Daily Bafflements

Photo by Ruth Hartnup

• Which one are you going to? We haven’t decided yet: “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich are planning rival New Year’s Eve parties on the ritzy island of St. Barts,” reports Page Six. Diddy’s will have Kim Kardashian and family in attendance, but Abramovich is “teaming up with art-world guru Larry Gagosian” to plan his party.

• Happy New Year: twenty-one states will raise their minimum wage in January. The state of Washington’s will be the highest in the country, at $9.47 an hour.

• Last week on the blog, Kenny Gradert examined the weird, “salvific” undertones of the CBS reality TV show Undercover Boss, and recommended the upcoming episode, starring the CEO of a chain of so-called “breastaurants” called Bikinis Sports Bar & Grill. Shockingly, the episode did not go over well.

• How should we understand slavery’s role in capitalism? A thoughtful discussion by Sven Beckert, via Arts & Letters Daily.

Hey, one last thing.

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