MANDATES-LAW-&-POLICING IN AMERICA

 Dear George, 

In reading our history Mr. Washington, if you thought law and order was a challenge for you - The Whiskey Rebellion was merely a noisy picnic by comparison today...

Policing in each of our united-states is a serious business - very serious. There are more than 17,000 state, municipal, county, tribal and regional law enforcement agencies - all with their own regulations.

Federally there's an additional 65 types of law enforcement agencies as well as 27 offices of inspector general/Treasury staffed by 120,000 full time personnel who are authorized to make arrests and carry a gun.  [Of those in public office who question our right-to-bear-arms, I wonder how many of those same politicians know who around them - are armed at all times?]

Okay...After the war of independence there were still Dutch, French, Spanish and British spies - but a policing standard in the 13 original colonies began far less complicated. After the turmoil of the American Revolution, the newly formed U.S. Treasury was only concerned with creating a functional currency based on an actual value of measure, because starting a new nation on the worth of say turnip crops or sheep herds was not considered a solvent basis. [Though comparing the paper money first issued by the new Continental Congress and todays techno-crypto, turnips and sheep had more value...Moving on...]

President Washington realized that going forward it wasn't prudent long term to rely on local volunteer militia to keep domestic peace. So, then enter the office of the U.S. Marshal and Deputy Marshals with the Judiciary Act of 1789 - which in the same legislation established much of our federal judicial system. AND that 'fellow-travelers' this is where the U.S. Congress should have stopped with a national policing authority. Congress gave the early Marshals a broad brush of duties including census taking. But oh no, with each passing decade peace-keeping morphed into law-enforcement with specialized badge carrying agents trained to enforce new laws for new crimes.

Further, after the Civil War when the printing of paper 'money' between the northern states and southern states was a free-for-all the Secret Service was formed as part of the Treasury Department to identify and root out counterfeit currency. Soon though, responsibilities broadened to include bank and land fraud, illegal distillers, smugglers and mail robbers. [Guess this gave the U.S. Marshals more spare time?] 

Anyway, I'm tempted to blame an immigrant Scotsman named Allan Pinkerton for giving too many possible ideas to early members of our Congress, who felt compelled to legislate the be gibers out of everything - as if the new nation might spring leaks they needed to patch.  

This private security contractor soon loomed large on America's policing horizon even before Washington got the marshals organized. The Pinkerton National Detective Agency provided Lincoln with personal security during the Civil War. And well ahead of it's time hired women and minorities from the year of it's founding in Chicago. But later the agency became more noted for providing goon-squads, guards and security during the1877 Great Railroad Strike, union steel workers, coal, iron and lumber disputes as well as the 1892 Homestead Strike and the 1921 Battle of Blair Mountain. However, I note Pinkerton here - because - regardless of the 17,985 state and federal policing agencies from-sea-to-shining-sea that have evolved steadily for the last 200 years [supported by taxpayers] private "risk-management" contractors are still used. 

As the calendar flips over to 1924 sports-fans we find and John Edgar Hoover the law enforcement administrator for the Bureau of Investigations. However, as he oils his way from corridor to corridor in DC he envisions something far grander. With new limitations placed on the Secret Service, likely due to a concern that Congress themselves did not wish to be investigated - J. Edgar - who over the previous 10 years made [low] friends in high places initiated an expansion of his department. Enter 1935 and the F.B.I. [Federal Bureau of Investigations]. Expanding on new developing crime fighting technology from London and Paris, Hoover created a centralized fingerprint file system then forensic labs in key locations nationally. J. Edgar established a national blacklist with names of known spies, union agitators and suspected terrorists. [Yes, there were terrorism threats 100 years ago. Between the rise of communism after WWI and organized crime the list of names was a who's who of terror.]  However, like the controversy after the 2016 election of FBI investigative-overreach, Hoover too was found to have abused his authority to threaten political critics.

And - speaking of WWI before the C.I.A. [Central Intelligence Agency] there was the O.S.S. [Office of Strategic Services] Does the C.I.A. investigate fellow citizens? Not according to the 1947 National Security Act passed by the U.S. Congress. Their mandate was/is foreign policy and intelligence analysis...Key word 'foreign' but there have been beige and grey areas? [See January 7, 2021 blog post: History In America] 

Immigration issues are not new, only 21st Century media reporting of our immigration issues is new.

Also in 1924 while Hoover was reorganizing the Bureau of Investigations to become the FBI, Congress created the Border Patrol initially 'not' under the Bureau of Immigration, but under the Department of Labor. This oversight was soon corrected and expanded into 35 immigration districts, [and you guessed it] further divided into sub-districts to cover 328 [official] Ports of Entry [where only legal/honest people enter]. But even more [un]impressive is additional designations like BORTAC [Border Patrol Tactical Unit] and ICE [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] who's MISSION STATEMENT is: "Protect the American people, safeguard our borders and enhance the nation's economic prosperity." ...Wow, seriously... The Border Guard/Coast Guard is charged with guarding and rescue. Have you got all that? [See January 26, 2021 blog post: Immigration In America] 

Besides a host of military investigative agencies like N.C.I.S. - skipping from the banner policing expansion decade of the 1920s to the 1970s I truly do not have enough paper and you do not have enough time to delve into the 'host' of other major monitoring agencies like ATF [Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] or EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] or FAA [Federal Aviation Administration]. So, I'm going to l-e-a-p to 2003 and to one of my all-time favorite useless-let's look like we're doing something the creation of DHS [The Department of HOMELAND SECURITY]. 

This department with an additional 240,000 federal employees had/has no hope of ever making our homeland more secure. Our homeland 'stays insecure' because it's the foreign [Iraq invasion] and domestic [defund police & open border] 'policies' of state and federally elected people in public office that keep the criminal element thriving.  

After 9/11 all Bush W./Chaney had to do, was direct Congress to remove the communication blocks between the policing agencies - we already had - so they could share information and compare notes. That need should have been evident after the U.S.S. Cole bombing, but in retrospect it appears as if the only agency that accumulated and communicated information was the international and national news media! Go figure...

Now for the grand finale - which should not come as a surprise to any of you if you're still reading at this point in my rant. Let me introduce the C.I.S. [Center for Internet Security]. 

Excuse me? If we have such an organization then why is hacking such a problem? [See January 20, 2021 blog post: Infrastructure In America] Why isn't everyone, everywhere backing up their work every 30 minutes -or- working with proprietary and classified information off-line. Good grief even "I" know that much.

True leadership accountability has/is missing and has been for decades from the dubious invasion of Iraq to Benghazi to 20 years in Afghanistan to Covid...   

Amazing...With so much policing one would expect that long before 2022, the United States would be crime free or at the very least crimes solved timely, and criminals brought to justice swiftly...Hmmm, one might 'think' that. 

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

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SPORTS & VALUE IN AMERICA

Dear George, 

Since you left office Mr. Washington there have been a few 'modifications' in the society you and the other Founding Fathers envisioned. One [you might find surprising] is that leisure pursuits are now recognized professional careers for which people are paid!  And, ohhh - how they're paid...

It's not that health and fitness [lifting our butts off the seat of our chairs] isn't a noble pursuit - it's that activities [games] we once played as children have evolved FAR beyond the playground...FAR, F-A-R beyond. So much so that even the high perks and salaries enjoyed by corporate CEOs are hard pressed to keep up.

And - over the last 100 years inflation has had nothing to do with the giant leap in paychecks for professional sports--it's Gate Receipts. In 1922 Babe Ruth signed a 3year contract for $52,000 per season. Six years later the Yankees' executives gave Babe a 'wee' raise to $80,000--which was a higher annual salary than President Herbert Hoover! 

There's 'money' in sports lots of it. Besides sports betting [legal or not] after the development of television - sporting events promoted by mega amounts of advertising sent 'money' blossoming like a sprawling ranch of weeds. 

As of 2022 New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole is 3 years into a 9 year contract for $36,000,000 [M] per year! Again--a higher annual salary than the President. [Ahh this time 90 Xs higher] 

We have the Greeks to thank for  [besides a phonetically creative alphabet]  sports. The first Olympic games that started much of this - might be considered a mixed blessing...

In 776 BC there was no television. Well - there was no electricity yet either, but that's not my point. Without television people of ancient cultures passed what leisure time they had -often- begetting or warring... Since the Greeks were more inclined toward poetry and less inclined toward invading other places they redirected the pent-up energy of their youth with competition like foot races, wrestling, discus and javelin throwing, long jump and chariot racing.  

Those who know me - or just as accurately know 'my' athletic ability might point out that I've focused on this particular feature [at this particular time] because my abilities are limited to--curling.  Perhaps...  

I tried figure skating, but balance and falling seemed to be an issue. I tried softball but swinging and missing seemed to be an issue. I tried tennis, but the net got in my way and with racquet ball all those rebounds from all those walls seemed to be an issue. I tried golf, but somehow, I managed to defy several laws of physics to the point that a golf pro begged me not to tell people he had given me lessons. However, for some reason I am able to get a 40pound chunk of polished granite down 93 feet of ice to rest at the correct spot in a group of concentric circles--? Go figure...

That aside I question the thundering emphasis on so much money associated with [professional] sports not due to my own lackluster athletic talents - I question the bloated salaries of coaches and players from a value-to-life perspective... [Also: college tuitions shot up to support salary raises for faculty/college coaches too.]       

Entertainment has value, at least I like to think so since I write novels, but in balance how 'much' value?  How much is a book worth compared to the teacher who shares insight with young minds from that book? 

Will a Center or a Goalie be able to tutor someone who seeks to be the first in their family to enter college?  A teacher with 5 to 15 years of experience makes an annual salary of between $40,600 and $51,290. 

How much are the players in any sport worth compared to a nurse who can adjust a patient's oxygen levels?

Will a Quarterback or a Shortstop be able to monitor the vital signs of someone on life support in ICU? A registered nurse with 5 to 10 years of experience makes an annual salary of between $49,600 and $56,800. 

Our Constitution requires the President to take a salary regardless of personal wealth to avoid being tempted to take bribes. But how are we comparing the millions of dollars in value of a Lineman or Left Fielder to a President or a Senator or a Representative to Congress or the Governor of a State? 

Our security is just one Border Patrol Agent/Officer away from an illegal immigrant who already has a criminal record -or- one U.S. Marshal away from a belligerent passenger on an airplane. The annual salary of a Border Patrol Agent [GL-7 to GL-9] is between $49,508 - $78,269. The annual salary of a U.S. Marshal [GL-7 to GL-9] is between $46,471 - $61,937.   

Since we're starting a New Year and we've all experienced a great deal of uncertainty on SO MANY levels the last two years, taking a peek right now at not only what we value, but how we set value can be an opportunity...

In researching this I read: Games are a structured form of Play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun and sometimes used as an educational tool [experiencing teamwork and sportsmanship]. Games are different from Work, which is usually carried out for renumeration or from Art which is more often an expression of aesthetic, creative elements. ...Play was described as: activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than for serious or practical purpose... In the past sports celebrities have argued they required higher than average salaries because - due to the physical demands of sports they can't work for decades - well gee who do you know who makes $36,000,000 in any lifetime! Or, they could 'do' something else with their lives besides sports...Dr. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif [who left football for medicine] nicely proved that point.  

As well - I have another suggestion for SPORTS from the Ancient Greeks. In this century, instead of tanks and guns and missiles and bombs and submarines and battleships let's compete with other nations in archery or swimming or cycling or whatever, a-n-d pay those who wish to 'play' sports enough [money] to live like most people while they finish an education in some other career that gives back...

Just a thought...

Though I can already hear several relatives and neighbors screaming at me, I'm not suggesting the elimination professional sports - only to tone down such absurd compensation...   

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

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"DREAM GATE...GRABBING AIR"

[Sequel] "DREAM GATE II...GRABBING TIME"

 

2021 IN AMERICA

Dear George...From your 'cloud' Mr. Washington, you and the rest of the Intelligent-Universe must be viewing 2021 policies and decisions at all leadership levels--quite mystified. [I use the term leadership loosely because we went from 2016-2020 chaos to 2021 confusion...] 

CAPITOL MOB...The events of January 6th will be cemented in our memories for decades to come and in our history for eternity. But--as distressing as events of that Wednesday was and disgraceful as the conduct of educated people were, I'm just as perplexed by why and how the storming of the U.S. Capitol unfolded at all. 

I'm puzzled because - in his capacity as Vice President, Mike Pence was to preside over a Joint Session and follow procedure as indicated in the Electoral Count Act - which seemed to me as an opportunity. In completing the Constitutional Electoral Count all facts, information and arguments - both for and against the 2020 Election results - were on the agenda for airing. 

However, as we know the time set aside for that important process was violently interrupted - but the resulting invasion of protestors was actually detrimental to Trump/Republicans and more of a benefit to Biden/Democrats... So--who and what truly lit the spark that prompted thousands of 'protestors' to race up the Capitol steps? An inquiry claims that Trump/Supports are to blame. 

*[Since Trump would have benefited 'more' from a completed and open Electoral Count debate IF the protesters were all Trump supporters they actually sabotaged that very process. Therefore, after all the dust had settled there was no time for an Electoral Count debate, only a formality vote...]

EXECUTIVE ORDERS...Joe Biden assumed office January 24th, and in his first three days proceeded to sign 30 Executive Orders undoing nearly everything Trump had done in three years. The first major impact the country felt immediately was cancelling the Key Stone Pipeline Agreement and with it - continued North American energy 'independence' from OPEC. The environmental motive against Key Stone isn't any more valid than our continued use of the 2 million miles of natural gas and liquid petroleum pipeline we already have. 

*[Pipelines are safe, efficient and since most are buried, largely unseen. Rail and trucking through rural and urban areas pose a greater environmental risk.]

IMMIGRATION...Next Biden halted all border wall construction and Covid testing of migrants. Along the U.S. Mexico border spanning 1,954 miles just 650 miles of border wall had been completed by year end 2020. But comparing northern immigration from Canada are we dealing with our southern people crush from the wrong perspective? 

Typically people tend to stay 'home', that is where we're born and raised is where we seek to remain unless living conditions become extreme like civil war, drought, governmental corruption, civil rights suppression...You get the idea. But besides 47 of the 54 countries in Africa that get foreign aide - the vast majority of people seeking safe-haven from poverty and violence in their home country of birth are from the same southern countries America sends aide to. In 2020 El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico received 22 Million dollars in aide. And since the 2010 earth quake, aide allocated to Haiti was 2.3 Billion for reconstruction and development. However, what's been reconstructed or developed? 

*[Is our  foreign aide tax-dollar paid with too few 'strings' or oversight to government officials too morally compromised to lead?]

COVID-19...After funneling between 18 and 23 Billion dollars of taxpayer funds into the development of a

vaccine what has been accomplished? Prior to any vaccines the death count from Covid19 for the last ten months of 2020 was 362,208. Since the emergency release of vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson&Johnson the death toll for the first 10 months of 2021 has been 411,571. Follow the Science is more fluid than one would expect. Follow 'what' science - when? Follow who's science - when? Then too, we have 'break-through' variants which is typical of all virus strains, but we went from Alpha to Delta then to Omikron...Why Omikron? Does that name sound scarier? Okay, so--comparing the Trump administration handling of the pandemic to the Biden administration--what do break-through issues and these numbers mean? 

*[Both administrations followed the same conflicting/contradictory 'expert' bureaucratic medical advise from overpaid, incompetent people who had no pandemic plan in place - as was their directive - either in the CDC or National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.] 

ECONOMY... The 2020 Lock-Down [called for by those same CDC and NIAD medical experts] caused an artificial halt to general productivity except in durable goods like food production and toilet paper... The Federal Reserve still keeps interest rates artificially low mainly because major corporations borrowed to expand and buy back stock so if the Fed raises rates hundreds of companies would face higher loan payments or worse. People and pensions that once could earn interest in a savings account and CDs or Treasuries and Municipal Bonds only have the Stock Market. With no interest or so little return paid for a savings account or CD we're in high risk stocks hoping that over paid CEOs avoid fraud [like Theranos] or mismanagement [like Boeing] and run their companies ethically.

Into this volatile mix Bitcoin/cyrptocurrency has wedged it's way onto a place in the stock market. Bitcoin is joined by other cryptocurrency-whannabe entities seeking mainstream investment acceptance. It's high use of electricity for mining aside - as something tangible Crypto is still illusive. It's an exciting adventure to untried investors mostly under 30 who missed the SEC definition of a Pyramid Scheme: "...participants pay to join and profit mainly from payments made by subsequent participants..." So you 'don't want to be the last one 'in'. Why the SEC isn't exposing this 'money-chasing-money' system is in question. Elizabeth Warren is one of only a few public officials objecting on record to Crypto...Why is that? 

*[Inflation which is typical after a major increase in wages, is actually pushing 11%. labelled 'transitory' [brief, fleeting, short-lived] by the Federal Reserve. Are American tax papers made of money? NO, but our elected politicians and appointed bureaucrats can certainly print IT faster than a speeding bullet--which effectively fuels inflation.]

SUPPLY CHAIN... Supply-chain issues of 2020 shifted from masks, gowns, gloves and ventilators to supplies of technology parts for vehicles, major appliances and replacement parts in general. Suddenly used cars shot up in value worth more than they were new - with a continued shortage [supposedly] of 2021 vehicle models. On any given month depending on the whim of some theatrical TV news producer there was a shortage of some kind - obviously designed to explain the inflated  prices of everything from computer chips to pumpkins. 

*[Canada, Mexico & the U.S. does not need the rest of the world it's the other way around. Our combined resources of people, climate and minerals make North America completely self-sufficient...]

ENVIRONMENT... The term Global Warming is quietly replaced by Climate Change. The U.S. returned to the Paris Climate Accord - which effectively meant the U.S. taxpayer was typically chipping in a $1.00 while every other nation chipped in less than half of that. [No wonder they missed us...] Not mentioned is the fact that several barrels of petroleum is necessary for the manufacture of wind turbines, solar panels and the electric vehicle programs - 'not' self supporting - that adds to landfills and are taxpayer subsidized. Small details, right?

*[Blaming innocent milk cows and beef cattle for CO2 emissions is a low blow to farmers and ranchers who work to keep thousands of environmentalists fed - so 'they' can possibly account for the effects on our climate of numerous natural, ongoing eruptions such as the 6,000 to 9,000 tons of SO2 [Sulphur Dioxide with ash & aerosol particles] from volcanoes like La Palma in Spain...Also Kilauea & Paviot in the U.S. Copahue in Chile and the latest, Indonsesia].

FOREIGN AFFAIRS...Biden pulled all military troops from Afghanistan in August. This long over due move should have and could have been completed with bin Laden's death ten years ago - except there were far too many lucrative commitments with private contractors. In 20 years what did America and allies accomplish? Did we improve an increased standard of living that Afghan people could build upon with infrastructure and education and an expanded industry in mining or enhanced farming technology methods - instead of poppy crops? No.

*[Because the 20 year occupation of Afghanistan was for the blatant self-interest of a few - paid for by the U.S. taxpayer at the cost of our own infrastructure - we left behind yet another country in need of ongoing foreign aide for which there is little accountability.]

EDUCATION...Public School Teachers Union objected to unsafe classroom conditions though [through out 2020] private Catholic and Jewish schools along with Charter schools provided in classroom learning -and- bank tellers, grocery clerks, transit drivers, police, fire and hospital workers faced far more Covid19 issues every day for months on behalf of those public school teachers.

*[American public school education had dropped in Global ranking to 27th by 2018 [from 6th in 1993] - so where we are now is an even wider gap between the fully educated and the marginally educated...] 

INFRASTRUCTURE... As mentioned in Foreign Affairs 20 years of war [at a cost of about 45 Billion a

year] was a serious infrastructure cost that has left America weakened and vulnerable. While a connected few became extremely influential and wealthy our roads, bridges, airports, telecommunications, utilities and National Security was compromised. There's no other way to say it. We could have taken out bin Laden in the first four months after 9/11 and with simple math 20 years times 45 is 900 Billion dollars. Half that amount would have replaced and maintained all aging infrastructure from sea to shinning sea - including all deteriorating schools, provided higher budgets for more social programs like a functioning healthcare system, eliminating homelessness and addressing environmental issues, lower taxes and less debt with a balanced federal budget. Imagine that!    

*[Government Accountability Office [GAO] is an independent nonpartisan Agency that works for Congress - responsible for auditing operations to determine if funds are being spent efficiently and effectively and reporting on how well government programs and policies are meeting objectives. Obviously they're short staffed...] 

CRIME...Well--lately school shootings are back in the news - so what happened to the money that was supposed to be allocated for school security? And also large organized gangs raid entire stores of valuable merchandise. Protests aren't peaceful and haven't been since Ferguson, with paid and armed agitators mixed in with easily angered locals who indiscriminately loot and destroy their own communities and neighborhood businesses. The blacks feel victimized, the Asians feel victimized, the Muslims and Jews feel victimized, Native Americans feel victimized. Hispanics feel victimized and the whites are made to believe they are the sole source of all fault. Who and what profits from so much unrest and division with a biased hourly - daily barrage of half truths and exaggerations?

*[The Press was provided protection in the U.S. Constitution so as to expose corruption in government - but how is corruption exposed in the Press?]

THE NEW YEAR...We don't actually need to wait until January 1, 2022 to restart - each minute, each hour each day is another opportunity to restart. We restart 1st by listening to our own sense of what's right - it's easy - just do unto others. 2nd stop listening to the television 'talking-heads' - do some of your own research then object to businesses that advertise on networks that don't provide balanced news coverage. 3rd make an effort to know who your [present] elected official is and what they say compared with what they actually 'do'. 4th since Congress refuses to set themselves term limits [or age limits] we can automatically vote for an opposing candidate if someone is running beyond a third term in public office. And finally try not to think in terms of liberal or conservative--Republican or Democrat--think independent and embrace both, because our society truly needs both for balance. We need strong public education, effective public healthcare, supportive social programs in partnership with innovative free enterprise commerce to pay for everything and stay progressive.

*[Globally, we truly do not have enemies - competitors yes, but enemies no. Germany and Japan became valued allies - so why not Russia, China and Iran too. Since thousands of years of 'war' hasn't really worked that well for human progress - perhaps we should try something else...]

 

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

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TAXES & TAXES IN AMERICA

Dear George...I realize taxes, Mr. Washington especially between Britain and the colonies became a touchy issue. But for a country created largely because of a vigorous tax revolt protesting taxation-without-representation, America from 1776 to 2021 has developed an impressively complicated system of taxes... 

And  l-o-o-m-i-n-g on our immediate horizon is a proposed 3+Trillion borrow-to-spend mission - that if passed 'will' drain much of our future GDP just to cover the interest! So, George, even if you believe in reincarnation, now is not the time to return... 

But long before the1773  Boston Tea Party who's idea was it to levy something called 'taxes'? Curious, naturally, I wanted to know how far back this means of extracting blood-from-a-stone went. 

Amazingly, there is no documented human history prior to the Sumerians, who in their wisdom chose not to 'burden' their people with a system of taxation. This was likely due to the fact that the Sumerians were not a warring people by nature and 'war' [as we well know after 20 years in Afghanistan] is expensive - very expensive. War is also not particularly conducive to innovation or advancement or even maintenance - as in 20 years of neglected infrastructure...Anyway, the taxing of fellow citizens doesn't rear it's burdensome-authority, until the rise of Egyptian dynasties. 

Then, my Fellow-Travelers from the fall of the Sumerians [at the hands of Mesopotamian invaders] throughout the rest of human history right up to present day there is an amazing pattern of taxes levied to pay for decade after decade, century after century of wars. Lots and lots of wars caused by invasions, conquests, rivalry, feuds, greed to control more land and resources. Okay, so if our last 3,000 years of human history hadn't included WAR how much richer would nations be and how more advanced would our species be? You really gotta wonder, right!

Meanwhile back in North America...In 1764 people in the original 13 Colonies got quite irritated by a parade of  taxes on newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, legal documents, dice and playing cards. Obviously those taxes were designed to limit too much news and information, and also monitor gaming. However, since Britain was in the conquest business all those global invasions were [as I said before] very costly, hence more new taxes. But the next round came in disguise. In the British Parliament the following year there was some fairly crafty lawmakers who passed what they thought was a cleaver means of supporting thousands of what were in effect occupying troops. The Quartering Act required colonial districts to provide British soldiers with housing, food, gun powder and linens, which they did. Soon though, colonists argued their outlay was largely a tax by another name.

Busted...Labeling new requirements, standards and obligations an Act was still a tax and thousands of people who had lined up to sail to the new world - once illiterate and poor - seeking liberty and opportunity were in no mood for a continuation of authoritarian limits.

 All right, it's November 2021 and do you know how 'your' hard earned taxes are spent? We hear what the politicians claim and we read what the press reports, but where's the follow up accounting? [Like the millions and millions and millions of crates of actual cash dollars flown by the CIA to pay the leaders of various Afghan clans for their loyalty and for military information...Really?] Is any of that money that should have gone to neglected projects here, on an accounting ledger?

Monday, Congress [finally] passed a l-o-n-g overdue Infrastructure Bill [see Jan 20 Blog: Infrastructure In America] to update and upgrade roads, bridges, airport and transportation technology, sewers and water pipes, dams and utility grids with other internal systems much of which was 'new' after WWII. That 1.2 Trillion sounds like a lot of money [and it is folks] but even adding up the [old] total amounts that my research found - sadly 1.2T won't cover everything that needs repairing, replacing and updating. Regular maintenance is so much cheaper and more efficient than recovering from neglect.

And make no mistake this will cost us [the colonists] more in taxes, big, huge...But better late than never.

Now, to that 2nd bill, the proposed Social-Structure-Bill. First:, we DO NOT need to 'grow' DC government larger--creating Homeland Security was mistake enough. Larger government is not like a larger fruit tree where our harvest is greater as the tree grows, so hiring 86,852 more IRS agents [or any more federal employees] is a cost added [annual estimated expense $80Billion including benefits] that should go toward housing for homeless foster-teens and veterans and gosh maybe education and heath-care...Ya think...

Second: what this present Congress and this present Administration is proposing is Social Programs supported 

by borrowed-money, but it's not just one time it becomes constant . How is it -or- has it ever been possible in any accounting context that borrowed money won't cost anything, as Biden insists? This isn't 'new' math it is new/more debt.  In context, the proposed spending is like you and I getting a new credit card with no spending limit. Then off we go on a tour of Europe, spending willy-nilly--having a gay old time--until a few months later we get back home. After our new credit card statement arrives in the mail we must then live the next several years paying off the balance with compounding interest, 'not' going anywhere for that entire time...This is what will happen with trillions spent on new Social-Structure Programs. This is not an investment, it's financial quick sand because while more Social Programs are being launched, the money needed to keep the updates and repairs maintained [from the actual infrastructure spending] doesn't get budgeted. [Social Programs typically balloon and become election footballs. Does Planned Parenthood have less need to offer abortions now than they did in 1973?]

Third: let's reorganize Social [Entitlement] Programs we already have in place, like welfare, foster care, disabilities, medicaid and prison reform. Reorganizing could save us from additional borrowing because they're already in state and federal budgets--they're just not run efficiently. Could parents on welfare partner with each other so while one parent cares for their kids and those of a second parent, the second parent works, or returns to school? Could nonviolent convicts be put to work cleaning up inner-city parks and neighborhoods or building low income housing? Offering tax incentives to businesses that offer onsite daycare for their staff is doable, perhaps staffed by trained people who were on welfare. Could daycare be an option in certain senior centers or churches or schools? America's people are its strongest resource, but every year we had more people to our dependency rolls with welfare and disability when they should be assisted to develop pride and self-reliance.

Our taxes have taxes in the form of inheritance of assets our relatives already paid taxes on - that we again must pay taxes again over a certain amount. We're still paying taxes on newspapers and literally everything else when we purchase anything anywhere, charged by city, county, state and federal governments. And since you employ those elected city, county, state and federal people--you might let them know you expect them to spend your money wisely and keep to a budget as you do...

https://contactsenators.com/senator-email-addresses 

 

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

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"The Count Of Baldpate"  

 

 

 

 

 

 "Fine Points Malice And Payback"

 

SUPPLY-CHAIN IN AMERICA

Dear George...What did America's supply-chain look like in 1776 Mr. Washington and was secrecy so unrelenting then too? The vast amounts of information kept from the masses [voters/consumers/tax-payers] is beyond staggering...

I'm not talking about military secrets - though in the 21st Century humans walking upright should be well beyond that archaic mentality. No, what I'm amazed about is all the hidden information that surrounds and affects our everyday lives from the environment [Green & Clean In America] -to- medicine [Healthcare In America] -to- education [Education In America] -to- how we get the products and goods we rely on to our homes. 

In early 18th Century America, Colonial Trade Routes consisted primarily of ships from the countries that had staked land claims to colonize the New World. Initially England, France, Spain and Holland then later Portugal the rest of Europe and Africa. But even before the Industrial Revolution Upper and Lower Canada and the fledgling 13 Colonies discovered after only a few decades they could be largely self-sufficient if ships from the mother-country were late or lost at sea. So only a few decades in [latest fashion aside] Europe truly needed the New World more than the other way around.

But, until Industrial-America realized it could expand on its own raw materials Colonial-America shipped vast amounts of lumber, furs, tobacco, rice and dried fish - traded for textiles and manufactured goods from England and Europe.       

Leap forward to 2021 and North America [Canada, Mexico and United States] can be uniquely self-sufficient - however, that ability is kept an open-secret. Governing state and federal department heads and corporate board members seek hefty chunks of income from the general public to fulfill their goals. In order to accomplish their goals, these same entities have come to believe that IF we the general public knew too much we might object. And, we might...

Inundated hourly and daily beginning in 2020 by media statistics of Covid19 cases and deaths was soon merged with ventilator shortages and mask shortages and glove shortages and medical gown shortages due to a breakdown in the, 'Supply Chain'. Because China had locked down first and America with much of the industrialized world [had put most of its manufacturing eggs-in-one-basket] suddenly there was no chain-of-supplies, nor any back-up inventory either. Was the sudden and total lock-down in China by those in communist government leadership deliberate? My research points to it as an experimental yes, but the panic here didn't last long because free-enterprise savvy jumped in to fill those medical equipment gaps.

Now it's late 2021 and though we have no shortages of toilet paper North America supposedly has shortages of many other essential goods and products like, pumpkins? Really? Not where I live...And artificial Christmas trees? Not at the Lowe's and Home Depots in my city...Anyway, our media [and we all know how accurate they are] dutifully report, hourly and daily that the backlog of ships off the coast of California is caused by consumer pent-up demand. Apparently we have ordered unprecedented amounts of everything. Nah! What we have are container ships with ordered goods that didn't go out in 2020 arriving in the Port of Los Angeles just ahead of container ships with goods committed for shipment in 2021 that just happens to have such a restricted requirement for transport trucks the backlog is exaggerated.

However, Fellow-Travelers - the Port of Los Angeles is not the only port! In the United States of America there are 98 other ports of entry [military and domestic] 79 of which accept foreign imports for all manner of goods from all corners of this planet! SO--WHY is only the Port of Los Angeles featured daily on all major networks??? Why indeed...

I'll tell you why. So that - every - single - company that sells anything to the duped consumer/taxpayer can justify raising the prices of anything and everything they peddle...Certainly fuel prices have gone up and wages have gone up--but new higher wages only bought the recipients about two months. Those wage increases became another checkered flag to begin a race to increase prices for all goods and services long before boats appeared off the coast of California.

Who owns some of our companies here? It was shortsighted enough that companies sent most manufacturing overseas, but too many of the people elected to public office are playing poker with several internal-supply-chains.  In 2013 Chinese investors bought Smith Foods. Chinese investors bought GE Appliances. Ingram Micro distributes Apple iPhones and Cisco's network equipment. Motorola was bought by Lenovo.

Not everything should be going up 8% and 10% and 15% and 22% or higher. This is nuts, because not everything we truly need is on those container ships off the coast of California. Thousands of ships are unloaded everyday in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Washington, Florida, all along the Great Lakes, South Carolina...and more...

Not everything we consume is transported by ship. Besides the states that provide grain crops and produce to eat or cook fresh or for canning and freezing, we import food and goods from five other countries we're connected to by land with their products reaching us via roads and rail.

Mexico exports corn, sugarcane, sorghum, wheat, tomatoes, bananas, chili peppers, lemons, limes, mangos, beans, barely, avocados, blue agave and coffee. Tiny Belize exports sugar and molasses, bananas, oranges and grapefruit, marine products and crude petroleum. El Salvador exports soybean meal, corn, wheat, cotton, prepared food, textiles, chemicals, rubber, plastics and metallic products. From Honduras there's chemical products, corn, bananas, coffee beans, tobacco, sugarcane, shrimp, lobster, olive oil and clothing. Guatemala exports coffee, cotton, sugarcane, bananas, celery, cauliflower and asparagus. From Canada there's various minerals, wheat, canola, barely, corn and soybeans, rye, oats and white beans. There's also a back and forth trade [depending on liberal or conservative governments on both sides of the 49th Parallel] of lumber, beef, pork and fish. 

The ingredients for toothpaste and shampoo, soap and most cleaning needs [like one part vinegar with three parts water] is cheap and plentiful, but the profit margin is huge. Basic shampoo from scratch...Put two or three tablespoons of baking soda into the bottom of a recycled squeeze bottle-add three cups of hot water and shake-add a few drops of a favorite scented essential oil. After it settles for a few minutes apply 1/4 to 1/2 cup to wet hair, work it in then rinse. For homemade toothpaste, take 2/3 cup baking soda add 1tsp fine sea salt and 1-2 tsp of peppermint extract or other concentrated flavor. [Avoid commercially made toothpaste containing activated charcoal or any type of sulfates].

The Federal Reserve keeps mouthing transitory as if the artificially created inflation [that began with reduced petroleum refining] can be compared to a passing sinus headache. Once prices go up-industry is not inclined to allow them to go down. They will reduce the sizes and the quantity, but cut off an arm before they reduce prices. The media reports that consumers should prepare for sticker-shock...Well--consumers have the money and if we can not eat it - do we really need to buy it? And if we can't afford something we'll find an alternative we can afford. So, maybe the shock will be with a grasping retail, food and entertainment industry that sees consumer loyalty vanish...

Once business and politicians have lost public trust and the public realizes there was a collusion of secrets that made us think there were shortages we needed to worry about, then deep-doubt makes the masses tough to convince ever again...  

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 a former journalist...

Via amazon.com and/or patchworkpublishing.com

"The Count Of Baldpate" sequel "Year Of The Dog"

"Fine Point Malice And Payback"
 

 

 

 

"GREEN" & "CLEAN" IN AMERICA

    

Dear George...Is it [ever] justified to reach our destination by detouring others?  In our quest to reach our Green, Clean and Organic goals - people in developed countries are compromising the lives of people in countries struggling to develop...

I'm sure if you were President now Mr. Washington, you'd be quite perplexed by our [and the G-7 member countries] obsession with Earth's Environment. After all, very little in the original 13 Colonies was wasted: sugar sacking material made comfy nightgowns, potato sacks neatly covered cabin windows, dogs and cats ate table scraps, pigs were fed vegetable tops, weeds like dandelion made a nice local vintage wine suitable to serve with fish - and all outhouses were strategically positioned downwind and downhill. 

However, with the Industrial Revolution - life on this planet became 200 wild years of inventions and discoveries that went from steam power to the cotton gin to electricity to the telegraph, mass processing steel, oil discovery, enhanced mining with dynamite, the telephone then the light bulb, to the first maned motor powered flight--to the Model T offering travel freedom...Along with the Industrial Revolution there evolved an exploding Middle-Class from the ranks of immigrant tenant farmers, former slaves and indentured Irish servants - who became a completely new subclass--Consumers!

By 1910, intoxicated with hope and growing family businesses and regular paying jobs, as well as newfound education to at least the 6th grade - people previously held back for generations by an oppressive dual social system of either a peasant-class or a noble-class, became drunken shoppers! And shop our great grandparents did, slowed only temporarily by a 1930's depression. People bought; cars, sewing machines, furniture, art, toasters, washing machines, irons, hair dryers, can openers, radios, blenders, televisions then fax machines, computers and cell phones. 

Electricity and the internal combustion engine of the 19th Century later paired with the emergence of the personal credit card in the mid 20th Century - pried opened the entire Universe! Each generation became more nuts than the last one. If there was 'space' on the VISA the vast majority of North America was at a mall, somewhere. 

Then came the invention of the invention--that is to say created need. We didn't have to wash and reuse cloth diapers or dust rags we could throw away disposable diapers and paper towels. We weren't required to bake our own cookies or even make a simple sandwich we could buy a prepackaged peanut butter & jelly! Soon came more of the same, but in a slightly different form like bottled water!! [Somewhere along our 'path' of modern-human-evolution how did we lose the ability to hold a glass under a water tap???] 

Which brings us to the environmental disorder that is Planet Earth, 2021 with our convoluted approach to addressing all those former decades of drunken-disorderly behavior to which we gave little or no thought to the effects we were causing.

But, now 'fellow-travelers' - we're more aware or are we? 

In our rush to vilify the humble plastic straw we continued to produce 60,000 plastic water bottles a day and the same with plastic bags. Our contradictions abound. In our zeal to embrace all things Green and Organic and Clean we're in danger of swapping one misguided decision for another without truly understanding many factoring rules of science. Like the science that Earth's climate was/is/will always be changing. Geology 101 is basically "4Billion years of unsettled weather".

VOLCANOES...I'll start with CO2 - but also include SO2, because Earth has an impressive collection of constant volcanic activity. Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park is a well known active degassing caldera vent. However, the latest eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma is only one of over 500 known recent [active last 100 years] and current [active last 20 years] volcanoes - spewing not only CO2 [Carbon Dioxide], but also SO2 [Sulphur Dioxide]. The top 10 volcanoes degas both of these toxins at a rate between 13Tg and 18.5Tg [Teragram/Thero-Transistion] into Earth's atmosphere. 

Comparatively - Earth's [very] active volcano pool makes emissions from the tailpipe of a 1970s traffic jam of muscle cars as safe to breath as oxygen. 

FOREST FIRES...Fighting forest fires has become another 'industry'. We used to have a fire 'season' with major out of control fires, rare. However beginning in the 1960s in Europe and North America we stopped actively managing forests. Environmentalists protested logging, but not with an effective alternate plan they just insisted that 'all' tree harvesting stop. Since paper products and housing was still needed specific areas were leased, but clear cutting instead of targeted cutting created an imbalance with vast amounts of topsoil erosion a problem after any rain. Areas with a complete ban on all tree harvesting created an opposite imbalance with too much undergrowth.

Between 2001 and 2017 there were 70,000 wild fires a year that emitted vast amounts of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and sulphur dioxide into Earth's atmosphere.  [Plant more tress.]   

Let's move on. 

ELECTRICITY: Electric cars and trucks is the latest technological development getting superstar attention because electricity is considered a form of clean-energy. We could make that natural assumption based on all the fuss environmentalists made protesting the building of hydro electric damns [also reservoirs for water storage as a hedge against drought] in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s - that was essentially halted, by environmentalists. So, with hydro only accounting for 6.5% of our needs what else can can generate sufficient electricity? Oh dear, 34% of our [clean] electricity is generated by natural gas! There's that darn petroleum industry again then another 30% is generated from coal. Hmmm, gee whiz, coal needs to be mined and so does uranium for nuclear plants which accounts for about 20% of our electricity. 

Wind and solar combined supports only 7% of our electricity needs.

Okay--so now let's leap into the future and visualize how 'adding' millions of electric cars, trucks, trains, planes and boats to our electrical grid might look like with electric charging stations replacing gas stations. At home if you're annoyed by your electrical bills now you're going to like your future utility bills even less. But aside from that - increased production of more solar panels and more wind mills and more electric vehicles means using even more of what our [trend-following] politicians claim is 'causing' climate changes - which is pollution.

**To produce one solar panel [depending on size] requires 1.5 to 2 barrels of crude oil. But that's part of    the environmental story. Solar panels have an 18 to 25 year productive 'life', composed of  photovoltaic [PV] cells to convert sunlight to electricity. When these panels enter landfills toxic materials like lead can leach out as they break down. With current plans, by 2050 the quantity of worn out solar panels - much of which is not recyclable - will double the tonnage of all today's global plastic waste. And presently the typical time to recoup the cost is 15 to 26 years.

**To produce one wind turbine blade [depending on size, but not including installing each foundation] requires 7 to 7.4 barrels of oil. Then maintaining each turbine requires regular oil lubrication. But as with solar panels, worn-out wind turbine blades will in ten to 12 years begin to add 3 million tons per year of unrecyclable plastics in expanded landfill sites.      

**To produce one midsize electric car requires 6 to 8 barrels of oil - then - the batteries required to power an electric vehicle requires not only more petroleum [100 barrels of oil to fabricate a single battery that can store the equivalent of one barrel of oil], but also compounds from mining. Mined earth is baked in a kiln to reveal the rare metals required for electric car batteries. However, only 0.2% is usable, the other 99.98% contains contaminated waste soil that is dumped back into the originally excavated land. Further, those batteries carry a varied manufacture's warranty of 3 to 7 years [some 8 to 10] which means millions of discarded batteries end up - where? A specially designated landfill?  Right! 

But the environmental fallout of surface mining for basic materials in EVs [electric vehicles] is another part of the misdirection. You thought sea life was threatened by plastic straws [& plastic bottles] was a problem -try- deep-sea mining! EVs require rare earth elements such as lithium, nickel, colbalt, manganese -and-dysprosium and neodymiun. And below the ocean's surface are polymetallic nodules, which are lumps of minerals that consist of manganese and iron that other metals like copper, titanium, nickel and cobalt have been absorbed. This makes polymetallic-nodules far more attractive to mining companies--however, the jet machines used to harvest nodules can create underwater dead zones and irreversible damage to aquatic life. 

*If we destroy ocean habitats to improve surface air quality what have people pushing 'The Paris Climate Accord' or 'The Green New Deal' fixed? Does 'that' seem even remotely environmentally sound; Biden, McConnel, Pelosi, Graham, Schumer--Environmental Czar John Kerry--anyone?

None of the heavily taxpayer subsidized Green programs [that should be university masters and doctorate research projects] are economically or environmentally viable... 

*Further - as I said in the beginning, people in developed nations are compromising the lives and futures of people in countries struggling to become developed. In our politicians' [short-term-thinking] self-serving quest for re-election those rare earth compounds from surface mining are extracted largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo by hand, and by children as young as seven, according to Amnesty International. Costly, environmentally inefficient programs aimed to address Climate Change are enacted at the expense of the very human rights, we 'profess' to cherish. So, how environmentally responsible is that...It's midnight and time to return to reality.

What is a possible redirection? Start by pulling back, way back...We're still "drunk" spenders and highly voracious consumers with mega amounts of 'stuff'. We have stuff stored in closets, spare rooms, garages and storage units for which we pay monthly rent. We're spoiled. Our duplicates have duplicates. 

We can redirect the vast amounts of money destined for more and wider freeways - instead - to nuclear powered buses and trains [it works well for submarines] reinstating our once impressive rail network of passenger/commuter connections for jobs between towns and cities like Europe never stopped. We can produce half as much plastic stuff and other disposable landfill stuff. [No more bottled water, no more grocery or retail plastic bags.] Retailers have so much quarterly inventory they must routinely mark down that inventory in order to move it from their shelves for the next shipment. Does that make sense? 

Transitioning [above and below Earth's surface] to less hydrocarbons needs better science, better thought, better planning with less investors pushing for faster returns on their money, because the environment isn't benefitting - investors are.

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 & former journalist. 

via amazon.com and/or patchworkpublishing.com

"The Count Of Baldpate"

"Fine Points Malice And Payback"

 

 
 

  

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"