"Republicans used to bash President Barack Obama for alienating American allies, but Trump is turning..." — Max Boot

The spread of communications technologies - social media, TV news channels - aggravates societal divisions and discord. All that online snarling is making us jittery.

My mother and I were alike in one crucial respect: We may have been Russian by birth, but we were English in spirit. She was intensely reserved and private, and seldom showed what she was feeling.

Irrationality may be more prevalent in the party of climate denial, but it isn't limited to Republicans.

The case for democracy is that voters in the aggregate will make better decisions than a lone monarch or dictator would.