This week's topics: the Optimist; when the circus comes to town; travel ban & more; mass killers and publicity; fraternity problems, again; decency deficit; Macron and Trump; Korea.

Optimist, April 29. The unusual, often heart-warming stories.
     1. VA adopts a new, state-prescribed course for 9th and 10th graders, at their own insistence and with their help: mental health. The story notes, "It will be up to Virginia’s Board of Education to determine how the mental health mandate is carried out, but, under the law, the board must consult with mental health experts and update state standards."
     A note about student activism for other state departments of education and Ms. DeVos in Washington: When state legislatures are hidebound regarding raising taxes, students can raise their voices to demand change.
     2. A children's book about differences and courage: their father, their Hero at Home.
     3. Amanda Agana, a Naval Academy midshipman from Ghana with a childhood very unlike her fellow students, a past with lessons for her teammates at Annapolis.
    4. The "hard" safety net. In the darkness, 13 long haul drivers in Detroit slowly crept beneath an underpass to form a safety net of sorts, as state police negotiators talked a would-be suicide off the highway bridge.

The circus that is Washington. Columnist E.J. Dionne discusses what does not get done amid the cacophony of President Trump's "...incoherent spoken and tweeted outpourings...and the daily outrages...[that] leave little time for serious debate about policy or meaningful dialogue about our larger purposes."
     Jennifer Rubin notes that President Trump's warning that he will not be played by Kim Jong Un, begs the question of whether or not that has already happened with his back and forth approach to diplomacy; "he’s the easiest of marks for anyone with a red carpet and a batch of insincere compliments."
    Truly, is unfair to ask, "Would any another world leader who so publicly ranted, raved, waffled, and carried on not be summarily dismissed?"

Just a travel ban? On Wednesday, 25 April, the USSC heard arguments on the 3rd iteration of President Trump's travel ban. American University's Amanda Frost says there is a very important, second aspect to the case, nationwide injunctions. The Trump's administrations contention: A court can do no more than protect individual plaintiffs from the government’s unconstitutional policies; those who do not have the capacity to file similar lawsuits are out of luck.

Mass killing and publicity. Last Wednesday, Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle discussed the conundrum involved in the notion of a free press vs. the thought that mass killers should not be rewarded with what they crave: publicity.

Syracuse and Penn State. Boys will be boys? In response to the most recent fraternity gone-wrong story (at Syracuse University), columnist Kathleen Parker wonders (to rephrase her title as an interrogatory), "Is decent society unraveling in front of us?" The earlier, much-reported drunken frat incident at PSU turned physically lethal. According to Syracuse's Chancellor Kent Syverud, his university's more recent frat party was wantonly “appalling and disgusting on many intersecting grounds”, all visual and verbal. How to handle these young men? Parker notes that "[In] America, even knuckle-dragging quadrupeds are granted due process." And, depending on the circumstances and the skill of their attorneys, judgement may well be substantial or amount to little or nothing at all.

Decency vs. today's usual politics. Against a backdrop of Washington name-calling, columnist Ruth Marcus discussed how two acts of personal kindness in the US Senate seemed so out of sync.

Macron and Trump. The American press had their own impressions, but France's Le Monde ("a double-edged visit") and Le Figaro ("on the edge of brutality") preferred to dwell on the frank tone and opportunist substance of President Macron's address to Congress. From all appearances, Congress understood and enjoyed Marcon's remarks.
     Long time foreign affairs columnist, David Ignatius, asked Macron if he found Trump trustworthy. "Yes, I trust him very much," he answered, "because I want him to move, 'to be a protector of multilateralism and Western values.' " In other words, Ignatius say, "Macron trusts Trump to the extent he thinks he can maneuver him."

Korea. From all appearances last Friday's North - South meeting played out well -- as far as it went. Undoubtedly, North Korea, with its nuclear warheads and ICBMs, feels it can deal from a new position of strength. Thus, the upcoming "summit" with President Trump may have become even more important. Unfortunately, progress may well hinge on whether or not Kim Jong Un realizes that for President Trump, he, Kim, is still "Little Rocket Man." Don't try to upstage the "Big Rocket Man."
     It is well to remember that any formal peace treaty ending the Korean war will also require the signatures of both the US and China (but not Russia). Like world disarmament, North Korean denuclearization will take time and international effort, both of which President Trump has little aptitude or patience for.

Thank you for reading.