As the new freshman class of congressional women bopped, hopped and doo-wopped into town, old sourpusses smirked -- they'll meet reality soon enough.

'Tis not the season to be jolly, thanks to Donald Trump.

Michael Cohen's guilty plea Thursday that he lied to Congress about Donald Trump's interests in building a Moscow tower comes as little surprise -- everyone attached to this administration seems to lie with ease. And yet it's explosive news in the carnival-kingdom of liars, crooks and thieves.

When polarity defines us, it's easy to lose sight of our common humanity.

It has been long rumored that the Republican Party has a woman problem, so much so that a few years ago GOP congressmen sent aides to classes on how to talk to and about women.

It wasn't a blue trickle, but nor was it a tsunami. Rather, the midterm elections brought a gentle, purplish wave of mostly center-leaning Democrats whose profiles suggest a welcome infusion of professionalism and balance to a disorderly House.

After several days of showboating and judicial hazing, Democrats pulled out their biggest weapon against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh -- a letter from an anonymous woman claiming sexual misconduct in high school.

It was Day Three of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings when Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J,, launched his 2020 presidential bid as a Thracian gladiator.

Republican Ashley Nickloes is the only woman in a seven-way primary race to fill a congressional seat held by one family for five decades. She's also the only military pilot in the race, running against a litany of odds, including the strong possibility that she'll lose to a popular career politician who hunts Bigfoot and made it easier for Tennesseans to eat their roadkill.

It was far too easy to assume the worst -- that the inevitable, finally, had come to pass.