The QT: Congress returns from vacation, Obama shills for broccoli, and more

A veteran journalist, tongue firmly in cheek, riffs on the latest headlines

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

News Headline:"Recess is not a vacation for Congress"

But Congress is back in session this week.

And can rest now.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

***

News Headline:"Mexico surpasses U.S. as world's fattest nation"

QT has done some research here.

It would take 3,439,040 exercise treadmills placed side-to-side to create a deterrence along the entire border.

This could be accomplished for less than $690 million.

Which is cheaper than all the proposed fences.

And approximately as effective.

***

News Headline: "Is Obama losing the public's trust?"

News Headline:"Obama claims broccoli is his favorite food."

Bad timing, Mr. President.

***

QT Trickle-On Economics Update:

CEOs of major U.S. companies made 273 times what their workers made in 2012, up from 20 times what their workers made in 1965.

***

Modern Education + the Criminal Mind =

A man who broke into a house during a recent morning in Willoughby, Ohio, told police they had no right to arrest him because the crime of burglary can happen only at night.

***

News Item:"Bangladesh's exports rose 16.3 percent in June to $2.7 billion on the year...as the low-cost country retains its allure for cost-crunching global retailers despite deadly incidents..."

Nothing more alluring than sweatshops on fire.

***

News Headline:"Cockatoo stuns scientists by picking a lock"

Do our scientists stun too easily?

***

QT Grammar R Us Seminar on the English Language:

News Headline:"Eliot Spitzer running for New York City comptroller"

L.S., a New York City reader, writes:

"I'm still waiting for the first TV news reader who understands that 'comptroller' should be pronounced the same as 'controller.' "

QT will wait with you.

Write to QT at zaysmith.qt@gmail.com

QT appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Zay N. Smith is a Chicago writer. Before starting the QT column he worked at the Chicago Sun-Times as a reporter, foreign correspondent and writer of major features. He has also worked as a bartender, having played a key role in the 1978 Mirage Tavern investigation, in which the newspaper operated an undercover bar to document the breaking of many laws by many officials.