History and Guilt (Susan Neiman, Aeon)– Fascinating take on national memory and culture.
The Economy
Is It Nuts to Give to the Poor Without Strings Attached? (Jacob Goldstein, NYT)
6 Things Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism (Eugene, Critical Theory)
The economic gap between blacks and whites hasn’t budged for 50 years (Brad Plumer, Wonkblog)
Supersize Those Wages, McDonalds (Leo Garrard, Socialist Worker)
Why Innovation is Still Capitalism’s Star (Robert Schiller, NYT)
Poor prospects in a “middle class” society (Gary Lapon, Socialist Worker)
The Wrong Lesson from Detroit’s Bankruptcy (Joseph Stiglitz, NYT)
New Laws and Rising Costs Create a Surge of Supersizing Hospitals (Julie Creswell and Reed Abelson, NYT)
NSA Scandal
Michael Hayden, Bob Scheiffer and the media’s reverence of national security officials (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian)– This might be a minority opinion, but I actually think Greenwald is a stronger and more persuasive writer when he is discussing media issues and the failures of the press than his more civil libertarian topics.
When you’re in a Fourth Estate situation (Jay Rosen, Pressthink)
Texas
These Eight Charts Will Explain Why “Blue Texas” Won’t Happen (Nate Cohn, New Republic)
Stand and Deliver: After Her Twelve-Hour Filibuster, How Far Will Texas Senator Wendy Davis Run? (Heidi Mitchell, Vogue)
Politics
Ezra Klein’s Blind Spot (Joe Hines, The American Prospect)
North Carolinians Fear the End of a Middle Way (Campbell Robertson, NYT)– This is what happens with South Carolina gets all complacent about being the “worst Carolina”– somebody just sneaks up and snatches the title away.
The Sequester is Stifling Science (Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic)
Egyptian Counter-Revolution
A feckless response to Egypt’s avoidable massacre (David Rohde, Reuters)
Egypt’s Blood, America’s Complicity (Amr Darrag, NYT)
Arab Spring Countries Find Peace is Harder than Revolution (Ben Hubbard and Rick Gladstone, NYT)
TIes With Egypt Army Constrain Washington (Thom Shanker, Eric Schmitt, NYT)
NYC Stop-and-Frisk
Moving Beyond Stop-and-Frisk (I. Bennett Capers, NYT)
Getting Past ‘Tough on Crime’ (David Cole, NYRB)
Culture
The Books We’ve Lost (Charles Simic, NYRB)
The Killing Machines (Mark Bowden, The Atlantic)
Big Smart Objects: Drone Culture and Elysium (Claire L. Evans, Grantland)
Marriage is the New Middle-Class Luxury Item (Amanda Hess, Slate)
Endangering the Herd (Amanda Marcotte, Slate)– Count me in favor
International
China Takes Aim at Western Ideas (Chris Buckley, NYT)
Mormonism
Understanding Our Differences: Younger Mormons and Leaving the LDS Church (Hannah Wheelwright, Feminist Mormon Housewives)– One of the bright young stars of the Mormon feminist movement
Doubt and the Dangers of Reading Alone (smallaxe, Faith Promoting Rumor)
Oblivion: Forgetting Our Gay Brothers and Sisters (Susannah Montgomery, Feminist Mormon Housewives)
Patrick Mason on David Pulsipher on Mormon Civil Disobedience (Patrick Mason, Juvenile Instructor)
The Nightstand @ Weightier Matters of the Law 