A Lingering Silence, and a Sense of Dread

We Live No More

You say you don't know what it's all about

Just look around, you'll see there is no doubt

The worms and maggots gather for the feast

An endless slave behind your beliefs

Oh, oh, choose what you wish to believe

Oh, oh, choose what you wish to see

Oh, oh, the hatred one can't ignore

Let the gathering begin

For we live no more

- Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society), 2003

Lingering Silence

It is now late. I have sat at my desk much longer than usual before trying to actually write something. There are no words. Just a few days ago, it was Sunday. I normally put in a solid half day on Sundays in preparation for the coming workweek. I was dreading Thursday at the time. I have always had trouble on September 11th, ever since that fateful day in 2001.

I dread having to remember the sights and smells of that day. Fire. Smoke. Death. I dread having to remember friends that perished that day and knowing exactly how some of them died. I dread all of it. I dreaded on Sunday, remembering the dark face of evil and having to relive that experience. I dreaded, especially when I was a regular on financial television, having to be public about those memories.

This year, evil showed up a little early. It was just two weeks earlier that a crazed gunman shot up a handful of Catholic school children in Minnesota and a few days since video had made the rounds showing the merciless butchering of a defenseless female Ukrainian refugee at the hands of a dangerous man who had been arrested and freed countless times.

This time, it was a well-known politically outspoken young man who never threatened anyone, who never encouraged violence, who by all accounts was a model husband and father. All this individual ever had the audacity of doing was to be ever open to debate. Yes, he was religious. Evil is not. He, of all politically outspoken individuals, was the most likely to reach out to the other side and try to persuade through discussion. Evil does not debate. Evil hates.

Does it scare me? The level of intolerance scares me. The fact that this was pretty obviously a professional job scares me. This was not sloppy, like the attempt on President Trump's life last year in Butler, Pennsylvania. That shooter fired several shots, grazing his target's ear and spraying the crowd with stray rounds. This was one well-aimed shot to the jugular. This was someone with professional training. This individual had an escape plan.

Whether you hold political opinions or not, you need to pray to whomever it is you pray to for the welfare of Charlie Kirk's family, for the survivors of that poor Ukrainian woman and for the parents of those Catholic school kids who needlessly died a couple of weeks ago. We need to pray for the welfare of a wounded nation that can't seem to find its way back to civil discourse and we need to let those who terrorize know that you can't stop civility simply by silencing those who publicly offer it.

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there...

For those who need to hear, you failed. Again. 

That flag, my flag, is still there.

Economics 

(All Times Eastern)

08:30 - Initial Jobless Claims (Weekly): Expecting 238K, Last 237K.

08:30 - Continuing Claims (Weekly): Last 1.94M.

08:30 - CPI (Aug): Expecting 0.3% m/m, Last 0.2% m/m.

08:30 - Core CPI (Aug): Expecting 0.3% m/m, Last 0.3% m/m.

08:30 - CPI (Aug): Expecting 2.9% y/y, Last 2.7% y/y.

08:30 - Core CPI (Aug): Expecting 3.1% y/y, Last 3.1% y/y.

10:30 - Natural Gas Inventories (Weekly): Last +55B cf.

1:00 p.m. - Thirty-Year Bond Auction: $22B.

The Fed

(All Times Eastern)

Fed Blackout Period.

Today's Earnings Highlights

(Consensus EPS Expectations)

Before the Open: KR (1.00)

After the Close: ADBE (5.18)

At the time of publication, Guilfoyle had no position in any security mentioned.