RussiaGate In Review with Aaron Mate - Unreasoned Fear is Neoliberalism's Response to the Credibility Gap

At the inception of this entire RussiaGate spectacle I suggested that it was a political distraction to take the attention away from the rejection by the people of neoliberalism which has been embraced by the establishments of both political parties.

And that the result of the investigation would be indictments for perjury in the covering up of illicit business deals and money laundering.  But that 'collusion to sway the election' was without substance, if not a joke.

Everything that has been revealed to date tends to support that.

One thing that Aaron overlooks is the evidence compiled by William Binney and associates that strongly suggests the DNC hack was no hack at all, but a leak by an insider who was appalled by the lies and double dealing at the DNC.

In general, RussiaGate is a farcical distraction from other issues as they say in the video. And this highlights the utterly Machiavellian streak in the corporate Democrats and the Liberal establishment under the Clintons and their ilk who care more about money and power than the basic principles that historically sustained their party. I have lost all respect for them.

But unfortunately this does open the door for those who use this to approve of the Republican establishment, which is 'at least honest' about being substantially corrupt servants to Big Money who care nothing about democracy, the Constitution, or the public.  The best of them are leaving or have already left, and their party is ruined beyond repair.

This all underscores the paucity of the Red v. Blue, monopoly of two parties, 'lesser of two evils' model of political thought which has come to dominate the discussion in the US.

We are heavily propagandized by the owners of the corporate media and influencers of the narrative, and a professional class that has sold its soul for economic advantage and access to money and power.





And here is a bit more from Nate Silver—

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Leaven of the Pharisees

"Moral hazard is a situation in which one party gets involved in a risky event knowing that it is protected against the risk and the other party will incur the cost. It arises when both the parties have incomplete information about each other."


“People with advantages are loathe to believe that they just happen to be people with advantages. They come readily to define themselves as inherently worthy of what they possess; they come to believe themselves 'naturally' elite; and, in fact, to imagine their possessions and their privileges as natural extensions of their own elite selves.”

C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite


“Instead of flooding the entire economy with liquidity, and thereby increasing the danger of inflation, the Fed could support the stock market directly by buying market averages in the futures market, thereby stabilizing the market as a whole.”

Robert Heller, Federal Reserve Board, 1989


“Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.”

Hannah Arendt

A massive, 'price insensitive' buying program turned stocks around and closed them in the green.

Very impressive.

Some times when you have nothing nice to say, it is better to say nothing at all.

Our 'self-identified elite' on both sides of the ideological spectrum are most often unprincipled, delusional hypocrites, otherwise known as whited sepulchers.

Aren't they always?

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Making Stocks Great Again - Big Bounce Off Deeply Oversold

Feeding the beast

"They have record kinds of numbers.  So I think it's a tremendous opportunity to buy.   Really a great opportunity to buy."

D. J. Trump, 25 December 2018

As soon as Trump said the above on Christmas Day, I was fairly certain that my theory of why Treasury Secretary Mnuchin was calling the banks was correct.

The word came back to Trumpolini that the fix was in, and he could not resist making a statement to show what a great stock market trend caller he is.

Mnuchin did not need to know how the Banks were doing with regard to liquidity. And he certainly didn't need to let it slip that he was calling the Banks to the public.   He was getting Wall Street in line, and giving the other wiseguys out there a heads up so they would not get in the way.

And then Trump came out an hung a lantern on it.  It was like erecting three billboards proclaiming the official desire to 'Make Stocks Great Again.'

And so we saw the rescue of the stock markets today, in the first real, concerted attempt by government and business to pump that bubble back up.

And it worked fairly well.  And those who had faith in the bubble were rewarded.

And if you think that they did this for your benefit, you are rather foolish.

so another check has been paid to that great account marked, 'moral hazard.'

I was only a little surprised that they did not put their minds to this sooner in the decline.  Perhaps they needed for the oversold condition to work itself into place, and get a clear path for the ramp higher in the busy holiday schedule.

I did not watch television after the first couple of hours, because we went out and about with the company that is still here.    My son's girlfriend is a real sweetheart from Shanghai via London, and is a wonderful helper in the kitchen.

She has never seen an actual prime rib roast of size before.  And she was very much taken with the electric carving knife.  She kept volunteering to cut the roast for me.  She found the whole thing to be fascinating.  LOL.   Tonight we are going out for a hot pot dinner.  I am really enjoying all this.

I have marked the Fibonacci retracement levels on the charts. I may have to tinker with them a bit. The problem is where to mark the beginning of the decline.

Let's see how long they can keep this pig aloft.

Gold and silver were higher most of the day, with silver hanging on but gold given up its safe haven gain.

Have a pleasant evening.

Humility Saves Us From Foolishness

“As long as you are proud you cannot know God.  A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you...

True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself, less."

C. S. Lewis


"Further, all of us should be kind and helpful to one another, and carry ourselves with humility: for God is set against the proud, but graciously favours the humble."

1 Peter 5:5


And how did little Tim behave?" asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity, and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.

"As good as gold," said Bob, "and better.  Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard.  He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see."

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol


"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 foolish 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 foolish 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...

Only the humble believe in Him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that He does wonders where people despair, that He takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly.

God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; He loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken...

In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all.

Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer


"And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness.  If you want to be important—wonderful.  If you want to be recognized—wonderful.  If you want to be great—wonderful.  But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

That's a new definition of greatness.  And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve."

Martin Luther King, The Drum Major Instinct