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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 ...

The Baffler’s Week That Was
April 11, 2014
From The Baffler in print and online this week, some thoughts on Kurt Cobain, Simone de Beauvoir, John Boehner, Saskia Sassen, Michael Bloomberg, Betty Draper, Jeb Bush, Elon Musk, and God: • On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, we published ...

A Pointless Plot to Oust John Boehner
April 11, 2014
House Republicans are always plotting something, have you noticed? Most of their plots fail, though: whether it’s shutting down the government over Obamacare, or arbitrarily destroying the global economy via debt default. And when one of their plots fail, the House Republicans ...

Some Recommended Reading for “Mad Men” Fans
April 11, 2014
This coming Sunday marks the return of AMC’s Mad Men, and advance reviews and think-pieces are billowing across the Internet like so much cigarette smoke through a poorly-ventilated ad agency office. (Here’s our two cents on AMC’s design choice for its season ...

Daily Bafflements
April 11, 2014
Carefree French people, pictured here not checking their work emails. Breathless film still courtesy of Martin Pulaski • Accounting School Guide has made a useful (and telling) interactive graphic to demonstrate the practical breakdown of a “living wage” for each state ...

Proof of Wealth’s Power Over Policy
April 10, 2014
Paul Krugman says we’re living in a “New Gilded Age,” an era of government of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich. Last week’s McCutcheon decision from the Supreme Court, which struck down the aggregate limit an individual can contribute in capped political ...

Daily Bafflements
April 10, 2014
Not at all a waste of time and taxpayer money, nope. / Photo by Flying Puffin • In a baffling piece this week, The Economist informed us that gentrification in London is “cool,” and also that it is “real,” because of charts. • The latest advice column by Heather ...