That’s not a political calculation, but the number of dental anaesthesias that fail to take, according to my dentist.

He told me this as we were sitting in his office, wondering why I still had sensation — oh, such exquisite sensation — in my lower jaw.

Dental appointment rescheduled. Tooth still broken. I repeat, for posterity: It can always get worse.

On the upside, it looks like the American people finally decided to put the brakes on the whole going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket thing, so that’s nice.