A president’s budget proposal is many things: a statement of priorities and goals, an agenda, a battlefield map.

But it’s not final, and it’s not law. Only Congress can decide how the nation’s tax revenue will be spent, and how much debt we’ll take on to spend money we don’t have.

White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Trump’s first budget was “written from the perspective of the people who pay for the government.” It aims to raise the nation’s economic growth from its wan current rate of 1.9 percent to a healthier 3 percent over 10 years. “If we do not get to 3 percent growth it is unlikely that we will ever balance the budget again,” he said, calling it “theft” to borrow money with no intention or plan to pay it back.

Trump’s budget assumes $2 trillion in additional revenue over 10 years from the new economic activity that will be generated when and if the economy is growing at 3 percent.

There are many moving parts in Washington right now that will affect the prospects for economic growth. The budget, tax reform and health care legislation are interconnected, with the projected costs of each element affecting the ability to pass one of the others.

Tax reform and health legislation are crucial to achieving the president’s goal, and his signature campaign promise, of rapid job creation. He also promised not to cut Social Security or Medicare, and his budget keeps faith with that vow despite the views of some Republicans in Congress that the programs are unsustainable.

But other cuts in spending have outraged a wide array of affected interest groups, and Congress will likely want to restore most of the funding that Trump’s budget would cut. The president has created leverage to negotiate for something he wants: an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling. In recent months, Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been urging Congress to raise the debt ceiling before adjourning in July so that it’s not an issue in the fall.

As he did during the campaign, Trump is courting elements of the coalition that has reliably backed Democratic candidates. His budget includes $200 billion for infrastructure spending, a solid winner with union members who will find high-paying work on those projects. A new program to fund paid family leave would cost $25 billion over 10 years and ease the burdens on young parents, voters that Republicans will need to win House and Senate races across the country.

At the same time, Trump’s budget makes an effort to halt the rise of “improper payments” in anti-poverty programs like the Child Tax Credit. A report by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General found that 25 percent of the money paid out by the program, and two others like it, is lost to error or fraud, a total of nearly $30 billion a year.

All presidents vow to get rid of waste and fraud, but not usually with such specificity.

While the president’s budget is a statement of his goals and his priorities, his ability to achieve them depends on his skill in maneuvering his proposals through the thicket of the legislative branch. In real estate terms, he has made an offer.

Take it seriously, but not literally.

The book that emerged, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City,” won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction.

In an interview with the Southern California News Group, Desmond described the toll evictions take on the communities in which they occur.

Here are some excerpts:

Q Evictions are going down steadily in Southern California. Is that occurring elsewhere in the nation?

A We don’t know if it’s happening everywhere. We are in the midst of an enormous data gathering effort to collect eviction (data) across the country. We’re doing that through court systems and looking at formal eviction rates, and we see a lot of different things.
We see stability in some cities, we see increases in evictions in some cities and we see decreases in some cities.

So the question is why, and the answer is, I don’t know yet.

Q What is the cost of evictions? How do they impact communities, landlords, tenants?

A Let’s start with tenants.

Evictions can cause loss. Families not only lose their homes, but often they lose their possessions, which are piled up on the street or taken by movers, and a lot of families can’t afford to get it back, to get their things back.

Kids lose their schools. You lose your community. So it’s very destabilizing.

Since evictions go through court, it has a record that comes with it, and many landlords that I spend time with use that as a big screening mechanism. And that’s really the reason, we think, families are pushed into worse housing and worse neighborhoods after their evictions.

Families who get evicted tend to live in worse housing than they did before, and they live in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates and higher crime rates than they did before.

Evictions cause job loss. Because it’s such a destabilizing, stressful event, they lose their footing in the labor market. It has big impacts on people’s health, especially mental health. So we have a study that shows that moms who get evicted have higher rates of depression two years later. We know that between 2005 and 2010, suicide attributed to evictions and foreclosures doubled around the country.

There’s a lot less data how it affects communities, but we’re seeing that evictions can fray the fabric of a community. We have some evidence in Milwaukee that neighborhoods with higher eviction rates have higher violent crime rates the next year. We kind of see that as evidence of, of kind of a ripple effect or a destabilizing effect of evictions on entire neighborhoods.

And then landlords.

One cost that’s often talked about with landlords is just the financial cost of evictions, the cost of tenant turnover. The cost of evictions varies a lot, but it could be for landlords an expensive process as well. Among the costs for landlords as well is the emotional costs of an eviction.

By RAHIM FAIEZ and AMIR SHAH

KABUL, Afghanistan — A massive suicide car bombing rocked a highly secure diplomatic area of Kabul on Wednesday morning, killing 80 people and wounding as many as 350, an attack that left a scene of mayhem and destruction and sent a huge plume of smoke over the Afghan capital.

The target of the explosion in the Wazir Akbar Khan area was not immediately known, but Ismail Kawasi, spokesman of the public health ministry, said most of the casualties were civilians, including women and children.

It was one of the worst attacks Kabul had seen since the drawdown of foreign forces from the country at the end of 2014. The bombing also raised serious questions about the Afghan government’s ability to secure the war-battered nation.

Associated Press images from the scene showed the German Embassy and several other embassies located in the area heavily damaged. Germany, Japan and Pakistan said some of their embassy employees and staff were hurt in the explosion.

The BBC said a driver for the British broadcaster was killed and four of its journalists were wounded. Afghanistan’s private TOLO Television also reported a staffer killed; Germany said an Afghan security guard outside its embassy was among those killed.

The explosion took place at the peak of Kabul’s rush hour, when roads are packed with worktime commuters. Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the suicide car bomber detonated his explosives close to a busy intersection in the Wazir Akbar Khan district.

The neighborhood is considered Kabul’s safest area, with foreign embassies protected by dozens of 10-foot-high blast walls and government offices, guarded by police and national security forces. The German Embassy, the Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Palace are all in the area, as are the British and the Canadian embassies. The Chinese, Turkish and Iranian embassies are also located there.

The U.S Embassy and the NATO mission in Kabul, located about a kilometer (half mile) away from the site, both condemned the attack. The alliance praised “the courage of Afghan Security Forces, especially the police and first responders” following the attack.

Local TV footage showed shocked residents soaked in blood stumbling about, then being ferried away to hospitals. Passers-by stopped and helped the wounded into private cars, others congregated outside the nearby Italian-run Emergency Hospital.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, though both the Taliban and the Islamic State group have staged large-scale attacks in the Afghan capital in the past.

The Taliban later Wednesday issued a statement denying any involvement and condemning all attacks against civilians. Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, said the Kabul explosion had “nothing to do with the Mujahedeen of Islamic Emirate,” as the Taliban call themselves. Even though the Taliban claim they are only waging war against the Kabul government and foreign forces in Afghanistan, most of the casualties of their attacks have been civilians.

A statement from the Ministry of Interior Affairs said it condemned “in the strongest terms the terrorist attack” that killed so many, including women and children. “These heinous acts go against the values of humanity as well values of peaceful Afghans,” it added.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also condemned the attack, which came just days into the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A statement from his office quoted Ghani as saying that “the terrorists, even in the holy month of Ramadan, the month of goodness, blessing and prayer, are not stopping the killing of our innocent people.”

Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that along with the Afghan guard who was killed, a German diplomat was lightly wounded while an Afghan staffer sustained severe injuries. Gabriel offered his condolences to the guard’s family.

Neighboring Pakistan denounced the “terrorist attack in Kabul” and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “caused damage to the residences of some Pakistani diplomats and staff, living in the close vicinity, and inflicted minor injuries to some.”

China’s foreign ministry said its embassy was partly damaged but that all embassy staffers were “safe and sound” and that there had been no reports of injured Chinese citizens.

Germany has had troops in Afghanistan for 15 years, primarily concentrated in the north in and around Mazar-e-Sharif. They’re currently one of the biggest contributors to the NATO-led Resolute Support mission with around 980 soldiers on the ground to support and train Afghan security forces.

Wednesday’s explosion was so heavy that more than 50 vehicles were either destroyed or damaged around the site of the attack. “We don’t know at this moment what was the target,” said Danish.

Residents described a mushroom cloud over Kabul and windows were shattered in shops, restaurants and other buildings up to a kilometer (half mile) from the blast site.

“There are a large number of casualties, but I don’t know how many people are killed or wounded,” said an eyewitness, Gul Rahim.

Mohammad Haroon, who owns a sporting goods store near the site, said all the windows on his shop and others around him were shattered. “I’ve never seen such a powerful explosion in my life,” he said.

“Business will be very bad, nobody will come for shopping anymore,” he added.

Kawasi, the health official, said the wounded were admitted to different Kabul hospitals.

Shortly after the explosion, all roads in Wazir Akbar Khan were blocked off by Afghan security forces and helicopters were deployed over the neighborhood.

Last month, the Afghan Taliban announced the beginning of their spring offensive, promising to build their political base in the country while focusing military assaults on the international coalition and Afghan security forces.

U.S. and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years. The United States now has more than 8,000 troops in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations. In the past year, they have largely concentrated on thwarting a surge of attacks by the Taliban, who have captured key districts, such as Helmand province, which U.S. and British troops had fought bitterly to return to the government.

Yet the Afghan war shows no signs of letting up and the emergence of the local Islamic State branch has made Afghanistan even more volatile.

The affiliate, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan, an ancient name for parts of Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia, has taken credit for several brazen assaults on Kabul, including the attack on a military hospital on March 8 when IS gunmen, wearing white lab coats, stormed a military hospital in Kabul, killing 50 people.

___

Associated Press writers David Rising in Berlin and Kathy Gannon in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Did you know that Disney California Adventure’s new Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout ride exists in a time loop created by fellow Marvel character Doctor Strange?

Or that Taneleer Tivan, the owner of the collection within which the Guardians are trapped, wanted to plop his museum on top of the old Hollywood Tower Hotel because he’s an attention hog who enjoys making people mad?

Or that Pirates of the Caribbean is just a dream sequence, with the drop at the beginning and lift at the end symbolizing our descent into – and rise back from – our subconscious mind?

You didn’t? That’s OK, because none of these “facts” about Disneyland Resort attractions are official canon. Instead, they are part of my personal “head canon,” the facts that I – and many other Disney fans – make up to “fill in the gaps” of Disney’s official attraction narratives.

Great stories don’t always answer every question that they raise. The most engaging stories leave room for readers’ and viewers’ imaginations. While they usually tie up the major plot points, great stories also raise questions about characters’ backgrounds, motivations and actions that leave fans plenty to think about and argue after the show’s done.

Think about some of Disney’s animated classics. Could Anna and Elsa’s mother really have survived that shipwreck, then given birth to Tarzan while stranded in Africa? What would have happened if some other woman in the kingdom had Cinderella’s shoe size? Does anyone realize that, from Snow White’s perspective, the apple worked?

Head canon allows us to connect the stories we love most and to answer the questions not fully explained within them. To use a theme park industry buzzword, it’s one more form of interactivity for fans. Creating head canon is a way that we can continue to engage with stories, even after watching, reading or riding them.

By the way, I’m going with the explanation that Cinderella’s step-mom bound her feet to keep her from escaping, explaining Cinderella’s abnormally small feet.

Perhaps the most famous example of Disney-fan head canon is “The Pixar Theory,” which connects all of the studio’s animated features into a single narrative universe. But Disney’s theme park attractions have spawned countless fan theories, as well.

Let’s not get into the urban legend stuff, such as Walt’s cryogenically frozen body being buried under the castle. Head canon is making things up in the fictional world. Do it for real stuff, and you’re just trafficking in conspiracy theory.

The Haunted Mansion probably has inspired more head canon fan theories than any other Disney attraction. Disney’s Imagineers never could settle on a single narrative for the ride, so they threw in a bunch of gags and illusions and let fans find a way to connect them.

Which they have, concocting stories about vengeful brides, sailors lost at sea and even one theory that the whole attraction represents the audience’s suicide, as death is the “only way out” of the Mansion.

In 2006, though, Disney Imagineers retrofitted the attraction to make certain fan head canon official – reworking the bride in the attic, naming her Constance Hatchaway and depicting her as the serial killer of five husbands.

To me, that took a little bit of the fun out of the Mansion. I liked having to fill in some of the blanks myself. (And I miss the pop-up ghosts, too.) The addition of an official story about the bride left less room for imagination in the Mansion. Sure, it’s still a great ride, but its changes over the years remind me that sometimes it’s better to stoke fans’ curiosity than to satisfy it.

By JULIE PACE

WASHINGTON  — A White House official says President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.

But the official says there may be “caveats in the language” that Trump uses to announce the withdrawal — leaving open the possibility that the decision isn’t final.

The official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the decision before the official announcement.

Nearly 200 nations, including the United States, agreed in 2015 to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change.

During Trump’s overseas trip last week, European leaders pressed him to keep the U.S. in the landmark agreement.

Trump promised during his presidential campaign to pull the U.S. out of the deal.

ANAHEIM — The last time Eric Young Jr. hit a homer in the big leagues, Albert Pujols was looking for No. 503.

On Wednesday night, Pujols held steady at 599, while Young ended his drought with an eighth-inning tie-breaking homer in the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Young, a veteran utilityman, was just promoted this week to take Mike Trout’s roster spot when he went on the disabled list with a torn ligament in his thumb. Young’s last homer — No. 8 of his career — was on May 12, 2014.

Batting ninth, Young reached base all three times on Wednesday, with a single and a walk. He also made a leaping catch at the left field fence in the second inning.

While his homer helped deliver the Angels a victory on a night that Jesse Chavez pitched seven strong innings, those in the Angel Stadium crowd of 35,795 who came looking for history will have to wait.

A day after Pujols moved to the edge of his milestone, he had just a bloop single in four at-bats.

None of the Angels did much, as they try to adjust to life without Trout for the next six to eight weeks.

Facing a lefty, the Angels also played without left-handed hitters Luis Valbuena and Ben Revere. Cameron Maybin was also out with a side injury, which left a lineup that had Jefry Marte hitting cleanup, Martin Maldonado batting fifth and Danny Espinosa sixth.

The Angels didn’t even manage to get a runner into scoring position until the fifth inning. They also hit into three double plays, and had a runner caught stealing.

They finally scored a run because Maldonado broke up a possible double play — at third. Shane Robinson’s grounder was fielded by third baseman Rio Ruiz, and Maldonado slid into him as he was trying to throw to first to complete the double play. The throw was wild, and Espinosa scored all the way from first on the play.

That got back the only run that Chavez had allowed in his seven innings. He gave up a homer to Matt Kemp in the second, and then nothing else.

It was a nice bounceback for Chavez, who was knocked out in the fourth inning of his last start, having allowed five runs on eight hits, and two homers. He said that he went in and watched some video immediately afterward, and he diagnosed the issue with his delivery.

More to come on this story.

ANAHEIM — While Albert Pujols remained at 599 homers, Eric Young Jr. belted No. 9.

But Pujols had never hit one quite like this.

Young, a veteran utilityman, belted an eighth-inning homer that unleashed months of emotions for a player who has been mourning the loss of his infant son since January.

After the Angels’ 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Young broke down in tears during a postgame interview on the field. A little later, in the clubhouse, he was still soaking it in.

Moments like this remind everyone that things like the pursuit of a round number of homers, or the loss for two months of a team’s best player, are superficial, at best.

For Young, being able to play baseball provided an outlet for him after a nightmarish year. His son, Eric Young III, was born three months prematurely, and died after just one night. Young also lost his grandmother around the same time.

He then arrived at Angels camp just a few weeks later, pushing for a spot in the big leagues, trying to revive a career that had stalled. He barely played in the majors in the past two years.

His last full season, 2014, also happened to be the last time that he hit a homer. Back on May 12, 2014, when Young hit career homer No. 8, Pujols was sitting on 502.

Much has changed with both players since then. Their paths crossed again in the big leagues this week, with Young getting the call to replace Mike Trout on the roster after he tore a ligament in his thumb.

Since Young has been up, he’s been something of a spark plug on the bases and at the plate. He also made a nice leaping catch at the fence in the second inning.

“He’s got a great tool set,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “He’s a tough little out, and he showed you he can put a charge into a fastball tonight. Anytime a player perseveres like E.Y. does and gets an opportunity, it’s great to see them achieve. He gave us a big lift tonight.”

Stepped up against Arodys Vizcaino in the eighth inning of a 1-1 game, Young belted a fastball over the right field wall. He immediately thought of his family members, who were watching from the stands. He flashed them three fingers, representing Eric Young III.

Not long after that emotional scene, Pujols came to the plate for the fourth time, still looking for his milestone. He struck out, completing a night in which he had managed just one single, although that single was good enough to move him past a guy named Babe Ruth, into 44th place on the all-time hits list.

It wasn’t what the crowd of 35,795 had hoped to see. Pujols remains one swing away from becoming the ninth player to join the 600-homer club.

Pujols came up empty, as did most of the Angels. Their patchwork lineup didn’t even manage to get a runner into scoring position until the fifth. They also hit into three double plays.

They finally scored a run because Martin Maldonado broke up a possible double play — at third. Shane Robinson’s grounder was fielded by third baseman Rio Ruiz, and Maldonado slid into him as he was trying to throw to first to complete the double play. The throw was wild, and Danny Espinosa scored all the way from first on the play.

That got back the only run that Chavez had allowed in his seven innings. He gave up a homer to Matt Kemp in the second, and then nothing else.

It was a nice bounceback for Chavez, who was knocked out in the fourth inning of his last start, having allowed five runs on eight hits (two homers). He said he went in and watched some video immediately afterward, and he diagnosed the issue with his delivery.

“I was leaving some balls over the plate,” he said. “For me to miss balls over the middle of the plate by so much over the last two starts was really head scratching. We hammered it out in the bullpen. Today was a good step.”

SANTA ANA — A fire at the Villas at Tustin apartment complex on Wednesday night displaced two people, authorities said.

Authorities were called to 2424 Tustin Ave. at 8:33 on Wednesday, May 31, for a report of a fire in the back bedroom of a first-floor apartment, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz said.

Between OCFA and the City of Orange Fire Department, there were 26 firefighters on scene and they were able to keep the blaze contained to the bedroom and put out within 15 minutes, Kurtz said. The fire did not affect any other units in the complex, he added.

No injuries were reported and Red Cross was contacted to provide temporary housing for the two displaced residents, both adults, Kurtz said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

It’s unlikely that anyone going to a movie called “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” is anticipating a strong story filled with practical real-life lessons.

And that’s perfectly OK. Sometimes parents just need an 89-minute cinematic babysitter. Sometimes children, especially at the end of the school year, deserve to wallow in a little potty humor. Not every family-friendly movie needs to be filled with “Inside Out”-style Trojan horse psychotherapy.

And yet the DreamWorks Animation film still strains to meet its modest expectations. “Captain Underpants” is a very popular series that doesn’t seamlessly translate to the big screen, and the filmmakers can’t solve this problem. The result is a cinematic wedgie: a little too dark, a little too nihilistic, a little too empty.
Beyond a sadistic principal and a couple of school staffers, “Captain Underpants” is a movie devoid of adults. The better “Peanuts” TV movies handled a similar scenario by tapping into the strong friendships and carefree feelings as kids approached a holiday. Never mind if that holiday turns out to be a disaster. Humanity and fellowship wins, even on the most melancholy days.

“Captain Underpants” presents a bleak and borderline dystopian world, where the friendship between comic book artists George and Harold (voiced by Kevin Hart and Thomas Middleditch) is the only light. Their primary joy is the short-term rush of pranking their teachers — including hypnotizing militaristic Principal Krupp into thinking he’s a superhero.

This is effective in Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” books, where the artwork suggests the slightly twisted but harmless fantasy world of a child’s mind. The comics are a small blast of subversiveness; empty calories to be consumed as the real world passes by outside a car window or bedroom door.

Viewed in a movie theater, “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” is a much more immersive experience. The central characters are part of the cartoon, not distanced from it. As the school descends into chaos with an evil professor and homicidal toilet robots, the cynicism is inescapable.

“Captain Underpants” seems to be working on a smaller budget compared with DreamWorks standouts such as “Megamind” and the “How to Train Your Dragon” movies. And yet the script, from “Muppets,” “Storks” and “Neighbors” writer Nicholas Stoller, has its moments. A whoopie cushion symphony brings the Brad Bird-era “Simpsons” to mind. Reenactments are animated with sock puppets. As running jokes about the planet Uranus go, the ones written here are strong.

But in the end, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that this feature is devoid of even the simplest positive morals or takeaways. And it’s not quite funny or wry enough to forgive its weaknesses.
What’s left is a pair of XXXL briefs, a lot of toilet humor and the sense that Hollywood could do better.

‘Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie’

*
Rated PG: For mild, rude humor throughout.
Featuring the voices of:  Kevin Hart, Thomas Middleditch, Ed Helms.
Director: David Soren.
Running time: 1 hr. 29 min.
Playing: Areawide.

By JILL COLVIN and JULIE PACE

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will announce his decision on whether to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord during a Rose Garden event Thursday afternoon.

Trump promoted his announcement Wednesday night on Twitter, after a day in which U.S. allies around the world sounded alarms about the likely consequences of a U.S. withdrawal. Trump himself kept everyone in suspense, saying he was still listening to “a lot of people both ways.”

The White House signaled that Trump was likely to decide on exiting the global pact — fulfilling one of his principal campaign pledges — though top aides were divided. And the final decision may not be entirely clear-cut: Aides were still deliberating on “caveats in the language,” one official said.

Everyone cautioned that no decision was final until Trump announced it. The president has been known to change his thinking on major decisions and tends to seek counsel from both inside and outside advisers, many with differing agendas, until the last minute.

Abandoning the pact would isolate the U.S. from a raft of international allies who spent years negotiating the 2015 agreement to fight global warming and pollution by reducing carbon emissions in nearly 200 nations. While traveling abroad last week, Trump was repeatedly pressed to stay in the deal by European leaders and the Vatican. Withdrawing would leave the United States aligned only with Russia among the world’s industrialized economies.

American corporate leaders have also appealed to the businessman-turned-president to stay. They include Apple, Google and Walmart. Even fossil fuel companies such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell say the United States should abide by the deal.

In a Berlin speech, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that fighting climate change is a “global consensus” and an “international responsibility.”

“China in recent years has stayed true to its commitment,” said Li, speaking in Berlin Wednesday.

Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, enacted the deal without U.S. Senate ratification. A formal withdrawal would take years, experts say, a situation that led the president of the European Commission to speak dismissively of Trump on Wednesday.

Trump doesn’t “comprehensively understand” the terms of the accord, though European leaders tried to explain the process for withdrawing to him “in clear, simple sentences” during summit meetings last week, Jean-Claude Juncker said in Berlin. “It looks like that attempt failed,” Juncker said. “This notion, ‘I am Trump, I am American, America first and I am getting out,’ that is not going to happen.”

Some of Trump’s aides have been searching for a middle ground — perhaps by renegotiating the terms of the agreement — in an effort to thread the needle between his base of supporters who oppose the deal and those warning that a U.S. exit would deal a blow to the fight against global warming as well as to worldwide U.S. leadership.

That fight has played out within Trump’s administration.

Trump met Wednesday with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has favored remaining in the agreement. Chief strategist Steve Bannon supports an exit, as does Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Trump’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, has discussed the possibility of changing the U.S. carbon reduction targets instead of pulling out of the deal completely. Senior adviser Jared Kushner generally thinks the deal is bad but still would like to see if emissions targets can be changed.

Trump’s influential daughter Ivanka Trump’s preference is to stay, but she has made it a priority to establish a review process so her father would hear from all sides, said a senior administration official. Like the other officials, that person was not authorized to describe the private discussions by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Wednesday in Alaska that he had “yet to read what the actual Paris Agreement is,” and would have to read it before weighing in.

Scientists say Earth is likely to reach more dangerous levels of warming sooner if the U.S. retreats from its pledge because America contributes so much to rising temperatures. Calculations suggest withdrawal could result in emissions of up to 3 billion tons of additional carbon dioxide in the air a year — enough to melt ice sheets faster, raise seas higher and trigger more extreme weather.

___

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucy, Michael Biesecker and Seth Borenstein in Washington and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

By IAN PHILLIPS and VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin insisted Thursday that the Russian state has never engaged in hacking and scoffed at allegations that hackers could influence the outcome of elections in the United States or Europe.

But the Russian leader admitted the possibility that some individual “patriotic” hackers could have mounted some attacks amid the current cold spell in Russia’s relations with the West.

Speaking at a meeting with senior editors of leading international news agencies, Putin also alleged that some evidence pointing at Russian hackers’ participation in attacks — he didn’t specify which — could have been rigged in an attempt to smear Russia.

“I can imagine that some do it deliberately, staging a chain of attacks in such a way as to cast Russia as the origin of such an attack,” Putin said. “Modern technologies allow that to be done quite easily.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic Party emails, helping President Donald Trump’s election victory, and the Congressional and FBI investigations into the Trump campaign’s ties with Russia have shattered Moscow’s hopes for a detente with Washington.

Asked if Russian hackers could try to shape the outcome of German parliamentary elections later this year, Putin said: “We never engaged in that on a state level, and have no intention of doing so.”

He noted that Russia can work constructively with any German leader, adding that he had good ties with German Chancellor Angela Merkel despite some differences.

Russian meddling was also a concern in France, with Putin publicly expressing his sympathy for President Emmanuel Macron’s rivals in the campaign. Macron’s aides claimed in February that Russian groups were interfering with his campaign, and a document leak hit Macron’s campaign in the final hours of the French race. Moscow has strongly denied all allegations of election meddling.

Putin argued that hackers, wherever they come from, can’t sway election outcomes because the public mood cannot be manipulated that easily.

“I’m deeply convinced that no hackers can radically influence another country’s election campaign,” he said. “No hackers can influence election campaigns in any country of Europe, Asia or America.”

Putin added that while the Russian state has never been involved in hacking, Russia-West tensions could have prompted some individuals to launch cyberattacks.

“If they have patriotic leanings, they may try to add their contribution to the fight against those who speak badly about Russia,” he said. “Theoretically it’s possible.”

Russia’s relations with the West have been at post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis. The U.S. and the EU have slapped Moscow with sanctions over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

Putin said Thursday that economic restrictions against Russia have had “zero effect.”

He predicted that the current strain in relations will ease, because “it’s counterproductive and harmful.”

Touching on tensions in the Pacific, Putin said that Russia’s military deployments on a group of Pacific islands also claimed by Japan have been caused by concerns about the U.S. military buildup in the region.

The four islands, called the Northern Territories in Japan and the southern Kurils in Russia, were seized by the former Soviet Union at the end of the World War II, preventing the two countries from signing a peace treaty.

Putin said the U.S. will likely continue to build up its missile shield in the region even if North Korea agrees to curb its nuclear and missile programs, in the same way it has continued to develop missile defenses in Europe despite a deal with Iran that curbed its nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions.

__

Isachenkov reported from Moscow.

Just a few days after having the plug pulled on its headlining performance at the BottleRock Festival in Napa Valley for going over the strict curfew, Foo Fighters released a brand new single titled “Run” Thursday morning.

The accompanying music video for “Run,” which was directed by Foo frontman Dave Grohl, features each band member sporting old age makeup and performing in a dingy nursing home. The song starts off slow, with Grohl’s voice cooing “Wake up, run for your life with me.” It’s a bit jarring to see him with his long, white Gandalf-like beard and hair, but as the track builds he puts the extra tresses to good use, whipping them back and forth ferociously as some gritty guitars take over and the riots begins.

(Disclaimer: The video contains mature, adult-themed content)

The old men and women in the audience start to come to life and rage in the senior living center while the music blasts away, Grohl’s screaming vocals adding fuel to the fire as the old folks stage dive, mosh, throw up devil horns and retaliate against the staff, including a snippy nurse played by actress Missi Pyle.

Musically, the song perfectly blends calm and chaos, with Grohl’s “before time runs out” sounding the alarm for people to literally “wake up.” In the video, the battle cry sets the old folks free as they take to the streets, accosting a group of youths and commandeering their vehicle and vape pens.  There’s also an epic dance number à la Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at the end.

After wrapping up the massive undertaking that was “Sonic Highways” in 2015, both the album and the HBO documentary TV series that inspired each track, Foo Fighters decided to tease fans with a countdown clock on their website that ticked away for an entire month. As fans and industry insiders speculated that it meant a second season and round of “Sonic Highways,” the band instead announced that it would be taking a break and surprise dropped the “Saint Cecilia” EP, which it gave away to fans for free as a special thank you.

During the hiatus, bassist Nate Mendel released his solo album, “If I Kill This Thing We’re All Going to Eat for a Week,” under the moniker Lieutenant and drummer Taylor Hawkins dropped his solo EP, “KOTA.” Even guitarist Chris Shiflett shared new music with his more alt-country and rock group, Chris Shiflett & the Dead Peasants, earlier this year.

Grohl has been busy more recently as he’s been out on a book tour with his mother, Virginia, who released a book titled “From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars,” in April.

The band had previously announced several festival dates, as well as shows overseas throughout the summer and it had been widely reported that Grohl & Co. had been hard at work in the studio on its ninth album. If “Run” is any indication of what’s to come, it looks like it will be something loud, heavy and lyrically shrouded with social commentary.

Director Glenn Casale saw the tragicomic hero Don Quixote defy reality in the classic musical “Man of La Mancha” for the first time when he was 15 years old – and he was hooked.

So much so, that the “Peter Pan” Broadway director has adapted the play more than a dozen times, adding more or less to the traditional story, while staying true to its message every time.

“There is something about this play that has always drawn me to it,” Casale said. “The message of the importance of honesty and nobility, having hope and being a dreamer, will always have relevance, particularly in today’s world.”

Written by Dale Wasserman, and featuring Spanish-influenced music by Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh, the adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical will open with a preview at the La Mirada Theatre on Friday, June 2, with regular performances running Sunday, June 4, through June 25.

Broadway’s “Phantom of the Opera” actor Davis Gaines will return to La Mirada in his Ovation Award-winning role as the intrepid author-soldier-actor and tax collector Miguel de Cervantes, A.K.A. Don Quixote. Casale and Gaines have worked together a number of times, including “Camelot,” “Masada, the Musical” and several productions of “Man of La Mancha.”

“Davis is a brilliant actor that fits perfectly for the role of Don Quixote. He brings his own personality to the character and works naturally with the rest of the cast so it feels very genuine,” Casale said.

The story takes place in a prison during the 15th century Spanish Inquisition, where author and soldier Cervantes faces a mock trial from his fellow prisoners and a real one with the Inquisition. Using his imagination, Cervantes reenacts his novel about Don Quixote, a poor nobleman who seeks to save the world through kindness and following one’s dreams – no matter how impossible they may be.

Known for taking on classic plays and tweaking them with his own vision, including both “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “The Little Mermaid” at the La Mirada Theatre last year, Casale said this production will follow the same story and time period, but the audience will still experience some differences.

The multi-layered set will appear like a Spanish prison and will be positioned as close to the audience as possible (much like the stage was set for Casale’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” at La Mirada Theatre, for those who attended), so the theater will feel extra-intimate.

“The audience is going to feel like they are actually in prison with the characters and experience all of the emotions that come with that. … It will feel like a very personal and interactive experience for everyone,” Casale said.

Another tweak is the characters in the play. Casale gave the 21-cast ensemble creative freedom to create their characters’ back stories, in hopes of the actors feeling personally connected to their roles and bringing more depth to the character to the stage.

“I had each actor create their own prisoner’s story so they could encompass their characters, and they all committed to this technique incredibly,” he said. “One wears a veil and is lost in her own world. Another one is carrying a doll that she feels like is her real baby.”

The original 1965 Broadway production won five Tony Awards, including best musical, and has been revived on Broadway four more times since. The score, performed by a live band, includes the Broadway standard“The Impossible Dream,” for which the play is most recognized.

Casale emphasized that although the story contains several adult themes, including rape, murder and romance, the musical is for the whole family. He said he encourages all ages to see it, as he did when he was a teenager, because it is “life-changing.”

“The story has so many great messages about hope, celebrating life, being kind to others … so many important issues and messages that no matter how old you are will resonate with you for a long time.”

‘Man of La Mancha’

Where: La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada
When: Preview: 8 p.m. Friday, June 2. Regular performances: Sunday, June 4-June 25; 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
How much: $20-$70
Call: 562-944-9801
Online: lamiradatheatre.com

If you’ve ever had the spicy beef noodle soup or the beef-and-scallion pancake at 101 Noodle Express in Irvine, you probably enjoyed them. Or at least you should have, because they are very good. But if you are anything like me, you didn’t really like the experience of dining at 101 Noodle Express, which has developed a cult following of sometimes rowdy college kids. It’s a bit like dining at the mall food court, but without the mall. Well, something interesting just happened. The space next door became available, so the owner of 101 Noodle Express took it over and opened a restaurant called Royal.

They didn’t change anything about the previous tenant’s decor, which is slightly nicer and less cramped than their original noodle house next door. The menu at Royal is almost identical to the menu at 101 Noodle Express, right down to the numbers next to each item.

My favorite is No. 51, the spicy beef noodle soup. The broth is rich and beefy, with added umami coaxed from kelp sheets and some sort of finely shaved omelet. You can get it with thin noodles or thick, the latter of which are made in-house. The table is set with various condiments and chili sauces, but this soup needs absolutely no tinkering.

The kitchen also makes xiao long bao (Shanghai-style soup-filled dumplings) that give Din Tai Fung a run for its money. They’re slightly cheaper here and every bit as delicious.

The prices appear to be exactly the same at Royal as they are at 101 Noodle Express, even though they could probably get away with charging a dollar more. Besides the nicer decor and the far more attentive service at Royal, the only real difference I can discern is that the menu at Royal doesn’t have any pictures. But don’t worry about that.

Want the soup? Ask for No. 51. Want the pork dumplings? That’ll be No. 77. And bring cash because they don’t take any cards.

Royal

Where: 5408 Walnut Ave., Irvine

When: Lunch and dinner daily

Phone: 949-786-1377

Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is one of those works that casts a spell over many people when they hear it for the first time. Pacific Symphony music director Carl St.Clair is one of them.

“It just sent me to a place I’d never gone before,” said St.Clair, whose first exposure was listening to Leonard Bernstein’s famous recording of the work, an iconic performance that the New York Times’ Donal Henahan called “one of the musical touchstones of our time.” Bernstein’s first recordings of all of Mahler’s nine symphonies were made between 1960 and 1967 with his orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, an ensemble that Mahler himself led from 1909 until his death in 1911.

St.Clair has conducted Mahler’s 2nd, often called the Resurrection Symphony, several times since that first encounter; he will do it again June 8-10 with the Pacific Symphony. But he says he can still recall that initial experience in the early 1970s, when he was a student at the University of Texas, as if it were yesterday. It was the beginning of an obsession.

“Not long after that I read in the paper that there was going to be a performance of it in San Antonio. I checked my pocket score out of the library and put out my thumb and hitchhiked down from Austin and somehow talked my way into the rehearsal. I sat up in the second balcony, sight unseen, and had a chance to watch this symphony being rehearsed. A few days later I went to the performance.”

Over the years, Mahler’s monumental symphony became a touchstone of sorts for St. Clair, too. “There were times when I would listen to the fourth and fifth movements of Bernstein’s performance as inspiration – you know, when I was feeling down and I needed a musical jolt of some sort, a dash of optimism or hope.”

St.Clair was first involved professionally with the Resurrection Symphony a few years later in Boston. “I was the assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony, and (music director) Seiji Ozawa and the orchestra were in the process of recording all the Mahler symphonies. We performed it in Boston and Tanglewood. I was helping with the onstage stuff and doing various other things.”

This will be the second time St.Clair has tackled the work with the Pacific Symphony; the last time was in 2007.  Register critic Timothy Mangan was impressed with St.Clair’s ability to hold the sprawling, five-movement behemoth together: “Working without a score, (he) guided the music through its long journey with a sure hand.”

A FITTING WAY TO END

The Resurrection Symphony’s biggest challenge is its unwieldiness. The first movement was written in 1888 as a standalone symphonic poem called Totenfeier (Funeral Rites). It took several years for the composer to complete the other four movements. The final and longest movement was inspired by the music Mahler heard at the funeral of his friend and mentor, conductor Hans von Bülow, in 1894. At the funeral, Mahler listened to a setting of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock’s Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection) and was struck by the setting of the words “Rise again, yes, you shall rise again / My dust.”

“It struck me like lightning, this thing,” Mahler later wrote to conductor Anton Seidl, “and everything was revealed to me clear and plain.”

Within its 90-minute span, the Resurrection Symphony encapsulates much of Mahler’s later symphonic style. In terms of its ambitious length, musical forces (huge orchestra, large choir and two soloists), and the scope and seriousness of its theme – no less than a rumination on the meaning of life, death and the afterlife – it has all the grand (some would say overbearing) qualities that set Mahler apart.

Critical reception for the Resurrection Symphony was less than kind, and the work was not well regarded for many years. But it was the first Mahler symphony to be laid down in the recording studio. In 1923, Deutsche Grammophon released a performance by Oskar Fried and the Berlin Staatsoper Orchestra that strained to accommodate its vast demands into a new technological format, the 78 rpm record. (Even with editing, it must have occupied quite a few discs.)

St.Clair programmed the work for more than sentimental or aesthetic reasons.

“We need to do a major work by Mahler every year or two. But the primary reason I wanted to do it at the end of this season is that I can’t think of a better way to honor John Alexander and his 45 years at the helm of the Pacific Chorale. That will be the way we will conclude the season, and I think it’s a fitting way to end.” Alexander is retiring at the end of this season.

St.Clair says the Resurrection Symphony takes stamina and concentration, but it’s by no means the most challenging of Mahler’s orchestral works.

“There are many moments which are more emotionally than physically taxing. But overall it’s not as taxing as Mahler’s 6th or the 9th (symphonies). There, you’re looking for answers about tragedy. (The Resurrection Symphony) is giving you more and more energy and hope; it’s elevating you. Instead of getting fatigued by this symphony, you actually get more empowered as it progresses. That comes directly from the music.”

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2

With: Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair, conductor; Mary Wilson, soprano, Margaret Lattimore, alto; Pacific Chorale , John Alexander, artistic director

Where: Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

When: 8 p.m. Thursday, June 8-Saturday, June 10

Tickets: $25-$195

Information: 714-755-5799; pacificsymphony.org

On Tuesday, May 30, Rep. Lou Correa held a town hall meeting and immigration workshop at the Dehli Center in Santa Ana. Representatives from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, Hermandad Mexicana and World Relief Garden Grove were also scheduled to speak. The meeting was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. A large contingent of Santa Ana police officers was already present when I arrived at 5:45 p.m. Apparently some sort of altercation had just taken place outside, and more police cars pulled up as I entered the building.

Due to the extremely rude and belligerent behavior of Trump supporters, Correa was not allowed to even complete his opening remarks, and after just a few minutes the meeting was shut down by a Dehli Center representative. As I left the room, Correa was surrounded by protesters shouting at him. I would not have been surprised if actual physical violence had occurred, given the amount of raw hatred being spewed.

Fortunately, the immigration workshop reconvened in an adjacent room and proceeded without further interruption. The information presented there was well received by the audience of about 50 people.

I left the meeting with a better appreciation for the dangers faced by undocumented immigrants and a greater conviction that this country desperately needs a more inclusive path to legalization for them. Hatred will never resolve this.

— Thomas Fielder, Anaheim

No debate

To attend Rep. Darrell Issa’s town hall on Saturday, June 3, citizens were required to register in advance and get a ticket. Registration opened at noon this past Saturday. By 3 minutes after noon, all available tickets were gone and citizens were put on a waiting list. Really? What is this? A rock concert? Who knew that it would be so popular?

Oh, but if you had a promotion code, it looks like you were able to register and get tickets in advance. What is really going on here? This is an attempt to control attendees, to ensure that the attendees will be those who agree with Rep. Issa, so that he will not have to hear dissenting opinions. And very importantly, so that he can show a very positive and supportive crowd at this so-called town hall.

This is not a town hall meeting. This is not an opportunity to give feedback to our congressman. This is not an open meeting. This is not democracy.

— Lori Van Hove, San Juan Capistrano

much of the pushback from the public has focused on health care access, while most of the House Republicans’ actions centered on health care cost.

What is missing from the conversation is any consideration of health care value.

What is health care value? The simplest definition comes in five words from Michael Porter at Harvard Business School: “Better health per dollar spent.”

Instead of demonizing health care costs, it is more instructive to the conversation currently vexing the nation to analyze how the cost of health care for a specific condition compares with the outcomes achieved.

An illustrative case study of health care value is the introduction of CT scanners to most emergency rooms around the country in the 1990s for evaluation of acute abdominal pain. Computed tomography, or CT, is a Nobel prize-winning technology that utilizes finely tuned X-rays and advanced computer processing to create detailed three-dimensional images of the body that enable doctors to make diagnoses without having to perform a biopsy or invasive surgery. Yet CT scans have been widely blamed for escalating costs of medical care.

In the early 1990s, when patients came to emergency departments for acute belly pain and appendicitis was suspected, nearly one out of every four appendixes that were removed were normal. This means one of four appendectomy patients underwent unnecessary surgery, racking up unwarranted health care costs and needlessly being put at risk of infection and complications. By 2006, when CT scanners were deployed in nearly every ER in the country, the number of normal appendixes removed for abdominal pain dropped to around 1 percent. Millions of people in the U.S. and around the world avoided unnecessary surgery.

Yes, the cost of technology and procedures is real — in California, the average CT scan charge runs about $1,400 (though actual reimbursement paid is in the $500 range), and that adds to the overall price tag of a patient’s care. But when we consider the value that this technology brings, we realize that undergoing a CT scan can actually cost less than not undergoing one in dollar terms, not to mention the quality of life when unnecessary surgery is avoided. Hundreds of millions of dollars and likely scores of thousands of lives have been saved by using this technology in the ER. Better health per dollar spent.

Unfortunately, the conversation about health care’s goals often tends to reverse the order, focusing first on cost, and then on patient health benefit. This approach is short-sighted. Regardless of our biases, each one of us will one day find ourselves a consumer of health care. It therefore behooves all of us to define value in terms of individual patient outcome, rather than in terms of health care policy for the masses, the bottom line of an insurer, or that of a hospital system.

Unnecessary surgeries have been greatly reduced; indeed, mortality, complication rates and costly hospitalizations decreased because of CT technology. Demonstrably, the introduction of CT scanners to the ER dramatically improved the standard of care in acute abdominal pain and appendectomy cases. No longer do hospitals and physicians accept the high rate of negative appendectomies and exploratory surgeries as existed in the early 1990s. The integration of high-quality advanced radiographic imaging changed what patients, physicians and hospitals expect of abdominal pain investigation.

CT created better health per dollar spent. Or, in Porter’s words, health care value. As CTs demonstrate, when determining the worth of providing access to care, value needs to be part of the equation.

Dr. Michael Brant-Zawadzki is the Senior Physician Executive at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, and the Ron and Sandi Simon Executive Medical Director Endowed Chair of the Hoag Neurosciences Institute. He is a former Director of Hoag’s Radiology Department.

For much of the 20th century, crippling regulations prevented the American freight rail industry from operating at anything more than substantial losses. By 1980, the entire industry was on the brink of bankruptcy, and consumers were forced to absorb higher prices. But since then, regulatory reform has paved the way for a booming rail industry, which has produced major benefits for California consumers and the state’s economy.

The regulation of freight rail dates back to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, implemented to ensure that fair rail rates were in place. Over the following decades, however, regulations increased dramatically, eventually turning into a web of dated, convoluted rules which severely limited railroads’ ability to compete with other modes of transportation.

One study found freight rail’s return on investment between 1962-1978 to be a paltry 2.42 percent, far below that of similarly regulated industries. As a result, by the late 1970s, the American freight rail industry was nearing collapse.

After debating whether to initiate a federal bailout or nationalize the industry, policymakers in Washington, D.C., decided to proceed down a deregulatory path. In 1980, Congress passed the Staggers Act, which loosened the regulatory burden on railroads in an attempt to boost economic production.

The effects of deregulation were felt almost immediately. As noted in a recent analysis by the American Consumer Institute, rail productivity increased three-fold while costs fell dramatically: 4 percent in the first two years, 20 percent in the first five years, and 44 percent in the first decade following partial deregulation. In turn, the prices of economic goods dropped 65 percent for shippers, savings passed onto consumers in the form of $10 billion in annual economic benefits.

The benefits of freight rail’s revolution are perhaps felt nowhere better than California. More than 150 million tons of cargo are moved through the state each year by the 25 railroads operating in the state, which employ more than 9,000 rail workers. Moving goods by rail also has environmental benefits; the recent Colton Crossing project in San Bernardino, for example, has been estimated to reduce greenhouse gases by 31,000 tons annually.

And with the Los Angeles freight rail system anchoring the movement of goods on the West Coast, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have grown into America’s largest port complex, moving $287 million worth of freight annually and serving as a bedrock of international trade.

In spite of these widespread benefits, the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency overseeing railroads, has offered a multitude of new regulations concerning the use of rail facilities and assets, including those which could force railroads to grant their lines to competitors at below-market rates. These directives would harm competition and discourage investment, leading to inefficiencies, delays and higher costs ultimately, once again, absorbed by consumers.

In the four decades since the Staggers Act was signed into law, the benefits of a smart regulatory environment have been made abundantly clear: these reforms have emboldened a better rail business model, supported the environment, created jobs and lowered costs for consumers. As policymakers consider new rail regulations, they must remember the era before 1980 to avoid making the same mistakes again and spare California’s economy and consumers from unnecessary harm.

Steve Pociask is president of the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research, a nonprofit educational and research organization.

It’s late spring and nothing captures the spirit of the season quite like the vision of high school graduates donning their caps and gowns on football fields and in gyms and auditoriums throughout the county.

Tens of thousands of our young people are graduating from area high schools this month. They should be commended for their hard work and overcoming a variety of challenges in order to earn their diplomas and launch confidently into college, work life and adulthood.

Some students, of course, face significantly more challenges than others.

For those who live in unstable housing situations, lack access to nutritious food or simply don’t have the financial resources needed to buy school supplies, the long road to graduation is much more steep.

Despite perceptions that Orange County is nothing but a wealthy enclave of privilege, the recently released Orange County Community Indicators report shows that perception is far from reality.

With the cost of living and housing in Orange County at or near all-time highs, more than 28,000 county students are either homeless or doubled — and sometimes tripled — up with other families. This is twice the number from the last housing boom just a decade ago.

This unstable housing situation impacts everything from students’ health to their studies. Low-income parents often lack the resources and — because they’re forced to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet — the time to take their children to the doctor or help with homework. These challenges conspire to threaten students’ long-term health, education and job prospects.

These types of statistics can be paralyzing, leaving many well-intentioned citizens to question whether there’s anything they could possibly do to help. Indeed, one person can’t reverse these trends. Nor can the government do it alone. Schools have limited resources. The business community can only write so many checks.

What will chip away at and eventually overcome this seemingly insurmountable mountain of challenges is when individuals, organizations, government agencies and community leaders work together to empower our community’s ground forces that are making measurable impacts on the lives of others.

Those include talented school teachers who have worked tirelessly to help disadvantaged students — many of whom grew up fearing that graduation and college were out of reach — cross the finish line and beyond. Westminster High School’s Eric Dykes is one of those teachers.

Mr. Dykes leads the school’s Advancement Via Individual Determination program, an internationally proven academic teaching and learning program that holds students and teachers accountable to their highest standards while creating a college-going culture that promotes expectations of success.

Four in five of the school’s AVID students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds that serve as significant headwinds on the road to graduation and college. But Mr. Dykes’s passion for helping his students succeed overcame all that, showing tremendous early results. That’s when the collective caring power of Orange County stepped up to the plate, supplying the proven program with the resources needed to expand and make an even greater impact.

Support from United Way’s Destination Graduation initiative — a network of 22 middle and high schools throughout Orange County — combined with other resources has allowed Mr. Dykes to hire and oversee an army of tutors. Many AVID graduates themselves, these tutors are helping more students succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

Recently named a top AVID National Demonstration School among 150 programs nationally, Mr. Dykes’s program has experienced a 100 percent decline in freshman dropouts. Last year, all of the program’s seniors graduated on time and 83 percent were accepted at four-year college institutions, all because the community came together to support and help grow this worthwhile and successful program.

There are hundreds more teachers like Mr. Dykes throughout Orange County; those helping students lacking resources but not a steadfast will to succeed; those instilling the confidence to set high goals along with the skills necessary to exceed them.

Nothing is more important to our community’s future success than the education of our children. When more kids succeed, we all win. That’s why we, as a community, should commit to redoubling our efforts to ensure that the graduating classes of 2018 and beyond grow in numbers and accomplish more than they ever dreamed possible.

Max Gardner is the president and CEO of Orange County United Way. For the past five years, he has led the organization toward advancing its mission of improving lives and strengthening Orange County by focusing on the building blocks for a good quality of life: Education, Income, Health and Housing. Prior to joining United Way, Mr. Gardner was President of Irvine Company Apartment Communities. For more information about the FACE 2024 community-wide action plan, please visit www.unitedwayoc.org.

So what if, in his speech last week to NATO, Donald Trump didn’t explicitly reaffirm the provision that an attack on one is an attack on all?

What’s the big deal? Didn’t he affirm a general commitment to NATO during his visit? Hadn’t he earlier sent his vice president and secretaries of State and Defense to pledge allegiance to Article 5?

And anyway, who believes that the United States would really go to war with Russia — and risk nuclear annihilation — over Estonia?

Ah, but that’s precisely the point. It is because deterrence is so delicate, so problematic, so literally unbelievable that it is not to be trifled with. And why for an American president to gratuitously undermine what little credibility deterrence already has, by ostentatiously refusing to recommit to Article 5, is so shocking.

Deterrence is inherently a barely believable bluff. Even at the height of the Cold War, when highly resolute presidents, such as Eisenhower and Kennedy, threatened Russia with “massive retaliation” (i.e., all-out nuclear war), would we really have sacrificed New York for Berlin?

No one knew for sure. Not Eisenhower, not Kennedy, not the Soviets, not anyone. Yet that very uncertainty was enough to stay the hand of any aggressor and keep the peace of the world for 70 years.

Deterrence does not depend on 100 percent certainty that the other guy will go to war if you cross a red line. Given the stakes, merely a chance of that happening can be enough. For 70 years, it was enough.

Leaders therefore do everything they can to bolster it. Install tripwires, for example. During the Cold War, we stationed troops in Germany to face the massive tank armies of Soviet Russia. Today we have 28,000 troops in South Korea, 12,000 near the demilitarized zone.

Why? Not to repel invasion. They couldn’t. They’re not strong enough. To put it very coldly, they’re there to die. They’re a deliberate message to the enemy that if you invade our ally, you will have to kill a lot of Americans first. Which will galvanize us into full-scale war against you.

Tripwires are risky, dangerous and cynical. Yet we resort to them because parchment promises are problematic and tripwires imply automaticity. We do what we can to strengthen deterrence.

Rhetorically as well. Which is why presidents from Truman on have regularly and powerfully reaffirmed our deterrent pledge to NATO. Until Trump.

His omission was all the more damaging because of his personal history. This is a man chronically disdainful of NATO. He campaigned on its obsolescence. His inaugural address denounced American allies as cunning parasites living off American wealth and generosity. One of Trump’s top outside advisers, Newt Gingrich, says that “Estonia is in the suburbs of St. Petersburg,” as if Russian designs on the Baltic states are not at all unreasonable.

Moreover, Trump devoted much of that very same speech, the highlight of his first presidential trip to NATO, to berating the allies for not paying their fair share. Nothing particularly wrong with that, or new — half a century ago Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield was so offended by NATO free riding that he called for major reductions of U.S. troops in Europe.

That’s an American perennial. But if you’re going to berate, at least reassure as well. Especially given rising Russian threats and aggression. Especially given that Trump’s speech was teed up precisely for such reassurance. An administration official had spread the word that he would use the speech to endorse Article 5. And it was delivered at a ceremony honoring the first and only invocation of Article 5 — ironically enough, by the allies in support of America after 9/11.

And yet Trump deliberately, defiantly refused to simply say it: America will always honor its commitment under Article 5.

It’s not that, had Trump said the magic words, everyone would have 100 percent confidence we would strike back if Russia were to infiltrate little green men into Estonia, as it did in Crimea. But Trump’s refusal to utter those words does lower whatever probability Vladimir Putin might attach to America responding with any seriousness to Russian aggression against a NATO ally.

Angela Merkel said Sunday (without mentioning his name) that after Trump’s visit it is clear that Europe can no longer rely on others. It’s not that yesterday Europe could fully rely — and today it cannot rely at all. It’s simply that the American deterrent has been weakened. And deterrence weakened is an invitation to instability, miscalculation, provocation and worse.

And for what?

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist for The Washington Post. Letters@charleskrauthammer.com