Wiretap: North Korea is turning into a slow-motion Cuban missile crisis

How dangerous is the standoff between Washington and North Korea? Let’s just say it’s dangerous enough, according to a New York Times analysis, for one expert on the situation to call it “the Cuban missile crisis in slow motion.” And one that seems to be speeding up.

The real story in the fractured Trump White House, writes Ron Brownstein, is not so much that Steve Bannon is losing influence or that Jared Kushner is gaining, but that conventional Republicanism seems to be taking the place of Trumpism. Via The Atlantic. Not that Bannon is giving up, of course. The New Yorker reports that he’s playing the long game.

This Honduran immigrant has been deported twice, survived bandits, freight trains, swamps and Trump’s tougher border policies,  but still he heads back to the United States for another try. Via The Los Angeles Times. And then there are the undocumented immigrants already in the United States who have given up on the American dream in favor of cold Canadian reality. Via The Boston Globe.

It’s not just Colorado where ICE is rounding up non-criminal undocumented immigrants. Under the new Trump orders, it’s everywhere. According to statistics gathered by The Washington Post, the number of non-criminal deportees has doubled this year.

Remember communism? It seems to be making a comeback in France’s presidential election. Polls show the far left rising, the far right remaining a distinct threat and the center looking for a way to hold on. Vive la France. Via The Washington Post.

Europe may be a political mess, but whatever happens with Brexit and with French elections and with a wide range of nationalist threats, Europe is still a superpower and will remain one for generations to come. Via Foreign Policy.

From The National Review: The danger for Republicans in the Georgia 6th Congressional District race is that an upset defeat might send the wrong message.

The latest in United’s belated attempt at damage control: The airline now promises not to yank passengers out of their seats in order to seat United employees. Of course, that doesn’t do much to the damage (broken nose, missing teeth, etc.) to one passenger’s face. Via The New York Times.

Byron York: The long and sordid story behind the story of Jared Kushner’s grudge against Chris Christie. (Hint: It only begins with the story that Christie put Kushner’s father in prison.) Via The Washington Examiner.

We all know you’ve been waiting for the fully annotated version of Melissa McCarthy’s latest Spicey sketch on Saturday Night Live. Well, you’re in luck because The Washington Post has it.

Photo by Stefan Krasowski, via flickr: Creative Commons