DIS-MIS-INFORMATION IN AMERICA

I was torn. The title of this blog could have been 'LIES IN AMERICA' but decided to go the PC[ish] route instead.

I just recently realized I can't compete, because far too many politicians and media personalities and corporate CEOs and other Experts - spew far better 'fiction' than I do. [At least I research some facts as well!]

Moving on...

Contrary to the avalanche of disinformation and misinformation peppered at Main-Street all day, every day, the vast majority of people in this country actually 'like' the other people in this country. 

Lie #1--America Is A Racists Country...Pockets of intolerance exists, but We-The-People tend to welcome new immigrants, from anywhere, because all of our ancestors came from everywhere. We tend to like Muslims, Buddhists, Mormons, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, Amish, Christian Science, Hindus, Lutherans, Anglicans and other faiths. We tend to like music and art and all kinds of food that originated in other countries - enthusiastically exploring any new restaurant that opens within a 30 mile radius. By nature, we're more curious than hostile toward people of color and those whose ancestors once spoke languages other than [American] English because...In my own family [scandal] my Jewish great grandmother married my Irish Catholic great grandfather in December 1899 and my grandfather was born four months later - who intern later married my grandmother a Norwegian immigrant [1920] - whose father abandoned his family in Norway to come to America [1904] then took up with a housekeeper in Wisconsin...

Watching Henry Louis Gates Jr's program "Finding Your Roots" [PBS]  I discovered I'm just as Irish as Dr. Gates. I'm made up of DNA shared by ancestors who came from many global corners. I'm a biological salad...Actually, WE ALL ARE. In my immediate family, either siblings or offspring have married people whose ancestors came from South Korea, from Turkey, from Egypt, from Mexico and South Vietnam. So how can I object to those cultures when people from those cultures are now three in-laws, six nephews and one grand daughter...They too are now part of my salad. Adding them to our family has enriched us as I hope we have enriched theirs. WHICH, looking beyond the negative news headlines and out-of-touch social policies - has been happening every single day for decades all across America via intermarriage!

Lie #2--We Need More Vaccinations For Herd Immunity...We're 'at' Herd Immunity and have been since July. [But I have since updated my numbers to include mid August.] If we add the number of confirmed Covid-cases [39,488,866 M] from March 2020 to August 16, 2021 to the number of fully vaccinated [168,400,000+ M 12 & older] added to an estimated number who have immunity because they got Covid, but never saw a hospital 19,000,000+ M. [Never mind those with partial immunity/single dose--the simple math total of cases plus vaccinations is [now] at 227,633,299+ Million... The U.S. population [2020 Census] is 331,450,000 M - however, we must subtract from that total census the number children under age 11 [27,988,700], which brings us [no drum roll necessary] to 303,461,300. 

The CDC contends [and we all know how 'clear' they are] that herd immunity is anywhere from 50 to 90% depending on the severity of the infection rate. Since Covid [still] has a less than 2% death to infection rate that puts herd immunity for Covid at about 70%. So--using that ratio of cases with vaccinations--to population says 'herd' to me. As for the Delta and Mu 'variant' - we're still not getting any reliable data on those...

Perhaps the medical-experts we keep hearing from [who tend to contradict themselves on a regular basis] didn't take the same biology classes that I did. Maybe I took the wrong ones...But, Mr Taylor, one of my favorite science teachers taught one of my favorite subjects in high school and I paid attention. In my senior year [for some reason] the chapters on our human immune system stayed with me because I found the information fascinating. 

The biological mechanics of our bodies [actually all life] is an engineering marvel. Believe it or not, our cells possess cell-memory. Besides being pre-programmed with our own unique DNA [sifted from that potpourri collection of ancestors] our cells can readjust and transform and remember. Our immune system is designed in an exceptional way to keep us as healthy as possible. Ever wonder why you seem to get fewer and fewer colds as you age? Ever wonder why the younger people in your office or business are typically more pron to the flu than you are if you're over the age of 50? That's because IF your body has ever been exposed to a virus and your body's immune system fought off that virus - the cells in your immune system remember. I know, I know our cells die off and get replaced - but those older cells pass on memory information to the new cells that replace them! How amazing is that! AND this memory is for your lifetime - not a few weeks or a few months, but for the entire span of your life.

Lie #3--Global Warming...Ever since Al Gore initiated this hysterical-trend I'm often screaming into a pillow. I took geology at the University of Alberta. But without a masters or doctorate, I waited expecting we'd soon hear from a respected, prominent professional with ethics and a PhD in geology - to speak up! But Global Warming suddenly became a research grant money, golden-goose that no one was about counter. 

Of course there's global warming, it's natural. There has been global warming before. Earth has had five major ice-ages and in between there have also been warming cycles. What isn't natural about Earth presently is how human trash is accumulating without any dedicated, effective effort to address human trash. [Carbon dioxide from all the hot-air political speeches alone are a problem.] Anyway - before my children learned the joys of flush toilets, cloth diapers were part of our everyday laundry adventure. Cloth diapers and cloth potty training pants and cloth dust rags and cloth napkins could be washed and reused. Paper grocery bags broke down as mulch in garden soil. Glass soda bottles, milk bottles and glass ketchup, mustard, salad dressing containers could be turned in washed then reused. None of that ended up as waste in landfill sites or in the oceans to choke innocent marine life. 

And while the parade of paid researchers push clean-green energy like wind, sunlight and electric vehicles they condemn natural gas and uranium. Even more inconsistent these same [expert] critics made plastic straws a trash villain while ignoring the impact of 60 million plastic water bottles used each day just in the United States. [Then there's plastic bags, plastic food containers, hair and beauty products, diapers and oh yeah those pull-ups potty training pants.] The next favorite target of loud environmental groups is blaming the petroleum industry for much of global-warming neatly ignoring the devastation of forests world wide -and- the vital role petroleum plays in the manufacture, transportation and maintenance of wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars. [Typically it takes two barrels of oil just to make one solar panel and many more barrels of oil for one wind turbine and one Tesla.]

 I'm only a fiction writer and former journalist - but I'm not stupid and either are you. Researching facts for what I do with detailed mystery-suspense plots is a learned skill. You can research too. The vast majority of people have the ability to comprehend all manner of complicated concepts and information, but we need accurate information - not propaganda. Then we need to let our elected representatives know - that we know what we know...

We have too many fearful young children because those young children have too many fearful parents and those parents are fearful because they were deliberately and systematically lied to by too many people who had too much money to gain by their actions. Follow the money...Who gains from perpetuating social fear? Who gains from an ongoing viral fear? Who gains from creating environmental fear? 

 https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

*Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...

Via amazon.com  or  patchworkpublishing.com

MG/YA Mystery Series [Mosquito Creek Detective Club] Book1 "Mosquito Creek Inn"

Adult Suspense Thriller: "Fine Points Malice And Payback"

 

MOTIVATION IN AMERICA

Dear George... Naturally curious or some might say snoopy--I wondered why certain corporations publicly objected to Georgia's newly revised voting laws. So much so that they held press conferences threatening to move. Where exactly was not always mentioned. Then Major League Baseball did move from Georgia TO ironically Colorado a state that already had similar voting standards.

Okay - let's take a deep breath then look at this latest circus event from another perspective...What was/is so much corporate Motivation? Was it pressure by shareholders? Was it objections from investors or fans? [Though certainly not from ticket holders in Georgia.] Was it from the employees of each company and Major League Baseball or some of the sports talent? I might have missed a press conference held by ball players...

Curious again I asked the world-wide-web for a definition of Motivation. Naturally both Bing and Google were able to oblige: *--the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way--*--the general desire or willingness of someone to do something. Okay, but not really helpful. But-then--I noticed that Wikipedia devoted 31 pages to the subject of Motivation! Seriously? Thirty-one pages! My inquisitive side was off the charts. And - you're gonna luv this because motivation can explain much of what has been so perplexing - of - late... 

Motivation can explain why people behave as they do - but does not excuse any harmful behavior... Neuroscience aside with its studies in psychological theories and content theories - we'll have fun with more of that as we go. 

Remember junior high/middle school? Of course you do everyone does, typically for all the same reasons we'd like to forget junior high/middle school. Those years were the onset of puberty with greasy hair, excess sweating, awkward growth spurts, voice changes, pimples, getting glasses and/or braces and developing biological changes...Like watching what we knew of ourselves to age 11 morphing into something we hardly recognized! Yup we all remember...

Life abruptly gets far more complicated after 12 biologically and socially. However, it's the social weight of transitioning from dependent child to [emerging] independent adult that generates the root of unconscious and conscious motivation. 

Insecure people are dangerous people and typically the same people with arrested adolescent development--had their 'transitioning' from immature to mature--interrupted. As insecure people - any politicians, CEOs, managers or your supervisor - are easy to spot, but not so easy to deal with. They ridicule, they are inconsistent, petty, blame circumstance or others, deny responsibility a-n-d  lacking confidence they're influenced by trends like 'woke'...

An enterprising research psychologist named Abraham Maslow created a pyramid to demonstrate his hierarchy of needs -and- right in the middle is Social/Friendship/Belonging. Which brings us to the In-Crowd. Every school had one [or more]. From the perspective of at least a decade after graduation if you were able to shed that heavy weight of inclusion-exclusion you've grown beyond that handicap. [It's ever so freeing to arrive at; "I'm flawed, but I'm okay."]

We should speak up and protest--Martin Luther King and Gloria Steinem taught us that. But what is it truly that motivates the hundreds of angry protestors we have seen these last several months? Are the protestors being paid? Are the protestors legitimately concerned? If they are why are they damaging private property and looting?

A self-serving motivation is swirling around by disruptive special interest groups - not just in America, but globally, seeking to turn daily life up-sideways... Our 'job' that of 'we' the general public of everyday logical liberals and conservatives - who manage our own education, homes, families, businesses or careers - is to think beyond 'what' some people are doing--to 'why' some people are doing it. When you hear a network news soundbite or read a newsprint headline ask: "What are they 'not' telling me? What information is missing that I should know?"

Why is someone running for public office or robbing banks or cheating investors or joining a church or buying a new car or enduring a facelift OR moving an entire baseball, All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado? 

It would appear to be a contradiction for the executives in any free enterprise corporation such as: Delta, Coca-Cola, Merck, Bank of America, Porsche, UPS, Home Depot, JP Morgan, Cisco, Citi-Group, Mercedes-Benz to dive into a sociopolitical debate on voting. If they had read all the revisions they had no cause for concern - unless, there was an alternate motivation. Did members of the executive boards in these companies want to appear as concerned corporate citizens to keep their market-share -or- to stay off the radar of a tax-happy administration? [No one wants to be in the crosshair sights of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren.] 

Our left leg and right leg work in balance. Our right arm and left arm are still 'joined' in the middle...[Perhaps a pathetic analogy, sorry.] Regardless, our humanity is designed to work in balance, joined in the middle - just ask Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.  The hidden motivations of those who do 'not' feel 'okay' become many moving parts designed to keep Main Street voters distracted from looking too deep or even asking the right questions - never mind 'any' questions.

What is 'my' motivation? It's not money because though my Blog readership in a few short months is now several thousand I chose not to sign on for advertising. Nor fame, if that was important I would not have walked away from a promising opportunity in theater. My motivation for each published blog is similar to that of anyone who might witness a car accident then rush to help should anyone be injured... [If you/we/me are able to speak up then you/we/me have a responsibility to speak up.] But, by all means do-not take my Blog for any value--question my work too.

Always, always, please - think for yourself. Speak up, but with a calm purpose. Speak up or email any and all elected representatives for your city, county, state. Their motivation for seeking public office should be to 'serve' your city, county, state - not the reverse...

 https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

*Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...

Via amazon.com  or  patchworkpublishing.com 

Suspense-Thriller: "Woodrow & Wren" The Rule Of Three

Suspense-Thriller: "Behind The Sun"

    

'AWAKE' IN AMERICA

 

Dear George...It's spring 2021 and I'm not sure you could recognize the Republic for which you crossed the Delaware in the dead of winter to form. 

'WOKE' is the latest catchword our national Press-theater [posing as journalism] blasts across the headlines of most print and network news. Naturally curious I looked up the word [in Webster's New World Dictionary] and woke is actually the past tense of wake.  

Being past-tense is appropriate - because those who believe they are 'progressive' are actually not as aware as they think. In fact they are following a carefully crafted agenda not leading [themselves] with their own independent thought. But independent thought or analysis or questioning or curiosity is not what those pushing the 'counter-culture' want their 'followers' to do.

Don't misunderstand me--I'm truly thrilled that as a nation we're having renewed, difficult and uncomfortable dialogue about race and gender. What Martin Luther King began in the late 1950s and Gloria Steinem launched in the early 1970s - was systematically diluted by the late 1990s. And ironically, what both Dr. King and Ms Steinem marched for was quietly shelved by the very group of people who would convince us they care deeply about balanced race relations and gender equality...Hogwash...Extremists don't care about 'balance' they care about 'control'.

How does a subversive group with a covert agenda attain control? This process is a long-game...So much so that most people live their entire lives not noticing subtle, erosion changing around them. [Germany, 1933--Venezuela, 1980...] 

First, provide just enough education so people believe they're learning. And they are, but with a narrow curriculum of selected material knowledge is not broad it's limited. America's public school education from the early 1950s to early 1990s was first rate. Once upon a time...American students graduating from high school with a grade 12 education had the equivalent of what is now 2nd year college, general studies. From 1993 to 2018 America's world standing in public school education dropped from 6th place to 28th - two years before Covid19 hit. Also from the mid 1990s to present was a sudden leap in college and university tuition. So much so that low income and middle class students who were once able to work part time while earning an advanced degree either dropped out or graduated with twice the debt load as their peers had in the 1980s. What does this mean? It means those who can afford to pay for a better curriculum [both primary and secondary] get a better education. Actually 'they' get a 'full' education. 

[Knowledge is power...But people need honest education not skewed propaganda. Education seeks to expand our mind so we learn to 'think' for ourselves. Propaganda seeks to 'change' our mind so we think as directed. ]

Second, create division. A proven military strategy is: "divide and conquer". And, presently we are quite divided.  1.--We are divided politically...The 'style' of Donald J. Trump soon became gasoline on smoldering suspicion by entrenched, career politicians who felt invaded by an outsider they feared could expose their secrets. Having said that, DJT's abrasive approach did not [as yet] expose specifics, but did expose mini empire building and a vast network of corruption that does permeate several of our DC government departments.  2.-- We are divided economically...Since the mid 1990s salaries and compensation of corporate CEOs and executives has taken the same giant leaps upward just as university and college tuition. This swift shift effectively stranded the once upwardly mobile, majority middle class becoming a weaker, dwindling block.  3.--We are divided culturally via race. Since everyone from everywhere came 'here', culturally we should [all] think of ourselves as American[s] and we did up to the late 1950s. Then with new inequity awareness of the Negro in the 1960s a rapidly expanding liberal element in our national Press Corp began to focus on minorities for news-profit. Effectively all American citizens with a 'minority' ancestry were cut-from-the-herd as Americans and promoted as  Something-else-American. [A citizenship designation not found in other countries, not even other melting-pot nations like Canada or Australia or the UK.] No European immigrants are labelled by the news media such as: French-American or Norwegian-American...Why is that?

Third, count on disbelief. While researching historical facts for my last mystery-suspense novel ["Come Sit In My Kitchen"] I discovered something quite startling that hadn't resonated with me for an earlier novel ["24 Sussex Drive] because now our stark, artificial divisions are made so obvious. What resounded, during the research of my last book was not just the statistics for the number of Nazi spies and sympathizers [estimated 5 million] who infiltrated everyday life in Canada and the United States [between World War I and World War II] but that the mindset never 'left' after WWII ended. That manic attitude driving the quest for total domination not only stayed it multiplied like bacteria. Senator Joseph McCarthy tried, but while he created Black Lists of suspected Communist supporters and chased their shadows from as many obscure corners as he could--he earned the reputation as that of a lunatic. However, we should have been paying closer attention. Because McCarthy's methods concentrated mostly on easy to accuse high profile wealthy people and celebrities - the real Communists, Marxists, Nazis and social threats seeking a dictatorial opportunity - worked in hiding.  

 From here forward...We need to pay attention and adopt the courage of Martin Luther King's peaceful protest, by questioning rather than accepting. 

The energy of King's social quest not only shone a wide, bright light on the daily imbalance of black lives in America, it lead to other organized protests for so many other causes. Today we have a greater awareness of the: disabled, equal pay and opportunity for women and every minority. Impartial hiring and promotion practices for women, the gay community and minorities, non-discriminatory college admissions and fair lending practices for women and minorities...These are only a tiny few of the changes thanks to the peaceful-protest wave that MLK started.

There are ruthless people hiding their intentions with self-serving plans that don't include the continued "pursuit of happiness" we can earn on our own. But MainStreet [liberal and conservative] can only detour selfish plans by understanding WeThePeople have been sucked into an outdated Cold War propaganda that sets us up for unrealistic beliefs. America is a great country, but to claim it's the 'greatest' in the world insults all people living happily in another homeland. And the WWII hold over that our president is; 'Leader of the Free World' is also an unacceptable offense. 

The United States was formed so all people who wanted to - regardless of birth circumstance - could work to climb out of poverty, becoming more than a serf beholden to a king, or a landlord or a government. The United Nations was formed for global citizens to unite in support and peace regardless of philosophies. 

Personally I'm against abortion--but I'll fight to support the right for anyone else to choose...Personally I'm for self reliance and free enterprise, but also understand that there must be a certain number of social programs for those who truly need them. Personally I'm not a 12 hour a day person in pursuit of wealth, but I'll fight against a 'tax' that seeks to take what you worked long hours for because I can't be bothered... So my fellow-Travelers to protect what we hold dear - what is required of a free people in a free nation involves more than the catchword WOKE - it requires of us to truly be aware and AWAKE...

 https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

 

*Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist.

Via amazon.com  or  patchworkpublishing.com 

Suspense-Thriller: "Behind The Sun"

MG/YA Mystical-Adventure: "The Crow Child"

 

 

   

BIAS IN AMERICA

Dear George...I selected 'Bias' In America Mr. Washington instead of Racism In America because bias offers me a broad brush for rambling thoughts a-n-d I'm all about leeway when it comes to scope in order to make a point...However, America's [focus on] racism shall be a component.

Just as a reminder in case you're a new reader, I'm a registered Independent who has voted for political candidates from both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party as it's clear that ethical-quality varies a great deal. 

So, I have no 'bias' with either liberal or conservative views unless they're extreme. And the extremes that have hatched of late [more openly in the last five years] are not healthy for any cause. I am therefore [for the record] a liberal-conservative or conservative-liberal - a Republocrat - perhaps. I am also a dual citizen - born in the U.S. to an American mother who married a Canadian. Then at the age of five my American mother and Canadian dad decided we should move from Washington State to the Province of Alberta - where I proceeded to be educated [somewhat].

My entire background then from birth has been to consider and embrace more than one team or consider more than one side of a viewpoint. And it's from having lived through specific experiences that 'all' of us are aided to develop a broader frame of reference from which to make evaluations - age/maturity helps a great deal too. 

Okay - so wake up - cause now we're getting to some of the good stuff. 

BIAS through the centuries of human history has taken on varied significance depending on the evolution of each culture. Was there bias in the Declaration of Independence and framing the U.S. Constitution? Yes..."All men are created equal." Did the Founding Fathers mean 'mankind' or 'men' literally? Clearly understanding the times - they meant 'men' in the literal sense. If they had been more enlightened or progressive, they would have written "All people are created equal." But they did not because - even though females have always been and are 50% of the global population - in 1776 as much as the Founding Fathers loved their aunts, nieces, sisters, mothers, wives and daughters--females were not even a consideration.

When I moved back to the United States in 1990, I was struck by the phrase "women and minorities" because growing up in Canada I had never heard women separated out by gender or anyone else described as a minority. In Canada people were either Canadians or applying for citizenship or just visiting before winter hit. And amazingly those two designations have not altered much since 1990...NB to readers...Having lived in three countries and traveled a fair amount for work--America truly needs to catch up to the rest of the world. [The stubborn attitude toward little change in the design of their currency translates to other areas too.]

Moving on...Canada's First Nations and America's Native Americans far from being 'savages' were highly evolved. They lived in harmony with nature neither taking more than they needed nor wasting what they did take. The same can be said for the Aboriginal Australians - but that's about where any remarkable human evolution ends. Why do I say that, well looking at the indigenous social structure - everyone pitched in men and women - everyone was respected regardless of age [children and elderly] and there was cooperation, functional standards and fair rules applied to everyone. There were leaders/chiefs, but that leader was part of a council. There were wise women and men - medicine women and men. 

Having been all warm and fuzzy about indigenous people - I can hear you screaming! What about the Indian tribes that attacked other Indian tribes? I have touched on aggression, arrogance and greed in other blogs and that too existed among some of the various tribes. But the consequences of those hostile tribes were never translated to a global scale as it was with the Roman Empire [morphed to the Roman Catholic Church] or the disruptive consequences of the British Empire or leadership extremes like that of Napoleon or Hitler...

Historically beings from another galaxy might think that the creatures on Earth with the most testosterone have been the cause of this planet's greatest upsets. However, there's plenty of historical and current evidence to prove that creatures with the most estrogen are also capable of ruthless cruelty...Males have just been leading more charges more often for more years...

RACISM is in the news everyday - seemingly all day. Because of that our untried - untested younger generations can be forgiven for only looking at race through a narrow prism of citizens whose ancestors originated somewhere on the vast continent of Africa. Sadly, they are viewed that way because it is presented through a narrow prism by print and network news. [Shame on the Press...Jan 15 blog: JOURNALISM IN AMERICA]

But Africa is huge. Of the world's seven continents Africa is the second largest with a land mass of 11.73 million square miles. The ancestors of Americans with an African heritage would have come from one of 54 separate countries. 

African heritage like the continent is varied, every bit as varied as Americans with a Hispanic heritage or a European heritage. There are 21 Hispanic countries scattered over three continents with some overlap of Spanish speaking countries included in with the 44 European countries. The Asian Continent is made up of 48 countries including India and Pakistan. And - where is this geography sprint heading? It's heading - fellow travelers - to racism in all its present confusion and historical mess.

The latest snappy phrase media now uses to spice up headlines is White Privilege, but white-privilege does not exist. Privilege is complicated. Is someone privileged because they hold a public office? Is someone privileged because they weren't abused as a child and grew up in a home with both parents instead of foster care or with a single parent? Is someone privileged because they own their own business or because they have a college degree? Privilege has many, many, many layers and compressing Americans of European ancestry into a corner labelled 'advantaged' does a huge disservice to the thousands of indentured servants [like my Irish great grandfather] and disadvantaged poor [like my Norwegian great grandfather] of frightened men and women who arrived with only the clothes they wore, little or no education and often no English.

All of us are from everywhere - literally. We're all immigrants of some kind and in some form. No matter who our great grandparents were - every race has taken turns struggling on the receiving end of prejudicial treatment. [eg: Irish Need Not Apply] Does that make what has happened and is happening to Blacks in America justified - 'NO' - but be patient I'm getting to that.

BULLYING doesn't necessarily show itself in the form of a threat on a playground or as a workplace manager. Bullying can be as subtle as requiring people to; 'go to confession' every week or to 'see something say something' or scare your citizens to stay indoors following the lock-down lead of a communist country... My theory is that a shadow form of bullying is at the root of how the momentum that Martin Luther King began, has deteriorated from so much promise in the 1960s [Guess Who's Coming To Dinner - Julia - Mary Tyler Moore - I Spy] and 1970s [Sanford & Son - Moving On Up - All In The Family - Shaft] and 1980s [Running Scared -The Cosby Show - Golden Girls]. For three decades movies and weekly television entertainment actually mirrored the strides Main Street was attempting by teaching with some humor and thoughtful plots.

But harmony does not sell as many newspapers, fear does. And contented-productive voters aren't as easy to control. Worried-anxious voters - become convinced via daily media that government [run by people no better than you or I] must step in to--correct: a terrorist attack by going to war -or- correct a financial crisis by bailing out the banks -or- correct a pandemic by a shutdown of all social and democratic function...

By the 1990s the social growing pains of the 60s, 70s and 80s had begun to send much of America well on its way to correction territory. Fair housing and lending laws forced companies and banking to hire, to rent and to loan to women and minorities. Leveling the social playing field had to be legislated - but bias and racism and bullying persisted in the places where there were 'holes' in the legislation.

Take heart - because in one tiny corner of America - where one small logical thread may begin to unravel bias and racism and bullying--we find the city of Evanston, Illinois. In Evanston, the town council developed a well thought out proposal for implementing a plan of Reparations. The Reparations has 'not' been tied to slavery, but to the unfair lending and business practices of the early 20th Century. From there who knows, maybe equal pay for women, maybe an end to workplace and sexual harassment. Maybe males and females stop competing and work in partnership. Maybe people finally discover that when we 'share' we actually have more. Maybe... 

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

*Sherrie Todd-Beshore is now a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist...

Patchwork Publishing, LLC

Suspense-Thriller: "Come Sit In My Kitchen"

Suspense-Thriller: "Woodrow And Wren" The Rule Of Three

 

 

 

   

BALANCE IN AMERICA

 Dear George...As you know from experience balance and leadership can be tricky. But it's even trickier when ethics is tossed aside as if it was an option...

As unsettling as Donald Trump's entry into DC politics was - spiced even more by a global pandemic that peppered the lives of everyone like a shotgun during the election year of Trump's Presidency - both Trump and Covid19 were actually steps toward restoring balance. 

Never mind making that face...I know what you're thinking. The old gal was in quarantine too long! Right?  I wasn't really. As a writer for many decades, self isolation is part of the deal and most book authors didn't even notice. So the limitations that covid pressed on the entire world was not such a hardship for the vast majority of professional writers. [That means the faculties with which I functioned pre-covid weren't affected - though, that said, perhaps I'm not the best judge of my original pre-covid faculties...

Regardless, after making that 'face' and thinking: How the hell did Donald Trump and Covid19 bring balance? I shall attempt to share my theory...

Main Street Delusion: Before Donald Trump there was a popular misconception that 'anyone' could be President of the United States.We now know that isn't entirely so... Presidents are expected to come from the ranks of a political-herd so you learn the secret hand-shake, so you learn when to look the other way, so you learn how things are typically done. But - DJT though a recognizable personality - came from the ranks of WeThePeople. 

Trump was not a career politician, he hadn't held any public office to seek fame and fortune, he already had both. Though - after years of meeting with and eating with and negotiating with career politicians here and all over the globe - Trump knew all too well 'how-things' were typically done. That meant he knew all too well 'how-things' should be done. When horror of horror's happened and the celebrity businessman, New Yorker was actually elected - all keys-to-the-kingdom 'with' all it's secrets - had to be handed over to someone DC considered to be a loud-mouth-loose-canon. 

In a blink, the politically entrenched on both sides of the House and Senate rushed into damage control, Big Time! And Trump [for all the good intentions he had and for all the overdue changes needed and for all the programs he started] soon - foolishly began to hand his sizeable opposition many many rounds of ammunition they could use against him. The massive, daily, relentless character smear campaign was designed so that if Trump 'talked' - if he 'told' any long hidden political secrets - his credibility could easily be questioned. But that smear-machine would not have ultimately led to Trump's 2020 defeat 'if' Trump himself had maintain rational thinking and not sabotaged all three national debates as he did. [What was it that Shakespear wrote: "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars but in ourselves..." Substitute Trump for Brutus and 'that' is what happened in November 2020.] 

*The years of Trump exposed; how biased, how ambiguous and how ethically weak U.S.journalism truly is - and - how tribal, insincere and ruthless too many U.S. career politicians truly are. 2016 to 2020 also exposed just how far voters allowed elected representatives to 'drift' from our Constitution. In his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln spoke to the original intention of the new Republic as: "...a government of the people, for the people, 'by' the people..." Which - has evolved to become a government of the Congress, for the Congress, 'by' the Congress.

Main Street Fractured: Before Covid19 the vast majority of parents/families, couples and career focused singles were in a constant-rush. Families, rushed from school to music lessons, to swimming lessons, to sports practices, to fast food, to golf, to yoga, to - you name it, from dawn to dusk every - single - day...Many couples had to pencil in a 'date-night' if they children or not because their waking hours were so packed.

Career focused singles were so career focused they had no social life so had to look for a possible romantic partner via an artificial [online] match-maker.

When I started in 1973 [with keypunch cards] computer technology was a tool designed and intended for humans to control. And believe me from a writer's perspective the ability to move entire paragraphs from one page to another - 'without' needing to retype entire pages is wonderful!  However, five decades later that technology tool has grown and expanded to a position that is controlling humans.

In a blink covid changed much of that. While technology allowed millions to keep their jobs because they could work from home and most kids to keep learning [somewhat] because they could take classes online - parents and couples and singles were instantly isolated. However, except for sad abusive environments, the majority of parents rediscovered their kids. Most parents got to reacquaint themselves with their kids and renew bonds. Thousands of husbands and wives got the opportunity to reconnect with their spouse. Thousands of singles rediscovered 'family' and friends they had not communicated with regularly for months - for some it had been years.

*The year of Covid19 lock-down exposed; how fractured we had become as a society with fractured communities and families and individuals who were distracted, paying more attention to the next big-thing than relationships. 

Covid19 forced us to look inward and to the massive support structure that keeps our culture working. It created an new appreciation for so much we took for granted like; teachers, grocery workers, truckers and utility workers, bank tellers, everyone in the medical field, police and firefighters, our trash collectors, gardeners, hair stylists, retail clerks---our post office and our military...  

Where is Balance In America? Balance is in all those 'places' in our memories and in our hearts and with all those people we would miss if both those places and people were gone. When we believe we don't have time to call someone or don't have time to take a break for a walk or an ice cream cone - we're out of balance...

For 2021, ironically not only America, but our globe has an opportunity for a reset because Trump and Covid19 influenced all politics and all cultures. Viewed then from that perspective - as we 'recover' from the experience of both, what do we want to keep and what are we going to make an effort to change?

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

*Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery suspense novelist and former journalist.

Via amazon.com or patchworkpublishing.com 

Suspense-Thriller: "The Count Of Baldpate"

Sequel: "Year Of The Dog"

BANKING IN AMERICA

Dear George...On the surface - one might consider banking as a noble enterprise... However, for those 'still' in recovery mode from the 2008 Financial Crisis--the word 'noble' doesn't first spring to mind. And if you believe the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act was truly, Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection--then you must also believe in the Tooth Fairy...

Once upon a time on a distant planet in a galaxy far, far away [and it matters not if you subscribe to Evolution, Reincarnation or Darwin] bankers landed here. And, the Universe has yet to unfold as it should - let alone recover.

Fact is, early bankers and financiers were little more than well dressed pirates who made the first boatload of  prison-colonists dumped on the shores of Australia resemble British gentry. But nothing our bankers have done since is more impressive than the image they have managed to stamp on our minds of their own unsullied history. A history supposedly steeped in tradition, integrity and stability. 

Tradition: a popular, but all too prevailing misconception is that banks strive to serve. Fiddlesticks! Banks were always and are in the retail business. Banks buy and sell money and they do it for a profit. [Buyer beware absolutely applies.] Banks buy/hold Aunt Helen's CD for five years at 0.8% then sell her cash-equity [with others] as a car loan to her neighbor Sid for 8% depending on his credit rating. 

Another legend is that banks keep your funds safe. Ugh!  Remember Dodd-Frank?  It's a complicated law, but a simplified part of that slippery piece of legislature affects you and me; "...a U.S. bank may take its depositors funds [our checking, savings, CD's, IRA & 401k accounts]and use those funds when necessary to keep itself afloat..." Banks can't go under, but depositors 'shall' be sacrificed at the bank teller's window. For a recent example--got any friends or relatives in Cyprus? In 2013 in a process known as a 'bail-in' a percentage of all deposits exceeding 100,000 euros became seized funds. The process converted cash exchanged for equity shares. [Shares/paper redeemable in the future as/when the bank allowed.] Essentially a Greek Cypriot who went to bed Friday night with 200,000 or more in their account woke up Monday morning to half.

Integrity: t'is also rumored that banks know what they're doing. This too is duck-dodo. Only the tellers know what they are doing. All of the other goop created by high priced banking brass is a lot of lucky guesses and sometimes not so lucky--if you were a recipient of policies for which Wells Fargo has been penalized by regulators. Wells Fargo is a repeat offender with a frightening proportion of questionable inspiration that seems to have come from the stars, hunches or the comics.

Stability: is a builtin feature to mostly protect the banks. Why? Because [besides an efficient lobby] bankers golf etc...with high level government bureaucrats and elected officials, but we, living on Main Street do not. 

Like anything else stability is only possible with ethics and historically banking/money/control/prestige/etc  has been shaky...We don't need to go back to the Roman Empire, only to Sir Thomas Gresham, a merchant in the mid 16th century to find banking double talk; "Bad money drives out good..." Translation: currency issued by shaky governments can outnumber currency based on a standard. And if you don't believe that's true then how many new regulation 'patches' has our economy needed since Nixon took the U. S. dollar off the gold standard in 1971?

Inflation was blamed for that gold move just as inflation was used to explain why Canadian and U.S. mints stopped issuing silver coins in 1965. But two major advantages came into play with the silver and gold decisions: 1. steadily both precious metals slipped from the hands of Main Street [majority middle class] and back under the control of those who wished to keep more control; 2. off the gold standard essentially allowed the U.S. Federal Reserve to move-the-goal-post of interest rates when they determined rates should be up or rates should be down. Regardless of the price we might pay for a loaf of bread...

Britain and Europe made the same moves right after WWII for 'economic recovery' reasons, but after attaining economic recovery, never went back. Once governing/banking entities take-from they do not return-to...But those in charge of money-manipulation strive to make the financial capture, gradual so Main Street doesn't notice immediately. However, in their/banker's enthusiasm for more money/control/prestige-- high on the drug called greed they have gone too far too fast. Stock values at year end 1928 were much like they are now with a real value in excess of production, by the mid new year 1929 the consumer marketplace had already absorbed as much in the way of affordable goods as limited incomes could.

It took 25 years for America to recover, but the difference from then to now is banks offered bonds and treasuries and savings accounts that paid fair interest. Today none of that exists--the only place for Main Street to put money is in stocks regardless of hype, but haven't we seen this repeat before...            

After the death of Louis XIV, France was on the verge of bankruptcy and an enterprising Scotsman named John Law convinced the new king that an expansion of credit would promote and restore prosperity...

In 1716 John Law was granted a bank charter and allowed to issue notes as currency--mostly in the form of loans to the French government. [Remember; Bad money drives out good?] Anyway, the French government used the notes/paper to pay off creditors and in return accepted those same notes as legal tender for the payment of taxes. [Something like the brilliant folks at our U.S. Federal Reserve buying our U.S. Treasuries.] Just a little hocus-pocus because John Law's 'currency' had nothing behind it except some fairly intense prayer. As the transactions kept cycling it was a few years before anyone recognized the structure was an illusion. 

[Pyramid in French is spelled pyramide, but with or without the 'e' still means the same.] Worthless paper, backed by expensive/real debt soon exposes an illusion which is what a 1.9Trillion stimulus package marketed by our current Congress truly means for today's dollar value.

It's not just banking artifice from our history--current regulations mean zilch-zip-nada when the business of banking has an effective lobby. Here and traveling the globe, anywhere there is a banking system, there is motivation for individuals and governments to--well let's be kind and call it juggle...

In 1979 the Federal Reserve [that can alter interest rates in a single bound/move the goal post] raised the discount rate they charged banks from 9.5% to 12%--to tackle inflation [caused] by domestic stimulus spending for President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" programs, followed by military spending for the Vietnam War.  However, banks with a Savings & Loan charter had issued long-term loans at fixed rates lower than the new higher rates they suddenly had to pay. Also the S&Ls were obligated to pay interest for savings accounts and long term Certificates of Deposit [CDs] at higher rates than they could now offer in order to attract new depositors. Solution? Enter a brilliant offering aptly named Junk Bonds that got by the Securities Exchanged Commission [SEC] and Federal Trade Commission [FTC]. Junk Bonds are high risk, but also offer high return - if you have steady nerves.

The FTC Act was signed into law in 1914 by Woodrow Wilson: "Outlaws methods of competition and unfair acts or practices that affect commerce..." [Didn't work so well prior to 1929 did it.] Then  in 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt created the Securities Exchange Commission to: "Protect investors and national banking system against market manipulation." The problem faced by Main Street America is that national banks are in on a great deal of market-manipulation.

The 1980 Deregulation and Monetary Control Act signed by President Jimmy Carter allowed adjustable-rate mortgages and authorized lenient accounting-oversight [like the FAA oversight of Boeing]. That timing merged with a gutsy Junk Bond fraud by folks like Michael Milken and Carl Icahn, created a perfect petri dish in which to grow financial fungi. Voila! The Savings and Loan Crisis and second most significant bank collapse since 1929. The S&L crisis took down some of those responsible like Neil Bush [yup same family] and Charlie Keating [defended by five senators, two of whom were John McCain and John Glenn]. But mostly middle America - lost huge-huge-huge. Between 1986 and 1995 the total cost was 160 billion with taxpayers paying 132 billion [sound familiar] while the surviving S&L industry paid 28 billion.

Ahhh, but anyone born before 1995 knows the American banking saga gets even more rousing...At this point in our banking-soap-opera any rational person would expect there were enough banking history lessons already learned. However since little of the previous impact fell on a majority of perpetrators [only unsuspecting investors and taxpayers] learning from lessons doesn't appear in the business of banking. 

Case in point explain; Derivative or Credit-Default-Swap...

As the 20thCentury became the 21stCentury in real estate/banking terms no one who sold either of these financial-instruments understood what they were selling - they only understood there were lucrative fees and commissions for selling them. Oh swell!  A Derivative is a contract/instrument with a value that can be 'derived' from commodities, precious metals, currency, stock indices [like: Forwards, Futures, Options, Swaps] and mortgages. Okay--you may need more oxygen by now, but hang in there. A Credit-Default-Swap is basically an insurance policy or an 'out' that allows an investor to 'swap' a worrisome investment risk for another investment as an 'offset'. 

Toooo many of those worrisome-mortgages, were granted to toooo many people with marginal credit and/or work histories for toooo many over valued houses. What that created only 13 years after S&L recovery, was a wee financial imbalance that came to a head in 2008. This time the cost to the generously kind American taxpayer [10 million of whom lost their homes] was 12.8 trillion including 498 billion in direct bailout payments added to 8 years of GDP loss recovery. [Should elected leadership have paid the 498 billion directly 'to' taxpayers instead of banks and industry? The population in 2008 was 304Million so the payout to Main Street could have been $1,638,157 million per man, woman and child. Interesting concept...]

Now it's 2021 and what in the name of all that makes sense is a Bitcoin or any of the other eight techno-currencies?  P-l-e-a-s-e!  With today's technology no one needs to print pyramid-style backed paper so Main Street can lose their pension money - promoters can simply create investment from 'air' in the form of cryptocurrency. Using the SEC's own definition of a Pyramid Scheme: an investment fraud in which the business model returns are typically through recruiting new members. There's no product or 'value' added only hype to entice more patron/investor money. 

Barely fifteen years ago most government projects, cost in the millions then soon after the 2008 [global] Financial Crisis the cost of most projects became billions--now the cost of nearly everything that needs attention is in the trillions! Wow, is that inflation? But most bank rates for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage is 2.467%. Mr. or Ms. Main Street might qualify for a home loan however, the cost of that loaf of bread is a worry.

And Covid19 has raised the financial stakes for every single country [including China and Russia] that may very well set us all up for a heart-stopping high wire act like we experienced in 2008. But Congress continuing to raise their debt-ceiling is like each of us with the ability to raise our own credit limit every time we max-out our credit card. With that bank bail-in [a bail-out renamed] on the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus, a precedent has been made. And 'who' would be expected to 'pay' again? Hopefully if you have read to this point you know exactly 'who' is expected to 'pay'...But next time perhaps those [golf buddies] responsible should go to prison and all payments should go to the Main Street taxpayer? [Interesting concept...] 

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

*Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery suspense novelist and former journalist...

Via amazon.com or patchworkpublishing.com 

*Romantic Suspense-Thriller: "Dream Gate...Grabbing Air"

*Sequel: "Dream Gate II...Grabbing Time"

 

PRISON REFORM IN AMERICA

Dear George...Modern humans are now twenty years into the 21st Century - so what have we learned about crime and punishment? 

More importantly what have we learned about the cause of crime? Two hundred years ago stealing bread was punishable by prison or losing a hand or both - but the criminal was hungry not violent or selfish. And, over our last 100 years of human history the vast majority of criminals have also been mostly hungry [metaphorically] not scheming or corrupt...Modern day hunger has it's source in sorrow and desperation.

Nearly every night television networks [local and national] lead with some form of crime. The crime is usually tied to a type of firearm - a gun. This daily 'news' is so common that any life-form visiting from another galaxy would quickly refuel and leave, likely heading for the refuge of a nice black-hole somewhere else in the Universe. 

Around my kitchen table one evening from crime and criminals going to prison, the discussion naturally cycled around to America's 2nd Amendment - then ran amuck from there.

But we can't  r-e-a-l-l-y  discuss the 2nd Amendment without first understanding 'why' it was included in the Constitution of our newly formed Republic. Just as important the original intention and meaning behind the wording of the 2nd Amendment in 1787 is quite removed from the tweaked interpretation the NRA would have everyone believe 233 years later - today.

Very simply, from the perspective of the leaders who organized 13 rebel colonies - the founding fathers had just thrown off the burden of a tax happy parliament and an oppressive king. The founding-fathers also intended that not only should ordinary citizens have the right to share in governing themselves, the individual citizen had a right to defend themselves against [a rogue] authoritarian government...So, in the future, if members of our Congress arbitrarily suspended the U.S. Constitution then began to block freedoms - We The People - not only had the right to protest--we had the responsibility to protest...

*"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

During the Revolutionary War era, "militia" referred to groups of men who banded together to protect their communities, towns and later States, when the newly formed United States declared its independence from Great Britain [1776]. Colonists at that time witnessed rulers and governments use soldiers to oppress people and believed the [new] federal government should 'only' be allowed to raise arms [with full-time paid soldiers] when facing  foreign  adversaries. For all other purposes citizens believed the government should turn to part-time militias or ordinary citizens using their own weapons.

Problem was, local county militias had proved insufficient against the well trained and well organized British military. [So would not have prevailed without a great deal of help from France and native Huron tribes.] Addressing that weakness, framers of the new constitutional then gave the new federal government authority to establish a trained, standing army even in peacetime. However, opponents of a strong central government [anti-federalists] argued that a federal army might deprive individual states of their ability to defend themselves against possible oppression. In short anti-federalists feared Congress could someday abuse its constitutional power.

To address that issue, shortly after the U.S. Constitution was officially ratified, James Madison proposed the 2nd Amendment as a way to alleviate concerns for state militias. But - nothing Madison or any of our founding fathers set down in any constitution could anticipate irrational logic of an individual. In 1789, citizens with weapons owned single shot muskets...Two centuries later rapid fire semi-automatic and automatic weapons are owned by many ordinary citizens. 

The first mass shooting that began with 21 deaths at the San Diego McDonald's in 1984 - was not the work of a citizen protesting a rogue Congress. And the weapon used by the delusional shooter was not what James Madison intended by the 2nd Amendment, regardless of NRA propaganda. Decades of copycat mass shootings meant, essentially, with the development and sale of military style weapons that any single individual has gained the ability to function as a one-person militia.

Which brings this l-o-n-g account to Prison Reform In America--Which also brings us to the individual who uses a gun to threaten human life - the source of citizen gun violence. But easy availability [of so many types of guns] is only one means of wounding or ending a human life. People shooting people is the result of a mental and emotional void with their own violent roots established long before we meet them on the 6 o'clock news.

*"Children are influenced by the society in which they are born and raised. They in turn influence society." David Liederman   So, if this society, this Republic is to 'shine' as it should we can't address crime unless we address punishment. The way to address punishment is to address DESPAIR...And desperation begins in childhood, years before anyone is arrested and/or sees a courtroom.

America, indeed no society can afford to have even one child lose heart by the tender age of five! 

Each and every one of the people in prison today was once a cute toddler with promise until something derailed their life - like some form of abuse...[America's level of criminal incarceration is the highest in the developed world at 716 per 100,000.]

Amazingly, it's preschool and elementary school where our Prison Reform should begin. On any given day in America there are 440,000+ children in Foster Care and the average child lives in Foster Care from two to five years, removed from dysfunctional homes. Too many kids are in Foster Care much longer than five years with no family or permanent home of their own. But worse yet when a foster child turns 18 - ready or not - they're out on their own.

There is hours of national television coverage and advertising for homeless pets needing rescue - but that same effort is glaringly absent for homeless and foster children who need rescue and adoption. Why is that? 

Social Workers are asked to do much with dwindling resources for long hours and marginal pay. Their caseloads are typically 19 families with an individual file load of 24 to 31 children.

State and federally elected representatives cut budgets in the very [social] areas that should never see resources diluted. Socially we need more not less coordinated programs in our schools where teachers can identify families and kids at risk - better coordinated with social services - working with community police. And 'service' oriented not punitive, so parents who need help actually seek help for themselves and their kids. [Typically kids in crisis are born to parents who grew up in crisis.]

With a childhood of abuse and/or shame from neglected neighborhoods that don't receive the same education/tax resources as middle class areas - kids can grow up feeling despair and resentment. By the time they meet-up with police they've already been 'punished' in many forms, so prison isn't such a deterrent. 

*A trend toward privately run prisons is less incentive for important rehabilitation programs because private prisons are a for-profit business - it's all about the headcount. Since 2000, the number of private prisons in the United States increased 39%. 

Society watches the news appalled at reported crime[s] and crime statistics, when much of that could be prevented at a lesser loss in people and financial cost. Our society expects a great deal from police, teachers and social workers who need expanded annual budgets and greater community support - not less. [And certainly 'not' de-funding!] If America's professionals in law enforcement, education and social services have what they need - America benefits. Should prison reform also be part of updating our [social] infrastructure?

We can't rescue everyone, because we can't identify all the people needing rescue, but presently we're not even doing our best - so we throw away thousands of perfectly good people who don't need to end up in a prison... 

https://medium.com/@BraveNewFilms.org/heres-how-to-contact-all-535-members-of-united-states-congress-call-email-tweet-20b8a1c54195

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist.

Via amazon.com or patchworkpublishing.com

*Romantic Mystery-Suspense: "Fine Points Malice And Payback"

*Romantic Mystery-Suspense: "Shadows And Light"