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The post Journalists Are Asking Ukrainian Soldiers to Hide Their Nazi Patches, NYT Admits appeared first on Global Research.

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The post Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy Is Eternal Damnation appeared first on Global Research.

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The post Rule by Decree: The Emergency State’s Plot to Override the Constitution appeared first on Global Research.

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The post Israeli Forces’ Systemic Denial of Fair Trial Rights to Palestinian Child Prisoners Amounts to Arbitrary Detention appeared first on Global Research.

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The post Pilot Deaths: Four Fully COVID-19 Vaccinated Singapore Airlines Pilots Died Suddenly in May 2023 appeared first on Global Research.

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The post 1884 Athlete Cardiac Arrests or Serious Issues, 1310 of Them Dead, Since COVID Injection appeared first on Global Research.

At long last I intend to read a book I should have read long ago, Spiritual Combat. This book was a favorite of St. Francis de Sales, and one he highly recommended. So it is beyond time to take it on. I may therefore post excerpts from time to time in the space. First one is today, and at the advice of Vizzini to Inigo Montoya, I need to go “back to the beginning. So this is the beginning.”:

CHRISTIAN SOUL!  If you seek to reach the loftiest peak of perfection, and to unite yourself so intimately with God that you become one with spirit with Him, you must first know the true nature and perfection of spirituality in order to succeed in the most sublime undertaking that can be experienced or imagined.

Some, who judge by appearances, make it consist in penances, in hair shirts, austerities of the flesh, vigils, fasting, and similar bodily mortifications. Others fancy themselves extremely virtuous when they indulge in long periods of vocal prayers, hear several Masses, spend many hours in church . . . Others, and this does not exclude some of the religious who have consecrated themselves to God, think that perfection consist in perfect attendance in choir, in observing silence and in a strict observance of their rule. Consequently, different people place perfection in different practices. It is certain that they all equally deceive themselves.

Since exterior works are nothing more than dispositions for achieving true piety, or the effects of real piety, it cannot be said that Christian perfection and true piety consist in them. They are, without doubt, powerful means for becoming truly perfect and truly holy. When used with discretion they are of unique value in supporting our nature which is always indifferent to good and inclined to evil; in repelling the attacks and escaping the snares of our common enemy; in obtaining from the Father of Mercies those helps that are so necessary for the faithful, and especially for beginners. They are, moreover, precious fruits of the consummate virtue achieved in truly holy persons. Such men chastise their bodies either in punishment for past offenses or for greater humiliation and subjection to their Creator. They seek solitude and observe silence that, withdrawn from the world, they may preserve themselves free from the least stain of sin, and speak only with Heaven and Angels. Their time is spent in works of piety and in the service of God. They pray and meditate on the life and Passion of our Redeemer, not through curiosity, nor for the sake of some sensible pleasure arising from this, but from a desire of knowing better, on one hand, the grandeur of the Divine Goodness, and on the other hand, the depth of their own ingratitude. They do this in order to increase their love of God and detestation of self, to follow their Lord in shouldering His Cross, and in renouncing their own will. They receive the Sacraments for no other reason than the honor of God, a closer union with Him and greater security from the power of the devil.

The situation is much different with those who ignorantly place their devotion in external acts, which frequently are the cause of their own downfall, and are of far deeper consequence than open crime. In themselves they are not evil, but only when wrongly applied. They are so attached to these acts that they utterly neglect to watch the inner movements of their hearts; but giving them free rein, they leave them prey to their own corruption and to the tricks of the devil. It is then that this destroyer, seeing them go astray, not only encourages them to go on their way, but fills their imagination with empty ideas, making them believe that they already taste the joys of Paradise, the delights of Angels, that they see God face to face . . .

[…]

Since, therefore, you seek the highest degree of perfection, you must wage continual warfare against yourself and employ your entire strength in demolishing each vicious inclination, however trivial. Consequently, in preparing for the combat you must summon up all your resolution and courage. No one shall be rewarded with a crown who has not fought courageously.

But remember that as no war can be carried on with greater fierceness, the forces, no other than ourselves, being equal on both sides, so the victory when gained is most pleasing to God and most glorious to the conqueror. For whoever has the courage to conquer his passions, to subdue his appetites, and repulse even the least motions of his own will, performs an action more meritorious in the sight of God than if, without this, he should tear his flesh with the sharpest disciplines, fast with greater austerity than the ancient Fathers of the Desert, or convert multitudes of sinners.

It is true, considering things in themselves, that the conversion of a soul is, without doubt, infinitely more acceptable to the Divine Majesty than the mortification of a disorderly affection. Yet, every person, in his own particular sphere, should begin with what is immediately required of him. Now what God expects of us, above all else, is a serious application to conquering our passions; and this is more properly the accomplishment of our duty than if, with uncontrolled appetite, we should do Him a greater service.

Now that you know what Christian perfection is and that, in order to attain it, you must resolve on a perpetual warfare with yourself, begin by providing yourself with four weapons without which it is impossible to gain the victory in this spiritual combat: DISTRUST OF ONE’S SELF, CONFIDENCE IN GOD, PROPER USE OF THE FACULTIES OF BODY AND MIND, AND THE DUTY OF PRAYER.

North Dakota’s Republican Gov. Doug Burgum announced today that he is running for the Republican nomination for president.

The little-known governor from a small state doesn’t seem to be fazed by the fact that virtually no one has heard of him or is familiar with his record as he takes on massively popular candidates like former President Donald trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and others.

The two-term governor and businessman enters the growing Republican primary field that just has former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie join. Burgum will try to position himself as the best fiscal conservative, according to his announcement.

“We need a change in the White House. We need a new leader for a changing economy. That’s why I’m announcing my run for president today,” Burgum wrote. “The economy must be our top priority. We need to get inflation under control, cut taxes, lower gas prices and reduce the cost of living.”

“When we jumped into the race in North Dakota, we were down in the poll 69% to 10%, and people literally said, ‘you can’t win, it’s less than six months into the primary in June.’ There was an established leader with 100% name recognition, and we said ‘okay, well, we’re just gonna do our thing, and we’ll see how it turns out, and of course we ended up winning the primary by 60% to 40% in a race that people six months earlier said we couldn’t win,” Burgum previously told the DCNF in an interview. “We’re undaunted by the idea that we’ve got low name recognition.”

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In April, Burgum signed the pro-life bill into law that bans abortions starting at 6 weeks when an unborn baby’s heartbeat can easily be detected. The measure takes effect and becomes state law immediately due to the emergency clause contained in the law.

“I do believe in the Dobbs decision, and the Dobbs decision leaves this up to the states,” said Burgum. “I’ve said that before, and I’ll keep saying that again.” 

When asked if he would sign a federal abortion ban if he became president, Burgum said he prefers not to comment on hypothetical legislation, as “100 things” could change before the bill hits his desk, he told the DCNF. The governor also argued that restricting abortion nationally is even more hypothetical considering the unlikelihood for there to be enough Republican votes in the Senate to pass it.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and conservative radio personality Larry Elder are other candidates currently in the race.

The post Pro-Life North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum Launches Republican Presidential Bid appeared first on LifeNews.com.

Ryan and Zack look at how China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are reshaping the Middle East into a region where the United States no longer dominates. This is a good thing for ordinary Americans.

Additional Resources

"Thanks to Sanctions, the US Is Losing Its Grip on the Middle East" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_11_A

"The Petrodollar-Saudi Axis Is Why Washington Hates Iran" by Gary Richied: Mises.org/WES_11_B

"Peace is Breaking Out in the Middle East… and Washington is Not Happy!" by Ron Paul: Mises.org/WES_11_C

"Why the End of the Petrodollar Spells Trouble for the US Regime" by Ryan McMaken: Mises.org/WES_11_D

"Washington Miffed as China Makes Peace" by Joseph Solis-Mullen: Mises.org/WES_11_E

Be sure to follow War, Economy, and State at Mises.org/WES.

Following Professor Roberto de Mattei’s exploration of attacks against the family in revolutionary history, and Dr Pat Fagan’s revealing insight into social science data on the benefits of marriage and religious worship for children and society, Dr Jennifer Roback Morse has made a further contribution to the Family and Life Academy’s catalogue of webinars unpacking […]

The post The sexual revolution: softening the ground for legalising paedophilia appeared first on Voice of the Family.

The Evidence of Big Pharma’s Criminality is Overwhelming, but Nothing Is Being Done About It

Dr. Naomi Wolf Uncovers Pfizer’s Depopulation Agenda, as Evidenced by Its Own Documents

Dr. Naomi Wolf Uncovers Pfizer’s Depopulation Agenda, as Evidenced by Its Own Documents

Be Forewarned:  Is This What Bill Gates & Company Are Going to Release Next?

https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/marburg-genocide-or-nothingburger/ 

Many economists believe that economics must emulate the physical sciences with controlled experiments to be credible. Econometric models, they claim, can fulfill the role of laboratory experiments.

Through mathematical and statistical methods, an economist supposedly establishes relationships between various economic variables. For example, personal consumer outlays are related to personal disposable income and the interest rates, while capital expenditure is explained by the past stock of capital, the interest rates, and economic activity. Various estimated relations—i.e., equations, which are grouped together—constitute an econometric model.

A comparison of the model’s dynamic assumptions versus the data establishes the model’s reliability. (In a static simulation, the model is solved using the actual lagged variables. In a dynamic simulation, the model is solved by employing lagged variables calculated by the model). Once the model is built and accepted as a good replica of the economy, economists employ the model to ascertain the possible effects of various government and central bank policies upon the economy.

Is the Mathematical Method Valid in Economics?

By applying mathematics in its analyses, mainstream economics attempts to emulate the natural sciences. In the natural sciences, mathematical formulas measure the response of objects to a particular stimulus in a given condition to see if they can be captured repeatedly.

The same approach, however, is not valid in economics since economics deals with human beings and not objects. According to Ludwig von Mises, “The experience with which the sciences of human action have to deal is always an experience of complex phenomena. No laboratory experiments can be performed with regard to human action.”

Human beings are rational animals, using their minds to sustain their lives and well-being. Human minds, however, don’t follow a fixed mechanical procedure, but rather people employ their minds according to their own circumstances, making it impossible to capture human nature through mathematical formulas.

Individuals have the freedom of choice to change their minds and pursue actions contrary to what was observed in the past. Because human beings are unique, economic analysis can only be qualitative.

Furthermore, quantitative analysis implies the possibility of the assignment of numbers, which can be subjected to all operations of arithmetic requiring an objective fixed unit, something that exists in the realm of human valuations. On this Mises wrote, “There are, in the field of economics, no constant relations, and consequently no measurement is possible.”

There are no constant standards for measuring the minds, the values, and the ideas of humans. Valuations are how conscious, purposeful individuals ascertain the given facts of reality. Once individuals establish what the facts are, they decide which of the established facts best suit their ends.

Individuals’ Goals Set the Standard for Valuation

Individual goals or ends set the standard for valuing various means. For instance, people wanting to improve their health will decide which goods benefit their health and which do not. Among those that will benefit them, some will be more effective than others. There is no way, however, to quantify this effectiveness. All that one could do is rank these goods in accordance with the perceived effectiveness.

The use of mathematics in economics also poses another problem, as using mathematical functions implies that variables determine human actions. For example, contrary to the mathematical way of thinking, an individual’s outlays on goods are not “driven” by income.

While it is true that individuals respond to changes in their incomes, the response is not automatic. An increase in an individual’s income does not automatically imply that his consumption expenditure will follow suit. Every individual assesses the increase in income against the goals he wants to achieve. Thus, he might decide that it is more beneficial to him to raise his savings rather than raise his consumption.

Note again that individuals respond to changes in various factors in accordance with individuals’ goals. This means that causality in economics emanates from individuals and not mathematical variables.

From this perspective an econometric model, which is a group of various equations, is a misleading description of the world of human beings. In the world of econometric models, individuals are reduced to robots that mechanically respond to changes in a mathematical equation.

Further Issues of Using Econometric Models

In conducting the “what if” experiment, a model builder utilizes a model with the equation’s parameters unchanged. Given that human beings have freedom of choice, a policy change by the government or the central bank is likely to alter the parameters of various equations.

Consequently, the employment of the fixed-parameters model in the “what if” experiment is likely to generate questionable results.

For instance, the model builder may want to evaluate the effect of a change in government outlays on the economy. It is quite likely that a change in outlays will affect the parameters of various equations. If the model builder were to ignore this, it would mean that individuals in the economy were frozen.

On this Mises said, “As a method of economic analysis econometrics is a childish play with figures that does not contribute anything to the elucidation of the problems of economic reality.”

According to the Nobel laureate in economics Robert Lucas,

Given that the structure of an econometric model consists of optimal decision rules of economic agents, and that optimal decision rules vary systematically with changes in the structure of series relevant to the decision maker, it follows that any change in policy will systematically alter the structure of econometric models.

Conclusion

The introduction of econometric model building in economics is an attempt to produce a laboratory where controlled experiments can be conducted. The idea of having such a laboratory is appealing to economists and politicians. Once the model is built and accepted as a good replica of the economy, economists could evaluate the outcomes of various policies. When evaluating the effect of the government and the central bank policies on the economy, however, economists employ models with unchanged parameters, thus leading to erroneous conclusions.