Was about to knock off half an hour ago, but saw the piece about the new Guttmacher Institute report referenced in an email, and had a pang of conscience. For reasons beyond me, an extraordinary number of Americans remains complacent about reproductive rights, even as they are under attack from many directions (soon including, I fear, the U.S. Supreme Court).

Here are some remains of the day:

* In the new issue of Washington Monthly, Jon Marcus shows how federal work-study aid has become disconnected from the students who most need it.

* White House announces two new regulations to tighten gun background check system; I’m sure gun lobby will go, or stay, nuts.

* Following up on Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Nunn’s fundraising success, gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter reports raising a robust $1.3 million early in his campaign. The donkey’s showing some life down there.

* Libertarian Matt Welch takes David Brooks’ song of regret for smoking pot seriously enough to rebut its half-baked–pun intended–claims.

* At Ten Miles Square, Keith Humphreys mocks TED Talks.

And in non-political news:

* Minnesota Vikings retain former state Supreme Court judge to investigate–well, presumably their own selves–in response to allegations by longtime punter Chris Kluwe that team dropped him for his marriage equality advocacy.

That’s it for the day and the holiday week. As you may recall, PA is going to a two-person Weekend Blogging rotation of Kathleen Geier and Martin Longman. Kathleen has the controls for the first weekend of the year.

Let’s close with one more slightly-less-well-known Aretha Franklin tune. Here she is performing “See Saw” with none other than Tom Jones.

YouTube video

Selah.

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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.