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Daily Bafflements
June 17, 2014
• “Prison labor has gone artisanal,” reports Fortune. Inmates in Colorado, for instance, are working at a goat farm that sells cheese to Whole Foods. “Nationwide 63,032 inmates produce more than $2 billion worth of products a year, most of them sold to government ...

Cantor’s Next Gig
June 16, 2014
What’s next for Eric Cantor? After his surprise primary loss last week, we asked for your best guesses for #CantorsNextGig on Twitter and Facebook. The best or closest answer we get will win a free subscription to The Baffler. The only hint we’ve gotten so far from ...

Democrats Are the Real Party of War
June 16, 2014
Between the fall of Mosul to ISIS militants, the POW trade with Taliban officials and the revelation that almost every phone call made in Afghanistan since the US invasion has been recorded by the NSA, this month has seen politicians and journalists briefly (and perhaps ...

Daily Bafflements
June 16, 2014
• Ezra Klein declares, in a Vox article with the click-baitiest of headlines, that “The single most important fact about American politics” is that Democrats and Republicans [tell Pew pollsters that they] hate each other. Hm. We thought it was something like, dunno, ...

The Baffler’s Week That Was
June 13, 2014
Hey there yogis, foodies, and babies, did you miss this week on the Baffler blog? Well read on, you insurance-actuaries, you truthers, you Norwegian rock stars and zombies. We’ll help catch you up. • This week on the occasion of some #yoga #news (#yoganews), we published a ...

Our Deadly Culture of Overwork
June 13, 2014
By now, you’ve probably heard about the automobile accident in New Jersey last weekend that nearly killed comedian Tracy Morgan, and did kill Morgan’s colleague, James McNair. Morgan remains in critical condition and is expected to remain hospitalized for weeks, and three ...

Daily Bafflements
June 13, 2014
  • Via Electric Literature and Compound Interest, the chemistry of book smells, explained. • Today in Billionaires, and also Today in Startling Headlines, from The Christian Post: “9,000 Police Storm Church Looking for Billionaire South Korean Pastor Yoo Byung-Eun ...

Commodify Your Body Electric
June 12, 2014
Have you heard all of the latest #news about #yoga? LeBron James recently crashed a yoga class, and credited it with improving his flexibility and stamina in the NBA finals. Men’s Journal reports that the yoga craze is finally crossing over to the “dudes,” a ...

The “Pernicious Trend” of DIY Baby Food
June 12, 2014
Fancy food has lately spread to even the most unlikely corners. There is now fair-trade espresso at Dunkin’ Donuts, and there are brioche buns at Jack in the Box. So perhaps it was only a matter of time before old-school baby food company Beech-Nut would try to capitalize on ...

Daily Bafflements
June 12, 2014
• What’s next for Eric Cantor? He announced on Wednesday that he’s stepping down as House Majority Leader after a surprising (or not-so-surprising?) upset in the Virginia primaries this week. Tell us what you think Cantor’s next gig will be by writing to us on Twitter ...

Insurance Vultures and the Internet of Things
June 11, 2014
Nothing’s really free on the Internet. From search engines and email to social media and online publishing, if you’re not entering in your credit card number somewhere, you’re paying in a different way. As the adage goes, if you’re not the consumer, then you’re the ...

Daily Bafflements
June 11, 2014
• From BBC Radio and The Independent comes an account of the “disastrous” meeting of Groucho Marx and T.S. Eliot in 1964, and why it went so horribly wrong. “If you meet your hero in real life you will have an unrealistic expectation based on a facet of themselves that ...