“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way. Blessed are they who love their brothers and sisters as much when they are sick, as when they are well and of service. And blessed are they who love their brothers and sisters as well when they are far away, as when they are close. When you leave this earth, you can take nothing that you have received, but only what you have given.” Francis of Assisi
“Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Charles E. Schumer and someone who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump.”
Donald Trump, tweet du jour
Trump is a compulsively vulgar knucklehead.
FOMC announcement on rates tomorrow. 25 basis point increase is expected.
There will be a stock option expiration on Friday.
"They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge."
Thomas Reed (R-Maine)
Bloomberg had economist Art Laffer, of the eponymous Laffer Curve, talking up the GOP 'Tax Reform' bill in all its 'trickle down' glory. I did not even know this retrograde nonsense peddler was still around, having been discredited in his economic theory of top down stimulus rebranded as 'supply side economics'. Now we know just how bad for the people this new tax legislation may be.
The last refuge of a scoundrel is Art Laffer.
Can a credibly accused and completely unrepentant sexual predator with a penchant for the underaged be elected to the US Senate? We may find out the answer to that tomorrow. Could be a new low for manners and morals, and a new high for political hypocrisy, which these days is really saying something.
I was listening to a citizen of that state in question providing an argument for the reasonableness of the age of consent to be 13, as it was in the good old days. PR-wise the election may be a seminal event for Brand Alabama.
Most likely the Russians are to blame. And Wikileaks. Certainly it is not due to any failing on our parts. We are exceptional.
It is funny to see the Democrats and their supply chain trying to claim the moral high ground with the Clintons and Wall Street hanging around their necks.
There will be an FOMC rate decision on Wednesday. The entire market expects the Fed to raise 25 basis points. More or less than that will like shock traders who will suspect that the Fed is seeing something previously undisclosed.
And there will be a stock option expiration on Friday. So this looks like a good week to game the miners.
Speaking of gaming markets, the much awaited Bitcoin futures made their debut last night. I still find it utterly incredible that they would bring out leveraged futures on such a thinly held, thinly traded and unregulated commodity.
And because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
Harry Truman, Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950
"We must dissent from the poverty of vision and the absence of moral leadership. We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.”
Thurgood Marshall
The political and social establishment is ensnared, strangling within a credibility trap. It prevents them from truly confronting themselves and what they have done, and what they are still doing in the service of power and money.
It prevents them from addressing the problems, much less the needed reforms. It prompts them to act ineffectively and oddly, to the point that they obviously become a part of the problem and an impediment to progress.
The GOP seems almost beyond repair. The Democrats need to unravel the Clinton/Wall Street wing of the party which has its head buried deep in their party power structure like a big fat tick.
The Republicans need a 'twelve step' program for any kind of helpful change to have even the slightest chance.
The GOP tax bill is blatant corporate giveaway for the benefit of the one percent, and one of the more recent signs of their blindness caused by ideology in service to greed. They are not even bothering to excuse it anymore, except for the most naive of their supporters. They try to hide it by voting in secret on largely undiscussed bills with little debate. And as usual cover their perfidy with hypocritical slogans about freedom.
An even bigger disappointment because they have become content with failure, the DNC is purging itself of all progressive policies, dissent from the Wall Street status quo, with the Clintonistas trying to retain a tight grip on power— the power to keep losing elections unfortunately. But as long as they are pulling down fat consulting fees and favors from wealthy donors they seem to be content.
They cannot talk about real economic policy proposals for the benefit of their base. This would expose their hypocrisy and anger their real masters. All they have is negative campaigning about the other party, the 'lesser evil' proposition, and never ending fear tactics about Russia.
They too are serving their big money donors first and foremost, but at least have the modesty to cover themselves with the fig leaf of identity politics in addition to jingoism.
Both parties have come to resemble competing crime families, more so than representative political organizations.
There is another financial crisis coming, which will be fueled by the third artificial asset bubble since the GOP and the Clintons deregulated Wall Street, the financial sector, and the media, permitting the growth of powerful monopolies.
And there will be hell to pay. The problem is that they plan to stick the public with the tab, once again. That is why they wish to retain their control of the levers of power.
Don't believe it? Watch, and be amazed. They have no shame in the pursuit of power and money.
Let us pray for those whose hearts are hardened against His grace and loving kindness by greed, fear, and pride, and the seductive illusion and crushing isolation of evil.
We pray that we all may experience the three great gifts of our Lord's suffering and triumph: repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness. And in so doing, may we obtain abundant life, and with it the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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