Enjoy Your Fourth of July celebration with our 3 Day Weekend! reads:
• Fourth of July thoughts America has been through a lot in the last two decades. I’m looking forward to celebrating America’s 250th birthday with you all in 2039. Don’t let me down. (Noahpinion)
• What makes a good citizen? Voting, paying taxes, following the law top list Three-quarters of Americans (74%) said voting in elections was very important to what it means to be a good citizen, and around seven-in-ten said the same about paying taxes (71%) and always following the law (69%). But Democrats and Republicans – as well as younger and older adults – didn’t see eye to eye on all the traits and behaviors associated with good citizenship. (Pew Research)
• “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” The distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable — and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. (Teaching American History)
• Inside Operation Warp Speed: A New Model for Industrial Policy Operation Warp Speed was a triumph of public health policy. But it was also a triumph and validation of industrial policy. OWS shows what the U.S. government can still accomplish when it comes to tackling a seemingly unsolvable technological challenge. It demonstrates the strength of the U.S. developmental state, despite forty years of ideological assault. (American Affairs Journal)
• Confederate Statues Were Never Really About Preserving History An overwhelming majority of Confederate memorials weren’t erected in the years directly following the Civil War. Instead, most were put up decades later. Nor were they built just to commemorate fallen generals and soldiers; they were installed as symbols of white supremacy during periods of U.S. history when Black Americans’ civil rights were aggressively under attack. (FiveThirtyEight)
• When the US risks being leapfrogged: Three decades ago many fretted that Japan was set to overwhelm America’s prowess; now it’s China and the fears are eerily similar (Asia Times)
• A Covid Epicenter Hustles Back to Life: ‘What You See, It’s Survival’ The neighborhoods in Queens that reeled during the pandemic are buzzing. But recovery feels very far away. (New York Times)
• America owes thanks to Trump’s lawyers — even William Barr Donald Trump could never really count on the lawyers. No matter how many cynical or craven congressmen, toadying aides, grifting consultants, unhinged activists, disinforming talking heads and deluded cultists he may have had, Trump still needed the lawyers. He needed serious members of the bar to provide at least some semblance of a legal justification for his attempted self-coup. They never did. (Washington Post)
• A Brief History of the American Cookout With origins dating back to the 1500s, cookouts—both grilling and barbecuing—are a huge part of American life, thanks to war, politics, and pop culture. (Food52) see also The Science Behind Grilling the Perfect Steak Want to learn how cooking transforms beef’s flavor? Meat scientists have the answers (Smithsonian) + (Barbecue & Grilling Essentials (NYT)
• How to Take Awesome Photos of Fireworks With Your Phone Use these battle-tested tips and camera settings to capture dramatic shots of those aerial explosions. (Wired)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Steve Romick, Managing Partner at FPA, which manages $26 billion in equity, fixed income, and alternative strategies. Romick manages the $11 billion FPA Crescent Fund since its 1993 inception and was named Morningstar’s U.S. Allocation Fund Manager of the Year.
Patents on America
Source: @PlanMaestro
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