Dear George...From your 'cloud' Mr. Washington, you and the rest of the Intelligent-Universe must be viewing 2021 policies and decisions at all leadership levels--quite mystified. [I use the term leadership loosely because we went from 2016-2020 chaos to 2021 confusion...]
CAPITOL MOB...The events of January 6th will be cemented in our memories for decades to come and in our history for eternity. But--as distressing as events of that Wednesday was and disgraceful as the conduct of educated people were, I'm just as perplexed by why and how the storming of the U.S. Capitol unfolded at all.
I'm puzzled because - in his capacity as Vice President, Mike Pence was to preside over a Joint Session and follow procedure as indicated in the Electoral Count Act - which seemed to me as an opportunity. In completing the Constitutional Electoral Count all facts, information and arguments - both for and against the 2020 Election results - were on the agenda for airing.
However, as we know the time set aside for that important process was violently interrupted - but the resulting invasion of protestors was actually detrimental to Trump/Republicans and more of a benefit to Biden/Democrats... So--who and what truly lit the spark that prompted thousands of 'protestors' to race up the Capitol steps? An inquiry claims that Trump/Supports are to blame.
*[Since Trump would have benefited 'more' from a completed and open Electoral Count debate IF the protesters were all Trump supporters they actually sabotaged that very process. Therefore, after all the dust had settled there was no time for an Electoral Count debate, only a formality vote...]
*[Pipelines are safe, efficient and since most are buried, largely unseen. Rail and trucking through rural and urban areas pose a greater environmental risk.]
IMMIGRATION...Next Biden halted all border wall construction and Covid testing of migrants. Along the U.S. Mexico border spanning 1,954 miles just 650 miles of border wall had been completed by year end 2020. But comparing northern immigration from Canada are we dealing with our southern people crush from the wrong perspective?
Typically people tend to stay 'home', that is where we're born and raised is where we seek to remain unless living conditions become extreme like civil war, drought, governmental corruption, civil rights suppression...You get the idea. But besides 47 of the 54 countries in Africa that get foreign aide - the vast majority of people seeking safe-haven from poverty and violence in their home country of birth are from the same southern countries America sends aide to. In 2020 El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico received 22 Million dollars in aide. And since the 2010 earth quake, aide allocated to Haiti was 2.3 Billion for reconstruction and development. However, what's been reconstructed or developed?
*[Is our foreign aide tax-dollar paid with too few 'strings' or oversight to government officials too morally compromised to lead?]
COVID-19...After funneling between 18 and 23 Billion dollars of taxpayer funds into the development of a
*[Both administrations followed the same conflicting/contradictory 'expert' bureaucratic medical advise from overpaid, incompetent people who had no pandemic plan in place - as was their directive - either in the CDC or National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.]
ECONOMY... The 2020 Lock-Down [called for by those same CDC and NIAD medical experts] caused an artificial halt to general productivity except in durable goods like food production and toilet paper... The Federal Reserve still keeps interest rates artificially low mainly because major corporations borrowed to expand and buy back stock so if the Fed raises rates hundreds of companies would face higher loan payments or worse. People and pensions that once could earn interest in a savings account and CDs or Treasuries and Municipal Bonds only have the Stock Market. With no interest or so little return paid for a savings account or CD we're in high risk stocks hoping that over paid CEOs avoid fraud [like Theranos] or mismanagement [like Boeing] and run their companies ethically.
*[Inflation which is typical after a major increase in wages, is actually pushing 11%. labelled 'transitory' [brief, fleeting, short-lived] by the Federal Reserve. Are American tax papers made of money? NO, but our elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats can certainly print IT faster than a speeding bullet--which effectively fuels inflation.]
SUPPLY CHAIN... Supply-chain issues of 2020 shifted from masks, gowns, gloves and ventilators to supplies of technology parts for vehicles, major appliances and replacement parts in general. Suddenly used cars shot up in value worth more than they were new - with a continued shortage [supposedly] of 2021 vehicle models. On any given month depending on the whim of some theatrical TV news producer there was a shortage of some kind - obviously designed to explain the inflated prices of everything from computer chips to pumpkins.
*[Canada, Mexico & the U.S. does not need the rest of the world it's the other way around. Our combined resources of people, climate and minerals make North America completely self-sufficient...]
*[Blaming innocent milk cows and beef cattle for CO2 emissions is a low blow to farmers and ranchers who work to keep thousands of environmentalists fed - so 'they' can possibly account for the effects on our climate of numerous natural, ongoing eruptions such as the 6,000 to 9,000 tons of SO2 [Sulphur Dioxide with ash & aerosol particles] from volcanoes like La Palma in Spain...Also Kilauea & Paviot in the U.S. Copahue in Chile and the latest, Indonsesia].
FOREIGN AFFAIRS...Biden pulled all military troops from Afghanistan in August. This long over due move should have and could have been completed with bin Laden's death ten years ago - except there were far too many lucrative commitments with private contractors. In 20 years what did America and allies accomplish? Did we improve an increased standard of living that Afghan people could build upon with infrastructure and education and an expanded industry in mining or enhanced farming technology methods - instead of poppy crops? No.
*[Because the 20 year occupation of Afghanistan was for the blatant self-interest of a few - paid for by the U.S. taxpayer at the cost of our own infrastructure - we left behind yet another country in need of ongoing foreign aide for which there is little accountability.]
EDUCATION...Public School Teachers Union objected to unsafe classroom conditions though [through out 2020] private Catholic and Jewish schools along with Charter schools provided in classroom learning -and- bank tellers, grocery clerks, transit drivers, police, fire and hospital workers faced far more Covid19 issues every day for months on behalf of those public school teachers.
*[American public school education had dropped in Global ranking to 27th by 2018 [from 6th in 1993] - so where we are now is an even wider gap between the fully educated and the marginally educated...]
INFRASTRUCTURE... As mentioned in Foreign Affairs 20 years of war [at a cost of about 45 Billion a
*[Government Accountability Office [GAO] is an independent nonpartisan Agency that works for Congress - responsible for auditing operations to determine if funds are being spent efficiently and effectively and reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting objectives. Obviously they're short staffed...]
CRIME...Well--lately school shootings are back in the news - so what happened to the money that was supposed to be allocated for school security? And also large organized gangs raid entire stores of valuable merchandise. Protests aren't peaceful and haven't been since Ferguson, with paid and armed agitators mixed in with easily angered locals who indiscriminately loot and destroy their own communities and neighborhood businesses. The blacks feel victimized, the Asians feel victimized, the Muslims and Jews feel victimized, Native Americans feel victimized. Hispanics feel victimized and the whites are made to believe they are the sole source of all fault. Who and what profits from so much unrest and division with a biased hourly - daily barrage of half truths and exaggerations?
*[The Press was provided protection in the U.S. Constitution so as to expose corruption in government - but how is corruption exposed in the Press?]
THE NEW YEAR...We don't actually need to wait until January 1, 2022 to restart - each minute, each hour each day is another opportunity to restart. We restart 1st by listening to our own sense of what's right - it's easy - just do unto others. 2nd stop listening to the television 'talking-heads' - do some of your own research then object to businesses that advertise on networks that don't provide balanced news coverage. 3rd make an effort to know who your [present] elected official is and what they say compared with what they actually 'do'. 4th since Congress refuses to set themselves term limits [or age limits] we can automatically vote for an opposing candidate if someone is running beyond a third term in public office. And finally try not to think in terms of liberal or conservative--Republican or Democrat--think independent and embrace both, because our society truly needs both for balance. We need strong public education, effective public healthcare, supportive social programs in partnership with innovative free enterprise commerce to pay for everything and stay progressive.
*[Globally, we truly do not have enemies - competitors yes, but enemies no. Germany and Japan became valued allies - so why not Russia, China and Iran too. Since thousands of years of 'war' hasn't really worked that well for human progress - perhaps we should try something else...]
Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award winning mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...
patchworkpublishing.com
