The Brady Campaign's Brass Balls. House majority whip Steve Scalise went back to work yesterday, and it was an emotional day on Capitol Hill. But, to paraphrase Rahm Emanuel, you never want to let a crisis go to waste. Insert the anti-gun Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Here's their welcome back message for Steve Scalise:

Brady Campaign co-president Kris Brown issued the following statement on House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's return to Capitol Hill, after he he was shot earlier this year. "The Brady Campaign was relieved to see the good news of Congressman Scalise's improved health and return to Capitol Hill this week. As a former congressional staffer, I join the rest of our organization and the Washington community in saying, welcome back! "Like tens of thousands of Americans who've survived gunshot wounds this year, Congressman Scalise has faced a tough, expensive road to recovery, and we're glad he was fortunate enough to have good health insurance and a deep support network of family, colleagues, and friends to help him on that journey. "Rep. Scalise returns to Washington facing some important legislative decisions this fall. High on the House GOP's priority list is the SHARE Act, a bill that would, in part, allow dangerous people to buy silencers and bullets designed to pierce body armor like that worn by the officers who saved the majority whip's life. "We encourage Congressman Scalise to side with other gun violence victims to oppose this legislation, and instead champion a bill in the House to enact Extreme Risk Protective Orders, or ERPOs. These orders allow family members and law enforcement to petition a judge to temporarily remove firearms from someone in crisis, demonstrating dangerous behavior, or suffering mental illness, like the man who shot Congressman Scalise, who had a history of threats and violence. These orders have been successful in the states and could very well have kept guns out of the dangerous hands of Scalise's shooter."

Responses by interest groups in the wake of tragedies are typically bad, but this blaming of the victim is particularly shameful. "As a former congressional staffer" (which is not relevant at all), Kris Brown should consider apologizing.

Uh, isn't this just a tent? Making the rounds on social media today are two strange hippy-dippy products you shouldn't buy. One is basically a tent/sleeping bag so you can take a nap in public. Since a lot of people snore, what's the purpose? Wasting money! Next up is a house made "entirely" (read: mostly) of cardboard. People often malign cardboard as the boxed houses of the homeless. It really is quite versatile material, as demonstrated here. But spending $30,000 for a structure without a foundation? It's just a toy for the rich. Living there would be a death trap if any inclement weather came.

South Park as Nostradamus. The Comedy Central staple has been a prescient critic of these modern times, and this week is no different. This week's episode featured parent Stan Marsh pushing the local school district to cancel the Columbus Day holiday. (Intended, of course, to mock the confederate statues debate ...) Except that it was discovered that, but a few short years earlier, Stan dressed up as Christopher Columbus.

Enter the snobby librarian who rejected first lady Melania Trump's book donation to make a political point — that Dr. Seuss was so tired and irrelevant, and not a little racist, in the Era of Hate™. Lo and behold, she's been photographed wearing Dr. Seuss outfits. South Park tries quite hard (and succeeds) at being timely and relevant, but even they could not have predicted how relevant this episode would be.

Read our new issue. There are so many great items in this week's issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Chris Caldwell on Angela Merkel's election, Eric Edelman and Robert Joseph on why Dick Cheney was right, Peter Boyer on the importance of missile defense, Fred Barnes on the prospects for tax reform, and John McCormack on the future of Trumpism in an ever Trumpier world. Plus, lots of other timely can't miss content!

Also, we've announced a new ad-free digital subscription to TWS. It's $29.99 a year. If you're a fan of the pure reading experience sans ads, give it a whirl.

Tom Price resigns. Did we call it, or did we call it? While not as dramatic as we had expected, the response by Price about the taxpayers not "paying for his seat" was perhaps a little too parsed for Trump to accept. Well, when you're worth nearly $14 million, it's a bad look.

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