"Ship of fools on a cruel sea, ship of fools sail away from me.
It was later than I thought when I first believed you,
Now I cannot share your laughter, ship of fools."
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, Ship of Fools
"The gates of Hell are terrible to behold, are they not? 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
"He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison
"This elite-generated social control maintains the status quo because the status quo benefits and validates those who created and sit atop it. People rise to prominence when they parrot the orthodoxy rather than critically analyze it."
Kristine Mattis, The Cult of the Professional Class, April 2016
"Banality is a symptom. Men hide behind their cliches."
Eugene Ionesco
"And Abraham said, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not change and repent, even if someone were to rise from the dead.’”
Luke 16:31
"The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
Mountains and hills, come, come, and fall on me,
And hide me from the heavy wrath of God!”
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus
“I guess it’s easy to make a deal with the devil when you’re not the one paying the price.”
Joan, The Walking Dead, Season 5, Slabtown
Stocks were trading weakly, but managed to take only minor losses in another ranging, wobbly day.
The VIX came in higher, but then fell as the day went on.
The Dollar lost some ground.
Gold came in off an overnight rally, but gave up a chunk of its gains in the NY trading hours.
Silver not so much.
We will often get a 'gut check' in the Comex gold futures on the day after an expiration, depending on how many call options finished 'in the money' and became active futures contract longs.
There might be an extradition decision in the trial of Julian Assange in London tomorrow. This is a shameful miscarriage of justice and assault on press freedoms.
Russia is investigating and considering its options after a vicious and cowardly terrorist attack at a rock concert on Friday night.
A nasty surprise indeed, as the US had said was coming.
Kind of like the demolition of the Nordstream gas pipeline that shocked European energy markets.
Say it ain't so, Joe.
The ongoing ethnic cleansing and probable war crimes in Gaza continue.
How did we get this far?
The geopolitical situation makes my skin crawl.
Reckless immaturity and fumbling incompetence is never a good look for a global superpower.
Have a pleasant evening.
