“...mixed record of Christian cowardice and courage...”; The Origins of the Federal Reserve - Rothbard; Striking Correlation Between School Attendance and Youth Suicides; The Great Leap Backward
“…mixed record of Christian cowardice and courage…”
“Surely, the past several years have presented ample opportunity for Christians in the west to defy tyrants and their arbitrary edicts. While some have failed to uphold their Christian duty, others have faithfully defied the various forms of Covid-ocracy, raise our voices in condemnation of war-making and the military-industrial complex, or of the rampant cronyism that characterizes so-called modern capitalism, ultimately all of these forms of resistance and protest are an affront to the state, and an as such, are an honor to Christ. May these efforts boldly proceed.
It is because of this mixed record of Christian cowardice and courage that I suggest looking at Christmas afresh. In this season, it isn’t sufficient to think merely of how the individual Christian might look to God’s kindness in Christ to reform oneself or for the non-believer to demonstrate a vague sense of generosity and kindness. May it always include a call to all for courage, being reminded that the lowliest of people’s resistance to the power of the state is a precious offering to the King of Kings and brings a better chance for human flourishing. Further, may it serve as a reminder that the rulers of the state genuinely hate and seek to destroy all that comes from the Prince of Peace.
In this adopting this approach, both Christians and non-believers can take solace in knowing that their own voluntary associations (religious or otherwise), productive work, restful celebrations, and everyday acts of charity serve as foundational institutions that oppose the evil predations of the state. May such practices will grow ever stronger, and may the mere utterance of the phrase, 'Merry Christmas' serve to remind the worshippers of the state that their gods and their traditions are truly antithetical to all human life, and as such are completely unnecessary.”
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The Origins of the Federal Reserve
Where did this thing called the Fed come from? Murray Rothbard has the answer here — in phenomenal detail that will make your head spin. In one extended essay, one that reads like a detective story, he has put together the most comprehensive and fascinating account based on a century's accumulation of scholarship.
The conclusion is that the Fed did not originate as a policy response to national need. It wasn't erected for any of its stated purposes. It was founded by two groups of elites: government officials and large financial and banking interests. Rothbard adds a third critical element: economists hired to give the scheme a scientific patina.
This excerpted chapter from Rothbard's History of Money and Banking is as scholarly as it is hair raising. This is one economic historian who fears not naming names and assigning blame.
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Striking Correlation Between School Attendance and Youth Suicides
“A new study, published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), finds a striking correlation between attendance in school and incidences of youth suicides. Analyzing several pre- and post-pandemic data sets, the researchers conclude “that youth suicides are closely tied with in-person school attendance.” According to the paper’s authors, youth suicides fall during the summer months and rise again when school begins. Notably, they found that in areas of the US where school begins in August, youth suicide rates also increase in August, while in areas that begin school in September, the youth suicide rate doesn’t increase until then.
This new study echoes earlier findings from Vanderbilt University researchers who discovered a similar link between school attendance and youth suicidal ideation and attempts. That research, published in the journal Pediatrics in 2018, looked at hospital emergency room and inpatient data between 2008 and 2015. “The lowest frequency of encounters occurred during summer months,” the Vanderbilt authors concluded. “Peaks were highest in fall and spring. October accounted for nearly twice as many encounters as reported in July,” they found.
Interestingly, both the 2018 Vanderbilt researchers and the NBER study authors explain that the seasonal youth suicide pattern is different from that of adults. The NBER researchers did not find the same school-suicide link for young adults ages 19 to 25, while the lead author on the Vanderbilt study told The New York Times that summertime is the peak period for adult suicidal tendencies, but is the lowest period for youth suicidal tendencies.”
Open link for complete article
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The Great Leap Backward*
[This piece is an excerpt from Chapter 13 of The Great Reset and the Struggle for Liberty: Unraveling the Global Agenda, to be released January 10, 2023.]
“More than sixty years ago, Mao launched the disastrous Great Leap Forward. Progressive elites today are trying to force GLF II in the form of the Great Reset. If implemented, it will be even more disastrous than Mao's original folly.”
This chapter derisively refers to the notorious Great Leap Forward (1958–1961) as the Great Leap Backward. But China’s Great Leap Forward is not the ultimate object of my scorn. That scorn is reserved for the contemporary project conducted by people, who, if they knew anything about history, or cared about its results, would never propose this treacherous and potentially world-devastating campaign called the Great Reset—unless their intentions are evil and not merely misguided.
Meanwhile, I’m not the first to think of this appellation in connection with Mao’s Great Leap. That distinction may be held by a Soviet critic of Mao’s quixotic strategies. In an article entitled “The Great Leap Backward,” one A. Khan’kovskiy treated the Great Leap Forward as a major deviation from the ‘successful’ Soviet socialist system that had followed ‘the Great October Socialist Rev0lution.’”