Timothy Pate

On Tuesday, Minnesota state representatives were sworn in at the state capitol. On the same day, newly elected representative and long-time rapper Maria Isa dropped a new EP. The album is snappy and politically charged and just fun (in fact, it’s currently my favorite album of the year—#1 of 2!). What hooked me? The first track, which earned the “explicit” label because it features Bernie Sanders saying, “You can tell them to go fuck themselves.” I don’t want to be that guy, but I’m newly proud to be a Maria Isa fan when she only has 289 monthly listeners on Spotify.

Also, the schaudenfreude levels are extremely high as I watch aspiring Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy flail in his quest. As of this writing, McCarthy has tried and failed 11 times to earn the requisite votes for the job, and the holdouts show no signs of conceding. I sincerely don’t care who becomes Speaker of the House—it’s going to be a vicious little rat any way you slice it. All we can ask is that the sniveling dorks vying for the post embarrass themselves repeatedly for our enjoyment. Thanks, Kevin!