In a time of social fragmentation, vulgarity becomes a way of life. To be shocking becomes more important - and often more profitable - than to be civil or creative or truly original.

The Internet empowers individuals to play a more active role in the political process, as Obama's campaign has manifested.

I would distinguish between Donald Trump and the United States of America. Although he is president, he does not speak for the country on the climate change, and that was vividly illustrated in the aftermath of his speech pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement. Almost immediately, not only did the rest of the world double down on its commitments, but also here in this country, governors, mayors, business leaders, they said, we're still in the Paris Agreement, and they're doubling down. A lot of cities have now made a decision to go 100% renewable energy.

Earlier in this century, the Heisenberg Principle established that the very act of observing a natural phenomenon can change what is being observed. Although the initial theory was limited in practice to special cases in subatomic physics, the philosophical implications were and are staggering.

The golden thread of reason that used to be stretched taut to mark the boundary between the known and the unknown is now routinely disrespected.

Clouds of a different sort signal an environmental holocaust without precedent. Once again, world leaders waffle, hoping the danger will dissipate. Yet today the evidence is as clear as the sounds of glass shattering in Berlin.

And nobody is talking about taking guns away from hunters or sportsmen or banning all guns. Nobody is talking about that.