I’ve written plenty about King v. Burwell and the latest fight in the Supreme Court about the Affordable Care Act. No new news, but when a writer—in this case, Garrett Epps for The Atlantic on February 2—manages to connect Harry Potter to healthcare, not sharing is not right. Harry Potter and the Healthcare Statute of Doom is excellent! (CBR, this one’s for you!)

Elizabeth Drew has been writing smartly about politics since yours truly was two, and every one of the 55 years which have passed since then scream and holler when I stand up. (More stretching!) For the February 19, 2015 issue of The New York Review of Books, Ms. Drew has written The Republicans: Divided & Scary. Ms. Drew reaches some very valid conclusions, but if a market existed for buying and selling on political parties, I don’t think I’d be shorting the Rs.

Still on politics, I’ve been thinking plenty of late about how we end up as we are. Do we exercise free will, or have our political preferences been determined for us? Two New York Times articles provide insights. First up is The Paradox of the Free-Market Liberal, written by Ariel Malka and Michael Inzlicht on January 2, 2015. Then, on January 28, I read How Did Politics Get So Personal? by Thomas Edsall, one of my favorite writers. And the likely winner? Well, parents definitely matter!

I’ll have some thoughts about the Super Bowl later in the week but for now I offer you Tom Brady Cannot Stop by Mark Leibovich for the New York Times. (The date on the e-version is January 26, but the article ran in the February 1 magazine.) If you want to find out about a talented AND interesting man, read this profile.

From the take your medicine healthy eating corner of the food desk, I ran across The Vegan Experience: Welcome to Year 4 by J. Kenji López-Alt for SeriousEats.com. I guess I missed years 1-3! As I have wandered away from bread and cheese, I haven’t arrived in vegan territory, yet, but I’m getting closer. There’s worthwhile info here, and someone can eat well, truly, without depending on animal proteins.

Now, you all didn’t really think I’d leave you with nothing more than good info on vegan eating, did you? Here’s C.J Hamm’s Nine on the Line feature, now at tucsonfoodie.com, featuring Murph, aka Jim Murphy, partner/chef at Kingfisher and Bluefin. (Don’t tell: KF is my favorite place in Tucson!)