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What We’re Reading This Week, July 18-22

Here’s a selection of articles Federal Relations is enjoying this week.

I Accept – Donald John Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night with an unusually vehement appeal to Americans who feel that their country is spiraling out of control and yearn for a leader who will take aggressive, even extreme, actions to protect them. Read more in the New York Times. 

Be careful near machinery (LOC)
Be careful near machinery (LOC)

All in the Family – Most of the decisions for the Trump campaign, as well as some of the strongest surrogates, are Trump’s children. Read more in Roll Call. 

Open Seat – KKK Leader David Duke is running for Senate in Louisiana. He previously ran for Governor in 1991. Read more in Roll Call.

Pondering Pence – Trump picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his running mate, but who is this guy exactly? Read about him in Pacific Standard. 

Seven Biggest Challenges – Science is in big trouble. In the past several years, many scientists have become afflicted with a serious case of doubt — doubt in the very institution of science. Read more at Vox. 

Everyone’s At Risk – Education Department’s proposed rule for student debt forgiveness could threaten traditional colleges as well as for-profits, particularly over its broad view of what counts as misrepresentation. Read more at Inside Higher Ed. 

Yeah, Kinda Exactly the Same Thing – Big news earlier in the week was Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican convention coincidentally sounded a lot like another first lady’s speech. Read more in The New York Times.

AI Is the Next Big Thing – Move over, social media and mobility: Silicon Valley has a next big thing and it’s A.I. and robots. It is useful to think of them as part of the same thing, since many robots are autonomous machines programmed for decision making based on A.I. Read more in The New York Times. 

How He Won – Donald Trump’s unexpected transformation from reality television star to Republican Party presidential nominee has been analyzed endlessly over the past few months. Most of that analysis, mostly appropriately, has focused on the deep structural factors that powered his popularity. But Trump polled well in the GOP field a year ago when almost nobody thought he would win. Read more at Vox. 

RNC KFC Special – The buttons at the RNC Convention are pretty bad. See them at The Cut.

Truly Crucial Information – Here’s what you need to do if Pokemon freeze while you’re in the middle of battling someone. Read about it at Mic.