Hyperbole expands in societies where articulateness atrophies.

Twenty minutes into his presidency, Donald Trump, who is always claiming to have made, or to be about to make, astonishing history, had done so. Living down to expectations, he had delivered the most dreadful inaugural address in history.

The average American expends more time becoming informed about choosing a car than choosing a candidate. But, then, the consequences of the former choice are immediate and discernible.

All politics takes place on a slippery slope. The most important four words in politics are up to a point.

Twenty years ago rooting for the Yankees was like rooting for IBM.

Some calamities - the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, 9/11 - have come like summer lightning, as bolts from the blue. The looming crisis of America's Ponzi entitlement structure is different. Driven by the demographics of an aging population, its causes, timing and scope are known.

Perhaps the soundest advice for parents is: Lighten up. People have been raising children for approximately as long as there have been people.