"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. 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
I was out all day, this market is boring and dumb, and I'm tired.
Non-Farm Payrolls tomorrow. So they say.
Have a pleasant evening.
"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.
2. If evidence is presented, they will seek to have it invalidated or claim that it is false, fake, or a product of vague conspiracies, but most certainly not true.
3. Any evidence presented, and those that present it will be attacked aggressively and vindictively. The better the evidence, the more aggressive the attack. Individuals who are doing the right thing by reporting criminal acts, unethical behavior, or failings are to be discredited, humiliated, hounded, and bullied—not even their families are to be spared if need be. The narcissist will engage supporters or enablers to simultaneously attack those who offer proof or evidence, even if it embarrassingly exposes their poodle-like behavior as that of spineless sycophants.
4. Foolproof evidence will be portrayed as false and the result of pettiness, jealousies, bad actors, malicious individuals, negativity, haters, enemies, losers, conspirators, opposition, gain seekers, the faithless, or as we are seeing now in American politics, 'fake news' or 'deep state' actors. There is always a large constellation of people to blame, the narcissist casts wide to see which vacuous claim resonates, especially with their supporters.
5. As they lash out with vindictiveness, the malignant narcissist will continue to talk about themselves in glowing terms; irrespective of their actual situation, as they are incapable of introspection, much less contriteness. They will trumpet their greatness, their real or imagined achievements, their faux infallibility, and even portray themselves as worthy of being revered rather than reviled.
6. They will seek to find someone to blame for their troubles or downfall, preferably someone that cannot defend themselves. A scapegoat is always useful and when there is not a real one, one will be invented. If they are not promoted or fired, it is because a cabal at work was against them. If they cheat their business partners, it was because they deserved it. If the wife gets the kids in a divorce settlement, it is because of her dastardly attorney, not his abominable behavior. If they lose an election it is because of campaign managers, unappreciative voters, trickery, fraud, or some other kind of malfeasance on the part of a conspiracy. Conspiracies are useful to the narcissist because they conveniently require no evidence. As they are not married to the truth, they will prattle countless baseless reasons that all point away, never at themselves.
7. As circumstances become dire, the narcissist will not take any responsibility—ever. Anything that has gone wrong is the responsibility of others. They will blame spouses as undeserving of their greatness, ignorant colleagues who just don’t measure up, the disloyal, those who abide by rules and laws because ironically, they abide by rules and laws, or those that just clearly did not understand the very specialness of the narcissist. Everyone, and I mean everyone from people long gone, to the peripherally connected, to the earthly departed will be blamed for the failure or downfall of the narcissist. Once more it is never their fault.
8. In the process of casting blame, even the most loyal and stalwart will be discarded and denigrated if needed with reptilian indifference. For the malignant narcissist, there is only the 'good' — those that provide blind, unwavering loyalty and who are useful, and everyone else who is an enemy, useless, and thus 'bad.' Whether you are in or out, good or bad, is not determined by history, by friendship, sacrifices, or how well you have performed in the past—it is determined by the capricious and selfish needs of the narcissist, and that can change in a moment.
10. And while lies will increase, so too will be the need to devalue others in order to further value themselves. They will attack everyone and anyone in the most vicious and vindictive ways. This is when we see their rage come through. Not just anger, but unbridled rage. They will say things that shock the conscience and they expect everyone to swallow what they say, much as their enablers do. The most decent of persons will be attacked, mocked, ridiculed, and turned into a human chew-toy as the narcissist unleashes untethered rage and hatred. They will dip down into a bottomless cauldron of antipathy and like an arterial spurt, will spew this toxic brew far and wide with metronomic regularity.
11. The malignant narcissist, lacking guilt or a conscience, is only concerned with respect and not being publicly shamed. Any kind of public embarrassment will cause them further anger, further rage, further attacks, further unethical comportment, and unprecedented incivility.
12. If the narcissist is going to be brought down, they will also seek to bring everyone else around them down to vindictively make them suffer. How the narcissist vilifies, lashes out, or destroys others (spouse, friends, business partners, workmates, the general public) is up to the morbid creativity and depravity of the malignant narcissist, the viable tools they have available, and of course how dire or desperate the situation. The internet and social media are certainly useful as lives can be ruined with a single tweet. But so are guns and rifles, poison, and even assassins for hire. And if they command a country, they can put the security organs or the military to work on their behalf.
13. In certain situations, as the end nears, the suffering of others is paramount to the malignant narcissist. It is their way of elevating themselves—sick as that sounds—by malevolently paying back society with even more suffering. As they lash out, they will show no concern or empathy because they have none. If others are suffering because of their actions, the narcissist simply does not care. Lacking a conscience or any kind of remorse, much like Robert Hare’s psychopath, they sleep very well at night while everyone else is anxious, worried, stressed, physically or psychologically traumatizes all the while nervously and justifiably pondering what further malevolence will take place.
14. As they face failure, arrest, indictment, or dismissal, they will endlessly air their grievances. Narcissists are natural wound collectors and as such, they have been collecting and nurturing social slights and perceived wrongs just for this occasion. They will wallow in victimhood claiming they have been relentlessly and needlessly persecuted. They, of course, expect their attorneys, followers, or enablers to subserviently echo their flatulent claims.
So, what happens in the end? Difficult to predict. Each circumstance is different. Some will kick and flail and disappear for a while, intentionally or thanks to incarceration—biding their time until they can do it all over again. Others regroup, plan, scheme, and prepare another triumphant entry into the lives of the unsuspecting to victimize them when the opportunity arises.
Others, unfortunately, will seek to do harm as they face a breakup, a divorce, are fired from a job, are outed for their crimes, or are removed from office. Others will hound, stalk, or just make life intolerable for those they deem responsible. Their past can often give us insight as to what they might do, but one can never be sure—humans are terribly complex and as with many afflicted with a personality disorder, sensitive to the smallest of unrecognized but catalytic triggers.
In the case of narcissistic cult leaders, the cult members often pay with their lives as they did in Jonestown Guyana when Jim Jones came under investigation. In interpersonal relationships, violence is always something to be concerned. "
Joe Navarro, FBI Behavioural Analysis Veteran, When the Narcissist Fails, Psychology Today, 2 January 2024
It was risk on all the way today, as stocks rallied sharply into the close.
VIX fell.
The Dollar dropped.
Gold and silver rallied.
Bitcoin bounced.
I have this great image in my mind of Donnie squawking at Bessent, 'can't you get me at least a new high on the Dow?'
Irresponsible management.
He is going to take a lot of his followers with him, Jim Jones style.
They don't listen, and never learn.
Have a pleasant weekend.
"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 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
"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
"It’s rather difficult in these noisy, confusing, nerve-racking days to achieve the peace of mind in which to pause for a moment to reflect on what you believe in. There’s so little time and opportunity to give it much thought—though it is the thing we live by; and without it, without beliefs, human existence today would hardly be bearable. There are many days in this age of anxiety when a human being feels awfully low and discouraged. I myself find consolation at such moments by two means: trying to develop a sense of history, and renewing the quest for inner life.
One must be honest with oneself, and that’s not easy. You have to have patience and understanding. And, when you can, seek God. But the reward of having an inner life, which no outside storm or evil turn of fortune can touch, is, it seems to me, a very great one."
William L. Shirer, This I Believe, November 26, 1951
"The demon's target is not the possessed; it is us the observers—everyone in this house. The point is to make us despair, to reject our humanity, to see ourselves as bestial, vile and putrescent, without dignity, ugly, unworthy."
William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist, May 1971
Stocks slumped. The rational mind recoils at the governance of our financial markets.
Gold and silver were hit by selling again. I have seen this more times than I can count in the past 30 years.
China will be celebrating the Lunar New Year on February 15th.
VIX rose.
Bitcoin has fallen out of its intermediate trading range and is suffering from cascading sales as certain entities are engaged in de-leveraging.
Trump is a destroyer. And only an ardent minority will continue to support him as his failures begin to bite more deeply into the day to day lives of the public.
History suggests that violence and aggression will increase until it meets determined opposition.
Who and how many will have to die to make this happen?
You will know the servants of the Beast by their strange indifference to atrocity.
Hard times without a doubt. America has been here many times before. My own parents faced the privations of the Great Depression, and then served in the long years of a World War against fascism.
We will endure. What is important is to remain standing in the faith, with the love of God.
That is what this is all about.
Have a pleasant evening.
