Gaius Publius

Bain Capital's corporate logo: Vultures, rampant, on a field of bonesBain Capital's managing director and the Obama circle's choice for next president.

Andrew Cuomo's priorities (source)by Gaius Publius The world's leading monopolists, Jeff Bezos and Amazon, after much thought (or in fact, very little thought) have picked two cities for their new HQ2, their second national headquarters.

A small part of a much larger infographic showing our bright bright technical future. None of this will happen.by Gaius PubliusWhat's a morally appropriate response to climate deniers?What's a morally appropriate response to those who enable mass murder?This short piece is the start of a much longer consideration of the state of the U.S.

Click to enlargeby Gaius PubliusThe chart above represents my best guess about the future split of the Senate, using only races that seem contested. Note:• The Senate is currently divided 51-49 in favor of the Republicans, so the Democrats (and the two independents who caucus with them) are down two already.• The column labeled "Change 1" shows a best-case result for Democrats.

Click to enlargeby Gaius PubliusIn England, at this day, if elections were open to all classes of people, the property of landed proprietors would be insecure.—James Madison, on why a Senate is needed to counterbalance the majoritarian HouseMinority rule occurs in a political system when a small group of citizens is able to force its will on the large group of which it is a part.

Image courtesy The Atlantic, "God's Plan for Mike Pence"by Gaius PubliusIn the wake of ultra-right bombings and shootings, with the Mueller investigation in mind and thoughts of the 2020 election close at hand, it seems appropriate to look at Vice President Mike Pence.

The sons and daughters of the uber-richby Gaius PubliusCapitalism is an economic system that encourages people to act from the most pathological individual motives and promises the best social outcome. As Noam Chomsky said, our current ideology is producing a nation, a world, of psychopaths. From an interview with Rob Kall:

Atmospheric CO2 is currently well above 400 ppm (horizontal dotted line; right scale). This chart, going back to the Cambrian Period, shows how unusual the current situation is. The last time CO2 was greater than 400 ppm was when the Indian subcontinent slammed into Asia from the south (note the rise and fall in CO2 around 50 million years ago).

Donald Trump on NAFTA. That was then; this is now.by Gaius PubliusNAFTA 2.0 is on the horizon, and I wanted to offer an update courtesy of Public Citizen's Trade Watch, the best go-to source on trade agreement issues. Their infographic is here. Click here for their full analysis.

by Gaius PubliusI'm just delving into the new IPCC special report on the effects of limiting, or not limiting, global warming of 1.5°C (full report here), and there are a number of bottom lines coming out of it, including this one, which we reported earlier: "IPCC Manipulating Climate Report Summary to Favor