"Our hatred is a deadly poison. In hatred, we are like bees who must pay with their lives for the use of their stingers."
Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in Despair, 1947
"As though you could use violent, unjust means and achieve peace and justice. Means determine ends; and must be like the ends proposed. Means intrinsically different from the ends proposed achieve ends like themselves, not like those they were meant to achieve."
Aldous Huxley, Eyeless in Gaza, 1936
"No doubt it is more comfortable to deliberately wear blinkers that prevent one from seeing the evil done in the discharge of their responsibility— to be unwilling to see that one is defending murder and robbery."
Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Executed in Plötzensee Prison, Berlin, 23 January 1945
“Better to be a beggar in freedom than to be forced into compromises against my conscience.
All of the Christian West stands and falls with the words of Genesis. 'And God created man in His image.’”
Dietrich von Hildebrand
"Reading von Hildebrand reminds us that there is only one sure remedy against an ideology of hate, and that is to expose it to public criticism and to affirm what it denies. The ardent faith that inspired von Hildebrand is not easily recovered in our skeptical times. But through his love of truth and his brave opposition to a public culture of deception, he bore witness to values that we still share. "
Roger Scruton, foreward to von Hildebrand's My Battle Against Hitler, 2014
“Son of man, they have set up idols in their hearts. They cling to the errors that will make them fall into sin."
Ezekiel 14:3
"How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings. But you would not let me. As you have willed it, so your house is now yours to command— but is made desolate.’”
Matthew 23:37-38
As they suddenly woke up to the reality of the economy and tax cuts, so the markets suddenly realized that the Mideast and Eastern Europe may be staggering along towards a wider, bloodier war.
Stocks dropped hard, and bounced very little into the close.
Gold and silver continued the spike from overnight, ran up to new highs, and were brutally sold down to finish in the red.
Nothing like the Dr. Evil strategy to provide a solid wash and rinse, especially into the weekend after Europe goes home to dinner.
VIX spiked, but backed off some, although it finished much higher than usual.
The Dollar rallied again, as it did yesterday, pushing up towards the 106 handle.
Yay us.
Netanyahu keeps poking Iran in the nose, as does the Ukraine with Russia.
Uncle Thug's minions are being quite the naughty boys.
Let's see where this goes, hopefully not to hell in a handbasket.
Those who serve and worship the power of the world don't have to worry about falling into the abyss— the abyss is coming for them.
And the longer this continues, the worse the resolution will become, and the more painful the final reckoning will be.
They will be weighed, and found wanting. And may God have mercy on their souls.
Have a pleasant weekend.
