‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as law the commandments of men.’
You neglect the commandments of God, and serve the traditions of men.'”
Mark 7:6-8
"They looked upon the other with lust, and so twisted their thinking, averting their eyes from heaven, and refused to act justly.
How wicked you have grown with time. Now your lawlessness is coming to light, your false judgements, your harming the innocent, and freeing those who are guilty, although the Lord says do not punish those without blame."
Daniel 13:8-9,52-53
"The Lord says, 'I have seen violence done to the helpless,
and I have heard the cries of the poor.
I will rise up and rescue them,
as they have longed for me to do.'
The words of the Lord are pure,
like silver refined in a furnace,
and purified seven times over.
Therefore we know the Lord will protect the innocent,
preserving them from this lying generation, forever.".
Psalm 12:5-7
"You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them. God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity. But we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason."
Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings, 1963
Dag Hammarskjöld was a famous global figure in his day, a powerful Secretary-General of the UN. His autobiographical book Markings made a deep impression on this young schoolboy's mind.
Did you know that he may have been murdered, in the same reiving of the American conscience that resulted in the deaths of JFK, RFK, and MLK?
And for much the same reason— to clear the way for the riches and power of a few from endless war.
You snakes, you brood of vipers. How will you escape the condemnation of hell?
That line from the gospel of Matthew has aged remarkably well. And his chapter 25.
And they'll never see it coming.
Stocks shook off the early surprise in a higher than expected PPI number, and went into rally mode.
And they didn't look back until the close.
The Dollar fell.
Gold and silver rallied after some initial downward compression.
VIX is not at a recent low, suggesting a modicum of complacency has crept in the moneyed crowd.
Note on the first chart below that the gold inventory in the Comex related Hong Kong warehouses is now at a record low.
There are many signs of a short squeeze in bullion, both gold and silver.
And the reassurances by the bullion banking crowd and their courtiers are just as numerous. And increasingly strident and implausible.
Let's keep an eye on this one.
I was a little puzzled by the rally in risk assets today, along with gold and silver.
It smells a lot like a wash and rinse heading into a geopolitically risky weekend.
If Israel is emboldened by Western neo-cons to launch a first strike on Iran, it will most likely destroy significant sections of both countries, and cripple the world economy. The madness serves none but itself.
It is almost shocking to see how clean and modern and absolutely beautiful the infrastructure and urban areas have become in eastern Asia. Their routine use of technology and the cost of living and quality of service are amazing. My son the technocrat has recently been in Hangzhou, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Their wealth seems to serve them, the broader public, and not a fortunate few.
I am the designated Daisy caretaker, but I get photos and refrigerator magnets for my efforts. And the occasional face lick from the pooch. It's the little things that make life worth living.
Have a pleasant evening.
