Some very testy people on both sides.

Had you beamed into this week’s post-midterms presidential press conference from an era of gentler discourse, that might have been your quick takeaway.

But it’s obviously part of a much deeper story.

The bristly 87-minute showdown between America’s chief executive and the nation’s Fourth Estate, as well as some international reporters, came between two more mass shootings – one motivated by hate, the other still too fresh to meaningfully distill.

Yesterday the president’s invocation of national security powers to deny asylum to unlawful migrants got new energy and launched angry new exchanges on immigration. Mueller probe revelations will likely ignite others.

All of that has Monitor editors talking about American anger, vitriol gone viral – about anger as an addiction, as an “industry.” We’ll be reporting on that in the coming weeks.

But we’re also inclined to discuss solutions. More than one colleague mentioned a recent story (worth reading) that plumbed the beautiful simplicity of kindness. Many studies have shown the power of acts that are generous or empathic. Such acts tend to cause others to conform to that behavior. Civility is a good start, for all sides. 

Now to our five stories for your Friday, including a look at resilience in Florida’s hard-hit Panhandle and at progress in building a more diverse future workforce for the tech sector.