Before I forget...

I've got about an hour to prepare for a Meet-Up I'm presenting. While I'm doing that, you read these:

• Sarah Lawrence College professor Nicholaus Mills compares Ted Cruz to Huey Long;
• Zack Beauchamp at ThinkProgress says racism caused the shutdown (but more broadly than you think);
• Mimi Cowan has put up a history of the Chicago fire, which started 140 years ago yesterday; and
• David Auerbach at Slate explains why the ACA website sucks, but not as badly as you think, and probably not for much longer.

OK, prep time.