Some hope, at last: Paul Smith, an experienced and successful Supreme Court litigator, recently agreed to help bring the fight against gerrymandering in Wisconsin to the court. That’s great news, Mark Joseph Stern writes.
Between the lines: Why are people so willing to give General James Mattis a pass when it comes to the requirement that a secretary of defense be at least seven years retired from active duty? Because everyone knows Donald Trump would be more dangerous without him, Jim Newell argues.
Continuity check: We’ve started a new series, Is This Normal?, which will measure things the Trump administration does against our previous standards. Today, Ben Mathis-Lilley asks whether it’s normal to hold so many confirmation hearings in one week.
Too sweet by half: The cozy Danish hygge aesthetic, which has recently hit our shores, can be tied to xenophobic Scandinavian nationalism, Alex Robert Ross writes. Makes perfect sense, if you think about it.
For fun: Even the Honest Trailer for The Princess Bride can’t make this movie seem less than awesome.
Incon … you know what I mean,
Rebecca
