In 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry called his ever-shifting position on the war in Iraq "nuanced" as a way of explaining why he was for it before he was against it and why his prescriptions for its future kept changing. "Nuance" pops up frequently in debates on politics and public policy, almost always as an excuse for either non-specificity on a current position or flip-flopping from a past position.

On the morning of August 10, a wealthy sex-crimes defendant was reportedly found dead in his cell at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center. "New York City's chief medical examiner," the New York Times reported on August 11, "is confident Jeffrey Epstein died by hanging himself in the jail cell where he was being held without bail on sex-trafficking charges, but is awaiting more information before releasing her determination ..."

On August 5, US Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX) posted an infographic to Twitter naming and shaming his city's most generous supporters of President Donald Trump's re-election campaign: "Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump .... Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as 'invaders.'" Condemnations quickly followed. Donald Trump Jr compared the tweet to the Dayton, Ohio killer's "hit list."

America, John Quincy Adams said in 1821, "goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." That's as good a summary ever spoken of the non-interventionist position. US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) disagrees. He opposes President Trump's quest for a peace agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan as "reckless and dangerous," entailing "severe risk to the homeland."