The news is focused on the Boston Marathon bombing, and for so much ink being spilled, there is precious little new information. So 2 bombs, 3 people dead, more than 150 sent to the hospital with injuries. There’s no one in custody yet, law enforcement of all kinds are at the scene and working to ID the bomber and apparently they are getting tons of tips. And right on cue, the right wingnuts are spinning up their conspiracy theories — this one claiming that the bombing is meant to frame the tea party and expand the TSA. Just so you can be certain that there is a national tragedy, the Westboro RatBastards have already pledged to picket funerals from this.
Ezra Klein points out Eight Facts About Terrorism in the United States. This is alot of good data, but this is a great reminder:
The US is the little sliver at the bottom. And for all of us thinking that it is dangerous to be anywhere — always remember that you are at greater risk of being shot than being targeted in a terrorist attack.
The Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday and you might want to check out one of the winners: Inside Climate News who seems to be owning the dilbit spill story in Arkansas. This is another year where an online news venue has nailed a Pulitzer for their work.
The price of gold is crashing and Businessweek tells us that global inflation rates are falling, so gold is no longer good as a hedge. But a good deal of the financial news is focused on the price of gold, so Barry Ritholz at The Big Picture has detailed the 12 Rules of Goldbuggery. Here’s a few:
1. Gold is a Currency: This is rule number 1. It is not a decorative or industrial metal, it is a permanent store of value, as dictated by Greeks in Lydia around 700 B.C. And, it shall be ever thus.
2. The price of gold cannot fall, it can only be manipulated lower: When gold’s price falls, it is an unnatural act. It can only occur as the result of an international cabal of Central Bankers and politicians. Its a conspiracy, and we know who the guilty parties are.
3. If the price of gold is rising, it is doing so despite enormous and desperate efforts by manipulators to prevent the rise: This is the corollary to the prior Rule of Gold manipulation. Gold runs up despite the overwhelming opposition to it.
4. The world MUST return to the Gold Standard one day: It is inevitable that we will return to a Gold Standard. We all know this to be true. When we compare the size of the money supply to past amounts when there was a Gold Standard, we can derive prices of Gold in the $7,000, $10,000 even $15,000. Hence, we know its cheap even at $2,000.
Go over to Barry’s place to see the other 8 rules.
Last — and thanks to an anonymous tipster — here is a clip of the radio show where Don Ayotte announces his resignation from the GOP, the conspiracy theory claiming that the GOP framed Bodenwiser for child abuse, the Chair of IPOD adds the cherry on top noting that the number of charges made against Bodenwiser is the same number as a major Sussex route number, nefariousness on the part of GOP to sabotage Ayotte’s campaign(s) and a choice bit wondering about the politics of personal destruction. You reap what you sow, good buddy.
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