One party ousts one of its extremists. The other party reaffirms one of its extremists. 

My early nomination for headline of the week, which includes the subhead: “I never asked for this role.”… And, yes, I’ve been enjoying The Atlantic of late. It’s been on a roll.

At least one African country still likes France: Rwanda. Otherwise, it’s been a near constant string of setbacks for France in Africa, as former African colonies cut their final ties to France. One of the latest to tell France to get lost: Senegal. … I’ve been fascinated with France’s post-colonial role in Africa, particularly West Africa, ever since I lived in Cameroon for nearly six months in the early 2000s. Anyone who has spent time in one of France’s former African colonies learns that France never really let go of its former African colonies, continuing to exert tremendous military, economic and political influence over nations across the continent. 

Now that influence is waning fast, creating voids filled by Islamic extremists, Russia, China etc. It’s as if an entire continent is now up for geopolitical grabs. The U.S., which has effectively backed France, is scrambling to reset its continental strategy.

This isn’t going to win Seth Moulton many friends on the progressive left. Nor by saying Democrats have “become the party of the ultrarich and the ultra-poor.” He’s right on both counts. But he’s still an odd duck. Russell Berman has more at the Atlantic. … Btw: I completely forgot Moulton ran for president in 2020. It was that memorable. Come to think of it, ditto Deval Patrick. Btw II: I’d take either one over Biden at this point.

At the Atlantic, Jeffrey Flier, co-president of the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard and former dean of Harvard Medical School, lambastes Harvard dean Lawrence’s Bobo’s call for limits on faculty speech.

Fyi: The Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard was founded last year prior to Oct. 7. It’s good to see it being consistent on free speech post Oct. 7.

Sure, the state’s new millionaire’s tax generated far more revenue than backers expected in its first full year. But do people really expect millionaires to stick around while the state takes an extra 4 percent bite from their incomes?

I noticed the same thing while watching the parade on TV. This is not your ‘80s Boston. Great column by Gary Washburn. 

Rigged this, rigged that. Everyone screams ‘rigged’ these days. But in this case, it really is rigged, i.e. pharmaceutical pricing. Specifically, the pricing system overseen by so-called pharmacy benefit managers, or P.B.M.s. … And this is just one facet of our bloated, overly expensive health-care system. Think of what’s happening behind the scenes regarding pricing for medical devices, blood tests, hospital stays, ambulance services, etc. etc.

Fox News ran all sorts of critical stories on the Democrat judge overseeing the recently completed Manhattan case against Trump. The NYT is now running critical stories on the Republican judge overseeing the current Florida case against Trump. Notice a mirror-image pattern here? It’s hard not to notice. … Next up: Reverse news-media complaints about how questioning the fairness of a judge can harm the credibility of the entire judicial system.

It’s like modern washing machines: The more features you add, the more often they break down.