I'm not sure why money paid is an issue for you, but anyone who pitches an article gets paid .07/word (last time I checked). The article in question was a long running (and in my opinion useless, but I've been saying that for a while) column covering a range of topics, but mostly ranting.

My specific example was that Jim Hines' article about problematic gender cover images and treatment of women ran in the same issue (I haven't read the article yet, because my ulcer won't let me open the Bulletin again any time soon, but other people have mentioned it).