"Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them. Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear; violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul."
Robert F. Kennedy, Remarks to Cleveland City Club, 5 April 1968
"With the tools of democracy, democracy was murdered and lawlessness made ‘legal.’ Raw power ruled, and its only real goal was to destroy all other powers besides itself.”
Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, April 2010
"A society that is in its higher circles and on its middle levels widely believed to be a network of smart rackets does not produce men with an inner moral sense; a society that is merely expedient does not produce men of conscience. A society that narrows the meaning of 'success' to the big money and in its terms condemns failure as the chief vice, raising money to the plane of absolute value, will produce the sharp operator and the shady deal.
Blessed are the cynical, for only they have what it takes to succeed. America - a conservative country without any conservative ideology-appears now before the world a naked and arbitrary power, as, in the name of realism, its men of decision enforce their often crackpot definitions upon world reality."
C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite, Oxford Press, 1956
"If at the start this cancerous growth in the nation was not particularly noticeable, it was only because there were still enough forces at work that operated for the good, so that it was kept under control. As it grew larger, however, and finally in an ultimate spurt of growth attained ruling power, the tumor broke open, as it were, and infected the whole body."
The White Rose, Second Leaflet, Munich 1942
"The impulse to freedom and democracy always seems weak and hopeless when matched against the forces of oppression, because aggressive oppression is always more single-minded, having already crushed internal dissent and perspective, and is generally better organized and equipped.
As in most human things, their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness, and it is their inability to master and evolve that strength, to reform and achieve sustainability, that brings them crashing down, every time. Their strength is their weakness, in its overreach and self-absorption."
Jesse, Prague Spring, 8 June 2012
There are times when a retreat from the troubles of the day seems to be our best choice.
And yet we are not called to become cynical, or to be indifferent, to the corrosive contagion of lawlessness and the despair of our neighbor.
Stocks continued to diverge, with a narrow tech rally reaching for a high note.
Gold and silver rallied sharply after their recent smackdowns.
The Dollar chopped sideways.
VIX continues to be gamed and has lost some of its value as an indicator, except in its extremes.
A correction, and a fairly stiff one, is just one geopolitical event away.
Have a pleasant weekend.
