I won’t say I’m ecstatic about getting back to the normal blogging pace, but today has been OK, and I look forward to a genuinely strong news day before long. Here’s what I have in the way of remainders today:

* At New York Times, Natalie Kitroeff pens disturbing profile of tactics used by major student loan collection company working for the federal government.

* New Oregon study shows ER utilization actually higher among new Medicaid beneficiaries as opposed to control group of uninsured. Not a great data point for ACA lowering health care costs.

* Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist apologizes for his anti-LGBT record as longtime Republican officeholder. I suspect this is one of several recantations ol’ Charlie will need to undertake.

* Former Vikings punter accuses team (in very compelling post) of dropping him because coach opposed his liberal views on same-sex marriage.

* At Ten Miles Square, Keith Humphreys notes new prison admissions–a better measurement of current trends than prison population levels which reflect earlier policies–have now reached a two-decade low.

And in non-political news:

* Fifth Die Hard installment tops list of worst movies of 2013.

That’s it for the day. Let’s close with one more Bumble Bee Slim tune: “Sail On, Sail On Blues,” with Scrapper Blackwell on guitar.

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.