Testing debates

Trudy Rubin of The Philadelphia Inquirer is struck by how quickly the fire that severely damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in France has ignited "dueling narratives" regarding the future of the country and the European continent.

We need to fix this. there should only be an excerpt for the first note in a debate

John Bennett of CQ Roll Call looks at some of the takeaways from Trump's failed nuke negotiations with North Korea.

After meeting with asylum-seeking migrant mothers to help them prepare to interview with asylum officers, Meg Hobbins says the violence they're fleeing from surmounts any obstacles they face upon arriving at the U.S. border and that policies of deterrence will fail as long as those conditions remain in Central American countries.

"Can you really blame the kids," asks Chris Bryant. "The planet has warmed by "only" about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times and yet the destructive effects of climate change have become frighteningly apparent. The heatwaves, floods, deadly wildfires and violent hurricanes we've experienced lately are mild compared to what our children will contend with. The world is on track to heat up by more than 3 degrees by 2100 and the warming won't miraculously stop then."

Trudy Rubin asked the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, how to "lead a fight for human rights in a world where mass slaughter of civilians goes unpunished, where populists and autocrats are rising — and where the United States no longer leads a global pushback against human rights crimes?"

"As President Donald Trump meets with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Vietnam, there are ample reasons for concern, a lot of them stemming from Trump's failings as a leader and as a human being," writes the L.A. Times Editorial Board. "But there is also reason for guarded optimism about the summit and the larger engagement between the United States and North Korea."

Mac Margolis, of Bloomberg News, argues that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's visit to the United States this week wasn't as disastrous as critics are saying. While many Brazilians feel Bolsonaro humiliated himself fawning over Trump and American culture, Margolis points out that he has taken a significant step in thawing U.S.-Brazil relations and moving his country toward greater participation in the global economy.

Leonid Bershidsky points out the disproportionate media coverage of Islamist terrorism, which is on the wane, while outlets tend to only cover violence perpetrated by far-right white supremacists under certain circumstances — even though those attacks have increased by around 500 percent since 2014.