So much of what grabs the public’s attention or passes as news these days is just banal trivia.
I don’t mean to be too harsh because we Americans — and probably all the world — have always enjoyed the occasional diversion from our bigger, more difficult troubles.
In 1801, for example, President Thomas Jefferson created one of those “international incidents” at a diplomatic dinner by choosing to escort Dolley Madison to the White House dinner table, rather than the wife of the British ambassador.
