"The illusions of extremists, of both the right and the left, are very dangerous things, for the very reason that they often incline themselves to sacrifice the individual, and even surprisingly large groups of individuals and segments of society, for the 'greater good' of their extremes and their illusions. No people, no organization of people, and no nation are immune or exceptional to this extremity. Evil is a choice, a long, gradual succession of choices. And the madness never sleeps, hunting for souls to devour."
Jesse, A Cruel Deception, 28 October 2022
"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
"For these are a rebellious people, deceitful children,
unwilling to listen to the instructions of the Lord.
They say to their seers,
‘Do not see!’
and to the prophets,
‘Say nothing of what is right! Tell us only things that please us — prophesy illusions."
Isaiah 30:9-10
"It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one — the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 1942
"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists. The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil."
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
"Power will achieve its murderous potential. It simply waits for an excuse, an event of some sort, an assassination, a massacre in a neighboring country, an attempted coup, a famine, or a natural disaster, to justify the beginning of murder en masse."
R. J. Rummel, Mass Murder and Genocide, 1994
The Dollar took a major slip off the 98 handle down to 96.
But VIX fell. None so blind as those who will not see.
Gold and silver rallied.
Stocks were wobbly.
There is some significant US economic data coming out the next two days, including the slightly delayed Non-Farm Payrolls report.
I will be highly skeptical of all of it. This is a time when dishonesty is fashionable in Washington. All the finest and most powerful people wallow in it.
Slowly, gradually, things are falling apart. There are consequences for incompetence and systematic fraud.
Have a pleasant evening.
