(Note: “The Power of the Jump” is a semi-regular feature of this site, documenting examples of the Los Angeles Dog Trainer‘s use of its back pages to hide things it doesn’t want you to see.)

Today I cut the amount of time I spent blogging. Yesterday I blogged 2 hours, and today I blogged for only 3 hours. My wife prefers to call this reduction an “increase” because it’s more time than I blogged yesterday. But I had planned to blog even more than that . . . So I say it’s a “cut.”

If that last paragraph confused you (as it did my wife), I have the perfect person to explain it to you: Evan Halper, author of a front-page story in today’s Dog Trainer titled Teachers Support Gov.’s Plan to Cut Schools by $2 Billion.
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The Texas redistricting has been upheld. Professor Bainbridge says:

This is a VERY big deal. It means a likely shift of up to 7 House of Representative seats to the GOP.

Ultimately, though, the good Professor is worried that the precedent may not be worth the gain.

My own view, subject to revision, is that the Retaliacrats™ don’t require a precedent to pull dirty political tricks, so why shouldn’t Republicans exercise the power they have now?

I share the Professor’s hope that the entire redistricting regime can be depoliticized. However, I am not optimistic.

P.S. When I heard this news I rushed to see what Beldar had to say, and he did not disappoint. Beldar has read the decision (so you don’t have to), and has pulled the important parts from the opinion for you to inspect. If you haven’t followed this controversy closely (and I haven’t), you might be surprised to learn that the redistricting was upheld because the judges saw it as a purely political move to increase Republican seats, from start to finish. Interesting.

UPDATE: The Captain has more.

Rantingprof Cori Dauber has an update on the cancelled French Christmas flights:

ABC News reports tonight (although I can’t find it on their web site, where all the relevant stories are AP, not original ABC content) that much of what is now going on with flight delays and cancellations has to do with a single passenger who did not check in when his Paris flight was cancelled, and the French are now worried they missed their chance to get him by announcing those flight cancellations at that time, when they think he may have caught a train to London. They think this man may have a French passport (though ABC’s expert speculates, reasonably enough, that he has multiple forms of documentation) and, the real source of their concern, a bomb that can be smuggled part airport security. Apparently he is being sought throughout Europe.

More at the Rantingprofs site.

UPDATE: Via the Rantingprof, the French are confirming ABC’s report.

Here it is.

The Commissar has another thoughtful piece on web traffic and Instalanches. His post was inspired by an e-mail I sent him after I saw this spike on my Site Meter:
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The RantingProfs recommend that you contribute to the effort of the 1st Marine Division to show there is “no better friend” to Iraqis in the Sunni Triangle. Glenn Reynolds is buying them 110 Frisbees.