Closing Thought: Kicking the afternoon energy dip

It never fails. Every Friday morning I'm ready for the weekend, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do on that night. And ever Friday around 4pm the only thing I think to want to do is go home and lounge.  Most times I ignore that voice and proceed, full throttle into an evening, evenings that increasingly end well before midnight.

Closing Thought: I got find a way to kick these afternoon energy dips. 

The Fear: I'm growing increasingly concerned that Robert Goulet is close by. I've even seen this man recently, strangely only in the bathroom when I'm washing my hands.

Round Up:

• Economists are right, Joe Scarborough is wrong.
• SOTD: Last Dance with Mary Jane by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Bonus SOTD: You and Me by Tom Petty
• Topics missed in Hagel's confirmation hearing were numerous.
• To steady Social Security, Americans thinks we should raise taxes.

Closing Thought: Perhaps More Questions about the US?

If you've been watching the Hagel confirmation hearings today, and I have, you may have noticed, as I did, how many of the questions have centered around Israel, Hagel's views on our alliance with Israel (good friends, best friends, or full-on BFFs). Honestly, from the questions that I have heard there's been more time devoted to confirming Hagel supports Israel than there has been Hagel supports the United States.

Closing Thought: It makes more sense to me to talk about the United States when questioning a Secretary of Defense nominee than it does to talk about Israel.

Side Note: Likely the most contentious closing thought I've had thus far.

Post Script: Don't care. Seems obvious to me.

Round Up:

- Liability Insurance for Gun Owners?

- SOTD: You Are Dangerous by Steel Train (maybe the one with the big hair?)

- Poutine = good. Poutine with foie gras = better. Patrick Swazye = best.

- Changing up the US/Saudi Arabia relationship

- Line DD tells you what your healthcare costs

Closing Thought: It's good to be Popular

Not for nothing, but popularity does matter.  A little over a week after a speech many called divisive and overly partisan, President Obama enjoys the highest personal approval rating he's had in three years. Perhaps he's really good at looking good at inaugurations? Perhaps it's some sort of bangs afterglow?  Hard to say. But if you're going to lay out an ambitious set of principles it helps to be popular.

Closing Thought: One's political capital hangs around a while longer if you're popular. Just most of us don't get our popularity polled.

Follow-up: Thank goodness for that.

Then again: There is a survey gadget......

Reality check: 50/50 my own mother wouldn't approve of most of my policy positions. No one wants confirmation they're unpopular with their mom.

Round Up:

- Let's rank the presidents (not a new History Channel special)

- SOTD: Lost Coastlines by Okkervil River and I'm telling you read The Road and play this song after your done, it'll make sense.

- Hamas, Israel, and a convenient coincidence. I'm not saying, I'm just sayin'.

- These graphs say the government isn't spending enough.

Closing Thought: Everyone needs an editor

Only the savviest of the six people who read this blog would know it, but my self-editing abilities are abysmal  That's especially frustrating because in a parallel life I'm paid to edit other's work. The only reason it isn't plainly obvious is because a good friend has diligently sent me edits for the most egregious of my errors.

Closing Thought: Everyone needs an editor, especially me because my writing is like a kid in high school who's been trapped for weeks with an ACT prep book that's all words and no sentences; released and then forced to write a blog post.  Don't worry, no one is forcing me, I'm this bad on my own.

Side Note: Last week and so far this week these closing thoughts tend to have themes running for multiple days.

Round Up:

- A dhow full of guns

- Where does the government's money go?

- SOTD: 1979

- Drones over North Africa (OutKast Shoutout)

- NFLPA & Harvard on the same team

- Training foreigners is worth it, foreign militaries at least

- Some evidence that suggest there's much to like about BO's 2nd inaugural address

Closing Thought: Do it right the first time

Over the weekend Ben realized a post I had written at DC Exile nearly two years ago had been used as a link in a New York Times blog post last week. My post's page views exploded and when I found out my only thought other than "cool" was, man, I hope I got my facts right with that one.  Turns out  I did, thank goodness. Which leads to this:

Closing Thought: Better do it right the first time, because at some point somebody is going to check your work. Or worse yet, assume you're right.

Example that Disproves the Rule: This blog.

Second closing thought: How many days till Memorial Day? And Monday suck.

Round Up:
- Rep. Ryan has some nerve.
- Cyber Command gets the green light to load up
- Learning the wrong nation-building lessons in Afghanistan
- Subterranean Homesick Aliens
- The goal is keeping the safety net
- Ravens' safety Bernard Pollard gives the NFL 30 years

Closing Thought: Royce White is kind of my hero

I've heard Royce White give two interviews now. The first was on Slate's Hang Up and Listen here a few weeks back, and again this morning as I listened to yesterday's PTI podcast. He speaks with remarkable clarity and poise about his own afflictions and about what he wants to get to work playing basketball for the Houston Rockets.  He's definitely breaking new ground being a professional athlete that talks about mental disorders and his own struggles with it.

Closing Thought: Sitting behind much of the debate around gun control is our society's willingness and ability to discuss and address mental illness. It's a great thing, that transcends sports, to have someone force these difficult conversations and having to do so publicly.

For the Record: On guns, it seems a no-brainer that before you give someone a lethal weapon you do a background check. It also seems a no-brainer that no one using a gun for recreation needs a magazine holding more than a dozen bullets, and even a dozen is pushing it.

Semi-related: My dad's Christmas card for me this year was from the NRA. Fact.

Round-up:
- Everyone take a deep breath on the deficit
- Canadians poking fun at Canadians
- Moving beyond GOP tribalism
- Seau, the NFL, and CTE
- Income inequality is real

Closing Thought: Selective Service for Everybody

A male friend of mine suggested on an email chain that with the Pentagon's lifting the ban on woman serving in combat positions it's time the ladies also register for Selective Service.  All the women on the email agreed with my friend.

So to expand on yesterday's closing thought: Equality means equal opportunity to be drafted into the armed forces, even though the odds of a draft are really, really rare.

Dissenting voice: Ryan Smith, a former Marine infantrymen, isn't as excited about lifting the ban because:

Societal norms are a reality, and their maintenance is important to most members of a society. It is humiliating enough to relieve yourself in front of your male comrades; one can only imagine the humiliation of being forced to relieve yourself in front of the opposite sex.

Glib response: Everyone poops.

Closing Thought: It's a Girl Power Wednesday

Really, two thoughts on what's become a girl power Wednesday:

1) It's about time women can serve in combat. Sometimes equality means equal opportunity to be shot at in a warzone.

2) Don't mess with Hilary Rodham Clinton. She p-owned the both chambers today in her Benghazi hearings and weather a bizarre question from Sen. Rand Paul to boot. My money is still on her not running in 2016, but today's performance did nothing to damage her candidacy should she pursue it.