Kelly McClure, Salon

Responding to a tweet from Texas Congressman Ronny Jackson regarding a 2020 photo of Rihanna spray painting "F**k Trump" on a car at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Trump weighed in on Truth Social earlier this week saying "Without her "Stylist" she'd be NOTHING. Bad everything, and NO TALENT!"

And although Rihanna performed a flawless medley of some of her biggest hits during the show, which was her first big performance in nearly seven years, Trump doubled-down on his initial statement with another message to Truth Social made minutes after she left the stage.

"EPIC FAIL: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history," Trump wrote. "This after insulting far more than half of our Nation, which is already in serious DECLINE, with her foul and insulting language. Also, so much for her 'Stylist.'"

Prior to the halftime show, Donald Trump Jr. was braced for a performance that could only be seen as shocking if you were born in a glass of whole milk, tweeting "On a scale of 1 to the Grammys how satanic will the #SuperBowlLVII Halftime Show be?"

This worry of "satanism" at the Super Bowl was echoed by other likeminded Republicans like Nick Adams from the America First Policy Institute who tweeted, "Something about Rihanna's performance feels Satanic. I could be wrong, I am just speaking my mind."

Opening with her 2015 single, "Bitch Better Have My Money," although she will receive no paycheck for her performance tonight, she filled the set with the following songs:

"Where Have You Been?"
"Only Girl in the World"
"We Found Love"
"Rude Boy"
"Work"
"Wild Thoughts"
"Pour It Up"
"All of the Lights"
"Run This Town"
"Umbrella"
"Diamonds"

What makes the already spectacular performance even more so, is that she performed while visibly pregnant. Rolling Stone confirmed as much in a report after the show, referring to her unborn child as the night's "special guest."

After last week's takedown of a Chinese "surveillance balloon" over the Carolina coast, there have been other sightings of yet-to-be explained "objects," with one being shot down on Friday off the remote northern coast of Alaska, and the word UFO being used by outlets to describe them has had many people jumping to conclusions.

The latest of these events was brought to the public's attention last night when the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced that a U.S. F-22 fighter jet brought down an "unidentified cylindrical object" over Canada, shortly followed by news that airspace had been shut down while fighter jets investigated a "radar anomaly" in Montana according to Reuters.

"As Canadian authorities conduct recovery operations to help our countries learn more about the object, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be working closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police," Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement obtained from ABC.

The anomaly in Montana is still being monitored, but the situation was diffused enough to allow for the re-opening of airspace.

"I am aware of the object in Montana air space and remain in close contact with senior DOD and Administration officials," said Montana Senator Jon Tester. "I am closely monitoring the situation and am receiving regular updates. I will continue to demand answers for the American public."

While few answers are being given as to what these objects are, people seem to be taking up one of two possible conclusions based on what we've been told: spy surveillance, or little green men from Mars.

"I hope President Biden can step away from the Governors Ball in the White House and tell the American people what the hell is going on," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted on Saturday night. "Montana is the site of multiple nuclear missile silos. After shooting down ufo's in Alaska & Canada, we deserve answers."

"There has been a lot of weird news in recent years. We don't really know what's going on with all these flying objects that keep getting shot down, but feels like this could be right up there," journalist Aaron Rupar weighed in. "That governments are playing it so close to the vest definitely raises suspicions."

A CNN segment with Natasha Bertrand, national security reporter, rang the "alien" alarm bell for many when she stated that pilots involved in the Alaska takedown were baffled by what they saw.

"When they looked at the object they could identify no identifiable propulsion system and they did not know how it was actually staying in the air," Bertrand said.

Bertrand's clip led me to weigh in with my own commentary, as the idea of aliens making their presence known just in time for Rihanna at the Super Bowl was too fun to pass up on.

There have been no updates on the latest "objects" as of Sunday morning, other than to say that they're being investigated and the situation is being monitored.

Last week, the cable provider DirecTV announced that it will be dropping the conservative news network Newsmax from its channel lineup and a handful of Republican senators, led by Senator Ted Cruz, are up in arms about it.

Per a statement from representatives for DirecTV, the decision was made after the two parties failed to come to an agreement after a back and forth regarding rate increases, but the GOP senators are seeing a different motive there.

On Wednesday, a letter written by Cruz along with Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Tom Cotton was reported on by The Hill in which they demand answers from DirecTV's corporate leadership as to why they made the decision to no longer offer the channel as part of their package offerings.

"DirecTV's decision follows recent revelations of collusion between Big Tech companies and Democrat officials to label conservative speech as 'misinformation' and censor it," Cruz and the other senators wrote in their letter. "The silencing of conservative speech at the request of government officials is a direct assault on free speech and a threat to democracy."

According to The Hill, the senators are requesting information as to whether "DirecTV, or its parent company, AT&T, communicated with any federal, state, or local government officials," prior to dropping the network, which has favorably covered Trump and other likeminded conservatives.

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On Wednesday afternoon, Newsmax ran an article on the senators going to bat for them, detailing action points for how others can join in. In addition to listing a toll free number that people can call to "demand they bring Newsmax back on air," they write in bold print that Trump personally urges users to cancel DirecTV as a result of the network being pulled.

"If DirecTV tells you we are still negotiating, that is a lie!," said Newsmax "They have told Newsmax we will never be on a regular cable channel. DirecTV also replaced Newsmax with a channel that has no news and no ratings. Also, Newsmax's livestream is ending soon on other platforms, so unless you get it on DirecTV you will have to cancel their service."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also chimed in on the matter, according to Deadline, saying "I think there should be no ideological litmus test when you have these big companies that have the decision to make or break a news network, or any type of network. They will give different rationales for why they don't want to do it, but the reality is they have so much other content that is very lightly viewed, and they keep that on, and it seems it is the One America News and the Newsmax that are being targeted. So I think it does warrant an investigation."

DeSantis is urging Congress to take up the investigation.

On Saturday, Donald Trump made stops in New Hampshire and South Carolina for the first major campaign events in his 2024 presidential bid, finding opportunities to make remarks against main competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), even before exiting his aircraft and making way to the podium.

In an interview with reporters aboard his plane to South Carolina on Saturday, Trump said "Ron would have not been governor if it wasn't for me, and that's okay . . . then when I hear he might run, I consider that very disloyal."

During the speech he would go on to give in South Carolina, Trump took up a popular talking point among Republicans, protecting children from "perverts" and steering the country away from "woke" gender and sexuality politics.

"We're going to stop the left wing radical racists and perverts who are trying to indoctrinate our youth, and we're going to get their Marxist hands off of our children" Trump said. "We're going to defeat the cult of gender ideology and reaffirm that god created two genders called men and women."

Responding to the applause that erupted after those statements, Trump then doubled-down, going into the topic of "men playing in women's sports," and how he plans to put an end to it.

"We're not going to allow men to play in women's sports, and by so doing, you know what happens, we're going to save the dignity of women, and we're going to save women's sports itself," Trump said, calling such a thing "ridiculous."

Trump has already laid groundwork for this plan, announcing this week that he will be pushing to "cut federal funding for any school pushing far-left sexual or political content on our children."

On Friday, The San Francisco Superior Court released footage of the October 28, 2022 attack at the Pelosi home in San Francisco, California, during which Paul Pelosi was hit with a hammer by a man now known to be David DePape.

This article first appeared in Salon.

In the graphic footage, DePape can be seen struggling to gain entry to the home and then, later, bashing Pelosi in the head in front of police officers who had arrived at the scene.

Shortly after the footage was released on Friday, DePape phoned in to the KTVU newsroom from jail, where he's up against state charges of attempted murder and elder abuse, and federal charges for kidnapping. In the chilling call, DePape boasted about his actions during the attack, and expressed the wish that he would have "been more prepared."

"Now that you all have seen the body cam footage, I have an important message for everyone in America," DePape said in the call. "You're welcome."

DePape goes on to say that he sought out to "pay a little visit" to the people he believes to be responsible for killing freedom and liberty, and is only regretful that he "didn't get more of them."

"I have a lot more to say," DePape continued. "I had a website of over 300 pages. That's 300 pages of stuff they don't want you to hear. I'm in the process of trying to set up a new site out of the reach of tyrannical global fascists."

In December of 2022, DePape pleaded not guilty to attempted murder for the attack that left Pelosi with a fractured skull. A San Francisco judge has set a trial date for DePape of Feb. 23.

On Wednesday, The Oak Room at the Venetian casino's Grand Canal Shoppes in Las Vegas had an event sponsored by the National Association for Gun Rights on the books, but chose to wipe it from their itinerary after it was promoted by Rittenhouse, according to Huffpost.

During an interview with Sebastian Gorka on the America First podcast, Rittenhouse discussed the Vegas cancellation saying "The Oak Room room at the Venetian canceled us and bent to the woke mob saying we aren't going to host you guys anymore."

In their coverage of the now canceled event, local network Fox 5 described it as a "first come, first serve" event with an open bar and food that was to be a "private reception" to coincide with the Shot Show convention.

In a statement provided to Fox 5 by a spokesperson for the Grand Canal Shoppes they say "Our tenant informed us that they have canceled the event. We do not speak on behalf of our tenants, but want to emphasize this event did not align with our property's core event guidelines."

Rittenhouse, who was acquitted in 2021 after pleading not guilty to fatally shooting two men and seriously wounding another during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wis, has made a personal platform out of the tragedy, positioning himself as a hero because of his actions during that protest.

While the earlier cancellation at the Texas brewery has now been rescheduled, and Rittenhouse still managed to meet with people in Vegas at a NAGR booth set up at a different location, he expressed bitterness over the flip flop while on Gorka's podcast.

"It's just because of my name and they're just being unfair and biased," said Rittenhouse.

A 2019 video clip of Republican congressman from New York, George Santos, has been making the rounds over the weekend as it introduces further questions regarding his credibility.

This article first appeared in Salon.

In the clip, shared by @PatriotTakes on Twitter, Santos takes the mic during a question and answer session at a pro-Trump LGBTQ event and introduces himself as Anthony Devolder, leaving many to wonder, who the hell is Anthony Devolder?

"So my name is Anthony Devolder. I'm a New York City resident. I recently founded a group called United for Trump so if you guys wanna follow, that would be awesome," Santos is seen and heard saying in the clip.

After his now befuddling introduction, Santos goes on to ask a question to a trans woman on the event's panel.

"How do you think that, as a trans woman and a conservative, you can help educate other trans people from not having to follow the narrative that the media and the Democrats put forward?"

"My approach has always been to just live my life authentically," the panelist answers.

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After facing considerable criticism in the brief time he's been in his position, this latest piece of the puzzle comes after Santos had to answer for why he lied on his resume, why he lied about his mom dying on 9/11, and several other trip-ups.

As the Independent points out, Santos claims that his full name is George Anthony Devolder Santos, but the flip flop in usage is curious.

As one Twitter user puts it, in response to the video clip, "At a certain point the level of fraud swirling around 'George Santos' has to be actionable under the rules & statutes of the U.S. Congress right? I mean… he 1) ran a ponzi scheme, 2) under an assumed name, 3) which WASN'T EVEN HIS ONLY ALIAS. So is George Santos even his name?"

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, seated in front of a small American flag and a large picture of Jesus, was on hand to fill in for Bannon, closing out the show with a discussion with Republican congressman-elect from New York, George Santos, regarding the source of his campaign funding.

Asking Santos to explain where he got the $705,000 dollars that he personally deposited into his campaign fund, Gaetz did not exactly receive a straight answer.

Broaching the topic of various criticisms against Santos, Gaetz said "One of the principal critiques I've heard is that a lot of money was donated to your campaign by you . . . where did it come from?"

"Well, I'll tell you where it didn't come from. It didn't come from China, Ukraine or Burisma," Santos replied.

"That is an answer," Gaetz said in return, having not received much of an answer at all. From here he goes on to say that he also partially funded his own campaign by selling off properties, which led to Santos opening up a bit more.

"I've worked my entire life. I've worked an honest life," Santos said. "I've never been accused of any bad doings. It's the equity of my hardworking self."

As far as any "bad doings" in relation to Santos, he and Gaetz go into a bit of that at the top of their interview when Gaetz brings up that Santos was found to have embellished his resume.

"You have admitted embellishing your resume. You've acknowledged it. You've apologized for it. Some have said that you shouldn't be seated on committees for it. I would offer that if we didn't seat people on committees who embellished their resume for Congress we probably wouldn't be able to make a quorum," Gaetz said, offering Santos an easy out on the topic which he took by offering no further comment on the matter.

Watch Gaetz as guest host of "War Room" below.

Matt Gaetz Hosts WAR ROOM (feat. George Santos, Andy Biggs, Anna Paulina Luna, & Russ Vought)www.youtube.com

After coming up short on the sufficient amount of votes needed to appoint a new speaker, the U.S. House has adjourned until 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

Appearing on Fox News to discuss the stalemate and the rising tensions within the Republican party as they grapple with this vote, Former White House Press Secretary and Co-anchor of "America's Newsroom," Dana Perino, offers a suggestion . . . hash it out at a bar.

"Today there was no movement towards Kevin McCarthy, there was a slight movement back," Perino said. "They're a little bit at a stalemate, so I think the other thing that's happening is the name calling is getting ratcheted up within the party."

Looking into the not too distant future where a new speaker has been appointed, and all of these people have to work together, Perino sees a way for them to squash any ill-will now and keep things moving before matters get any worse.

"I think there's only one solution they should do tonight," Perino furthers. "Everybody needs to go to the bar. And it need to be an open bar. They need to all get drunk and have a moment because that's what you do with a team when you're having a little bit of a problem . . . Go get drunk!"

"As a DC bartender, I can tell you that House Republicans are very bad tippers and no bartender deserves serving all of these morons in a single night," Tweets Kat Abu from Media Matters in response to Perino's solution.

How the vote will advance from here is anyone's guess, but Politico writer Nicholas Wu shared a possibility to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon.

"Another R opposing McCarthy, Rep. Bob Good, predicted to reporters that McCarthy would withdraw," tweets Wu.

I was hired as Salon's nights and weekends editor in February of 2022. Before that, the little I knew of Marjorie Taylor Greene led me to lump her into the same category as Kanye West or Elon Musk, to cite two other humans very much in the news this past year. I knew little about her politics, but Greene registered as another public figure who had been afforded every opportunity and resource in the world to make a positive impact but who had opted instead to make as loud of a fuss and as big of a mess as possible.

This article first appeared in Salon.

After nearly a full calendar year following Greene's career as an especially aggressive Republican member of Congress from Georgia — and the conservative movement's biggest star, other than a guy named Donald Something-or-Other — I can't say that my initial opinion of her has changed much. But I believe I've acquired some keener insight into where she's coming from and where she's likely headed.

Donald Trump loves Greene and has often referred to her as his "warrior." That may be how she sees herself, but true warriors aren't as needy as Greene seems to be, and don't need as much as Greene does. Judging by her appearances over the past year, it's clear that saying whatever bonkers thing comes to mind, with the goal of ensuring that she'll land at the top of news coverage the following morning, takes precedence over any legitimate action plan. Growing up, I was taught not to talk about doing things but just to do them. That's how a strong woman should be, and how a warrior should act. I'm not a warrior by any means — but neither is she.

My background is in writing about culture and celebrities, and I viewed Greene through that lens as I watched her spend 2022 nuzzling up to the twice-impeached ex-president, attacking vulnerable people, encouraging violence and dehumanizing the LGBTQ community at every opportunity. In other words, I know her as a villain, and as a lover of film, television and literature, I also know that villains are often the most compelling, even irresistible characters.

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In every nightmare I've had since I was a child, if there's a monster or some such thing coming after me I don't attempt to run away from it, I try to join with it, intuiting, even in a dream, that fighting from the inside rather than from the outside is the better move. You get close to a villain so you can keep track of where they are and what they're doing. You get close to a villain so you're ready to bring them down when an opportunity presents itself. How nice would it be if this ended up being Marjorie Taylor Greene's fate? (Admittedly, it won't be me who pulls this off.)

Oscar Wilde once said, "Always forgive your enemies – nothing annoys them so much." It's no problem for me personally to forgive the blonde hellion from Georgia for making a platform out of kickin' and stompin' and screaming into the ignorant abyss to the enormous detriment of this country and its people. But it's much harder to get past all the chaos she created this year. Herewith, are just a few of her most poorly chosen "warrior" moments.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks at a news conference with the House Freedom Caucus on Capitol Hill September 15, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Nothing provides proof that an adult does not, in fact, have their s**t together than resorting to physical violence. In September, when asked by a group of young activists to explain how the Second Amendment can prevent gun violence, Greene chose to kick one of them in the back of the leg rather than offer a rational response. To make matters worse, the person she kicked was 18-year-old Marianna Pecora, deputy communications director for Voters of Tomorrow, who was in D.C. at the time to lobby for youth rights. When Pecora and her colleague Santiago Mayer, the group's executive director, shared video of the exchange on Twitter, clearly showing the kick, Greene actually retweeted it, calling the young activists "foolish cowards."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) as U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address in the U.S. Capitol's House Chamber, March 01, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Greene is obviously not a big fan of President Biden, so when he made the announcement in August that he planned to clear up to $10,000 in PPP loans for students struggling with financial debt, she seized opportunity to let it all hang out. But as is often the case with Greene and her ilk, these efforts to shame the president backfired and it was revealed that Greene had herself received $183,504 in PPP loans. In a tweet from late August, Greene deflected, saying to Biden: "I don't respect you for leaving our border wide open allowing an invasion & deadly drugs in daily, arming the Taliban, wrecking our economy, killing our energy independence, & supporting killing the unborn & genital mutilation of children. Go to hell Joe." That's what an onlooker like me would refer to as being "butt-hurt."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) discussed her legislation the Protect Children's Innocence Act on Capitol Hill September 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

August was a big month for Greene. On Aug. 18, during an appearance on Tucker Carlson's primetime Fox News show, Greene gave viewers a sneak peek at the big endeavor she was to unveil the following day, the Protect Children's Innocence Act. Master of "saying the quiet part out loud," Greene used her reputation for emphatic opposition to gender-affirming care for trans youth to springboard this bill that, in her words, "would immediately make it a felony to subject children to puberty blockers or horrific sex change genital surgeries." Children, of course, are not eligible for the "horrific" genital surgeries that Greene mentions — the standard minimum age requirement for such surgery is 17 — but that hasn't slowed her down. She told Carlson she viewed gender-affirming care as "disgusting and appalling," describing it as "child abuse." As a 2022 information sheet from the Department of Health and Human Services puts it, "gender-affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse children and adolescents." But sure, "protect the children," I guess.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., cheers during the America First Policy Institute's America First Agenda Summit on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

During a July 23 interview at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Florida, Greene let her religious-bigot flag fly. During an interview with Taylor Hanson of the right-wing Next News Network, Greene said "We need to be the party of nationalism, and I'm a Christian. And I say it proudly: We should be Christian nationalists." A few weeks later, Greene gave another interview, elaborating on her Turning Point views. In this later interview, which Forbes noted in a YouTube clip, she smirkingly defined Christian nationalism as nothing more than a matter of "Christianity and loving our country." When the reporter in the clip politely pushes back, reminding Greene that the definition of the term carries other connotations, Greene said her interpretation was the only one she was familiar with, telling the Black female reporter that she didn't know what she was talking about.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks to the media outside the Supreme Court after the overturning of Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In June, Greene gave a statement outside the Supreme Court building shortly after the Dobbs decision was handed down, overturning Roe v. Wade and women's constitutional right to choose abortion. She was psyched. "I am so happy. It's a blessing. It's a miracle," Greene said, while swarms of gathered protesters screamed at her, calling her a traitor. Months later, during a news segment in October, a woman called in to speak against Greene's views saying "My body is my body and I don't want the government telling me what I can do with my body." According to Vanity Fair, Greene insulted the woman saying, "I don't think you're having children any time soon." The implication was that, based on the woman's voice alone, she was too old to have an opinion on abortion rights.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks during a court hearing on April 22, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (John Bazemore-Pool/Getty Images)

Like other Republicans who use religion as a blunt instrument, Greene bends her definition of what real religion is to suit her current talking points. In April, she gave an interview to the far-right Catholic news organization Church Militant in which she suggested that Satan was controlling the Catholic Church. After Catholic League president Bill Donohue took issue with her comments, Greene released a 700-word statement clapping back at some length. Donohue had accused her of "slandering Catholics and Catholicism in an interview I gave to Michael Voris at Church Militant," Greene wrote. "Nothing could be further from the truth, and he must apologize promptly and publicly for these words... It's the church leadership I was referring to when I invoked the Devil. The bishops know that, but had their loyal lapdog pretend I was being disrespectful about the faith." A bit further on, Greene does a bit more revising, saying, "Just so we're clear, bishops, when I said 'controlled by Satan,' I wasn't talking about the Catholic Church. I was talking about you."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks to supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump on March 26, 2022 in Commerce, Georgia. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

In the earlier months of 2022, Greene gave full support to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill and turned her focus toward crafting a similar bill for Georgia. In an appearance on Alex Jones' Infowars, Greene said "I will meet with my team right after this interview and we will work on it, Alex, because I will do anything I can to protect kids." As you might expect, in December Greene voted against the Marriage Protection Act, which at the very least ensured continuing nationwide marriage rights for same-sex couples.

According to a HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings, only $15 million "went toward electing Republicans in five Senate races," and not a cent of it was used towards Herschel Walker's Dec. 6 runoff, which leaves the rest to be used on who followers of Trump's financials are calling his "favorite candidate," himself.

"It's so obvious to the point of cliche at this point that Trump is in this for one person and one person alone, himself," said Rory Cooper, previously an aide to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a quote to HuffPost. "He steals fundraising, picks lousy candidates, and is an anchor in competitive races, so one would wonder how much longer the party tolerates this loser nonsense."

In the case of Walker, HuffPost's analysis determined that he received $15.4 million in assistance from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund, but a glaringly blank sum from Trump, who had been championing him up to that point.

"Never seen anything like this," says Brendan Fischer, Deputy Executive Director of investigative watchdog and journalism project @ItsDocumented. "New FEC reports show that last month, Trump transferred $40 MILLION from his Save America PAC—which cannot use its funds to support Trump's candidacy—to a newly-created super PAC that will surely spend the money backing his 2024 presidential run."

"Trump hoarding cash wasn't helpful, especially since he dragged most of these losing candidates into the races they eventually lost," said former White House political adviser Scott Jennings in HuffPost's reporting on Trump's super PAC usage.

On Wednesday, Trump dropped a hint as to where his attentions are focused with a video declaring that he'll be making a "major announcement" on Thursday. In the video, an image is shown of Trump depicted as a super hero with laser beams coming out of his eyes.

After it was announced on Thursday that the House passed the Respect for Marriage Act, protecting the rights of same-sex and interracial marriages, Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) made a tearful plea to her colleagues to help her in pushing back against it.

In a statement made on the House floor, Hartzler squared off against the Speaker saying "I'll tell you my priority; protect religious liberty, protect people of faith, and protect Americans who believe in the true meaning of marriage."

As highlighted in Insider's coverage of Hartzler's breakdown, this is not the first time she's taken a firm stance against same-sex marriage. Before entering into Congress, the Republican "pushed for an amendment to be added to Missouri's constitution that would define marriage as between a man and a woman."

Although the Respect for Marriage Act is better than nothing, it is an imperfect bill in that individual states are not legally required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but they must honor the rights of couples who were legally married elsewhere.

In a November interview with Tony Perkins, Family Research Council President, Hartzler expressed her views towards gay marriage in regards to the bill that was passed today saying "They act like they're being so magnanimous in this bill to protect our pastors, to not force them to carry out same-sex marriage ceremonies, and yet they trample on the freedom of everyone else in this country . . . It's a very sad situation and it's deceiving."

The 258-169 vote in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act on Thursday sends the issue over to President Biden's desk. Biden has expressed support of the bill and, once approved, will sign it into law.

"I am shocked that conservatives that have a libertarian bent believe that somehow we ought to get involved in this," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. according to NBC. "It's not the government's business."

"Your love is your choice," said Hoyer. "The pursuit of happiness means you can love whom you choose."

The boy in the box was naked, wrapped in a plaid blanket, and was thought to be between 3 and 7 years old, per initial investigations. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma and according to now retired detective sergeant Bob Kuhlmeier, "he appeared to be cleaned and freshly groomed with a haircut."

Setting out to determine the identity of the young boy, police ran a check on his fingerprints, but did not come up with a match. They canvased the area with fliers for years, doing their due diligence to give the unidentified child's name back so he may have a proper burial, but consistently came upon dead ends. Until now.

On Wednesday afternoon, Philadelphia police issued a statement saying that DNA and genealogical information have led to a positive ID on "The Boy in the Box," and will be providing an update on the case as soon as next week.

According to CBS News, workers at the Ivy Hill Cemetery where the boy's remains were laid to rest under a headstone reading "America's Unknown Child" were tearful upon hearing that his actual name will be known for the first time in more than six decades.

"To have a name on that stone, that's what everybody has been wishing forever," Ivy Hill's Linda Tamburri said in a quote to CBS. "I'm just glad I'm here to actually know I'll see that little boy's name on the stone."

"I think it's wonderful," Dave Drysdale, cemetery secretary and treasurer at Ivy Hill, said. "I just wish that the police officers and all the people involved who long passed away were still here to see it because that was one of their goals and a couple of them said 'I hope they live long enough to see a name put on there.'"

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As detailed in the feature by All That's Interesting, there were many wild theories about "The Boy in the Box" case. In 1960, a psychic tipped off an employee of the medical examiner's office that the boy came from an orphanage. When police followed up on the lead they found a style of blanket at the orphanage in question that matched the one the dead boy was wrapped in, but nothing panned out from that lead. Later, a woman who called herself "M" claimed that "the boy had been purchased by her abusive mother," who bashed his head against the wall after he vomited up some baked beans she'd fed him. Police latched on to this as baked beans had been found in the contents of the dead boy's stomach but, again, the lead went nowhere.

Philadelphia Police Captain Jason Smith told NBC Philadelphia on Wednesday that while he can't discuss the identity of the boy prior to next week's news conference, he harkened back to a statement given to the news outlet in 2021 in which he said "identifying the boy was just the beginning."

"The investigation will start all over again and then we'll start searching for a suspect," Smith said.

On Friday evening, Trump delivered a televised speech at the America First Experience Gala held at Mar-a-Lago and aired his grievances regarding the appointment of special counsel in the furthering of his Jan. 6 legal saga.

Stepping to the podium dressed in a tuxedo, Trump remarked on the number of people in attendance, gave an attagirl to Kari Lake, who lost her Arizona gubernatorial race, and then went on to express his views that elections are "rigged, tainted and bad" until C-SPAN made the decision to cut away to other programming. In what was surely a hitch in Trump's giddyup, the programming they cut away to was U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland's public announcement that he'd chosen Jack Smith as special counsel.

At the point in which C-SPAN cut Trump short, he was mid-way through a rant about Chicago and Afghanistan. See that moment here.

During what was heard of Trump's speech, he referred to Marjorie Taylor Greene as "a quiet person we like very much," spoke directly to a random man in the audience named Larry on several occasions, and spent a good portion of time talking about the special counsel before hopping the track.

"This horrendous abuse of power is the latest in a long series of witch hunts," Trump said. "They wanna do bad things to the greatest movement in the history of our country, but in particular, bad things to me."

"This is a rigged deal just as the 2020 election was rigged, and we can't let them get away with it," the former president protested.

From there, Trump jumps to how Biden is at fault for the investigation being conducted on his escalation of the events of January 6.

"Joe Biden is a corrupt and incompetent political hack," Trump said. "We are innocent. They are not innocent," he remarked on Biden and his son Hunter, dragging the whole family into the mix.

"I've done nothing wrong, they've participated in massive criminal activity," Trump said on the Bidens. "I've proven to be one of the most honest and innocent people ever in our country."

The aired segment from Friday's speech can be seen via C-SPAN.

In the cold open for "Saturday Night Live," hosted by Dave Chappelle, SNL alum Cecily Strong brought back her near-perfect Kari Lake portrayal to rib the Republican's refusal to admit defeat in her race for Arizona governor.

This article first appeared on Salon.

In the sketch, Strong as Lake appears in a segment of "Fox & Friends" to answer questions about her run in the midterms, and flip flops between blaming Democracy for her loss, if she does in fact lose, and thanking Democracy for helping her win if that ends up being the unlikely outcome.

"Nearly every candidate Trump backed lost this week, except for one" says SNL's Mikey Day as Fox host, Steve Doocy, kicking it over to Strong as Lake.

"Greeting from Arizona, where the average age and temperature is 95," Strong says.

"Thanks for being here during what must be a very stressful time," says Bowen Yang as Fox host Brian Kilmeade.

"Hey, my campaign isn't dead yet," Strong says. "Even though my camera filter makes it look like I'm in heaven."

"Now, Kari, this seemed like a race you'd easily win, yet it's been a real nailbiter," says Heidi Gardner as Fox host Ainsley Earhardt. "You and your opponent are currently neck and neck."

"That is because the Maricopa County officials are incompetent," Strong says. "And it's my belief that the election is rigged and the results should be thrown out."

When the hosts break away to read off new numbers coming in, Strong's Lake changes her tune based on whether or not they're in her favor.

"I am 100 percent confident that I am going to win this election," Strong says. "And I won't stop fighting until every vote is counted and then some votes are taken away. Because who do Arizonans want leading them? Katie Hobbs, who's hiding in a basement? Or me, Kari Lake, who lives right here in this beautiful pool of vaseline. And who's out there every day at CVS asking Black customers if they work here."

"Well we are rooting for you, Kari. We know the votes will go your way," says Day as Doocy.

"Well if they don't, I'll burn Arizona to the ground," Strong says in closing.

As of Sunday morning, Lake is still dragging behind in her race at 49.3% to Katie Hobbs' 50.7%.

Watch the sketch here:

Fox & Friends Cold Open - SNLyoutu.be