Martin Luther King Day

 

"And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak.  We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak."

Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,  Riverside Church, 4 April 1967


"It is a dark day in our nation when high-level authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent.  But something is happening, and people are not going to be silenced.

And don’t let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine, messianic force to be a sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgment, and it seems that I can hear God saying to America, 'You’re too arrogant!  And if you don’t change your ways, I will rise up and break the backbone of your power, and I’ll place it in the hands of a nation that doesn’t even know my name.  Be still and know that I’m God.”

Martin Luther King, It's a Dark Day in Our Nation, Riverside Church, 30 April 1967

"But if not, I will not bow, and God grant that we will never bow, before the gods of evil."

Martin Luther King, Ebenezer Baptist Church, 5 November 1967


"I have come across something that troubles me very much. We have fought long and hard for integration, as I believe we should, and I know we will win. But it seems to me that we are integrating into a house on fire. America is losing the moral vision that it may once have had. And I fear that even as we integrate, we are entering a place that does not understand that this nation must be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit to ensuring that the underclass receives justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tugs at the soul of this nation." 

 Martin Luther King, to Harry Belafonte, March 27, 1968

"We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life — longevity has its place.   But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.

So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything, I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Martin Luther King, 3 April 1968 

The next day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee, 4 April 1968.

Exactly one year to the day after his first anti-war sermon, A Time To Break the Silence.  

He was warned against giving it, but his conscience would not permit him to remain silent. 

This was no coincidence.  This was madness, these brutal assassinations, these three contemptible murders, in the depraved pursuit of power and profits above all else, that continues even until this day.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - That City of Pride, Wickedness, and Lust for Power

 

"Seneca had made the bargain that many good men have made when agreeing to aid bad regimes. On the one hand, their presence strengthens the regime and helps it endure. But their moral influence may also improve the regime's behavior or save the lives of its enemies. For many, this has been a bargain worth making, even if it has cost them—as it may have cost Seneca—their immortal soul...

The Rome he has been trained to serve, the Rome of Augustus and Germanicus, was gone. In its place stood Neropolis, ruled by a megalomaniac brat.”

James Romm, Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero

"We live in a world where love itself is condemned. People call it weakness, something to grow out of. Some are saying: 'Let each one become as strong as he can, and let the weak perish.' They say that the Christian religion with its preaching about love is a thing of the past. The neo-paganism [of the Nazis] may well cast off love but, in spite of everything, history teaches us that we shall be the victors over this. We shall not forsake love."

Titus Brandsma, executed at Dachau, 26 July 1942

"Caesar was swimming in blood, Rome and the whole pagan world was mad. But those who had had enough of transgression and madness, those who were trampled upon, those whose lives were misery and oppression, all the weighed down, all the sad, all the unfortunate, came to hear the wonderful tidings of God, who out of love for men had given Himself to be crucified and redeem their sins. When they found a God whom they could love, they had found that which the society of the time could not give any one, — happiness and love.

And Peter understood that neither Nero, nor all his legions, could overcome the living truth— that they could not overwhelm it with tears or blood, and that now its victory was beginning.   He understood with equal force why the Lord had turned him back on the road.   That city of pride, of crime, of wickedness, and of a lust for power, was beginning to be His city."

Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, 1905

Stocks did their usual wide ranging wash and rinse, ending the day slightly higher.

Gold and silver soared in the morning, and held on to much of their gains, giving up a goodly portion of them during the day.

VIX continues in its complacency.

The conflict in the Mideast is metastasizing, and the unpriced risk it carries continues to grow.

The US presidential election season kicks off next week with the Iowa Primary.

Exceptionalism, in terms of bad judgement and shamelessness, will be on display for all. 

Tossing aside the moral high ground and civilized behaviour seems to be a general trend globally.

The World Economic Forum will be meeting in Davos, Switzerland once again next week.

When I was a boy engineer in the 1980s I was assigned to EIA and IEEE standards meetings in the States, and would spend weeks at the Palais des Nations in Genève for plenary meetings representing the US consensus on the international recommendations.  Have OSI model will travel.  Yeah, it had a hands-on learning curve, and some fun moments, mostly after hours.

Sleepy town, but a good base of operations for weekend trips into France or into the mountains, what the seasoned vets called Heidi-land.  The queen sometimes came along on the good trips, before the young man arrived.  She always enjoyed the challenge of mastering public transit and shopping for her little treasures and bargains in languages which she did not speak.  A true professional, lol.

US markets will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King day.

 Option expiration next week Friday.

Have a pleasant holiday weekend.

 

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Messages of Judgement and Destruction

 

"You shall not oppress or afflict strangers or foreigners in your land, for you were once foreigners residing in the land of Egypt. You shall not oppress or deprive any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely listen to their cry. My wrath will rise up, and I will visit you with destruction. Then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans."

Exodus 22:21-23

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth.  'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew rose up and followed him.  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'

On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifices.  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'”

Matthew 9:9-13

"Never before has so much debt been imposed on so many people by so few financial operatives--operatives who work from Wall Street, the largest casino in history, and a handful of its junior counterparts around the world, especially Europe.

Spending on national infrastructure, both physical (such as roads and schools) and social infrastructure (such as health and education) is key to the long-term socioeconomic developments. Cutting public spending to pay for the sins of Wall Street gamblers is bound to undermine the long-term health of a society in terms of productivity enhancement and sustained growth. 

A most outrageous aspect of the debt burden that is placed on the taxpayers' shoulders since 2008 is that most of the underlying debt claims are fictitious and illegitimate: they are largely due to manipulated asset price bubbles, dubious or illegal financial speculations, and scandalous conversion of financial gamblers' losses into public liability."

Dr. Ismael Hossein-zadeh, Class War: The Vicious Circle of Debt and Depression, June 7, 2010

"Your love for me disappears quickly as a morning mist; it is like the dew, that melts away early in the day. That is why I have sent my prophets with messages of judgment and destruction, to strike them with the words of My mouth. My judgment illuminates them like lightning. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and knowledge of my ways, more than burnt offerings."

Hosea 6:4-6

The Consumer Price Index came in on the high side this morning.

With dreams of plentiful rate cuts challenged, stocks slumped.

But by the end of the day traders' dementia reasserted its calming influence and stocks regained much of their losses.

Gold ans silver had an intraday yo-yo wash and rinse.

VIX continues to wallow.

We're heading into a three day weekend.

Have a pleasant evening.