Who knew jalapeño cheese foccacia bread was so good toasted? I didn’t. But here are some more basic news treats:

* MoJo’s David Corn offers fresh evidence of Romney’s post-1999 involvement with Bain Capital.

* Another anemic economic indicator from June: retail sales down.

* Congressional Democrats talking tough about willingness to let all Bush tax cuts expire unless GOPers back down on high-end cuts.

* Houston Chronicle reports boom in oil and gas drilling in South Texas creating new back roads for drug smugglers.

* Palin and friends whining that she hasn’t been invited to speak in Tampa. The first of many complaints to come.

And in non-political news:

* HuffPost lets you compare celebrities’ heights, from Snooki to Hulk Hogan.

Back after a couple of chores.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.