I’m on a plane about to take off for the Central Coast, so there will be a brief blogging hiatus.

Here are some midday news/views snacks from the meal cart:

* Weird conference call for Team Cochran breaks up as apparent interloper shouts racist questions.

* Ted Cruz making ludicrous claim that proposed constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United would repeal First Amendment.

* Shadow in generally positive June jobs report: a million more Americans confined to part-time jobs.

* Damon Linker argues Hobby Lobby shows Christian Right on the ropes. More about that later.

* At Plum Line, Paul Waldman wonders how many good jobs reports it will take for Obama to start getting credit for improving economy.

And in non-political news:

* Bill Connelly assesses future of U.S. Men’s Soccer team.

As we break for lunch, here’s CS&N performing “Southern Cross.”

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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.