents the first rocket-powered aircraft design.
1954: Joseph Welch asks Sen. Joseph McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” during Senate-Army hearings.
1960: Roy Orbison releases the single “Only the Lonely”; it becomes his first major hit.
1969: Warren Burger confirmed as Chief Justice.
1970: Harry Blackmun is sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice.
Birthdays today include: Peter the Great, Czar of Russia (1682-1725); George Stephenson, English engineer known as the “Father of Railways”; Cole Porter, composer and lyricist; Fred Waring, musician and conductor; Robert McNamara, former secretary of defense, and the man behind the Ford Falcon; Jackie Mason, comedian; Jackie Wilson, singer-songwriter; Charles Webb; Dick Vitale, sportscaster; Jon Lord, Deep Purple keyboardist; Terry Uttley; Michael J. Fox; and Johnny Depp.
Today’s your birthday too? Well, Happy day!
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The ever-growing parade of Democrats frantically shoveling taxpayer dollars toward the voting booth shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. If anything, it’s picking up speed — a shameless, bipartisan-insulting spectacle of politicians treating the public treasury like a campaign piggy bank with someone else’s money.
The playbook is embarrassingly predictable at this point: identify a constituency, promise them a check, and dare anyone to call it what it is. Student loan “forgiveness” that conveniently forgets who actually pays for forgiveness. Stimulus packages bloated with provisions that have all the emergency urgency of a re-election strategy memo. Targeted handouts, which they’ve dressed up in the language of equity and investment, as if their rebranding a bribe makes it less of one.
And the list? Oh, the list keeps growing. New names, same game. Each entry arrives with a press release full of soaring rhetoric about “working families” and “investments in our future” — which is Washington-speak for we found another group we’d like to purchase the loyalty of, and you’re footing the bill. In this case, though, it’s a group they’ve been trying to buy for years now.
The audacity isn’t even subtle anymore. It’s a feature, not a bug — a revolving door of proposals designed less to solve problems than to solve the very specific problem of not having enough votes in November. Taxpayers, of course, are invited to simply be grateful for the privilege of funding it all.
So what’s got me going on this today? It’s Gail Harriot this morning, via X:
The CA Legislature tried to strike these words from the state constitution in 2020 (put there by Prop 209 in 1996). The voters smacked them down when 57.23% said NO—despite the YES campaign outspending the NO team by more than 14 to 1. Now they’re trying again—calling it a… pic.twitter.com/ecBbwDX2rl
— Gail Heriot (@GailHeriot) June 8, 2026
Gail says at Instapundit:
If approved by the voters, this would be a major change California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996 — championed by Ward Connerly, among others — and the establishment already had a judge warming up in the bullpen to strike it down before the ink dried. Funny how that works.
The voters beat them to the punch anyway, delivering their verdict while the would-be judicial saviors were still figuring out how to lace up their robes.
So here’s the real question: Is the Democrat-controlled California State Legislature now trying to gut a measure that the people of California already voted on and approved? I ask because that’s exactly what it looks like.
Gail answers the question herself:
The aim is to pave the way for the recommendations of California’s Task Force on Reparations. The Task Force wants to make college free to African Americans no matter how well off their parents are and to get school districts to fund individual schools based on the race of the students who attend.
Clearly, this move flies in the face of the federal Constitution, at the very least, in direct opposition to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. I call your attention to Gail’s essay, published on May 4:
The CA Legislature tried to strike these words from the state constitution in 2020 (put there by Prop 209 in 1996). The voters smacked them down when 57.23% said NO—despite the YES campaign outspending the NO team by more than 14 to 1. Now they’re trying again—calling it a “clarification” instead of an effort to gut the provision’s application to public education. Don’t believe them. If approved by the voters, this would be a major change.
California voters passed Proposition 209 in 1996 — championed by Ward Connerly, among others — and the establishment already had a judge warming up in the bullpen to strike it down. Funny how that works. The voters beat them to the punch anyway, delivering their verdict while the would-be judicial saviors were still trying to figure out how to lace up their robes.
So here’s the real question: Why is the Democrat-controlled California State Legislature now trying to gut a measure that the people of California already voted on and approved? I ask because that’s exactly what it smells like. Gail answers the question herself:
The aim is to pave the way for the recommendations of California’s Task Force on Reparations. The Task Force wants to make college free to African Americans no matter how well off their parents are and to get school districts to fund individual schools based on the race of the students who attend.
Clearly, this move flies in the face of the federal Constitution, at the very least, in direct opposition to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
I call your attention to Gail’s essay, published on May 4:
This year is Proposition 209’s 30th anniversary. It was on Election Day, November 5, 1996, that California voters approved it, thus amending the state constitution to read:
“The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
Voters of that era were unhappy with the number of public contracts directed to minority- and women-owned businesses rather than to the lowest qualified bidder. And they didn’t like the way in which race, sex, and ethnicity were determining who gets government jobs and who doesn’t. Perhaps most of all, they were appalled at the sheermagnitude of preferentialtreatment given to students from “underrepresented minorities” at state colleges and universities and the effect it was having on higher education. With Proposition 209, they made sure all these practices would be illegal in the Golden State.
She goes on:
Democratic legislators in California have been gunning for Proposition 209 almost from the beginning. Perhaps that’s par for the course in politics, as government officials usually resent limits on their power, including limits on their ability to discriminate by race, sex, or ethnicity. Over the years, they have tried several ways to rid themselves of Proposition 209—from repealing it, in whole or in part, to attempting to “interpret” it into oblivion. So far, none has worked.
I’ll take this a step further than Gail did. Obviously, the Democrats are trying once again to allow themselves to buy votes with tax money giveaways. I’ll bet you’re deeply shocked by this. [/sarc]
Gail was successful in having the proposition delayed until 2028. The logic there was to give things a bit more time. The Democrats, for their part, bought into that because they knew, even assuming the measure did pass, there’d be a challenge from the Trump administration to the Supreme Court, where it would certainly be declared unconstitutional.
This deserves some serious watching between now and ’28.
Thought for the day: Would they keep trying to kill Trump if they thought they were winning?
VIP members, hit the heart and let’s hear your thinking in the comments.
Take care. I’ll see you tomorrow. Try not to replace me with someone better-looking.
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