“Prepare for battles. Know that you are now on a great stage where all heaven and earth are watching. But before I come as a Judge with justice, I will first open the door of My mercy.”
Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy, Kraków 1938
"You should become resigned to the fact that you will seem ridiculous to a race of janitors and bureaucrats if you are to enter the service of Splendor. Then you will know what it means to be the friend of God. The Friend of God! I am on the verge of tears when I think of it."
Léon Bloy, Le Désespéré, 1887.
"They have become twisted in their reasoning, and their foolish hearts are darkened."
Romans 1:21
"Wonderful providence indeed which is so silent, yet so efficacious, so constant, so unerring! This is what baffles the power of Satan. He cannot discern the Hand of God in what goes on; and though he would fain meet it and encounter it, in his mad and blasphemous rebellion against heaven, he cannot find it.
Crafty and penetrating as he is, yet his thousand eyes and his many instruments avail him nothing against the majestic serene silence, the holy imperturbable calm which reigns through the providences of God. Crafty and experienced as he is, he appears like a child or a fool, like one made sport of, whose daily bread is but failure and mockery, before the deep and secret wisdom of the Divine Counsels. He makes a guess here, or does a bold act there, but all in the dark.
He knew not of Gabriel’s coming, and the miraculous conception of the Virgin, or what was meant by that Holy Thing which was to be born, being called the Son of God. He tried to kill him, and he made martyrs of the innocent children; he tempted the Lord of all with hunger and with ambitious prospects; he sifted the Apostles, and got none but one who already bore his own name, and had been already given over as a devil. He rose against his God in his full strength, in the hour and power of darkness, and then he seemed to conquer.
He brought into the world the very salvation which he feared and hated. He accomplished the Atonement of that world, whose misery he was plotting. Wonderfully silent, yet resistless course of God’s providence! And if even devils, sagacious as they are, spirits by nature and experienced in evil, cannot detect His hand, while He works, how can we hope to see it except by that way which the devils cannot take, by loving faith?"
John Henry Newman, Christ Manifested in Remembrance, 7th May 1837
"Those who have force on loan from fate count on it too much and are destroyed. But at the time their own destruction seems impossible to them. For they do not see that the force in their possession is only a limited quantity; nor do they see their relations with other human beings as a kind of balance between unequal amounts of force. Since other people do not impose on their movements that halt, that interval of hesitation, wherein lies all our consideration for our brothers in humanity, they conclude that destiny has given complete license to them, and none at all to their inferiors.
And at this point they exceed the measure of the force that is actually at their disposal. Inevitably they exceed it, since they are not aware that it is limited. And now we see them committed irretrievably to chance; suddenly things cease to obey them. Sometimes chance is kind to them, sometimes cruel. But in any case there they are, exposed, open to misfortune; gone is the armor of power that formerly protected their naked souls; nothing, no shield, stands between them and tears."
Simone Weil, L'Iliade ou le poème de la force, 1939
Stocks did a bit of a 'pop and flop' today after yesterday's selloff.
There are some key IPOs coming out later this month. As always they involve a scandalous manipulation of the rules of the exchanges to benefit a wealthy few.
“Not only did Nasdaq gut its 'seasoning' requirement to allow SpaceX into its index only 15 days after its IPO, it also changed how it adjusts its weighting in the Nasdaq 100 index for 'low-float' stocks.”
Although only those who understand how these things work may understand it, this is a scandal of the highest level. If we had a functioning regulatory office this would not be happening. But this is the naked face of the kleptocracy.
(Note: later this evening S&P Dow Jones Indices has just officially announced that they will NOT be changing their inclusion rules to make it easier for “MegaCap” companies such as @SpaceX to be fast-tracked into the SP 500. The soonest SpaceX can join the index is June 2027. I am not sure that this derails the move by the NDX however.)
Trump is going to be staging a June 14th birthday party for himself. And he is turning the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States into a tawdry political rally.
The wages of sin will be paid.
Bitcoin is on 'must hold' support. The chart below makes it obvious.
Gold and silver are chopping around with the physical trade in the East and the paper chase in New York and London.
I have read credible estimates that the price of oil is going to spoil Trump's celebrations.
I would not trust AI with anything more important than drawing pictures and editing photos. It lies, boldly and badly and repeatedly because it cannot be bothered taking the time and effort to think. It should run for president.
I will be out of pocket most of tomorrow, and will put up some charts after the close sometime. I have a surgery coming up in a couple weeks, and they like to prod and probe us old geezers in advance.
As my old godfather used to say:
"Starość nie radość, młodość nie wieczność."
These are words that we all might take to heart.
And while we still have time to choose, ask to pass through the door of His mercy.
Have a pleasant evening.
