"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be with the coming of the Son of man. In the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, even to that very day in which Noah entered into the ark. They did not know what was happening, even as the flood came and swept them all away." Matthew 24:37-39
“Love is our true destiny... The point where you become free not to kill, not to exploit, not to destroy, not to compete, because you are no longer afraid of death or the devil or poverty or failure. If you discover this nakedness, you’d better keep it private. People don’t like it.
We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.”
Thomas Merton, Love and Living
Stocks were knocked for a loop today when the retail sales number for December came out to be the worst in the Great Recession. Administration spokesmodel Larry Kudlow dismissed it as a 'glitch.'
There are a lot of glitches out there in the official narrative, if you have not yet noticed.
Gold would not be denied, although it remains in the shorter term trading range. Pretty much the same for silver which seems to be tagging along.
Stock option expiration tomorrow.
It looks like the Senate has the votes to prevent another shutdown. Trumpolini is making orangutan noises about signing it, but seems to have little choice, except to declare a national emergency.
The trade talks with China seem to be stuck in a rocky patch.
"He drew near and saw the city, and he wept for it saying, 'If you had only recognized the things that make for peace. But now you are blinded to them. Truly, the days will come when your enemies will set up barriers to surround you, and hem you in on every side. Then they will crush you into the earth, you and your children. And they will not leave one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the way to your salvation.'”
Luke 19:41-44
"You hypocrites! You build monuments for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of His messengers.’"
Matthew 23:29-30
Stocks were on a tear today on the hopes for a better turn of events with the government budgetary squabbles, optimism on a China trade deal, and the results of the Senate GOP finding no evidence of 'collusion' with Russia by the Trump Administration to influence the results of the presidential election..
This last item is not surprising, because this entire Russian collusion meme seems as though it is an hysterical reaction to the spin put out by the Clinton political faction and their neoliberal enablers after their shocking loss in the 2016 Presidential election.
Too bad though, because the financial corruption and private pilfering using public power, money laundering and the kind of soft corruption that is rampant amongst our new elite is all there. And by there we mean on both sides of the fence— which is why it had to take a back seat to a manufactured boogeyman.
Gold and silver were still marking time and the Dollar backed off a bit.
There is a long road ahead before we see anything like a resolution to this troubling period in American political history.
We look back at other troubled periods and places, and either see them as discrete and fictional, a very different world apart, or through some rosy lenses of good old times which were largely benign and peaceful. We fail to see the continuity, the similarity, and the commonality of a dangerous path with ourselves. As they did with their own times gone by. Madness blinds its acolytes, because they wish it so. They embrace it to hide their shame.
We are reassured and misled by the same kinds of voices that have always served the status quo and the monied interests, the think tanks, the so-called 'institutes,' and the web sites and former con men who offer a constant stream of thinly disguised propaganda and misstatements of principle and history. We are comforted by their lies.
People want to hear these reassuring words of comfort and embrace it like a 'religion,' because they do not wish to draw the conclusions that the genuine principles of faith suggest (dare we say command in this day and age) in their daily lives. They blind themselves by adopting a kind of a schizoid approach to life, where 'religion' occupies a disrete, rarefied space, and 'political or economic philosophy' dictates another set of everyday 'practical' observances and behaviours which are more pliable, and pleasing to our hardened and prideful hearts.
We wish to strike a deal with the Lord, and a deal with the Devil— to serve both God and Mammon as it suits us. It really is that cliché. And it is so finely woven into the fabric of our day that we cannot see it; we cannot see that it is happening to us and around us.
And so we trot on into the abyss, one exception and excuse and rationalization for ourselves at a time. And we blind ourselves with false prophets and their profane theories and philosophies.
As for truth, the truth that brings life, we would intertrupt the sermon on the mount itself, saying that this sentiment was all very well and good, but what stocks should we buy for our portfolio, and what horse is going to win the fifth at Belmont? Tell us something useful, practical! Oh, and can you please fix this twinge in my left shoulder? It is ruining my golf game.
"Those among the rich who are not, in the rigorous sense, damned, can understand poverty, because they are poor themselves, after a fashion; they cannot understand destitution. Capable of giving alms, perhaps, but incapable of stripping themselves bare, they will be moved, to the sound of beautiful music, at Jesus’s sufferings, but His Cross, the reality of His Cross, will horrify them. They want it all out of gold, bathed in light, costly and of little weight; pleasant to see, hanging from a woman’s beautiful throat."
Léon Bloy
No surprise in this. It has always been so, especially in times of such vanity and greed as are these. Then is now. There is nothing new under the sun. And certainly nothing exceptional about the likes of us in our indulgent self-destruction.
“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lies comes to a point when he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
"In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, traitors, heady, high-minded having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
John Henry Newman
"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to fulfill your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks from his own character— for he is a liar and the father of lies."
John 8:44
Stocks were once again wobbly today.
The mispricing of risk in High Yield has lowered the spread to quality to new lows again.
Yay us.
Gold and silver backed off a bit as the Dollar managed to take out the 97 level and hold it.
The constant drumbeat of the greatest economy rings a bit pale to the majority of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck.
NEW YORK – The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data released the January 2019 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows that while short-and medium-term inflation expectations were unchanged, households were generally less optimistic about the economy and about future changes in their financial situation. Expectations that the unemployment rate will be higher a year from now increased for the fourth consecutive month, and expectations about government debt growth increased sharply. Regarding their own financial situation, respondents were less optimistic about future credit availability, and fewer expect to be financially better off a year from now.
The eventual reckoning to which the US is heading for its pride and inordinate devotion to power and the principle of 'might makes right' is going to be memorable.
I have been watching True Detective once more and this season three is proving to be a return to what made it so successful in season one. The acting of several of the key actors is remarkably good, and the writing, direction and dialogue are all turning out to be excellent.
It gives one something to do until the next, and alas the last, season of Game of Thrones returns.
You may wish to open your hearts to the great gifts of repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness, which open the doorway to the enduring foundations of love. Otherwise, I do not see how one will be able to stand against the rising tide of deceit, fear, and the hatred which they are intended to spread in the hearts of the people to divide and subdue them.
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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