THOUGHTS FROM READER JOHN STEAKLEY:

All this talk about “turning down the heat” after the assassination attempt reminded me of something I read on Instapundit years ago that resonated with me, so I searched and found it:

https://instapundit.com/462312/

As Thomas Sowell told an interviewer in 2004, “There’s something Eric Hoffer said: ‘Intellectuals cannot operate at room temperature.’

So here is the catch-22 Democrats face when told to “turn down the heat”: Trump IS the heat Democrats need in order to function. If they can’t continue to bloviate and hyperbolize about Trump as an existential threat, then they’re paralyzed. They will fall from their high perches like Florida iguanas in winter. And then this just becomes a contest between one candidate that takes bullets and another that takes naps. They can’t have that.

This seems right to me. Also: “a contest between one candidate that takes bullets and another that takes naps.” Brilliant.

CHANGE: ‘Enthusiasm’ for Trump surges, as new and early voters join.

CHANGE IS COMING:

Just today, Microsoft announced they’re slashing their entire DEI program.

Now, John Deere says they’re done getting involved in woke propaganda activities. Great to see them listening!

The tide is turning. The Culture War is shifting in our favor because people are sick of the… https://t.co/fyPxtjRndi

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 16, 2024

IRRATIONAL ANGER IS A SIGN OF DEMENTIA: Biden Conference Calls Go Badly. “Things got especially confrontational when Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) brought up the crisis in confidence in Biden being our commander-in-chief. Crow, a veteran with a Bronze Star, was excoriated by Biden, who trashed his service and once again used his dead son as some political playing card. The contents of the calls were not known until now. What a nasty piece of work Biden is. Mr. Empathy is a total a-hole, but you knew that already.”

Plus: “These antics aren’t what you want 16 weeks until Election Day.”

No, they’re exactly what I want. The “cabal” installed Biden in 2020, and I want them to suffer for that near-treasonous act.

UPDATE (FROM THE COMMENTS):

pic.twitter.com/81UitVYU0I

— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) July 17, 2024

THOSE WHO ARE NO LONGER OUR COUNTRYMEN: Mayor Johnson plans to remove George Washington statue outside his City Hall office.

CDR SALAMANDER: So, What’s China Doing in Our Time Zones? The PRC can’t stop, won’t stop.

BRADLEY THOMPSON: Private Property and the Birth of a Free Society. “The first principle and cornerstone of a free, just, and prosperous society is the recognition, inviolability, and protection of private property. The institution of private property—i.e., the right of exclusive possession, use, and disposition—is synonymous with the rise of civilization itself. No society has long existed without it. Indeed, there can be no freedom, no justice, and no prosperity without it. The acceptance, celebration, and protection of private property as an unalienable right is a reliable barometer of how much freedom, justice, and prosperity there is or will be in any given society.”

That’s why leftists hate it.

JOHN LUCAS: “Cheatle should have been gone the day after the shootings. These new revelations provide additional reasons mandating her immediate termination. They show that she combines cowardice with incompetence at the Director level. If she is not fired immediately, it will be more proof that the DEI regime is out of control and at odds with our national security.”

ANOTHER WIN FOR THE NCLA: Tenth Circuit Overturns NCLA Client’s Wrongful Conviction Under USFS Regulation for Instagram Post. “Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned New Civil Liberties Alliance client David Lesh’s criminal conviction for allegedly violating a regulation promulgated by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The Court ruled that the USFS regulation banning unauthorized ‘work activity or service’ on USFS lands is impermissibly vague as applied to his conduct. This means Mr. Lesh could not have known that taking photos on USFS land and posting them to his personal Instagram account would be punishable under the regulation. The Tenth Circuit, under binding Supreme Court precedent, determined that Mr. Lesh was not deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial because the so-called petty offense exception applies, but two judges implied that the exception might be inconsistent with the Constitution and should be revisited.”

Reminder/Disclosure: I’m on the advisory board of the NCLA.

PUSHBACK: Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz Say They Plan to Donate to Trump PAC.

The list of publicly identified participants is basically a roll call of the men and women building the new American century. Everyone knows @elonmusk, but not everyone properly understands him. He isn’t an old-school titan of industry amassing wealth for its own sake. He’s a…

— Brooke Rollins (@BrookeLRollins) July 16, 2024

PUSHBACK: Elon Musk Moving SpaceX and SpaceX HQ to Texas, Blames New Gavin Newsom Parental Transgender Notification Law.

That may be one reason, but I suspect after seeing New York’s lawfare against Trump, and receiving Delaware’s lawfare against him, he’s moving as much of his business as he can out of hostile jurisdictions.

ONCE THIS WAS INCONCEIVABLE. Sean Davis: Biden’s Team Deliberately Kneecapped Trump’s Security To Allow An Assassination Attempt: They kept the rooftop open, watched the shooter, kept Trump on the stage, and didn’t do a damn thing until after he had been shot. And we’re supposed to believe it was an innocent oopsie?

Related: “At first glance every trained person in the world said one thing: Bullshit.”

Plus: “Good Lord. I do not want any of this to be the case. I’d far rather have the whole thing have been simple incompetence.” So would we all.

Related:

LEADERSHIP IN THE BIDEN ERA: “That’s our President, Joe Biden, asked by Lester Holt to describe his first reaction to the assassination attempt. Biden stumble and bumbled his way back to his happy place, the Charlottesville hoax!”

AMERICA’S PESSIMISTIC YOUTH: John Hinderaker: The Kids Are Not Alright. “The results were stunning. Young people in Minnesota are deeply pessimistic about their futures, and their country’s future. We asked respondents whether their generation is better off economically than their parents’ generation, worse off, or the same. Fully 90% said their generation is worse off than their parents’. . . . Further, young people’s pessimism extends into the future. Asked whether the next generation will be economically better off, worse off, or the same as theirs, 68% said ‘worse off.’ In other words, the vast majority of young Minnesotans think they live in a country that is in a state of permanent decline. I have no reason to think the results would be much different in other states.”

Well, it’s the Biden Era. Like the Carter Era, but with less honesty and competence.

OR AT LEAST, OF CERTAIN DEMOGRAPHICS IN OUR AGE:

60% of Americans believe the devil is real, which is quite a bit higher than the professed support for various progressive propositions. The belief that sharing majority theological beliefs is somehow scandalous seems quite emblematic of our age. https://t.co/K9u4l3kxTd

— Megan McArdle (@asymmetricinfo) July 16, 2024

OPEN THREAD: Tuesday’s groovy.

CONVENTION VIDEO: Ramaswamy Champions American Exceptionalism. “Ramaswamy may not have found his footing in the primary, but if he focuses on these principles with this much passion and clarity, we’ll see him succeeding in other races soon enough.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China reschedules planetary defense mission for 2027 launch.

NARRATOR: “IT NEVER ACTUALLY WAS.” Microsoft laid off a DEI team, and its lead wrote an internal email blasting how DEI is ‘no longer business critical.’

HMM: Self-Awareness Might Not Have Evolved to Benefit The Self After All. “But we have argued that consciousness may have evolved to facilitate key social adaptive functions. Rather than helping individuals survive, it evolved to help us broadcast our experienced ideas and feelings into the wider world. And this might benefit the survival and wellbeing of the wider species. The idea fits with new thinking on genetics.”

SENDING A SIGNAL:

Good for her. God Bless this family. https://t.co/3V7PftFDob

— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) July 16, 2024

JOSH BLACKMAN AND SETH BARRETT TILLMAN TAKE A VICTORY LAP: New in Harvard JLPP Per Curiam: What We Did and Did Not Argue in United States v. Trump. “In case you are living under a rock, yesterday Judge Cannon granted the motion to dismiss the indictment. The court cited several of our arguments.”

WELL, GOOD: Study Debunks Popular Diabetes Drugs’ Link to Thyroid Cancer.

TAIWAN, TAKE NOTE: Ukraine is Building Killer Robots on the Cheap.

LAWLESS GOVERNMENT: VA Official Says Agency Won’t Follow Law Protecting Veterans Gun Rights If Passed.