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Daily Bafflements

• The Baffler was recently flattered with the fine title of  “America’s most pugnacious magazine,” but if there is one publication that gives us a run for our money in this respect, it’s surely the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, in which a new study entitled “Survival of the Fittest and the Sexiest” was released last week. Among its findings, the much-avoided fact that “bullies have higher self-esteem and social status, as well as lower rates of depression and social anxiety.” Today we publish David Graeber’s salvo “The Bully’s Pulpit” from the bowels of The Baffler no. 28, in which he argues that Lord of the Flies-type bullying methods “did not emerge in the absence of authority; they were techniques designed to create a certain sort of cold-blooded, calculating adult male authority to begin with.”

• On the unworkable paradox of policiteering, whereby police collect money for the municipal courts: “Having taxpayers foot a bill of $4,000 to incarcerate a man who owes the state $745 or a woman who owes a predatory lender $425 and removing them from the job force makes sense in no reasonable world.” (Thanks, Mother Jones!)

• Sunday was the first ever National Coloring Book Day, and with even the gory Game of Thrones franchise publishing a relaxing coloring book, it’s time to ask: Is this coloring craze the new mindfulness?

• It is with great chagrin that we bring you the news that The Baffler’s favorite racehorse, Innovation Economy, was euthanized this weekend, following a fall.