INTELLIGENT LIFE IN AMERICA

Dear George...Budgets have changed a great deal since you were President Mr. Washington. I know you think that something as simple and basic as a budget should be straight forward and not debatable. No such luck in the 20th and 21st Century, sorry...

So, where have I been for most of September? Well...finishing another book - then venturing away from my desk and bouncing around various hotels that did have free WiFi, but not secure WiFi which is another Blog topic...

That aside...I had started three Blog topics, but this morning, the televised testimony by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before members of [our] Congress on CNBC business channel - caused this spontaneous Blog to rise in priority.

For some reason the majority of elected members of our Congress and Senate feel the need to raise America's Debt Ceiling - again! Wait a minute - wouldn't it be a treat for all of us to simply raise the credit limit on each of our loans and credit cards because we wanted to spend more. Yes it would - and it might work too if we had six or eight kids living at home we could pull from school then send to work to support our expanded spending program. No problem...We could keep the kids happy and distracted with more cookies and toys and movie nights. In that way our kids might not notice that we were spending their future opportunity for an education and career and independence.

This morning was another artificially created urgency of [last minute] timing with the political tried and true tactic of fear [eg. seniors might not get there Social Security or the military might not get there pay or retired bureaucrats might not get their pensions] blah blah blah. Each of the answers Yellen and Powell provided reminded me of the scripted questions to which other public officials have responded. Not impressive - because in point of fact there is no Debt-Ceiling...Since 1995 there seems to be only open sky.

We-The-People understand fiscal reality [we also recognize actual inflation] so why isn't there an Amendment requiring those who spend our taxed-dollars to set a true Budget that identifies set costs and fluid costs? The budgets I've seen over that last two decades haven't looked like a budget at all, but more like the Christmas wish list I left on my parents bedroom dresser when I was twelve. However, the people who hold public office are not twelve nor are the people they appoint to cabinet positions and committees, though their level of maturity would suggest arrested-adolescent-development. 

Instead of a Debt-Ceiling America needs a regulation that requires an actual Budget with fixed-costs in one column subtracted from Income then flexible-spending in another column also tied to income. From the flexible side perhaps oh gosh - cutting back on hiring and raises and waste? Just a thought, instead of treating voters like an unlimited resource of working offspring who can be distracted by child-tax-credits, extended unemployment benefits and artificial social division between the 1% and the 99% or between those of various ancestry! 

People holding an elected public office are in fact our 'peers' - though after a couple of terms some would have many voters believe their office is now entitled with an importance that rises above ours. 

Historically from Africa to Europe in the corners of every castle [and church] to the rise of peasants seeking a voice that evolved the British parliamentary system into the House of Lords and the House of Commons - money and favors became the ruling norm to gain authority and influence. However, it's now late 2021 and the accumulated centuries of butt-covering-government has truly reached critical mass. Too many of those in elected positions - who intern appointed those [we did not elect] to whom they owed favors - treat our taxes as a bottomless pit.  

And speaking of present inflation which is inaccurate and not just a small percentage number - it's actually accumulative like compound interest. [Note: anyone under the age of 40 will need to look up compound interest because banks don't actually pay compound interest as such any more. It's a complicated variable now, if you can find an account that pays even 2%, simple interest anywhere on Planet Earth!] Okay - sorry I went off track there...Back to inflation. An 18ounce box of Corn Flakes in 1993 cost $1.29 and a dozen eggs was $1.05 when the average annual wage was $33,726. By 2019 the same box of Corn Flakes was $3.49 and one dozen eggs was $1.71, but the average yearly income was $35,977. The food numbers varied for regions so I kept it to an average. But the numbers for 2020 and 2021 searching both BING and GOOGLE were not so straight forward, which is why I stopped at 2019.

However, Fellow-Travelers one would think that since we're no longer spending an average of 51.3Billion a year on a 20 year war in Iraq and Afghanistan - we could start living within our means. One would think...Except the proposal on the table is an amazing 1.2Trillion Structural Infrastructure Bill [see Blog; Infrastructure In America] along with a 3.5Trillion Social Infrastructure Bill. 

1.For Structural Infrastructure the breakdown is: 110Billion for roads, bridges & related -and- 105Biliion for public transit, passenger and freight transportation -and- 73Billion for power/internet technology;

2.For Social Infrastructure the list includes: 10Billion for a Civilian Climate Corp -and- 20Billion to Advance Racial Equity and Environmental Justice -and- 175Billion in Subsidies for Electric Vehicles -and- 213Billion to Build/Retrofit 2million Houses and Buildings -and- 100Billion for New Schools and Green School Lunch Programs -and- 12Billion for Community Colleges -and- ???Billions [undisclosed] to Eliminate Racial and Gender Inequities -and- 100Billion to Expand Broadband Internet with Government Oversight -and- 25Billion for more Childcare Programs. 

I saw nothing allocated in the Social Infrastructure list that address the immigration crisis or targeted our homeless, particularly homeless teens who aged out of the foster care system or our homeless veterans, maybe it's part of Environmental Justice?

Perhaps DC seems too far away and too complicated. Well folks - our State Legislatures are much closer and less daunting and easier to protest or call or email. Better still our Constitution 'gave' sovereignty to each state. In our Constitution the Federal Government was never intended to override or overrule the states by intimidation or threats. However, somehow over the decades the Federal Congress and Senate has managed to enhance its authority. 

 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 RULE OF THREE" 

Suspense-Thriller--"24 SUSSEX DRIVE"

INFLUENCE IN AMERICA

 Dear George...When you were President Mr. Washington - who else had influence? Whose judgement did you trust besides your own? Whose wisdom and advice did you respect?

We can assume George worked everyday with the other framers of our U.S. Constitution, but maybe not. Everyone has 'off' days.

Regardless of who is at the 'helm' [on a school board, running a small business, a major corporation or a nation] no one - not even dictators - make decisions entirely alone. There is a circle of influence that can be enriching and positive - or - exclusive and self serving...

I was tempted to title this Blog-Post; 'Royalty In America' - as there has been a strong tendency for many l-o-n-g term politicians [of two or more decades] to feel entitled...But I resisted. I'll let the actions of people elected [not born] to serve in public office speak instead. You'll be able to spot them - they're in the news often blaming others and/or arguing for what they need in order to justify their latest edict and/or deflecting responsibility in another direction.

With leadership-influence: experience and confidence is an asset, but pride and ego is a handicap. 

Many, many, many citizens consider the 2020 election a letdown on several levels, but Donald J. Trump must also accept responsibility for his loss. DJT bungled his own campaign by playing into a playground style level of name calling and insult exchanges. For all three debates every major television network was required to offer him the complete attention he complained they denied him for most of his first term. Did Trump use the first debate opportunity to highlight Biden's lackluster 47 public years or to showcase his own accomplishments like the Opportunity Zones or Operation Warp Speed or peace between Israel and Arab States, etc? No. Instead Trump took open issue with the moderator and rambled down a rabbit hole about investigations and impeachments. Then his arrogance messed up his 2nd and third debate opportunities too.     

As a registered Independent I have no favorites and happily take 'prisoners' from both major parties. For this discussion let's start at the 'top'...

**Why is Joseph Robinette Biden the 46th President of the United States? I'm serious--why? More importantly 'how'? Houdini would have been challenged to pull off such an illusion with the mathematical miracle that became the 2020 Democratic Primary. Even now, I'm still puzzled. 

How did the two neck and neck [popular] front runners Bernie Saunders and Pete Buttigieg who were both a classic photo-finish in Iowa/Feb3 -and- New Hampshire/Feb11 -and- Nevada/Feb22 abruptly hit-a-South Carolina-wall Feb29? [Was it a Leap Year curse? The Iowa recount ballot issues might suggest 'something' like that...]

So, lets' recap the 'game'. Biden was so far down the backstretch after Nevada, he considered dropping out, even Elizabeth Warren was ahead. Anyway...In Iowa Bernie had 45+thousand votes to Pete's 43+thousand to Joe's 23+thousand. In New Hampshire Bernie had 76+thousand votes to Pete's 72+thousand votes to Joe's 24+thousand votes. In Nevada the gamblers liked Bernie best with 41+thousand votes to Pete's 17+thousand and Joe's 19+thousand. BUT THEN my fellow-travelers someone parted-the-waters and up from the lower half of the pack came Joe Biden [literally] sweeping the South Carolina Primary with 262,336,000+ votes! 

Glory hallelujah! 

From that date on Biden votes flooded every primary all the way to August and as the weeks ticked away one by one the former front runners halted their bid to endorse only Joe Biden. [Is it a coincidence that former challengers who were not holding Federal Senate or Congressional seats were offered plum Cabinet Appointments? Just asking...] However, just as astonishing [in this underdog-Hollywood story] is Biden's selection for running mate who became Vice President...The [party] choice went to the 'only' person in the reduced Democratic field of 18 - who never rose higher than the bottom--Kamala Harris. Ta-Da!

Out of a vast herd [of thousands] of possible people our vote selection funnels down to only two choices - so - as a voter I want to know there isn't some form of electronic-slight-of-hand at the Party Primary level either...[In 2016 do we truly understand how Hilary Clinton suddenly emerged as the sole front runner? Bernie Sanders follower's felt so betrayed that Trump benefited from some hefty anti-Clinton vote.]

At seven months into the Biden-Harris First Term - how are we doing...

**Other 2020 Election head-shaking results brings me next to Republican Senate Minority Leader Addison Mitchell McConnell III. I don't know what Kentucky was thinking when they returned McConnell to a Senate seat he has held since 1984! The math on that is 37 years in public office [10 less than Biden]. Does McConnell have influence - you bet - big time in every dusty corner of The Hill and beyond. Besides knowing - what and where everything is hidden - McConnell has managed to accumulate a personal [updated 2020] net worth tipping over 30 million dollars, that we know of...

**Another disappointing 2020 election result was the return of  Nancy Patricia Pelosi not just to her seat in Congress, but to her place as House Speaker. This erratic, highly excitable politician embarrassed the Office of Speaker during the Trump Administration when on camera she openly ripped up Trump's State of the Union Speech. That stunt would have been substandard behavior from a Middle Grade student - so to witness that level of immaturity from an elected Statesman is beyond troubling. Besides a double standard [getting her hair done during lock down] the personal conduct of this shrewd 34 year political survivor who is also second to the office of the Presidency - has managed to grow her 2013 net worth of 26.4 million - into a current net worth of 120 million...

I don't know about you, but none of 'my' stock market or real estate investments multiplied my net worth times five in the last eight years.

How does anyone in any political office have the nerve to stand at a microphone and malign the "wealthy top 1%" with a straight face - when they are so privileged - at Main-Street's expense...  

I'll tell you how - insider information and taxes that rarely - I mean rarely ever get audited. [How many contracts are awarded to companies owned in partnership with relatives, friends or spouses of people in public office??? I don't have enough space to even list just the 2021 side deals - that's how many.] 

TERM LIMITS...Serve our country, serve your state, serve your district a maximum of three terms then return to private life...

Run for public office - get in - be ethical then get out before you're too tempted to feather your own nest. Of the 100 Senate seats and 435 seats in Congress - the vast majority of those politicians have clung to office between 59 and 20 years! Influence can become addictive and too much influence can risk that a politician starts to believe they 'still' make a difference.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_longevity_of_service]

*What are the options of a free people who have grown accustomed to individual rights and choice? Well, while we're teaching and expecting morals and honesty from our children and grandchildren we need to demand those same qualities from people in public office. The people in whom we trust our hard earned taxes. 

None of the people in any public office should be maligning 'the whites' or 'the rich' or 'the corporations' or any group in an effort to divide the very nation they profess to serve or care about. The minute someone steps to a microphone to malign a specific group - should be a red-flag to any voter. It defines the character of the speaker as exclusive not inclusive. 

We have time get to 'know' who is running for 're'election in our district or state in 2022. If anyone is running for a fourth term, you many want to vote for someone else. WeThePeople can create our own 'term-limits' and we need to exert our influence... 

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"

RICH IN AMERICA

 

The continuing social, political and national media past time appears to be Rich-Bashing. And if anyone living in this country George Washington fought so diligently to create happens to also be White&Rich then their chances of being metaphorically boiled in oil in the town square - is quite high...

Curious - naturally - as to why being wealthy has become a touchstone target for so many mouthy self-righteous politicians and high-profile journalists, I decided to do some research... [Note: people who live in glass houses and throw stones at others really-really-really hate it when you throw facts at them crushing 'their' virtuous narrative.] 

Anyway...In the midst of this latest campaign to tax the rich in a weak [Robin Hood] styled justification to spread the wealth - CNN also [ironically] reran a series called 'The Food That Made America' and 'The Cars That Made America' etc. Much of the early 20th Century wealth was possible because personal income tax wasn't an annual stress induced event until 1913. Amazing huh... 

Before 1913 taxes were levied primarily on trade, goods and services because D.C. Government was a much smaller blip on the eastern horizon and hadn't yet begun to binge-spend, divide and multiply like single cell [swamp] amoeba.

A brief [personal] income tax was levied to fund the Civil War, but was dropped after the war due to protests and a legal challenge that a personal tax on income was unconstitutional. However, in an atypical efficient move Congress corrected the constitutional legality of a levied personal federal income tax - with ratification of the 16th Amendment. [Our U.S. Congress is confirmation that not only can you "close the barn door after the horses have bolted" - you don't really need doors at all.] 

Okay, income tax aside - what the historical series offered is an impressive glimpse into how the businesses that most of us grew up with [me included] got their start from the Ford Motor car to McDonald's hamburgers and oodles of companies in between. Businesses like Westinghouse, Hershey's, Kraft Foods, General Motors, Chrysler Corporation, Kellogg's and Post Cereals, Macy's, Dillard's, Heinz and Campbell's soup...

Most recently the tax [and union] focus from federally elected hypocrites has been on mega corporations like Walmart and Amazon. I say hypocrites because far too many of the federally elected people who hold a publicly supported office have a double standard. People like Nancy Pelosi,[networth $115 million] Elizabeth Warren [networth $12 million] and Bernie Sanders [$3 million] absolutely must decry billionaires/the top 1% otherwise their hot-air-balloon exposes 'them' as part of the top 10%!

**The vast majority of Federally elected lawmakers in the 116th Congress are millionaires - many times over...And the number of CNN journalists as well as other network high profile anchors who are also worth several million - makes their on-air condemnation of "the wealthy" beyond two-faced scorn.

But what happens if the repetitive, careless 'noise' created by our elected peers and national media starts to produce serious corporate harm? That harm actually affects real people, real careers. Between them Walmart and Amazon employ 2.7 million people. If even half of those people are laid off that implodes our national unemployment numbers...

From our vantage point in 2021 it's almost a story spoiler because we can see major companies from where they are now - but not from where they started...The 'start' was always an idea - followed by trial and error - lots of it. Also, l-o-n-g hours, borrowed money, setbacks and risk! So, in no particular order let's take a look at some rich people - who got where they got to 'not' by working 9to5 or a four-day work week. This is only a wee list and it was not magic it was effort...

...John Harvey Kellogg started the "Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company" in 1909. This [a century ahead of its time] company instituted a 30hr work week in 1931 to add an additional work shift during the Depression. Competitor C.W. Post produced "Grape Nuts" in 1895. [Kellogg employs 31,000]

...Annie Malone [Madam C.J.Walker] was the first self-made female millionaire. She was born to parents who were former slaves. In 1900 she developed specialized products for African American skin and hair care...Her products are now available via Sephora.

...James Lewis Kraft perfected a longer lasting cheese processing method in 1916 used in war rations then merged that idea with Kraft dinner in 1937 that fed more troops... [Kraft and Heinz merged employing 21,000]

...Milton Hershey started in a small candy shop in 1873, perfected a caramel candy then after a business set back settled on chocolate. In 1894 he built an entire [inexpensive] town for employees in Pennsylvania that became Hershey, PA where he and his wife also educated hundreds of local orphans...[Hershey employs 16,140]

...Henry Ford was born on a farm, started out in watch repair, serviced steam engines then learned book keeping, but mechanical workings always fascinated him. Ford boldly paid 'all' his factory workers both black and white - $5 a day in 1914...[Ford in North America employs 100,000]

...Joseph A Campbell was a fruit merchant who partnered with Abraham Anderson an icebox maker in 1869. Later Anderson's son, Campbell Speelman and Joseph Campbell perfected a condensing process that only required the home maker to add water...[Campbell's employees dropped in 2020 to 14,500]

...Andrew Carnegie was born in a Scottish weaver's cottage. In 1849 at age 14 he became a telegraph messenger at $2.50 per week [$78 in 2021 dollars] then at 18 a telegraph operator for the railroad at $4 per week [$124 in 2021 dollars]. When he was promoted to Telegraph Superintendent he not only hired his younger brother as an operator he hired is cousin Maria Hogan who was the first female telegraph operator. A voracious reader Andrew was largely self taught and took calculated risks to prosper, but not for money's sake - he believed in sharing...

...John D. Rockefeller started out at 16 as an assistant bookkeeper. At 20 he went into partnership in 1863 with kerosene distribution [for oil lamps] then invested in crude oil. From Standard Oil's early beginnings the rest is a big part of our history. Standard oil & Trust was broken up into 34 separate companies. [The U.S. petroleum industry employs 800,000+]...

...Cornelius Vanderbilt [Van/of-der/the-land/bil] came from a Dutch farming family. In 1810 at the age of 16 with a $100 loan he started his own waterways ferry service then expanded to greater shipping railroad transportation...

...George Westinghouse [Jr] was an engineer who in 1886 developed a railway air brake then went on to all things electrical... [Westinghouse employs 9,000]

...McDonald's was originally founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald later bought out then franchised by Ray Kroc in 1953. [McDonald's U.S. employs around 500,000].

...Samuel Moore Walton was another farm boy who tried mortgages then life insurance, but leaped into retail with his first store in 1962. And unless you have been in a coma for the last 50 years I don't really need to go into a lot more detail...[Walmart U.S. employs 1.5 million people]

...Jeffery Preston [Jorgenson] Bezos started Amazon in 1994 as an online bookstore in his parent's garage. He lost money for several years rolling all sales income back into his business to expand and diversify. [Twenty seven years ago Amazon couldn't pay Jeff a salary, Amazon now employs 1.2+million]...

...David L. Steward was born in Clinton Missouri to a homemaker and a mechanic. Overcoming poverty and segregation this determined man of African heritage went on to found World Wide Technology in 1990...[World Wide employs 7,000]

...Oprah Winfrey was born to a single mother in rural Mississippi, spent preschool years with her maternal grandmother, went back to her mother and was molested by a family member. Oprah's shaky start in life is PROOF that no one needs to be a 'victim' because she 'built' a multi-layered inspirational life as a 'survivor'... [Yes I'm a fan.] [OWN Network employs 90 directly.]

...Robert Frederick Smith is a chemical engineer of African heritage born in Colorado to PhD. educated parents. [In 2000 he founded Vista Equity Partners that employs 30,000 globally.]

Are you bored yet? I hope not cause I'm just getting my second wind...

... Jorge Perez came from Argentina invests in real estate. [He founded The Related Group that employs 3,000]

...Alberto Perez came from Columbia was/is a dancer and choreographer. [He founded Zumba that employs 7,000.]

...Carlos Castro came from Portugal was a journalist and broadcaster who became president and CEO of Todos Supermarket that employs 113.]

...Jordi Munoz came from Mexico. [He founded 3D Robotics that employs 70]     

...Dave Anderson belongs to both the Choctaw and Chippewa tribes. He founded Famous Dave's Barbeque in 1994 and besides a chain of restaurants the company sells bottled sauce products. [Famous Dave's employs 2,417]

...Evans Craig is a Navajo silversmith by trade who founded Internet Technology Services originally to bring high-speed internet to all Native Americans. It has grown to include so much more. [No staffing stats]

...Henry Red Cloud is Lakota and founded Lakota Solar Enterprises in 2006 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota with a strong emphasis on renewable energy solutions. [No staffing stats.]...

...Notah Begay III is a Navajo Stanford graduate who founded KivaSun Foods in 1995. The focus is on Bison and many other traditional Native American foods. [No staffing stats.]

...America's Middle East and Asian citizens and new [legal] immigrants seem to routinely outdistance most of us [medicine to technology] with their astonishing energy and contributions enriching us all...

My 'very' long point to get here [if you're still with me] is that thoughtless actions and comments can lead to smothering the proverbial goose [thriving business] that laid a golden egg [employment opportunity] for millions.  

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

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award-winning mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist..

Author website: patchworkpublishing.com

 

  

 

HUNGRY & HOMELESS IN AMERICA

Dear George...Does America have a hunger and homeless problem? YES - big time which is beyond shameful. But, Mr. Washington - America has a hunger and homeless problem - 'because' - AMERICA HAS A 'LEADERSHIP' PROBLEM...

More to the point we have far too many - weak - self serving people in leadership positions...Some people were elected, some appointed, some hired. But the vast majority collect [not earning] high salaries with cushy benefits and better pensions than you and I were offered.

So--my-fellow-travelers, lets quit leaving 'our-authority' in the hands of others with no supervision. 

I read somewhere years ago; "We have stupid government because we have stupid voters." More accurately folks we have sloppy, mismanaged, corrupted - local, state and federal policies because 'we' are apathetic voters. 

The really good news is 'we' can change that - we truly can - but to have change we/voters need to avoid being distracted by the "bright-shiny-beads" of empty political promises and poorly thought out state and federal programs. The vast majority of public programs [eg. "No Child Left Behind" or "The War On Poverty" or "The War on Drugs"] offered slick slogans, but mostly work for friends and relatives of those in public office. Most social programs were never intended to ever create an opportunity for the hungry or the homeless to feed themselves or support their own mailing address. If they had then 'budget funding' to already existing state and federal areas like K-12 Public School Education and Public Housing and Social Services would have been increased not reduced.

POVERTY is either a motivator or an excuse. Growing up marginalized financially or socially offers only those two options to our human condition. And, we have seen via history and current events time and time again role models who emerged from all races, religions [male and female] who thrive and prosper regardless of their childhood wealth - or lack. 

But prosperity is perception and multilayered. An immigrant couple from Brazil - who applied to become legal citizens - opened a leather repair shop [shoes, belts, boots, jackets, purses] and lived above their store. They considered themselves prosperous. They had more than enough - they had plenty.

HUNGER in this country, in this century, is the shame of every person who accepts a taxpayer publicly funded salary. The cute catch phrase from our politicians is Food-Insecurity. In 2019 an estimated 34 million people went hungry on any given day in America. By the end of 2020 that had jumped to an estimated 50 million, of that 17 million of were children - this country's future!

Over the last three decades Food Banks have become a growth industry all on their own - how did that happen? It began to happen because we felt the need to protect our oil interests in Kwait [Operation Desert Storm] and invaded Iraq in 1990.

By the 1993, DC leadership in a desperate attempt to rein in control over an ever increasingly well educated, financially independent middle-class began to systematically dismantle that momentum forward. While our social services and primary public school budgets were slashed and school course curriculum was watered down - books and tuition costs at colleges and universities began to jump - every year. The salaries and benefits of trained and well educated office and service employees stagnated for decades at the same time that corporate CEOs and board members saw triple increases in their salaries and compensation.

By 2000 people who had become accustomed to a lifestyle that was no longer supported by income that kept up with inflation - began a cycle of using credit cards for non durable purchases like restaurants and vacations and increasing more debt to 'pay' for degrees that in the 1980s had been supportable by working summers and part time.

In 2003 America again invaded Iraq. For some in a Federally Elected Office there's nothing like a good old fashioned war to keep the general public in fear while simultaneously making it look like you're doing-something [eg. Creating another department that needed more employees - ta-da - Homeland Security]  

Which brings me to America's homeless...Our homeless...

HOMELESSNESS in this country in this century is the shame of every White House administration and every Cabinet Housing Secretary in those administrations. On any given night while most of us sleep on a clean bed under a solid roof an estimated 600,000 of our fellow citizens do not. 

And our homeless is comprised of people from both genders and all races. Of that number, 34% are families that includes 200,000 children. Continuing this disgrace is our VETERANS who should not under any circumstances, ever be homeless due to our social neglect. At whose feet do I lay the responsibility of failed follow up? To - each and every person who holds public office. Nearly 50% of the entire veteran homeless population served in Vietnam. Another 41% of the homeless veteran population is between the ages of 31 and 50, which are prime productive years that good people [who risked their lives for the rest of us] are losing.

Wasteful spending in areas that were not socially productive have brought us to this point. [Like Nero fiddling while Rome burned.] We-the-people have been far too trusting and well - busy keeping our own lives going. 

But we know better and there's another part of our lives too that is totally necessary in order to maintain the democratic freedoms that is our right. That other-part is our second job in addition to our main career and it's the job of expecting ethics from the people who's salaries we pay with our ever increasing taxes.

Artificial distractions with increasing techno convenience for the vast majority of Americans has shifted our focus to a one dimension mentality from enjoying 'enough' to seeking 'more'. Houses and vehicles cost-more because they both have expensive [additional] accessories that we truly don't need in order to drive from home to work or live in a house comfortably. [Case in point: a laminate counter top is $50 to $80 per foot, but granite or marble is $440 to $590 per foot. How about linoleum floors instead of hardwood? And those are only two examples of how the price of a house could be reduced s-i-g-n-i-f-i-c-a-n-t-l-y.

We keep chasing more - but as with an addict 'more' is never enough. 'We' chase the latest fashion like torn bluejeans, the best moisturizer, the biggest truck, new stainless steel appliances and granite counters, the next big tech update...What this consumer addiction has done has blocked our view to truly look around then 'see' what has happened since the Vietnam War. Actually more to the point - what has 'not' happened in the last five decades. [During which time most of our elected dinosaurs in DC have been at the helm.]

Crime increases with hunger and homelessness because people with nothing have nothing to lose. 

If you live in a state [like California where Venice Beach has become a plague of crime and homelessness] where your hunger and homeless statistics have risen - with Covid as the political excuse - your state's capitol is likely easier to reach than DC so make your concern known. Make sure your 'elected' representatives know their jobs are MORE transitory than the homeless and the hungry they ignore. And they are ignoring them, because if they weren't - America wouldn't have hungry or homeless citizens...

 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: "24 Sussex Drive"

*Mystery Suspense: "Come Sit In My Kitchen"

 

 

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"