A late Juneteenth greeting.

Almost belated happy Juneteenth! As the day draws to its close I'll confess, I was surprised when I opened my mailbox and found it empty instead of, as it usually is these days, stuffed with bills and political ads. Then it occurred to me: this is a federal holiday. Our President removed it from the federal calendar, but only Congress could eliminate its status as a holiday. What did the President have against Juneteenth? It's about slavery, or the end of it. Everyone should know we never had such a thing. Enterprising sea captains sailed to Africa's West Coast to find crowds of Africans eager to cross the ocean and get on-the-job training in cotton agriculture, household management, and other trades. The Civil War? That was about tariffs, which our President knows are a beautiful thing. The North wanted them to protect its infant industries, while the South hated the retaliatory tariffs other countries put on its cotton. The North won, which was a Good Thing for tariffs, and for the country. Enjoy what's left of the holiday, or your memory of it.