We are now looking at 2019 in our rear view mirrors, since it is time for those irritating “The Best/Worst of the year” lists. This past year was full of irritations, on many levels, from the shallow and superficial, to the rarest of rare political actions taken by the most irritating Congress in history. Let’s start with some of the candidates: Speaking of shallow and superficial, there is that previously little-known actor Jussie Smollett. His claim to fame was as a character in the FOX TV show “Empire.” Smollett, a gay black man, became a hero portraying, you guessed it:...