"When we are the victims of an illusion we do not feel it to be an illusion but a reality. It is the same perhaps with evil. As soon as we do evil, the evil appears as a sort of duty. Once a certain class of people has been placed by the temporal and spiritual authorities outside the ranks of those whose life has value, then nothing comes more naturally to men than murder.
As soon as men know they that they can kill without fear of punishment or blame, they kill; or at least they encourage killers with approving smiles."
Simone Weil, La Pesanteur et la Grâce, 1947
"Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil, struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness.”
Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate, 1959
"When a war breaks out, people say: 'It's too stupid; it can't last long.' But though a war may well be 'too stupid,' that doesn't prevent it from lasting. Foolishness has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. In this respect our townsfolk were like everybody else, wrapped up in themselves; in other words they were exceptional humans: they did not believe in plagues.
Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be human, that was all, and thought that everything still was possible for them; which presupposed that plagues were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views. How could they have given a thought to anything like a plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views. They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are plagues."
Albert Camus, The Plague, 1947
"The more power a government has the more it can act arbitrarily according to the whims and desires of the elite, and the more it will make war on others and murder its foreign and domestic subjects."
R. J. Rummel, Death by Government: A History of Mass Murder and Genocide Since 1900
"Cherish therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive
their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim
them by enlightening them.
If once they become inattentive to the public
affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, judges and governors
shall all become wolves...for I can apply no milder
term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich
on the poor."
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Edward Carrington, US National Archives, 16 January 1787
Stocks kicked into rally mode today, as the ongoing conflict in the Mideast looked like it might give the boys of Wall Street a little breathing room.
They wanted to get back what they lost with the sneak attack on Friday.
And, as a reminder there will be a triple witch stock market option expiration on this Friday.
So they may get a little more time to execute their usual script.
Gold was slammed. Silver not so much.
Bitcoin rallied back.
It was a day for risky assets to shine.
If you watch something like this analysis by Alastair Cooke, you will get a better idea, in plain language, of how a seasoned diplomat and political observer might perceive what just happened.
It is not a good look for the exceptional. One never participates in shooting people with whom you are negotiating under a flag of truce and parlay, no matter what distasteful lies and unworthy excuses with which you may choose to rationalize it.
I had thought we were a little better than to be complicit in something sordid and dishonorable like this.
These are the fruits of moral hazard.
"The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all. Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God."What are we becoming.
Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: 1933-1945
Have a pleasant evening.
