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Daily Bafflements

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Weekly Bafflements
July 14, 2017
What do rich people and cockroaches have in common? Honestly, lots of things, but in this case it’s the ability to survive a nuclear apocalypse. Over at The New Republic, John Carl Baker looks at the trend of luxury bunkers and how, even at the end of the world, the ...

Weekly Bafflements
July 07, 2017
What if democracy but too much?   Over at Current Affairs, Nathan J. Robinson tackles the pundit class’s surprisingly resilient idea that elitism is a good and defensible thing. Please remove your monocle before reading.   Hashtag spectacle of ...

Weekly Bafflements
June 30, 2017
After Piketty it’s the after-party First up, our very own editor Chris Lehmann read a book titled The Wisdom of Money and it went as well as you might expect. It seems that if this “book can teach us anything, it’s that, as fathomlessly wise as our market may be, it ...

Weekly Bafflements
June 23, 2017
Will the revolution start at the mall? Regular contributor Sarah Jaffe takes an in-depth look at the oft-ignored retail sector. Dismissed as temporary and low-skilled, it may come as a surprise that retail workers are leading the charge on labor rights. No, we can’t all get ...

Weekly Bafflements
June 16, 2017
TODAY IN CASH MONEY  Congressional Democrats are taking Trump to court. Will anything come of it? As Zephyr Teachout told The Baffler’s own Dave Denison in January, probably not.  FOR OUR MEMORY-CHALLENGED FRIENDS  An American lobbyist for Russian interests has come ...

Daily Bafflements
June 02, 2017
• Baffler contributor Corey Pein reports for The Guardian on a Trump supporter who’s received a very special award from some of the president’s associates. John Beavers, who last year reportedly sold his house to campaign independently on behalf of Donald Trump ...

Daily Bafflements
May 24, 2017
• The  Washington Post provides a deep dive into how the myth regarding Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich became a favorite among far-right conspiracy nuts. You can thank Kim Dotcom—the New Zealand-based crackpot internet entrepreneur that brought you such ...

Daily Bafflements
April 28, 2017
• Ja Rule’s Fyre Festival—a.k.a. Coachella for even richer, and even stupider, people—has been canceled due to Lord of the Flies-like conditions. (Some have also compared it to The Hunger Games.) The “luxury” festival—which promised resort-style accommodations ...

Daily Bafflements
April 21, 2017
• Today in tech: Elon Musk engages in some “consensual telepathy.” • The Juicegate saga continues. In case you haven’t been keeping up with the story of the century, the company that produces a $400 juicer called Juicero has been taking some flack ...

Daily Bafflements
April 17, 2017
• Bafflerites in D.C.! Come and join Barbara Ehrenreich, Rafia Zakaria, Dean Baker, and Hussein Ibish for a Tax Day appraisal of the Age of Trump so far. It’s free, and there will be drinks. • Since Rep. Steve King is tweeting his endorsement of Hungary’s far-right ...

Daily Bafflements
April 14, 2017
In case you thought our august republic was the only thing currently being ruined by Neo-Nazis, there’s also . . . this furry convention.