*Improve your relationships — with advice from counter-terrorism experts.*

Torturing people you love is as destructive and stupid as torturing prisoners.

The EU may investigate whether Google is using the medical data that Fitbit collects for the sake of its advertising business.

As usual, this fails to get to the heart of the matter. Devices such as a Fitbit should not send data anywhere. They should release it to the owner, in a fully documented format, and that's all.

Sanders-supporting Democratic Convention delegates proposed a list of suggested running mates for Biden — three black females.

I've been impressed by Rep. Lee's courage in voting against military action and spending, for years, when hardly anyone else dared to. Aside from that, I am unfamiliar with them, but I expect they are all long-standing progressives. Maybe they are good choices. I am disappointed by Karen Bass's willingness to participate in a Scientology event in 2010, but mainly because she should have checked more carefully which platforms to speak on. Surely they are all much better than the plutocratist women we hear Biden's camp suggest.

However, I rebuke the delegates' foolishness in choosing these people based on their race and their gender. Didn't we learn, from Obama, not to let candidates' identity distract us from things that really matter?

Biden's statement that he will choose a woman was an attempt to distract us with identity. The plan was that he would choose a not-very-progressive woman and we'd be so thrilled by her identity that we would fool ourselves into cheering.

When I was asked to say which VP candidate I preferred, and offered a list of several women, I wrote in "Bernie Sanders" and said that he's a tried and true progressive. If a woman were equally so, I'd support her too, but I don't know of any.

Sanders calls on the Senate to reform its rules to end the filibuster. That quirk in the rules allows any 41 senators to block any law.

The Democrats are likely to have a majority starting January, but unlikely to have 60 seats. If Republicans can block laws with the filibuster, they can stop Congress from undoing the damage Republicans have done over the past few years.

The filibuster used to apply to judicial appointments, too, but the Republicans eliminated the filibuster for those decisions. That's how they were able to put so many extremists into judgeships. So why hesitate to finish eliminating it.

*Australia's 'black summer' bushfires showed the impact of [previous] human-wrought change.*