Within hours of Vice President Kamala Harris announcing her running mate, certain corners of the internet had exploded with “Tampon Tim” memes, a reference to a bill that Tim Walz signed ensuring free period products in Minnesota public schools.

If you’ve ever caught a fish, you know that keeping hold of them is hard.

The intelligence world’s relationship with assassination is threefold: analytical (uncovering and assessing an event’s details), exploitative (leveraging news of an attack for propaganda gains) and executive (affecting a hit). As details of the 13 July attempt on our former president’s life continue to emerge, and reactions continue to range from stoic to lunatic, let’s look at the evolving situation through an intelligence lens to bring a few things into better focus.

It was a late afternoon conversation on the back patio. Dot, my wife, and I were talking about major events that have occurred in our almost 70 years of marriage, and that’s a lot of ground to cover. “Do you recall a time like this when it seems the world is coming apart: COVID shutdowns, financial distress, the Ukraine war, the Middle East, and constant economic upheavals, and now a huge financial market sell-off”? Dot asked.

As the presidential campaign enters its final phase with the unexpected ascension of Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket to face Republican Donald Trump, it’s easy to forget that there are actually three, not two, candidates with some notable polling in the race. The third is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who having failed to secure a credible shot at winning the Democratic primary against Joe Biden is now running as an independent, hitting around 5% in national polls.

Nearly 60 years ago, on Oct. 20, 1964, Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California.

Kamala Harris, who still hasn’t held an unscripted media appearance since Democratic power-brokers anointed her to replace the now-forgotten Joe Biden, made her first major decision of the campaign Tuesday — and it underwhelmed.

America’s heartland is commendably getting the political recognition it’s due this year, with Republicans and Democrats tapping a pair of Midwesterners to balance out presidential tickets headed by a New Yorker and a San Franciscan.

It’s outrageous that the Supreme Court is allowing states and cities to criminalize homelessness and that Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering encampments dismantled.

If you watched as much of the Republican National Convention as I did, you must have been impressed by the energy, unity and commitment of the speakers and delegates. One could sense the momentum building.

Politics aside, Americans are united on some of the basic things their government should do better: Make sure air travel is safe, simplify the process for filing tax returns, streamline applications for student loans.

After harrowing ordeals wrongly detained in Russian prisons, 16 people were freed in exchange for eight Russian prisoners held in the United States, Slovenia, Poland, Norway and Germany.

Before we explore this divisive issue, I want to be clear that I believe capitalism has done more to lift people out of poverty than any other social and economic system in history. But don’t kid yourself that we live in a country that embraces “free market” capitalism. As we embark on this exploration, please know that I’m not suggesting we embrace policies that create disincentives to work, and work hard. Nor am I suggesting that we embrace policies that guarantee equal outcomes for all Americans. Rather, we need to evolve capitalism and break out of the political narratives that constrain that objective.

It’s an election year, which means we’ll be hearing a lot from both Democrats and Republicans claiming that their party is the one true champion of working-class Americans. Sure, but what does it mean to be part of the working class in America these days? It means being female.

The largest number of migrants streaming into the U.S. and to New York City are from Venezuela and so Americans are directly impacted by stability in that country. Now comes a suspicious election favoring President Nicolás Maduro, with his puppet electoral council granting him a dubious victory over challenger Edmundo González that could cause even more chaos there.

Ilistened with profound sadness to the recent Supreme Court decision Grants Pass v. Johnson, which opens the door for people to be arrested simply for lacking shelter. This decision makes it legal for local governments to target, fine and even incarcerate people who fall asleep in public areas, regardless of whether there’s safe, accessible shelter available.

Not long ago, a millennial father of two in the Midwest whom I interviewed was convinced that many of our elected leaders like to feast on the flesh of children. He feared that the world was at the mercy of a depraved club of the richest and most powerful among us, one armed with space lasers and clones.

Vice President Kamala Harris has a golden opportunity to demonstrate she is ready to govern from the middle by frankly addressing her role in the Biden administration’s ineffective immigration policies. She should seize the moment before it slips away.

Crowdstrike did not have a good day on July 19. During a routine software update, the file that the cybersecurity firm issued triggered a logic error that prohibited Windows machines from rebooting. Microsoft estimates that around 8.5 million computers may have been affected by the event.

A mob of white men in the thousands amassed in a show of solidarity for their presidential candidate of choice, and no violence ensued. Not one broken window, makeshift noose or whiff of bear spray.