Whew. Last week is finally over.

If you consider the guys who planted the bombs on Boylston Street, the Mississippian who sent ricin-laced letters to a senator and our president, and the husband and wife accused of murdering Texan law-enforcement officials—vermin we became aware of within one 48-hour period—you’d think we’re living in a perverse, creepy, cowardly, senseless, stupid, ridiculous country where violence is de rigueur and no one cares. Add to this picture the lily-livered senators who cowered before the NRA and couldn’t muster enough courage to vote for expanded background checks, and you’ll be thinking what a pitiful group of people we must be.

Then with the murder of an MIT police officer, a night of explosions, manhunts, shoot-outs, more bombs, a day-long lock-down and a capture, you might have decided Boston is more like Aleppo than an American city.

It made me want to go out and sweep the sidewalk. Continue reading →