The lakeside breath of freedom.

And here we were talking about that 4:23 a.m. post about Kierkegaard and anxiety:

"His detractors have adopted the 'Never Vance' slogan and flooded social media, especially over the past week, with attacks..."

"... including claims that Vance is 'unfit' to be vice president due to his efforts to negotiate a peace deal with Iran. They have asserted, without evidence, that Vance is making policy decisions not supported by President Donald Trump. They have likened him to former president Barack Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont)...."

I'm reading "Knives are out for Vance in the GOP. His allies say it’s a coordinated ‘op.’ The vice president has faced a barrage of attacks recently that are unusual for their intensity and how early in the political calendar they are taking place" (WaPo)(gift link).

The utter frustration of trying to make Elon Musk understand and care that he is hated.

🚨 Elon Musk just NUKED this reporter to her face in a MASTERCLASS

"People loathe you!"

ELON: "I don't care. The fact that a quarter billion people follow me means a lot more people like me than don't."

"I think a lot more people hate YOU and the MEDIA than you realize!"

🫳🏻🎤 pic.twitter.com/BOj528BGE8

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 23, 2026

"Because the ritual [of land acknowledgment] still treats land as something that can be owned..."

"... it names the theft while leaving the idea of ownership untouched. Indigenous relationships to land were not about possession or title. They were about reciprocity, care, responsibility. Wendy Red Star, an Apsáalooke artist, put it this way: 'The concept of territory is a completely Western idea. When we make land acknowledgments, we’re putting a Western, colonial concept on the relationship between the Native people who were stewards of the land. It’s not ownership.'"

Writes Reid Walker, in "Please Don’t Thank Us for the Land" (NYT gift link).

"[I]t is entirely possible that we will run a repeat of 2020, when the outcome of a narrow election was clouded by accusations of fraud, and MAGA was hellbent on retaining control."

"In 2026, however, we face a president who has surrounded himself with sycophants and yes men, with years left in a term that has already been marked by grotesque lawlessness and abuses of power."

Writes David French, in "This Is What’s Keeping Me Up at Night" (NYT gift link).

"Taking into account the space a building would need to leave from the highway, the water and neighboring properties..."

"... as well as a requirement to position the foundation well above flood level, Schwartz and Architecture outlined the maximum allowable building envelope for a home, which was tiny. But, within that envelope, the architects managed to design a 730-square-foot, single-story cottage elevated on tall posts, with a single bedroom and bathroom...."

I'm reading "Even the Architects Said the Build Would Be Nearly Impossible/An architect and his client overcame a steep site and regulatory hurdles to build a 730-square-foot house that hovers over the water in Sonoma County, Calif." (NYT gift link).

"Throughout the journey, Dr. Tang-Oxley frequently communicated with Mr. Schwartz by writing poems instead of providing more direct feedback.... It was a surreal play of disbelief, surprises and pure delights."

"My father worked in a rock quarry. My mother was a kindergarten teacher. And I, anticipating a life of motherhood and Christianity..."

"... was engaged at 16. I had planned to marry after I turned 18, but my engagement ended shortly before our wedding day when my fiancé was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography. When that dream evaporated, I needed a new dream, so I decided to go to college, something my fiancé had discouraged. Partly out of spite for his low opinion of me, I applied to Harvard and was somehow accepted. Off I went, but the culture shock was extreme. I struggled but graduated, unsure of what was next."

Writes Emilee Hackney, in "I Hadn’t Planned on a Love Triangle/Bring on the ticks, bears and ice storms, but don’t make me choose between two men" (NYT gift link).

She was hiking the Appalachian Trail with the idea of being alone — a good trick for finding romance.

"And she said she spent her limited free time ironing undergarments, sewing fraying skirts and reinforcing loose jacket buttons."

I'm reading "Japan Is Startled by Prime Minister’s Grueling Sleep Schedule/Sanae Takaichi has said she gets just 'zero to three hours' of sleep a night, prompting a debate in the country over work-life balance" (NYT gift link).

The article begins: "Monday was Sea Day in Japan, a public holiday when many people escape the summer heat by swimming, surfing and lounging at the beach. But not Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi."

Work-life balance is important. Sleep is important. But here, I'm more interested in a Prime Minister talking about ironing undergarments and accomplishing tiny sewing repairs. What is this theater of humility? Also, that holiday: Sea Day. 

"This is a corrupt city. That's right. Have no fear, the anti-Zionist is here. You understand me?"

Emotions boiled over during today’s Madison Police Department press conference as community members interrupted Police Chief John Patterson following the fatal police shooting of Corey Ruiz.

The room reflected the grief, anger, and frustration many are feeling. One man took the… pic.twitter.com/F8uUmaL5O8

— Andrew Mercado (@AndrewMercado) July 23, 2026

That was yesterday, in Madison. Last night:

This looks and sounds all too familiar--I had a front row seat in Kenosha when it burned to the ground. Something about the cacophonous sounds of horns, whistles and the usual antifa noise makers has the memories rushing back from 6 years ago. Imagine this for 3 days straight,…

— The Corridor News (@CorridorScanner) July 24, 2026

"Soren Kierkegaard, the 19th-century Danish philosopher and father of existentialism, saw in the fear of heights a metaphor for all human anxiety."

"Standing at a precipice, Kierkegaard imagined, a person becomes instantly and acutely aware of their power to jump — and with it, the dizzying breadth of human freedom...."

Writes Chris Hippensteel, in "To Confront My Fear of Heights, I Crossed a Chasm on a Cable/A jittery hiker signed up for a via ferrata tour on the cliffs of an Adirondacks gorge. Here’s what he learned on the ledges, rungs and exposed bridges" (NYT gift link).

"Despite their dramatic vertical settings, via ferratas are, in terms of technical difficulty, not that far removed from a playground jungle gym. Climbers are harnessed in along the entire route, keeping at least one carabiner clipped to the safety cable at all times. Though the danger is limited, the exposure is not — exactly the type of challenge I was seeking...."

So it's like a roller coaster or a horror movie — packaged, safe fear. You're not really experiencing what  Kierkegaard was talking about because you've got a harness and are always clipped to the cable. You don't have the freedom to jump.

If he had the chance — did he? — would Kierkegaard ride a roller coaster?

Sunrise.

Talk about whatever you like in the comments.

And here's Meade's video:

"Why are Republicans so obsessed with gay people, men especially?" — Don Lemon asks Hunter Biden, and Biden says there is a "cabal."

Listen for yourself:

It's hard to transcribe Hunter's speech, but it's hard to listen to it too, so I'll try to give you transcript:

BIDEN: There is a contingency, a cabal — a word that is, you know, gives it too much credit  —of gay Republican men that are closeted and have an enormous amount of self-hate... In DC.... We all know who they are. 

LEMON: Yes. Was Lindsey Graham one of them? 

BIDEN: Of course he was.... Why have none of your colleagues outed these people? Why when when they absolutely know?... I think that part of it has to do with the with the um with something that is real is that it is really really really dangerous to go down the path of outing anyone for any reason because of the horror and the history of it.

LEMON: Well, that I think that's why. But but if you're a hypocrite, it's different.

BIDEN: Oh, I don't I don't disagree....

"What's the most disruptive thing that you could say in the most disruptive conversation that's ever been had?"

Joe Rogan asked Zach Bush, a doctor who has specialized in hospice care. It was Bush's idea that their conversation was going to be most disruptive conversation ever.

Bush states his truth succinctly —  "Everything is perfect" — and goes on at great and rather bizarre length: 

"Everything that's happening right now is actually a perfect manifestation of a maturation of a species. We don't actually have, you know, a poly crisis going on. We've got a hospice moment.

I like the blue jumpsuit.

That's image that sprang to mind for me as we were discussing this blue jumpsuit worn by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong at the Madison protest yesterday.

If you don't know who that is in the photo above, it's Jack Lalanne. Why did I know his jumpsuit was blue? I only ever watched him on black and white TV. His daytime show began in 1951 (the year I was born).

"Trump Badly Screws Susan Collins as Maine ICE Death Takes Darker Turn."

There's a crass headline for you. From The New Republic. Excerpt:

The incident neatly captures how Trump, through his handling of this horrific ICE shooting, is inadvertently screwing over Collins and complicating her path to reelection...  Can Democrats turn the ICE shooting into a serious liability for Collins and shift the broader moral debate over immigration their way? It should be very doable....

This is Francesca Hong, a Democratic Socialist who is ahead in the polls for the Democratic Party nomination for Wisconsin governor, speaking in the streets of Madison yesterday after a fatal shooting by the police.

pic.twitter.com/YXlgytpDrc

— Laura Schulte (@SchulteLaura) July 23, 2026

For background on the polling: "Democratic socialist leads Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial field: Poll" (The Hill).

For background on the shooting: "Wisconsin officer kills man armed with knife, police say, as shooting sparks protests/Madison police said that after a chase and a struggle, a man who was being sought pulled out a knife and injured an officer, which led to the deadly shooting" (NBC News)("Videos of the shooting were captured by bystanders and were circulated online. One of them, verified by NBC News, appears to show officers holding on to the man as someone yells, 'Let go!' Multiple shouts of 'He’s got a knife!' can be heard....The shooting was not captured on body camera video, which the Madison Police Department does not widely use").

ADDED: Interrupting the Concerts on the Square can't be the best way to win over moderates. It was a beautiful day and this is an extremely well-established and much-loved Madison tradition:

Protesters have taken the stage at Concerts on the Square pic.twitter.com/PPXQo6Jgm9

— Madison365 (@madison_365) July 23, 2026

AND: Here's bystander video of the incident.