Jobs report got day off to a quick start, but now political discourse degenerating fast thanks to BLS Truthers. Just amazing. But here are some other mid-day news bites:

* Big Bird arrives on campaign trail even faster than I’d guessed.

* Really dumb Sally Quinn column saying Romney “won the God vote” by mentioning the Almighty in the debate.

* Even Bush administration lawyer denounces reported plan for Romney to come out in favor of return to torture.

* Antonin Scalia warms up for Supreme Court term with speech saying decisions on abortion (overturning Roe, of course!) and same-sex marriage (denying constitutional protection, of course!) are “no-brainers.”

* As Abby Rapoport notes at TAP, conservative “voter fraud” enthusiasts strangely silent about charges of registration fraud against firm hired by GOP op to work in five battleground states.

And in non-political news:

* Baseball post-season begins today in Atlanta (Go Braves!) and Arlington TX.

Back after I eat the Five Guys hot dog my wife brought me back from a business trip.

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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.