UPI Almanac for Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Today is Wednesday, June 26, the 177th day of 2019 with 188 to follow.

The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include reputed baseball pioneer Abner Doubleday in 1819; British physicist/inventor William Thomson Kelvin in 1824; Nobel literature laureate Pearl Buck in 1892; German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt in 1898; William Lear, developer of the Lear jet, in 1902; actor Peter Lorre in 1904; champion athlete Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias in 1911; musician Mick Jones (The Clash) in 1955 (age 64); musician Chris Isaak in 1956 (age 63); cyclist Greg LeMond in 1961 (age 58); filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson in 1970 (age 49); actor Chris O'Donnell in 1970 (age 49); actor Sean Hayes in 1970 (age 49); actor Nick Offerman in 1970 (age 49); singer Gretchen Wilson in 1973 (age 46); former New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter in 1974 (age 45); actor Jason Schwartzman in 1980 (age 39); actor Aubrey Plaza in 1984 (age 35); actor King Bach in 1988 (age 31); actor Jennette McCurdy in 1992 (age 27); singer Ariana Grande in 1993 (age 26); actor Harley Quinn Smith in 1999 (age 20).

On this date in history:

In 1900, Dr. Walter Reed and his medical team began a successful campaign to eradicate yellow fever in the Panama Canal Zone.

In 1917, the first troops of the American Expeditionary Force reached France in World War I.

In 1939, film censors approved Gone With The Wind but fined Producer David O. Selznick $5,000 for objectionable language in Rhett Butler's famous closing line to Scarlett O'Hara: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

In 1945, the United Nations Charter drawn up at a conference in San Francisco, was signed by representatives of 50 nations -- the original U.N. members. The organization officially began operations Oct. 24, 1945. U.N. Day is Oct. 24 each year.

In 1948, two days after the start of the blockade of Berlin, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift to ferry supplies to the people of West Berlin.

In 1959, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II formally opened the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada.

In 1974, the bar code, allowing for the electronic scanning of prices, was used for the first time. The purchase was a pack of gum at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

In 1976, the CN Tower, then the world's tallest free-standing structure at 1,815 feet 5 inches tall opened in Toronto.

In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush discarded his "no new taxes" campaign pledge, saying "it is clear to me" taxes are needed as part of a deficit-reduction package.

In 1992, U.S. Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett resigned, accepting responsibility for the "Tailhook" incident involving the harassment of Navy women by naval aviators.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile attack against the Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad after "compelling evidence" showed the Saddam Hussein regime plotted to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

In 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling was published, launching the start of a seven-book and series that captured the world's imagination and spurred several films and assorted spinoffs.

In 2000, two rival groups of scientists announced they had deciphered the genetic code, the human genome.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution protects an individual's right to carry a gun for private use but said the ruling did nothing to alter the ban on gun ownership by felons or the mentally ill, or carrying a gun into such "sensitive" areas as schools or government buildings.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states are constitutionally compelled to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, legalizing gay marriage nationwide.

In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld President Donald Trump's so-called "travel ban" on migrants and refugees from mostly Muslim-majority countries after more than a year of protests against the executive orders.

A thought for the day: "No persons are more frequently wrong than those who will not admit they are wrong." -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld