Paul Krugman (via

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I’ve got a story in the November issue of The American Prospect about how comic books (mostly, though not exclusively, mainstream superhero comics) have responded to the War on Terror and the Iraq War—and how the implicit political premises of the superhero genre itself end up complicating writers’ intended messages. Subscribers can read “The Revolt […]

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One of your reporters just uttered an a sentence containing the phrase: “which, for all intents and purposes, exists in name only.” Please fire whatever editor permitted this. Thak you.

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I meant to link last week to Maia Szalavitz’s solid Prospect article on boot camps for troubled teens.

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I’m looking for a large cardboard box, one big enough for a person to fit entirely inside with a bit of room to spare—which is to say, roughly refrigerator sized. If you have such a thing (just bought an item of furniture, maybe?) and want it taken off your hands, it would be an invaluable […]

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Pointing out that a claim I find congenial is bullshit is a symptom of class and gender privilege. Pester me not with these “methodological flaws” and “confounding variables”; I need only consult my magic Ouija uterus.

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Ezra has a very weird post expressing bemusement that pundits are big fans of merit pay yet themselves immune from such accountability. Which is a clever point, except that… what!? Yes, yes, the Atlantic bloggers’ paychecks don’t shift with last week’s traffic, but is Ezra suggesting that the pay a writer or TV/radio host commands […]

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As anyone who knows me can tell you, I take Halloween fairly seriously. But however elaborate the execution of a costume might be, I tend to keep them conceptually pretty simple, dressing as flashy iconic characters like The Joker or Spider Jerusalem or Rorschach. I’ve noticed among my friends, however, a recent penchant for what […]

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It was probably only a matter of time, but it’s still a little sad to see it go: After 36 years,Laissez Faire Books is closing down. Back in the 70s, when Amazon was just a river in South America, LFB was an indispensable resource for anyone who wanted to keep up with an obscure cluster […]

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Remember Mr. A, true believers? Unless you’re a serious comics geek or fairly well steeped in the wacky world of Ayn Rand, odds are you don’t. Legendary comics artist Steve Ditko is best known as the co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. But after falling out with his Marvel collaborator Stan Lee, Ditko, well, went […]

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