New York
The Red State-Blue State Divide, As Seen by Amazon Books
Amazon has a fascinating “election heat” map listing the 100 best-selling “red” (i.e., conservative) and “blue” (i.e., liberal) books, and also calculating, based on the number of sales in each state for the top 250 red and blue books, which states are majority-red and which are majority-blue. The map, which is updated hourly, delivers some bad news—or at least it did when I checked it at 12:45 p.m. READ MORE >>
As many have pointed out, Rep. Todd Akin’s insistence that woman cannot become pregnant through rape did not come from nowhere. READ MORE >>
How Helen Gurley Brown Made the World Safe for Ladyblogs
Standing in the Rubble of New York's Cocktail Life
Classification is practically a divine endowment. As Genesis says, the Lord breathed existence into being, divided the day into two categories, and called them night and day. Why complicate things with intermediacies such as dawn and twilight? READ MORE >>
UPDATED: Six Things to Know About Ryan (and Romney)
Many millions of working-age Americans would lose health insurance. Senior citizens would anguish over whether to pay their rent or their medical bills, in a way they haven’t since the 1960s. Government would be so starved of resources that, by 2050, it wouldn’t have enough money for core functions like food inspections and highway maintenance. And the richest Americans would get a huge tax cut. READ MORE >>
Just One Reason to Pick Ryan: Blame the Loss on Conservatives
There are two ways to think about Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan this morning. The first is how it affects Romney’s prospects for winning in November. The second is how it affects the internal struggle between conservatives and moderates within the GOP. READ MORE >>
From the Archives: Robert Hughes on the Twilight of American Art
Robert Hughes—a cultural critic of great intelligence and influence—died yesterday in a hospital in the Bronx. An outspoken adversary of all that was glib and derivative in late-twentieth century art, Hughes didn’t shy away from his reputation as an elitist. But he believed in the power of art, privileging its social import over any monetary valuation. READ MORE >>
