“Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness, who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves. The evil in this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisees of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self-examination.
The evil hate the light—the light of goodness that shows them up, the light of scrutiny that exposes them, the light of truth that penetrates their deception.”
M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie, October 10, 2023
"Narcissists damage and hurt but they do so offhandedly and naturally, as an afterthough. They are aware of what they are doing to others - but they do not care.”
Sam Vaknin, Malignant Self-Love
“'Woe to you, Pharisees. For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. What sorrow is awaiting you. For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption.'
'Teacher,' said an expert in religious law, 'you have insulted us too, in what you just said.'
And Jesus said, 'What sorrow also awaits you lawyers and teachers of the law. For you crush people with unreasonable demands, and you never lift a finger to ease their burden. What sorrow awaits you. For you raise monuments to the very prophets that your fathers killed.'"
Luke 11:40-50
"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. It is not merely that at present the rule of naked force obtains almost everywhere. Bully-worship, under various disguises, has become a universal religion."
George Orwell, Book Review of Bertrand Russell's Power, 1939
This was an interesting way that Zelensky and Trump decided to kick off a proposed cease-fire discussion.
This isn't NY real estate deals, bullying and threatening weaker parties.
I suspect that Putin is from the Chicago School: 'They send one of ours to the hospital, we send one of theirs to the morgue.'
But this is not funny, and it is a game that comes with consequences. Papa needs a brand new bag.
Stocks lost their early rally attempt.
The Dollar declined.
VIX is now at the complacent level.
It's a matter of days to the next correction.
Not even Bessent and the ESF can prop this mispriced pig up indefinitely.
Believe what you will, it's still a nominally free country.
But if you wish to trade the markets, it's good to see things as they are behind the enticing illusions.
Have a pleasant evening.
