Spiritual pride leads to a lingering spiritual death. It turns the living being into a tomb, bright and polished on the outside, proudly ornamented with scrupulous attention to detail, and ostentatious adherence to the letter of the law — but inside full of corruption, and festering foulness. They love the rituals and the worldly forms of religion, but want nothing to do with mercy and love. It is a sickening romance with the self, unto death.
Jesse, Essere Umano, 20 August 2017
“Unbridled capitalism will lead to some very real problems.”
Kenneth Rogoff
"Libertarianism helps conservatives pass off a patently pro-business political agenda as a noble bid for human freedom. Practically speaking, it is a doctrine that owes its visibility to the obvious charms it holds for the wealthy and the powerful."
Thomas Frank
“All utopias are dystopias. The term dystopia was coined by those that believe a utopia can be functional.”
A.E. Samaan
"I know nothing that I may say can influence you. You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You are lick-spittles and panderers, the creatures of the Plutocracy. You talk verbosely in antiquated terminology of your love of liberty, and all the while you wear the scarlet livery of the Iron Heel.”
Jack London
Life expectantly in the US fell by the most since WW II.
Yay us.
Stocks took a dive this morning but managed to gain quite a bit back.
Perhaps not yet, but one day in the not too distant future they are going to take a dive and then go down into a fairly impressive correction.
Gold held in unchanged in spite of a determined bear raid, again.
Silver not so much.
Option expiration for stocks tomorrow.
China gets back to business next week.
There is a Comex metals expiry on the 23rd, but it is not important.
There is a video at the bottom that gives a nice legal summary of the impeachment.
"The demand for silver may temporarily exceed available supply that is acceptable for delivery to the Trust, which may adversely affect an investment in the Shares. To the extent that demand for silver exceeds the available supply at that time, Authorized Participants may not be able to readily acquire sufficient amounts of silver necessary for the creation of a Basket.
It is possible that Authorized Participants may be unable to acquire sufficient silver that is acceptable for delivery to the Trust for the issuance of new Baskets due to a limited then-available supply coupled with a surge in demand for the Shares. ...In such circumstances, the Trust may suspend or restrict the issuance of Baskets.”
SLV Silver ETF
“As of the date of this prospectus, an online campaign intended to harm hedge funds and large banks is encouraging retail investors to purchase silver and shares of Silver ETPs to intentionally increase prices. This activity may result in temporarily high prices of silver.”
SIVR Silver ETF
Stocks slumped hard today on the much stronger than expected retail sales number and the inflation in the PPI.
Just another sign how dependent stock valuations are on easy Fed money.
Gold and silver were thunked again, but silver came back for a gain.
Miners were hammered ahead of their stock option expiration again.
And another snow storm is on the way I hear.
The State of Texas independent power grid is giving major hardships to the public.
I began to get very bullish in my outlook for the precious metals today.
Let's see how things play out and then I will let you know what I may be seeing, if it develops.
“The oligarchs who ran the country – and the world – had no principals, no morals, and no Code of Honor. Their indentured servants, the politicians, pretended to have them, but their skills were, just like those of the prostitute who tells her john he just gave her the best orgasm, to appear to have a moral purpose just beyond their self-enrichment. That much was enough to get them through the next election.
And every dollar they [the people] saved was worth less with every financial crisis, while the government just printed more money to preserve the stock markets, the financial status of the elites, and the banks who served them.”
Kenneth Eade, An Evil Trade
Stocks had another ranging day, and ended with small losses.
The Dollar moved sideways.
Gold was hit hard today, and to a lesser extent silver.
The miners were hammered.
Must be a stock option expiration this Friday.
And China is on holiday for their lunar New Year this week.
"If I speak in the tongues of angels and of men, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I can prophesy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not selfish, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad of injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there is speaking in tongues, it will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when what is perfect comes, the temporary will be set aside.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13
"The blessed John the Evangelist lived in Ephesus until extreme old age. His disciples could barely carry him to church and he could not muster the voice to speak many words. During individual gatherings he usually said nothing but, 'Little children, love one another.'
The disciples and brothers in attendance, annoyed because they always heard the same words, finally said, 'Teacher, why do you always say this?' He replied with a line worthy of John: 'Because it is the Lord's commandment, and if it alone is kept, it is sufficient.'"
Jerome, Commentary on Galatians, 4th century
"God beholds you. He calls you by your name. He sees you and understands you as He made you. He knows what is in you, all your peculiar feelings and thoughts, your dispositions and likings, your strengths and your weaknesses. He views you in your day of rejoicing and in your day of sorrow. He sympathizes in your hopes and your temptations. He interests Himself in all your anxieties and remembrances, all the risings and fallings of your spirit. He encompasses you round and bears you in His arms.
He notes your very countenance, whether smiling or in tears. He looks tenderly upon you. He hears your voice, the beating of your heart, and your very breathing. You do not love yourself better than He loves you. You cannot shrink from pain more than He dislikes your bearing it; and if He puts it on you, it is as you would put it on yourself, if you would be wise, for a greater good afterwards."
John Henry Newman
"Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be. Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them. Without love deeds, even the greatest, count as nothing. Our Lord's love shines forth as much in the simplest of souls as it does in the most highly gifted, as long as there is no refusal of His grace."
Thérèse Martin de Lisieux
"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 familiarity with all mankind."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"And we have come to know and to trust the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God in 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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