This winter, many families will have left cookies for St. Nicholas on his feast day, or plan to do so on the 24th. But leave them where, exactly? On the kitchen counter, perhaps. Near the refrigerator. Beneath electric lights and climate-controlled air. The gesture remains, but the proper place has vanished. The hearth—once the obvious…

The latest social media flare involving Donald Trump and filmmaker Rob Reiner arrived with a predictability that modern political culture has trained everyone to expect. Upon the news of Reiner’s passing from suspected homicide, a sharp post appeared, the tone was dismissive, and the timing coincided with a moment of public mourning connected to Reiner’s…