Taking the day off -- again -- is the only sensible approach to Labor Day. Not that we've always done it. But we're doing it now, using this particular episode a second time, so that's what matters.

It also gives us a chance to reflect on the fact that we're now marking two years since Biden's "Battle for the Soul of the Nation" speech. And while it's gratifying to see a few people FO what happens when they FA, we're a long way from done.

Though one difference between this year and last: it has felt much more to me like that "Battle for the Soul of the Nation" was really happening.

Here's how it felt two years ago, at the outset:

David Waldman annotates our reading assignments for the weekend:

President Joe Biden appeared before our entire nation last night to address the Soul of our Nation. Well, most of our nation. If all you have are rabbit ears on your TV you might have missed out. Joe believes in the goodness of Americans, including most Republicans. Biden did single out that deplorable sub-group of “MAGA Republicans”, pro-insurrection, anti-democratic, anti-American and a danger to everyone. Republicans respond angrily. MAGA Republicans respond angrily-er. Give the corporate media a minute to figure out what the real offenses might be.

Much of this started with Newt Gingrich.

Michigan reveals anti-democracy in action when the largest number of signatures submitted for a ballot initiative in state history were rejected by the two Republicans on the election board.

The DOJ filed a detailed property inventory on the items seized at Mar-a-lago. Donald Trump never trusted anyone else with classified documents and had to take care of unloading them all himself. He was almost finished when the present President of the United States decided he had executive privilege over his remaining stock.