Diplomats: Reality Is Key to Mideast Peace

President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was an acknowledgment that any solution to the conflict must be based on telling the truth, write the administration’s diplomatic team of Nikki Haley, David Friedman, Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner at CNN. The successful bid to get a vote on a resolution at the United Nations blaming Hamas for the violence in Gaza, and the support it received, is in the same vein: “They recognized that reconciliation is impossible if reality is denied for the sake of scoring political points. And part of that reality is recognizing the primary responsibility Hamas bears in perpetuating the suffering of the people of Gaza.” Trump’s upcoming peace plan will reflect that as well: “Peace can only succeed if it is based on realities.”

From the left: A Tamer Theory of Trump & ‘Kompromat’

One of the salacious theories of President Trump’s obsequious posture toward Vladimir Putin holds that the Russian strongman has compromising information on the American, perhaps of some kind of sexual nature. But at The New Yorker, Adam Davidson talked to Russia experts and found the truth is likely far more banal. If the Russians have anything on Trump, it’s probably over business deals that could involve money-laundering, and rather than be in the hands of Putin, it’s merely held by former business partners. Trump is just trying not to rock the boat: “Kompromat is most powerful when it isn’t used, and when its targets aren’t quite clear about how much destructive information there is out there. If everyone sees potential land mines everywhere, it dramatically increases the price for anybody stepping out of line.”

Libertarian take: How NFL Kneelers Could Win Battle

NFL players who want to continue their protests of police violence during the national anthem should do so as follows, according to The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf. “Stand tall during the national anthem while conspicuously holding mini flagpoles with a trio of tiny banners: the Stars and Stripes on top, signifying their patriotism, Black Lives Matter in the middle, signifying their cause, and beneath it a flag declaring, ‘Donald Trump = cowardly identity politics + political correctness.’” The reason, Friedersdorf says, is that the players are doing nothing wrong as is, but that hasn’t stopped President Trump from skillfully exploiting their methods. They need “to become more adept at avoiding the traps set by their adversaries if they are to advance their agenda rather than help Trump mobilize his base.”

Drug-policy wonk: Opioid Crisis’ Real Outrage

Suing drug companies and enacting harsher penalties for dealers won’t make the dent in the opioid crisis that one other option would, argues Michael Massing at Politico: “repairing and expanding a treatment network that is severely underfunded, badly splintered and completely overwhelmed.” Massing cites a 2016 surgeon general’s report that only one in 10 who need alcohol- or drug-addiction treatment get it. Not all who need it want it, “but enough do to create shockingly long waiting lists across the country.” And treatment works: “Every dollar spent on treatment saves about $4 in health care costs and $7 in criminal costs. The savings mount when one adds in family anguish, days lost at work, child abuse and neglect, newborns going through withdrawal and homelessness.”

Anchor: Media Should Release Workers From NDAs

The #MeToo era has shaken faith in the media, as major companies have been revealed to have enabled abuse, writes Greta Van Susteren at The Washington Post. But we don’t know the full extent of it because of nondisclosure agreements — and Van Susteren thinks media employees should be released from them: “It is absurd to require NDAs for employees of broadcast news organizations — whose right to speak freely is already protected by the First Amendment. Moreover, what is so secret in a news organization that it needs draconian protection? Newsgathering isn’t like sharing Coca-Cola’s secret formula with Pepsi.” Then there’s hypocrisy: “The same news organizations that insist on muzzling their employees pursue some of their biggest scoops by encouraging outside sources to violate their own NDAs.”

— Compiled by Seth Mandel