As a longtime interior designer, I spend most of my working life indoors, helping people find the best possible living situation for themselves. Over the years, I have come to realize that there is a strong — and often understated — connection between the interior of a home and the mindsets of those living in it.

Imagine the U.S. canceling the Fourth of July holiday due to high crime in our cities and you get a sense of what has occurred in France.

Finding any controversy over the renewed fascination with the 64-year-old Mattel doll will be quite a stretch. The inspiration is Greta Gerwig’s upcoming movie “Barbie,” about what happens when the doll enters the human world. Due perhaps to the lack of anything else that’s fun, bubblegum Barbie pink is now everywhere, even on the cover of Businessweek.

At this immediate moment we see a kinda-sorta conflict lapse, except for nuclear warfare threats and missile launches.

The screenwriters really do have a case to make. May they get as good at managing their image as they are at constructing narrative arcs.

The issue seems thorny, but some fixes are dizzyingly easy. To wit. End legacy admissions. Consider an applicant’s personal narrative. Toughen up academic standards.

The bill faced a far-right faction in the House that forced Speaker Kevin McCarthy to reluctantly open up the legislation to controversial social policy provisions. Such provisions have little chance of surviving in the Democratic-controlled Senate, which is unlikely to reach a grand compromise — or any compromise — this fall.

Like so many other accusations of alleged scandal when it comes to the Biden administration, expect this one to be swept under the rug.

As the Earth gets hotter, that will put more pressure on city officials to embrace heat warning systems, public cooling centers and science-based regulations aimed at preventing heat from killing us.