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Author: Amber A’Lee Frost

Columns

Daily Bafflements
May 31, 2016
• Aditya Chakrabortty sits at the deathbed of neoliberalism: “From the 1980s the policymaking elite has waved away the notion that they were acting ideologically—merely doing ‘what works.’ But you can only get away with that claim if what ...

The Anti-Imperial Emperor
May 25, 2016
The U.S. presidential campaign has provided the “developing” world with a remarkable spectacle. Donald Trump’s antics have served as welcome evidence that political tragedy and disaster don’t only happen down here in less rich countries. But political idiocy coming from ...

This Election Is an Endless, Sweaty TSA Line
May 25, 2016
Politics is hard, so The Baffler has employed expert comic mind David Rees to give us a visual rendering of the day’s signature political controversies. The only problem is that David can’t draw, so his cartoons are word pictures—which is to say, ...

Daily Bafflements
May 24, 2016
• In Baffler, no. 31 (which is out next week!), Astra Taylor columnizes on the effects of the EU-Turkey deal, supposedly designed to stem the flow of migrants over the sea by sending them into Turkey. Contrary to that agreement, though, the Greeks aren’t willing to ...

Daily Bafflements
May 23, 2016
• “Someone like Snowden should not have felt the need to harm himself just to do the right thing,” says John Crane in a Guardian excerpt of Mark Hertsgaard’s book Bravehearts, about the discrediting and danger whistleblowers face. Also quoted is ...

Interview with Whistleblower Bill Binney
May 23, 2016
Bill Binney resigned from his job as technical director of the NSA in October 2001. The data-monitoring tool he had developed, ThinThread, had been shelved and, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the Bush-Cheney administration chose dragnet monitoring instead. He spoke to Kade ...

Daily Bafflements
May 20, 2016
• Google’s annual I/O conference is “making nerds go outside” this year, its new, open-air venue prompting comparisons to Coachella. • Healthcare for all? A recent study found that HIV-positive cancer patients are less likely to receive diagnosis ...

The Trump Psyche
May 19, 2016
You know that the Trump distemper in our body politic has risen to a new threat status because our journalistic thought leaders are enlisting the help of mental-health professionals. The new issue of the Atlantic, for one, features a stem-winding cover story by psychologist Dan ...

Daily Bafflements
May 17, 2016
• Matthew Sweet traces the history of research into whether power corrupts, starting in 1870. It’s fascinating, running the gamut from Piritim Sorokin’s view that “the ruling groups are more talented intellectually and more deranged mentally than the ...

Daily Bafflements
May 16, 2016
• Anxiety is on the worldwide march and, according to the Guardian, “Obvious social, cultural and economic factors include the financial crisis of 2008 (. . .) and the subsequent austerity, overwork, unemployment and unaffordable housing.” ...