NOTHING NEW IN THIRD WAY: They call themselves “centrist” and “moderate,” but the latest edition of the Third Way appears incapable of fresh thinking about health care reform because Obamacare is sacrosanct.

OPEN THREAD: Hump Day.

IT’S ALL MEAN GIRLS ALL THE TIME:

Related:

I BELIEVE THE WORD FOR THAT IS SOCIOPATH:

HE’S RIGHT, AND THE PHOTO FROM SCLAW IS JUST THE TOPPER:

WHAT A MESS: Conflicting court rulings leave Missouri’s congressional map in limbo.

In one, the U.S. Supreme Court, in an order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling from last week that said the map could not be used while a ballot initiative that could lead to voters rejecting the newly drawn district lines moves forward. Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri.

But soon after, a federal judge in Missouri ruled in favor of two GOP congressional candidates who argue that the new map, which was in place for the August primaries, must be used in November in order to avoid federal constitutional violations. That case could also quickly face U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny with time running out for the map to be finalized. The state’s deadline to finalize ballots was 5 p.m local time, and first ballots are set to go out Sept. 19.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, both Republicans, said on X Tuesday evening that the redrawn map would be used for the November election.

Or maybe not.

MOST OF MY TEACHERS FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP WERE MEN, AND ALL THE BEST ONES WERE…:

…and I wish I’d recognized then how great a benefit that was.

ANALYSIS: TRUE.

DISPATCHES FROM THE BLUE ZONES: St. Louis Sheriff’s Office reaches settlement over firing of white, older employees.

EEOC investigated the Sheriff’s Office and found that former Sheriff Alfred Montgomery used his position to terminate nearly a dozen white employees and two black employees for reasons other than their job performance. Before he was sworn in, Montgomery publicly announced that he “could not wait to get rid of these white officers” and “top-heavy” employees, a reference to older workers, the EEOC found.

Montgomery also allegedly referred to the white employees he terminated as a “racist gang.” After firing the white officers, Montgomery allegedly told his former deputy that “he needed to fire a black guy” to buck a lawsuit for discrimination against white employees.

That — and a bunch of other stuff — doesn’t seem to have worked out for him.