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

Casey DeSantis

Three mermaids

Good Samaritans

VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

Darrell Brooks Jr

Could do Joe Biden every week

Nicholas Joseph Gutierrez

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“I want everyone to know, including the community of Waukesha, not only am I sorry for what happened, but that you could not see what was truly in my heart … and all the tears that I dropped. It’s not easy being the most hated man on this planet,” he said, adding later, “I’m a human being, not a monster.”
Darrell Brooks Jr. at his sentencing.

“Mental illness affects everyone. It destroys lives and affects family. It is of no fault of their own that they are ill, and began to change as a person. I have been dealing with mental illness for some 30-odd years now, and here’s my take on it,. Jail is not the answer.”
Darrell Brooks’ mother Dawn Woods spoke on Brooks’ behalf

“The seriousness of this offense can be summed up in one word: attack. He chose to drive recklessly, maliciously and viciously into the crowd. We may never know the true why, but we were provided by nothing today, other than a feeble attempt to claim mental health,” she said. “I searched for a mitigating factor. I waited for a true apology. I didn’t get it. This is one of the most aggravating cases I have ever presided over.”
Waukesha judge Jennifer Dorow formally sentenced Brooks to six consecutive life sentences for first-degree intentional homicide. She also sentenced Brooks to 17½ years for each of the 61 counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, or a total of 762 years of initial confinement and 305 years of extended supervision; and 25 years each for the six hit-and-run counts running concurrent to the reckless endangerment charges.

“My colleagues, I stand before you as Speaker of the House. As a wife. A mother. A grandmother. A devout Catholic. A proud Democrat. And a patriotic American: a citizen of the greatest Republic in the history of the world.”
Nancy Pelosi announced that she would not be seeking reelection to the Democratic congressional leadership in the upcoming Congress

“We could’ve complained about the difficult choices that were in front of us. And, frankly, it would’ve been easier to complain, to follow the path, to do what everybody was doing – to live in fear, to shut down our states and our communities. But, instead, we got to work. And, it wasn’t fun to get kicked in the head every single night by the liberal media and the national news – but, it was the right thing to do. It was right to follow the Constitution. It was right to defend freedom.”
Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem after winning reelection in last week’s midterms

“Former President Barack Obama in 2010 lost 63 seats. Is Biden, therefore, more charismatic or more energetic than Obama? Was his agenda more successful and popular? Given such high Republican expectations, the blame game for the loss is as strident and confusing as was the election itself.”
Victor Davis Hanson

“Election Day voting in most states has been reduced to about 30% of the electorate. What replaced it is an utter mess of early balloting, absentee balloting, mail-in balloting, ranked voting, run-off voting, and endless counting. The Left saw winning advantages with these radical changes, many made under the pretext of the COVID-19 lockdowns. And it has mastered them to such a degree that most Republicans with small leads at the end of Election Day now expect to lose over the subsequent days and weeks.”
Victor Davis Hanson

“The Monday before the election we could declare a state of emergency for [Hurricane] Nicole, conduct an election, count like 7.7 million votes by midnight … And these other states are still counting their votes from the election! How pathetic is that?”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

“I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States. America’s comeback starts right now. Your country is being destroyed before your eyes.”
Donald Trump announced he is running again for president in 2024

“To his credit, Trump killed off the Clinton dynasty in 2016, nominated and got confirmed three constitutionalist justices, reformed taxes, pushed deregulation, got control of the border, significantly degraded ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and cinched normalization deals between Israel and the Gulf states, among other things. These are achievements that even his conservative doubters and critics — including NR — can acknowledge and applaud. That said, the Trump administration was chaotic even on its best days because of his erratic nature and lack of seriousness.”
National Review

“The GOP is not going to end vote-by-mail and early voting, so they might as well figure out how to use it to their advantage. There was a time the GOP was dominant in early voting and absentee balloting.”
Erick Erickson

“Biden just met with Xi for three hours and didn’t bring up Covid. This is like driving cross country with OJ and not mentioning Nicole.”
Jimmy Failla

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

Shootings at UVA

Covid All Over Again: Progressive State Won’t Let It Die

MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

Paul Pelosi

ICE captures convicted sex offenders illegally in the US

MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

Trump running again a mistake

MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

Wife to California gov, asked to fake an orgasm in court during Harvey Weinstein trial