So, now we’re engaged in one of those “great national conversations” that our leaders seem to demand on a regular basis, this time on so-called stand your ground laws.

I got a glimpse of life “over the rainbow” last weekend. No, my house wasn’t swept up in a tornado, and no, I was not hallucinating after taking a sharp blow to the head.

WASHINGTON — The Senate was out of session Monday, but John McCain was on Capitol Hill, joking, as he often does, about “trying to do the Lord’s work here in the city of Satan.”

After two weeks in Italy, we returned to Maine relaxed, refreshed and full of pasta. We were hankering for a burger and beer, so we stopped at the Sea Dog in Topsham, where I was astonished by the huge rush of water passing by the tavern which sits on the bank of the Androscoggin River. Apparently, you had a lot of rain while we were gone.

Redemption is in the air, we keep hearing. Americans don’t care about a person’s sex life because, well, they have one, too, and, hey, we all have weeds in our garden.

“No justice, no peace” chants the telegenic mob. In a civilized society, however, where the mob doesn’t rule, justice is defined by the verdict that follows a fair trial. It’s the best that humans can do.

This week’s tale is a horror story about lessons learned by the GOP from the 2012 presidential election. And those teachable moments are … nothing. Zero. Zip. Nada. Empty voids. “Hear the hollow roar of the Pod People. See them lash out at the unknown. Feel their blind terror of a future they don’t understand. It’s Son of the Bride of the Attack of the Robot Amnesiacs! Part 6.”

We’ve recently seen a “he-said, she-said” contretemps between Gov. Paul LePage and a number of politicians and school officials about how military recruiters were treated at some Maine high schools when they tried to present service opportunities to students.

Can I tell you a real success story? One we should all be proud of? Great, here goes: The program formerly known as food stamps has kept hunger from exploding along with the number of Americans living in poverty.

Texas state leaders have again taken up a partisan effort to impose severe restrictions on the ability of women in our state to receive reproductive and other crucial health-care services.