Memorial Day

 

"With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 4 March 1865

"The selling of the Iraq War to the American public was an exploitation of mass gullibility. Current circumstances give little or no hope that the public response would be much different to the selling of some future untoward war."

Paul Pillar, Selling the Iraq War: Gullibility and Mass Hysteria, March 15, 2023

"The present war crisis is something we have made entirely for and by ourselves.  There is in reality not the slightest logical reason for war, and yet the whole world is plunging headlong into frightful destruction, and doing so with the purpose of avoiding war and preserving peace!  This is a true war-madness, an illness of the mind and the spirit that is spreading with a furious and subtle contagion all over the world."

Thomas Merton, The Root of War, The Catholic Worker, October 1961

"In all these instances the large multinational bankers were actively supporting both sides. It is a shocking fact that both British and American banks continued to do business with the Nazis even after the War was well underway, even as Germany was invading Europe and bombing London."

BBC, Banking with Hitler, 1998

"Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac. War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it."

George Orwell, Facing Unpleasant Facts, 1999

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - To Find One Another Again

 

"If at the start this cancerous growth in the nation was not particularly noticeable, it was only because there were still enough forces at work that operated for the good, so that it was kept under control.  As it grew larger, however, and finally in an ultimate spurt of growth attained ruling power, the tumor broke open, as it were, and infected the whole body.  Now the end is at hand. Now it is our task to find one another again."

The White Rose, Second Leaflet, Munich, March 1942

"They defended him, verbally and physically, every time he committed one of his criminal acts. They went blithely on past the suffering of all the bombing victims, the prisoners in the concentration camps, and the religious persecutors, because a different regime would have meant the end of their power."

Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen, Diary of a Man in Despair, 1947

"Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery?  Or the Jim Crow South?  Or apartheid?  What would I do if my country was committing genocide?'  The answer is, you're doing it.   Right now."

Aaron Bushnell

"For these are a rebellious people, deceitful children,
       unwilling to listen to the commandments 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 30:8-10

"Such unsustainable social arrangements are backed by force and fraud.  And as the fraud loses its power over time, force must increase, until there is an end in genuine reform, or a terrible self-destruction."

Jesse, Credibility Trap, 24 August 2012

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.  The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, God’s dwelling is with us.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old ways have passed away.'

Then the one who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'”

Revelation 25:1-5 

It was a generally quiet today in the markets, with a few adults showing up, and leaving early to join the rest on their three day Memorial weekend vacation.

Gold and silver caught a little bounce.

There will be a Comex precious metals futures option expiration on Tuesday.

VIX is wallowing.

In honor of Memorial Day, let us remember the basic freedoms for which so many of our people have given their service, their suffering, and in too many cases their lives.

We seem to have lost our way in this madness and hysteria.  

Let us hope that we can find our way, and one another, again.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - A Sinful Nation, Weighed Down By Lawlessness

 

“You felt secure in your wickedness.  You think, ‘No one sees what I do.'   But your so-called wisdom and knowledge have led you astray.  And you believe that, ‘I am the one, no one else matters.’  Disaster will overwhelm you, and you won’t be able to talk it away.  Misfortune will descend upon you, and you won’t be able to buy your way out.  A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one which you cannot avoid."

Isaiah 47:10-11

"Listen well.  Hear the cries of those whom you have cheated of their justice.  The cries of those who work for you have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.  You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire.  You have only fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and killed the innocent, who offered no threat to you."

James 5:4-6

"Woe to you who add house upon house, and join field to field, until you leave no space for others, and you dwell alone in the land. Woe to those who draw their sin along with cords of their deceit, and are tied to their wickedness with cart ropes, to those who say, ‘Let God hurry; let him hasten his prophecy so that we may see it. The plan of the Holy One of Israel – let it approach, let it come into view, so that we may know it.’  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

Isaiah 5:8,18-20

"You who make wicked judgements, who write oppressive laws to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of their rights, that widows may be your victims, and orphans your prey.  What will you do on the day of reckoning, when the consequences of your sins come from afar?  To whom will you run for protection, and where will you hide your possessions?"

Isaiah 10:1-3

"You are a sinful nation, weighed down by lawlessness.   A race of corrupt and wicked children, you have forsaken your Lord, despised the Holy One of Israel, and turned your backs to him."

Isaiah 1:4
 

Stocks did a rather impressive pop and flop today, with big tech soaring to an impressive new high based on the Nvidia 'earnings triumph for big tech.'

But alas, after the wash comes the rinse.  

The transfer of wealth continues; the spice must flow.

Gold and silver were beaten down again, ahead of the futures option expiration next Tuesday after Memorial Day.

The Dollar rallied.

The VIX rose.

 It's hard to believe, isn't it?  How easily greed makes the masks fall off.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity.

Have a pleasant evening.