The bottom line

Friday. Enjoy the long holiday weekend.

Representatives Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andy Biggs, and Burgess Owens have invited Britney Spears to appear before congress to testify about her personal struggles. Your tax dollars at work, right there.

Andrew Ryan reports on some late tax payments by mayoral candidate Annissa Essaibi George. Is it a problem? For some people it makes her seem human, with struggles like their own. But others think we should expect more from someone who wants to run the city. Larry Dicara, who knows something about how the city operates, says this about the coming election: “There is much at stake in the city. We have had decades of financial stability. Our bond rating is AAA. Every budget has been balanced for 30+ years,” continuing, “It is important that those of us who are citizens of the city ask difficult questions of the candidates so that we know where they stand on important issues.”

Susan McKay has been observing Northern Ireland for many years. She thinks it’s slowly but surely coming to an end.

January 6 was probably the most well documented pivotal event in political history. The Times pulled much of the video (and there was a lot of video) together for a 40 minute film that everyone should watch. But people who don’t read newspapers probably won’t see it. They should put it on Netflix.

And Donald Rumsfeld is dead. He was a weird, smart guy. Then again, so was Doctor Strangelove.