This week’s Economist had a story about self-driving cars and their potential for abuse. Here are my thoughts on the article.

This isn’t just a struggle over a president. It’s a struggle over what rules we’re going to play by after Trump. Are we all going to descend permanently into the Trump standard of acceptable behavior?

Last month, Ashley Bennett kicked John Carman’s sexist ass. And Danica Roem became Virginia’s first openly transgender lawmaker, unseating Robert Marshall who dubbed himself “Virginia’s chief homophobe.” He introduced an anti-transgender bathroom bill which luckily died in committee. Congratulations, Danica! One way to raise the bar on respect and love in America is to keep out politicians who have neither. So happy! Trevor’s right … Karma came out big in these elections.

Really enjoyed this segment of Science Friday from a few weeks ago. Defending science in a post-truth era has great suggestions for how scientists and science educators can do their jobs better given today’s challenges.

Senator Jeff Flake’s Reality Check For Republicans is a great listen. Jeff Flake seems the kind of Republican who regularly takes a step back from the party line (and the kind of shit Fox News bleats on and on about) to think about the big picture.

Nikole Hanna-Jones has a poignant take on school choice. We all want what’s best for our kids, but we are destroying our schools by not actively participating. Each family can be a force for improvement of their school, instead of a force for destruction by placing all responsibility and blame on the teachers and the system. We are not making America great by being hands-off. Listen to her Fresh Air interview on How the Systematic Segregation of Schools is Maintained by ‘Individual Choices’.

PBS News Hour segment explaining why your summer getaway is staffed by foreign workers. Congress doesn’t seem to understand the need for H2B visas, and Republicans continue to express cluelessness about what types of jobs Americans will take. Americans don’t want to move for months for a temporary job. Teens and students have scheduling conflicts that prevent them from working for the full season. Mar-a-Lago applied for 70 H2B Visas after the Dept of Homeland Security announced an increase in temporary foreign worker visas.

Rep Buddy Carter of Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) on Wednesday defended President Trump’s criticism of Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) as fair, saying someone needs to go to the Senate and “snatch a knot in their ass.” Condoning violence and bullying is unacceptable. On his healthcare effort, McConnell didn’t solicit input from people across the aisle, nor from any women in his own party. It’s no wonder fellow Republicans have been opposed to it.

How does this still happen in 2017? Indeed. I highly recommend this episode of The1A.

The committee name is yet another manipulative piece of double-speak naming from the right. They thought 1984 was a guide book, not a cautionary tale. Integrity isn’t something that Trump has ever shown, so his committee should be considered suspect. And the first bumbling public action it took, wherein they released the personal contact information of people who left comments for the commission, is telling. They don’t give a fuck, clearly.