Gaius Publius

by Gaius PubliusI can't take credit for this, though I wish I could. David Dayen, who writes at Salon, has been reading Barney Frank's new book Frank and also its reviews. Dayen is one of the most knowledgeable writers on the mortgage and financial crises — both. (Note to readers: It's not a financial crisis if there's no mortgage crisis.

The copyrighted, registered trademarkof the World Wildlife Fund by Gaius PubliusIf you support the World Wildlife Fund (internationally named the "World Wide Fund for Nature"), consider stopping. They call this "greenwashing," something WWF is familiar with (see below).

Rep. Chris Van Hollen defending Simpson-Bowles as a "balanced approach" at the Pete Peterson Fiscal "Summit"by Gaius PubliusIf you've been following Democratic politics lately, you know that Party leadership–favorite Rep. Chris Van Hollen is running for the open Maryland Senate seat against progressive favorite Rep.

ISIS flag (source and analysis)by Gaius PubliusI found the following piece, by Graeme Wood writing at The Atlantic, a compelling and riveting read. First, it attempts to answer the question: What is ISIS, really?

A CSX Corp train burns after derailment in Mount Carbon, West Virginia pictured across the Kanawha River in Boomer, West Virginia February 16th, 2015.

You can vote for the puppets, but notfor the puppeteers (image source)by Gaius PubliusOn the one hand, this is old news, in the sense that we knew it had to be true anyway.

Looking down the rabbit hole of U.S. domestic politics,where everything you thought you knew, you don't;click to enlarge (source)by Gaius PubliusThere are more ways to think about this news than I can count, so I'm just going to present it with more questions than comment afterward.

Red wine grapes; click to enlarge (source)by Gaius PubliusMeanwhile on the climate beat ...In a piece on the California drought, I added this as an aside:

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)by Gaius PubliusAre progressives willing to attack Ron Wyden on TPP? The question isn't mine — it's from the National Journal (my emphasis throughout):

Analysis you'll never hear on MSNBCby Gaius PubliusI don't know what to make of this news — in the sense that I don't know for sure what it augurs — so I'll just present it. I do know what to make of MSNBC — it's the Party-first equivalent of the Movement-first Fox News (note the difference) — though that varies from host to host. That is, some hosts will be more aggressive in criticizing Democrats than others, but only on narrowly selected topics.