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Hocus Pocus

Columns

Daily Bafflements
April 18, 2014
Portrait of Gabriel García Márquez by Arturo Espinosa • “The more power you have, the harder it is to know who is lying to you and who is not. When you reach absolute power, there is no contact with reality, and that’s the worst kind of solitude there can be . . . . ...

Daily Bafflements
April 17, 2014
Rocker Andrew WK with his famous pizza guitar. / Photo by rufus • Presented without comment, from Baffler contributing editor Eugenia Williamson in Boston Magazine, “A Failed Interview with Macaulay Culkin and Pizza Underground.” Pizza Underground is the ...

“Boats ‘N Hoes,” PACs & Frats
April 17, 2014
Most things in American politics make much more sense when you remember all the jackasses you met in college. Think back to sophomore year, when frat officials were spreading the word of a “pimps and hoes” party at the chapter lodge that weekend, where a dress code ...

The Cult of the Boss: Why Do Americans Admire Businessmen?
April 17, 2014
Conservatives invoke Adam Smith and Friedrich von Hayek in their defense of the free market. Liberals invoke John Maynard Keynes for his defense of government intervention. Only in Thorstein Veblen, however, may a sane person hope to understand the carnival of mendacity that has ...

Free Your Mind, Win the World Cup?
April 16, 2014
In a recent appearance at this year’s South by Southwest conference in Austin, the self-congratulatory Davos of skinny-suited professionals, soccer journalist Roger Bennett asked the effervescent head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team, Jürgen Klinsmann, if he ...

Shaming Sexism Isn’t Prudery
April 16, 2014
David Foster has, correctly, received a lot of criticism for his comically misguided column in the Guardian, in which he appeared to argue in favor of women accepting direct sexual propositions as the harmless, and ultimately positive, result of sexual liberation. Pack up your ...

Daily Bafflements
April 16, 2014
Wi-fi password: DRONE / Photo by Gabriel Garcia Marengo • “The Social Security Administration announced Monday that it will immediately cease efforts to collect on taxpayers’ debts to the government that are more than 10 years old,” reports the Washington Post. • ...

Daily Bafflements
April 15, 2014
That’s a nice toilet seat. / Photo by Bartux • “Toys, and toys, and more and more toys.” – A small child, correctly answering the question “what does the government buy with your taxes?” Another good guess from the same video: ...

Pulitzers of Bafflers Past
April 15, 2014
The winners of this year’s Pulitzer Prize were announced on Monday afternoon. Aside from the biggest news items, awards for coverage of Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations and of the Boston Marathon bombings, awards were given to Donna Tartt, for her novel The ...

Virginia Republicans, United in Stubbornness
April 14, 2014
The Virginia Republican party is a mess. Like many state- and national-level Republican parties, it’s currently split between Tea Party and more “moderate” establishment wings, which don’t tend to agree all too often. In statewide elections last year, the party nominated ...

Labor Politics and the Liberal Arts Nanny
April 14, 2014
A liberal arts nanny doesn’t take care of children for life. For her, it’s just a stopping point between college and career: a well-paying, totally socially acceptable activity while she waits for the rest of her life to happen. And the family that hires a liberal arts nanny ...

Daily Bafflements
April 14, 2014
Bradenton Trailer Park, Bradenton, Florida, circa 1941. / Courtesy of Alden Jewell • It is the 199th anniversary of a volcanic eruption that you’ve likely never heard of, but which changed the course of the 19th century as much as Napoleon’s wars, says author Gillen ...