You think I’m taking the Lewinsky bait? Glad she’s been able to survive what was a traumatizing experience. But Graydon Carter won’t get a subscription from me. I am, of course, eagerly awaiting Darrell Issa’s inquiry into Lewinsky’s previously concealed role in the Benghazi conspiracy.
Today, I tried to tackle the emerging debate about the role of America in a post-post-Cold War century. We engaged the science and genealogy of race – again; and examined Putin’s new way of war; if you’ve never seen Monty Python’s take on the gay voice, do yourself a favor. And the negotiations with Iran were making tangible progress.
The most popular post of the day remained the late-night podcast I made with Christopher Hitchens in 2006; followed by How To Interview A Politician.
There are now 28,560 subscribers. There are also 37,000 of you who have used up all your free read-ons and still haven’t subscribed. If you’re in the Dish that deep, $1.99 is a pretty small price to pay for the site you read so much. If even a tenth of you subscribed, we’d be past 30,000 subs. So take the plunge tonight (it takes a couple minutes max) and help this model of reader-supported web journalism thrive against the onslaught of sponsored content and constant advertising noise. Update from a reader:
You finally got me. Not only do I never pay for web content but I’m so philosophically opposed that I’ve published essays against the disappearance of the old free and universal web. Well, you got me. I subscribed today. What pushed me over the edge? Your post about your seasonal allergies in Washington, DC. I am a DC native and those two miserable weeks every spring nearly kill me. It’s much less of a problem where I live now (Maine). For one split second I imagined your allergies killed you. I realized the Dish has become a ritual for me, like reading the newspaper used to be. It’s the sort of ritual of community affirmation Benedict Anderson describes in Imagined Communities. And if your allergies ever did put you in the Big Sleep, I’d have a real hole in my life. Ugh, you finally got me you bastard.
(Photo: The Crimea travel poster produced by the USSR’s state tourist agency Интурист (Intourist), 1965 (indianriverposterco.com) via the great Eric Baker.)
The Dish 