Children’s Hospital Receives Thousands of Donations Following Epic Playoff Game

Posted on March 22, 2022 by DJ Heal

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in overtime, in what many consider to be an ‘instant classic.’ The game itself had everything you could ever want from a playoff game: many lead changes, last second scores, and of course overtime.

While the game will likely be remembered for a long time, one of the most amazing things about the game came long after the final whistle. It has become a new age tradition in sports for fans to show respect and support for an opposing team or player after a hard fought game by donating money to that player’s or team’s charity. That is precisely what happened following the playoff win by the Chiefs, according to a report by WKBW News.

A Facebook page called ‘Chiefs Kingdom Memes’ made a post on Monday night calling on fellow Chiefs fans to donate to Patrick Mahomes’ (starting quarterback of the Chiefs) charity, “Patrick Mahomes’ 15 and the Mahomies”. He requested that donations be made in $13 increments in honor of the game tying 13 second drive, orchestrated by Mahomes and the Chiefs offense to send the game into overtime, eventually allowing the Chiefs to win the game over the Buffalo Bills.

Brett Fitzgerald who runs the Facebook group recalled talking about the post with a buddy of his, Alex Irvin. The two were messaging back and forth when Irvin mentioned that Bills Mafia (The nickname for passionate Buffalo Bills fans) would likely also have done a similar thing and raised money for Josh Allen (starting quarterback of the Bills) and his foundation.

Fitzgerald said, “…I’m like, I like that idea. So, instantly went and found Josh Allen’s foundation. Donated $13 to it, so basically switch the $13 over to Josh Allen’s foundation. Made a quick meme about it, posted it on there, posted a screenshot of my donation and deleted the other one from Facebook and Twitter recommending the Mahomes’ foundation. I said, ‘this is better.’” Within 24 hours of making the post asking fellow Chiefs fans to follow his lead and make donations to Allen’s foundation rather than Mahomes’, Oishei Children’s Hospital found itself receiving thousands of donations.

The Patricia Allen Fund was created in November of 2020 after the passing of Josh Allen’s grandmother. It all started when fans began donating $17, for Allen’s jersey number, to Oishei Children’s Hospital. They originally raised over 1 million dollars for the hospital at that time. The hospital now has a wing named after Allen’s grandmother to honor her. This time though it was fans of an opposing team showing their love for Allen by donating money to the children’s hospital. Andrew Bennet, vice president of the hospital was quoted saying, “Any kids that are growing up, whether they’re playing sports or not, sportsmanship and courtesy and integrity are lifelong lessons and this is a great example of sportsmanship.”

“Bills Mafia was the catalyst in this and we’re just following their lead on it.” Fitzgerald said. As of today, fans have raised over $173 thousand dollars since the playoff game. For Brett Fitzgerald, Allen’s foundation being focused on a children’s hospital is a cause he can relate to and is appreciative of. His 7-year-old boy suffers from asthma and also lives with autism so he spends more time than a parent would like at children’s hospitals. “I have a son with autism. So, he does go to the children’s hospital.”

Donations have slowed down but they are still coming in. This is a trend in the sports world that will hopefully continue and gain momentum as time goes on. Sports are often about bringing people together and community, and few things are better examples of those than charity. Fitzgerald isn’t the first and won’t be the last but his efforts will change the lives of countless children and that’s more amazing than even the greatest playoff games.

The Petrodollar’s Influence on US Foreign Policy

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Logan Davies

There is a considerable chance you have heard that the US government invades countries and steals their oil, and the resource being a driving factor in our foreign policy. This is somewhat correct. Although it may be on a smaller and hushed scale, the government isn’t necessarily invading countries, stealing their oil and proceeding to ship barrels of it back home. One may counter that the US invades countries that are rich in oil, and then maintains an influential presence and places powerful US companies there to conduct the export of the valuable resource, and this is a fair assumption. However, the US government’s presence in the Middle East isn’t necessarily to appropriate oil, rather ensure the longevity of the petrodollar.

The petrodollar’s dawn dates back to the 1940s, particularly after WW2. At the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, the US dollar was established as the world’s reserve currency. The biggest takeaway from the conference was that since the US held most of the world’s gold, it promised to redeem gold to countries in exchange for US dollars. In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt met with the King of Saudi Arabia and formalized an alliance. This cemented a relationship between the dollar and oil, though its marriage would not be knitted until decades later.

Excessive spending in the 1960s on various government programs and the Federal Reserve’s manipulation caused excess dollars to circulate the international economic environment, predictably decreasing its value. This made other countries exchange their dollars for gold at a faster rate, most notably Britain in the early 1970s.

To stop the drain, Nixon removed the US dollar from the gold standard and defaulted on its promise to redeem gold for dollars, which in turn informally ended the Bretton Woods agreement. Since the dollar was no longer redeemable in gold nor backed by any substance of value, countries had no incentive to continue utilizing the dollar as the world reserve currency. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) began discussing accepting payments other than the US dollar, including gold. After removing the US dollar from the gold standard and inciting a shock and widespread inflation, coupled with another shock induced by OPEC’s embargo on nations supporting Israel, the US needed a resolution that would attract countries to keep the dollar as their reserve.

With Saudi Arabia being one of the most prominent and powerful members of OPEC, they and the US strengthened their economic alliance in an agreement known as the United States-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation. With Saudi Arabian influence, OPEC agreed to use US dollars for oil contracts, and would then recycle the US dollars back to the US. In exchange, the US promised to keep the House of Saud in power to ensure the US dollar would be utilized for oil trade. This agreement officially gave birth to the petrodollar.

Concisely, an important factor of the US dollar’s value is its dependency on oil trade and the currency being exchanged between exporting and importing nations. It should be noted, even if the US isn’t involved in trade between particular nations, they use US dollars to purchase the oil. This creates an artificial demand for the US dollar. It is a medium of exchange backed by virtually nothing, with its value being derived from its exchange utility and, of course, debt.

The US dollar is a global currency, and the vast majority of international transactions are priced in US dollars. Therefore, oil-exporting countries receive revenue in US dollars. Due to its widespread use, the national income of many oil-exporting nations is dependent upon the value of the dollar. With the historic market volatility of oil prices, countries that are dependent on the exportation of oil peg their currency to the US dollar, and do this in the instance the value of the dollar falls, making all of their goods and services in their economies fall to prevent damaging inflation or deflation.

In due time, oil-exporting nations began branching out to ensure their economies did not depend solely on oil and thus experience the dreaded Dutch disease. These nations began to recycle their US dollars through sovereign wealth funds, which are invested into non-oil-related ventures essentially making them less dependent on oil. To the alarm of the US, 70% of the 700 billion investable reserve funds are untraceable. If it is invested in US treasury bonds, a mass withdrawal could destabilize the dollar. Most countries won’t attempt this, however, since the US is one of OPEC’s biggest customers.

However, countries that refuse to use or attempt to discard the petrodollar for international trade make trade agreements with one another, using their preferred currencies instead of the petrodollar. Some of examples of these countries are Russia, Iran and Venezuela. A notable nation that faced repercussions and military actions for its attempt to use gold instead of US dollars was Libya.

Conclusively, the US dollar relies heavily, but not exclusively, on its use as a medium of international exchange, and it is vital nations play along and continue to utilize it. The history of the petrodollar offers a convincing explanation of why the US is consistently involved in Middle Eastern affairs. It must continue to satisfy Saudi Arabian interests to ensure they continue to use the US dollar, and install governments and regimes in nations that will employ the petrodollar to ensure the currency’s longevity.

This article was originally published on Being Libertarian.

Students Spend Snow Day Shoveling

Posted on March 14, 2022 by DJ Heal

Franklin County Ohio was placed in a Level 1 snow emergency when a snowstorm rolled into the area. The Level 1 emergency meant that schools were closed and students got to enjoy a snow day. Two teens took the unexpected day out of school as an opportunity to spread some love through the community, according to local news. Jayden Watters, a 15-year-old student at Briggs High School, spent the day with his cousin, Kenny, shoveling sidewalks and driveways for members of the community who needed the extra help.

Jayden decided that morning that he would offer to help shovel snow for people. He had his mom, Ashley, make a post to Facebook to reach out to those who were in need of his services. Jayden quickly found himself with a full day of helping ahead of him and his cousin. Ashley said, “Yeah, when I put it on Facebook my phone started blowing up.”

Before that afternoon the two teens had themselves 8 requests followed by more as the day went on. The three of them spent the day going around the local area and helping clear snow for neighbors. Jayden’s mom recalls the day saying, “I’m just out being his free taxi mom to help him help the community…I’m proud, I raised him up to help others, especially the older people. So, I’m happy.”

Jayden and Kenny offered their services free of charge. Of course, some wouldn’t go for that, offering the two young men tips for their efforts on the day. When Jayden was asked about doing this, he said: “[It feels] really nice. We get done fast, so they’re really appreciative.” According to his mother, “He’s kind-hearted. He’s a big, soft teddy bear.” He hopes that he and his cousin were able to not only help others, but also inspire some to lend a hand as well. “If you can, yeah. It’s always good to help out,” Jayden was quoted saying.

What an awesome gesture and sacrifice this was by these two teens. Willingly giving up a precious snow day to go help the community instead was a wonderful thing. It doesn’t get much more selfless than that! Ashley is right to be a proud mom of such a caring and thoughtful young man. Jayden, Kenny, and Ashley now have a day full of memories all while making the day brighter for others around them. This was a beautiful example of voluntaryism in action, if you ask me.

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Monthly Archives: March 2022

Children’s Hospital Receives Thousands of Donations Following Epic Playoff Game

The Petrodollar’s Influence on US Foreign Policy

Students Spend Snow Day Shoveling