Silencing Dissident Voices: Consortium News Interviews State Department Whistleblower Peter Van Buren

"In a corporatist system of government, wherein there is no meaningful separation between corporate power and state power, corporate censorship is state censorship."

Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Constitution of the United States, Amendment I


"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."

Martin Luther King

"On the premiere edition of Consortium News Radio we speak with Peter Van Buren, a former State Department official, whistleblower and victim of Twitter censorship.

Van Buren speaks about his experiences in Iraq, the critical book he wrote about those experiences and how the Obama State Department eventually attempted to have him tried under the Espionage Act.

This week Van Buren had his Twitter account permanently shut down and seven years of his Tweets wiped from the record. Why? Because he challenged mainstream journalists who contested a Tweet from journalist Glenn Greenwald that mainstream reporters support America’s wars and help bring them about.

One corporate journalist decided to silence Van Buren by complaining to Twitter, which, within two days, and with no due process, obliged.

Joe Lauria, editor-in-chief of Consortium News, interviewed Van Buren on Wednesday, August 8 for 40 minutes."

You can view the Consortium News website here.

I am sure most of us have forgotten Van Buren, and the other 'whistleblowers, activists, and dissenters' that were prosecuted, and sometimes vindictively persecuted, by Obama/Clinton.

Julian Assange comes to mind as well, among others.  How he has been treated is disgraceful and an abusive use of state power and 'the letter of the law.'   But going forward it will set the tone for freedom of the press for everyone who chooses to say things that are at odds with, or even unflattering to, the prevailing narrative.

Pervastive platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and so forth should be treated like common carriers.   That would relieve them from having to bear the burden of defining what is to be censored and what is not.  This places that burden on the government, subject to all the checks and balances and recourse therein.

It is all too easy for government to pressure private companies to excess, and then point the finger at them, holding them as scapegoats.

And those on both right and left should be able to see the excesses that may be justified by this current climate of hysteria, which truth be told, emanates from the corporate Democrats as much as any of the many excesses of the GOP.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Long Division

"Just because so many things are in conflict does not mean that we ourselves should be divided.  Yet time and time again one hears it said that since we have been put into a conflicted world, we have to adapt to it.  Oddly, this completely unchristian idea is most often espoused by so-called Christians.  How can we expect a righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone who will devote themselves undividedly to a righteous cause?"

Sophie Scholl


"People who know nothing of God and whose lives are centered on themselves, imagine that they can only find themselves by asserting their own desires and ambitions and appetites in a struggle with the rest of the world.   They try to become real by imposing themselves on other people, by appropriating for themselves some share of the limited supply of created goods and thus emphasizing the difference between themselves and the other men who have less than they, or nothing at all.

They can only conceive one way of becoming real: cutting themselves off from other people and building a barrier of contrast and distinction between themselves and other men.  They do not know that reality is to be sought not in division but in unity, for we are ‘members one of another.’ “

Thomas Merton


“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 familiality with all mankind."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Stocks closed largely unchanged today.

Volatility as measured by VIX continued to move lower.

Gold and silver moved slightly higher with the Dollar largely unchanged.

Defy the world with love, and a light will come into your life.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Unspeakable - As Old As Babylon

“Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty.   Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.

Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand.

Power is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the latter it crushes, the former it intoxicates.  The truth is, no one really possesses it."

Simone Weil


"As everything in what used to be called creation becomes a commodity, human beings begin to look at one another, and at themselves, in a funny way, and they see price tags. There was a time when people spoke, at least occasionally, of 'inherent worth'— if not of things, then at least of persons.

It is sometimes said that since everything is for sale under the rule of The Market, nothing is sacred.  Does anyone doubt that if the True Cross were ever really discovered, it would eventually find its way to Sotheby's?  The Market is not omnipotent— yet.  But the process is under way and it is gaining momentum."

Harvey Cox, The Market as God


"Those who are at present so eager to be reconciled with the world at any price must take care not to be reconciled with it under this particular aspect: as the nest of The Unspeakable.  This is what too few are willing to see."

Thomas Merton

Stocks were able to enjoy another lackadaisical summer day, with an upwards drift.

What is risk?  Something that can easily be ignored for the day, until it rises up and smacks us in the face.  But while the music plays, the dancing must go on.

Gold and silver caught a little lift on the slightly weaker dollar.   I am not so sure about silver, but gold is going to some day express its determined resistance to being treated like just another fiat currency.

Politics continues to distract and divert the public conversation.   And much of it is somewhat artificial and even arbitrary, and unrelated to the most pressing topic of the day, which is political and economic reform.

The 'lesser of two evils' is a political strategy, an engaging diversion, but not a real choice.

It is a convenient rationale designed to persuade you, the public, to accept one form of evil over another.  And if it is allowed to progress, it can lead an otherwise educated and civilized people to tolerate monstrous things—  and the unspeakable.

Such pride, such perverted justice, such hypocrisy, is as old as Babylon, and as evil as sin.

How then are we to resist, when most even of the faithful may seem to be falling away?

As I, and so many others have found, both recently and in times past, the only way to fill the emptiness of a heart either broken by loss or made unquiet by worry is with love, of God and God in others.  Defy the world with love, and a light will come into your life.

Need little, want less, and love more.  For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Sittin' On Top of the World - Crossroads

It was a solid 97 degrees outside here today, with enough humidity added to make you wish to run back into the house.

These are the 'dog days' of summer, with apologies to Dolly. She and I went to a heavily forested local park in search of shade for our afternoon walk, and took off and played hooky for a while.

And we did not miss much. Stocks were drifting higher on a cloud of complacency, ignoring he trade war, and currency war, and the shootin' wars.

Gold and silver were lower as the Dollar ticked a bit higher.

Facebook stock was up a bit on the news that it was asking Wall Street Banks for financial information on their customers so they can better target products at them together.  Wonderful.

Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant evening.

Transparent Gold and Silver Holdings From Funds and Trusts

Gold inventories in trusts and funds declined.   Silver inventories did not.

Even as the prices of both declined.

The largest gold trust is GLD.

Gold is held by HSBC Bank plc (the “Custodian”) in their London vaults on behalf of the GLD Trust.  And temporarily in unallocated accounts managed by subcustodians and bullion banks.

The Bank of New York Mellon, as trustee of the Trust, or the Trustee, and the Custodian have entered into agreements which establish the Trust's unallocated account and the Trust's allocated account, which are described in more detail in FAQs 18 and 19. The Trust's unallocated account is principally used to facilitate the transfer of gold between Authorized Participants and the Trust in connection with the creation and redemption of Baskets (a "Basket is 100,000 shares of the Trust"). The Trust's unallocated account is also used to facilitate the transfer of gold from the Trust for the payment of the Trust's monthly expenses. The Trust's Authorized Participants are the only persons that may place orders to create and redeem Baskets and, in connection with the creation of Baskets, are solely responsible for the purchase and delivery of London Good Delivery Gold Bars.

An unallocated account is an account with a bullion dealer to which a fine weight amount of gold is credited.  The bullion dealer may also be a bank.  Transfers to an unallocated account are made by crediting the number of ounces of gold being deposited to the account and transfers from an unallocated account are made by debiting the number of ounces being withdrawn from the account.  Gold held in an unallocated account is not segregated from the bullion dealer's assets.  Thus, credits to an unallocated account represent only the bullion dealer's obligation to deliver gold and do not constitute ownership of any specific bars of gold."

SPDR GLD Shares FAQs

Only authorized participants can add or redeem from inventories by creating or redeeming baskets of unit shares.

As of the latest quarterly report for GLD, Credit Suisse, Goldman, Sachs & Co., HSBC Securities, J.P. Morgan Securities, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, Scotia Capital, UBS Securities, and Virtu Financial BD LLC are the only Authorized Participants.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Recovery™ - Jobs and Wages Drive Sustainable Demand and Thereby GDP

Caravaggio, The Calling of Matthew the Tax Collector

"We are slow to master the great truth that even now Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us to follow Him.  We do not understand that His call is a thing that takes place now.  We think it took place in the Apostles' days, but we do not believe in it; we do not look for it in our own case.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.  He has not created me for naught.  I shall do good, I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him.  Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.  If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him.  If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain.  He knows what He is about.  He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers.  He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me—  still He knows what He is about.

Let us feel what we really are— sinners attempting great things.  Let us simply obey God's will, whatever may come.  He can turn all things to our eternal good. Easter day is preceded by the forty days of Lent, to show us that they only who sow in tears shall reap in joy. 

The more we do, the more shall we trust in Christ; and that surely is no morose doctrine, that leads us to soothe our selfish restlessness, and forget our fears, in the vision of the Incarnate Son of God."

John Henry Newman

The Non-Farm Payrolls Report came in light this morning, both in terms of jobs added and real wage growth.

The unemployment percentage went down a bit, but this is relatively meaningless.

I have included the US Labor Participation Rate as the first chart below.

Stocks managed a modest rally based largely on the momentum from this week led by Apple.

The US Dollar was flat.

Gold and silver managed to rebound from another short term oversold condition. Let's see if they can rally next week.

This may have some relationship with the US Dollar and the currency crosses. This was discussed intraday commentary that you may wish to read here.

Please remember Koos Jansen, one of the gold analysts from Bullionstar who specializes in Asian gold flows your prayers, that he may return to full health.  His commentary is missed.

Need little, want less, love more. For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.

Have a pleasant weekend.

.

Gold Is Running Inverse to the US Dollar For Now And Why This Matters

I read an interesting article yesterday, the point of which was that the price of gold is running as the inverse of the Chinese Yuan.  Bing, bang, boom, end of story.

And there may be some truth to that.  But it is hardly the whole story.

When looking for correlations, one has to consider a number of elements, and try to sort out correlations that are often mixed, and what is coincident moreso than causative.

Below is a chart that compares the price of gold with the inverse of the US Dollar Index (DX).

And it should be noted that this is the price of gold in Dollars.  And so there will always be some effect of the value of the dollar in this, since gold is a world currency and not specifically American.

In my own studies, and multivariate correlation analysis, sometimes gold runs inversely to the dollar, but at other times it runs with it, or somewhat indifferently to it.

So what this shows is the obvious, that there are a number of things that effect its price, and may do so differently at different times.

As I have noted here, many times over the past year or so, the price of gold has been running inverse to the Dollar because it appears that major playrs and hedge funds are trading gold as a currency cross, without regard to its supply and demand as a commodity money, as opposed to a central bank fiat currency. And that at some point this is going to lead to a 'break' in the market.

But I think that a correlation to the Yuan here is probably misplaced. Although it is becoming increasing important on the world stage because of the spectacular growth of its domestic economy, the Chinese Yuan is not driving the value of the US Dollar. And for that matter, it is not even included in the weighting of the Dollar DX Index.

Why quibble though?

The important point is that gold is being traded in the currency crosses. This is not always the case, but sometimes it is. And more importantly, the price of gold is being heavily gamed by speculators, and with increasing leverage if the indications we have are correct.

And because of this, at some point gold, which is somewhat unique because it is a commodity currency, is going to assert its independent nature.  And it may very well blow a hole in the speculative scheming that has been allowed to go on for years, without being checked and moderated by the regulators, even as other paper asset bubbles have been allowed to grow.

It has done so even in the recent past, as it exploded up to $1900, after years of steady price suppression.  And then it fell back to the same old same old, but at a much higher base price than it had been at for almost twenty years.

What changed you might ask?  The disgorgement of gold by the Western Banks encountered a steady and determined accumulation of the physical metal in Asia and the Mideast.  Because of this global central banks went from net sellers to net accumulators.  This trend is well documented and unmistakable.

For those who say that there is no price manipulation of gold, even at this point with all that has been uncovered in the markets, I say have a good day.  Because that debate is surely over, except for the most stubbornly and willfully blind to what is painfully obvious to anyone who carefully watches the trading in the metals as it happens with an open mind to the data.

But again, why quibble?

Let's see how this unfolds, and keep an eye on the 'gold float' which is the physical gold bullion that is available for delivery into the markets of Asia.  Because it is being steadily accumulated there, and is not likely to be reintroduced into the Western markets, except at significantly higher prices.

And in this case, if I and others are correct in our analysis, let the devil take the hindmost when the reversion to the fundamentals occurs, which I believe that it will, and with a vengeance.  It always does, but eventually.  And that is where trading and prudent portfolio management come in to play.

Markets go to extremes because most speculators are clever, but not wise.  They will keep on a trend and a 'winning' trade often until it is utterly exhausted, and then run for the exits, leaving the carnage they leave behind to be taken care of by others.  And all that you will see of them is when they come back for a handout, a bailout, for the very damage that they themselves caused, but will blame on others.