This day in history: English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer and priest John Wycliffe died on this day in 1384. He became an influential dissident within the Roman Catholic priesthood during the 14th century and is considered an important predecessor to Protestantism. Wycliffe questioned the privileged status of the clergy which had bolstered their powerful role in England and the luxury and pomp of local parishes and their ceremonies.
Wycliffe is however best known for his Bible translation. "The first complete translation of the Bible into our language was made about the year 1380 by John de Wycliffe, or Wickliffe. There are several manuscript copies of it in the Bodleian and other European libraries. This great work unlocked the Scriptures to the multitude, or, as one of his antagonists, bewailing such an enterprise, worded it, 'the gospel pearl was cast abroad and trodden under foot.'" Source
The Church at the time did not like this development. Fines were handed out for anyone reading Wycliffe's Bible. Some of Wycliffe's supporters were burned at the stake.
Bible translations were also a threat to Church authorities as it made people question church doctrines:
"Wyclif's manuscript translations of the Bible had been widely circulated from about 1380 on, and it is said that some of his followers were tinged with Antitrinitarianism; but this Bible had to be read in secret, as did Tyndale's first printed New Testament of 1525, for fear of the law. In 1535, however, the English Bible began to be accessible to all, and many were reading it for the first time. First and last the influence of this book, when read in comparison with the creeds, has underlain all others leading men to reject the doctrine of the Trinity. Some of the most notable of the early English Unitarians declared they had never read nor heard the Unitarian doctrine, but had come to it solely through reading their Bibles."~Earl Morse Wilbur
The Council of Constance declared Wycliffe a heretic on 4 May 1415, and banned his writings, effectively excommunicating him retroactively. The Council decreed that Wycliffe's works should be burned and his bodily remains removed from consecrated ground. This order, confirmed by Pope Martin V, was carried out in 1428. Wycliffe's corpse was exhumed and burned and the ashes cast into the River Swift, which flows through Lutterworth.
This day in history: American businessman and former White House aide John P. Wheeler III died under mysterious circumstances on December 30, 2010.
Wheeler was seen on security camera on December 28, 2010, exiting an Amtrak train, and later, on the afternoon of December 30, 2010 in Wilmington, Delaware. On December 31, his body was seen by a landfill worker as it fell onto a trash heap in the Cherry Island Landfill. Police ruled his death a homicide and claimed that "all the stops made Friday (December 31) by the garbage truck before it arrived at the landfill involved large commercial disposal bins in Newark (Delaware), several miles from Wheeler's home."
Wheeler's neighbor of seven months, Ron Roark, said that he had met Wheeler only once and rarely saw him. Roark claimed that, in the days prior to Wheeler's death, he (Roark) and his family heard, from outside the Wheeler residence, a loud television within the home that was constantly on, though no one appeared to be home.
According to The Washington Post, Wheeler was sighted on December 29 at the New Castle County courthouse parking garage, disoriented and wearing only one shoe, as the other was ripped. While he attempted to gain access to the parking garage on foot, Wheeler claimed that he wanted to warm up before paying a parking fee. (Police later determined that his car was actually in a different parking garage at the train station.) Wheeler explained to the parking garage attendant that his briefcase had been stolen and assured her he was not intoxicated. It is also claimed that, on December 29, Wheeler asked a pharmacist in New Castle for a ride to Wilmington and "looked upset." The pharmacist offered to call a cab for Wheeler, at which point Wheeler left the store.
On December 30, Wheeler was sighted wandering about various office buildings, including Mitre and DuPont locations, where he refused offers of assistance from several individuals. On January 28, 2011, the Delaware state medical examiner's office reported Wheeler's cause of death as assault and "blunt force trauma" without elaboration.
December 30 is also the day of the unsolved Setagaya family murder. The Setagaya family murder refers to the unsolved murders of the Miyazawa family in Setagaya ward of Tokyo, Japan, on 30 December 2000.
Mikio Miyazawa, Yasuko Miyazawa, Niina Miyazawa and Rei Miyazawa were murdered during a home invasion at night by an unknown assailant who then remained in the Miyazawas' house for several hours before disappearing. Japanese police launched a massive investigation that uncovered the killer's DNA and many specific clues about their identity, but the perpetrator has never been identified.
The media frenzy and long investigation of the Setagaya murders became a cause célèbre to abolish statute of limitations in Japan, which was removed in 2010. The investigation into the murders is among the largest in Japanese history, involving over 246,044 investigators who have collected over 12,545 pieces of evidence.
Apparently, the murderer remained inside the house for 2 to 10 hours, using the family computer, drinking 4 bottles of barley tea, melon, and 4 ice creams from their refrigerator, using their toilet without flushing, treating his injuries using first aid kits and other sanitary products, and taking a nap on a sofa in the second floor living room. Drawers and papers were ransacked (with some being dumped in the bath and toilet) and some money was taken (although more was left behind). Surprisingly, the killer left 10 items behind on the family sofa (knife, muffler, hip bag, sweater, jacket, hat, gloves, shoes, and two handkerchiefs.).
Oddly, trace amounts of sand were also found inside the hip bag that the killer left at the scene, which after analysis was determined to come from the Nevada desert, more exactly the area of Edwards Air Force Base in California.
December 30 also marks the strange death of Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin was a man who insinuated himself inside the Russian royal family, the Romanovs, and in time was able to gain some power and influence, which many did not like. While seen by some Russians as a mystic, visionary, and prophet, others viewed him as a charlatan. At first they tried to poison him. It is said that Rasputin was fed poisoned cakes and wines and that Rasputin gorged down enough cyanide to kill an elephant. But no amount of poison would hurt him. Instead, Rasputin kept asking for more.
When that didn't work they shot him in the heart. When his killers went to dispose of his body, “With a sudden violent effort Rasputin leapt to his feet, foaming at the mouth.” They then took more shots. That didn't work, until someone shot him in the head. However, one of the conspirators saw Rasputin move, even after the shot to the skull. So they then wrapped his body in linen and threw him over the bridge into the water. He was also found mutilated.
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on this day in 1890.
"The Battle at Wounded Knee is a significant battle in American history, as it put an end to the Indian Wars and is marked as the last official defeat of the Native Americans. But what’s not taught in history lessons is that Wounded Knee was one of the first federally backed gun confiscations in the history of the United States, and it ended in the massacre of nearly 300 unarmed people.
During the late 19th century, American Indians were allowed to purchase and carry firearms, just as white men were. The colonial gun laws did not bar Native Americans from possessing firearms, yet that natural right was violated by government forces at Wounded Knee. And once the guns were confiscated, the battle ensued.
When we look at the issues surrounding gun confiscation, Wounded Knee gives us an example of the devastation that an unarmed people can experience at the hands of their own government. This battle serves as a reminder to fight against gun confiscation and the gun control legislation that can lead to it.
Leading Up to Wounded Knee
At the beginning of the 19th century, it’s estimated that 600,000 American Indians lived on the land that is now the United States. By the end of the century, the people diminished to less than 150,000.
Throughout the 1800s, these nomadic tribes were pushed from the open plains and forests into 'Indian Territories,' places determined by the U.S. government. It started during the Creek Indian War (1813-1815), when American soldiers, led by Andrew Jackson, won nearly 20 million acres of land from the defeated Creek Indians.
Unlike George Washington, who believed in 'civilizing' the Native Americans, Jackson favored an 'Indian Removal,' and when president in 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which was the first of many U.S. legislations that did not grant the Native Americans the same rights as colonial European-Americans. Davy Crockett was the only delegate from Tennessee to vote against the act.
The Plains Indians, who lived in the plains between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, weren’t as impacted by the U.S. government until later in the century, as U.S. expansion pushed into the “Wild West.” As people moved passed the Mississippi and into the Frontier, conflicts again arose between the Indians and Americans.
In an attempt at peace in 1851, the first Fort Laramie Treaty was signed, which granted the Plain Indians about 150 million acres of land for their own use as the Great Sioux Reservation. Then, 13 years later, the size was greatly reduced to about 60 million acres in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which recreated the Great Sioux Reservation boundaries and proclaimed all of South Dakota west of the Missouri river, including the Black Hills, solely for the Sioux Nation.
As part of the treaty, no unauthorized non-Indian was to come into the reservation and the Sioux were allowed to hunt in unceded Indian territory beyond the reservation that stretched into North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. If any non-Indian wanted to settle on this unceded land, they could only do it with the permission of the Sioux.
That was until 1874, when gold was discovered in South Dakota’s Black Hills. The treaties that were signed between the Native Americans and the U.S. government were ignored as gold rushers invaded Indian Territory and issues arose, such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
As time went on, the American Indians continued to be pushed into smaller territories and their lives began to diminish. In 1889, the U.S. government issued the Dawes Act, which took the Black Hills from the Indians, broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into five separate reservations, and took nine million acres and opened it up for public purchase by non-Indians for homesteading and settlements.
The Native Americans were squeezed into these smaller territories and didn’t have enough game to support them. The bison that had been a staple to their way of life were gone. Their ancestral lands that sustained them were no longer theirs. The resistance was over. They were no longer free people, living amongst themselves, but 'Redskins' confined by the 'white man' in reservations they had been forced to, many against their will.
With all of the Sioux Nation inhabiting less than nine million acres, divided up throughout South Dakota, the Indians were encouraged by the U.S. government to develop small farms. But they were faced with poor, arid soil and a bad growing season, which led to a severely limited food supply in the year following the Dawes Act. A miscalculation in the census complicated matters even more when the population on the reservation was undercounted, leading to less supplies sent from the U.S. government.
The situation was beyond bleak and the Sioux people were starving. That winter, an influenza epidemic broke out and caused a disproportionate number of Sioux children to die. And then in the summer of 1890, a drought hit, destroying yet another season of crops and the people of Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation were in dire condition.
The Ghost Dance
Perhaps it was these desolate circumstances that led to the spread of what is known as the Ghost Dance. Based on a vision experienced by a Sioux religious leader, the Ghost Dance was a spiritual ritual that was supposed to call the coming messiah, who would be an American Indian. This messiah would force the white man off of Indian lands, return the bison to the plains, and resurrect both their deceased and the life the Native Americans had once enjoyed.
Although this was not a war dance, it was feared by those who believed the Indians were savages. One such man was Daniel Royer, who arrived as the new agent on the Pine Ridge Reservation in October of 1890. He believed it to be a war dance and requested troops from President Benjamin Harrison on November 15th of that same year. His telegram read: 'Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. We need protection and we need it now.'
Harrison granted the request and part of the 7th Cavalry arrived on November 20th, with orders to arrest several Sioux leaders. Commander James Forsyth led the troops.
On December 15th, the 7th Cavalry attempted to arrest Sitting Bull, the Sioux chief who annihilated Commander George Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (he also toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and was a dear friend to Annie Oakley), because he didn’t attempt to stop the Ghost Dance amongst his people. During the incident, Sitting Bull was shot and killed.
The Lakota at Pine Ridge began to get nervous and the tribe’s leader, Big Foot, practiced the Ghost Dance and had caught the attention of the federal agents. After hearing of Sitting Bull’s death, he and his tribe fled to the Badlands.
They were pursued by the 7th Cavalry for five days. But Big Foot had come down with pneumonia and they were peacefully intercepted at Wounded Knee Creek on December 28th.
December 29, 1890: The Wounded Knee Massacre
The next morning, Col. Forsyth demanded that the tribe surrender their firearms. Rifles were being turned over without issue until some of the Sioux men started a Ghost Dance and began throwing dirt into the air, as was customary to the dance.
Tensions among the soldiers increased.
A few moments later, a Sioux man named Black Coyote refused to give up his rifle. It’s been reported that the Indian was deaf, had recently purchased the rifle, and was most likely unaware of why the soldier was demanding it. Regardless, the two began to skuffle and the gun discharged.
The 7th Cavalry, who was the reconstructed regiment of Custer, opened fire on the Lakota. Along with their own weapons, they used four Hotchkiss guns, a revolving barrel machine gun that could fire 68 rounds per minute, devastating the entire tribe, which had just peacefully handed over their weapons.
The Sioux men, women, and children scattered, and the Cavalry pursued them. Dead bodies were later found three miles from camp.
Once the firing ended, some two hours later, an estimated 300 Native Americans lay dead in the snow, at least half of them women and children. Those that didn’t die immediately froze to death during the oncoming blizzard.
Nearly a week later, on January 3, 1891, the Cavalry escorted a burial party to the banks of the Wounded Knee River and they buried 146 Lakota Indians in a single mass grave. Other bodies were found in the surrounding areas, and the estimated body count is between 250 and 300 Sioux.
The 7th Cavalry lost 25 men.
After the Massacre
The Massacre at Wounded Knee brought an end to the Indian Wars. There was no more resistance. The Ghost Dancing stopped.
The Native Americans had been beaten. But the Cavalry’s attack was recognized as butchery, with Forsyth’s commanding officer, General Nelson Miles, calling it a 'criminal military blunder and a horrible massacre of women and children.'
However, President Harrison had an election around the corner and wasn’t in a position to look bad. Miles’ report was dismissed. Instead, the Cavalry men were made out as heroes against the Indian 'savages.' And in the Spring of 1891, the president awarded the first of 20 Medals of Honor to the soldiers who disarmed then slaughtered the Sioux at Wounded Knee.
It’s been speculated that the 7th Cavalry, which again was regrouped after it was destroyed by Sitting Bull at Little Bighorn, was looking for a fight and deliberately sought revenge on the Native Americans.
Black Elk, one of the few Lakota survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre, recalled in 1931: 'I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there.'"
Today in History: For some, and in ancient folklore, December 28 is considered the unluckiest day on the Christian calendar. This day is traditionally celebrated as the Massacre of the Innocents (Childermass), an incident in the nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew (2:16–18) in which Herod the Great orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem.
According to Francis Kildale's 1855 Glossary of Yorkshire Words and Phrases, says of December 28 "that the day of the week on which it falls is marked as a black day for the whole year to come...No important affair is taken in hand on Childermass Day, and the sailors are heedful not to leave their port in the way of beginning a voyage under any consideration."
In Legends and Superstitions of the County of Durham by William Brockie (1886) warns, "it is very unlucky to begin any work whatever on this day."
In Brand's Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, it is noted that "this day is of most unlucky omen. None ever marries on a Childermas Day."
In history, children fared badly on this of all days: "Up until the seventeenth century, it was believed that ritually beating a child with a stick at Childermass brought the beater good luck and reminded the child of both King Herod's viciousness and Jesus's suffering." Bad Santas and Other Creepy Christmas Characters by Paul Hawkins
This day held great meaning in the medieval world where most families had lost a child due to the very high rates of infant mortality. While it was customary to wear white through the whole Christmas season, on this one day you wore red.
The day was considered incredibly unlucky, the most common superstition stating that anything begun on the day would never be finished or would go disastrously wrong – even doing something as innocent as laundry would be certain to result in a death in the family! "It is related of Louis XI. of France, that he would debate no state matter, and resented every attempt to trouble him with business, on the day of the Innocents." Robert Chambers 1847
This day in history: Louis Pasteur was born on this day in 1822. He is one of the greatest human beings, certainly the greatest biologist to have ever lived. He is renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization. His research in chemistry led to remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and preventions of diseases, which laid down the foundations of hygiene, public health and much of modern medicine. His works are credited to saving millions of lives through the developments of vaccines for rabies and anthrax. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern bacteriology and has been honored as the "father of bacteriology" and as the "father of microbiology".
Pasteur is also regarded as one of the fathers of germ theory of diseases, which was a minor medical concept at the time. His many experiments showed that diseases could be prevented by killing or stopping germs, thereby directly supporting the germ theory and its application in clinical medicine. He is best known to the general public for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization.
"The work of Louis Pasteur fundamentally changed the world we live in. The proof he provided for the existence of the germ theory of disease revolutionized the way we think about human health. Pasteurization enabled us to preserve beverages and canned foods far longer than was previously thought possible. And, finally, Pasteur revolutionized the development of vaccines. Much of modern science rests on Pasteur’s work. Without him, it is likely that hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people would not be alive today."~Alexander Hammond
Today in History: Mao Zedong (also known as Chairman Mao) Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was born on this day in 1893. When you bring up Mao, you have to ask: Who was the biggest mass murderer in the history of the world? Most people would say Hitler, but you would be wrong. Some would say Josef Stalin, who killed more people than Hitler due to government imposed famines. But both Hitler and Stalin were outdone by Mao Zedong. From 1958 to 1962, Mao's Great Leap Forward policies led to the deaths of up to 45 to 65 million people—easily making it the biggest episode of mass murder ever recorded.
Mao would actually brag about his mass deaths as well: “What’s so unusual about Emperor Shih Huang of the China Dynasty? He had buried alive 460 scholars only, but we have buried alive 46,000 scholars.” In his "Great Leap Forward" he collectivized China’s agriculture which lead to the worst famine in human history. After this Mao proclaimed the Cultural Revolution, and gangs of Red Guards would terrorize one city after another. Professors were dressed in grotesque clothes and dunce caps, their faces smeared with ink. They were then forced to get down on all fours and bark like dogs. Some were beaten to death, others were actually eaten.
When a boy stole a handful of grain, his father was forced to bury his son alive. Three million people were tortured to death.
One of Mao's mottos was “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” "Like Stalin in the Soviet Union, Mao seems to have had neither personal charisma nor the gift of oratory. Rather, he had the ability to manipulate people and situations to his own advantage, slowly rising to the top of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1920s and 1930s. He was ruthless with both friend and foe, viewing everyone he encountered as mere tools to use and then dispose of in pursuit of absolute power." ~Richard M. Ebeling
Yet, despite all this, the New York Times praised him in a tweet. The Times wrote that he "began as an obscure peasant" and "died one of history’s great revolutionary figures.” But a short time later, the New York Times’ Archives account deleted the tweet and explained simply that it was because it “lacked critical historical context.” This should tell you all you need to know about the US Media.
"Unlike in the days of Mao, today very few western intellectuals actually sympathize with communism. But many are reluctant to fully accept what a great evil it was, fearful—perhaps—that other left-wing causes might be tainted by association."~Ilya Somin
December 25th is known for many things, but did you know that is also known for the very first Ovariotomy 1701.
December 25th is also the day that a temple to the sun god Sol Invictus was dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian in 274 AD.
December 25th is also the day that England adopted the Julian calendar in 597 AD.
December 25th is also the day that Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in the year 800.
December 25th is also the day that Hungary became a country in 1000 AD.
December 25th is also the day that William the Conqueror was crowned King of England in 1066.
December 25th is also the day of the Great Christmas Flood disasters in 1717 in Holland, Germany and Scandinavia.
December 25th is also the day that Washington crossed the Delaware in 1776.
December 25th is also the day of the Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy in 1826.
The KKK was formed at Christmas time in Pulaski TN in 1865.
December 25th is also the day that Confederate soldiers were pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1868.
December 25th is also the day of the Taeyongak Hotel fire in Seoul Korea in 1971 killing 166 people.
December 25th is also the day that Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as leader of the Soviet Union in 1991.
December 25th is also the day that Dean Martin died in 1996.
December 25th is also the day the killing of JonBenet Ramsey in 1996.
December 25th is also the day of the Christmas massacres in Uganda in 2008. The massacres were the fifth deadliest act of terrorism in world history.
December 25th is also the day of the Covina Massacre. Covina is a suburb of LA, where recently divorced Bruce Pardo, dressed as Santa showed up at his ex-wife's home and shot 25 people, after which he killed himself.
December 25th is also the day of the Carnation Massacre in 2007 in Carnation, Washington where Michele Anderson and her boyfriend Joseph McEnroe drove to her parent’s home and killed 6 members of her family.
December 25th is also the day of the Lawson Family Massacre which happened on this day in 1929 in Germanton NC when Charlie Lawson murdered his wife and six of his seven children.
December 25th is also the day that Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was executed alongside his wide Elena in 1989
December 25th is also the day that a gingerbread monolith appeared in San Francisco in 2020.
This day in history: The Seekers, (also called The Brotherhood of the Seven Rays) believed a UFO would come to collect them on this day (December 24) in 1954. The Seekers were a group of rapturists or a UFO religion in mid-twentieth century Midwestern United States that was originally organized in 1953 by Charles Laughead, a staff member at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan and led by Dorothy Martin from the Chicago area (also called Sister Thedra), who believed a UFO would take them on December 21, 1954. When December 21 came and went they revised the date to December 24 thanks to a new revelation.
This incident is investigated in Leon Festinger's landmark book, When Prophecy Fails: A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group That Predicted the Destruction of the World. The book looks at many historical examples of failed prophecies, such as the Montanists, Anabaptists, Sabbateans, Millerites and the beginnings of Christianity, and they saw that in some cases the failure of a prophecy, rather than causing a rejection of the original belief system, could lead believers to increase their personal commitment, and also increase their efforts to recruit others into the belief.
Since the Roswell incident in 1947, there have been many UFO cults, though Guy Ballard's I AM movement and George King's Aetherius Society started before then. Experts describe Heaven's Gate and Order of the Solar Temple as among the most controversial of the UFO belief groups. Scientology is seen by scholars as a UFO religion, due to its Xenu cosmogony and the presence of Space opera in Scientology doctrine.
Other groups seen as UFO sects are Aetherius Society, Freie Interessengemeinschaft für Grenz- und Geisteswissen-schaften und Ufologiestudien (FIGU), Ashtar Galactic Command, Chen Tao, Cosmic Circle of Fellowship, Fiat Lux, Ground Crew Project, Industrial Church of the New World Comforter, Mark-Age, Nation of Islam, The New Message from God, Nuwaubianism, Raelism, Unarius, Universe People, Universal Medicine, Urantia movement, Church of the SubGenius, Falun Gong, Training centre for release of the Atma-energy and the Joy of Satan Ministries. The Joy of Satan Ministries combines Theistic Satanism, National Socialism, Gnostic Paganism, Western esotericism and UFO conspiracy theories and extraterrestrial beliefs similar to those popularized by Zecharia Sitchin and David Icke...in case you're interested.
Earlier this month in Colorado, the mummified body of “Love Has Won” cult leader Amy Carlson was found without eyes and enshrined with Christmas lights.
The Federal Reserve Act was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on this day in 1913, creating the Federal Reserve System.
“The accepted version of history is that the Federal Reserve was created to stabilize our economy. One of the most widely-used textbooks on this subject says: 'It sprang from the panic of 1907, with its alarming epidemic of bank failures: the country was fed up once and for all with the anarchy of unstable private banking.' Even the most naive student must sense a grave contradiction between this cherished view and the System's actual performance. Since its inception, it has presided over the crashes of 1921 and 1929; the Great Depression of '29 to '39; recessions in '53, '57, '69, '75, and '81; a stock market "Black Monday" in '87; and a 1000% inflation which has destroyed 90% of the dollar's purchasing power.”~G. Edward Griffin, The Creature from Jekyll Island
G. Edward Griffin is not the only critic of The Fed. One of the earliest criticisms was written in 1922 by Jim Jam Jems entitled The Federal Reserve Monster:
"THE Federal Reserve System is the visible hand of the Invisible Empire picking the pockets of the producers of real wealth. It is the most leviathan parasite engrafted upon—and grafting on—production in the world's history. It is an industrial vampire sucking industry's life blood down its bottomless maw. Its greed is fathomless, its rule is ruthless and its lust for power is insatiate.
It is openly and avowedly run and managed in the interest of a so-called "superior class." It has a cynical contempt for the public—whom it ruthlessly plunders. It believes—and practices the belief—that it was instituted for the promotion and protection of superior privileges; that wealth is produced for its exploitation; that production of values exists for its parasitical plunder; that Shylockery is a virtue and that the fruits of industry belong not to its producers but to its despoilers.
Property-owners, property-earners and property-producers are but its puppets whom it plunders at will. By monopolizing and juggling money—the mere symbol of wealth—it destroys the value of real wealth. It has but one interest in the public whom it hypocritically professes to serve and that interest is expressed in the query "How much will the people stand?"
There is nothing with which to compare it for it stands alone in the world's history as the most gigantic plunderbund ever conceived in predacity's womb. Czardom at its height and Kaiserdom at its zenith never held a tithe of the real power held by the Federal Reserve System. It is the perfected fruit and flower of financial high-bindery, industrial plunderbund and applied Shylockery. Under the cloak and mantle of the law it reaches forth its paws of predacity and pouches filcheries which are simply stupendous.
That is briefly what the much touted and saccharinely adulated Federal Reserve System really is. Abraham Lincoln, the greatest human intellect which ever functioned on this planet, prophetically drew its portrait in these words: "It (the Civil War) has been indeed a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before even in the midst of the war. God grant that my suspicions may prove groundless."
That is the true portrait, drawn by a master hand, of the Federal Reserve System.
In [The Federal Reserve Monster by Jim Jam Jems 1922] you will see the birth of the monster, its ruthless methods of plunder, its machinery of despoilment, its monopoly of money and credit, its pawnbrokery and Shylockery and its huge mounds of pillage.
And in looking it over don't overlook the fact that you, you yourself—whatever may be your part in American industry—are laying tribute on the Federal Reserve altar of Mammon. You can't escape its net of pillage. Amid its mounds of gold, currency and securities—the hugest ever massed together on this planet—your contribution is there. Your brain or your brawn, or both, have added to its lootage. If you live and toil in the U. S. A.—in whatever capacity—your "mickle" adds to the "muckle"—of its stored pillage.
The fact is that the Federal Reserve System is in truth a huge Central Bank, managed, manipulated, directed and operated from Washington by the Federal Reserve Board. There sits the spider and there the web is woven—spreading all over the U. S. A.—in which are enmeshed the victims."
“It is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking.” ~Ron Paul, End the Fed
"This [Federal Reserve Act] establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President [Wilson} signs this bill, the invisible government of the monetary power will be legalized....the worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency bill." ~ Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. , 1913
"From now on, depressions will be scientifically created." ~ Congressman Charles A. Lindbergh Sr. , 1913 "The financial system has been turned over to the Federal Reserve Board. That Board administers the finance system by authority of a purely profiteering group. The system is Private, conducted for the sole purpose of obtaining the greatest possible profits from the use of other people's money" ~ Charles A. Lindbergh Sr., 1923
"The [Federal Reserve Act] as it stands seems to me to open the way to a vast inflation of the currency... I do not like to think that any law can be passed that will make it possible to submerge the gold standard in a flood of irredeemable paper currency." ~ Henry Cabot Lodge Sr., 1913
"The stock of money, prices and output was decidedly more unstable after the establishment of the Reserve System than before. The most dramatic period of instability in output was, of course, the period between the two wars, which includes the severe (monetary) contractions of 1920-1, 1929-33, and 1937-8. No other 20 year period in American history contains as many as three such severe contractions. This evidence persuades me that at least a third of the price rise during and just after World War I is attributable to the establishment of the Federal Reserve System... and that the severity of each of the major contractions — 1920-1, 1929-33 and 1937-8 is directly attributable to acts of commission and omission by the Reserve authorities... Any system which gives so much power and so much discretion to a few men, [so] that mistakes — excusable or not — can have such far reaching effects, is a bad system. It is a bad system to believers in freedom just because it gives a few men such power without any effective check by the body politic — this is the key political argument against an independent central bank... To paraphrase Clemenceau, money is much too serious a matter to be left to the central bankers." ~ Milton Friedman
Today in History: On this day in 1984 a few teenagers accosted Bernhard Goetz on a New York City subway. Moments later, Bernhard Goetz pulled out his Smith & Wesson revolver and shot the four young men, in an incident that came to be known worldwide as the "1984 New York City Subway Shooting."
"During the early 1980s, New York City experienced unprecedented rates of crime. Murders during the decade averaged almost 2,000 a year and, in the city's increasingly dangerous subway system, thirty-eight crimes a day, on average, were reported. Citizens did not feel safe. It is not surprising, therefore, when the city's newspapers ran stories on the December 22 shooting on the IRT express, the shooter was widely praised for his actions: 'Finally,' many a New Yorker said, 'someone has had the courage to stand up to these thugs...'" ~Professor Douglas O. Linder
Goetz (the subway vigilante) became a household name, and is even referenced in Billy Joel's 1989 single "We Didn't Start the Fire", in Lou Reed's song "Hold On" from his 1989 album New York, and on "Stop the Train" from the 1989 Beastie Boys album Paul's Boutique. The 1993 film Falling Down was partly inspired by the shooting.
New York City also has the Guardian Angels vigilante group to pick up the slack where the police fail, started by Curtis Sliwa in the 1970's. There is also the Dark Guardian, aka Christopher Pollack. New York City resident Christopher Pollack "is a mild-mannered martial arts instructor, yet by night he dons an Avengers-like costume, one that comes equipped with a bulletproof vest, and fights crime under the moniker of 'The Dark Guardian.' During his superhero career, The Dark Guardian has apprehended muggers, broken up fights and at one point waged a war against local weed dealers." Source
Today in History: Jack Russell was born on this day in 1795. While he was a cleric and an enthusiastic fox-hunter we now know him best as the man who developed the Jack Russell Terrier, a variety of the Fox Terrier breed. Before Russell's time, there were just a few dog breeds, with one of the oldest breeds being the Greyhound. During the Victorian era there was an explosion of dog breeding and dogs were bred to conform to every personality and look. The American Kennel Club now recognizes 195 breeds, with 79 additional breeds working toward full recognition, although Wikipedia lists hundreds more.
However, all breeds come from just one dog, a Gray Wolf in Asia. In fact, most of the oldest dog breeds around are Asian: Shanxi Xigou (Chinese Saluki), Tibetan Mastiff, Siberian Husky, Shiba Inu, Akita Inu, Chinese Shar-pei, Chow Chow, Japanese Chin, Tibetan Spaniel, Pekingese, Lhasa Apso and the Shih Tzu.
Asia also has a recent hero dog story, that of Saihu. On 28 November 2003, a chef in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province, southern China was preparing dinner for almost 30 people at a driving school. The smell of the cooking meat attracted some nearby puppies to the school, along with their mother, Saihu. The chef threw some scraps of meat from the pot to the puppies, but strangely, the puppies' mother prevented them from eating. Saihu also kept barking at the chef, as well as the people who were preparing to eat. Confused but undeterred, the people prepared to eat the meal the chef had made. Saihu became panicked and ran around barking at the guests, before finally eating all the scraps the chef had thrown to the dogs. After just a few minutes, Saihu fell dead on the floor. The guests, shocked at the dog's death, stopped eating the meal. They called a policeman as well as some doctors, who discovered poison in the meat. No people or puppies died. Everyone was convinced that Saihu must have smelled the poison and had saved the people and her puppies by sacrificing herself. The people of Jiujaing were so grateful to Saihu that they set up a tomb in a human graveyard and a statue to memorialize the dog.
The Power of the Dog by Rudyard Kipling
THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way From men and women to fill our day; And when we are certain of sorrow in store, Why do we always arrange for more? Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.
Buy a pup and your money will buy Love unflinching that cannot lie— Perfect passion and worship fed By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head. Nevertheless it is hardly fair To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which Nature permits Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits, And the vet’s unspoken prescription runs To lethal chambers or loaded guns, Then you will find—it’s your own affair— But … you’ve given your heart to a dog to tear.
When the body that lived at your single will, With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!). When the spirit that answered your every mood Is gone—wherever it goes—for good, You will discover how much you care, And will give your heart to a dog to tear.
We’ve sorrow enough in the natural way, When it comes to burying Christian clay. Our loves are not given, but only lent, At compound interest of cent per cent. Though it is not always the case, I believe, That the longer we’ve kept ’em, the more do we grieve: For, when debts are payable, right or wrong, A short-time loan is as bad as a long— So why in—Heaven (before we are there) Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?
This day in history: Jonelle Matthews disappeared near Greeley, Colorado on this day in 1984. The 12 year-old's remains were discovered on July 24, 2019, by construction workers putting in a new pipeline 15 miles from her home.
While the search was going on, Steve Pankey, a former Idaho governor candidate, made himself a person of interest by making allegedly incriminating statements and also discussing information about the crime the police had withheld from the public. Once Jonelle’s remains were discovered in 2019, the police accused and arrested Pankey for the murder. Source
Steven Pankey, a youth pastor, started acting strange following the disappearance of Jonelle Matthews. Pankey's ex-wife, Angela Hicks, said they went on a trip on December 22 to visit family members. She also said this trip was unexpected. Hicks said they returned to Greeley on December 26 and that Pankey took an unusual interest in the disappearance. She said that on their return trip, Pankey "uncharacteristically listened to the radio, searching for news of the girl's disappearance". She also said that after their return, Pankey forced her to read to him newspaper articles concerning the case. According to the 2020 indictment statement, shortly following their return to Greeley, Pankey started digging in their yard. At about that time, a car stored on their property caught fire and the burned car "was disposed of at a salvage yard".
A few months following Jonelle's disappearance, Pankey attended a church service where a minister claimed that Jonelle would be found safe. Hicks claimed to have heard Pankey muttering in response, accusing the minister of being a false prophet. In 2008, Pankey's son was murdered. At his son's funeral, Hicks reportedly heard Pankey say, "I hope God didn't allow this to happen because of Jonelle Matthews."
The police announced that Pankey had long been a suspect in the case. Pankey repeatedly claimed to have knowledge of the crime and had asked "for immunity in exchange for information". The criminal indictment said that he "intentionally inserted himself in the investigation many times over the years claiming to have knowledge of the crime which grew inconsistent and incriminating over time". Pankey had claimed that on the evening of Jonelle's abduction, a rake was used to cover up tracks left in the snow. He also claimed to have watched students walking home from the middle school which Jonelle attended.
Pankey gave an interview to the Times-News and said he was being framed by the police because of his sexuality, identifying himself as a "celibate homosexual". In 2018, Pankey had campaigned for the position of governor of Idaho. His campaign website said that Pankey has studied criminal justice.
Steve Pankey is being held at the Weld County Jail on a $5 million cash-only bond.
Today in History: German serial killer Fritz Haarmann was sentenced to death for a series of murders on this day in 1924. He committed sexual assault, murder, mutilation and dismemberment of at least 24 boys and young men between 1918 and 1924 in Hanover, Germany. Haarmann became known as the Butcher of Hanover due to the extensive mutilation and dismemberment committed upon his victims' bodies and by such titles as the Vampire of Hanover and the Wolf Man because of his preferred murder method of biting into or through his victims' throats.
Haarmann actually sold the clothes and meat of his victims to unsuspecting buyers. He was odd but likable, and the police even used him as an informant who frequently gave up other criminals to investigators. It had never occurred to police that the serial killer they were looking for was well-known to them and right under their nose, even though some of the victims were last seen in his company.
At 6 o'clock on the morning of 15 April 1925, Fritz Haarmann was beheaded by guillotine in the grounds of Hanover prison. In accordance with German tradition, Haarmann was not informed of his execution date until the prior evening.
Between 1933 and 1945 Germany used the guillotine to execute 16,500 prisoners, a figure which accounts for 10,000 executions between 1944 and 1945 alone. The guillotine was last used in West Germany in 1949 and was last used in East Germany in 1966. The Stasi used the guillotine in East Germany between 1950 and 1966 for secret executions.
This day in history: President Wilson, who was widowed the year before, married Edith Bolling Galt on this day in 1915. When President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke in office and was seriously incapacitated, Edith Wilson stonewalled press and public about his condition and became the acting president...in effect making her the first acting female president.
In My Memoir, published in 1939, Edith Wilson justified her self-proclaimed role of presidential "steward," arguing that her actions on behalf of Woodrow Wilson's presidency were sanctioned by Wilson's doctors; that they told her to do so for her husband's mental health. Edith Wilson maintained that she was simply a vessel of information for President Wilson; however, others in the White House did not trust her.
Did You Know: "The first woman to actively pursue the country’s highest office was Victoria Woodhull—a stockbroker, newspaper publisher, and champion of social reform who ran for the presidency in 1872, some 50 years before women throughout the United States had achieved the right to vote." Source
Going back even further, many consider John Hanson the first president of the United States. John Hanson was a Founding Father and a merchant and public official from Maryland during the era of the American Revolution. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, he was elected as first President of the Confederation Congress (sometimes styled President of the United States in Congress assembled), following ratification of the articles. For this reason, some of Hanson's biographers have argued that he was actually the first holder of the office of President of the United States.
by Ron Paul
