Today feels kind of like the day after a really big storm has hit town. There’s a lot to clean up, as reflected in these mid-day news/views offerings:
* Federal government begins to fully re-open after Obama’s signature on Senate Deal legislation just after midnight this morning.
* Ezra Klein debunks reports that Senate Deal included permanent “McConnell mechanism” making debt limit automatically extendable if Congress doesn’t veto it. Sorry, the “mechanism” expired with that very vote.
* Sarah Kliff explains that the “income verification for Obamacare subsidies” demand proposed by Senate Republicans was significantly watered down in the final deal.
* Dave Weigel reports some of the revisionist theories of the shutdown that are already circulating in GOP circles.
* Greg Sargent argues GOP must keep Ted Cruz from re-enacting the shutdown strategy when the current CR nears expiration in January.
And in non-political news:
* Rare saber-toothed whale washes up on Venice Beach.
Back after a brief break, to be followed later by a real Lunch Break.
Here’s another Song of the First Energy Crisis, with John Mayall’s 1974 tune “Gasoline Blues.”
