I rarely go through the checkout line with a real human being behind the register, but three days before Christmas, the self-checkout line was backed up, and I was in a hurry. An employee with poor posture stood at his post, watching customers at the self-checkout slide their purchases across the scanner and bag them. Maybe he was grateful he had nothing to do, but at that moment, I projected that he wasn’t. He looked lonely. I nodded at him and asked if the line was open. It was, of course,...

In the swirl of news this week, a story like this might seem innocuous, maybe even a little quaint. The journalists are suing the Pentagon over First Amendment Rights.

We have a bird feeder in our backyard now, which sounds like nothing, but this morning it is everything. Two birds – maybe the mean...