The Financial Times reported yesterday that the Staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FECR) was investigating a number of electric power marketing affiliates owned by major banks — including JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Deutsche Bank AG, and others, on charges of manipulating electricity prices.  Immediately, reporters starting wondering whether

Bill McKibben, climate expert and founder of 350.org has a piece reminding us that the extreme and extremely dangerous weather events we’re seeing across the US are occurring in a context of global climate change. With Bill’s permission, we’re reposting his article which appears at Daily Beast.

Bill McKibben, climate expert and founder of 350.org has a piece reminding us that the extreme and extremely dangerous weather events we’re seeing across the US are occurring in a context of global climate change. With Bill’s permission, we’re reposting his article which appears at Daily Beast. — Ed. Bill

Climate change, massive fires, droughts, record temperatures. It’s official: June 2012 was the hottest June on record in Denver, CO (dating back to 1872) with an average temperature of 75F, 7.6F above normal! Yesterday’s high of 101F added to the total number of days of 100F+ temperatures: to date, there are now 7. Last week, there were 5 days in a row of 100F+ heat, matching the all-time record for Denver.

The problem with all too much of the early analysis of Thursday’s Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act is that it’s framed around whether Obama/Democrats won or lost, whether the mandate survived or not, and whether the “liberals” or “conservatives” on the court came out on top.

The problem with all too much of the early analysis of Thursday’s Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act is that it’s framed around whether Obama/Democrats won or lost, whether the mandate survived or not, and whether the “liberals” or “conservatives” on the court came out on top.  I

Today NPR told us some “good news,” the story that finally, by popular demand and Presidential edict, America is going to get a national college football playoff. The story went on about how the country has been deprived for a century of the satisfaction of . . . uh, something, which I translated as knowing which collegiate athlete program is the most corrupt at recruiting the future stars for the NFL Gladiator spectacles.

I have to get myself in the proper frame of mind to handle all of Kevin’s and Pam’s and Jon’s and dday’s news stories of the day, so I wake up to Boston’s NPR morning edition and lie there, semi-catatonic, listening for about an hour or so until I’m totally

A few weeks back, the respected Martin Wolf wrote an op-ed for the Financial Times in which he lamented the inability of Europe’s elites to stop an inexorable collapse of the Euro monetary union. This one was widely noted not only because it was Martin Wolf saying it, but because of how he said it.

Among the growing number of stories speculating on the potential outcomes of the Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s mandates and coverage expansion, we’re also seeing articles like this — Supporters Slow to Grasp Health Law’s Legal Risks — by Peter Baker of the New York Times. Baker suggests that the ACA’s defenders, and particularly the Obama Administration’s lawyers, were too slow in realizing the legal risks facing the ACA. That may be true, but not for the reasons often suggested.