1. It’s Tuesday, February 16, 2016.

2. I haven’t given up the blog. I’ve been away. At some point, I’ll write some observations about my almost-a-week at Walt Disney World. But for the time being, let me weigh in on some things that have happened in the past couple of weeks.

3. Let’s say, heaven forbid, there’s some sort of natural disaster in Kentucky in the next 11 months. The Ohio or Mississippi rivers flood, or something like that.

Under the logic of the senior senator from the state, who’s also the majority leader of the Senate, President Obama should just sit on his hands and not lift a finger to help. After all, he’s only in office until January 20, 2017. And any relief he would provide to the beleaguered people of Kentucky would help them rebuild structures that would last past the day Obama walks out the White House door.

The Republican claim that the President shouldn’t appoint a successor to Antonin Scalia is nonsense. But then again, it’s not surprising. The Republicans have been working since before January 20, 2009 to delegitimize Barack Obama. Why should they stop now?

4. After three days of thinking about it, I have the following question: Who the hell would want to be the Supreme Court nominee?

You are going to be vetted like no other Supreme Court nominee in recent history. You are going to be the target of every special interest group that hates the President, the Democrats and anything resembling liberal democracy.

And you’re not going to be a Supreme Court justice.

In fact, there’s a good chance you have no chance in the world of ever becoming a Supreme Court justice. The Republicans are wrong to say the President can’t nominee someone, but they are well within their rights to reject any choice he makes – no matter how reasonable or moderate. If Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders win the White House, they’re going to want their own person on the court. If a Republican wins, fuggedaboutit.

It’s a thankless task to be this nominee. Any jurist who seriously dreams of being on the court will not want to be tarnished by what’s about to happen.

5. It’s why I think Attorney General Loretta Lynch is going to be the nominee. She’s been through the review process recently. And I don’t know if she ever thought of herself as SCOTUS material, so not getting there might not seem so awful. Plus, she’s tough. She can handle herself.