This week was a huge week in the long-running series “Man, Everything Kind of Sucks Right Now.” Turn this way, and the Iran fiasco is still going strong. Turn that way, and there’s yet another attack on abortion rights. Turn the other way, and Republicans are frothing at the mouth to limit Black people’s access to democracy.

It’s at times like these that a bunch of sirens go off at offices, universities, and general leftist citadels around the country, and a crack squad of writers gets a message: “Please write about this for The Nation!” Thus this week brought us Michael Klare’s wise words about Iran, Michele Goodwin’s indispensable analysis of Louisiana’s attempts to destroy access to both abortion care and the right to vote, and John Nichols’s denunciation of a GOP gerrymander that could destroy one of the most hallowed legacies of the civil rights movement.

And, of course, there are also things to celebrate, even in these grimmest of times. Here’s three The Nation flagged this week: Incarcerated people and their families are saving hundreds of millions of dollars (!) thanks to policies making phone calls from jails and prisons free; there’s an independent bookstore renaissance happening all over the country; and Pope Leo keeps making the Trump administration mad. That last piece is particularly special, because it’s under the criminally rare byline of Rose D’Amora, The Nation’s managing editor, our MVP one zillion years running, and the coolest Catholic you will ever meet. Yeah, you heard me, Leo, cooler than you!

-Jack Mirkinson

Senior Editor, The Nation