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Why Aetna Should Pay Reparations
July 24, 2014
“This is a civil rights bill—this is reparations,” Rush Limbaugh said of the Affordable Care Act back in 2010. As you might expect, he didn’t mean it in a good way. Limbaugh’s ability to condemn the Civil Rights Act and reparations in a single breath is an achievement ...

Daily Bafflements
July 24, 2014
• Today in Billionaires, from the Guardian: The UK’s National Union of Journalists has dubbed Richard Desmond “Britain’s Greediest Billionaire” after the media company he owns proposed to cut a third of all editorial staffers from the Daily Express, ...

Geoff Dyer’s Idle Days at Sea
July 23, 2014
Over the arc of his long career, Geoff Dyer has cultivated a certain style. If reviews are to be believed, his carefully crafted technique is a higher achievement than the substance of his books themselves. In his latest book, we finally see its limitations, as we watch the book ...

Daily Bafflements
July 23, 2014
•  “The City of New York approved a proposal by one of the largest real estate developers in the city to build in a ‘poor door’, or a separate door for residents living in affordable housing to enter their building,” writes the Daily Mail from New York Post ...

Daily Bafflements
July 22, 2014
• The Reports Are In: “With four out of five pet owners considering their pet a member of the family and 79% saying the quality of their pet’s food is as important as their own, it’s not surprising that the premium sector accounted for 40% of the $26 billion U.S. pet ...

Welcome to Our New Website
July 21, 2014
Well, when The Baffler was born in 1988, we never could have foreseen this #innovation, but here we are. Please enjoy this new and uncharacteristically shiny iteration of The Baffler online—featuring not only our new issue (no. 25, “The None and the Many”), but also, for ...

Your Guide to Fourth-Wave Feminist Underwear
July 21, 2014
When Orwell wrote about language that gives “the appearance of solidarity to pure wind,” he could as well have been talking about the product labels that attract a certain kind of modern consumer. Organic. Fair trade. Local. Ethical. Buy this, and you not only will ...

Daily Bafflements
July 21, 2014
• Today in Bespoke: “One of the common links among our travelers is they’re curious, passionate and they’re looking for unique and authentic experiences,” said Lynn Cutter, executive vice president for travel and licensing at National Geographic Society, of her ...

When Lockheed Gives You Lemons
July 18, 2014
On paper, the F-35 is an impressive plane. The fifth-generation, multirole, single-seat, single-engine Joint Strike Fighter is built primarily by Lockheed Martin, along with some help from a few other defense manufacturers. It’s the first ever STOVL (short-takeoff / vertical ...

Daily Bafflements
July 18, 2014
Elaine Stritch in 2009 / Photo by Greg Hernandez • “For my money, insecurity, depression, etc., can be healed by way of El Morocco, sad songs at 4 a.m., and the pop of a champagne cork.” —Elaine Stritch. • City Limits reports on a non-profit ...

Why the House of Skeeveball Still Stands
July 17, 2014
Late last year, I wrote a lengthy essay in this space postulating that Rupert (“silver Fox”) Murdoch’s 5 percent purchase of bad-boy Shane Smith’s MULTIMEDIA EMPIRE VICE (sic, more or less) was a mere token of a changing mentor/mentee relationship we would do well to ...