The Great Temptation of Confusion and Complexity and the Rise of the Will to Power

"It seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances.

The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him.

He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers From Prison


"Now that I look back, I realize that a life predicated on being obedient and taking orders is a very comfortable life indeed.  Living in such a way reduces to a minimum one's need to think...  I may have made an error in judgement— but one thing is beyond dispute: the man was able to work his way up to leader of a people of almost 80 million.  His success alone proved that I should subordinate myself to him."

Adolph Eichmann, as quoted by Hannah Arendt in Eichmann in Jerusalem: The Banality of Evil


“In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.

The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness...

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.”

Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism


"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man."

Samuel Johnson

Never relinquish your ability to love, to love others and to love the truth, whether it be from fatigue, or confusion, careerism or expediency.  For in that simple act of the will to love we maintain a critical linkage to our humanity. 

 

The real capitulation of a people to the will to power occurs, not in the mob as one might think, for by then it is an almost forgone conclusion.  The guardians of the public conscience are in the professional class, for they are the enablers of a moral voice and caution. They possess a platform and provide an example, and therefore bear a heavier than normal responsibility for speaking for the truth, early on and often, and not against one group or another as they prefer, because that makes them merely hypocrites. To lie is to lie, to deceive is to deceive, no matter the reasons.
 
No, they must uphold a certain character, against the types of behaviour that are clearly beyond the acceptable moral choices of those in authority.

To be truly human is not being able to simply ignore injustice, deprivation, and cruelty. Such indifference is the opposite of the awareness of others as fellow human beings and caring about them— which is the essence of love.

How the Democratic Party Failed By Repudiating Their Legacy as 'The Party of the People'

As the Democrats and their acolytes in the media pivot towards hysteria against 'the others' to explain their failures, let us not forget what has happened over the past thirty years, culminating in the stunning election of 2016.

This is a relatively short video, and heart of it starts around minute twenty after a discussion of the history, motives, and rationales by which the Democrats took the final steps in repudiating the legacy of The New Deal to embrace neo-liberalism.

The Democratic leadership consciously chose to identify with people they considered to be more like themselves, an elitist professional class. In a very real sense they followed the money and the prestige, and the Clintons were their leaders. The personal economic rewards that they reaped from this are very well documented.

The party covered their credentialism and 'ruling class' aspirations by covering it with a program of identity politics courting, with words more than substantial economic action, minorities with emotional appeals to ethnic identity, and occasionally fear-mongering. The Republicans played the witting foils in this, choosing to continue to embrace big money, but with a different twist towards oligarchy, covering their own greed with equally emotional appeals to 'traditional values.' In this they began to resemble corporate competitors ruled by a similar profit motive but with different branding.

The result has been an historical increase in income disparity, and a shift in power towards a policy bias that favors private war profits, global economic power agendas, and the shifting of almost all income growth to the financial class who continually abuse justice with virtual impunity.

You may wish to start the video around the twenty minute mark to hear how things progressed in the 1990's. If you have the time you can listen to the entire video to hear more of the history of how this change began in the 1970's.

Charts For the End of the Year - Bring Down the Curtain, The Farce Is Over

"Baissez le rideau, la farce est jouée."

Rabelais

Ended, for at least this year.

Gold and silver gave back a little of yesterday's rally.

The Comex warehouse report showed another 1.7 million ounces of silver leaving the 'registered' category. The report is shown below.

I think this year was finally have seen the smoking gun in precious metals manipulation. It is the confirmation, in their own words as revealed in the Deutsche Bank court documents, of traders using the 'Dr. Evil' strategy of selling large numbers of contracts in quiet hours to take the price down artificially for their own cross trading purposes.

As if anyone who understands and watches the markets did not already know this.  If they deny it now, then they are either a hypocrite or a willful simpleton.   I will let them self-identify.

But make no mistake about it, we have the smoking gun, and the lawsuits are flowing heavily. Although you would hardly know it from the mainstream financial media.

And there is worse, and far more revelations, to come.

I hope you all have a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Please do not forget God's little ones during this cold weather.

"May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May He let his face shine on you, and be gracious towards you.  May the Lord look kindly upon you, and grant you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26

Precious Metal Deliveries For 2017 Begin Quietly - Big Drawdown in 'Registered For Delivery' Silver

Although the silver did not 'go anywhere,' the registered (for delivery) category of silver dropped by almost 8 million ounces in one day.

There are now about 28.4 million ounces registered for delivery on the exchange, which is low compared to recent levels approaching the 50 million level.