'We might need to fiddle with our technology more than we think'

'Could steampunk save us?'

Joshua Rothman at The New Yorker

Steampunk machines are "extraordinary, improbable, and romantic — they represent the triumph of imagination," and "this steampunkish vision of the technological world as an aging contraption hurtling into the future might be especially vital now," says Joshua Rothman. We "may soon be able to ask an AI 'agent' to do something for us, caring mainly that it completes our task." The "risks of adopting such a relationship to technology are self-evident," but it's "not so hard to adjust our imaginations."

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'Trump vows to attack public education if elected. It's our kids who would suffer.'

Marla Bautista at USA Today

Donald Trump is "using public education as a weapon in his campaign for the White House," says Marla Bautista. The GOP has "consistently attacked public schools and teachers unions while promoting vouchers and other initiatives that drain resources from classrooms." The "idea of shuttering the Department of Education has been a GOP rallying cry for decades," but this "could potentially take away billions of dollars in federal money that school districts rely on."

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'How to cool down labor unrest at the ports'

Sean Higgins at the National Review

A way to "head off any potential strike that would threaten the economy would be for Congress to put the ports under the authority of the Railway Labor Act," says Sean Higgins. The act regulates "labor issues directly related to interstate commerce. It is no stretch to say that ports are part of the nation's transportation infrastructure, which is inherently interstate commerce." One union "should not have the power to put large segments of the economy on strike."

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'Post-Helene recovery underlines Americans' uneasy relationship with Appalachia'

K.M. Slade at The American Prospect

Appalachian communities "fear that America will once again forget all about Appalachia now that Helene has literally stripped away its appeal as a climate sanctuary," says K.M. Slade. Goodwill has "been overshadowed by the politicization of Helene, which has deepened Appalachia's uneasy relationship with the rest of the country." The "investments that Appalachia needed took a back seat to partisan bickering, leaving the poorest residents in limbo, struggling with poverty and high unemployment."

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