Today on the Dish, Andrew reflected on what Bibi Netanyahu’s election victory means for Israel, the Middle East, and America. He questioned Douthat’s expectations for the Republicans to take the lead of their moderate Tory cousins, vouched for Obama’s partisanship in the face of an intransigent GOP and scoffed at Fox News’s comparison of Mali to Iraq. Meanwhile, Andrew answered a livid letter from one of Mel Gibson’s close friends, and on a related note, agreed with Mendelsohn that “gaydar” develops into a sensor for bullshit in general. He gave his take on the appeal of Oxford debates, from experience, and continued to shake his head vigorously at the Manti Te’o media fail.

In political coverage, we prepared for the looming decline of a newly-reelected Bibi Netanyahu and speculated whether there’s a chance left for Middle East peace, as Millman popped the bubble on the hope for Israeli centrist parties. Sam Harris lamented the perverse incentives that guide our society, while readersrebuked our post on the possible blowback of immigration reform and sounded off on Kenny’s valuation of living in the US.

Elsewhere, we revisited the real significance of Roe v Wade just as legal abortion appears to have become a majority view in the country, and Hillary stared down Congress in the Face of the Day. We also spied on the whole country with Brandon Martin Anderson’s census map, Keith Humphrey discovered a lack of class consciousness in American couples, while Canada apparently botched its new currency.

In miscellanea, readers shared their connection to Lena Dunham’s Girls, McArdle looked at Israel as a test-ground for electric cars, and we found an engrossing but depressing story of another predatory clergyman. Readers reassured us that dive bars aren’t extinct yet. Rebecca Jane Stokes chided mealtime Instagram-ers, and an ex-vegan dismissed the effects of an animal-friendly diet.

On the sportsy circuit, we debated the effect of doping on the integrity of the games, and witnessed the modern athlete’s brain on football. Finally, we grouped together a final batch of reader reax to the independent Dish, flicked gloomy songs into major keys for the MHB, and glanced into a backyard in Wimbledon, England for today’s VFYW.

– B.J.

(Photo: Firefighters work to extinguish a massive blaze at a vacant warehouse in Chicago, Illinois on January 23, 2013. More than 200 firefighters battled a five-alarm fire as temperatures were in the single digits. By Scott Olson/Getty Images)