Twice within two months, America has narrowly avoided the tragedy of seeing a major political figure assassinated during an election season — and the toxic forces that such an outrage could unleash in a country wracked by visceral partisan divides.

That such incidents happen at all speak to the undercurrent of violence that is a constant shadow over American politics, one that is exacerbated by the easy availability of firearms. Both nominees now address outdoor crowds from behind bulletproof screens. There will now be fresh fears that a tempestuous period running up to Election Day could take the country further down a dark road.

After decades without an assassination attempt against a high-level executive branch official, a haunting reality has been revived this year: that those who offer themselves for the highest office are potentially putting their lives on the line.

The FBI is investigating what it said is an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump at his Florida golf club Sunday, the second time in two months there’s been an apparent attempt on the former president’s life.

Trump is safe and was not harmed in the incident, his campaign said. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said during a Sunday news conference that his office was informed at 1:30 p.m. ET of shots fired by the Secret Service, when agents fired at a man who had a rifle in the bushes along the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club.

Trump had been playing golf at the time, moving between holes five and six, a source briefed on the matter told CNN.

This post on Gun Rights is 1 of 3 issues that US onAir curators are focusing on in the Human Rights  category.

Gun politics is defined in the United States by two primary opposing ideologies concerning the private ownership of firearms. Those who advocate for gun control support increasingly restrictive regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose increased restriction, or support the liberalization of gun ownership.

These groups typically disagree on the interpretation of the text, history and tradition of the laws and judicial opinions concerning gun ownership in the United States and the meaning of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. American gun politics involves these groups’ further disagreement concerning the role of firearms in public safety, the studied effects of ownership of firearms on public health and safety, and the role of guns in national and state crime.

For more information and discussion on the the government agencies, legislative committees, and leading Senate and House chair persons addressing the Gun Rights issue, go to this Gun Rights slideshow in the US onAir hub.

More Data on How Harris Helped Herself, ABC News
58% believe Harris won the debate, but her 51-46% lead over Trump remains steady. 81% say Swift had no impact, and 56% of Trump supporters strongly back him vs. 62% for Harris.

Trump Will Visit Springfield, Ohio, NBC News
Trump plans to visit Springfield, Ohio, where he and Vance have spread debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets despite local officials and Gov. DeWine rejecting the allegations.

Institutions Retreat From Activism, Axios
Many major institutions, including universities and corporations, are pulling back from activism and adopting neutrality policies to avoid backlash amid divisive social and political debates.

The Anxious States of America, USA Today
Amid growing political divisions and fear, a poll reveals that while anxiety is widespread, 81% of Americans still express hope for the nation’s future, driven by faith in the “American spirit.”

The Case for Mobile Voting, Bradley Tusk’s Substack
Bradley Tusk argues that mobile voting can fix America’s broken political system by increasing voter turnout, reducing the influence of extremists, and making elections more representative.

Consider what has transpired over just the last 90 days:

• July 13: Trump is wounded in an assassination attempt
• July 15-18: Republicans hold their national convention
• July 21: Joe Biden announces he will not seek a 2nd term
• August 19-22: Democrats hold their national convention, nominate Kamala Harris
• Sept. 10: Trump and Harris debate
• Sept. 15: Trump is rushed off his golf course after another assassination attempt

I say all of that to note that it is possible that we are in an election so unique that our past polling and assumptions about where the race is and where it is headed are useless. That the circumstances surrounding this race make it a one of one — a unicorn election.

Fei-Fei Li, the Stanford professor many deem the “Godmother of AI,” has raised $230 million for her new startup, World Labs, from backers including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, and Radical Ventures.

Another way to consider what they are trying to do is the following:  World Labs is seeking to create AI models that can accurately estimate the three-dimensional physicality of real-world objects and environments, enabling detailed digital replicas without the need for extensive data collection. G

They are calling themselves a spatial intelligence company building Large World Models (LWMs) to perceive, generate, and interact with the 3D world.

Vance’s politics are the politics of hate. Perhaps he once read The Education of Henry Adams and learned that, “Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.” Or perhaps he just watched Trump’s success and internalized its lessons. But in any case, for Vance it’s all about hate.

But instead, Vance and Trump have gotten “distracted” into a debate about legal Haitian migrants who’ve come to Springfield to work legally. Or is it a distraction? Might Vance and Trump know what they’re doing? Perhaps a pure play on racism and nativism is more effective politically than a somewhat complicated debate about the border—especially after Trump killed the border bill, and especially in non-border states in the Midwest?

But though the speed of computer processing power can be measured quantitatively, the transformations in a culture’s tolerance for delay are qualitative. It is only when we step back—or, more likely, when we are forced into a situation where we must wait without distraction—that we are reminded of other ways of doing things.

Hence why, perhaps, researchers have linked the increase in Americans’ impatience to the rise in both obesity and debt, as well as the decline in savings, and the increase in gambling. We, as a society, are losing our ability to delay gratification, to patiently plan ahead. We value the new and the now, which is having a disturbing impact on—among other things—the realm of public discourse. In the media, we have come to prefer reaction to deliberation. We respect expertise less, because it takes time to develop and mature. In a culture used to immediate, brief responses, considered responses are often drowned out by a chorus of louder, less-informed voices.

Patience is a virtue. Good things come to those who wait. These phrases are cliché, but the evidence suggests they’re true. We benefit from appreciating that the most important things in life take time. From accepting that waiting is inescapable, no matter how much technology views it as a problem to be solved