Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. However, the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of the Beautiful. In all the arts, there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. For nearly a century, neither matter nor space nor time has been what it was from time immemorial. We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art. The transformation of the superstructure, which takes place far more slowly than that of the substructure, has taken more than a century to manifest in all areas of culture the change in the conditions of production. Only today it can be indicated what form this has taken. The range of experience of conscience does not extend to the fact that this unity itself presupposes disunion with God and with men, and that consequently, beyond the disobedience to the prohibition, the prohibition itself, as the call of conscience, arises from disunion with the origin. This means that conscience is concerned not with man’s relation to God and to other men but with man’s relation to himself. However, a relation of man to himself, in detachment from his relation to God and to other men, can arise only through man’s becoming like God in the disunion. #RandolphHarris 1 of 30

Conscience itself reverses this relation. It derives the relation to God and to men from the relation of man to himself. Conscience pretends to be the voice of God and the standard for the relation to other men. It is therefore from his right relation to himself that man is to recover the right relation to God and to other men. This reversal is the claim of the man who has become like God in his knowledge of good and evil. Man has become the origin of good and evil. He does not deny his evil; but in conscience, man summons himself, who has become evil, back to his proper, better self, to good. This good, which consists in the unity of man with himself, is now to be the origin of all good. it is the good of God, and it is the good for one’s neighbour. Bearing with himself the knowledge of good and evil, man has become judge over God and men, just as he is judge over himself. Knowing of good and evil in disunion with the origin, man begins to reflect upon himself. His life is not his understanding of himself, whereas at the origin, it was his knowledge of God. Self-knowledge is now the measure and the goal of life. This holds true even when man presses out beyond the bounds of his own self. Self-knowledge is man’s interminable striving to overcome his disunion with himself by thought; by unceasingly distinguishing himself from himself, he endeavours to achieve unity with himself. All knowledge is based upon self-knowledge. Instead of the original comprehension of God and of men and of things there is now a taking in vain of God and of men and of things. Everything now is drawn in into the process of disunion. Knowledge now means the establishment of the relationship to oneself; it means the recognition in all things of oneself and of oneself in all things. And thus, for man who is in disunion with God, all things are in disunion, what is and what should be, life and law, knowledge and action, idea and reality, reason and instinct, duty and inclination, conviction and advantage, necessity and freedom, exertion and genius, universal and concrete, individual and collective; even truth, justice, beauty and love come into opposition with one another, just as do pleasure and displeasure, happiness and sorrow. #RandolphHarris 2 of 30

One could prolong the list still further, and the course of human history adds to it constantly. All these disunions are varieties of the disunion in the knowledge of good and evil. “The point of decision of the specifically ethical experience is always conflict.” However, in conflict, the judge is invoked; and the judge is the knowledge of good and evil; he is man. Man’s art, though at its best, is ever feeble when compared with the majestic handiwork of God. No great architect or sculptor would allow subordination to his favorite art. According to many religious texts, humans are considered God’s most special creation because they are made in the “image of God,” which gives them a unique role and relationship with the divine. Genesis tells us that as God created the universe, He saw that each thing was good. Then, Genesis 1:27 reads, “God created mankind in His image; in the image of God, He created them; male and female He created them.” After that, God looked at creation and found that it was very good. Man and woman completed and crowned creation. Therefore, do not let your circumstances define you. You were sent here to do great things. Where you live, what do people expect you to achieve and to become? Sometimes the people around you form expectations of you based on your past, on what other people in your family have done, or on stereotypes for your community—not on who you really are. However, one thing we must always remember is that God is the great architect who created us, and He is not subordinate to us, His favorite creation. Because Heavenly Father knows you are amazing and can do extraordinary things, He has high expectations for you. #RandolphHarris 3 of 30

Heavenly Father wants us to be as good as we possibly can throughout our lives: compassionate, full of the Spirit, humble, loving—everything in the scriptures that He tells us to be. Even though it can be hard to live up to them, those high expectations should make you feel special. It can be difficult as you go through life, and people make mistakes. It can make one feel inadequate. However, know that God believes in you, and he expects it of you, which means nothing is impossible. Make the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, such as faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation part of your life, and this will bring you closer to the Lord and help you meet His expectations. God expects you to be a good person, a wonderful person. He expects you to do good things and be a leader to others. Therefore, choose to be strong every day. All of us can meet God’s high expectations, however great or small our capacity and talent may be. It is a diligent, devoted effort on our part that calls for His empowering and enabling grace. In principle, a work of art has always been reproducible. Men could always imitate man-made artifacts. Copies are made by pupils in practice of their craft, by masters for diffusing their works, and, finally, by third parties in the pursuit of gain. Mechanical reproduction of a work of art, however, represents something new. Historically, it advanced intermittently and in leaps at long intervals, but with accelerated intensity. The Greeks knew only two procedures of technically reproducing works of art: founding and stamping. Bronzes, terra cottas, and coins were the only art works which they could produce in quantity. All others were unique and could not be mechanically reproduced. With the woodcut graphic, art became mechanically reproducible for the first time, long before script became mechanically reproducible by print. The enormous changes which printing, the mechanical reproduction of writing, has brought about in literature are a familiar story. #RandolphHarris 4 of 30

However, within the phenomenon which we are examining from the perspective of world history, print is merely a special, though particularly important, case. During the Middle Ages, engraving and etching were added to the woodcut; at the beginning of the nineteenth century, lithography made its appearance. With lithography, the technique of reproduction reached an essentially new stage. This much more direct process was distinguished by the tracing of the design on a stone rather than its incision on a block of wood or its etching on a copperplate, and permitted graphic art for the first time to put its products on the market, not only in large numbers as hitherto, but also in daily changing forms. Lithography enabled graphic art to illustrate everyday life, and it began to keep pace with printing. However, only a few decades after its invention, lithography was surpassed by photography. For the first time in the process of pictorial reproduction, photography freed the hand of the most important artistic functions which henceforth devolved only upon the eye looking into a lens. Since the eye perceives more swiftly than the hand can draw, the process of pictorial reproduction was accelerated so enormously that it could keep pace with speech. A film operator shooting a scene in the studio captures the images at the speed of an actor’s speech. Just as lithography virtually implied the illustrated newspaper, so did photography foreshadow the sound film. The technical reproduction of sound was tackled at the end of the 19^th century. These convergent endeavours made predictable a situation which Paul Valery pointed up in this sentence: “Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign.” Around 1900, technical reproduction had reached a standard that not only permitted it to reproduce all transmitted works of art and thus to cause the most profound change in their impact upon the public; it also had captured a place of its own among the artistic processes. For the study of this standard, nothing is more revealing than the nature of the repercussions that these two different manifestations—the reproduction of works of art and the art of the film—have had on art in its traditional form. #RandolphHarris 5 of 30

Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be. This unique existence of the work of art determined the history of which it was subject throughout the time of existence. This includes the changes which it may have suffered in physical condition over the years, as well as the various changes in its ownership. The original has spirits, wisdom, and emotions attached to it, painful and beautiful memories. The traces of the first can be revealed only by chemical or physical analyses which it is impossible to perform on a reproduction: changes of ownership are subject to a tradition which must be traced from the situation to the original. Although far removed from the beginnings of mankind, the Victorian house, too, when it has lived its time, may speak the wisdom of the years and say with truth, “All has its time. There is a time to leap with joy, and a time to drag oneself along the earth; there is a time to run with the herd, and a time to go apart to die; there is a time to build nests with one’s beloved, and there is a time to sit alone on the roof; there is a time to soar freely among the clouds, and a time to sink heavily to the earth. All has its time; ‘what profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?’” And, in case you should say to the chandelier, “Is there, then, nothing left to tell?” then it will answer you, “No, when the chandelier is dead, the story is over.” Otherwise, the story must have been different from the beginning and been different as it went along, not merely becoming different at the end. Let us assume that the chandelier concluded its story in another fashion and added, “The story is not over, for when I am dead, I am immortal.” #RandolphHarris 6 of 30

Would this not be a strange story? If the chandelier were really immortal, then immortality must be just that which prevented it from dying, and therefore immortality must have been present in each instant of its life. And the story of its life must once again have been wholly different in order to express continually immortality’s difference from all the changeableness and the different kinds of variations of the perishable. Immortality cannot be a final alternation that crept in, so to speak, at the moment of death as the final stage. On the contrary, it is a changlessness that is not altered by the passage of the years. Therefore, to the old man’s words that, “all has its time,” the wise Solomon adds, “God made all things beautiful in this time; also He hath set eternity within man’s heart, (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Thus, says the self-actualized Christian. For the talk about change, and the varied ways of talking about change is indeed confusing, even when it comes from the mouth of an old man. Only the wisdom of eternity is edifying. If there is, then, something eternal in a man, it must be able to exist and to be grasped within every change. Nor can it be wisdom to say, indiscriminately, that this something eternal has its time like the perishable, that it makes its circle like the wind that never gets further; that it has its course like the river that never fills up the sea. Nor can it be wisdom to talk of this eternal element in the same vein, as if one were speaking of the past and in the sense that it can never, not even in repentance, relate itself to a present person but only to an absent one. For repentance is precisely the relation between something past and someone that has his life in the present time. It was unwise of the youth to wish to talk in the same terms of the pleasure of dancing and of its opposite. For this clear act of folly betrayed that the youth, in his youth, would like to have outgrown youth. However, as for the Eternal, the time never comes when a man has grown away from it, or has become older—than the Eternal. #RandolphHarris 7 of 30

The period during which the human organism develops towards its completion in interrelationship with its environment is also the period during which the human self is formed. The formation of the self, then, must also be understood in relation to both the ongoing organismic development and the social process in which the natural and the human environment are mediated through the significant others. The genetic presupposition for the self are, of course, given at birth. However, the self, as it is experienced later as a subjectively and objectively recognizable identity, is not. The same social processes that determine the completion of the organism produce the self in its particular, culturally relative form. The character of the self as a social product is not limited to the particular configuration the individual identities as himself (for instance, as “a man,” in the particular way in which this identity is defined and formed in the culture in question), but to the comprehensive psychological equipment that serves as an appendage to the particular configuration (for instance, “manly” emotions, attitudes and even somatic reactions). It goes without saying, then, that the organism and, even more, the self cannot be adequately understood apart from the particular social context in which they were shaped. The common development of the human organism and the human self in a socially determined environment is related to the peculiarly human relationship between organism and self. This relationship is an eccentric one. On the one hand, man is in a body, but that, on the contrary, has that body at its disposal. In other words, man’s experience of himself always hovers in a balance between being and having a body, a balance that must be redressed again and again. This eccentricity of man’s experience of his own body has certain consequences for the analysis of human activity as conduct in the material environment and as externalization of subjective meanings. An adequate understanding of any human phenomenon will have to consider both these aspects, for reasons that are grounded in fundamental anthropological facts. #RandolphHarris 8 of 30

The statement that man produces himself in no way implies some sort of Promethean vision of the solitary individual. Man’s self-production is always, and of necessity, a social enterprise. Men together produce a human environment, with the totality of its sociocultural and psychological formations. None of these formations may be understood as products of man’s biological constitution, which, as indicated, provides only the outer limits for human productive activity. Just as man can’t develop as man in isolation, so it is impossible for man in isolation to produce a human environment. Solitary human being is being on the animal level (which, of course, man shares with other animals). As soon as one observes phenomena that are specifically human, one enters the realm of the social. Man’s specific humanity and his sociality are inextricably intertwined. Homo sapiens is always, and in the same measure, homo socius. Obviously, a good way to obscure the “higher” motivations, and to get a lopsided view of human capacities and human nature, is to make the organism extremely and chronically hungry or thirsty. Anyone who attempts to make an emergency picture into a typical one, and who will measure all of man’s goals and desires by his behaviour during extreme physiological deprivation, is certainly being blind to many things. It is quite true that man lives by bread alone—when there is no bread. However, what happens when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled? At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of prepotency. #RandolphHarris 9 of 30

Truly new insights, however, are hard to formulate in a balanced way. It is probably a result of the long-undisputed existence of the universal blind spot discussed here that the sudden emergence in our time of insight into the importance of childhood have tended to develop another, compensatory loss of perspective: I mean the tendency on the part of the psychologists and psychopathologists to explain societal phenomena such as totalitarianism by equating them with particular infantile or juvenile stages (“adolescent”), with specific mental illness (“paranoid”), or with particular “character structures” “the “authoritarian personality”). From the personological approach, suggestive generalizations have emerged in regard to certain analogies between patterns of child rearing, ways of conceptualizing the world, and inclinations toward political creeds. This approach, however, has contributed little to the all-important question, namely, under what conditions does the energy invested in given patterns of thought and action (for example, authoritarian) become available for relevant political indoctrination and for effective mass action? The psychopathological approach, in turn, has weakened its case by diagnostic name-calling, designating peoples and people actively or passively involved in totalitarian revolutions as either pathological or immature human beings, and attempting by this means to explain their political behaviour. However, man can be many things, on many levels, and history rarely permits him that unification of defined creed, conscious attitude, and pragmatic action which we in the Protestant world have come to demand of a “mature” or, at any rate, a “logical” human being. #RandolphHarris 10 of 30

What follows, then, is not an attempt at fixing the origin or cause of totalitarianism in the fact of childhood, or in particular forms of childhood training. Nor shall I treat it as a transient affliction or localized epidemic; I begin with the assumption that totalitarianism is based on universal human potentialities and is thus related to all aspects of human nature, wholesome and pathological, adult and infantile, individual and societal. Totalitarianism has probably often been a near reality in history, but to wait for “its” historical moment. This moment is determined by the advance of technology in communication and organization and by the varieties of conditions which gave rise to the fanatic idea of the total state, favour its realization in well-timed revolutionary acts, and furthermore, maintain it through the realities of power and terror. Only such a historical perspective can give the proper measure of the different degrees and kinds of ideological involvement on the part of the many types that make up a totalitarian state: fanatic apostles and shrewd revolutionaries; lonely leaders and oligarchic cliques; sincere believers and sadistic explotiers; obedient bureaucrats and efficient managers, soldiers, engineers; willing followers, apathetic toilers, and paralyzed opponents; unnerved victims and bewilder would-be victims. My training and experience permit me to attempt a contribution to only one of the more basic and yet often less tangible factors in all these forms of participation, namely, the psychological prerequisites for an inspiring or paralyzing sense of the legitimacy of totalitarianism. In all neurotic developments, the alienation from self is the nuclear problem; in all of them, we find the search for glory, the shoulds, the claims, the self-hate, and the various measures to relieve tension. The inner constellation produces a fundamental uncertainty about the feeling of identity. Who am I? Am I the proud super-human being—or am I the subdued, guilty, and rather despicable creature? Unless he is a poet or a philosopher, the individual usually does not raise such questions consciously. However, the existing bewilderment does appear in dreams. In many ways, the loss of identity can there by expressed directly and succinctly. #RandolphHarris 11 of 30

The dreamer may have lost his passport, or when asked to identify himself, may be unable to do so. Or perhaps an old friend of his will appear in his dream, looking quite different from the way he remembers him. Or he may look at a portrait, but the picture frame encloses an empty canvas. For example, the miners of Thuringia were reported to have been even more superstitious than the peasants; and the Thuringian peasant to this day, remains the most superstitious in Germany. Into this kind of miner’s world Hans Luder was forced to go in his early twenties; the work-ideology and cosmology he acquired there his early years. The saying that all is not gold that glitters has a fateful meaning for the miner; it is his job to look for that which glitters, look for it with avaricious but disciplined attention which allows him to avoid wrong leads and recover quickly from disappointment. In those days, of course, the avarice which might make the miner look too eagerly and so doubly fail was attributed to the devil. “In the mines, the devil vexes and fools people, and makes apparitions before their eyes so that they are quite sure they see a big pile of ore and of solid silver where there is nothing.” The feeling that some glistening pile might turn out to be dirt or worse may have been such a basic and constant superstition that we may have to learn to recognize it in the father’s general suspiciousness, and even in his later admonitions to his ordained son that in the most resplendent manifestations of divinity, he had better be on the lookout for “ghosts.” And Martin Luther, having almost literally absorbed such superstitions with his mother’s milk (for the mother is said to have been the more superstitious parent, though she put greater emphasis on benevolent magic), may never have been able not to believe his father when he invoked the sinister wisdom of those who worked in the bowels of the earth. Even a few days before his death, Mr. Luther saw the devil sitting on a rainpipe outside of his window, exposing his behind to him. Such “reality” always existed for him alongside Aristotle and St. Augustine, St. Paul and the Scriptures. #RandolphHarris 12 of 30

It will not harm our spiritual affairs to being more clarity into them. It will not help them to keep our thinking about them muddled. Usually, the patient comes to therapy for two reasons, neither of which places the script in jeopardy. His Adult comes in order to find out how to be more comfortable living in his script. The most forthright example of this is the homosexual of either gender, who usually makes an honest declaration in this respect. The male homosexual, for example, does not want to leave his script world which is populated by women who are either dangerous and hateful schemers, or else innocent and occasionally amiable weirdos. All he wants is to love more comfortably in that world, and only rarely does he wish to see women as real people, which is why several men are trying to replace women, having their genitals removed, and playing on women’s sports teams. Other therapeutic goals of a similar nature are: “How to live more comfortably while bashing your head against a stone wall,” “How to live more comfortably while holding on to the sides of a tunnel,” “How to keep other people from making waves when you are up to your chin in Sh*t Creek,” and “How to outcrook the crooks when the whole world is Crooksville,” Any vigorous attempt to change the script world itself must be postponed until after the patient is firmly established in therapy and understands how it fits into his script. Besides the rational Adult desire to live more comfortably, there is a more urgent Child reason why the patient comes to therapy, and that is to advance his script through transactions with the therapist. He who can conquer language conquers men. Such semantic self-vigilance will have a chastening effect on his private thoughts, quite apart from his public talk or writing. We start by elucidating the information contained in a single word or in a sentence construction, and our procedure is to question not the word or sentence itself but the meaning assigned to it. #RandolphHarris 13 of 30

We have to get the meaning of certain words by going within, to find by internal experience the correct definition of Spirit, Thought, and Love. If this new scrupulousness requires him to reform his speech, he should do so. If a spiritualized semantics is needed for his thinking about truth, he should take it up. The philosopher must ask each word to yield thoroughly a definition which possesses an exactitude that may well terrify the ordinary man. He must become a hunter and wander through the forests of verbal meaning to track down real meaning. He will not rush prematurely into utterance. Words are cheap for the ordinary man, but dear to him. His studied hesitations lead, however, closer to the truth. This interpretational discipline must be vigorously applied until it leads to a thorough understanding of all concepts which are the essential counters in philosophical research. For when men go astray in the definitions of these highly important terms, they will surely go astray in their thinking, and thence be led astray altogether from truth. There are no words in human language in which Truth can find adequate expression. When a Christian came to Sacramento, CA, from Oakland, CA, he said to himself, “He has turned the shadows of death into morning. Looking back over the way he had come, he wondered how the Lord had gotten him through. He remembered the verse: “He discovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.” He was deeply moved when he saw all the dangers from which he had been delivered. Now the sun was shining, and this was indeed a great blessing because the worst part of the road was still ahead. Before him, to the end of the valley were snares, traps, pitfalls, slippery places, large gaping holes, and deep pits. No one could have ever avoided them all in the dark, and not to avoid them would have meant certain death. However, now, he could see his way, and he went on past them all, saying, “His candle shines on my head, and by His light I go through darkness.” In this light from above, he came to the end of the valley. #RandolphHarris 14 of 30

Now, in his dream, he saw these at the end of the valley: blood, ashes, bones, and thousands of mangled bodies of faithful pilgrims who had gone this way. While he was wondering what had caused this wholesale murdering of human beings, he saw a little before him a cave where two giants, Pope and Pagan, dwelt in old time. By their power and tyranny, the men and women whose bones and ashes lay before him were cruelly put to death. When Christian went by this place without danger, he wondered why he was not molested. Then he learned that Pagan had been dead many a day and that Pope was very old. He also learned that because of Pope’s many brushes with the government, in his younger days, he had grown so crazy and stiff in his joints that about all he could do now was sit in the mouth of his cave, grinning at pilgrims as they went by and biting his nails because he could not now get at them. At the sight of the old giant, Christian, he did not know what to think, until the giant said, “You will never mend your ways until more of you are burned.” However, Christian held his peace with an unperturbed face, and went by the Pope’s slaughter ground unhurt. Whatever our motivation, when we set out to turn our lives again toward God and God’s commandments, we are engaged in holy work. Perhaps this is why they insist that the gates of repentance are always open (Lamentations Rabbah 3.43). Repentance is always available—for those who are righteous and for those who are wicked, for those motivated by fear no less than those motivated by love. However, it does not follow that all forms of repentance are created equal, as it were. For those motivated by fear, remorse is a driving force. We see what we have done or gaze into the abyss that we are falling into, and we feel genuine regret for the mistakes we have made. For those of us motivated by love, on the other hand, serving God ever more fully is the driving force. We realize that each error presents us with an opportunity to grow morally and so redeem a part of ourselves that, until now, has sometimes led us astray. #RandolphHarris 15 of 30

So, it is that repentance of fear and repentance of love have different consequences. Once we truly regret our transgressions, the deliberate, willful quality of them can be set aside. We are left with a simple mistake, a lapse of judgment, something we now wish we had never done, and so our current intention to do good in effort replaced our former intention to do wrong. Repentance of love, however, has more far-reaching effects. By turning each transgression, we commit into a new opportunity to serve God more fully, we raise those transgressions, in effect, into new opportunities to serve God more fully, we raise those transgressions, in effect, into merits. Both types of repentance are transformative of the individual penitent. Both result in moral renewal and involve a turning from one course of action into another.  However, the repentance of fear, motivated as it is by the circumstances in which we find ourselves, can alter only the circumstances surrounding the transgression; what was deliberate now becomes unintentional. Only the repentance of love, motivated by the desire to grow ever closer to God, has the power to transform our transgression into merits, for the sin itself has now become the impetus to cleave to truth and righteousness. Persons’ various public selves are important to them. They can feel assured others will be like them only when they believe that other people see them as the kind of persons that they can like. It is important to be well-liked. Consequently, it is not enough simply to construct public selves; a person usually feels obliged to defend them. The most general means of defending the public self is by means of selective suppression of behaviour that is inconsistent with the public self, replacing authentic with false self-disclosure. #RandolphHarris 16 of 30

To further highlight the illustration, a mother may have heard reports about her son’s behaviour that conflict with her concept of him. She confronts him with the report, and he denies it flatly. He does not want her to believe that he behaves in such a way. Secrecy is more common than lying as a means of defending our public selves. In some cases, if no one discovers what we have done, we can do almost anything without fear (though not necessarily without guilt). The secret activities may be incredibly disparate with the public selves of the individual. If their family and neighbours hear reports of their conduct, people at conventions sometimes display behaviour markedly different from their usual hometown behavior and are quite disconcerted. A really intelligent person can construct public selves with ingenuity and finesse—sometimes fantastically diverse and contradictory selves. The more diverse they are, however, the greater the difficulty in maintaining them; persons who hold contrasting concepts of the individual may meet this person simultaneously, and then the individual is at a loss to know how to behave. Living up to the Lord’s expectations does take diligent devoted effort, but it is worth it. No matter what the world tells you you are expected to do or be, remember that you are a child of God and that He wants you to live with Him again. You can God’s expectations for you, because you were sent to this earth to do great things—and because God will help you do them. Like putting together a puzzle, each time you study the scriptures, you get a larger view of God’s truths. During His Sermon on the Mount, the Saviour taught, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” reports Matthew 5.48. Every accountable person on earth is tempted. Even the Saviour was tempted. However, was He capable of sinning? Had there been no possibility of His yielding to the enticement of Satan, there would have been no real test, no genuine victory in the result. Jesus Christ was perfect and sinless, not because He had to be, but rather because He clearly and determinedly wanted to be. Through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we can eventually become perfect. #RandolphHarris 17 of 30

Ensure that the firefighter is okay and has sufficient air. If not, remove his mask. If heat and smoke are beginning to vent around the firefighter, use positive-pressure ventilation (PPV) or a hose on fog stream at the window and vent on the other side or up the stairway into the house. Remove the cement block above the window to the still plate while protecting the victim from falling debris. Be aware of anchor bolts that could attach the top course of block to the still plate. If a bolt obscures the area, remove it with bolt cutters. If possible, remove one block on either side of the window. A sledgehammer works best, but a flathead axe can also be effective. If the firefighter is unable to climb out, place a ground ladder over the victim and attach more straps or ropes for lifting. Put one or two members on the ladder and members on either side to facilitate lifting a heavy victim out. Total extrication should be completed in less than five minutes. After practicing several times, you become proficient at it, taking pictures to document the technique. It is advisable to pick a magazine based on its format. Some are best suited for apparatus ideas, some are geared toward training, and others excel in procedures and management. A submission like this would probably be run by a “hands-on: magazine and practiced around the country. This is a great way to take near-miss results that hit close to home and disseminate the information quickly to a large audience. The overall responsibility for ensuring the safety of firefighters lies with the fire agency having jurisdiction for the area. Once a fire ignition occurs, it is too late to take the steps that are essential to ensure a safe and efficient fire suppression operation. Each fire agency must address several key areas as part of its preplanning effort for fires in the wildland-urban intermix. #RandolphHarris 19 of 30

If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency, and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire firefighters are getting back into their vehicle, and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals; sometimes emergency vehicles are in motion, albeit slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, 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. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other people’s 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. #RandolphHarris 20 of 30

America is becoming so expensive that Americans are moving to Mexico in record numbers. The United States of America’s State Department reports that the number of American citizens living in Mexico has increased by 75 percent from 2019 to 2025 and has continued to grow to a total of 1.8 million. Many Americans are moving to Mexico and working at home for companies that are in the United States of America to take advantage of the lower cost of living, the natural beauty and the culture, and they are thriving. California is the third most expensive state in the nation, and is facing a $20 billion budget deficit, which is also illustrates the hardships its citizens are facing. In 37 percent of counties, in California, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now considered low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. The mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 a month or $88,724.00 annually, and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Home prices in Sacramento County are rivaling the Bay Area, and in some cases, homes in the Bay Area are more affordable. Historically, homes in the Bay Area have been more expensive because they have higher-paying jobs, a larger population, and the Bay Area is a tourist destination. Contributing to the housing affordability crisis is Gavin Newsom, who has been lavishing illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded resources and cash aid, when state workers should be receiving a 25 percent wage increase instead. #RandolphHarris 21 of 30

In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes items such as food, automobile insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. The crisis is caused by nearly half a century-old laws that discourage home sales and encourage higher rents. The incompetence in California is very easy to see. From 2018 to 2023, California received $24 billion, which they used to fund 30 homeless and housing programs. These programs created 100,000 units. That is an average cost of $240,000 per unit. In comparison, Roger Lucas, owner of Grand Castle, LLC, spent $50 million to build The Grand Castle, which is a 522-unit residential apartment community in Grandville, Michigan. The community includes studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms, and even a multi-level penthouse. Rents generally range from $1,000 to $2,500. The community is a 23.6-acre site. It features 750 covered parking spaces, a clubhouse, a resort-style swimming pool, and was built over a period of 12 to 18 months. The average cost was about $95,785.45 per unit, which is $144,214.55 less per unit than California spent. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.5 percent. As people are seeing their bills skyrocket, and minimum wage has increased to $20 an hour, people on Social Security retirement are really bearing the burden with the checks the typically equate to $5-$7 an hour. Furthermore, while Americans are struggling to find and afford housing, Gavin Newsom, Democrat governor of California, signed two bills into law on February 7, 2025, to protect illegal immigrants. Bills SBX 1 1: Budget Act of 2024, and SBX 1 2: Budget Act of 2024, allocates $50 million to protect illegal immigrants from deportation. Governor Gavin Newsom also granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care, which costs taxpayers $3 billion annually. At the same time, Newsom cut vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled, and the homeless. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. #RandolphHarris 22 of 30

Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all our jobs and money, has more than 50 ghost cities, with 65 million vacant homes. Ghost cities are regions where housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes, and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man.  Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard are among the names on that list. Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal is cutting 2,500, and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.1 percent. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American border 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 risk 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 the end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. #RandolphHarris 23 of 30

Additionally, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom seems to be uneducated about economics. Newsom has spent $1.2 billion taxpayer dollars renovating the State Capitol building and $300 million to try to stop proposition 50. Proposition 50 would replace the maps drawn by the state’s independent commission with districts drawn by legislators solely to gain or protect Democratic seats. Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. To further highlight this illustration of incompetence by Governor Gavin Newsom, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of feces, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century, and by 2030, Mexico plans to dump one hundred and twenty million gallons of sewage a day into Imperial Beach. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure such as the 2025 Palisades fire. Southern California ran out of water because Newsom is totally neglecting the state and the American people. And while the fire departments in California are critically understaffed and underfunded, Governor Newsom vetoed firefighter pay raise. The Palisades fire cost $275 billion, which is money that could have been used to insure the State of California had the resources it needed. Furthermore, when Southern California is located next to an ocean, Newsom should have invested in desalination plants to help with the water shortage in California. The water in the ocean is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. Desalination has been identified as one technology that will help solve California’s water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable, fresh water, which is a great way to fight climate change and have enough water for our region’s water requirements. Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia, is producing 1,036,000 meters (273,682,192) per day of desalinated water. #RandolphHarris 24 of 30

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 for its infrastructure, provide adequate resources, or 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 are 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. As a result, the American automobile trade deficit with Japan was $39 billion. Additionally, Japan exported 1.4 million cars to the United States of America, but only imported 16,000 American-built automobiles. However, Japan imported approximately 143 thousand motor vehicles from the European Union. This is why President Trump created tariffs. We need to balance the trade deficit that America faces with other nations so we are not taken advantage of and so America can go bank to being a creditor nation, instead of borrowing money for other countries. Each year, President Trump is bringing $400 Billion in Tariff revenue into America and hundreds of thousands of new jobs. With this money, America is paying down debt, and with a portion of it, President  Trump plans to send Americans a stimulus check anywhere in the range of $1,000 to $2,000. However, if President Trump’s Tariffs are deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, taxpayers will have to pay back trillions and trillions of dollars. As we literally and /or figuratively see gangs, federal judges, and Governor Gavin Newsom fighting with federal law enforcement and President Trump– states and cities refusing to honor federal laws. Politicians are also showing an utter disregard for the Constitution of the United States of America, and anarchy is becoming increasingly common. #RandolphHarris 25 of 30

Anarchism is a cluster of doctrines and attitudes centered on the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary. Derived from the Greek root anarchos, meaning “without authority,” anarchism, anarchist, and anarchy are used to express both approval and disapproval. The anarchist denies man-made laws, regards property as a means of tyranny, and believes that crimes are merely the product of property and authority. However, the anarchist would argue that their denial of constitutions and governments leads not to “no justice” but to the real justice inherent in the free development of human sociality—the natural inclination, when unfettered by laws, to live according to the principles and practice of mutual aid. Anarchism is also a form of treason. Treason, the crime of betraying a nation or a sovereign by acts considered dangerous to security. In English law, treason includes the levying of war against the government and the giving of aid and comfort to the monarch’s enemies. In the United States of America, treason was defined restrictively by the framers of the Constitution. Treason against the United States of America “shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid and comfort,” which is something that many politicians are currently guilty of.  The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them before the situation becomes 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. #RandolphHarris 26 of 30

Drug cartels have been threatening the health and safety of Native American communities. The trafficking of dangerous and illegal drugs into their territories is leading to a second genocide. The overdose rate for Indigenous people is 42 percent higher than the national average. A recent bust on Montana’s Blackfeet Nation’s Tribal Reservation resulted in the seizure of more than 700,000 fentanyl pills, which was the largest bust in Montana history. Recently, the Blackfeet Nation had to declare a state of emergency after facing 17 overdoses in just one week. There are only 6.8 million Native Americans left in the world, which is 2 percent of the American population. We should be doing more to protect these proud and honorable people; they should not want for anything. People rush and give away resources to illegal immigrants, but totally disregard the Indigenous people of this land, as their race silently fades away into extinction. We must secure our borders and increase federal funding to Native American tribes so we can save this precious population. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law-abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage, and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded, and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. He has also totally ignored the cartel problems on American lands. Clean air, water, land, and preserving our heritage are extremely important. We cannot just allow criminals to kill off the people who are native to this land and do nothing about it. Wars have been started over governments that tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. #RandolphHarris 27 of 30

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 can 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 immigrate 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 America, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. 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. #RandolphHarris 28 of 30

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 America 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 national debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by sending 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 on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Under President Trump’s administration, he has make America a priority. President Trump has closed the southern border, illegal crossings have fallen to an all time low, and are 90 percent lower than under the previous administration. Since President Trump’s crack down on crime, violent crimes in Washington D.C. have dropped by approximately 80 percent. He has stopped thousands of pounds of drugs from entering America and killing citizens. And since President Trump took office, investments in America have increased by trillions of dollars in U.S.A. manufacturing, production, and innovation. As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes, as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. #RandolphHarris 29 of 30

We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrive at this fullness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason, where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, please teach your children to 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. It is inborn in the human mind 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. A lot of children are having problems in school and cannot even write a paragraph because they are not reading their books. When you actually read books, you get an example of how to write and will become a better student. Therefore, remember to take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. Also, to make sure they have all the resources required, please donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to help improve our national security. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 30 of 30

The Winchester Mystery House

According to locals, over a century ago, the land that houses The Winchester Mansion had been vacant forever. Then, sometime in the early afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 1886, Sheriff Angel Camilio began getting reports that a massive castle made of wood had suddenly appeared. Gables rose, towers peaked into the sky as the mansion mushroomed into a labyrinth overnight. The house’s sudden manifestation had been both disconcerting and fascinating to the community.

Some felt dark curses flowing from the estate, and things moving around in the darkness. Others saw a fairytale castle glimmering in the spring sunlight. Perhaps this is why there are no records of construction, no blueprints, and no permits filed with the county. And then one day, a hearse came tearing through the gates, and in that hearse was a coffin, some believed it contained Mrs. Winchester.

Legend also says, when Sarah Lockwood Pardee (Winchester) married William Wirt Winchester in 1862, she enjoyed a life of extravagant luxury. William Winchester, President of the Winchester repeating rifle, became a very wealthy man through the sale of his guns, and the couple were among the elite New England society. She also told Mrs. Winchester they would kill her too, unless she moved out West and built a great house for the spirits.

In addition, Mrs. Winchester was told construction on the house must never end in order to appease the spirits and keep her alive, perhaps even give her eternal life. Mrs. Winchester followed the medium’s suggestions, and in 1886, she moved to the Santa Clara valley just outside San Jose, where she bought an 18-room farmhouse and property to build her mansion. At its peak, the Mansion once stood 9-stories tall and had as many as 600-rooms. Today, the stately mansion is 4-storys, and over 100,000 square feet.

It would be a pleasure to have you come and enjoy a delicious meal at Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, which once spanned 740 acres, all the way down to Stevens Creek Boulevard; wander 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 for purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

Why Choose Harris?

Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company.

Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs, not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

Brian Harris BMW

With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW, The Ultimate Driving Experience, has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands. BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. This is why BMW is known as The Ultimate Driving Machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Building strong and lasting client relationships is crucial for a successful legal career. Many lawyers mistakenly believe that mastering legal skills alone ensures success, but law is fundamentally a service industry—our job is to solve problems through the time we sell. To build long-term relationships, attorneys must focus on three core elements: knowing their clients, understanding how their legal issues fit into a larger context, and consistently delivering exceptional service.

Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax-deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. Trust is the cornerstone of any client relationship. Ultimately, my clients feel they are in capable hands with someone who genuinely understands their problems and goals. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

Millhaven Homes

At Millhaven Homes our professionals bring extensive experience in creating custom luxury properties. As we create your dream home home, your needs are the central focus. You can expect superior quality and dedication from a team that makes you feel heard and appreciated.

Millhaven Homes savors the sanctuary of awe-inspiring spaces, unique architectural details and fine craftsmanship that has earned us a reputation as a trusted home builder. The key to a successful relationship is communication. We will incorporate your thoughts and ideas into your new home.

 With vast experience in all types of custom home construction, our premier services are created for you, so you can get the most out of the function and design of your dream home.

Discover Millhaven Homes today. Let us design and build a custom home that reflects your style, comfort, and aspirations. We are here to bring your vision to life with creativity, care, and attention to every detail. 

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Whether you are considering building a dream home or simply fascinated by architectural marvels, Millhaven Homes is the builder for you. https://millhavenhomes.com/

Thank you, Lord, for the blessings you have bestowed on my life. You have provided me with more than I could ever have imagined. You have surrounded me with people who always look out for me. You have given me family and friends who bless me every day with kind words and actions.

People seem to forget that all individuals were once children. To most scholars, childhood seems to belong to the field of social work rather than to that of social science, to the solicitudes of do-gooders rather than to those of thinkers. Yet, among all creatures, man is characterized by a long biological childhood, and civilization tends to make psychological childhood ever longer, because man must have time to learn how to learn: all his high specialization and all his intricate capabilities of co-ordination and reflection are, in fact, contingent upon his prolonged dependence. And only as a dependent does man develop conscience, that dependence on himself which makes him, in turn, dependable; and only when thoroughly dependable with regard to several fundamental values can he become independent and teach and develop tradition. However, this dependability carries within it the ambiguity of its roots in a slow developmental process which leads from extreme helplessness to a high sense of freedom and mastery, and this within social systems, all of which restrict freedom drastically and permit some men to exploit others ruthlessly. Instead of seeing God, man sees himself. “Their eyes were opened,” reports Genesis 3.7. Man perceives himself in his disunion with God and with men, He perceives that he is naked. Lacking the protection and the covering, which God and his fellow man afforded him, he finds himself laid bare. Hence, there arises shame. Shame is man’s ineffaceable recollection of his estrangement from the origin; it is grief for this estrangement, and the powerless longing to return to unity with the origin. #RandolphHarris 1 of 33

Man is ashamed because he has lost something which is essential to his original character, to himself as a whole; he is ashamed of his nakedness. Just as in the fairy story, the tree is ashamed of its lack of adornment, so, too, man is ashamed of the loss of his unity with God and with other men. Modern anthropology, often following suggestions derived from psychiatry, is studying the ways in which societies “intuitively” develop child-training systems designed not only to keep the small individual alive and well but also to ensure, through him and in him, a continuation of tradition and a preservation of his society’s uniqueness. The contribution of man’s extended childhood to the development of his technical capabilities and to his capacity for sympathy and faith is well known, but often too exclusively known. For it is becoming equally clear that the polarity adult-child is the first in the inventory of existential oppositions (male-female being the second) which makes man exploitable and induces him to exploit. The child’s inborn proclivity for feeling powerless, deserted, ashamed, and guilty in relation to those on whom he depends is systematically utilized for his training, often to the point of exploitation. The result is that even rational man remains irrationally preoccupied with anxieties and suspicions which center in such questions as who is bigger or better and who can do what to whom. It is therefore necessary to acquire deeper insight into the earliest consequences of the psychological exploitation of childhood. In childhood, we see often see the misuse of a divided function in such a way that one of the partners is impaired in the development of his potentialities, with the result that impotent rage is stored up where energy should be free for productive development. #RandolphHarris 2 of 33

To those who accept all this, it must seem reasonable enough that childhood should be represented in a study of totalitarianism so that we may begin to do away with the “oversight” concerning the fateful importance of childhood. Yet, it must be said that this oversight does not seem to be an accidental one, and therefore cannot be so easily corrected. Shame and remorse are generally mistaken for one another. Man feels remorse when he has been at fault; and he feels shame because he lacks something. Shame is more original than remorse. The peculiar fact that we lower our eyes when a stranger’s eye meets our gaze is not a sign of remorse for a fault, but a sign of that shame which, when it knows that it is seen, is reminded of something that it lacks, namely, the lost wholeness of life, its own nakedness. To meet a stranger’s gaze directly, as is required, for example, in making a declaration of personal loyalty, is a kind of act of violence, and in love, when the gaze of the other is sought, it is a kind of yearning. In both cases, it is the painful endeavour to recover the lost unity by either a conscious and resolute or else a passionate and devoted inward overcoming of shame as the sign of disunion. Psychoanalysis has amply demonstrated that fact that all men develop an amnesia concerning crucial childhood experiences. There is good reason to suspect that this individual amnesia is paralleled by a universal blind spot in the interpretation of man’s condition, a tendency to overlook the fateful function of childhood in the fabric of society. #RandolphHarris 3 of 33

Maybe moral man and rational man, having fought so hard to make man’s civilized image absolute and irreversible, refuse to see how each man must begin with the beginning and thus, ever again, acquire the potential for undoing human accomplishments with infantile compulsions and irrational impulsions. If he ever turned back to meet the Medusa of childhood anxiety face to face again, it is as if this refusal reflected a deep-seated superstition that rational and practical man would lose his single-minded stamina. Here, a formidable “equation” imposes itself on all attempts to put the fact of childhood in its proper perspective. Yet if man would understand this fact, maybe he could manage to become less destructively childish in some respects and remain more creatively childlike in others. “They made themselves aprons.” Shame seeks a covering as a means of overcoming the disunion. However, the covering implies the confirmation of the disunion that has occurred, and it cannot therefore make good the damage. Man covers himself, conceals himself from men and from God. Covering is necessary because it keeps awake shame, and with it the memory of the disunion with the origin, and also because man, disunited as he is, must now withdraw himself and must live in concealment. Otherwise, he would betray himself, “Every profound mind requires a mask,” said Nietzsche. Yet this mask is not a disguise; it is not intended to deceive the other man, but it is a necessary sign of the actual situation of disunion. For that reason, it is to be respected. #RandolphHarris 4 of 33

Man occupies a peculiar position in the animal kingdom. Unlike the other higher mammals, he has no species-specific environment, no environment firmly structured by his own instinctual organization. There is no man-world in the sense that one may speak of a dog-world or horse-world. Despite an area of individual learning and accumulation, the individual dog or the individual horse has a largely fixed relationship to its environment, which it shares with all other members of its respective species. One obvious implication of that is that dogs and horses, as compared with man, are much more restricted to a specific geographical distribution. The specificity of these animals’ environment, however, is much more than a geographical delimitation. Even if geographical variation is introduced, it refers to the biologically fixed character of their relationship to the environment. In this sense, all non-human animals, as species and as individuals, live in closed worlds whose structures are predetermined by the biological equipment of the several animal species. By contrast, man’s relationship to his environment is characterized by world-openness. Not only has man succeeded in establishing himself over the greater part of the earth’s surface, his relationship to the surrounding environment is everywhere very imperfectly structured by his own biological constitution. The latter, to be sure, permits man to engage in different activities. However, the fact that he continued to live a nomadic existence in one place and turned to agriculture in another cannot be explained in terms of biological processes. #RandolphHarris 5 of 33

 This does not mean, of course, that there are no biologically determined limitations to man’s relations with his environment; his species-specific sensory and motor equipment imposes obvious limitations on his range of possibilities. The peculiarity of man’s biological constitution lies rather in its instinctual component. Man’s instinctual organization may be described as underdeveloped, compared with that of the other higher mammals. Man does have drivers, of course. However, these drives are highly unspecialized and undirected. This means that the human organism is capable of applying its constitutionally given equipment to a very wide and, in addition, constantly variable and varying range of activities. This peculiarity of the human organism is grounded in its ontogenetic development. Indeed, if one looks at the matter in terms of organismic development, it is possible to say that the fetal period in the human being extends through about the first year after birth. Important organismic developments, which in the animal are completed in the mother’s body, take place in the human infant after its separation from the womb. At this time, however, the human infant is not only in the outside world, but interrelating with it in a number of complex ways. The human organism is thus still developing biologically whole, already standing in a relationship to its environment. In other words, the process of becoming man takes place in an interrelationship with the environment. If one reflects that this environment is both a natural and a human one, this statement gains significance. #RandolphHarris 6 of 33

That is, the developing human being not only interrelates with a particular natural environment, but with a specific cultural and social order, which is mediated to him by the significant others who have charge of him. Not only is the survival of the human infant dependent upon certain social arrangements, the direction of his organismic development is socially determined. From the moment of birth, man’s organismic development, and indeed a large part of his biological being as such, are subjected to continuing socially determined interference. Despite the obvious physiological limits to the range of possible and different ways of becoming man in this double environmental interrelationship, the human organism manifests an immense plasticity in its response to the environmental forces at work on it. This is particularly clear when one observes the flexibility of man’s biological constitution as it is subjected to a variety of sociocultural determinations. It is an ethnological commonplace that the ways of becoming and being human are as numerous as man’s cultures. Humanness is socioculturally variable. In other words, there is no human nature in the sense of a biologically fixed substratum determining the variability of sociocultural formations. There is only human nature in the sense of anthropological constants (for example, world-openness and plasticity of instinctual structure) that delimit and permit man’s sociocultural formations. However, the specific shape into which this humanness is molded is determined by those sociocultural formations and is relative to their numerous variations. While it is possible to say that man has a nature, it is more significant to say that man constructs his own nature, or more simply, that man produces himself. #RandolphHarris 7 of 33

All the processes described so far bring about an inner situation that is replete with disruptive conflicts, unbearable tensions, and potential terrors. Nobody can function, or even live, under such conditions. The individual must make, and does make automatic attempts at solving these problems, attempts at removing conflicts, allaying tensions, and preventing terrors. The same integrating forces start working as in the process of self-idealization, which is itself the boldest and most radical neurotic attempt at solution: to do away with all conflicts and resulting difficulties by putting oneself above them. However, there is a difference between that endeavour and the ones to described presently. We cannot define this distinction accurately, for it is not a difference of quality but of “more of” or “less of.” The search for glory, while likewise born from compelling inner necessities, is more of a creative process. Although destructive in its consequences, it nevertheless stems from man’s best desires—to expand beyond his narrow confines. It is, in the last analysis, its colossal egocentricity that distinguishes it from healthy strivings. As for the difference between this solution and the others to follow, it is not caused by the exhaustion of the power of imagination. That keeps working—but to the impairment of the inner condition. This condition was already precarious when the individual took his original flight toward the sun: by now (under the rending impact of the conflicts and tensions mentioned) the danger of psychic destruction is imminent. #RandolphHarris 8 of 33

Alienation from self, seen from this aspect, is one of these measures and probably ranks first in importance. It is a mere consequence of the neurotic’s being driven by compulsive forces; in part, it results from active moves away from the real self and against it. One also has a definite interest in disavowing it in order to avoid an inner battle and to keep the inner tension at a minimum. The principle involved is the same as that operating in all attempts to solve inner conflicts. If one aspect of it is suppressed and the other made predominant, any conflict within or without can vanish from sight and actually be (artificially). Speaking in terms of two people or two groups with conflicting needs and interests, the open conflict disappears when one individual or group is subdued. Between a bullying father and subdued child, there is no visible conflict. The same holds true for inner conflicts. We may have a sharp conflict between our hostility toward people and our need to be liked. However, if we suppress the hostility—or the need to be liked—our relations tend to become streamlined. Similarly, if we exile our real self, the conflict between it and the psuedoself not only disappears from awareness but the distribution of forces is so changed that it actually abates. Naturally, this release of tension can be achieved only at the cost of an increased autonomy of the pride system. #RandolphHarris 9 of 33

The fact that the disavowing of the real self is dictated by self-protective interest becomes particularly clear in the last phase of analysis. We can actually observe the raging of an inner battle when the real self becomes stronger. Anybody who has experienced the fierceness of this battle, in self or others, can understand that the earlier withdrawing of the real self from the field of action has been dictated by the need for survival, by the desire not to be torn apart. This self-protective process manifests itself mainly in the patient’s interest in beclouding issues. No matter how co-ordinated he seems on the surface, he is at bottom a confused person. He has not only an astounding capacity to befog issues but is not easily dissuaded from doing so. This interest must operate, and in fact does operate, the same way as it functions on the conscious level in any fraudulent person: the spy who must hide his identity, the hypocrite who must present a front of honesty, the criminal who must create false alibis. The neurotic who, without knowing it, does lead a double life must similarly, unconsciously, blur the truth of what he is, wants, feels, and believes. And all his self-deception follows from this basic one. To bring the dynamics into clear focus: he is not merely intellectually confused about the meaning of freedom, independence, love, goodness, strength; as long as he is not ready to come to grips with himself, he has a stringent subjective interest in maintaining a confusion—which, in turn, he may cover up by false pride in his all-penetrating intellect. #RandolphHarris 10 of 33

Next in importance is the externalization of inner experiences. This means that the intrapsychic processes are not experienced as such but are perceived or felt as occurring between the self and the outside world. It is a rather radical means of relieving the inner system from tension and is always made at the expense of inward impoverishment and at that of increased disturbances in human relations. When it comes to externalization, a neurotic may, for instance, feel compassion for others when it would be utterly impossible to feel it for himself. His longing for his own inner salvation may be vigorously denied, but it expresses itself in an astute spotting of others being stuck in their growth, and in a sometimes astounding capacity to help them. His rebellion against the coercion of inner dictates may appear as defiance of conventions, laws, influences. Unaware of his own overbearing pride, he may hate it—or be fascinated by it—in others. He may despise in others his own cowering before the dictatorship of his pride system. Not knowing that he is smoothing over the ruthless cruelty of his self-hate, he may develop a Pollannalike attitude toward life in general, removing from it all harshness, cruelty, or even death. As if we were the sum total of disconnected parts, another general measure is the neurotic’s tendency to experience himself in a piecemeal way. This is known in psychiatric literature as compartmentalization, or psychic fragmentation, and seems to be merely a reiteration of the fact that he has no feelings for himself as a whole organism, one in which every part is related to the whole and interacts with every other part. #RandolphHarris 11 of 33

Certainly, only an individual who is alienated and divided can lack such a feeling of wholeness. The neurotic’s active interest in disconnecting is of primary focus. When it is presented to him, He can grasp a connection intellectually. However, it comes to him as a surprise; penetration is only skin deep and lost soon after. He has an unconscious interest, for example, in not seeing cause and effect: that one psychic factor follows from another, or reinforces another; that one attitude must by necessity be maintained because it protects some important illusions; that any compulsive trend has an effect on his human relations or on his life in general. He may not see even the simplest cause-and-effect connections. It may remain strange to him that his discontent has anything to do with his claims, or that his too great need of people—for whatever neurotic reasons—makes him dependent upon others. It may come to him as a startling discovery that his sleeping late has anything to do with his going to be late. He may have an equally strong interest in not perceiving contradictory values coexisting in him. Quite literally, he may utterly fail to see that he tolerates and even cherishes in himself two sets of values, both conscious, which are mutually contradictory. He may not, for instance, be disturbed by the fact that his honesty does not jibe with his passion to “get by.”  Even when he tries to examine himself, he merely arrives at a static picture, as if he saw disconnected parts of a jigsaw puzzle: of timidity, contempt for others, ambition, masochistic fantasies, the need to be liked, and so on. The individual pieces may be seen correctly, but nothing can change because they are seen out of context without any feeling for interconnection, for process, or for dynamics. #RandolphHarris 12 of 33

Although psychic fragmentation is essentially a disintegrating process, its function is to preserve that status quo, to protect the neurotic equilibrium from collapsing. By his refusal to be puzzled by inner contradictions, the neurotic keeps himself from facing the underlying conflicts, and thereby keeps the inner tensions at a low ebb. He does not have even a rudimentary interest in them, and so they remain remote from his awareness. The same result is attained, of course, by disconnecting cause and effect. Clipping the link between the two prevents him from becoming aware of the intensity and the relevance of certain inner forces. An important and common illustrative example is that of a person who may experience at times the full impact of a spell of vindictiveness. However, he may have the greatest difficulties in grasping, even intellectually, the fact that his hurt pride and the need to restore it are the motivating forces; and, even when clearly seen, the connection remains meaningless. Again, he may have gained a fairly clear impression of his practice of scathing self-berating. He may have seen in dozens of detailed instances that such expressions of crushing self-contempt follow his failure to measure up to the fantastic dictates of his pride. However, again, his mind imperceptibly disrupts the connection. Hence, both the intensity of his pride and its bearing on self-contempt remain, at best, vague theoretical considerations—which relieve him of the necessity to tackle his pride. It remains in power, and tensions are kept in a low key because no conflict emerges, and he can maintain a deceptive feeling of unity. The three attempts at preserving a semblance of inner peace described so far have in common the character of doing away with elements which carry the potential to disrupt the neurotic structure: eliminating the real self, removing all kinds of inner experiences, and doing away with connections which (if realized) would disrupt the equilibrium. #RandolphHarris 13 of 33

Another measure, automatic control, follows in part the same trend. Its main function is to put a check on feelings. In a structure that is on the verge of disintegration, feelings are a source of danger because they are, as it were, the untamed elementary forces within us. I am not speaking here of conscious self-control by dint of which we can check, if we choose, impulsive actions or an outburst of anger or enthusiasm. The automatic control system checks not only the acting on impulses or the expression of feelings, but the impulses and feelings themselves. It operates like an automatic burglar or fire alarm, giving an alarm signal (of fear) when unwanted feelings arise. However, in contrast to other attempts, this one is also, as the name implies, a control system. If, through alienation from self and psychic fragmentation, a feeling of organizational unity is lacking, some artificial control system is necessary to hold together the discrepant parts of ourselves. Such automatic control can encompass all impulses and feelings of fear, hurt, anger, joy, affection, and enthusiasm. The corresponding physical expression of a widespread control system are muscular tightness, showing in constipation, gait, posture, facial rigidity, difficulties in breathing, et cetera. The conscious attitude toward the control itself varies. Some people are still sufficiently alive to chafe under it and, at least at times, wish desperately they could let go, could laugh heartily, could fall in love, or could be carried away by some enthusiasm. Others have cemented the control by a more or less open pride which they may express in various ways. They may call it dignity, poise, stoicism, wearing a mask, showing a poker face, being “realistic,” “unsentimental,” “undemonstrative.” #RandolphHarris 14 of 33

Only the Eternal is always appropriate and always present, is always true. Only the Eternal applies to each human being, whatever his age may be. The changeable exists, and when its time has passed, it is changed. Therefore, any statement about it is subject to change. That which may be wisdom when spoken by an old man about past events may be folly in the mouth of a youth or of a grown man when spoken of the present. The youth would not be able to understand it, and the grown man would not want to understand it. As if it were all on the same level, a man is changed in the course of years, and each time some portion of life lies behind him, he tends to talk of its varied content. However, it does not follow from this that he has become any wiser. For by this, one has only said that he has changed. Perhaps, even now, there is something that makes him restless in the same way that the dance disturbs the youth, something that absorbs his attention in the same way that a toy absorbs a child. It is in this manner that a man changes over the years. Old age is the final change. The old man speaks in the same vein of it all, of the changeable that is not past. Although a healthy personality characteristically is free of frequent use of the defense mechanisms, they are, in actuality, a normal occurrence. Defense mechanisms have survived as concepts from the earliest days of Freudian psychoanalysis and still are useful as illuminators of some forms of behaviour. There seems to be some evidence concerning the relative value of various defense mechanisms. #RandolphHarris 15 of 33

To further highlight the illustration, all dramatic action can be summarized as switches between three main roles: Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer. Those switches occur at varying speeds and may go in either direction. In the drama Rush and Stumble—and Quick Recovery, we have a very rapid set of switches. For many, the Father is seen as Persecutor, the mother as Rescuer, and oneself as Victim. That is the way the triangle stands in some people’s heads, the skull script. In a study by Barenbaum of people who had lost young sons or husbands in the Yom Kippur War in Israel, denial was one of the most often used defense mechanisms by the bereaved parents or wives. In another study by Jacobowitz, the brighter preadolescent children, facing problems in moral transgressions, would most likely use protection and displacement, where as less academically talented peers would use denial. And the value of some of the mechanisms may be seen in a third study by Viney and Manton, who found that university students who used some of the defense mechanisms had reduced anxiety, indicating the therapeutic purpose of the mechanisms. The “neurotic,” many clinicians have said, does not come for treatment in order to get better, but to learn how to be a better neurotic. The game analyst says something similar: the patient comes not to learn how to be straight, but to learn how to play his games better. Hence, he will quit if the therapist declines to play entirely, and also if the therapist is a pigeon and can be too easily conned. #RandolphHarris 16 of 33

In this respect, transactional games are like chess: an enthusiastic chess player is not interested in people who do not want to play at all, nor in people who do not offer any real opposition. In a treatment group, a confirmed “Alcoholic” player will get angry if no one offers to rescue or persecute him, or play the patsy or the connection, and will soon leave. He will also leave if the rescuers are too sentimental, or the persecutors are too vehement, because there is no fun if he hooks them too easily. Like other game players, he prefers a little finesse and some reticence on the part of his partners or opponents. If they come on very strong, like the Salvation Army, he may not stay long. He may also resign from Alcoholics Anonymous if he feels it does not offer any real challenge with its claims of “It is Not You, It is a Disease,” and its threats of “Wooden Liver.” Only if he stays on past that stage will he begin to appreciate its real value. Synanon does better by playing it tough and saying: “It is not a disease, it is your own responsibility that you are a dope fiend.” Hence, the “Alcoholic” player may move out of AA and try the family doctor, who is not so sure it is a disease. If he is a real sport, he will take on a psychotherapist, even one who says it is not a disease at all. If he is ready to get well, he may look for a script analyst, or stumble on one accidentally, and then, if things go right, he may find himself quitting the game. “If It Were Not For Them,” players, particularly the Arsisiety Type, behave similarly. A therapist who will not play at all and demands individual responsibility rather than Arsisiety will soon lose them. #RandolphHarris 18 of 33

If the therapist believes too strongly in Artistry, the treatment degenerates into a pastime of “Ain’t It Awful” between him and the patient. Most such patients become bored with this after a while and transfer to someone else who will put up at least a token argument for psychodynamics or self-appraisal. This often happened in the 1930s when young “Communists” went to “Communist” therapists, but soon broke off in favor of more conventional ones. If the therapist feels guilty about Arsisiety, he will form an alliance with the patient instead of treating him, which may be all to the good, but it should not be called treatment. The Board, The Establishment, and The Man really do exist, but Mr. Arsisiety, upon whom so much is blamed, is a myth. Each person has his own society, with friends as well as enemies. Psychiatry cannot fight The Board, The Establishment, or The Man, it can only fight what is in the patient’s head. The patient and the therapist both must face that sooner or later. Psychiatric treatment, like all medical treatment, can only be effective under reasonably decent conditions. In cases where “If It Were Not For Them” is an empty stomach, the chair or couch has no place, but where it is a game, it must be stopped sooner or later, and the skill of the therapist lies in doing that without driving the patient away. Dusay gives an excellent summary of the ways games can be handled in treatment. Thus, game dosage, properly chosen and timed for each patient, will decide whether or not he continues treatment. #RandolphHarris 19 of 33

When it comes to firefighting, no matter how large or small the fire is or how routine the call seems to be, there is always the potential for injury. Every fire teems with danger that every firefighter must face. How long has the fire been burning? How old is this building? Are there victims inside? Is the fire spreading to other structures? These are just a few of the questions that run through a firefighter’s mind as they enter a burning building. Floors could collapse, ceilings could collapse, walls could collapse, and they could lose their way in the building smoke. Any of these situations could mean serious injury or even sudden death. Oftentimes, these things occur without warning, leaving firefighters trapped under walls or dropped into flaming basements. One November, around 11 a.m., a tenant noticed a wisp of smoke coming from the floor near the front of the apartment building. Unknown to the tenant and other residents, the entire basement beneath their feet was a mass of flames. The award-winning Sacramento Fire Department arrived quickly and the firemen tried to make their way into the basement from the front of the building. They eventually made entrance through the back and attacked the fire. The conditions in the basement were hellish at best as blinding smoke and intense heat took its toll on the men. One firefighter collapsed and was carried out, but the other men made progress and pushed back the fire toward the front of the building. Then around 2 p.m., a second fireman collapsed and was taken out and revived. Shortly before 3 p.m., the gas pipes at the front of the basement melted and blew fire out over the men’s heads. Faced with an impossible situation, the firemen retreated to the rear and left the basement. #RandolphHarris 20 of 33

The decision was then made to drown the fire from the outside. The front windows of the building were now bulging from the smoke and pressure inside. Firemen broken them as some of the others shattered from the heat and began to pour water from six hoses into the building. Just minutes afterward, the first floor collapsed into the basement where the men had just left. The fire flared up for a moment, but the water from the hoses eventually took its toll and the flames were extinguished in a short time. The building had just been remodeled $1 million, but the price would have been much higher had the floor collapsed just minutes earlier, on top of the men battling the flames. Reporting to the firefighter near-miss database is achieved by completing a handwritten or online form. There are five specific components to submitting a close call: the reporter information, the incident information, the event description, the lessons learned, and contact information. The first section requires specific information about the reporter and the department where the incident occurred. These fields include department information, such as career or volunteer, what hours of staffing they provide, and in which Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) region it is located. Personal information includes the submitter’s job or rank, age, and experience. The next section identifies the contributing and environmental factors involved in the event. The weather, time of day, and how far into the shift the participants were at the time are all parts of this section. Also included is the reporter’s involvement in the incident and a broad classification of where it occurred (exempli gratia, on an emergency call, during training). Up to five contributing factors can be picked from a lost, along with the potential for loss. The submitter can also decide whether he or she thinks this incident will happen again.  Event description is an open narrative section that allows the reporter to put the event into his or her own words. Suggestions for a complete report include human factors, such as the decision-making involved, how sleep played a factor in the incident, and the communication process utilized. #RandolphHarris 21 of 33

The report also questions how the system played a role through equipment, incident command, and the policies in place. During the review process, identifying names or other department indicators are removed in an effort to keep the event confidential. Immediately following the event description, the person reporting it is encouraged to make suggestions to ensure that it will not happen again. It explores whether human factors, organizational factors, or just “bad luck” led to the event. One benefit of the lessons learned section is to force the submitter to look at contributing factors and consider ways to improve the system in his or her department. As explained earlier, confidentiality is vital to the system. However, the final component is an option for the reporting party to enter his or her name, telephone number, and email address. This section is voluntary, but it allows an avenue for staff to follow up if there are further questions. For example, a report may have stated, “My partner and I were removing the victim when she suddenly became entangled in debris from a collapsed drop ceiling.” In reading the story, it might be unclear whether the firefighter or the victim became stuck. At face value, it might not make a difference to the story, but when trying to establish contributing factors involved in a victim rescue and firefighter safety, it is vital. If research were being conducted on the number of near-misses reported that involved firefighter entanglement, more information would be needed. In order to improve the applicability of training materials, the project might include narrowing down specifically what was causing entanglement issues and what part of the body was entangled. Therefore, an obvious benefit of providing contact information exists. There are certain dangers that every fireman dreads. #RandolphHarris 22 of 33

If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency, and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire firefighters are getting back into their vehicle, and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals; sometimes emergency vehicles are in motion, albeit slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, 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. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other people’s 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. #RandolphHarris 23 of 33

California is the third most expensive state in the nation. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now considered low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. The mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 a month or $88,724.00 annually, and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Home prices in Sacramento County are rivaling the Bay Area, and in some cases, homes in the Bay Area are more affordable. Historically, homes in the Bay Area have been more expensive because they have higher-paying jobs, a larger population, and the Bay Area is a tourist destination. Contributing to the housing affordability crisis is Gavin Newsom, who has been lavishing illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded resources and cash aid, when state workers should be receiving a 25 percent wage increase instead. #RandolphHarris 24 of 33

In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes items such as food, automobile insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. The crisis is caused by nearly half a century-old laws that discourage home sales and encourage higher rents. The incompetence in California is very easy to see. From 2018 to 2023, California received $24 billion, which they used to fund 30 homeless and housing programs. These programs created 100,000 units. That is an average cost of $240,000 per unit. In comparison, Roger Lucas, owner of Grand Castle, LLC, spent $50 million to build The Grand Castle, which is a 522-unit residential apartment community in Grandville, Michigan. The community includes studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms, and even a multi-level penthouse. Rents generally range from $1,000 to $2,500. The community is a 23.6-acre site. It features 750 covered parking spaces, a clubhouse, a resort-style swimming pool, and was built over a period of 12 to 18 months. The average cost was about $95,785.45 per unit, which is $144,214.55 less per unit than California spent. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.5 percent. As people are seeing their bills skyrocket, and minimum wage has increased to $20 an hour, people on Social Security retirement are really bearing the burden with the checks the typically equate to $5-$7 an hour. Furthermore, while Americans are struggling to find and afford housing, Gavin Newsom, Democrat governor of California, signed two bills into law on February 7, 2025, to protect illegal immigrants. Bills SBX 1 1: Budget Act of 2024, and SBX 1 2: Budget Act of 2024, allocates $50 million to protect illegal immigrants from deportation. Governor Gavin Newsom also granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care, which costs taxpayers $3 billion annually. At the same time, Newsom cut vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled, and the homeless. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. #RandolphHarris 25 of 33

Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all our jobs and money, has more than 50 ghost cities, with 65 million vacant homes. Ghost cities are regions where housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes, and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man.  Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard are among the names on that list. Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal is cutting 2,500, and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.1 percent. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American border 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 risk 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 the end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. #RandolphHarris 26 of 33

Additionally, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom seems to be uneducated about economics. Newsom has spent $1.2 billion taxpayer dollars renovating the State Capitol building and $300 million to try to stop proposition 50. Proposition 50 would replace the maps drawn by the state’s independent commission with districts drawn by legislators solely to gain or protect Democratic seats. Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. To further highlight this illustration of incompetence by Governor Gavin Newsom, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of feces, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century, and by 2030, Mexico plans to dump one hundred and twenty million gallons of sewage a day into Imperial Beach. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure such as the 2025 Palisades fire. Southern California ran out of water because Newsom is totally neglecting the state and the American people. And while the fire departments in California are critically understaffed and underfunded, Governor Newsom vetoed firefighter pay raise. The Palisades fire cost $275 billion, which is money that could have been used to insure the State of California had the resources it needed. Furthermore, when Southern California is located next to an ocean, Newsom should have invested in desalination plants to help with the water shortage in California. The water in the ocean is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. Desalination has been identified as one technology that will help solve California’s water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable, fresh water, which is a great way to fight climate change and have enough water for our region’s water requirements. Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia, is producing 1,036,000 meters (273,682,192) per day of desalinated water. #RandolphHarris 27 of 33

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 for its infrastructure, provide adequate resources, or 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 are 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. As a result, the American automobile trade deficit with Japan was $39 billion. Additionally, Japan exported 1.4 million cars to the United States of America, but only imported 16,000 American-built automobiles. However, Japan imported approximately 143 thousand motor vehicles from the European Union. This is why President Trump created tariffs. We need to balance the trade deficit that America faces with other nations so we are not taken advantage of and so America can go bank to being a creditor nation, instead of borrowing money for other countries. Each year, President Trump is bringing $400 Billion in Tariff revenue into America and hundreds of thousands of new jobs. With this money, America is paying down debt, and with a portion of it, President  Trump plans to send Americans a stimulus check anywhere in the range of $1,000 to $2,000. However, if President Trump’s Tariffs are deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, taxpayers will have to pay back trillions and trillions of dollars. As we literally and /or figuratively see gangs, federal judges, and Governor Gavin Newsom fighting with federal law enforcement and President Trump– states and cities refusing to honor federal laws. Politicians are also showing an utter disregard for the Constitution of the United States of America, and anarchy is becoming increasingly common. #RandolphHarris 28 of 33

Anarchism is a cluster of doctrines and attitudes centered on the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary. Derived from the Greek root anarchos, meaning “without authority,” anarchism, anarchist, and anarchy are used to express both approval and disapproval. The anarchist denies man-made laws, regards property as a means of tyranny, and believes that crimes are merely the product of property and authority. However, the anarchist would argue that their denial of constitutions and governments leads not to “no justice” but to the real justice inherent in the free development of human sociality—the natural inclination, when unfettered by laws, to live according to the principles and practice of mutual aid. Anarchism is also a form of treason. Treason, the crime of betraying a nation or a sovereign by acts considered dangerous to security. In English law, treason includes the levying of war against the government and the giving of aid and comfort to the monarch’s enemies. In the United States of America, treason was defined restrictively by the framers of the Constitution. Treason against the United States of America “shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid and comfort,” which is something that many politicians are currently guilty of.  The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them before the situation becomes 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. #RandolphHarris 29 of 33

Drug cartels have been threatening the health and safety of Native American communities. The trafficking of dangerous and illegal drugs into their territories is leading to a second genocide. The overdose rate for Indigenous people is 42 percent higher than the national average. A recent bust on Montana’s Blackfeet Nation’s Tribal Reservation resulted in the seizure of more than 700,000 fentanyl pills, which was the largest bust in Montana history. Recently, the Blackfeet Nation had to declare a state of emergency after facing 17 overdoses in just one week. There are only 6.8 million Native Americans left in the world, which is 2 percent of the American population. We should be doing more to protect these proud and honorable people; they should not want for anything. People rush and give away resources to illegal immigrants, but totally disregard the Indigenous people of this land, as their race silently fades away into extinction. We must secure our borders and increase federal funding to Native American tribes so we can save this precious population. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law-abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage, and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded, and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. He has also totally ignored the cartel problems on American lands. Clean air, water, land, and preserving our heritage are extremely important. We cannot just allow criminals to kill off the people who are native to this land and do nothing about it. Wars have been started over governments that tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. #RandolphHarris 30 of 33

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 can 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 immigrate 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 America, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. 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. #RandolphHarris 31 of 33

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 America 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 national debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by sending 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 on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Under President Trump’s administration, he has make America a priority. President Trump has closed the southern border, illegal crossings have fallen to an all time low, and are 90 percent lower than under the previous administration. Since President Trump’s crack down on crime, violent crimes in Washington D.C. have dropped by approximately 80 percent. He has stopped thousands of pounds of drugs from entering America and killing citizens. And since President Trump took office, investments in America have increased by trillions of dollars in U.S.A. manufacturing, production, and innovation. As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes, as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. #RandolphHarris 32 of 33

We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrive at this fullness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason, where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, please teach your children to 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. It is inborn in the human mind 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. A lot of children are having problems in school and cannot even write a paragraph because they are not reading their books. When you actually read books, you get an example of how to write and will become a better student. Therefore, remember to take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. Also, to make sure they have all the resources required, please donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to help improve our national security. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 33 of 33

The Winchester Mystery House

According to locals, over a century ago, the land that houses The Winchester Mansion had been vacant forever. Then, sometime in the early afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 1886, Sheriff Angel Camilio began getting reports that a massive castle made of wood had suddenly appeared. Gables rose, towers peaked into the sky as the mansion mushroomed into a labyrinth overnight. The house’s sudden manifestation had been both disconcerting and fascinating to the community. Some felt dark curses flowing from the estate, and things moving around in the darkness. Others saw a fairytale castle glimmering in the spring sunlight. Perhaps this is why there are no records of construction, no blueprints, and no permits filed with the county. And then one day, a hearse came tearing through the gates, and in that hearse was a coffin, some believed it contained Mrs. Winchester.

Legend also says, when Sarah Lockwood Pardee (Winchester) married William Wirt Winchester in 1862, she enjoyed a life of extravagant luxury. William Winchester, President of the Winchester repeating rifle, became a very wealthy man through the sale of his guns, and the couple were among the elite New England society. She also told Mrs. Winchester they would kill her too, unless she moved out West and built a great house for the spirits. In addition, Mrs. Winchester was told construction on the house must never end in order to appease the spirits and keep her alive, perhaps even give her eternal life. Mrs. Winchester followed the medium’s suggestions, and in 1886, she moved to the Santa Clara valley just outside San Jose, where she bought an 18-room farmhouse and property to build her mansion. At its peak, the Mansion once stood 9-stories tall and had as many as 600-rooms. Today, the stately mansion is 4-storys, and over 100,000 square feet.

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 Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Come and see what secrets this so-called, “Winchester Mystery House” may hold. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After the tour, there will be time to enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages that lead to hidden chambers within the mansion. These chambers served as safe places for valuables, precious documents, and as private sanctuaries for Mrs. Winchester, and allowed her to move stealthily throughout her home. At one time, there were even secret tunnels that extended beyond the mansion, leading to nearby Victorian houses that were also on the property, and other structures, creating a network of escape routes or hidden pathways.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal at Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, which once spanned 740 acres, all the way down to Stevens Creek Boulevard; wander 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 for purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

Special Events: Ready to rock the holidays like never before? 🎄

Join the incredible Renegade Orchestra on December 6th in the gardens as they combine rock and roll with all your favorite holiday classics 🎶🎸 https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Your ticket also grants you access to the Yuletide Oddities Market and Holiday Open House! Do not miss this evening of music and merriment, get tickets now! https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Santa is squeezing his way through one of our 17 chimneys to make a special stop at the mansion 🎅✨

On December 20, guests with tickets to any tour or the Yuletide Oddities Market can enjoy complimentary photos with Santa! He’ll be here from 12-4pm and 5-8pm.

Hopefully the reindeer can navigate the confusing roofline 🦌https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Why Choose Harris?

Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company.

Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs, not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

Brian Harris BMW

With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW, The Ultimate Driving Experience, has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands. BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. This is why BMW is known as The Ultimate Driving Machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Building strong and lasting client relationships is crucial for a successful legal career. Many lawyers mistakenly believe that mastering legal skills alone ensures success, but law is fundamentally a service industry—our job is to solve problems through the time we sell. To build long-term relationships, attorneys must focus on three core elements: knowing their clients, understanding how their legal issues fit into a larger context, and consistently delivering exceptional service.

Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax-deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. Trust is the cornerstone of any client relationship. Ultimately, my clients feel they are in capable hands with someone who genuinely understands their problems and goals. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

Millhaven Homes

At Millhaven Homes our professionals bring extensive experience in creating custom luxury properties. As we create your dream home home, your needs are the central focus. You can expect superior quality and dedication from a team that makes you feel heard and appreciated.

Millhaven Homes savors the sanctuary of awe-inspiring spaces, unique architectural details and fine craftsmanship that has earned us a reputation as a trusted home builder. The key to a successful relationship is communication. We will incorporate your thoughts and ideas into your new home.

 With vast experience in all types of custom home construction, our premier services are created for you, so you can get the most out of the function and design of your dream home.

Discover Millhaven Homes today. Let us design and build a custom home that reflects your style, comfort, and aspirations. We are here to bring your vision to life with creativity, care, and attention to every detail. 

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Whether you are considering building a dream home or simply fascinated by architectural marvels, Millhaven Homes is the builder for you. https://millhavenhomes.com/

We focus on the experience that comes with building a custom home and making sure that experience is pleasant, memorable and rewarding. We absolutely love all of our clients that build with us and look forward to lifelong relationships that are built through the building process. Thank you. ❤️ Client Testimonials: https://www.instagram.com/p/DRP3RlDj9hA/?img_index=1

“Homeownership is not just about securing a place, it is about anchoring dreams.” -Lorelei Davina

America is more than a show—it is a platform that empowers law-abiding citizens to build authority. The fulfillment of that promise is not easy. Some ask, “Sir, since this is the way from the City of Destruction to yonder gate, why has this place not been mended, that poor travelers might go to the gate of hope with more security?” Fulfillment of that promise is not easy. It requires constant work, and America has been making steady progress towards the practical equality of all men. However, we must be careful never to become a miry slough, a place so low that it cannot be mended. America is no longer a population-building nation. It is not a place where the scrum and filth of a guilty conscience, caused by a conviction of sin, will be continually allowed to gather, and for this reason, we are in the process of making America better than it ever has been. People complain about housing prices being so high, and the problem is inflation and the demand for new housing. If we stopped allowing so many people to immigrate to America and reduced the size of the traditional family to two kids, we would decrease the strain on our natural resources, reduce inflation, and reduce the cost of housing. Unlike Africa, China, or the Middle East, America does not yet have that much land, so as we use up more and more of it, the more expensive it becomes. As sinners are awakened by the Holy Spirit and see their vile condition, there arise in their souls many doubts and fears and many discouraging apprehensions, all of which merge and settle in this place; and that is the reason for this marshy slough. #RandolphHarris 1 of 30

It is not the pleasure of the King that this place should remain so foul. From the very beginning, prophets have been heard to encourage mankind to seek a higher kingdom, the kingdom of God. We find, in the early pages of the Book of Mormon, Nephi warning the people: “And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in His name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God,” reports 2 Nephi 9.23. John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, preparing the way for the mission of our Saviour on earth, cried to the people, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” reports Matthew. America is a sacred land. It is a very privileged kingdom decreed by God. It is the land of liberty, and it is above all other lands. America has choice in its physical features: the beauty of its mountains, valleys, lakes, trees, and geological formations. Choice, too, because of the spirit which broods over it—the spirit of freedom—and because it has been the haven for many of the world’s chosen beings. Choice because it is the nation that was chosen for the restoration of the Gospel. Choice because we believe men were raised up to prepare its Constitution. Choice because the kingdom of God is to be established on this continent. Numbers of the people who have traveled to this country from “sea to shining sea” have reveled in its delightful features; but now, in the time of peril confronting many of the nations of the earth it becomes, with its peacefulness and liberty, indeed a choice land. America and its people have been promised rich blessings, but like all other blessings given to mankind, these, too, rest upon obedience to principles upon which these blessings are predicated. It is true that some good and substantial steps have been placed through this slough by order of the Lord of salvation, but at times this marsh spews out a lot of filth, and in times of changing weather, the steps are hardly seen. #RandolphHarris 2 of 30

Even if the steps are visible to a normal person, here a man’s head often becomes so dizzy that he cannot see the steps; then he staggers to one side and mires down in the slime. Nevertheless, the steps are there. However, the ground is firm beyond the little gate. The kingdom which we are establishing is not of this world, but is the kingdom of God. It is the fruit of righteousness, of peace, of salvation to every soul that will receive it, from Adam down to his latest posterity. Our good will is towards all men, and we desire their salvation in time and eternity; and we will do them good so far as God will give us the power, and men will permit us the privilege. Surely, there will be an obvious difference between one who is attempting to conduct his life as though he were a citizen of the kingdom of God, and one who is conducting his life by the standards made by man. When a person determines to live a higher law, there should be a visible difference, a marked change in his appearance, his actions, the way he treats others, and the way he serves his fellowmen and his God. For instance, the genius, an aristocrat of the spirit, has had gifts lavished upon him by nature that distinguish him from his fellows. The apostle may be a commoner, a fisherman, a one-talent man by nature, or he may have ten talents—yet all that he has is dedicated to the service of the Eternal and as such is lifted up. The genius speaks with brilliance and charm. The apostle speaks with authority. The way of the genius is a way close to all but a few. The way of the apostle is a way open to all as individuals—even to the genius himself if he can forsake the absorbing satisfactions of a brilliant self-sufficiency and be ready to will one thing. #RandolphHarris 3 of 30

To further highlight this illustration, one who knows himself only as a genius, only an aristocrat of spirit, would never style himself an apostle or claim to speak with authority. God alone could judge that, God before whom all men, irrespective of their talents, are really equal. The root of equality is therefore grounded in this unchanging personal relation between the individual and God, not in the secular whim or political fashion of the crowd. In the personal, concrete, particular category of the individual as opposed to the mechanical abstract impersonal category of the crowd or the mass, many will find the root of enduring neighbor-love. There is nothing in Holy Scriptures about loving man in the mass—only about loving your neighbor as yourself. For then you separate him out of the abstract mass or public, and he becomes an individual. And when you love him as yourself, you testify to that deep equality of all men as individuals before God. And you do it personally. “That one shall honor each individual man, without exception, each man: that is truth and is reverence and is neighbor-love.” The most important thing of all is that a man stands right toward God, does not try to wrench away from something, but rather penetrates it until it yields its explanation. Whether or not it turns out as he wishes; it is still the best of all. Under the scrutiny of God, man will find his healing. If one is as weak as an infant, and has so much to do, he will soon learn what it is to pray and live with God as one lives with a Father. Rise in the morning and give thanks to God. Then work shall begin. #RandolphHarris 4 of 30

At a set time in the evening, break off and again give thanks to God. Then sleep. So you will live. The twelve-hour say shall only be broken by a midday walk among the common people in the ostergade. This keeping of sorrow and remorse silently between oneself and God keeps a man humble and acutely aware of the service he owes to God. Buried in this center, these sufferings release light that has no fear of darkness. This shall serve to unclothe the spectators from their diverse preoccupations and get them ready for a real bath. However, the shirking of responsibility for self makes it harder for any patient to face and to overcome his problems. If we could tackle this subject at the very beginning of an analysis, it would reduce considerably the time and hardship of the work. However, as long as the patient is his idealized image, he cannot even start to doubt his straightness. And if the pressure of self-condemnation is in the foreground, he may respond to the idea of responsibility for self with stark terror and without gaining anything from it. Also, we must keep in mind that the inability to assume any responsibility for with stark terror and without gaining to assume any responsibility for self is but one expression of the whole alienation from self. It is therefore futile to tackle this problem before the patient has gained some feeling of and for himself. Finally, when the real self is “locked out” or exiled, one’s integrating power too will be at a low ebb. A healthy integration is a result of being oneself, and can be attained only on this. If we are sufficiently ourselves to have spontaneous feelings, to make our own decisions, and to assume responsibility for them, then we have a feeling of unity on a solid basis. #RandolphHarris 5 of 30

In the words of a poet who speaks in jubilant tones of finding herself: “All fuses now, falls into place from wish to action, word to silence. My work, my loves, my time, my face gathered into one intense gesture of growing like a plant.” The lack of spontaneous integration we usually regard as a direct consequence of neurotic conflicts. This remains true, but we do not quite understand the power of disintegrating forces unless we consider the vicious circles which are operating. If as the result of many factors we lose ourselves, we have then no firm ground to stand on from which we can try to disentangle our inner conflicts. We are at their mercy, a helpless prey to their disintegrating force, and must seize upon any means available to solve them. This is what we call neurotic attempts at solution—and neurosis, from this vantage point, is a series of such attempts. However, in these attempts, we lose ourselves together. The shoulds, an instrument of pride and an instrument of self-hate, acquire a new function: that of protecting us from chaos. They rule a person with an iron fist but, like a political tyranny, they do create and maintain a certain superficial order. Rigid control through will power and reasoning is another strenuous means of attempting to bind together all the disconnected parts of the personality. The general significance of these disturbances for the patient’s life is fairly obvious. His not being an active determining factor in his own life creates a deep feeling of uncertainty, no matter how much overlaid by compulsive rigidities. His not feeling his own feelings makes him unalive, no matter how great his surface vivacity. His not assuming responsibility for himself robs him of true inner independence. #RandolphHarris 6 of 30

In addition, the inactivity of his real self has a significant influence upon the course of the neurosis. It is in this fact that the “vicious-circle” aspect of alienation from self becomes clearest. Itself the result of neurotic processes, it is a cause of their further development. For the greater the alienation from self, the more helpless a victim to the machinations of pride system the neurotic is. He has less and less alive strength with which to resist it. Serious doubts may arise in some cases whether this most alive source of energy is not altogether dried up or permanently immobilized. In my experience, it is the better part of wisdom to suspend judgment. More often than not, with sufficient patience and skill on the part of the analyst, the real self does return from exile or “come to life.” If energies, though unavailable for his personal life are put into constructive efforts for others, it is a hopeful sign. Needless to say, such efforts can be and are made by well-integrated people. However, those who interest us here show a striking discrepancy between seemingly limitless energies spent in the service of others and a lack of constructive interest or concern for their own personal lives. Even when they are in analysis, their relatives, friends, or pupils often benefit more from their analytic work than they do themselves. Nevertheless, even though it is rigidly externalized, as therapists, we hold on to the fact that their interests in growth is alive. When we compare it with Dr. Freud’s concept of the “ego,” the role of the real self comes into clearer relied. For Dr. Freud, the “ego” is like an employee who has functions but no initiative and no executive powers. For me, the real self is the spring of emotional forces, of constructive energies, of directive and judiciary powers. When looking at the beginning phases of most analyses, at that time, very little of the real self is visibly operating. We see the possibility of certain feelings or beliefs being authentic. The patient’s drive to develop himself contains genuine elements besides the more obvious grandiose ones; that, over and beyond his need for intellectual mastery, he is also interested in the truth about himself; and so on and so forth—but this is still surmise. #RandolphHarris 7 of 30

During the analytic process, however, this picture changes radically. As the pride system is undermined the patient, instead of automatically being on the defensive, does become interested in the truth about himself. He does start to assume responsibility for himself in the sense described: to make decisions, to feel his feelings, and to develop his own beliefs. All the functions which, as we have seen, have been taken over by the pride system gradually regain spontaneity with the return to power of the real self. A redistribution of factors takes place. And in this process, the real self, with its constructive forces, proves to be the stronger party. The alienate self should not leave us with too negative an impression. Under favorable conditions, such as constructive analytic work, it can again become an alive force. Only because this is a realistic possibility can our therapeutic work go beyond symptomatic relief and hope to help the individual in his human growth. And only with the vision of this realistic possibility can we understand that the relation between the pseudoself and real self is that of a conflict between two rival forces. This conflict can turn into an open battle only at a point when the real self has again become active enough for one to risk it. Until such a time, the individual can do one thing only: protect himself from the disruptive power of conflicts by finding pseudosolutions. Repression is really an instance of refusing to see or hear aspects of inner reality, the real self. However, if such perception would result in threat to the self-structure, one can defend one’s self-structure by refusing to see or hear aspects of outer reality. #RandolphHarris 8 of 30

The psychoanalysts coined the term denial to describe this tendency to ignore aspects of outer reality that induced anxiety and losses in self-esteem. Experimental psychologists use the term perceptual defense to describe the same phenomena. Dr. Sullivan spoke of “selective inattention” in this connection. Humans tend to ignore or reconstruct reality when it is painful. It is such a stubborn tendency that Dr. Freud spoke of it as one of the “principles” of mental functioning—the pleasure principle in contrast with the reality principle. When there are two possible meanings that might be assigned to some perception, one pleasant but untrue and the other true but painful, we must actually fight the pleasure principle in order to arrive at accurate cognitions. Thus, we do not hear derogatory remarks uttered by someone about us, even though our hearing is quite adequate to notice praise. If our self-esteem rests on the premise that we have made a wise choice of a perfect mate, we do not see the blemishes in our loved one. In extreme forms, among persons with weak egos, we may actually see something quite clearly but then deny we saw it and believe the denial. For some persons the death of a loved one is so catastrophic, calling as it does for much reorganization of behavior and the self-structure, that they will not believe the person is dead. (This happens to me all the time, even when my pet bird Aleksandr died recently, in imagination, I just think that he was so old, that some nice person took him in so he could spend quality time with him and that he is alive and well in a log cabin somewhere with an old man watching TV and eating popcorn.) #RandolphHarris 9 of 30

The term psychic contactlessness, coined by Wilhelm Reich, refers to an inability, or a refusal, to communicate with or get emotionally involved with another person. If one has been deeply hurt in relationships with people, one may protect oneself against further hurt and losses in self-esteem by walling the self off from people. One is among people without being really with them. Avoidance of close contact and emotional involvement with others serves many defensive functions, not the least of which is the fact that others will never come to know you. Because others are never given the opportunity to observe someone’s real self, the contactless person can entertain all manner of grandiose fantasies about the self; these are never known or criticized by others. If individuals do not allow themselves to think of others as human beings with feelings and hopes, they protect themselves in many ways. They may be afraid to become personally involved, and so they stubbornly refuse to pay attention to the other person as a feeling, sensitive human being. Instead, other people are seen only as the embodiment of their social role; they are workers, or wives, or doctors, not persons. If they knew they were hurting others, the act of depersonalizing others may thus protect persons against guilt feelings they might experience. Of if they suffer from an inability to love, they might protect themselves against such a disquieting insight through depersonalizing others. Physicians, nurses, and dentists often depersonalize their patients or clients, adopting a “bedside manner” or a “chair-side manner,” when dealing with them. #RandolphHarris 10 of 30

The adoption of such contrived patters of interaction permits them to treat their patient without being disturbed by the latter’s suffering. Further, it permits them to hide their true feelings of life or dislike behind a professional mask. Depersonalizing makes it possible for acts of extreme violence to be performed. The Nazis were able to slaughter millions of Jews because they had convinced themselves Jews were not human beings. By virtue of this accumulation a social stock of knowledge is constituted, which is transmitted from generation to generation and which is available to the individual in everyday life. I love in the commonsense world of everyday life equipped with specific bodies of knowledge. What is more, I know that others share at least part of this knowledge, and they know that I know this. My interaction with others in everyday life is, therefore, constantly affected by our common participation in the available social stock of knowledge. A rare defense mechanism in that it calls out positive results is called sublimation. In its narrowest sense, it refers to the substitution of a socially acceptable activity for erotic, sexual strivings that cannot be directly satisfied because of social standards. In a broader sense, it may also be interpreted to mean substitution of a socially acceptable behavior for any drive or motivation that is not socially acceptable, including hostility and aggression. For a person who, for religious or other reasons, can either not marry or chooses not to marry and to live a celibate, sexless life, throwing one’s energy into volunteer leadership in the community or into an absorbing job is a good, socially desirable alternative. #RandolphHarris 11 of 30

Sometimes this sublimation may be temporary, as in the case of a teenager who may keep physically active to the point of exhaustion in order to avoid encounters with the opposite gender, or it can be also a permanent lifestyle as in the case of some corporate executives who are “married to their jobs.” In any event, sublimation is often seen as an entirely desirable defense pattern. The social stock of knowledge differentiates reality by degrees of familiarity. It provides complex and detailed information concerning those sectors of everyday life with which I must frequently deal. It provides much more general and imprecise information on remoter sectors. Thus my knowledge of my own occupation and its world is very rich and specific, while I have only very sketchy knowledge of the occupational worlds of others. The social stock of knowledge further supplies me with the typificatory schemes required for the major routines of everyday life, not only the typifications of others that have been discussed before, but typiffications of all sorts of events and experiences, both social and natural. Thus, I live in a world of relatives, fellow-workers and recognizable public functionaries. In this world, consequently, I experience family gatherings, professional meetings and encounters with the traffic police. The natural “backdrop” of these events is also typified within the stock of knowledge. My world is structured in terms of routines applying in good or bad weather, in the hayfever season and in situations when a speck of dirt gets caught under my eyelid. “I know what to do” with regard to all these others and all these events within my everyday life. By presenting itself to me as an integrated whole, the social stock of knowledge also provides me with the means to integrate discrete elements of my own knowledge. In other words, “what everybody knows” has its own logic, and the same logic can be applied to order various things that I know. For example, I know that my friend Ryan is an Englishman, and I know that he ais always very punctual in keeping appointments. Since “everybody knows” that punctuality is an English trait, I can now integrate these two elements of my knowledge of Ryan into a typification that is meaningful in terms of the social stock of knowledge. #RandolphHarris 12 of 30

The validity of my knowledge of everyday life is taken for granted by myself and by others until further notice, that is, until a problem arises that cannot be solved in terms of it. As long as my knowledge works satisfactorily, I am generally ready to suspend doubts about it. In certain attitudes detached from everyday reality—telling a joke, at the theater or in church, or engaging in philosophical speculation—I may perhaps doubt elements of it. However, if these doubts are “not to be taken seriously.” For instance, as a businessman I know that it pays to be inconsiderate of others. I may laugh at a joke in which this maxim leads to failure, I may be moved by an actor or a preacher extolling the virtues of consideration, and I may concede in a philosophical mood that all social relations should be governed by the Golden Rule. Having laughed, having been moved and having philosophized, I return to the “serious” word of business, once more recognize the logic of its maxims, and act accordingly. Only when my maxims fail “to deliver the goods” in the world to which they are intended to apply are they likely to become problematic to me “in earnest.” Although the social stock of knowledge appresents the everyday world in an integrated manner, differentiated according to zones of familiarity and remoteness, it leaves the totality of that world opaque. Put differently, the reality of everyday life always appears as a zone of lucidity behind which there is a background of darkness. As some zone of reality are illuminated, others are adumbrated. I cannot know everything there is to know about this reality. Even if, for instance, I am a seemingly all-powerful despot in my family, and know this, I cannot know all the factors that go into the continuing success of my despotism. #RandolphHarris 13 of 30

I know that my orders are always obeyed, but I cannot be sure of all the steps and all the motives that lie between the issuance and the execution of my orders. There are always things that go on “behind my back.” This is true a fortiori when social relationships more complex than those of the family are involved—and explains, incidentally, why despots are endemically nervous. My knowledge of everyday life has the quality of an instrument that cuts a path through a forest and, as it does so, projects a narrow cone of light on what lies just ahead and immediately around; on all sides of the path there continues to be darkness. This image pertains even more, of course, to the multiple realities in which everyday life is overcast by the penumbras of our dreams. My knowledge of everyday life is structure in terms of relevances. Some of these are determined by immediate pragmatic interests of mine, others by my general situation in society. It is irrelevant to me how my wife goes about cooking my favorite goulash as long as it turns out the way I like it. It is irrelevant to me that the stock of a company is falling, if I do not own such stock; or that Catholics are modernizing their doctrine, if I am an atheist; or that it is now possible to fly non-stop to African, if I do not want to go there. However, my relevance structures intersect with the relevance structures of others at many points, as a result of which we have “interesting” thing to say to each other. An important element of my knowledge of everyday life is the knowledge of the relevance structures of others. Thus, I “know better” than to tell my doctor about my investment problems, my lawyer about my ulcer pains, or my accountant about my quest for religious truth. #RandolphHarris 14 of 30

The basic relevance structures referring to everyday life are presented to me ready-made by the social stock of knowledge itself. I know that “woman talk” is irrelevant to me as a man, that “idle speculation” is irrelevant to me as a man of action, and so forth. Finally, the social stock of knowledge as a whole has its own relevance structure. Thus, in terms of the stock of knowledge objectivated in American society, it is irrelevant to study the movements of the stars to predict the stock market, but it is relevant to study an individual’s slips of the tongue to find out about his sex life, and so on. Conversely, in other societies, astrology may be highly relevant for economics, speech analysis quite irrelevant for erotic curiosity, and so on. Reflecting back on the social distribution of knowledge, I encounter knowledge in everyday life as socially distributed, that is, as possessed differently by different individuals and types of individuals. I do not share my knowledge equally with all my fellowmen, and there may be some knowledge that I share with no one. I share my professional expertise with colleagues, but not with my family, and I may share with nobody my knowledge of certain elements of everyday reality can become highly complex and even confusing to the outside. I not only do not possess the knowledge supposedly required to cure me of a physical ailment, I may even lack the knowledge of which one of a bewildering variety of medical specialists claims jurisdiction over what ails me. #RandolphHarris 15 of 30

In such cases, I require not only the advice of experts, but the prior advice of experts on experts. The social distribution of knowledge thus begins with the simple fact that I do not know everything known to my fellowmen, and vice versa, and culminates in exceedingly complex and esoteric systems of expertise. Knowledge of how the socially available stock of knowledge is distributed, at least in outlines, is an important element of that same stock of knowledge. In everyday life I know, at least roughly, what I can hide from whom, whom I can turn to for information on what I do not know, and generally which types of individuals may be expected to have which types of knowledge. Instead of seeing God man sees himself. “Their eyes were opened,” reports Genesis 3.7. Man perceives himself in his disunion with God and men. He perceives that he is naked. Lacking the protection, the covering, which God and his fellowman afforded him, he finds himself laid bare. Hence, there arises no shame. Shame is a man’s ineffaceable recollection of his estrangement from the origin; it is grief for this estrangement, and the powerless longing to return to unity with the origin. Man is ashamed because he has lost something which is essential to his original character, to himself as a whole; he is ashamed of his nakedness. Just as in the fairy-story the tree is ashamed of its lack of adornment, so, too, man is ashamed of the loss of his unity with God and with other men. Shame and remorse are generally mistaken for one another. Man feels remorse when he has been at fault; and he feels shame because he lacks something. #RandolphHarris 16 of 30

Shame is more original than remorse. The peculiar fact that we lower our eyes when a stranger’s eye meets our gaze is not a sign of remorse for a fault, but a sign of that shame which, when it knows that it is seen, is reminded of something that it lacks, namely, the lost wholeness of life, its own nakedness. To meet a stranger’s gaze directly, as is required, for example, in making a declaration of personal loyalty, is a kind of act of violence, and in love, when the gaze of the other is sought, it is a kind of yearning. In both cases, it is the painful endeavour to recover the lost unity by either a conscious and resolute or else a passionate and devoted inward overcoming of shame as the sign of disunion. “They may themselves aprons.” Shame seeks a covering as a means of overcoming the disunion. However, the covering implies the confirmation of the disunion that has occurred, and it cannot therefore make good the damage. Man covers himself, conceals himself from men and from God. Covering is necessary because it keeps awake shame, and with it the memory of the disunion with the origin, and also because man, disunited as he is, must now withdraw himself and must live in concealment. Otherwise, he would betray himself. “Every profound mind requires a mask,” said Nietzsche. Yet this mask is not a disguise; it is not intended to deceive the other man, but it is a necessary sign of the actual situation of disunion. For the reason, it is to be respected. Beneath the mask, there is a longing for the restoration of the lost unity. #RandolphHarris 17 of 30

Confidential is the first word to describe near-miss reporting for the railway system in Scotland. Operators of the Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System (CIRAS) feel strongly that, because of their strict confidentiality, they receive information they would not receive any other way. In most reporting systems, any information that identifies personnels or the organization is removed before the report is stored. Although many reports request a contact person, in the event that more information is needed, they assure secrecy in the sources of their reports. The relative anonymity of the Internet has proven especially beneficial for the reporting of near misses, and many systems use entry forms online to make submissions simple. On the other hand, there are some disadvantages as a result of the privacy used in the systems. Accuracy is not guaranteed because no verification of the reports is conducted, allowing “creative writing” on the part of the person submitting a report. We all know there are usually two sides to every story, but the reports submitted come from only one view. Additionally, personal accountability may be eliminated from the incident. People who may have been at fault for a fairly significant mistake could feel as though the reporting in and of itself eliminates their responsibility in the incident. However, the advantages of confidentiality far exceed the disadvantages and allow the system to provide a safe area to report what fire fighters see as potential problems that affect safety.  If someone embellishes a story or outright makes one up, in a worst-case scenario, it still has the potential to save lives in the future, which is the goal of any near-miss reporting program. #RandolphHarris 18 of 30

Movie theaters, and any large capacity building for that matter, provide a unique problem to emergency workers: evacuation and crowd control. The award-winning Sacramento Fire Department was once again faced with the potential for disaster. On this particular day, there were over 1,600 patrons enjoying a movie in the theater. At 7 o’clock in the evening, patrons standing in line at the movie house noticed smoke coming through a gate in the sidewalk near the bank building, which was next door to the theater. The fire department was immediately called. Firefighters began the search for the fire, while 1,600 people remained in their seats in the adjacent building.  The first intimation of the fire came to the theatre person when the resident manager ordered the lights turned on, and walked onto the stage. He then proceeded to calmly announce that the furnace of the nearby bank had begun smoking, and it was deemed best to vacate the building. Smoke had begun filtering into the auditorium by this time. Amazingly, all 1,600 patrons heeded the instructions of the manager and evacuated in a clam manner and without commotion or excitement. Once the movie goers got outside, they were able to see the real situation. Swarms of people congregated on the streets outside of the theater. Upon investigation, the Sacramento Fire Department had found that the fire had started from a discarded cigarette in a grating near the basement entrance to the bank. Waste paper near the door had started the door ablaze and the fire entered through the opening. By the time firefighters found the fire, it had eaten through the floor in the rear of the bank, very close to the theater. Firefighters located the fire and extinguished it in a quick manner. With more time, the theater could have been in danger. Losses to the bank were minimal, as only the floor, a row of booths and some partitions were damaged. Other businesses housed in the bank building incurred some damage. #RandolphHarris 19 of 30

If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency, and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire firefighters are getting back into their vehicle, and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals; sometimes emergency vehicles are in motion, albeit slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, 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. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other people’s 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. #RandolphHarris 20 of 30

California is the third most expensive state in the nation. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now considered low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. The mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 a month or $88,724.00 annually, and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Home prices in Sacramento County are rivaling the Bay Area, and in some cases, homes in the Bay Area are more affordable. Historically, homes in the Bay Area have been more expensive because they have higher-paying jobs, a larger population, and the Bay Area is a tourist destination. Contributing to the housing affordability crisis is Gavin Newsom, who has been lavishing illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded resources and cash aid, when state workers should be receiving a 25 percent wage increase instead. #RandolphHarris 21 of 30

In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes items such as food, automobile insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. The crisis is caused by nearly half a century-old laws that discourage home sales and encourage higher rents. The incompetence in California is very easy to see. From 2018 to 2023, California received $24 billion, which they used to fund 30 homeless and housing programs. These programs created 100,000 units. That is an average cost of $240,000 per unit. In comparison, Roger Lucas, owner of Grand Castle, LLC, spent $50 million to build The Grand Castle, which is a 522-unit residential apartment community in Grandville, Michigan. The community includes studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms, and even a multi-level penthouse. Rents generally range from $1,000 to $2,500. The community is a 23.6-acre site. It features 750 covered parking spaces, a clubhouse, a resort-style swimming pool, and was built over a period of 12 to 18 months. The average cost was about $95,785.45 per unit, which is $144,214.55 less per unit than California spent. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.5 percent. As people are seeing their bills skyrocket, and minimum wage has increased to $20 an hour, people on Social Security retirement are really bearing the burden with the checks the typically equate to $5-$7 an hour. Furthermore, while Americans are struggling to find and afford housing, Gavin Newsom, Democrat governor of California, signed two bills into law on February 7, 2025, to protect illegal immigrants. Bills SBX 1 1: Budget Act of 2024, and SBX 1 2: Budget Act of 2024, allocates $50 million to protect illegal immigrants from deportation. Governor Gavin Newsom also granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care, which costs taxpayers $3 billion annually. At the same time, Newsom cut vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled, and the homeless. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. #RandolphHarris 22 of 30

Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all our jobs and money, has more than 50 ghost cities, with 65 million vacant homes. Ghost cities are regions where housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes, and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man.  Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard are among the names on that list. Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal is cutting 2,500, and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.1 percent. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American border 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 risk 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 the end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. #RandolphHarris 23 of 30

Additionally, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom seems to be uneducated about economics. Newsom has spent $1.2 billion taxpayer dollars renovating the State Capitol building and $300 million to try to stop proposition 50. Proposition 50 would replace the maps drawn by the state’s independent commission with districts drawn by legislators solely to gain or protect Democratic seats. Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. To further highlight this illustration of incompetence by Governor Gavin Newsom, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of feces, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century, and by 2030, Mexico plans to dump one hundred and twenty million gallons of sewage a day into Imperial Beach. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure such as the 2025 Palisades fire. Southern California ran out of water because Newsom is totally neglecting the state and the American people. And while the fire departments in California are critically understaffed and underfunded, Governor Newsom vetoed firefighter pay raise. The Palisades fire cost $275 billion, which is money that could have been used to insure the State of California had the resources it needed. Furthermore, when Southern California is located next to an ocean, Newsom should have invested in desalination plants to help with the water shortage in California. The water in the ocean is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. Desalination has been identified as one technology that will help solve California’s water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable, fresh water, which is a great way to fight climate change and have enough water for our region’s water requirements. Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia, is producing 1,036,000 meters (273,682,192) per day of desalinated water. #RandolphHarris 24 of 30

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 for its infrastructure, provide adequate resources, or 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 are 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. As a result, the American automobile trade deficit with Japan was $39 billion. Additionally, Japan exported 1.4 million cars to the United States of America, but only imported 16,000 American-built automobiles. However, Japan imported approximately 143 thousand motor vehicles from the European Union. This is why President Trump created tariffs. We need to balance the trade deficit that America faces with other nations so we are not taken advantage of and so America can go bank to being a creditor nation, instead of borrowing money for other countries. Each year, President Trump is bringing $400 Billion in Tariff revenue into America and hundreds of thousands of new jobs. With this money, America is paying down debt, and with a portion of it, President  Trump plans to send Americans a stimulus check anywhere in the range of $1,000 to $2,000. However, if President Trump’s Tariffs are deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, taxpayers will have to pay back trillions and trillions of dollars. As we literally and /or figuratively see gangs, federal judges, and Governor Gavin Newsom fighting with federal law enforcement and President Trump– states and cities refusing to honor federal laws. Politicians are also showing an utter disregard for the Constitution of the United States of America, and anarchy is becoming increasingly common. #RandolphHarris 25 of 30

Anarchism is a cluster of doctrines and attitudes centered on the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary. Derived from the Greek root anarchos, meaning “without authority,” anarchism, anarchist, and anarchy are used to express both approval and disapproval. The anarchist denies man-made laws, regards property as a means of tyranny, and believes that crimes are merely the product of property and authority. However, the anarchist would argue that their denial of constitutions and governments leads not to “no justice” but to the real justice inherent in the free development of human sociality—the natural inclination, when unfettered by laws, to live according to the principles and practice of mutual aid. Anarchism is also a form of treason. Treason, the crime of betraying a nation or a sovereign by acts considered dangerous to security. In English law, treason includes the levying of war against the government and the giving of aid and comfort to the monarch’s enemies. In the United States of America, treason was defined restrictively by the framers of the Constitution. Treason against the United States of America “shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid and comfort,” which is something that many politicians are currently guilty of.  The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them before the situation becomes 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. #RandolphHarris 26 of 30

Drug cartels have been threatening the health and safety of Native American communities. The trafficking of dangerous and illegal drugs into their territories is leading to a second genocide. The overdose rate for Indigenous people is 42 percent higher than the national average. A recent bust on Montana’s Blackfeet Nation’s Tribal Reservation resulted in the seizure of more than 700,000 fentanyl pills, which was the largest bust in Montana history. Recently, the Blackfeet Nation had to declare a state of emergency after facing 17 overdoses in just one week. There are only 6.8 million Native Americans left in the world, which is 2 percent of the American population. We should be doing more to protect these proud and honorable people; they should not want for anything. People rush and give away resources to illegal immigrants, but totally disregard the Indigenous people of this land, as their race silently fades away into extinction. We must secure our borders and increase federal funding to Native American tribes so we can save this precious population. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law-abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage, and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded, and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. He has also totally ignored the cartel problems on American lands. Clean air, water, land, and preserving our heritage are extremely important. We cannot just allow criminals to kill off the people who are native to this land and do nothing about it. Wars have been started over governments that tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. #RandolphHarris 27 of 30

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 can 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 immigrate 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 America, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. 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. #RandolphHarris 28 of 30

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 America 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 national debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by sending 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 on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Under President Trump’s administration, he has make America a priority. President Trump has closed the southern border, illegal crossings have fallen to an all time low, and are 90 percent lower than under the previous administration. Since President Trump’s crack down on crime, violent crimes in Washington D.C. have dropped by approximately 80 percent. He has stopped thousands of pounds of drugs from entering America and killing citizens. And since President Trump took office, investments in America have increased by trillions of dollars in U.S.A. manufacturing, production, and innovation. As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes, as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. #RandolphHarris 29 of 30

We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrive at this fullness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason, where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, please teach your children to 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. It is inborn in the human mind 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. Therefore, remember to take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. Also, to make sure they have all the resources required, please donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to help improve our national security. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 30 of 30

The Winchester Mystery House

According to locals, over a century ago, the land that houses The Winchester Mansion had been vacant forever. Then, sometime in the early afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 1886, Sheriff Angel Camilio began getting reports that a massive castle made of wood had suddenly appeared. Gables rose, towers peaked into the sky as the mansion mushroomed into a labyrinth overnight. The house’s sudden manifestation had been both disconcerting and fascinating to the community. Some felt dark curses flowing from the estate, and things moving around in the darkness. Others saw a fairytale castle glimmering in the spring sunlight. Perhaps this is why there are no records of construction, no blueprints, and no permits filed with the county. And then one day, a hearse came tearing through the gates, and in that hearse was a coffin, some believed it contained Mrs. Winchester.

Legend also says, when Sarah Lockwood Pardee (Winchester) married William Wirt Winchester in 1862, she enjoyed a life of extravagant luxury. William Winchester, President of the Winchester repeating rifle, became a very wealthy man through the sale of his guns, and the couple were among the elite New England society. She also told Mrs. Winchester they would kill her too, unless she moved out West and built a great house for the spirits. In addition, Mrs. Winchester was told construction on the house must never end in order to appease the spirits and keep her alive, perhaps even give her eternal life. Mrs. Winchester followed the medium’s suggestions, and in 1886, she moved to the Santa Clara valley just outside San Jose, where she bought an 18-room farmhouse and property to build her mansion. At its peak, the Mansion once stood 9-stories tall and had as many as 600-rooms. Today, the stately mansion is 4-storys, and over 100,000 square feet.

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 Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Come and see what secrets this so-called, “Winchester Mystery House” may hold. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After the tour, there will be time to enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages that lead to hidden chambers within the mansion. These chambers served as safe places for valuables, precious documents, and as private sanctuaries for Mrs. Winchester, and allowed her to move stealthily throughout her home. At one time, there were even secret tunnels that extended beyond the mansion, leading to nearby Victorian houses that were also on the property, and other structures, creating a network of escape routes or hidden pathways.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal at Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, which once spanned 740 acres, all the way down to Stevens Creek Boulevard; wander 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 for purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

Special Events: Ready to rock the holidays like never before? 🎄

Join the incredible Renegade Orchestra on December 6th in the gardens as they combine rock and roll with all your favorite holiday classics 🎶🎸 https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Your ticket also grants you access to the Yuletide Oddities Market and Holiday Open House! Do not miss this evening of music and merriment, get tickets now! https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Join us for a two hour Christmas Tea Party, at the mansion, on December 13, 2025. Hosted by the captivating Vogel Victorian team, this exclusive event invites guests to enjoy a full tea service in the magnificent Venetian Dining Room, surrounded by the mansion’s rich history and holiday décor. Plus, create your own blessing jar and take part in a mesmerizing Victorian-style séance. It’s a holiday experience that blends festive charm with the intrigue of the unknown. Ages 16+. Limited to 30 guests. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Santa is coming to the Winchester Mystery House, on December 20th, at 12 P.M. to 4 P.M. and 5 P.M. to 8 P.M.! Guests with tickets to any tour, event, or the Oddities Market on December 20 can enjoy complimentary photos with Santa at the mansion. You may use your own camera to take a photo. Professional printed photos from our partners, Mystery Pix, will be available for purchase as well. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Unwind after the holidays with a relaxing Paint & Sip experience, on December 27th, at the Winchester Mystery House. An expert instructor from Bottle & Bottega’s will guide you in painting “Sunset Over Snowy Pines,” a serene winter scene to end the season in style. One complimentary glass of wine is included. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/holidays/

Why Choose Harris?

Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company.

Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs, not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

Brian Harris BMW

With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW, The Ultimate Driving Experience, has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands. BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. This is why BMW is known as The Ultimate Driving Machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Building strong and lasting client relationships is crucial for a successful legal career. Many lawyers mistakenly believe that mastering legal skills alone ensures success, but law is fundamentally a service industry—our job is to solve problems through the time we sell. To build long-term relationships, attorneys must focus on three core elements: knowing their clients, understanding how their legal issues fit into a larger context, and consistently delivering exceptional service.

Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax-deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. Trust is the cornerstone of any client relationship. Ultimately, my clients feel they are in capable hands with someone who genuinely understands their problems and goals. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

Millhaven Homes

At Millhaven Homes our professionals bring extensive experience in creating custom luxury properties. As we create your dream home, your needs are the central focus. You can expect superior quality and dedication from a team that makes you feel heard and appreciated.

Millhaven Homes savors the sanctuary of awe-inspiring spaces, unique architectural details, and fine craftsmanship that have earned us a reputation as a trusted home builder. 

The key to a successful relationship is communication. We will incorporate your thoughts and ideas into your new home.

 With vast experience in all types of custom home construction, our premier services are created for you, so you can get the most out of the function and design of your dream home.

Discover Millhaven Homes today. Let us design and build a custom home that reflects your style, comfort, and aspirations. We are here to bring your vision to life with creativity, care, and attention to every detail. 

Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Whether you are considering building a dream home or simply fascinated by architectural marvels, Millhaven Homes is the builder for you. https://millhavenhomes.com/

Men understand more easily what they can see, touch, and hear—that is, images, forms, and pictures—in short, symbols. These are the idols honoured by simpler minds. However, the soul is the center of man. Here in the core of the soul is a center from which choice springs, from which the ultimate sense of uneasiness and weariness with anything short of the highest of all in reality ultimately issues, from which remorse and repentance arises. Allow this center in a man to remain dulled by the crowd; allow it to continue to dissipate by busyness; permit it to go on evading its function by a round of distractions, or to lull itself by a carefully chosen rotation of pleasures, and abandon it to its attempt to drug, to narcotize suffering and remorse which might reveal to it its true condition; let it wither away the sense of its own validity by false theories of man’s nature, of his place in the social pattern, of his way of salvation; in short, allow any of these well-known forms of domestication of man’s responsible core as an individual, to continue unchallenged, and you as a thinker and a friend of men have committed the supreme treason! In one’s friend, one shall have one’s best enemy. Only when man is alone can he face the Eternal. There is probably no more powerful or effective method of compelling a man to think, to exercise his own reason, instead of repeating parrot-like phrases, than this solitude. When all is known that can be known, the responsible core of the will in the man has still to yield. He must act, he must choose, he must risk, he must make the leap. For in an existence where qualitative differences remain, there is no other entry into the deepest level of existential living as an individual. #RandolphHarris 1 of 26

Only by this leap of faith could one know the release of guilt, the sense of commitment, the acceptance of a vocation, of a calling in whose service is perfect freedom. For in any lesser service there is servility. Only the Omnipotent One dares exercise that restraint of true love that makes its associates free and heightens, not debases, the individual core of responsibility and integrity within them. The consciousness of one’s eternal responsibility to be an individual is the one thing needful. Social media, Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI companions, and the goal of becoming a Social Media Influencer (SMI), instead of heightening his core of responsibility and integrity, invites man to do what he is already enamored with doing, to join the crowd, the mass, to be dissolved into the organic whole. Social media, (AI, AI companions, and being an SMI, all changes of outer arrangements, gloss over the real problem—which is the awakening of the individual. The mass prescription of COVID protocols and social distancing was the start of the real pandemic, which is people being lured into a mere rebellion against other human beings, casting off the yoke of family values, human connections, and interactions. This is all laying on men the even costlier burden of losing their vocation for God, social skills, emotional intelligence, and the ability to form meaningful relationships. The mask people were forced to wear during COVID was a metaphor for the public being silenced and a future effort to keep people from speaking or having intimate relationships with other human beings. The crowd (social media) and using social media and AI as one’s only form of communication, the mass is a hiding-place in which the individual may abdicate his true quest for inward intensity and responsibility. The crowd is a sink of cowardice in which individuals are relieved of individual responsibility and will commit acts that they would not think of, or would never dare to do alone. When a man is to be executed by shooting, not one executioner shoots, but several. #RandolphHarris 2 of 26

For instance, when the noble Caius Marisu was seized, no individual soldier dared touch him, but a crowd of them had no such restraint. “Take the highest of all, think of Christ—and think of the whole human race, all that have been born and will be born. Now the situation is one where Christ is alone, so that someone as an individual alone with Christ stepped up to Him and spat upon Him: the man was never born and will never be born, who possesses the courage or the audacity to do this: that is the truth. As they became a crowds, however, they had the courage to do it—oh, terrible falsity.” The crowd (social media), AI companions, and SMIs are the mass.  The mass flatters, the mass excuses, the mass condemns, the mass counts heads, the mass pronounces on truth, and in all these things, the mass is that which can be both false and debasing. AI algorithms used by social media platforms and news websites often prioritize content that aligns with the users’ existing beliefs, opinions, and interests, creating a pseudo-reality. This pseudo-reality can lead to increased separation, as individuals become more entrenched in their views and less exposed to alternative perspectives. This can lead to poor social skills, the inability to think for oneself, and a loss of empathy. AI companions are designed to simulate romantic partners, and one can even design the AI companion to visually reflect one’s ideal mate. Without the mutual effort that is required in a healthy human relationship, AI companions are programmed to meet the users’ emotional desires, needs, and requirements. This pulls humans away from human relationships. #RandolphHarris 3 of 26

SMIs are hired by companies to promote products and foster consumer trust, and the goal is to generate more revenue and exposure for the company. By 2027, SMI marketing is estimated to be a $500 billion industry. SMIs influence people to be total consumers and focus on the outside, instead of developing attractive personality traits or cultivating brain power. They convince people that to be beautiful or popular, you must purchase their products, live the way they do, and behave the way they behave. Not only may some of these products be dangerous, but they are also teaching people to be fake and try to obtain standards of beauty that are very hard to achieve. When people are very exposed online, this also creates safety and privacy concerns. To call the mass social salvation, salvation by group, by tribe, by race, by class, by nation, is an act of spiritual betrayal. The isolation of man from the flock, from the mass, from the crowd, from SMIs, and AI companions is the heightening of his consciousness as an individual which the Eternal accomplishes. However, this generation is seeking to live in mere time and to make the Eternal and other human beings superfluous. The Eternal has the power to dissolve away time and to separate the crowd into individuals. In memory, in consciousness, in remorse, in work at a calling, in solitude, the Eternal still impinges upon the individual and awakens him to a consciousness both of himself and of his responsibility and of his worth to the Eternal. #RandolphHarris 4 of 26

Through the use or abuse of technology, people are falling into an inhuman division of mankind. No, the mass is a number, the numerical. Several of the nobility, the billionaires, the millionaires, the highest dignitaries, the middle-class, the less affluent, et cetera, can, through the use of the numerical quite as readily become the mass. It is “the mass”—not this one or that one—that is now living, now dead, not a group of menials or of socialites, of affluent or less affluent, but the mass understood in a purely conceptual sense—which is the false. For as a man is in a crowd, he is released from the repentance and responsibility of the individual.  I long to call the attention of the mass to its own doom. Technologies, like AI companions, instead of helping people deal with their problems or encouraging people to speak with a trusted adult or professional, are grooming people to commit as soon are they can read and access the technology. In the world, the native differences of gifts in men are obvious. And in this world, the drift toward perpetuating these inequalities by one form of technology or another is powerful. There is only one solvent for these obvious inequalities, only one root of enduring equality between all men. That equality is in the equality of concern which a loving Eternal Father has for each individual that has ever existed. Hence, only in the Christian sense of being children of a common Father are we all equal. To those impatient political enthusiasts who talk loudly on how futile and impractical religion must always be, and who are bent on legislating human equality into existence, only that which is religious can with the assistance of eternity press the equality of men through to its ultimate conclusions: the reverent, genuine, unworldly, true, the only possible equality between men. And, therefore, that which is religious, may it be said to its glorification, is also the true humanity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 26

The knowledge of good and evil seems to be the aim of all ethical reflection. Already in the possibility of the knowledge of good and evil, Christian ethics discerns a falling away from the origin. Man, at his origin, knows only one thing: God. It is only in the unity of his knowledge of God that he knows other men, of things, and of himself. He knows all things only in God, and God in all things. The knowledge of good and evil shows that he is no longer at one with this origin. In the knowledge of good and evil, man does not understand himself in the reality of the destiny appointed in his origin, but rather in his own possibilities, his possibility of being good or evil. He knows himself now as something apart from God, outside God, and this means that he now knows only himself and no longer knows God at all; for he can know God only if he knows only God. The knowledge of good and evil is therefore separation from God. Only against God can man know good and evil. However, man cannot be rid of his origin. Instead of knowing himself in the origins of God, he must now know himself as an origin. He interprets himself according to his possibilities, his possibilities of being good or evil, and he therefore conceives himself to be the origin of good and evil. Eritis sicut deus.” “The man is become as one of us, to know good and evil,” says God (Genesis 3.22). The fatter the sow, the more she loves to wallow in the mire; the bigger the ox, the more bravely he goes to the slaughter; and the more successful and prosperous the person, the more prone he is to evil. One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a life. He who forgets his friend is ungrateful to him; but he who forgets his Saviour is unmerciful to himself. #RandolphHarris 6 of 26

He who lives in sin and looks for happiness is like the man who sows his field with thistle seed and expects to fill his barn with wheat. If this troubled-filled life is valued so highly by us, what about a perfect eternal life in a perfect world! We are so accustomed, as we should be, to praise the goodness of men; but how many of us always see and praise the goodness of God? We seldom dine without leaving something on the table; so there is more merit and righteousness in Christ than the whole world will ever use or need. Originally, man was made in the image of God, but now his likeness to God is a stolen one. As the image of God man draws his life entirely from his origin in God, but the man who has become like God has forgotten how he was at his origin and has made himself his own creator and judge. What God had given man to be, man now desired to be through himself. However, God’s gift is essentially God’s gift. It is the origin that constitutes this gift. If the origin changes, the gift changes. Indeed, the gift consists solely in its origin. Man as the image of God draws his life from the origin of God, but the man who has become like God draws his life from his own origin. In appropriating the origin to himself, man took to himself a secret of God which proved his undoing. The Christian Bible describes this event with the eating of the forbidden fruit. Man now knows good and evil. This does not mean that he has acquired new knowledge in addition to what he knew before, but the knowledge of good and evil signifies the complete reversal of man’s knowledge, which hitherto had been solely knowledge of God as his origin. In knowing good and evil, he knows what only the origin, God Himself, can know and ought to know. It is only with extreme reserve that even the Christian Bible indicates to us that God is the One who knows good and evil. #RandolphHarris 7 of 26

To know good and evil is the first indication of the mystery of predestination, the mystery of an eternal dichotomy which has its origin in the eternally One, the mystery of an eternal choice and election by Him in whom there is no darkness but only light. To know good and evil is to know oneself as the origin of good and evil, as the origin of an eternal choice and election. How this is possible remains the secret of Him in whom there is no disunion because He is Himself the one and eternal origin and the overcoming of all disunion. This secret has been stolen from God by man in his desire to be an origin on his own account. Instead of knowing only the God who is to him, and instead of knowing all things in Him, he now knows himself as the origin of good and evil. Instead of accepting the choice and election of God, man himself desires to choose, to be the origin of the election. And so, in a certain sense, he bears within himself the secret of predestination. Instead of knowing himself solely in the reality of being chosen and loved by God, he must now know himself in the possibility of choosing and of being the origin of good and evil. He has become like God, but against God. Herein lies the serpent’s deceit. Man knows good and evil, but because he is not the origin, because he acquires this knowledge only at the price of estrangement from the origin, the good and evil that he knows are not the good and evil of God but good and evil against God. They are good and evil of man’s own choosing, in opposition to the eternal election of God. In becoming like God, man has become god against God. #RandolphHarris 8 of 26

This finds its expression in the fact that man, knowing of good and evil, has finally torn himself loose from life from the eternal life which proceeds from the choice of God. “And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…he drove out of the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden, Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life,” reports Genesis 3.22 and 24. Man knows good and evil, against God, against his origin, godlessly and of his own choice, understanding himself according to his own contrary possibilities; and he is cut off from the unifying, reconciling life in God, and is delivered over to death. The secret which man has stolen from God is bringing about man’s downfall. Man’s life is now disunion with God, with men, with things, and with himself. Because we are alienated from God, “By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return,” reports Genesis 3.19. Undoubtedly, physiological needs are the most prepotent of all needs. In the human being who is missing everything in life in an extreme fashion, it is most likely that the major motivation would be the physiological needs rather than any others. A person who is lacking food, safety, love, and esteem would most probably hunger for food more strongly than anything else. If all the needs are unsatisfied, and the organism is then dominated by the physiological needs, all other needs may become simply non-existent or be pushed into the background. #RandolphHarris 9 of 26

We know the Marxist scheme. Marx, following in the footsteps of Adam Smith and Ricardo, defines the value of all commodities in terms of the amount of work necessary to produce them. The amount of work is itself a commodity, sold by the proletarian to the capitalist, of which the value is defined by the quantity of work that produces it; in other words, by the value of the consumer’s goods necessary for his substance. The capitalist, in buying this commodity, thereby undertakes to pay for it adequately so that he who sells it, the worker, may feed and perpetuate himself. However, at the same time, he acquires the right to make the latter work as long as he can. He can work for a long time, very much longer than is necessary to pay for his subsistence. In a twelve-hour day, if half the time suffices to produce a value equivalent to the value of the products of subsistence, the other six hours are not paid for, a plus-value, which constitutes the capitalist’s own profit. Thus, the capitalist’s interest lies in prolonging to the maximum the hours of work or, when he can do so no longer, of increasing the worker’s output to the maximum. The first type of coercion is a matter of oppression and cruelty. The second is a question of the organization of labour. It leads to the division of labour, and then to the utilization of the machine, which humanizes the worker. Moreover, competition for foreign markets and the necessity for larger and larger investments in raw materials, produces phenomena of concentration and accumulation. First, small capitalists are absorbed by big capitalists who can maintain, for example, unprofitable prices for a longer period. A larger and larger part of the profits is finally invested in new machines and accumulated in the fixed assets of capital.  #RandolphHarris 10 of 26

This double movement first of all hastens the ruin of the middle classes, who are absorbed into the proletariat, and then proceeds to concentrate, in an increasingly small number of hands, the riches produced uniquely by the proletariat. Thus, the proletariat increases in size proportion to its increasing ruin. Capital is now concentrated in the hands of only a very few masters, whose growing power is based on robbery. Moreover, these masters are shaken to their foundations by successive crises, overwhelmed by the contradictions of the system, and can no longer assure even mere subsistence to their slaves, who then come to depend on private or public charity. A day comes, inevitably, when a huge army of oppressed slaves find themselves face to face with a handful of despicable masters. That day is the day of revolution. The ruin of the bourgeoisie and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable. This henceforth famous description does not yet give an account of the end of all antagonisms. After the victory of the proletariat, the struggle for life might well give birth to new antagonisms. Two ideas then intervene, one of which is economic, the identity of the development of production and the development of society, and the other, purely systematic, the mission of the proletariat. These two ideas reunite in what might be called Marx’s activist fatalism. The same economic evolution which in effect concentrates capital in a very few hands, makes the antagonism both more violent and, to a certain extent, unreal. It seems that, at the highest point of development of the productive forces, the slightest stimulus would lead to the proletariat finding itself alone in possession of the means of production, already snatched from the grasp of private ownership and concentrated in one enormous mass which, henceforth, would be held in common. #RandolphHarris 11 of 26

When private property is concentrated in the hands of one single owner, it is only separated from collective ownership by the existence of one single man. The inevitable result of private capitalism is a kind of State capitalism which will then only have to be put to the service of the community to give birth to a society where capital and labour, henceforth indistinguishable, will produce, in one identical advance toward progress, both justice and abundance. It is in consideration of this happy outcome that Marx always extolled the revolutionary role played, unconsciously, it is true, by the bourgeoisie. He spoke of the “historic rights” of capitalism, which he called a source both of progress and of misery. The historical mission and the justification of capitalism are, in his eyes, to prepare the conditions for a superior mode of production. This mode of production is not in itself revolutionary; it will only be the consummation of the revolution. Only the fundamental principles of bourgeois production are revolutionary. When Marx affirms that humanity only sets itself problems it can solve, he is simultaneously demonstrating that the germ of the solution of the revolutionary problem is to be found in the capitalist system itself. Therefore, he recommends tolerating the bourgeois State, and even helping to build it, rather than returning to a less industrialized form of production. The proletariat “can and must accept the bourgeois revolution as a condition of the working-class revolution.” #RandolphHarris 12 of 26

Some parties, especially those in America, since the disappearance of the old conflicts concerning the interpretation of the constitution, have become pure parties handing out jobs and changing their material program according to the chances of grabbing votes. As of July 2025, the annual homeownership cost of a median-priced house in the United States of America is approximately 50 percent of median household income—exceeding prior peaks before the financial crisis. The problem of affordability has been spreading beyond traditionally high-priced cities. At the end of 2023, 3.4 million homes sat vacant for rent or purchase. So, supply is not the real problem. A median-income family would need an additional $17,670 annually to afford a typical home compared to 2019. In 2010, the federal budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was approximately $68 billion. And since 2020, the price of housing has increased by 45 to 55 percent. In 2025, the budget for SNAP is projected to be $109.6 billion, which is an increase of $41.6 billion since 2010. As the housing crisis weighs heavily on many people, to continue grabbing votes, politicians put more of the burden on the government. To stay in power, Democrats have been using social programs and allowing illegal immigrants into the country, giving them medical care, SNAP, housing assistance, and cash aid. However, the high inflation and increased demand for housing programs are straining these social programs to the point that they are going to have to make some changes. #RandolphHarris 13 of 26

For instance, the San Diego Housing Commission is preparing to make some major changes. High inflation in the housing market has forced the Housing Commission to increase its average rental subsidy by 80 percent since 2020. The Housing Commission is expected to receive approximately $274 million this fiscal year to distribute “Housing Choice Vouchers” (HCV on behalf of the city of San Diego. The HCV program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HCV program was once known as “Section 8,” and is the nation’s largest affordable housing program. HCV recipients can choose where to live and pay 30 percent of their income toward rent. The voucher covers the difference between that amount and the fair market value, up to a certain extent. However, the Housing Commission is facing a deficit of $27 million. The agency has reduced costs by keeping positions vacant and withholding performance incentives and cost-of-living raises for high-level staff. And, additional layoffs may still be necessary. The commission is also exhausting its voucher program reserves. Closing the program’s deficit would require revoking vouchers from roughly 1,700 households—approximately 6,000 people. The Housing Commission is trying to put the elderly and disabled into other types of housing assistance programs. However, able-bodied adults will likely have to pay up to 40 percent of their household income on rent. Seniors and people with disabilities would face a more modest increase, from 28.5 percent to 32 percent. Because of the budget crisis, people who are able-bodied may even lose their housing assistance altogether, because the Housing Commission cannot force those who cannot work onto the street. So, while Democrats like to give taxpayer money to illegal immigrants, it truly is hurting all Americans because the government can no longer afford the tax burden. The country is going broke due to the irresponsible acts of Democrats. #RandolphHarris 14 of 26

A clinician can and should make a connection between global occurrences and certain small-town items recorded in small towns. Preliminary estimates are that the illegal immigrant population grew to 12.8 million by October 2023, up 2.6 million since January 2021. Illegal immigrants have a negative fiscal impact—taxes paid minus benefits received—primarily because a large share have modest levels of education, resulting in relatively low average incomes and tax payments, along with significant use of means-tested programs and other government services. Research indicates that 70 percent of adult illegal immigrants have no education beyond high school. Illegal immigrants make extensive use of welfare. Based on government data, approximately 65 percent of households headed by illegal immigrants use one or more major welfare programs. Based on their use rate of major welfare programs, we estimate that illegal immigrants receive $42 billion in benefits. In addition to consuming welfare, illegal immigration makes significant use of public education. Based on average costs per student, the estimated 4 million children of illegal immigrants in public schools created $68.1 billion in costs in 2019. The costs of providing health care to illegal immigrants totals some $7 billion annually. Illegal immigrants do pay some taxes. We estimate that illegal immigrants in 2019 paid roughly $5.6 billion in federal income tax, $16.2 billion in Social Security, and $3,8 billion in Medicaid taxes. However, the United States of America sees a $150 billion yearly cost from illegal immigrants. The political element consists, above all, in the task of maintaining “law and order” in the country, hence maintaining the existing power relations. #RandolphHarris 15 of 26

If you see a fire truck stopped in the street without the lights on, be very careful. Sometimes there is an emergency, and you should not pass the fire truck. It might be a good idea to safely turn around and go another way because if you hit someone and they happen to die, you could be charged with manslaughter. Sometimes fire firefighters are getting back into their vehicle, and if you pass the apparatus, you may collide with a firefighter who is on foot. Also, be sure to look at their signals; sometimes emergency vehicles are in motion, albeit slowly, and drivers try to pass them, and this could lead to a dangerous situation. Also, 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. The concept of professional courage does not always mean being as tough as nails, either. It also suggests a willingness to listen to other people’s 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. #RandolphHarris 16 of 26

California is the third most expensive state in the nation. In 37 percent of counties, a family of four living on a six-figure income is now considered low-income. The average home price in California is nearly $1,000,000.00 USD, while the average salary is $96,036.00, meaning that most Californians cannot even afford to buy a home. California is having an affordability crisis. A single person making an income above $100,000 is now considered low-income in five counties in California. This distinction now applies to individuals living in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Marin counties. The maximum percentage of your gross income that you should earmark for a monthly mortgage payment is calculated at 28 percent, and no more than 36 percent of your gross income to all debts, including mortgage. If you take 28 percent of the median household income per home in Sacramento County, homeowners can only afford a mortgage of $2,070.23 per month. And if you take 36 percent of their gross income to all debts, including mortgage, they should be devoting no more than $2,661.72 a month to these debts. The mortgage lenders must be using some kind of sorcery to get buyers into these expensive homes. To afford one of these homes using traditional guidelines, a household would need to gross $11,280.24 per month or $135,362.88 per year, but the median household in Sacramento County is grossing $7,393.67 a month or $88,724.00 annually, and that typically means two to four people in the home are working and contributing to the mortgage. Home prices in Sacramento County are rivaling the Bay Area, and in some cases, homes in the Bay Area are more affordable. Historically, homes in the Bay Area have been more expensive because they have higher-paying jobs, a larger population, and the Bay Area is a tourist destination. Contributing to the housing affordability crisis is Gavin Newsom, who has been lavishing illegal immigrants with taxpayer-funded resources and cash aid, when state workers should be receiving a 25 percent wage increase instead. #RandolphHarris 17 of 26

In 2025, many people in California saw their bills increase by an estimated $500 a month. This includes items such as food, automobile insurance, homeowners’ insurance, and electricity. In fact, more than 3 million people in California are facing household hardship, and more than 300,000 of them are facing eviction soon. This comes at a time when California is having a shortage of affordable housing. The crisis is caused by nearly half a century-old laws that discourage home sales and encourage higher rents. The incompetence in California is very easy to see. From 2018 to 2023, California received $24 billion, which they used to fund 30 homeless and housing programs. These programs created 100,000 units. That is an average cost of $240,000 per unit. In comparison, Roger Lucas, owner of Grand Castle, LLC, spent $50 million to build The Grand Castle, which is a 522-unit residential apartment community in Grandville, Michigan. The community includes studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedrooms, 3 bedrooms, and even a multi-level penthouse. Rents generally range from $1,000 to $2,500. The community is a 23.6-acre site. It features 750 covered parking spaces, a clubhouse, a resort-style swimming pool, and was built over a period of 12 to 18 months. The average cost was about $95,785.45 per unit, which is $144,214.55 less per unit than California spent. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.5 percent. As people are seeing their bills skyrocket, and minimum wage has increased to $20 an hour, people on Social Security retirement are really bearing the burden with the checks the typically equate to $5-$7 an hour. Furthermore, while Americans are struggling to find and afford housing, Gavin Newsom, Democrat governor of California, signed two bills into law on February 7, 2025, to protect illegal immigrants. Bills SBX 1 1: Budget Act of 2024, and SBX 1 2: Budget Act of 2024, allocates $50 million to protect illegal immigrants from deportation. Governor Gavin Newsom also granted 700,000 illegal immigrants free health care, which costs taxpayers $3 billion annually. At the same time, Newsom cut vital programs for veterans, school children, the disabled, and the homeless. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. #RandolphHarris 18 of 26

Meanwhile, China, where we are sending all our jobs and money, has more than 50 ghost cities, with 65 million vacant homes. Ghost cities are regions where housing has been overdeveloped to the point that these places are uninhabited. If they are all officially counted, California has approximately 4 million homeless people. The highest home prices in the nation, the highest taxes, and the most unfriendly business regulations known to man.  Because California is so hostile towards people and businesses, more than 360 companies have fled the state since 2020. Businesses like Chevron, SpaceX, Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard are among the names on that list. Also, more than 500,000 people a year are abandoning California because it is too expensive to live in, Gavin Newsom has criminalized homelessness and actually started arresting people without homes, crime is out of control, and they are losing their jobs due to companies relocating. More than 100 companies have announced layoffs in California for 2025. Intel is cutting 15,000 jobs, PayPal is cutting 2,500, and Meta has terminated 4,000 employees. California also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 5.4 percent, while the national average is 4.1 percent. The California crisis created by Democrats is driving up home prices and mortgages, and rents all over the nation and the world, making living unaffordable for all, and advocates say the crisis is far from over. Accordingly, California has more than 3.5 million illegal immigrants. Having the Southern American border 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 risk 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 the end-of-life of machinery is how the Oroville Dam Crisis occurred in 2017. #RandolphHarris 19 of 26

Additionally, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom seems to be uneducated about economics. Newsom has spent $1.2 billion taxpayer dollars renovating the State Capitol building and $300 million to try to stop proposition 50. Proposition 50 would replace the maps drawn by the state’s independent commission with districts drawn by legislators solely to gain or protect Democratic seats. Newsom only cares about the environment when his policies allow him to raise taxes and restrict freedoms. To further highlight this illustration of incompetence by Governor Gavin Newsom, Mexico has been causing one of America’s worst environmental disasters. Fifty million gallons a day of industrial chemicals, untreated sewage, and trash flow from Tijuana, Mexico, into southern San Diego County daily. This toxic waste has been turning up on Imperial Beach and is causing the miles of white sands to become polluted and the ocean breeze to smell of feces, which has been sickening residents and wildlife and costing San Diego millions in the form of lost tourism and health problems. The problem has been going on for more than a century, and by 2030, Mexico plans to dump one hundred and twenty million gallons of sewage a day into Imperial Beach. Other crises that have occurred due to neglect of critical infrastructure such as the 2025 Palisades fire. Southern California ran out of water because Newsom is totally neglecting the state and the American people. And while the fire departments in California are critically understaffed and underfunded, Governor Newsom vetoed firefighter pay raise. The Palisades fire cost $275 billion, which is money that could have been used to insure the State of California had the resources it needed. Furthermore, when Southern California is located next to an ocean, Newsom should have invested in desalination plants to help with the water shortage in California. The water in the ocean is so plentiful that it is currently eroding land and causing homes to fall into the sea. Desalination has been identified as one technology that will help solve California’s water scarcity problem. Desalination is a cost-effective technology that can transform an abundance of salt water into a reliable supply of potable, fresh water, which is a great way to fight climate change and have enough water for our region’s water requirements. Ras Al Khair, Saudi Arabia, is producing 1,036,000 meters (273,682,192) per day of desalinated water. #RandolphHarris 20 of 26

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 for its infrastructure, provide adequate resources, or 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 are 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. As a result, the American automobile trade deficit with Japan was $39 billion. Additionally, Japan exported 1.4 million cars to the United States of America, but only imported 16,000 American-built automobiles. However, Japan imported approximately 143 thousand motor vehicles from the European Union. This is why President Trump created tariffs. We need to balance the trade deficit that America faces with other nations so we are not taken advantage of and so America can go bank to being a creditor nation, instead of borrowing money for other countries. Each year, President Trump is bringing $400 Billion in Tariff revenue into America and hundreds of thousands of new jobs. With this money, America is paying down debt, and with a portion of it, President  Trump plans to send Americans a stimulus check anywhere in the range of $1,000 to $2,000. However, if President Trump’s Tariffs are deemed illegal by the Supreme Court, taxpayers will have to pay back trillions and trillions of dollars. As we literally and /or figuratively see gangs, federal judges, and Governor Gavin Newsom fighting with federal law enforcement and President Trump– states and cities refusing to honor federal laws. Politicians are also showing an utter disregard for the Constitution of the United States of America, and anarchy is becoming increasingly common. #RandolphHarris 21 of 26

Anarchism is a cluster of doctrines and attitudes centered on the belief that government is both harmful and unnecessary. Derived from the Greek root anarchos, meaning “without authority,” anarchism, anarchist, and anarchy are used to express both approval and disapproval. The anarchist denies man-made laws, regards property as a means of tyranny, and believes that crimes are merely the product of property and authority. However, the anarchist would argue that their denial of constitutions and governments leads not to “no justice” but to the real justice inherent in the free development of human sociality—the natural inclination, when unfettered by laws, to live according to the principles and practice of mutual aid. Anarchism is also a form of treason. Treason, the crime of betraying a nation or a sovereign by acts considered dangerous to security. In English law, treason includes the levying of war against the government and the giving of aid and comfort to the monarch’s enemies. In the United States of America, treason was defined restrictively by the framers of the Constitution. Treason against the United States of America “shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid and comfort,” which is something that many politicians are currently guilty of.  The American government should know all exploitable vulnerabilities and fix them before the situation becomes 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. #RandolphHarris 22 of 26

Drug cartels have been threatening the health and safety of Native American communities. The trafficking of dangerous and illegal drugs into their territories is leading to a second genocide. The overdose rate for Indigenous people is 42 percent higher than the national average. A recent bust on Montana’s Blackfeet Nation’s Tribal Reservation resulted in the seizure of more than 700,000 fentanyl pills, which was the largest bust in Montana history. Recently, the Blackfeet Nation had to declare a state of emergency after facing 17 overdoses in just one week. There are only 6.8 million Native Americans left in the world, which is 2 percent of the American population. We should be doing more to protect these proud and honorable people; they should not want for anything. People rush and give away resources to illegal immigrants, but totally disregard the Indigenous people of this land, as their race silently fades away into extinction. We must secure our borders and increase federal funding to Native American tribes so we can save this precious population. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom has given billions of taxpayer dollars away to illegal immigrants and protected them from law enforcement, while arresting law-abiding Americans because they cannot afford to pay rent or mortgage, and the homeless shelters are unsafe, overcrowded, and have restrictions on who is allowed inside. He has also totally ignored the cartel problems on American lands. Clean air, water, land, and preserving our heritage are extremely important. We cannot just allow criminals to kill off the people who are native to this land and do nothing about it. Wars have been started over governments that tax citizens without representation. Taxation without representation is what led to the American Revolution. #RandolphHarris 23 of 26

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 can 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 immigrate 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 America, wages naturally increase, and more money is invested to keep up with demand. This reduces the burden on the taxpayer. 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. #RandolphHarris 24 of 26

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 America 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 national debt, plus you are helping to strengthen these foreign nations by sending 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 on pollution. American companies must be more careful about air, land, and water pollution and have proper ways to dispose of waste. Under President Trump’s administration, he has make America a priority. President Trump has closed the southern border, illegal crossings have fallen to an all time low, and are 90 percent lower than under the previous administration. Since President Trump’s crack down on crime, violent crimes in Washington D.C. have dropped by approximately 80 percent. He has stopped thousands of pounds of drugs from entering America and killing citizens. And since President Trump took office, investments in America have increased by trillions of dollars in U.S.A. manufacturing, production, and innovation. As you can see, President Donald Trump and his pledge to “Make America Great Again” is exactly what America needs to save the country and the American people. And yes, diversity is important, so you can see why it is also important to preserve blonde hair and blue eyes, as the people with these characteristics are becoming a minority in America. #RandolphHarris 25 of 26

We must think before we can understand the soul’s existence; we must understand before we can realize it. The earliest beginnings of thought, as apart from instinct, when it was itself still but a lurking tendency, belong far back in primeval time. The human intellect as we find it today, so rich and developed an instrument for the consciousness of the ego, did not arrive at this fullness without a series of graduated stages. We have had plenty of scientific thinking, business thinking, and political thinking long enough, but we have had very little inspired thinking. That is the world’s need. The intellect is cradled in selfishness but runs the evolutionary track into reason, where it will one day finish at the winning-post of selflessness. As a reminder, parents, please teach your children to 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. It is inborn in the human mind 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. Therefore, remember to take your education seriously so that you will be successful in life and make your family proud. Also, to make sure they have all the resources required, please donate to the Sacramento Fire Department to help improve our national security. “Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, and this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” #RandolphHarris 26 of 26

The Winchester Mystery House

According to locals, over a century ago, the land that houses The Winchester Mansion had been vacant forever. Then, sometime in the early afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 1886, Sheriff Angel Camilio began getting reports that a massive castle made of wood had suddenly appeared. Gables rose, towers peaked into the sky as the mansion mushroomed into a labyrinth overnight. The house’s sudden manifestation had been both disconcerting and fascinating to the community. Some felt dark curses flowing from the estate, and things moving around in the darkness. Others saw a fairytale castle glimmering in the spring sunlight. Perhaps this is why there are no records of construction, no blueprints, and no permits filed with the county. And then one day, a hearse came tearing through the gates, and in that hearse was a coffin, some believed it contained Mrs. Winchester.

According to legend, when Sarah Lockwood Pardee (Winchester) married William Wirt Winchester in 1862, she enjoyed a life of extravagant luxury. William Winchester, President of the Winchester repeating rifle, became a very wealthy man through the sale of his guns, and the couple were among the elite New England society. She also told Mrs. Winchester they would kill her too, unless she moved out West and built a great house for the spirits. In addition, Mrs. Winchester was told construction on the house must never end in order to appease the spirits and keep her alive, perhaps even give her eternal life. Mrs. Winchester followed the medium’s suggestions, and in 1886, she moved to the Santa Clara valley just outside San Jose, where she bought an 18-room farmhouse and property to build her mansion. At its peak, the Mansion once stood 9-stories tall and had as many as 600-rooms. Today, the stately mansion is 4-storys, and over 100,000 square feet.

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 Heiress Sarah L. Winchester. Come and see what secrets this so-called, “Winchester Mystery House” may hold. Take advantage of this fascinating experience. After the tour, there will be time to enjoy the mansion’s splendor at your own pace. You might even discover secret passages that lead to hidden chambers within the mansion. These chambers served as safe places for valuables, precious documents, and as private sanctuaries for Mrs. Winchester, and allowed her to move stealthily throughout her home. At one time, there were even secret tunnels that extended beyond the mansion, leading to nearby Victorian houses that were also on the property, and other structures, creating a network of escape routes or hidden pathways.

Please come and enjoy a delicious meal at Sarah’s Café, stroll along the paths of the beautiful Victorian gardens, which once spanned 740 acres, all the way down to Stevens Creek Boulevard; wander 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 for purchase. https://shopwinchestermysteryhouse.com/

Why Choose Harris?

Harris Plumbing, Heating, Air, & Electric has been in business for 30 years. How many businesses can say that? We take pride in everything we do – no matter how big or small the service call might be. We’re here to help your home be as safe and comfortable as possible for you and your family. We take that responsibility very seriously as a company.

Harris will ensure you have the information you need to decide what to do next, whatever your home is facing. We’ll perform a diagnosis and detail what issues are present before starting any work. This gives you a personalized quote and service plan specific to your home’s needs, not some random quote based on the best guess. The only way we can do our best work is to make sure we handle the issues at hand. https://www.callharrisnow.com/about-us/

Brian Harris BMW

With its top ranking in Consumer Reports’ Auto Brand Report Card and consistent market share growth, BMW, The Ultimate Driving Experience, has demonstrated its ability to produce high-performing, reliable vehicles that meet consumer demands. BMW stands out due to its focus on driving dynamics and engineering excellence. While other luxury brands prioritize comfort and opulence, BMW is known for creating cars that are fun to drive and offer a unique connection between the driver and the machine. This is why BMW is known as The Ultimate Driving Machine. https://www.brianharrisbmw.com/

Randolph Harris San Francisco Taxation & Mergers

Building strong and lasting client relationships is crucial for a successful legal career. Many lawyers mistakenly believe that mastering legal skills alone ensures success, but law is fundamentally a service industry—our job is to solve problems through the time we sell. To build long-term relationships, attorneys must focus on three core elements: knowing their clients, understanding how their legal issues fit into a larger context, and consistently delivering exceptional service.

Randy advises clients with regard to business transition, taxable and tax-deferred mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, restructuring, integrated tax planning, federal and state tax controversy resolution, and real estate transactions. Trust is the cornerstone of any client relationship. Ultimately, my clients feel they are in capable hands with someone who genuinely understands their problems and goals. https://www.jmbm.com/l-randolph-harris.html

Park Haven

Rancho Cordova, CA | low $500s

Now Selling!

Welcome to Cresleigh Park Haven, the newest home community in Rancho Cordova.

Nestled in the heart of Rancho Cordova, Park Haven is a thoughtfully planned neighborhood of 71 homes designed for comfort, convenience, and connection.

Adjacent to Exploration Park, it offers the perfect blend of modern living and outdoor adventure right at your doorstep.

Park Haven’s welcoming, covered entry flows into the inviting foyer, revealing views of the spacious great room, dining room, and desirable luxury outdoor living space beyond.

Choose from five floor plans ranging from 1,342 to 2,547 square feet, with options for 3 to 5 bedrooms, flexible spaces, and open layouts tailored to today’s lifestyles.

Whether you are a first-time buyer, a growing family, or looking to simplify without giving up style, there is a home here for you.

Select Park Haven homes include free solar ownership, built in savings from day one. 

Enjoy the benefits of 100 percent owned solar at no extra cost, providing lasting energy efficiency, lower monthly expenses, and the confidence of full ownership.

With maintenance friendly yards, nearby shopping and dining, and access to top rated schools, Park Haven is more than just a place to live.

It is an enclave of thoughtfully designed single-family homes that cater to every lifestyle.

A Cresleigh Home is the treasure chest of living. It is a place to thrive. https://cresleigh.com/park-haven/residence-3/

“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” -President Abraham Lincoln

America is a nation founded on godly principles, by God-fearing men. As a nation, we have convinced ourselves of our uniqueness with concepts such as Manifest Destiny and American exceptionalism. Manifest destiny was the imperialist belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand from sea to shining sea.

American exceptionalism, idea that the United States of America is a unique and even morally superior country for historical, ideological, or religious reasons. As a nation we appear favored and blessed by the Lord with success and prosperity unparalleled in human history.

America has a lot of amazing things – its beautiful natural scenery, vibrant cities, unique culture, and some of the world’s most iconic landmarks — it us no wonder many choose to make America their home.