"I contend that we are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Why should we not form a secret society with but one object — for the making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire."
Cecil John Rhodes, Confession of Faith, 1877
“Remember what risks the nations of Europe ran, not so many centuries ago of being overwhelmed by the Turks, and how ridiculous such an idea now is. The more civilised so-called Caucasian races have beaten the Turkish hollow in the struggle for existence. Looking to the world at no very distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilised races throughout the world.”
Charles Darwin, Letter to William Graham, July 3, 1881
"The essential characteristic of a good and healthy ruling elite is that it views itself not as a function of the monarchy or the commonwealth, but as its very meaning and highest justification, and that it therefore accepts with a good conscience the sacrifice of untold human beings who, for its sake, must be suppressed and reduced to imperfect slaves and instruments. Its fundamental belief must be precisely that society is not allowed to exist for its own sake, but only as a foundation and scaffolding by which a select class of beings may be able to elevate themselves to their higher duties, and in general to a higher existence."
Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886
"American preeminence is based on the fact that it is the only country with the military, diplomatic, political and economic assets to be a decisive player in any conflict in whatever part of the world it chooses to involve itself. If America wants stability, it will have to create it. We are in for abnormal times. Our best hope for safety in such times, as in difficult times past, is in American strength and will — the strength and will to lead a unipolar world, unashamedly laying down the rules of world order and being prepared to enforce them."
Charles Krauthammer, The Unipolar Moment, Foreign Affairs, 1990
"Advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool. This is merely a glimpse of the possibilities inherent in the process of transformation, not a precise prediction. Whatever the shape and direction of this revolution in military affairs, the implications for continued American military preeminence will be profound.The process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor."
The Project For a New American Century, Rebuilding America's Defenses, 1997
"Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't trust the evidence of one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilizatrice."
Edward W. Said, Orientalism (1978)
Stocks gave back a significant portion of the snap back relief rally that Trump triggered with his well-timed announcement on his twitter platform, Truth Social.
Rallies in bear markets and stiff declines tend to be violent, especially when they represent the concerted effort by a number of powerful insiders and their official enablers to 'strafe the lifeboats' of those trying to hedge their portfolios, and additionally those who are speculating to the short side.
But this is nothing new. But it seems new to a whole new crop of punters, who don't have the experience or the knowledge of history of how these things go.
Wall Street feeds on them like sharks, while cajoling them with diversions, and false praise.
Gold and silver rallied again, as the Dollar plummeted.
It is said that it was the weakness in the bond market that caused Trump to blink.
I suspect it was the collective leaning on his neck by his gaggle of billionaire backers, who saw they kingdom starting to shudder.
VIX of course rose.
This type of violent, whipsaw action is fairly typical of bear markets. It is. I have traded through a number of them now. There is nothing new in this, except perhaps that the rules and regulations have been significantly eroded by the moneyed interests over the past thirty years.
My best advice for most 'investors' is to take some solid long term positions in safe havens with reasonable returns, and stay away from the locus of the conflagration.
And for those who are professionals, who are fewer than they think, you don't need any advice from me, except to place at risk only 'cool money' and don't let greed draw you into leveraged one way positions.
But, no one listens really. I talked myself blue in the face in the tech bubble crash of 2001-2002 trying to inform people. And there is no warning a people determined to be rich, especially if they think they are exceptional in any way.
Just like politics. When any people think they are special, select, elite, of a purer blood or divine grant than the rest of humanity from whom they set themselves apart, it always ends in tragedy, ruin, and murder.
I will never forget when in 2013 President Obama urged the nation to rise to the occasion to go to war once again in Syria because we are exceptional,' Russia's Putin gave this response:
“It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.”
He may have been 'talking his book.' He may have just been speaking falsely. Hillary Clinton saw him as the great evil in the world.
The White House dismissed this as 'irrelevant.' Senators and Representatives from both parties poured out their diverting emptiness and lack of moral depth while fattening themselves on the fruits of their corruption.
Wisdom comes from many places, but cannot pierce the dark of hardened hearts.
The madness serves none but itself.
Have a pleasant evening.
