I’ve come down with a stomach ailment, so I may curtail blogging a bit this afternoon, and I sure won’t be joining any revels tonight. But my Georgia Bulldogs did reward me with a satisfying bowl win last night. The only thing that would make me happier (aside from, you know, being able to eat a meal) would be a successful conclusion to our annual fundraiser. So please, if you haven’t already, end the year right and make a tax-deductible donation to the Washington Monthly in whatever amount you can afford. Thank you so much!

Here are some midday news/views pre-New-Year’s-Eve snacks:

* At the New Yorker, Robin Wright addresses some less-publicized areas of conflict in the world as we enter 2015, from the continued agony of South Africa to the renewed authoritarianism in Egypt to the ravaging of endangered species.

* New Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan pledges major cuts in state assistance to Baltimore. Believe that “rain tax” won’t look so bad pretty soon.

* Fox’s “OverIt2014” hashtag campaign backfires rather spectacularly.

* Marco Rubio sends yet another message that he’s not afraid of or submissive towards former mentor Jeb Bush.

* An interesting evaluation from David Jarman of Daily Kos Elections of 2014 candidates as compared to early expectations.

And in non-political news:

* Oh brother: LeBron James reportedly already tired of return to Cleveland.

As we break for lunch, here’s more Television with “Call Mr. Lee.” These guys deserved a whole lot more fame than they ever earned.

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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.