Today on the Dish, Andrew posted a notice for a new Dishtern, reiterated his opposition to meddling in Syria’s civil war, and put Obama on notice regarding the release of the torture report. He explained his embrace of Keynesian economics in an era that calls for it, declared the Burekean origin of Anglo-American conservatism, and eyed the fraying edges of the Eurozone and the EU. Elswhere, Andrew spotlighted a worthwhile documentary on drag culture, agreed with Albert Camus on the true payoffs of independent journalism and kept tabs on the push for marriage equality in Minnesota.
In political news and views, we registered new evidence that Earth has never been hotter as Josh Fox listed some red state reasons to oppose fracking. We noted Obama’s principle that Dwight makes right, separated the Syrian rebels’ hippies and jihadis, and Hamza Mohamed filed from Somalia, the world’s dodgiest country for correspondents. Victor Davis Hanson earned a Malkin Award nod for his Benghazi hyperbole, Tim Verstynene poked and prodded at Obama’s BRAIN program, and Salman Rushdie took a shapshot of global censorship in 2013. Later we followed the grim story of Amanda Berry, who fled her kidnapper of ten years and met the federal employees protesting sequestration in the Face of the Day.
In assorted coverage, we questioned the literary value and legacy of The Great Gatsby, took a tutorial in the languages of Game of Thrones, and Berlatsky sensed the overlap between male and female fiction. We connected the dots between mental health and HIV, let readers ask Sue Halpern anything, and Matthew Battles traced the moment that gave us the term “computer bug.” Readers reflected on the imperfect glory of country singer George Jones and observed the perils of unintentional pop plagiarism.
Edward McClelland investigated the shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, the first plastic handgun emerged from its 3-D printer, and we learned that happy tweets come on vacation. We revealed this week’s VFYW contest, Jon Rauch took apart the myth of gay “choice,” and we sampled smogged and non-smogged Beijing in the VFYW before enjoying a bite-sized share of Malick for the MHB.
–B.J.
The Dish 