Last week in review

And thank you for checking back in

Last week, we took a break while I entertained (and was entertained by) my aunt and my cousin, who were in from Missouri. We laughed. We ate. We told stories. It was, in a word, wonderful.

I said as I signed off you that maybe when we came back together, I’d be an heiress, or we’d have a Speaker of the House. At the time, the former seemed more likely than the latter, but that just shows what I know.

Not America’s Best

I am not an heiress, and we have Mike Johnson, an election-denying anti-abortion/anti-LGBTQ zealot who never met a federal program he didn’t want to cut. He is a Christian nationalist par excellence. Go to the 3:38 mark here and prepare to scream into the void.

Oh, and the gun violence we witness with scary regularity? Speaker Johnson is praying hard on that one and you shouldn’t expect much else. After a shooter killed 18 and wounded 13 in Lewiston, Maine, the new speaker said:

“The problem is the human heart. It’s not guns, it’s not the weapons. At the end of the day, we have to protect the right of the citizens to protect themselves, and that’s the Second Amendment, and that’s why our party stands so strongly for that.”

Good Lord, shit’s about to get real.

In addition (and in no particular order):

• Mike Pence dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and the world kept turning.

• The plea deals came hot and heavy last week, generally from a passel of Trump lawyers.

• We still don’t know who bombed al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, where the carnage continues. People all over are calling for a cease-fire, though this may be somewhat illuminating. Stay strong, everyone. Link arms if you have to.