, January 11, 2016
Daily Bafflements
Charles Koch and his wife. / Archives New Zealand
• The FT recognizes the limits of attempting to humanize Charles Koch over lunch: “Koch would like us to get to know him. Or, more accurately, he has been persuaded that staying silent is counterproductive both politically and, increasingly, for his business.” Well, he doesn’t make it easy! By the time Koch has compared his wife to Nurse Ratched, cited Mao, and denied the validity of evidence we’re headed for “an immediate climate catastrophe,” we somehow don’t find the billionaire donor more lovable. Kathleen Geier wrote about the false opposition between billionaire donors, billionaire politicians, and billionaire media moguls in The Baffler’s latest issue.
• Chris Hughes, Facebook cofounder and recentish New Republic owner, is selling the magazine. Baffler contributing editor George Scialabba wrote in his salvo “People Who Influence People Are the Most Influential People in the World” that “Like liberalism itself, TNR had already surrendered to technocratic managerialism long before Chris Hughes came along in 2012.”
• Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were important men with crucial issues to discuss. Including bananas. Here are transcripts of their nattering wherein Bill Clinton says to Tony Blair: “You still have that choirboy look.” (Times have changed.)