Because a lot of #ncpol forgets, it bears reminding: no Democrat has drawn any election map at all in our state since 2003. The last time Democrats gerrymandered in NC, 50cent's "In da club" was a chart-topping new single.

Israel’s defense minister was no dove. But he wanted a hostage deal, a plan for moderate Palestinians to govern Gaza, & an egalitarian draft law. So Netanyahu fired him. My latest The Atlantic. theatlantic.com/international/… Laura Rozen Josh Marshall Bluesky Gruesky Ishaan Tharoor

Medvedev-Fritz is likely going to be done soon, and it doesn’t portend well for entertainment in Turin.

Congratulations to Fritz fans, commiserations to Medvedev fans. Taylor won 68-50, or 58% to 42%. Very clean kill. Daniil won 6/22 second serve points today: complete the sentence “you’re only as good as — — —.”

Fascinating

Trump has now reaffirmed his plan to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. For the record that department funds, among other things, all the special education and special needs program in public schools and public colleges in all 50 states.

Congratulations to Medvedev fans, commiserations to de Minaur fans. Daniil won 63-46, or 58% to 42%. Very clean kill. Looked to me like Daniil was more able to give the ball a ride occasionally than his opponent.

Two big men playing Davydenko style tennis tonight. 15-0, 4-4.

First set Jannik. Fritz looked like he was in the driver’s seat for much of the set, then he finds himself booted out and standing in the rain at the bus stop.

Lot of echoes of 2004 in the 2024 elections. Dems were devastated and leaderless then, too. They recovered pretty fast, with a lot of help from the Bush administration. nymag.com/intelligencer/…

Taylor Fritz is returning really well, to my eyes, to someone ranked 44 in returns on the ATP Leaderboard facing someone ranked 5 in serves. 4-3* Jannik, still on serve.

Congratulations to Sinner fans, commiserations to Fritz fans. Jannik won 70-60, or 54% to 46%. Clean kill. Odd match. I guess Sinner was a scintilla steadier at the end of both sets, and that’s all you need.

While at the RNC in 2016, I vetted Hegseth for an under secretary role at the Pentagon, and he wasn’t qualified for that much more subordinate role then. No amount of conservative spin will make this guy a qualified choice for Secretary of Defense

for those unaware elon musk holds a ton of dogecoin (DOGE) and this is a president-elect using his executive power to create a new government department whose name is intended to boost the price of DOGE, thereby enriching the man running it (musk)

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2016. 2020. 2024.

A very occasional note: I now hang out at “.bsky.social,” same handle.