YOU’RE GONNA NEED A SMALLER BLOG: Meet AOC’s Brain.

DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY: Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley Demand FTC Investigate Big Tech Firms That Can ‘Sway Elections.’

Flashback: Could Facebook Swing An Election?

Also related: The Social Media Upheaval.

RICHARD FERNANDEZ: OUR FRAGILE WORLD: “Megacities are immensely fragile because complexity is only prevented from descending into chaos by the order provided by massive quantities of energy. The power outage in Manhattan is a reminder that civilization cannot function for more than a few hours without electricity. What will happen in a 5G, Internet of Things world if the whole mind bogglingly complex edifice rests on the tottering, variable and fragile basis of Green Power? In such a civilization a hundred percent uptime would be a hard requirement for many systems.”

LEGACY WRITTEN IN SAND:

Sure he does.

IN A DISPUTED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, WOULD THIS BE A BASIS FOR THE HOUSE IGNORING RETURNS FROM CALIFORNIA? Nearly 1 Million Californians Registered to Vote Are Ineligible, Says Non-Partisan Group.

ARTHUR CHRENKOFF: On being told to go back where you come from.

You know that you are not imprisoned and kept by force where you are, don’t you? If you really so passionately dislike just about everything about your country, you have to ask yourself a question – why suffer? why keep putting yourself through this endless unhealthy rage and frustration? There are many different types of societies around the world, some of which are without doubt a lot closer to your vision of what an ideal community should be like. Wouldn’t you be happier living somewhere else? It just doesn’t make sense to me that you would want to live in a place you don’t like when you have options to live in places you would.

Some people are happy only when they’ve ruined something good for everyone else.

OVER AT THE COLLEGE FIX, an excerpt from my new book, The Social Media Upheaval. Did I mention that I have a book out?

BRYAN PRESTON: Austin’s Mayor Takes West Coast Junket to ‘Learn’ How to Fail Bigger.

HMM: Democrats start to worry about retaining the House. If you care, you should be volunteering for a campaign.

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: Trump Tweets Ignite Firestorm — On the Right. “Trump’s tweets have always been tailored to generate a gut response. The trick — and I admit it took me months longer than it should have to take this to heart — is to allow yourself a brief cooling down period, consider his target audience and their gut response. Instead of luxuriating in an outraged #Resist or a chest-thumping #MAGA insta-reaction, ask yourself what was the purpose of Trump’s tweet, and did he achieve it. Do that, and you’ll find that while Trump takes a lot of flak for his tweets, it’s almost always because he’s directly over his target.”

Read the whole thing, if you don’t mind me saying so myself.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): You absolutely should. And note this deconstruction from Ann Althouse, too. She understands what Trump is doing in a way that few law professors do. Plus, Ernest Tubb.

ROGER SIMON: Wimbledon 2019 — Is Novak Djokovic “The GOAT?”

TYLER O’NEIL: Attendees Shoot Down SPLC Smear Calling Trump Social Media Confab a ‘Hate Summit.’

Tyler has been doing solid reporting on the SPLC’s partisan antics for a long while now.

THE REACTIONS ARE QUITE SENSIBLE, UNLIKE THE EMBARRASSING PIECE THEY’RE RESPONDING TO: Law Profs Weigh In: What Is The Appropriate Response When A White Student Wears A MAGA Hat In Class?

FLYING OLD GLORY IN THE TASMAN SEA: The guided missile destroyer USS Campbell flies the U.S. flag as it trails the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Canberra and the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Look to the left and you’ll see the conning tower of the nuclear attack submarine USS Key West. The sub’s running on the surface. The ships are participating in exercise Talisman Sabre 2019.

HMM: Red states move to end death penalty.

“I think we have to decide what our system to look like. If it’s not a deterrent, we have to ask ourselves what is it,” said state Rep. Jared Olsen (R), who sponsored the Wyoming bill. “I think the only thing we can conclude is that it serves one purpose, and that’s retribution. I personally don’t believe that we want to enshrine in our laws a system of retribution.”

Olsen said he was troubled by the number of prisoners sentenced to death who had subsequently been exonerated. Since 1973, more than 160 people have been released from death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a think tank that opposes capital punishment.

“That tells me that the system is broken,” Olsen said. “It is way too much authority to vest in our government, and we get it wrong.”

McCoy said he is building a coalition of Catholic legislators who oppose the death penalty on moral grounds and traditional Republicans who see it as ineffective both in deterring crime and in keeping costs down.

“I’m a very pro-life person, and if you’re going to be pro-life, it would include these lives,” McCoy said. “I’m hoping we can at least get a vote.”

I’m not gung-ho about the death penalty either way, but it’s interesting to see what could be the ground shifting under typically conservative law-and-order issue — without a Civil War like the big one the Democrats are enduring over a whole host of issues.

AMERICA IN THE 21ST CENTURY: ‘The demand for bigots exceeds the supply.’

TOTALLY EXPECTED HEADLINES: There’s a big problem with Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency.

Since Libra’s unveiling, the project has gotten a chilly reception from some policymakers. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled skepticism about Facebook’s plans for Libra.

“I don’t think that the project can go forward … without there being broad satisfaction with the way the company has addressed money laundering, all of those things,” Powell said in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee. He added that the project raised “serious concerns” for regulators.

According to The New York Times, even some of Facebook’s official partners are lukewarm on the project. Partners are slated to contribute $10 million each to help fund the launch of the network. But the Times’ Nathanial Popper reported in late June that “no money has changed hands so far,” and he noted that some of the companies who agreed to lend their names to the project avoided making strong public statements in support of it.

That reflects significant uncertainty about how Libra will actually work—and if it’s even possible to launch a network like this within the bounds of the law.

Much more at the link.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, FOREIGN COLLUSION EDITION: Feds scrutinize Ivy League’s foreign dealings.

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LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: What Happened with the Immigration Raids? “The targets are illegal immigrants who have been through the legal system and ordered removed by a court. There was a media and Democrat melt down because it’s racist to remove criminals from the U.S. and it’s racist to expect people who are released into the U.S. to respond to court orders and it’s racist to expect people to appear at their asylum hearings.”

COMMUNIST FRONT CORPORATION: After ban, Huawei plans extensive layoffs at its U.S. operations.

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: After Syriza—the Future of the Left. “If an elected government abandons its popular mandate, its election manifesto, and its commitment to national democracy (eg, referendums), voters have no reason to stick around. The Left, in the UK and elsewhere, has a similar choice. Parties of the Left, ie, its governments-in-waiting, can commit to holding public power in trust for actual citizens, or, instead, they can choose to wield power on behalf of mere consumers and patients—all the while taking direction from distant, unaccountable bureaucrats who lack democratic bona fides. The latter road—whether taken by parties of the Right or the Left—is not a path to meaningful electoral victory. Just ask Syriza.”