Jimmy Carter’s funeral was Thursday, so you’d figure that might be one of the items in this week’s 5QT.

It isn’t. Melissa summed up those proceedings exceedingly well, and I don’t have much of anything to add. Besides, I was informed via e-mail that my take on Carter’s death was “rude,” a characterization with which I wholeheartedly and unapologetically agree, and so I’m happy not to beat that dead horse — or the shameful treatment of the president-to-be at that ceremony — any further. (READ MORE: The Uniparty v. Trump at Jimmy Carter’s Funeral)
What I will say is that Carter’s funeral had to show off the worst collection of living current and ex-presidents ever assembled in American history. Trump is the only one of the five you can say didn’t directly contribute to American decline, and I don’t know when that could ever be said of five current or former presidents still living and present in one place at any point since our founding.
Wow.
Anyway, on with the show...

1. Those Fires in Los Angeles Feel Like They’re California’s Katrina
   You’ll forgive me if my frame of reference is a little local for the taste of much of our readership, but ever since the images started coming out of those fires spreading all over Southern California and piling up the billions of dollars in lost homes and businesses, I haven’t been able to shake the comparisons to what happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans some 20 years ago.
   You’ve got to admit the analogy is substantial. In New Orleans, the infrastructure failure was poorly made and shoddily maintained levees, while in California it’s the intentional neglect of the reservoirs and water capture infrastructure in an area that is constantly water starved and prone to wildfires in the first place.
   Then you have an out-to-lunch governor. Louisiana had Kathleen Blanco, who was instantly overwhelmed by the organizational challenge of a hurricane response. California’s Gavin Newsom is certainly that, but he’s also ba...