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

US Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS)

This nurse

VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

Ronald McDonald House

The Pope

USA TODAY

This gutless unidentified swimmer

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“During the 2016 campaign, I said it would be my last campaign and final term. That was my strong preference, and my wife’s—we both looked forward to a normal private life. Neither of us anticipated the Democrats’ complete takeover of government and the disastrous policies they have already inflicted on America and the world, to say nothing of those they threaten to enact in the future.

“Nor did we anticipate the pandemic, the government’s failed response to it, the loss of freedom that has resulted, and the tyrannical approach taken by the elites who have created and maintained a state of fear that allows them to exercise control over Americans’ lives. Instead of everyone working to achieve the goal President Biden stated during his inaugural address—unifying and healing America—it feels as if our nation is being torn apart.

“I believe America is in peril. Much as I’d like to ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should. Countless people have encouraged me to run, saying they rely on me to be their voice, to speak plain and obvious truths other elected leaders shirk from expressing—truths the elite in government, mainstream media and Big Tech don’t want you to hear.

“Today, I am announcing I will continue to fight for freedom in the public realm by running for re-election. It is a decision I haven’t made lightly.

“We face powerful forces that desire even more power and control over our lives. Their path, paved with false hope and greater dependency, always leads to tyranny. We cannot let them win.”
US Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI)

“They’re not asking what Nancy Pelosi knew and when she knew it… I have sent my staff in to review the videos. We’re the ones that determined that over 300 people enter the Capitol through a door that was opened, no violence. They just walked in an open door.

“America deserves to hear exactly what happened on January 6, the full story. The House committee is not going to be providing that full story.

“I don’t know anybody that didn’t condemn the violence on January 6. I did while it was occurring. I repeatedly condemned it forcefully.”
US Senator Ron Johnson

“I think almost everyone would tell you that what happened on January 6th here was a terrible thing. It should never have happened and it should never happen again. But I don’t care how many candlelight vigils and musical performances you have from the cast of ‘Hamilton’ — you’re not going to convince at least most normal and sane people that our government last year was almost overthrown by a guy wearing a Viking hat and speedos.”
Senator Marco Rubio

“I make a special appeal to social media companies and media outlets — please deal with the misinformation and disinformation that’s on your shows. It has to stop.”
Joe Biden

“This isn’t about ‘dealing with misinformation.’ It’s about Joe Biden covering up his complete failure to ‘shut down the virus.’ If the Biden admin can’t censor their political opponents, they’ll call up their friends in Big Tech to do it for them.”
Patrick Witt

 “Imagine what those polls look like if this presidency was properly covered.”
David Harsanyi

“A president shouting that 52 senators and millions of Americans are racist unless he gets whatever he wants is proving exactly why the framers built the Senate to check his power.”
Mitch McConnell

“If you think it’s racist to ask for an ID to vote, you might also think it’s ‘science’ to ask for an ID to eat. Leftist logic is something to behold.”
Congressman Dan Crenshaw

“Hillary’s calling tens of millions of Americans deplorables was divisive & disgusting. But Biden has gone further, calling those who disagree with his actions & policies domestic enemies, traitors, and racists. Biden promised to unite us, but he is doing all he can to divide us.”
Tulsi Gabbard

“Those who have deliberately flouted sober medical advice by refusing a vaccine known to reduce the risk of serious disease from the virus, including the risk to others, and end up in the hospital or the grave can be viewed as receiving their just deserts.”
Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik, whose article title bristles: “Mocking anti-vaxxers’ COVID deaths is ghoulish, yes — but may be necessary.”

“The overwhelming number of deaths, over 75%, occurred in people who had at least four comorbidities, so these are people who were unwell to begin with.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky

“There have been 836,000 covid deaths in America. 75% of 836K is 627,000. This means they shut down the country, stole two years of education from children, sent thousands of businesses under, and caused mass hysteria when only 209,000 deaths weren’t people already deathly sick.”
Greg Price

“[Governor Ron DeSantis] has been someone who’s … not exactly [been] advocating for people in his state to get vaccinated, which we know is the way that people can be protected, ways that lives can be saved.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

“This is an easily provable lie. It takes mere minutes to find numerous instances of DeSantis advocating — ‘exactly’ — for his constituents to get vaccinations, as he did this summer at a press conference in which he said they ‘save lives.’”
David Harsanyi

“I think when a major news network spends a year in COVID hysteria and then suddenly gets up right after January 6th and flips to ‘oh maybe we’re out of touch and we need to not be scared of COVID,’ the midterms are calling.”
Erick Erickson

“I did not live the struggle of Douglass, Tubman, King, Lewis, Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, and countless others — known and unknown. I did not walk in the shoes of generations of students who walked these grounds. But I walked other grounds. Because I’m so damn old, I was there as well. You think I’m kidding, man. It seems like yesterday the first time I got arrested.”
Joe Biden

“Maybe Biden is confusing this with the time he was never arrested in South Africa or the time he never marched with the Black Panthers or the time he never participated in a sit in.”
David Harsanyi

“This country is falling apart at the seams. Half the people are not going to self-deport. You see these tweets and memes about owning and destroying the other side. Get over it. You’re not owning or destroying anybody. No one’s going anywhere. We have to learn to live together again.”
Bill Maher

“We’re in the cancel culture now. Nobody can say anything he wants to — Chris Rock can’t, Kevin Hart can’t, Cedric the Entertainer can’t, D.L. Hughley can’t. I can go down the list. The only person that can say what they want to say on stage is Dave Chappelle because he’s not sponsor-driven. He’s subscription. If I had tried to continue as a stand-up, there’s no way I could maintain it because political correctness has killed comedy, has killed it. Every joke now, it hurts somebody’s feelings.”
Steve Harvey

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

Screening for Racial Biases During Teacher Job Interviews

MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

OPIOIDS vs. COVID

MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

Prepare to die. COVID is surging.

MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

Obsessed with Kwik Trip

Obsessed with Lake Michigan