Well, animals, my Chromebook that I’ve spent so much time bragging about seems to have given up the ghost after about 15 months of pretty hard duty. Next time I have to travel I’ll probably replace it with the same model at the same $199 price, but for now I’m back on my beautiful, nicely appointed, but stationary iMac. This means more actual meal and snack breaks away from the computer, which is probably going to be good for the health of the keyboard and trackpad.

Here are some Monday midday news/views snacks you can safely consume on your own devices:

* New York Times‘ Parker and Thompson gingerly reopen the issue of Romney’s religion in the context of a 2016 run.

* Christie forms his own PAC and reportedly digs in to battle Bush & Romney for donors.

* Sheldon Silver agrees to “voluntarily relinquish his duties” as New York Assembly Speaker pending resolution of federal corruption charges against him.

* At CNN Paul Waldman looks at the GOP threat to disability eligibility in the context of their obsession with Social Security.

* Rick Perry keeping alive the unsubstantiated claim that Obama administration is “doctoring” the official unemployment numbers.

And in non-political news:

* 28 million people in areas under current northeast blizzard warnings.

As we break for lunch, here’s another tune from Lucinda’s Big Sur concert in 2012, again featuring Doug Pettibone: “Pineola.” That’s definitely me whooping at the beginning, because I didn’t expect her to do this song.

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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.