From the right: Yes, Hillary Should’ve Been Prosecuted

The difference between unclassified and classified is often a judgment call that can go either way, writes David French at National Review. But that’s not true of the difference between unclassified and top secret — which is why Hillary Clinton’s defenders are being disingenuous: “The IG indicated that State Department security procedures were lax, and that if the DOJ were to prosecute Hillary, it would have to prosecute many other employees. Well, if the employees are sharing TS/SAP [top secret/special access program] information on unclassified systems, then let the prosecutions commence.” Yet “when the IG outlined allegedly ‘similar’ cases where the DOJ declined to prosecute, they weren’t similar at all.” Sharing top secret information requires access, effort — and intent: “If Hillary had been Capt. Clinton, United States Army, instead of Secretary Clinton, Democratic nominee for president, then the consequences would have been very different indeed.”

From the left: It’s Trump’s Party Now

“In an unusual disconnect,” David Graham writes at The Atlantic, President Trump “remains largely unpopular with the country as a whole, but extremely popular with the Republican base.” That’s why, he avers, we don’t see a ton of pushback from Republicans on, say, Trump’s deferential treatment of Kim Jong-un or his antitrade policies or his blowing up the G-7 summit. Trump “has consolidated his grasp on the Republican Party.” And it’s having its effect on GOP primaries: “In South Carolina, Trump offered a late endorsement to Katie Arrington, who challenged Rep. Mark Sanford in a GOP primary. Arrington won.” Some in the party, like Sen. Cory Gardner, resist backing Trumpy candidates. “Individual candidates, however, will get the message: Allegiance to Trump seems to matter above all else, and criticizing Trump seems a sure way to lose primaries.”

Suicide contagion: Empathy Must Be a Way of Life

Society needs far more than expressions of empathy to stem the tide of suicides — recently brought to the fore by the deaths of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade — warns Richard Morgan in The Washington Post. Telling people they’ll be missed is nice, as is posting suicide hotline numbers. But as someone who has long struggled with suicidal thoughts, Morgan explains that suicide “is a kind of fatal exhaustion. It knocks on your door not as a monster but as a healer making a house call.” And so we must “make that knock at the door less appealing.” A radical restructuring of societal priorities is in order. Empathy must factor into personal engagement from Day One — “it should be our other oxygen.”

Medical beat: Exposing Young Migrants to ‘Toxic Stress’

The nature of the child-migrant crisis is changing because the demographics of it are changing, NPR’s Joel Rose reports: “Until now, the vast majority of the migrant children in those shelters — more than 80 percent — were teenagers. Many arrived at the border on their own and knew what to expect.” But experts say the number of under-13s is rising fast. Colleen Kraft, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told Rose that this is greatly increasing the risk that the Trump administration policy of separating parents from children at the border will do long-term damage: “The long-term concern of what we call toxic stress is that brains are not developed efficiently or effectively. And these children go on to have behavior problems, to have long-term medical problems.”

Culture file: Black Fathers, White Kids and America

Former Post editor David Kaufman talks about his fears as a black father to white sons at Quartz: “In America, few things appear more suspicious than a dark man living with, laughing with, and loving white children.” In this way, men are affected differently than women: “In Manhattan, where we live, there’s nothing unusual about dark-skinned women toting white kids around town; they’re usually the nanny. Indeed, generations of white American children have been raised by black and brown women.” Plus there’s the trend of “white female celebs — think Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie and Madonna — adopting African and African-American children.” But “America was built on the fear, loathing and labor of black men.” So “where does that leave families like my own? I’m not entirely sure.”

—Compiled by Seth Mandel