The NFL's domestic violence sham & links

A friend of mine who also owns an agency commented to me that the agency business is often two or three 100-hour weeks, followed by three or four fifteen-hour workweeks. I won't say that my experience has been that dramatic, but the past two weeks have felt like a significant uptick in client time and has left little opportunity to do what I love most: reading bullshit on the Internet for hours on end.

Pete Carroll's not as dumb as you think
We won the Super Bowl! Everyone seems to be fixated on that second and goal play that led to Malcolm Butler's (blessed!) interception, but I agree with Bill Barnwell that the call is not as obvious as everyone has intimated. It was a great, stressful game - I'm just glad we're not talking about Tom Brady's end zone interception instead of Russell Wilson's.

No More is a sham
Speaking of the NFL and its inability to do virtually anything right - here's a great takedown by Deadspin of No More. No More is the organization that's been airing those terrific domestic violence commercials since the Ray Rice debacle. Like many others, I assumed No More was a great organization using an awful crime to call attention to an important cause. We should all know to be much more cynical about the NFL by now.

The 1,447 tons of German gold beneath Manhattan's streets
I'm not an expert in precious metals, and have always found the connection between gold and currency curious. It's probably because I've only known a world where the US dollar was so secure that its intrinsic value was accepted. There's a number of precious metal investors increasingly uncomfortable with that arrangement, and seeking the repatriation of thousands of tons of gold held by the US government on their behalf. 

Obama's real policy for dealing with ISIS
Earlier this week, John Kerry was named the worst Secretary of State over the last 50 years. The current administrations continued failure (which would be comical if not for the horrible impact it has on millions of Ukranians, Iraqis, Syrians, Palestinians and others) to even remotely understand how the world works is on full display again this week, as the President has determined that ISIS will somehow defeat itself. I understand Mr. Obama is averse to conflict, but what kind of terrible event will need to occur for him to accept the US' role in the world order?

Thanks, again, Greece.
Speaking of the crumbling world order, meet the soon to be former European country of Greece. People voting for rosy but unrealistic solutions has hampered the United States the past eight years, and its clear now that it will have tragic consequences for the people of Greece, too. I don't know how anyone would be surprised by the ECB's reluctance to give Greece more capital given their rhetoric, but apparently the Greeks are. There's a solution to this problem, it's just unfortunate that it's likely to be passed in favor of a solution that doesn't help the Greek or wider European community.