"Friday, April 20, was Hitler's fifty-sixth birthday, and the Soviets sent him a birthday present in the form of an artillery barrage right into the heart of the city, while the Western Allies joined in with a massive air raid.
The radio announced that Hitler had come out of his safe bomb-proof bunker to talk with the fourteen to sixteen year old boys who had 'volunteered' for the 'honor' to be accepted into the SS and to die for their Fuhrer in the defense of Berlin. What a cruel lie! These boys did not volunteer, but had no choice, because boys who were found hiding were hanged as traitors by the SS as a warning that, 'he who was not brave enough to fight had to die.'
When trees were not available, people were strung up on lamp posts. They were hanging everywhere, military and civilian, men and women, ordinary citizens who had been executed by a small group of fanatics. It appeared that the Nazis did not want the people to survive because a lost war, by their rationale, was obviously the fault of all of us. We had not sacrificed enough and therefore, we had forfeited our right to live, as only the government was without guilt."
Dorothea von Schwanenfluegel, The Battle of Berlin, 1966
"When narcissists fail they will falsely claim that everything is fine and that there is nothing wrong. They will try to misdirect us or claim there is nothing to the allegations or circumstances. Any evidence presented, and those that present, it will be attacked aggressively and vindictively. They will seek to have it invalidated or claim that it is false, fake, or a product of vague conspiracies. As they lash out with vindictiveness, the malignant narcissist will trumpet their greatness, their real or imagined achievements, and portray themselves as worthy of being revered rather than reviled.
As circumstances become dire, the narcissist will not take any responsibility — ever. They will seek to find someone to blame for their troubles or downfall, preferably someone that cannot defend themselves. A scapegoat is always useful and when there is not a real one, one will be invented. In the process of casting blame, even the most loyal and stalwart will be discarded and denigrated with reptilian indifference.
Expect lies to increase and to be repeated exponentially. They will, even in light of factual evidence to the contrary, lie more profusely and adamantly.
The narcissist will expect supporters, the unethical, and enablers to lie for them. If the narcissist is going to be brought down, they will also seek to bring everyone else around them down to vindictively make them suffer. As the end nears, the suffering of others is paramount to the malignant narcissist. It is their way of elevating themselves by malevolently paying back society with even more suffering.
Joe Navarro, FBI Behavioural Analysis Veteran, When the Narcissist Fails, Psychology Today, 2 January 2024
"The evil in this world is committed by the Pharisees of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of self-examination. The evil hate the light — the light of goodness that shows them up, the light of scrutiny that exposes them, the light of truth that penetrates their deception.”
M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie, 1983
Stocks dipped again today, but came back a little bit into the late trading hours.
Gold and silver rallied higher, with silver tagging 93 intraday.
Remarkable.
Bitcoin has broken up and out of its short term trading range. Let's see if it can sustain it. It's impressive that it not following along with the NDX.
It's a tale of two markets. The overnight global market, and the daylight New York and London markets.
Big moves are coming this year, and big events that may surprise and shock us.
Have a pleasant evening.
