Opinion: Are we all doomed?

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, August 10, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( The guest writer of today’s newsletter is Bari Weiss, an editor and writer in the Opinion section. “I don’t want to be alarmist, but we’re all going to die.” That’s the sunny sentiment Stephen Colbert opened his show with on Tuesday evening, after a day in which the American president [promised]( North Korea that if it continued to threaten the United States the Hermit Kingdom would be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” Remember Hillary’s [line]( In my view, it summed up the best argument against voting for Donald Trump: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” As we’ve learned over the past six months, we can’t even trust him with his own mouth. The threat Mr. Trump issued was [entirely improvised]( according to Times reporters. But for the vast majority of Americans who still believe that words have meaning, the president’s ad-lib was “alarming,” as Evelyn N. Farkas rightly [points out]( in The Times, “since the world has witnessed the horror of atomic bombs used by the United States on Japan at the end of World War II.” So what can be done? Do we East Coasters need to send for our friends and family in California and Alaska (not to mention Guam and Seoul)? Susan Rice, a former Obama adviser, [argues in our pages]( that it’s not too late for the U.S. to reduce the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons. “While we quietly continue to refine our military options, we can rely on traditional deterrence by making crystal clear that any use of nuclear weapons against the United States or its allies would result in annihilation of North Korea,” she writes. In other words, more of the same. Or in other other words: There is no good solution. That’s the overwhelming (and terrifying) consensus offered by [various]( Pyongyang watchers. The most comprehensive of these is The Atlantic [cover story]( this month by Mark Bowden. Best to read his piece with a stiff drink. ** If you aren’t cowering under your desk, consider reading this [short piece]( I wrote about Dwayne Betts. When Betts was 16 years old, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for a carjacking. “I don’t have any illusions that the penitentiary is going to help you, but you can get something out of it if you want to,” said the judge who meted out the sentence. Doubtful that judge could have imagined that Betts would go on to earn a degree from Yale Law School. The father of two is exactly the kind of lawyer the Connecticut Bar Association should be celebrating. Instead, it’s denied him admission. What does his case say about our criminal justice system? On the news. Rex Tillerson’s efforts to downplay the president’s [rhetoric]( won’t relax tensions with North Korea, [argues]( The Atlantic’s Krishnadev Calamur. “The secretary of state might assure the U.S. public that he has the issue covered and that they can indeed ‘sleep well at night,’ but it’s Trump’s words that are being heard in Pyongyang and the rest of the world.” [Raiding]( former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s home for documents suggests that Robert Mueller’s Russia probe “has advanced, has identified specific potential crimes, and is zeroing in on key evidence,” Alex Whiting [writes]( in Just Security. “It should now be plain that Mueller will use all the investigative tools at his disposal to fulfill the task that he has been assigned.” The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including [Aziz Huq on defamation]( by government officials. David Leonhardt, the regular author of this newsletter, will return Aug. 28. Editorial [Fears of Missiles, and Words]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD President Trump’s irresponsible statement on North Korea may make the confrontation over nuclear weapons harder to resolve. Op-Ed Contributor [It’s Not Too Late on North Korea]( By SUSAN E. RICE The United States must take every reasonable step to reduce the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons. But we can deter them without war. Op-Ed Contributor [How Trump Can Contain North Korea Without ‘Fire and Fury’]( By EVELYN N. FARKAS The president has a chance to use diplomacy and economic incentives to curtail Kim Jong-un’s nuclear ambitions. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Donald Trump Is the Godfather of a Democratic Renaissance]( By THOMAS B. EDSALL Party strategists and emboldened neophytes are trying to seize the grass roots from the Republican Party. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Pakistan’s New Patriarchs]( By MOHAMMED HANIF We respect women, but they have to earn that by deferring to us. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Is Naming and Shaming Rapists the Only Way to Bring Them to Justice?]( By LISA PRYOR The courts have failed, so women are taking to social media to expose the men they say attacked them. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [We’re Choking on Smoke in Seattle]( By LINDY WEST The city’s brown skies feel like a preview of what’s to come for everyone if we don’t address climate change. ADVERTISEMENT Nicolas Ortega [Op-Ed Contributor]( [When Government Defames]( By AZIZ HUQ No judicial remedy exists if a federal official slanders you. Editorial [Closing the Courthouse Door]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD There is no moral or economic reason to deny people who have been harmed the right to sue in court. But Republicans keep trying to do so. Op-Ed Contributor [Does Qatar Support Extremism? Yes. And So Does Saudi Arabia.]( By TOM WILSON If the West is worried about who’s promoting radicalization, Riyadh is the principal suspect. Op-Ed Contributor [The Right to (Black) Life]( By RENEE BRACEY SHERMAN Far too often, compassion for black lives doesn’t extend beyond the womb or to the black women carrying that womb. Op-Ed Contributor [‘The Mideast’s Only Democracy’ Goes to War on Press Freedom]( By SHERIF MANSOUR In trying to shut down a television channel, Israel is acting more like Saudi Arabia or Egypt. Opinion [Admit This Ex-Con to the Connecticut Bar]( By BARI WEISS Dwayne Betts, a former felon who graduated from Yale Law School, should be celebrated by the bar association. Instead, he’s been refused admittance. Op-Ed Contributor [Glen Campbell, Musical Omnivore]( By BILL FRISKICS-WARREN Pop, folk, jazz or country, he had an unwavering commitment to beauty, however simple or accessible its expression. Op-Ed Contributor [How Britain Misses the Spirit of 1967]( By JOAN SMITH Fifty years ago, the country led Europe in progressive social reforms. Today, it leaves the E.U. in a retrograde funk. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [opinionnewsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:opinionnewsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). ADVERTISEMENT Letters [Trump’s ‘Fire and Fury’ Warning to North Korea]( Readers view North Korea’s threats as saber rattling, suggest inviting Kim Jong-un to Mar-a-Lago and advise the president to read “Hiroshima.” SIGN UP FOR THE VIETNAM ’67 NEWSLETTER Examining America’s long war in Southeast Asia [through the course]( of a single year. FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytopinion]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. 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