by Gwynn Guilford A reader calls me out on my sexism: The Dish refers to the female band Pussy Riot as "all girl." Would a band of males the same age be "all-boy"? At what point does a girl become a woman, in the view of El Dish? As someone whose first concert was a … Continue reading Pussy Riot Seizes The Mantle Of Political Punk, Ctd
by Gwynn Guilford Spencer Ackerman explains how Putin's persecution of the band has backfired: Pussy Riot has skewered Putin on the horns of a dilemma: Either his government convicts the band and martyrs it even further, or it backs down and concedes that prosecuting the masked trio for a cacophonous musical protest at Christ the Savior … Continue reading Pussy Riot Seizes The Mantle Of Political Punk
After reading Masha Gessen’s Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, David Remnick asked its subjects for their take on Putin’s Russia: “For Putin, the Olympic Games are an attempt to inflate the inflatable duck of a national idea, as he sees it,” [Nadezhda] Tolokonnikova told me. “In Russia today, there are no real politics, … Continue reading Putin’s Inflatable Duck
by Gwynn Guilford
Today on the Dish, Chait guessed at Romney's veep pick, Barro explained Romney's rock-and-a-hard-place positioning on social welfare and private equity, and Matthew Continetti lamented Romney's inability to define his candidacy. After Team Obama worked the tax-avoidance angle effectively in ads yesterday, both campaigns got dirty again today. Larison emphasized that Romney's still under neocon sway, Weigel saw the upside of politi-bickering and Romney was – wait for it – disingenuous on his ad campaign.
A reader called for more constructive optimism on coal usage, a timeline traced our path to collective forgetting and Barney discussed his favorite GOP colleague. And while Marc Lynch marveled at Islam's generational divide, the US government screwed sick Afghans.
In Olympic coverage, Travis Waldron hailed the amazing performance of US women in the London Games, Persian history contributed to Iran's Olympic wrestling and weightlifting conquest, and a former Olympican explained track and field's great equalizer. A reader reminisced about Abdul Baser Wasiqi's moving run, and while Ian Johnson explored the Olympics "arms race," Liel Leibovitz examined the funding shortage behind Israel's Olympics flameout. The Dish met Zoich, the blue, furry, crowned amphibian of the people – at least until it became a marketing trojan horse – a Google Olympics tribute doodle elicited calls of racism and Big Tobacco got crafty about Olympics marketing.
Austin Frakt thought hospitals wouldn't reform, robots grew creepier and Sady Doyle hoped for an end to the MPDG. Men talked nipples while dolphins gripped genitally. Birthday FOTD here (it's Andrew's!), sarcasm didn't translate well and Landon Palmer rued Rotten Tomatoes. Meanwhile, readers got worked up about the use of "literally," Robin Hanson wanted to bring fun back and Hathos alert here. And VFYW here, MHB here and that friend who takes games waaay too seriously here.
(Photo: Renaud Lavillenie of France competes during the Men's Pole Vault Final on August 10. By Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
The rest of the week after the jump:
