Alicja Khatchikian (Vienna): Performance and Gender in Almodovar's Bodies. From Capitalism Nature Socialism, an editorial by David Correia: “Fk Jared Diamond”. From The Awl, why is America turning to shit? Yasmin Nair wants to know. Although perhaps best known for co-founding the Encylopedie, Philipp Blom argues for the importance of Diderot’s philosophical writings and how they offer a pertinent alternative to the Enlightenment cult of reason spearheaded by his better remembered contemporaries Voltaire and Rousseau. Why aren't there more female libertarians? Nora Caplan-Bricker investigates. The world's worst graffiti, in pictures: A satirical new art book, Wanksy: Interpreting a Graffiti Virtuoso, takes a massive swipe at everyday graffers, and by extension our entire society for humouring artists like Banksy. Josh Marshall on a fascinating conglomeration of hucksterism, right-wing paranoia, secular eschatology all from one pasty dude selling something called the "Patriot Survival Plan" — it's all in a video, which is epically crazy and yet hard to stop watching. Hate for a new generation: Young white supremacists gather in D.C. to talk Ayn Rand, race and IQ, economic collapse. Corey Robin on when Richard Nixon met Karl Polanyi. From NYRB, Alan Rusbridger on the Snowden leaks and the public. Will Silicon Valley finally get mad about the NSA’s MUSCULAR program?
