Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - All Is Well

"As you have willed your house is now yours— but is made desolate.’”

Stocks initially rallied, continuing their overnight strength, based on a tweet from Trump about seeking some relief from the sanctions being imposed on a Chinese telecoms company ZTE.

However during the day the Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross cast doubt on this, causing stocks to reverse and the dollar to gain back a bit on the flight to safety of sorts.

The US opened its new embassy in Jerusalem.

Gold and silver finished lower.

The Comex gold inventories set for immediate delivery continued to diminish.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - Confronting the Unspeakable

"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... Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God."

Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable

And so another week has ended.

The Dollar gave up a bit of its overbought gains, allowing gold and silver to rise back up a bit.

Stocks held their levels, after another remarkable run higher, prompted in part by weaker than expected data on inflation.

Have a pleasant weekend.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - On the Sunni Side of the Street

"U.S. support for the Sunni camp was made clear by the fact that Trump made Riyadh his first foreign stop as president, by his willingness to sell the Saudis $110 billion in military equipment, and by his repeated criticisms of Iran during his speech.  Why the United States would want to tilt toward either side in the Sunni-Shiite divide is mystifying.

These two sects have been at odds for centuries, with no signs of a detente. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization, is Sunni. The same goes for al-Qaeda, the group founded by Osama bin Laden that brought down the World Trade Center on 9/11."

USA Today, In Saudi Arabia, Trump turns Sunni


"I served in all commissioned ranks from a second Lieutenant to a Major General. And during that time, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses."

Smedley Butler, USMC


“I just got this down from upstairs” — meaning the Secretary of Defense’s office— “today.”  And he said, “This is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.”  I said, “Is it classified?”  He said, “Yes, sir.”  I said, “Well, don’t show it to me.”

General Wesley Clark, Seven Countries in Five Years


"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology."

Michael Parenti

The inflation numbers came in weakly this morning, prompting stocks to rally on the notion that the Fed will stick to the minimum schedule of raising rates in order to give themselves sufficient room to cut rates when their latest financial asset bubble begins to implode.

And with this softness in rate increases, the dollar dropped and gold and silver rallied a bit in response.

There are lots of things that barely make sense that tend to dominate the mainstream news and discussions.   I would imagine that you have noticed.

This is the credibility trap in action. And it will get even weirder, and make a whole lot less sense.

But very important public and media figures will become ever more hysterical, and indignant about it, with a fury designed to whip up the people into—  confused and servile obedience.

Have a pleasant evening.

Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - In Time of Plague

"Beauty is but a flower
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen’s eye.
I am sick, I must die.
Lord, have mercy on us."

Thomas Nashe, A Litany In Time of Plague


"He prompts you what to say, and then listens to you, and praises you, and encourages you.  He bids you mount aloft.  He shows you how to become as gods.  Then he laughs and jokes with you, and gets intimate with you; he takes your hand, and gets his fingers between yours, and grasps them, and then you are his."

J.H.Newman, The Times of Antichrist


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


“It isn't that they can't see the solution.  It is that they can't see the problem.”

Gilbert K. Chesterton

They can't see the problem, or they will not allow themselves see the problem, or admit that they have seen it.

They love their pride and their paychecks, more than the truth, and His commandments to love and to serve.

Nothing becomes too vile, too dreadful, or too awful for them, in the end.

And that is the credibility trap.

Do not join them, no matter how attractive or rewarding or fashionable it may seem.

It is to embrace the unspeakable; it is more obscene than you can imagine—  it is a dalliance with the abyss.

Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.

Have a pleasant evening.