"No doubt it is more comfortable to deliberately wear blinkers that prevent one from seeing the evil done in the discharge of their responsibility— to be unwilling to see that one is defending murder and robbery.
All my life I have been fighting against the spirit of narrowness and violence, arrogance, intolerance in its absolute, merciless consistency.
I have also worked to overcome this spirit with its evil consequences, such as nationalism in excess, racial persecution, and materialism.
In regards to this, the National Socialists are correct in killing me. In that, my conscience drove me – and in the end, that is a
man's duty."
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Executed in Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, 23 January 1945
"It is not enough to withdraw from the mob, not enough to go to another place: we have to withdraw from such attributes of the mob as are within us."
Michel de Montaigne
"You made this monster, and as
long as things were going well you gave him whatever he wanted. You turned
Germany over to this arch-criminal, you swore allegiance to him by every incredible oath he chose to put before you.”
Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen
"The lofty mind of man can be imprisoned by the artifices of its own
making. If there are damned souls in Hell, it is because men blind
themselves.”
E.A. Bucchianeri, Faust: My Soul Be Damned for the World
“Religion used to be the opium of the people. To those suffering humiliation, pain, illness, and serfdom, religion promised the reward of an after life. But now, we are witnessing a transformation: a true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, we are not going to be judged.”
Czeslaw Milosz, Discreet Charm of Nihilism
Stocks continued to take another leg down today.
Dip buyers were spanked once again.
The second low is still in motion. Let's see where it stops and actually sets in.
Although technically we could just go for a market break here. We've already banked quite a few failed rallies along the way.
Gold and silver managed to bounce, and hold it.
The crypto currencies are being taken out and beaten with ugly sticks.
What a surprise.
VIX remains elevated.
The Dollar slid across the 104 handle, and managed to hang on to it.
A strong dollar here is not favorable to the US economy, since it encourages imports and discourages exports.
But it does favor the financiers, who play the international game of assets and acquisitions, plundering on a global scale as they have done so well and so often domestically in recent years.
Aren't you glad you are watching this carnage from 'higher ground' and relative safety?
Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.
Have a pleasant evening.
