WHY DO WE LISTEN TO GREENS? How cleaning up shipping cut pollution—and warmed the planet.

HMM: “It will miss the Earth. It will miss the Earth. It will miss the Earth.”

HMM: UC Davis DEI division unblocks university employee who criticized gender ideology.

CROWDSTRIKE AND the Sons of Martha.

I DON’T BLAME HIM UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT IT’S A MAJOR LOSS: UF President Ben Sasse steps down to care for ailing wife.

University of Florida President Ben Sasse on Thursday announced he is stepping down from his role as president to take care of his ailing wife, who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy and memory issues, and to spend more time with family and their 13-year-old son.

“I’ve got two spectacular callings in life right now: First, I’m a husband and dad. Second, I’ve been blessed to serve as president of the best dang public university in America – Go Gators! – and I’ve loved the challenge of giving this university everything I’ve got,” Sasse posted on X.

“But here’s the bottom line: Those callings are significantly at odds with each other right now. Gator Nation needs a president who can keep charging hard, Melissa deserves a husband who can pull his weight, and my kids need a dad who can be home many more nights.”

Sasse took the helm of UF in 2022. A news release on the university’s website states Sasse will transition to a teaching and advisory role and the board will work to quickly identify an interim president. Sasse’s last day as president is July 31.

“In recent months, Melissa has been diagnosed with epilepsy and has been struggling with a new batch of memory issues. It’s been hard, but we’ve faced it together. A lot of late nights, a lot of hard decisions, and a lotta ‘what matters most?’ conversations,” Sasse’s statement read.

“I’m going to remain involved in serving our UF students — past, present, and future — but I need to walk arm-in-arm with my dearest friend more hours of every week.”

Praying for her recovery.

EXTREMIST RHETORIC: Harvard Law prof claims Trump will use assassination attempt as a ‘Reichstag moment to crack down.’ No, that was January 6.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: South Korea’s new space agency outlines plans. “South Korea’s new space agency, less than two months old, is laying out ambitious goals in spaceflight as part of its efforts to serve as a ‘control tower’ for the county’s growing space presence.”

THEY’RE ONLY SCARED THAT PEOPLE WILL RESPOND TO THEIR VIOLENCE VIOLENTLY. They’re not against violence in general.

“It’s a shame the person [sh**ter] missed”

*Next breath*

“I’m scared of political violence”

These peope are legit insanepic.twitter.com/GHKyxgurDq

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

SOMETHING TO REMEMBER: European Union Parliament Refuses to Condemn Trump Assassination Attempt.

OH, NOTHING THAT GOOD: Dems return to Tammany Hall tactics with backroom dealings to boot Biden: Smoke-filled rooms? Should Biden opt to step aside, it is far from certain that Vice President Kamala Harris would be the automatic stand-in on the party ticket. “I certainly was not the first person to notice Biden’s obvious lack of capacity and capabilities. Indeed, Republicans, and other independent media have been pointing it out literally for years. But they were viciously attacked for doing so because it threatened the Democrats’ power.”

A friend texts:

Repub msg for 2024 is pretty simple, no matter who the Dems run: “They saddled you with a dementia patient.”

Longer form: “They saddled you with a massively corrupt, career incompetent dementia patient, with a cackling buffoon for a backstop. This only became a crisis for them when you noticed. Why trust them now?”

Yes, their problem isn’t that Joe is unfit. Their problem is that too many people noticed.

JOHN LUCAS: The Democrats Pretend to Wake Up: Most of the rest of the country has been awake (but not woke) for quite a while.

Related:

A week apart pic.twitter.com/BF8Bxozila

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 19, 2024

OPEN THREAD: Well, here we are.

(Bumped.)

WHERE WE ARE:

@bowsette.at.midnight i dont care about either side this just seemed funny to me so I made it #meme #memecut #thedarkcrystal #life ♬ Crickets in the countryside(1177489) – Deiko

From the comments:

THAT WAS FAST: From Hillbilly Elegy To The White House: The Wisdom Behind Trump’s Choice of J.D. Vance.

WITH J.D. VANCE ON HIS TICKET, TRUMP BRINGS YOUTH BACK TO AMERICAN POLITICS:

American politicians are the oldest in the developed world https://t.co/xZCXjwNi9f pic.twitter.com/MNdmfSX6yj

— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) July 19, 2024

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CLUE? CrowdStrike’s Mistake Was a ‘Huge Deal,’ US Cyber Official Says.

COLOR ME UNSURPRISED: New Study Links Anxiety in Young Women to Brain Chemical Imbalance.

IT’S NOT A FOG OF CONFUSION, IT’S A FOG OF DISSEMBLING AND OBFUSCATION: Fog of Confusion Clouds Epic Security Failure at Trump’s Rally: Law-enforcement authorities have conflicting recollections of their responsibilities at ill-fated rally.

Everyone agrees something went disastrously wrong at Donald Trump’s rally in western Pennsylvania last weekend, when a gunman was able to fire a shot that grazed the former president’s ear. But they don’t agree on what or why.

More than a half-dozen law enforcement agencies were responsible for securing the Butler Farm Show grounds and have since provided a patchwork of conflicting accounts of how Thomas Matthew Crooks could get on a rooftop with a clear line of sight to Trump.

Lawmakers hope to get a clearer understanding of one of the most stunning security breaches in decades next week, when they have summoned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and the heads of several local police agencies to Capitol Hill to explain their actions that day.

“We had details around the timeline, but it doesn’t give any clear answers as to what happened and why it was allowed,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R., Ala.) said after federal authorities briefed lawmakers this week. “In a situation like this, the question that needs to be answered is, how did it happen?”

Regardless of how it happened, everyone who was responsible for keeping it from happening should be fired, since, you know, it did happen.

MY CONGRESSMAN PURSUING HIS USUAL BIG-BUDGET APPROACH:

Getting set up for a TV interview. My camera stand is a ⁦@MountainDew⁩ bottle and a Copenhagen can. #Merica Dadgummit pic.twitter.com/2kxa61keEU

— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) July 19, 2024

SUVs: 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser Tested: Is It the Real Deal?

THIS SOUNDS LIKE A CRUEL TRICK TO MAKE ME BUY ONE GUN INSTEAD OF TWO: First Look: Ed Brown Kobra Carry Dual Caliber 1911.

GOOD. WE SHOULD BE DOING THE SAME. Israel strikes Iran-backed Houthis after Tehran proxy attacked Jewish state: ‘Significance is clear.’ NSC spokesperson says US ‘not involved’ in Yemen strikes, and didn’t ‘coordinate or assist’ Israel with them.

We should be ashamed of that last bit. And the Israelis should follow up with more. The Houthis — like Hamas, and all the other barbarians — should be punished until they unconditionally surrender and cease all hostilities.

ED MORRISSEY: Narrative Buster: Top Ten Reasons Biden Will Fly to Hawaii This Month.

MY LATEST SUBSTACK ESSAY IS INSPIRED BY THE CROWDSTRIKE DEBACLE: When Things Go Wrong: The importance of resilience. And cash!

EVEN AS THEY TELL YOU TO SET YOUR A/C THERMOSTAT AT 80 TO PREVENT BROWNOUTS AND BLACKOUTS: How the rise of AI is straining the U.S. power grid.