Examples from readers have poured in for weeks — examples of the intrusion of politics into nonpolitical spheres. To publish them all — even all of the poignant and acute ones — would take many acres of cyberspace. But let me just share two further examples with you here.

A reader writes, “While in NYC over the holidays, I had the unfortunate chance to go see Shrek: The Musical on Broadway with my wife’s family. During a climactic scene, the chief villain comes riding in on a horse. As he stops, he exclaims to the horse, ‘Whoa, Condoleezza.’ Of course, the audience shrieked with delight (giving the performers probably their biggest laugh of the whole miserable show). To equate the current secretary of state, a woman of lofty accomplishments, to a horse for a cheap laugh is, to me, another sign of the times in which we are living. Can you imagine their using some other names — Democratic ones?”

Not really.

And then there was the couple whose young daughter recently died. An acquaintance said to the mother, “Well, at least she won’t have to grow up with global warming.” Yeah, at least.

Happy Inauguration Day!