A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of  This Just In…

HEROES OF THE WEEK

Dancing Grannies

J.J. Watt

VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

Darrell Brooks

Court judges and commissioners who let him Brooks out early and often

John Chisholm

Mary Lemanski

The Associated Press

Salvation Army

Allyn Walker

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“The state’s bail recommendation in this case was inappropriately low in light of the nature of the recent charges and the pending charges against Mr. Brooks.”
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm taking the blame for the low bail set for Darrell Brooks Jr. in a case earlier this month

“Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into treatment program, who’s going to go out and kill somebody? You bet. Guaranteed. It’s guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach.”
Chisholm in an interview with the Milwaukee Sentinel-Journal in 2007. Chisholm has long advocated lower bail as part of criminal justice reforms.

“I am now calling on @GovEvers to REMOVE Milwaukee County DA Chisholm. 6th person, a child, has died in Waukesha parade crash.”
 Rep. Barbara Dittrich, a Republican from Oconomowoc tweeted

“I would fire John Chisholm. Hands down, I would fire John Chisholm. The lawlessness and this catch-and-release treatment for violent criminals with rap sheets a mile long has to stop.”
Former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, a Republican running for governor

“The governor cannot take action to remove the Milwaukee County district attorney at this time.”
Britt Cudaback, spokeswoman for Gov. Evers

“Wisconsin continues to see examples of people with extensive criminal histories committing crimes while out on bail. Most recent was the tragic and horrific attack on the Waukesha Christmas parade by an individual with a long history of violent crimes.”
State Rep. Cindi Duchow, a Delafield Republican, proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow judges and court commissioners to consider how dangerous or violent a defendant is when setting bail. Currently, bail is to be used primarily to ensure a defendant will appear at future court hearings. 

“The lies that [race hustlers] can just get away with spreading is just sickening and it’s a disgrace to this country. It shouldn’t have been a political case.”
Kyle Rittenhouse

“Mr. President, I would urge you to go back and watch the trial and understand the facts before you say [I’m a white supremacist]. It’s actual malice, defaming my character, for him to say something like that.”
Kyle Rittenhouse

Nearly 2 million women in our country have been locked out of the workforce because they have to care for a child or an elderly relative at home. My Build Back Better Act will make caregiving accessible and affordable and help them get back to work.”
Joe Biden

“The reality is that too many people ‘have been locked out of’ family life because they need to labor outside of the home. We need an economy that allows more people to choose to ‘care for a child or an elderly relative at home.’ Work in the home is real work. Family life matters.”
Ryan T. Anderson

“My favorite part is when he tells moms to hand over their kids to government-paid childcare experts so they can ‘get back to work.’”
Abigail Shrier

“Parents think they have the right to control teaching and learning because their children are the ones being educated. But it actually (gasp!) doesn’t work that way. … Unless they’re licensed and certified, parents aren’t qualified to make decisions about curricula. In fact, parental interference can actually hinder student advancement. An educator’s primary goal is to teach students to think. Parents who attempt to influence curricula with their personal opinions, ideologies and biases hinder that goal. … Our nation’s children are in good, educated and capable hands — no matter what some parents and politicians appear determined to believe.”
NBC News’ THINK contributor/educator Christina Wyman

“I … think it’s important we do two things at the Olympics in China. Number one, that we actually show the courage the Women’s Tennis Association is showing to call out the murder, the genocide, the torture, the lies, the complicity in COVID-19 of the Chinese communist government, to speak the truth. And then number two, I really hope our young men and women … go over there and kick their commie a**es.”
Senator Ted Cruz

If his (Biden’s) approval rating sinks too far below 50 percent, it becomes more likely than not that the next election will reinstall into power his exiled predecessor, who has never relinquished his claim and by all appearances is intent on running for a second term in 2024.

Nobody can ascertain exactly why the public has turned so sour so fast. Biden is like a patient wasting away from some undiagnosable disease. What is clear is that if the presidential election were held this fall, Biden would enter the contest as the decided underdog against Trump.

Several people in the Democratic Party have told me they believe the party’s voters — especially its Black voters — saved them from a debacle by selecting Biden as the nominee, rather than any of the candidates vying for progressive-activist approval. The dynamic is an inversion of the structure of the Republican Party, in which the donors try to promote slick, broadly acceptable candidates while voters routinely flock to the angriest and craziest candidate they can find. “The Koch brothers are strategic; their voters are bananas,” one leading Democrat confided. “Our voters are moderate, but our funders are crazy.”
Jonathan Chait writing for the very liberal New York magazine

“There is nothing so good that politicians can’t make it bad and nothing so bad that politicians can’t make it worse. Compassion is good but politicians have turned compassion into the welfare state. Crime is bad but politicians have made it worse by going easy on criminals.”
Thomas Sowell

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

The Waukesha Parade massacre

This fundraiser

MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

Darrell Brooks’ long criminal record and the leniency Brooks , and others, received. The local news media is reluctant to report.

MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

Thanksgiving is evil. No it’s not.

MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

Buck takes shelter inside church on hunting season’s 1st day