Watched an episode of Top Chef last night in which contestants had to build Po-Boy sandwiches, and it made me nostalgic for my new friend Lloyd in Baton Rouge and his roast beef masterpiece. Sigh.
Here are some less lethally tasty midday news/views bites:
* Nation‘s Ari Berman provides details of new Sensenbrenner/Conyers/Leahy Voting Rights Act “fix” legislation, aimed at repairing damage done by Supremes. More about this later.
* California gubernatorial candidate and anti-immigrant vigilante Tim Donnelly puts out by far the weirdest campaign ad of the cycle so far.
* TNR’s Jonathan Cohn debunks cynical conservative claims that anti-death-spiral provisions of Obamacare a “bailout” for insurers.
* TAP’s Paul Waldman predicts marijuana legalization will be big 2016 issue–but only for Democrats.
* The Atlantic‘s Derek Thompson argues that Netflix will survive the demise of the FCC’s current “net neutrality” rules just fine.
And in non-political news:
* Oscar nominees announced; American Hustle, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave garner most nominations. Awards will be made on March 2.
As we break for lunch, here’s an anti-prohibition song from the very year of its enactment: Nora Bayes with “Prohibition Blues.”
