As noted earlier, I’m traveling to a wedding event, and will take a vacation day tomorrow. Ryan Cooper will be at the wheel of PA tomorrow, and then Max Ehrenfreund is in for Weekend Blogging.

Here are some remains of the day:

* New York Times‘ Tim Arango raises the possibility that U.S. strike in Syria will spur Iraqi Shi’a to “pour across the border” to defend Assad.

* Alec Baldwin to host new Friday night talk show on “current events and culture” for MSNBC.

* Dave Weigel looks at potential 2016 Dem rivals to HRC for signs of “opening to the left” on Syria, and finds a slight hint from Martin O’Malley.

* At Ten Miles Square, Jonathan Bernstein speculates about what a successor to John Boehner might accomplish–or not.

* At College Guide, Daniel Luzer discusses study finding that college biology textbooks are geared primarily to premed students.

And in non-political news:

* If keeping your coats, shoes and belts on while going through airport security is worth $85 a year to you, TSA may soon have a deal for you.

That’s it for the day. Here’s one more version of “House of the Rising Sun,” from Leadbelly.

Selah.

Ed Kilgore

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.