Looking forward to a weekend of TV binge-watching and less moonlighting work than I’ve been doing. Hurry EST sundown!

But for now, here are some midday news/views treats:

* So immediately after writing a post on my indifferent reaction to Jimmy Fallon’s promotion, I ran across a column by Brent Bozell and his suddenly acknowledged ghost-writer acting as though Fallon is a huge “political asset” for the satanic Obama. Go figure.

* Early elections key to shaky truce in Ukraine.

* Alyssa Rosenberg sadly reflects on how TV depictions of Washington suffer from being filmed elsewhere out of lust for state tax credits.

* Interesting take on Chris Christie’s diminished stage presence in his return to the town-hall format where he once used to browbeat enemies to hearty cheers.

* Molly Ball’s recent profile of Frank Luntz gave us fair warning: the famed political manipulator and wordsmith to change gears and appear on Fox as a sports commentator.

And in sorta non-political news:

* Huge global brouhaha explodes over scoring in yesterday’s women’s ice skating final at Sochi, where home cooking seemed to give Russian a gold medal many think she didn’t entirely earn.

As we break for lunch, here’s some slide guitar genius from Blind Willie Johnson in “Dark Was the Night.”

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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.