Babies not only look cute, with their big eyes, chubby cheeks and button noses, their infectious laughs and captivating scent also make them sound and smell cute. Their soft skin and waxen round limbs make them feel cute. Together, these aesthetic qualities act as a crucial mechanism that enables babies to attract us through all our senses. Baides need constant attention to survive, and cuteness is one of the main ways they get it. With our first cries, steps, and words as babies, we were set on the road to manipulation, refining and personalizing our styles as we grew into adulthood. We learned a lot from experts along the way—our parents, brothers and sisters, playmates, and teachers. However, the most effective teacher of manipulation was our fear. It is fun to observe the machination of the person at the office who obsequiously and shamelessly tries to gain someone’s favour by being sycophantic and affecting a subservient attitude, being overly agreeable and flattering to make their way to the top of the corporate ladder, only to be passed over for the BIG PROMOTION by the young Master of Business Administration (MBA) graduate hired just six months earlier, whom the sycophantic had been training. Unless, of course, you happen to be that person! If you are that person, you have spent your career—your whole life—being helpful, ingratiating, pleasing, placating, noncombative, agreeable, and passive. You managed to avoid conflict at all costs—all because you were afraid. You were afraid people would not like you. If you said no, you were afraid someone might be angry with you. You had been so nice, how could such a bad thing happen to you! #RandolphHarris 1 of 24

What about that young MBA graduate you were training who got your promotion? It was quite satisfying when he did not last a year in the job you wanted (Of course, you would never say such a thing at the office). You could see through his feigned personality. You knew he only received the promotion because he had made the boss think that you were incompetent and that the rest of the staff was lazy and needed strong, unwavering discipline and control. The entire office had been reeling from his angry outbursts whenever anything went wrong. Even when nothing was wrong, he was nasty and accusing. Everyone avoided him like the plague. No wonder he finally got fired. He had spent his short career and whole life being angry, blaming everyone but himself for failings, real and imaginary. Like you, he was afraid. However, unlike you, he was afraid that if he was not careful, he might get too close to others, become dependent on them, and get rejected and hurt. He wanted to get them before they got him. However, they got him anyway. He was alone and angry and afraid. A neighbour of his, hearing he was unemployed and looking for a job, stopped by to offer his assistance. Actually, he had been trying to get a chance to ask him out, but had never been able to engage him in a conversation of any length. He was always brusque and in a hurry. Now he had his opportunity. As he knocked on his door, he sensed he was feeling defeated and weak. #RandolphHarris 2 of 24

“I heard you were fired from your job last week and thought you might need cheering up. How about dinner tonight? There’s this great French restaurant downtown. You’ve probably never been there—it’s expensive. Great place. I entertain my clients there quite often. It’s about time you found out how the other half lives. How about it? I’ll pick you up in my new Porsche. You probably know that I’m head of sales now for the whole western division. I’m pretty busy, keeping track of everything. Can’t trust those doltish salesmen; if I turn my back one minute, everything does to hell. But if I can fit you in tonight. Maybe I can give you some pointers on how to keep a job over a night cap at my place.” Slam! The he-man hero neighbour was afraid, too. He had spent his life playing strong and competent, afraid that someone might see how weak and unsure of himself he really felt. “How dare he slam the door in my face!” he thought. “He had his chance and blew it,” he muttered out loud, catching the ear of a middle-aged woman, standing helplessly by her car that had just run out of gas. “Young man, thank heaven you came by just now. My car just stopped. I don’t know what to do. I’m late for my doctor’s appointment, and the car won’t go.” “I’m in a hurry. Maybe your car needs service. When’s the last time you had your oil changed? Let me check under your hood. This looks odd. Must be this whirligig. Looks like the fan belt is loose. You probably burned up your engine. I could fix it, but I don’t have time now. Where do you live?” #RandolphHarris 3 of 24

“A block that way. But it’s such a long block, and I feel faint. Why do these things always happen to me? What can I do now? I don’t know where to get the car fixed.” “You might have to get a new car. I only buy new cars. In the meantime, you ought to call a tow truck and get this heap off the road.” “Can’t you call a tow truck for me? I don’t know how. Besides, I feel faint. I told you I was on my way to the doctor.” This woman is afraid, as well. She is afraid to take responsibility for herself. She wants everyone else to take care of her. She has spent most of her life avoiding responsibility and can only present a litany of complaints—of what is wrong in her life and why she can do nothing to help herself. Each of these people is a manipulator, but none of them is fully conscious of that fact. Their manipulative styles provide them with some measure of success: They are able to avoid what they fear, and they are often able to manipulate others to meet their needs, but their manipulative behaviours defeat their long-term personal goals and their relationships with others. The scenarios above are only slightly exaggerated. As psychologists, we meet people everyday who behave in one or more of these four styles. The first man described above expresses phony love and caring to avoid what he fears: conflict and confrontation. His manipulative formula is “If I’m nice to everyone, avoid fights and anger, everyone will like me. I’ll get what I want, and I won’t get hurt.” He can be described as a Nice Guy, and his behaviour pattern is “pleasing and placating.” #RandolphHarris 4 of 24

The young MBA graduate expresses phony anger because he is afraid of contact and intimacy. His manipulative formula is, “If I blame and attack others frequently, I can reject them before they reject me, and I won’t get hurt.” He is a Judge, and his predominant behaviour pattern is “blaming and attacking.” The man in the third scenario expresses phony strength because he is afraid to be vulnerable. His manipulative formula is “If I am stronger than everyone else, no one can threaten me, and I won’t get hurt.” He is a Dictator, and his main behaviour patten is “controlling and dictating.” And the last woman described above expresses phony weakness because she is afraid that too much will be expected of her. Her manipulative formula is “If I am weak, others will have to help me, and I won’t get hurt.” She is a Weakling, and her primary patten of behaviour is to, “avoid and withdraw.” The caricatures described above, such monikers as “dictator” and “weakling” and all their characteristics, have limitations in helping us to abandon manipulation. Indeed, they are devices useful to describe the intricacies of manipulation, the distinct patterns of manipulative relationships, and they help create awareness of the problem. However, part of the problem of manipulators is that they see themselves and others in just such reductive terms. To help manipulators abandon seeing themselves and others as “things,” we prefer to emphasize manipulative behaviour and action rather than to emphasize manipulative caricatures. If I say that I am a bully, I have no motivation to change—a bully is what I am. However, if I say that I am acting like a bully, I can still be me as I change my bullying behaviour. #RandolphHarris 5 of 24

When we consider the manipulative types, the Judge and the Bully are described as blaming and attacking, the Dictator and the Calculator are described as controlling and dictating, the Weakling and the Clinging Vine are described as avoiding and withdrawing, and the Nice Guy and the Protector are described as pleasing and placating. These terms describe aspects of behaviour, not what might be interpreted as the essence of the person. Manipulators, whether they are functioning the person with the most authority, power, or influence in a group or organization, commanding and imposing, or as less favoured, disadvantaged, complaint and submissive, are not purposely sabotaging their goals and relationships. They are coping, albeit in unsatisfactory and self-defeating ways. As we said before, four basic conditions of every human’s emotional experience are contained in two polarities: Love—Anger, Weakness—Strength. Love and anger are opposites, but are related to each other. Weakness and strength are also opposites, but relate to each other as well. These emotional elements of human experience are also the vehicles by which with authentic love and anger or phony love and anger, with authentic strength and weakness or with phony strength and weakness. When we express our emotions truly, we are authentic. When we express them manipulatively, we are phony. We can recognize others’ phoniness more readily than we can our own. One of the goals we are focusing on is helping you to identity the manipulations you use. The other goal, equally important, is to help you discover the Self that you truly are. Ironically, your true self is as difficult for you to see as is your manipulation. That authentic self you have been mistrusting, that core of your inner being, must be recognized and trusted to overcome your manipulation. #RandolphHarris 6 of 24

Some of your manipulation is a way of life that begun in early childhood and is ingrained so deeply that you can no longer distinguish the unreal mask you wear from your real face behind it. You have the chance to develop an awareness of yourself in the context of interpersonal relations, in learning about yourself and other simultaneously to maximize your potential as well as the potentials of other people in your life. Nonetheless, perhaps the most interesting basis for claims is that of “justice.” Because I believe in God, or because I have always worked, or because I have always been a good citizen—it is but a matter of justice that nothing adverse should happen to me and that things should go my way. Earthly benefits should follow from being good and pious. Evidence to the contrary (evidence that rewards do not necessarily follow virtue) is discarded. If this tendency is presented to a patient, he will usually point out that his feeling of justice also extends to others, that he is just as indignant if injustice is done to others. To some extent this is true, but it merely means that his own need to put his claims on the basis of justice is generalized into a “philosophy.” The emphasis on justice has a reverse side, moreover, which is to make other people responsible for any adversity which overtakes them. Whether a person applies this reverse aspect to himself depends upon the degree of his conscious rightness. If this is rigid, he will—at least consciously—experience every adversity of his as in injustice. However, he will tend more easily to apply the law of “retributive justice” to others: perhaps a person who becomes unemployed did not “really” want to work; perhaps in some way the Democrats are responsible for the persecutions. #RandolphHarris 7 of 24

In more personal matters such an individual feels entitled to receive value for value given. If it were not for two factors which escape his attention. His own positive values assume exaggerated proportions in his mind (good intentions, for instance, are counted among them) while he ignores the difficulties he has brought into a relationship. And in addition, the values put on the scale often are incongruous. An analysand, for instance, may put on his side of the scale his intention to be co-operative, his wish to get rid of disturbing symptoms, his coming and paying regularly. On the analyst’s side of the scale is his obligation to make the patient well. Unfortunately, the two sides of the scale do not balance. If he is willing and able to work himself and to change, only then can the patient get well. So, if the patient’s good intentions are not combined with effective efforts, nothing much will happen. Disturbances keep recurring and the patient, with increasing irritation, will feel cheated; he will present his bill in the form of reproaches or complaints and will feel entirely justified in an increasing distrust of the analyst. The over emphasis on justice may be, but is not necessarily, a camouflage for vindictiveness. When claims are raised primarily on the grounds of a “deal” with life, usually one’s own merits are stressed. The more vindictive claims are, the more the injury done is stressed. Here, too, the injury done must be exaggerated, the feeling for it cultivated, until it looms so large that the “victim” feels entitled to exact any sacrifice or to inflict any punishment. #RandolphHarris 8 of 24

Since claims are crucial for the maintenance of a neurosis, it is of course important to assert them. This applies only toward those directed toward people, because, needless to say, fate and life have a way of deriding any assertion directed toward them. By and large the ways in which the neurotic tries to make others accede to his claims are intimately connected with the basis on which they are put. He can try to impress others with his unique important; he can please, charm, promise; he can put others under obligations and try to cash in by appealing to their sense of fairness or guilt; he can, by emphasizing his suffering, appeal to pity and guilt-feelings; he can, by stressing love for others, appeal to their yearning for love or to their vanity; he can intimidate with irritability and sullenness. The vindictive person, who may ruin others with insatiable claims, tries through hard-hitting accusations to enforce their compliance. Considering all the energies invested in justifying the claims, and in asserting them, we cannot but expect intense reactions to their frustrations. There are undercurrents of fear, but the prevailing response is anger or even rage. This anger is of a peculiar kind. Since the claims are subjectively felt as fair and just, the frustrations are experienced as unfair and unjust. The ensuing anger has therefore the character of a righteous indignation. The person feels, in other words, not only angry but the right to be angry—a feeling which is vigorously defended in analysis. #RandolphHarris 9 of 24

If by living together, as so many couples now do, is to prove socially advantageous, it will do so because it enables men and women to go beyond the novelty of exploring freedom with pleasures of the flesh to the point where they are genuinely caught up in discovering how they feel about each other as individuals, not simply as male and female partners who need each other to engage in pleasures of the flesh. A thirty-six-year-old man named Ryan has been married for thirteen years—and up to five years ago, he was into drinking in a big way. Prior to marrying, he had slept with probably three or four woman—he really cannot remember—all the way from a swinger in Tokyo to a high-school sweetheart. He had his extramarital activity two or three years into the marriage. He and his wife were living in Greenhaven—it was very bohemian then, and he fancied himself some sort of gay blade. So, he decided, he was going to get laid somewhere. And he did. And he kept on doing this for probably eight years. It was very easy—just: “Hi, come on, let’s go. Fine!” Boom. He was twenty-three when he married, his wife was twenty. Marriage was something he just was not prepared to handle then. He was like a child, and it was fun to run away. Each time, he would give himself good reason, “She doesn’t like me, I’m unhappy, we’ll get divorced and all that nonsense.” However, after he stopped smoking marijuana, there was none of that. The reality of responsibility, of commitment, suddenly hit him at that time. When Ryan stopped smoking, he became away of a whole new kind of sober sexuality with his wife, so the extramarital activities sort of went down. #RandolphHarris 10 of 24

Being in bed with his wife and being sober was an incredible experience. However, he believes that they now have entered a stage where they are living apart in a sense, during the week, and he goes home on the weekends—that arrangement seems to be the best for them. Two weeks ago, his wife, for the first time, slept with someone else. She called him and said she was freaked out, and indicated that she really needed him. So he went up there and was really surprised that his attitude was one of wanting to confront her. Instead of throwing a fit, which he would have done in the not-so-distant past, he said, “This is wonderful” because she was upset by her own action. She felt that the experience was—“unclean.” She did not like the guy really; she did not intellectually have anything in common with him, but she was lonely after being married for thirteen years. She claimed not to be aware of Ryan’s activities involving pleasures of the flesh outside of their marriage, but he highly doubts that because he said he was always working, but his status in his career and his salary tells a different story. It is important to be aware that Ryan’s attitudes are more complex than they might seem. Certainly, the procedure of choice at the moment that his wife needed his reassurance was to provide comfort, as he did, particularly in view of his own history of multiple extramarital affairs. In addition, however, if only to protect his relationship with her from which he now obtains valued benefits, since he now finds his wife tremendously more attractive in every respect, he would want to be helpful and supportive. Finally, although he does not acknowledge it, he may be expressing guilt. He could hardly help wondering whether his absence at home was one of the key factors in pushing his wife into having the kind of distasteful extramarital incident that she since described to him, and so some responsibility clearly rests on his shoulders. #RandolphHarris 11 of 24

Whatever Ryan’s real feelings were about his wife’s single act of infidelity, his remark that he found it “wonderful” that she had finally taken this step is characteristic of men who want the scales balanced in some way so that they feel justified in continuing to have outside relationships with pleasures of the flesh. This kind of man, incidentally, is often likely to cajole his wife into taking part in swinging. Characteristically, he thinks of this as a way to do what he wants without feeling guilty—but he often becomes dismayed if he discovers that no matter how reluctant his wife may have been to engage in such activities, she may very well find it more rewarding than he himself does. At that point, he is only too eager to terminate the experiment. When I feel smashed or trapped or bound or pushed, it is helpful to me to ask myself, “What illusion is fouling me up now?” The illusion is what I think about something. The facts just are. I know this most clearly through reflecting on what happens in emergencies when “there is no time to think.” If I think about it, I am lost—either I am paralyzed and can do nothing else I move and do the wrong thing. However, if respond to what is the objective view—as seen by others, or by myself seeing me after the fact, or after the reality. That is all it means: I am seen as an object. Subjectively, there is no “I” and everything is just happening. This is experience to me. As soon as “I” returns there is thinking about—or when thinking about returns, there is “I”—and experiencing is lost. #RandolphHarris 12 of 24

It is sometimes worthwhile for me to think about, but when I am aware that it does shut out the experiencing which is life itself—gentle love, interest, and many happenings—then I become more discriminating. I ask myself if this thinking-about is before or after. If it is before, then it is fantasy—like my thinking about Doctors A and X. If it is after, then I ask myself if it serves a useful purpose. Usually, I discover that it serves only ego, assuring me of the cleverness of “I.” There is not a darned thing I can do with it except use it to impress others and myself. This becomes ridiculous. Is it life to go about impressing others and myself? It may come as a surprise to ego, but in this imagery ego is servant and the inner is the master. With ego= I, it seems to me necessary to be clear which I is me. Is “the inner” less myself? Or more? When I picked up servicemen in spite of warnings not to do so, I felt that “someone else” has put my foot on the brake to stop for them, However, that “someone else” was very much me—in opposition to the value that others were emphasizing, which I felt that I should be practical and accept. At that time, this was my “inner” because I had the “outer” too. However, when I let the inner act through me, then it became my outer too and I matched. No split. No separation. No conflict. I was whole. Ego-I/intellect stopped the car and then drove it on in this World, but the knowing of that World dictated when to stop, and when to drive on. Ego is just fine when it acts as my chauffeur. #RandolphHarris 13 of 24

It seems to me that his half-I/ego/intellect is my small mind, or the small part of my mind, behind my forehead—which I think of as my “intellect” because I can do things with it. Real-I simply is and does—acts through me. When this happens, I have no choice because there is only one thing (at this moment) that I want to do. No decisions. I feel then that I am living within a snowflake pattern, myself moving through the center, all things in place around me in a beautiful design. No collisions—within me or with the outside World. I feel like a smoothly spinning top which touches an obstacle lightly and glides away, without damage to either the top or the obstacle. It feels good to have some understanding of myself, of what goes on in me. I can get into an argument (conflict) within my intellect, but this is really between other people entirely. It has nothing to do with me. I can also get into an argument between my intellect (other people in me) and me. When I accept the me, then intellect falls back into its proper place, carrying out my wishes which are identical with those of the spirit in all of us. I think it is the proper function of my intellect to be practical, to enable me to get around and do things in the service of myself and all of us. The error comes in when my intellect makes the first decision, which it can only do “practically” in the service of itself and what it sees as its possession. The original meaning of “sin” is to “miss the mark” and it seems to me that this is the way in which I miss it. I have the feeling of hitting the mark when I move through the center of the snowflake pattern—the bull’s eye. #RandolphHarris 14 of 24

The prevailing concept of the ideal body is adopted by most people as their personal body-ideal. This is the source of many somatic concerns. The most common difficulty people have with their appearance in America is being above average weight. This is also a health problem, for overweight people are more susceptible to disease than thinner people. However, the cosmetic aspects of obesity are just as acutely worried about as the physical health aspects. America is one of the few countries in the World where being above average weight is a public health problem, where food is abundant, but a slender body is cultural value. Some people seem unable to maintain their caloric intake at a level that will enable them to lose weight, and other times it is a medical condition that causes people to gain weight rapidly and makes it hard to burn off. Medication can also cause weight again, as well as injury. When a person wants to stop some behaviour pattern but finds that will power is ineffective, it is evidence that unconscious motives of great strength lie behind the behaviour. Sometimes the overweight person is overeating for reasons other than hunger. Clinical studies of chronically overweight people have show that they may have unhealthy personalities. They may, for example, be unable to derive satisfaction from their work. They may be starved for love. Rather than live with no “highs,” they resort to a very primitive type of satisfaction—that provided by a rich meal. Some obese persons are not unlike chronic alcoholics in that they are addicted to a practice that harms them at the same time that it relieves anxiety and provides immediate gratification. Like alcoholics, some obese person might make daily renewed vows to “taper off,” but they never seem to achieve this end. #RandolphHarris 15 of 24

In some cities, groups of obese people—Weight Watchers—organize as do the members of Alcoholics Anonymous; they are all dedicated to the aim of reducing, and they lend each other moral support in adhering to reducing diets. Such groups are probably the most effective means for achieving and maintaining a weight loss. However, unless the conditions, medical or psychological, responsible for the excessive appetite are removed, persons will be obliged to remain dependent upon their group membership in order to preserve their weight loss once it has been achieved. This is not an unhealthy dependency. The intellect is only the totality of transient thoughts; it is not a separate and self-existent thinker.  The telephone operator in a business who attempted to manage all the departments of that business independently of the chief executive would be a usurper. The intellect is the telephone operator of our psyche and undertakes more than it is really capable of when it undertakes to decry the Soul. The intellect’s desire for total explanations of the Universe is impossible to satisfy, save with self-deception. The intellect produces thoughts without weariness. It looks for change instead of looking inside itself for its originator. To start with the data and come to the conclusion, joining the two by a series of logical steps, is the way of ratiocinating intellect. However, we need to guard against inaccuracy of thought and speech as well as against narrowness of mind and feeling. Kant saw how the mind forms its ideas under definitely limited conditions, and how it cannot help but do so, and that these ideas are merely the best it can produce under those conditions, not at all the truest ones. #RandolphHarris 16 of 24

Good leaders strive to leave an organization better than they found it and expect other leaders throughout the Sacramento Fire Department to do the same. You can create a beneficial organizational climate, prepare yourself to do well in your own duties, and help others to perform well. As good leaders, members of the Sacramento Fire Department look ahead and prepare talented firefighters and EMTs to assume positions with greater leadership responsibility in their organizations and in future assignments. The firefighter or EMT who develops people and the organization with a long-term perspective possess the following three competencies: Creates a welcoming environment. Seeks self-improvement. Invests adequate time and effort to developing individual subordinates and building effective teams. “There are times, no doubt about it, that we are knocking our heads against the wall. We speak with politicians about the fire safety of our citizens, and sometimes we get nothing in return. We know that politicians know that sprinkler systems work, that two people or more have never, ever dined in a building that is equipped with an operational sprinkler system. Yet the politicians are in the pockets of the real estate and building construction moguls who know that sprinkler installation increases their costs and diminishes their profits, and so we have hardly any residential sprinkler laws in the country, which really would have helped with the fires in Southern California. It is shameful. #RandolphHarris 17 of 24

“But then we live in a crass, statistical World, where the eight thousand or so people who are killed in firs each year are perhaps less important than the drain on our economy that would be created by reduced building profits. Pass along the costs to the consumer? It will never happen in a competitive real estate market. Sprinklers must be mandated by law by enlightened politicians. Still, our heads beat against the bricks. There are so many serious problems to be solved in the country, and we firefighters are only a one-issues lobby. And our issue is very costly. The problem of drug abuse, AIDS, illiteracy, homelessness are profound domestic challenges and good argument can be made that these issues can take priority over the problem of fire safety. The great difference is, however, that we know the answer to the fire problem. Put sprinklers in all of our shelters and we will save eight thousand lives a year. Until that happens, America’s firefighters will continue to risk their future and their families’ futures by running into a burning building where the fire is growing out of control. And they will fight those fires uncomplainingly, knowing all the while that they have been compromised by politicians.” We make the mistake of looking for a philosophical system that will confirm our preconceived beliefs and views. How few are really and sincerely seeking to establish truth; how many seek rather to establish victory. They can point out the errors in other people’s conclusions, opinions, and beliefs, but are blind to the errors their own. “Against stupidity the gods themselves strive unvictorious.” –Schiller. #RandolphHarris 18 of 24

One thing we witness all the time during emergency situations is people ignoring the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances. Often times, people even try to outrun the emergency vehicles and this can create dangerous situations. Citizens, remember to give the right-of-way to any law enforcement vehicle, fire engine, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle using a siren and red lights. Failure to pull over may result in a ticket. Drive to the right edge of the road and stop until the emergency vehicles(s) have passed. When approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with flashing emergency signal lights (hazard lights), move over and slow down. If you are in an intersection when you see an emergency vehicle, continue through the intersection. Drive to the right as soon as it is safe and stop. Obey any direction, order, or signal given by a law enforcement officer, or a firefighter. Even if they conflict with existing signs, signals, or laws, follow their orders. When their siren or flashing lights are on, it is against the law to follow within 300 feet of any fire engine, law enforcement vehicle, ambulance, or other emergency vehicle. If you drive to the scene of a fire, collision, or other disaster, you can be arrested. When you do this, you are getting in the way of firefighters, ambulance crews, or other rescue and emergency personnel. Moral courage is the willingness to stand firm on values, principles, and convictions. It enables you to stand up for what you believe is right, regardless of the consequences. #RandolphHarris 19 of 24

The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other peoples’ problems, to go to bat for them in a tough situation and it means knowing just how far they can go. It also means being willing to tell the boss when he or she is wrong. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. Having the Southern American boarder open and not having American farmland protected, not producing beef, poultry, fish, fruit, produce and dairy in America, and without American goods and services being our number one manufactured and selling items, America has created a dangerous and significantly elevated risks to national security, national economic security, and national public health. Some people may believe that these claims are overstated, but by not routinely monitoring Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CEVs) or other security relevant alerts, such as end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure is the 2025 Palisades fires because Southern California ran out of water, when they are located next to an ocean and they could have simply created desalinating plants to help with the water shortage. The water is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. #RandolphHarris 20 of 24

The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them prior to the situation becoming a crisis. Failure to take such mitigating actions is dangerous and significantly elevates risk to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. The American government must understand that significant time and resources must be invested in America. They must also encourage corporations to plan for both mitigating safety vulnerabilities in the short term and eliminating them in the long term. For instance, a company might begin by reaching out to the federal, state or local government and requesting tax incentives to provide security to dangerous communities, to help the government repair bridges and potholes. America needs an approach to eliminate safety vulnerabilities in American cities. There needs to be a road map by the end of 2025, outlining a prioritized approach to eliminate crisis situations in America. There is enough money to send aid to foreign nations, but the American government does not have enough money to care their infrastructure, provide adequate resources, nor end the affordable housing crisis. Nor is there enough money to fund other national critical functions (NCFs). These bad practices of putting America and Americans last is considered exceptionally risky, particularly to national security, national economic security, and national public health and safety. In 2024, Americans spent $100 billion on Japanese cars. #RandolphHarris 21 of 24

In an effort to help America pull through the massive national deficit, please buy American made cars. American made cars used to be the envy of the World and because American car brands are offering a wide range of options, from family SUVs to electric vehicles and luxury sedans, we are now seeing a resurging interest. American made cars are equal or superior to those made overseas. The Chevrolet Trax, for instance, is a well-designed, fuel efficient, and safe SUV. And as you know, there is no better car on Earth than 1950-1970s American Muscle Car. As an incentive to buy American made cars, President Trump plans to made interest on loans for American cars tax deductible. Americans surely make superior products, but we are buying things from other nations. American food imports have risen by 300 percent since 1999. American farmland declined by nearly 20 million acres between 2017 and 2022. As of 2022, there were 880.1 million acres of land dedicated to farming, compared to 900.1 million in 2017. The data shows there are now little more than 1.9 million farms in the country.  Americans and American corporations spent $136 billion on food and beverages from other countries. It is a national security risk to lose American Farms and farmers. If there is a war, and most of our meat, produce, poultry, dairy, and fruit is coming from foreign counties, we stand the risk of starving. With war breaking out all over the World, in these uncertain times, it is very important to bring American farms back. Las Vegas is running out of buildable land and is expected to reach its maximum number of homes in 2032. So, home prices are expected to rise dramatically. #RandolphHarris 22 of 24

Additionally, State Farm did ask the California Department of Insurance if they could raise homeowner insurance rates by 22 percent, but this request was denied. However, in 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1107, also known as the Protection California Drivers Act, into law which increases the minimum auto lability limits for bodily injury to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident. Senate Bill 1107 also increased the minimum liability limits for property damage to $15,000 per accident and the DMV deposit for uninsured drivers to $75,000. The bill went into effect on January 1, 2025. This means that drivers with existing policies with lower limits will renew at the new minimum limits on or after January 1, 2025, and insurance premiums could increase by as much as 54 percent. America is in a state of crisis right now because of mismanagement by democrats. If elected for an unprecedented third term, to make housing more affordable and to offset the cost of homeowner’s insurance and auto insurance, President Trump plans to abolish property taxes. Much like the land crisis in Las Vegas, we could also run out of land to farm and will not be able to grow or cultivate our own food. We can protect American farmland and support American farmers by buying American made beef, poultry, dairy, and produce. Also, country of origin labeling is very important so Americans can know where their food is coming from and have the ability to support American farmers and ranchers. As money flows, it influences further investment. Save the land that sustains us by protecting American farmland. Once the land is built on, we lose it forever.  And in the future, there may be food wars. Also, to ensure that we have farmland and buildable land for future use, we need to start limiting the number of people allowed to immigrant to America. Perhaps with the immigrants we do allow into America, there needs to be a diversity program to make sure we have a population that equally represents all races of people. If Americans continue to spend money on American products, then more need to be made to keep up the inventory. When investors notice these goods are selling, it gives them the confidence to pour more money into that local business. It shows that people want these goods made in America and pressures investors to keep these goods and services in America. The jobs stay here, the business stays in American, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. #RandolphHarris 23 of 24

When you support American businesses, that money stays in our economy and can help to reduce the national debt. The government creates debt by borrowing from businesses in the private sector or from foreign countries. It also increases the national debt by spending more than it gains in tax revenue in a fiscal year. When people shop locally, more tax money stays in the economy and goes to the government. This way, it keeps more money in our national economy and keeps more jobs located in American which also sends more taxes to the government, which can again help to reduce the national debt. When you buy foreign goods, these companies usually have lighter tax loads or exemptions, meaning less money for the nation debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by send more money overseas. Buying American made products is also better for the environment and helps to reduce the carbon footprint because these products do not have to travel nearly as far. Furthermore, American companies and manufacturers are held to much higher standards in regard to pollution. American companies have to be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Moreover, please remember to respect law and order and treat your elders with the utmost dignity and kindness possible. And take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. It is inborn in the human minds to wish to know. If this begins with the endless surface questions of a child’s curiosity, if it continues into deeper questions of a scientist’s probing investigation, it cannot and does not stop there. For the higher part of the mind will eventually come into unfoldment, that union of abstract reflective thought with mystical intuition, which is true intelligence, which needs and sees a view of the whole of things. And so, the knowing faculty enters the realm of philosophy. As a reminder, parents, pleasure teach your children love America and be patriotic citizens and to buy goods and services made in America. It is also important to respect law and order and treat your elders with respect. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. #RandolphHarris 24 of 24

The Winchester Mystery House

Experience an unforgettable journey back to the time of kings and queens with this entry ticket for The Winchester Mansion in Santa Clara, California which was the residence of Sarah L. Winchester. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After tour, there will be time enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal in Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, and wonder through the miles of hallways in the World’s most mysterious mansion.

For further information about tours, including group tours, weddings, school events, birthday party packages, facility rentals, and special events please visit the website: https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Please visit the online giftshop, and purchase a gift for friends and relatives as well as a special memento of The Winchester Mystery House. A variety of souvenirs and gifts are available to purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

We wish to express our gratitude to our families and friends and to our many associates and clients, whose lives touched our lives and whose ideas helped us to grow. We would also like to thank our employees and care takers for putting the technical ideas of this estate into conversational style, and we are, of course, extremely thank to all of our patrons for helping to keep the legacy of the Winchester Family alive. The Winchester Mystery House is full of surprises. What was your favorite, “Oooh!” moment during your visit at the mansion? (And for those of you who still have to check it off your bucket list… we will hopefully see you soon.)  https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/