Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

The Tour de France begins tomorrow in Dusseldorf, Germany. This video is a preview of Stage 1, which is a short individual time trial. The main purpose of this stage is to sort the riders by time and allow someone to wear the yellow jersey on Stage 2.

Here is George Neumayr's latest column.

To the editor:

To anyone with any understanding of economics, it is obvious that randomly raising the minimum wage helps no one. (“Minimum wage fight may heat up after new study finds jobs and hours fell in Seattle,” June 26)

It has been shown time and again that employers will respond, as those in Seattle did after that city’s minimum wage increase, as follows:

They will cut hours or staff. If they hire at all, it will be part-timers to avoid paying benefits. They will also raise prices, which keeps the inflation spiral going up.

Bleeding-heart liberals do not seem to care about the small businessman eventually forced to close because the government thinks it can run his business better than he does. He established an agreement with his employees to work for a certain wage; no one put a gun to their heads.

As for low-wage workers, how about simply working up in the free-enterprise system? If one is a dishwasher, for example, no one is preventing that individual from becoming a waiter or taking a class in restaurant management to improve his lot in life.

Rick Solomon, Lake Balboa

Note from KBJ: As I'm fond of saying, you have to work very hard to be poor in this land of opportunity. Many people think they are owed something (such as a certain wage) merely by being born. You're not owed a thing! Take the world by the ass! Become educated. Acquire marketable skills. Develop good habits. Stay out of trouble with the law. Stay focused. Hang around with hard-working, law-abiding, creative people. Don't use mind-altering substances. Exercise, eat right, and stay healthy. As Benjamin Franklin put it, "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

I had another good month abike. I rode 13 times (in 30 days) for a total of 459.2 miles, which gives me a six-month total of 2,705.5 miles. My goal for the year is 5,500 miles (I rode 6,288 in 2016), so I'm technically 44.5 miles behind schedule. I'll make it up in the second half of the year. The heat index was 102º when I returned from the ride this afternoon. I love the heat, though I prefer Tucson's humidity to DFW's. By the way, it's been three years since I did a bike rally. While I miss some of the country roads and riding in packs, I don't miss (1) paying to ride, (2) driving long distances to and from rallies, (3) putting up with crowds, and (4) getting up insanely early. It's much easier to ride from home, when and as often as I feel like it.

Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2017

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Please, Mr President, keep smashing these creeps in the face. They richly deserve it.

Trilogy (1972).

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Here is Kurt Schlichter's latest column.