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News of the World
I'm late to the story and don't have anything profound to add, but I wanted to make an observation about the death of Michael Jackson. Here's the thing: for over a decade, he's been something between a one-man punch-line and a freak show as far as most people are concerned, and he was the former for even longer than that. Here's the amazing thing, though: no matter how irrelevent he seemed, when he put out a song it went straight to the top of the charts. He really was the king of pop, and it wasn't just a case of "any publicity is good publicity." He's put out good songs, good videos, good tours throughout his active career and even after his active career was over. It's (well, perhaps) a shame that he didn't get to perform his planned farewell tour--I wouldn't have been the least surprised if it was brilliant.
Bernie Madoff got the maximum sentence of 150 years in jail. I guess he's had at least 20 years to live high on the hog, so now the bill's finally come due. If it's carried about, along with the $171 billion forfeiture, I guess it's the best we could hope for. I can't help but wonder how many smaller swindlers are still getting away with fast ones in the financial world and, for that matter, how much legal swindling is still going on, but I guess we'll have to be content with our bread and circuses.