Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Lemelson

Today’s Tape: • Nasdaq 100: -3.85% (-1,132.92 pts) • Nasdaq Composite: -3.26% (-852.58 pts) • S&P 500: -2.11% (-163.15 pts) • Silver: -6.45% (to $49.00) • Gold: -3.57% (to $3,887.60, 1-yr low) Our 2026 Substack Scorecard (245-Day Avg): • $SLV (Short/Avoid): +59.57% ($109.53 → $44.28) • $HOG (Long):+49.10% ($20.62 → $30.75) • $PYPL (Long): +42.37% ($40.25 → $57.31) • $AGX (Short): +42.32% ($593.57 → $342.37) • $GLD (Short/Avoid): +30.24% ($509.51 → $355.43) • $ADBE (Long): -0.46% ($252.02 → $250.85) Avg 2026 Return: +37.19% vs. +8.12% for the S&P 500 (excluding dividends). While indices and metals suffer correlated drawdowns today, our value longs ($HOG, $PYPL) are climbing and our shorts ($AGX, $SLV, $GLD) are falling. If you aren’t subscribed to Against The World on Substack yet, why aren't you?

There is a fundamental difference between an investment and a speculation. An investment is grounded in thorough analysis, safety of principal, and cash flows generated by a real enterprise. Everything else relies on what the next buyer is willing to pay. On January 29, with gold above $5,500 and silver past $117, we wrote "The $5,500 Gold Trap". The premise was simple arithmetic: non-productive assets produce no earnings, no rent, and no compounding value. Nine months later, that distinction is clear in the numbers: $SLV (Short / Negative Call): +59.31% return (silver is down another 5.50% today to $49.50). $GLD (Short / Negative Call): +29.65% return (gold is off 2.57% today to $3,927.90). Meanwhile, even with the Nasdaq down 2.14% (-559 points) today, several of the productive, cash-generating businesses we have analyzed on Substack, including $ADBE, $HOG (+46.77% since Jan), and $TGT and $UPS, are up. Across an average holding period of 245 days, our 2026 published ideas have returned an average of +36.41%, compared to +9.19% for the S&P 500. Over short periods, prices are driven by sentiment and fear; over time, they are governed by intrinsic value and earnings. Are you reading Against The World on Substack yet? Link below ⬇️

Back on May 6, 2025, the night before 135 cardinals locked the doors of the Sistine Chape, we put out Episode 36. We said then that white smoke wouldn't fix a 1,000-year-old structural lie. When Rome traded early Christian synodal governance for papal absolutism and mandatory celibacy in the 11th century, it built an unaccountable bunker. And bunkers eventually cave in. This week, the Archdiocese of New York got hit with an $800 million settlement across 1,300 claims. They’re selling off the First Avenue headquarters and cutting the budget by 10%. But the money isn't why they finally folded after seven years in court. Look at the non-monetary terms: they were forced to open the internal files. I’m joining @shepardout live on The Awake Nation today at 9 AM ET to talk about what the hierarchy fought so hard to keep buried and why the math we laid out 17 months ago just hit the ledger. Live at 9 PAM ET: nitter.cf/shepardout/status/2116…

In 1985, a group of former Campus Crusade executives, who had already ordained one another "bishops" while still Protestant, flew to Istanbul demanding to be fast-tracked into the Orthodox priesthood. Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios saw the disguise for what it was and barred the gate. Two years later, they walked around the ramparts and entered through a side door. By May 1998, their flagship parish in the California redwoods had imploded in an Archdiocesan Spiritual Court trial over a guru-cult of household surveillance and counterfeit Russian monasticism. The head pastor was laicized. The dossier was buried. Everyone assumed the movement was dead. They missed what happened in Southern California that exact same month. Read: The Third Knock ⬇️