"Through his first year in Germany [1933], Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange indifference to atrocity that had settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new act of violence, without protest.
Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the [Hitler] regime would fall, but as the days passed he saw no evidence of any such outpouring of anger. The controlled press, not surprisingly, praised Hitler for his decisive behaviour."
Erik Larson, In The Garden of Beasts, 2011
"Around the world, authoritarian leaders are on the rise. They're working from a common playbook: They use violent rhetoric. They attack the media. They see their political rivals as existential enemies to the nation. Demagogues are willing to do or say anything to gain office or to consolidate their power. Unconstrained by ideology, they have no concern for the consequences of their actions. Anything that serves to make them more powerful is good enough for them — even if the political system that facilitated their rise should be destroyed in the process."
Daniel Ziblatt, Saving Democracy from Demagogues, 2022
"It can only be hoped that American democracy will thoroughly realize, before it is too late, that fascism is not confined to any one nation or any one party; and it is to be hoped that it will succeed in overcoming the tendency toward dictatorial forms in the people themselves. Only time will tell whether the Americans will be able to resist the compulsion of irrationality or whether they will succumb to it.”
Wilhelm Reich, The Mass Psychology of Fascism, 1933
"A society which respects civil liberty realizes that the
freedom of its people is built, in large part, upon their privacy. Those who love the twilight speak as if public education must be training in conformity. We have also seen a sharpening and refinement of abusive power. The legislative investigation has too frequently been used by the Nation and the States as a means for effecting the disgrace and degradation of private persons. Unscrupulous demagogues have used the power to investigate as tyrants of an earlier day used the bill of attainder.”
John F. Kennedy, Opinion Piece, Boston Herald, October 1960
"If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny. That is the abyss from which there is no return."
Senator Frank Church, Meet The Press, 17 August 1975
The silence among the Western elites in support of the worst wars of aggression and mass murder that have been seen since the last World War is truly astonishing.
We are expected to watch the actions of men who have become beasts in their lust for wealth and power, and say nothing.
Shame. They have none, so we must be ashamed for them, that they can walk unashamed among free people.
Stocks muddled around today, with a fair lack of conviction.
Gold and silver had a bit of a pop as the Dollar did a bit of a drop.
VIX is still quiescent.
How bad this is going to be is still hard to tell. But it will end, badly.
But be not deceived— God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, so shall he reap."
The night approaches.
Have a pleasant evening.
