Home » Posts tagged 'NEWS'
Tag Archives: NEWS
As Daily Necessities Become Harder to Afford
Day after day, the American people are witnesses to the phenomenon of spreading poison among the people through the instrumentality of the Democratic party and gutter journalism; and yet they are astonished at the deplorable “moral standards” and “national indifference” of the masses. Many people can only fight for something that they love. They can love only what they respect. And to respect a thing, they must have some knowledge of it and feel that it is something that is protecting them. The social problem is that crime is no longer illegal under the rule of the Democratic party, and several honest Americans believe that they are being penalized through unfair taxes and hyperinflation. When they come home in the evenings for working so hard to pay for handouts that people who are committing crimes unlawfully receive, they are dead tired. Democrats are exploiting the working masses. There is nothing that they do not drag in the mud. During these days of mental anguish and deep meditation, the American people see before their mind the ever-increasing and menacing army of people who can no longer be reckoned as belonging to their own nation. We gaze at the leaders of the Democratic party, watching that enormous human dragon slowly uncoiling itself before the World. This has caused many to feel dismayed and depressed. #RandolphHarris 1 of 25
As daily necessities become harder to afford, Americans have amassed $1.14 trillion in credit card debt. That is $27 billion more than credit card debt they carried in the second quarter of 2024. The high tally comes as concerns of an economic recession triggered by modestly rising unemployment, and as soaring costs in food, housing and automobile rates continue to drain household budgets. Americans have increasingly been relying on credit cards to pay the bill, with 60 percent of Americans using credit cards to buy groceries in 2023. As more people are carrying significantly more debt, extended periods of debt are causing more Americans to fall behind on their credit card bills. Approximately 7.18 percent of credit card users have fallen into delinquency in the second quarter, up from 5 percent in the previous quarter. American paid down some of their credit card debt in 2020 using pandemic-related federal stimulus funds. However, beginning in 2021, credit card balances drastically increased by 48 percent, caused by high inflation and high interest rates. Debt owned on mortgages and automobile loans also increased by $77 billion and $10 billion, respectively. Total consumer debt has grown to $18 trillion. And the average rate on a credit card is nearly 25 percent. #RandolphHarris 2 of 25
Last week’s jobless rate increased worries that a recession is here. The numbers included an increase of 114,000 in non-farm payrolls during July, down from 179,000 in June and far below analysts’ forecast of 175,000 gain. And the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, the highest since October 2021. Many have also stated that housing costs are so high because there is a shortage in the supply of houses. However, that is not so. During 2000 and 2020, America had a surplus of 3.3 million homes. This defies conventional wisdom that the nation is facing a housing shortage. Builders over built housing units and in 2024, they are still trying to absorb that enormous over build. There is a shortage of housing that low- and very low-income families can afford. In most cities and small towns, there is an average shortage of 8,000 housing units that low- and very low-income families can afford. For those households, which require government assistance to find housing, the absolute highest they can afford to pay for rent is $550. Building new homes and apartments cannot address the shortage for the absolute poorest. No private developer can build a unit that [$550] price and survive. Just the property taxes, insurance, and utility costs exceed that number. #RandolphHarris 3 of 25
Many people do not want low-income housing in their communities either. Low-income housing often increases crime rates in good areas as it attracts seedy individuals. Violent crime wreaks a terrible impact not only on individual victims, their families, and friends but also on nearby residents and the fabric of their neighbourhoods. Exposure to violent crime can damage people’s healthy and development, and violence can push communities into vicious circles of decay. However, policing hot spots can be effective. Nonetheless, the 20,000,000 illegal immigrants that President Biden and Vice President Kamla have packed into the cities is drastically increasing costs and putting a burden on the poor and taxpayers. The southern border crisis is costing American taxpayers around $451 billion per year for services provided to a record number of illegal aliens under the Biden administration. When higher taxes are costs are preventing private industry from building affordable housing, Vice President Kalama has expressed support for allowing immigrants residing in American to obtain public health insurance, regardless of legal status. Tax increases and handouts are hurting everyone. This struggle against their own kind, their own nest, their own homeland is as senseless as it is incomprehensible. It is unnatural and we need another political party to represent America and the American people. #RandolphHarris 4 of 25
The Czarist Democratic administration is corrupt and largely incompetent and, in addition to all this, the Democratic party and the riots of 2020 have bled the American people without bringing them victory. The economic conditions are not able to sustain a capitalistic society. To turn a disciplined working population into a peasant population, and to force the population to accept the higher taxes, illegal immigration and communism, the rapid accumulation of capital has been used to force people to take government subsidies by putting the nation on house arrest and forcing them not to go to work and to accept vaccines and through the threat of terror. This was due to the Democratic party’s mad suspiciousness and their unlimited desire for personal power—a terror which went far beyond what would have been necessary to maintain capitalism, and which, in fact, in many ways weakened their economy and military position. Because the Democratic party is also pushing to take away the second amendment and because of the crime waves caused by illegal immigration and not enforcing the laws, to tend this terror, many people are advocating a police state. While this state does not permit the expression of opinions critical of the system, and even less of corresponding political activity, it is believed that it will free the average citizen from the fright of being a victim of crime in the night and early-morning hours. #RandolphHarris 5 of 25
The degradation of the Biden administration, finding its completion when President Biden was ruled incompetent to run for reelection in the summer of 2024 and replacing him with the inexperienced Vice president Kamala, has been carried out by the display of confusing phraseology about liberty and human dignity, all promulgated with an air of profound ignorance and disturbing promises; a carelessly-woven glitter of words to dazzle and betwixt the public. The daily Press has inoculated this new doctrine of American degradation in the most brutal fashion. No means have been too base, provided they could be exploited in this campaign of slander. These journalists are virtuous in the art of twisting facts and presenting them in a deceptive form. The theoretical literature was intended for the simpletons of the soi-distant intellectuals belonging to the middle and, naturally, the upper classes. The TV news media propaganda is intended for the masses. However, probing into books and newspapers and studying the doctrines of Democracy should reawaken one’s love for their own people and country. Thus, what at first seems an impassable chasm will become the occasion of a closer affection. Once one understands the working of the colossal system for poisoning the popular mind, only a fool can blame the victims. The American people must learn to become more independent, and this will allow them to understand the inner cause of the success achieved by the American Dream gospel. #RandolphHarris 6 of 25
One will better come to understand why the Democratic party wants to burden taxpayers with debt and make homeowner ship and rent unaffordable. In clear light of the brutal reality, one will see inevitable consequences of high taxes, hyperinflation, and government subsidies. America is headed towards a communistic system under the current administration. Now, the American people’s sensibilities are not so much under the sway of abstract reasoning but are subject to the influence of a vague emotional longing for strength that completes their being, and they would rather bow to propaganda than to see the truth. The masses of people prefer the dictator to being their own leader and earning the American Dream through hard work and determination. They have extraordinarily little idea of how to be strong capitalists and thus they are prone to abandon their freedom and autonomy. They feel very little shame at being terrorized intellectually and they are scarcely conscious of the fact that their freedom as human beings are impudently abused; and thus they have not the slightest suspicion of the intrinsic fallacy of the Democratic doctrine. They do not even see the ruthless force and brutality of its determined utterances, to which they always submit. #RandolphHarris 7 of 25
The American citizen knows what he can do and what he cannot do and, provided he moves within these limits, he need not be afraid. The Democratic party sill uses revolutionary and socialist ideas voiced by Marx, Engles, and Lenin as ideologies which give a sense of meaning to the masses. Yet they are unaware that the socialist movements always end on the tragic note of failure. The Democrats are carrying on a campaign of mental terrorism against Americans, who are neither morally nor spiritually equipped to withstand such attacks. The tactics of the Democratic party consists in opening, at a given signal, a veritable drumfire of lies and calumnies against the man whom they believe to be the most redoubtable of their adversaries, until the nerves of the latter give way, and they sacrifice the man who was attacked, simply in the hope of being allowed to live in peace. However, the hope will prove always to be a foolish one, for they will never be left in peace. The same tactics will be repeated again and again, until fear of these mad dogs exercises through suggestion, a paralyzing effect on their victims. Through its own experience The Democratic party has learned the value of strength, and for that reason it attacks mostly those in whom it scents stuff of more stalwart kind, which is indeed an exceedingly rare possession. #RandolphHarris 8 of 25
However, the Lord can reassure that He is near and that He will lead us through the darkest days of our lives. Life is not always easy to live, but the opportunity to do so is a blessing beyond comprehension. In the process of living we will face struggles, many of which will cause us to suffer and to experience pain. Many people will suffer in personal struggles, while others will suffer as they watch their loved ones in pain. To gain strength in our struggles, we must have an optimistic perspective of the principles in the plan of salvation. We must realize that we have a personal Saviour whom we can trust and turn to in our times of need. We must also learn and live the principles the Lord has given to receive the strength needed during our struggles. “And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and He said unto those who were with Him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an Earth whereon these may dwell,” reports Abraham 3.24. This Earth is the place to prove ourselves worthy and to prepare to return to the presence of the Lord. “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them,” reports Abraham 3.25. The Lord explains the purpose for which we must be tested during this Earthly experience. “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and that that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom,” report Doctrine and Covenants 136.31. #RandolphHarris 9 of 25
Part of the plan is that there is an opposition in all things. We are given the agency to choose between these opposites in the proving process. “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility,” reports 2 Nephi 2.11. In our pre-Earth life, we understood and sustained the plan of salvation with the principles of opposition and agency. We knew we would have experience in this life that would cause us to struggle and sometimes to suffer. Some of our struggles involve making decision, while others are a result of the decisions we have made. Some of our struggles result from choices others make that affect our lives. We cannot always control everything that happens to us in this life, but we can control how we respond. Many struggles come as problems and pressures that sometimes cause pain. Others come as temptations, trials, and tribulations. Yet struggles are part of the sacred sanctification process. #RandolphHarris 10 of 25
There are no soft or slothful ways to become sanctified to the point that we are prepared to live in the presence of the Saviour. And there can be blessings in the burdens we bear. As a result of these struggles, our souls are stretched, and our spirits are strengthened. Our character becomes more Christlike as we are tried and tested. Even though these experiences may cause pain, suffering, and sorrow, we have absolute assurance. If it be suffered in resignation, and if it be met with patience, no pain suffered by man or woman upon the Earth will be without its compensating effects. “And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou because into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thing enemy; if the Heavens gather darkness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of Hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 122.7. People respond to struggles in different ways. Some feel defeated and beaten down by the burdens they are called to bear. Many begin to blame others for their difficulties and defeats, and they fail to follow the counsel of the Lord. It is a natural tendency to seek the easy road on life’s journey and to become discouraged, filled with doubt, and even depressed when facing life’s struggles. #RandolphHarris 11 of 25
If we follow the revealed eternal principles, we will gain strength during our struggles and will be blessed as we bear our burdens, deal with difficulties, and overcome obstacles in our lives. If we are to gain the strength that we need, we must come to know the Saviour and follow His counsel. “But behold, verily, verily, I say unto you that mine eyes are upon you. I am in your midst as ye cannot see me,” reports Doctrine and Covenants 38.7. When we imagine, we are envisioning possible ways for the World to be. Imagination is play with the possibilities of transforming the World from the way it is now perceived to be to some new form. Of course, it takes action to transform an image of a possible self in a possible World into an actuality that can be perceived by others and by oneself. Imagination is a way of “traveling,” of overcoming one’s present situation, to envision possibilities that might make life more livable, more fulfilling. The free play of imagination, then, is the way in which we experience new possibilities for the World. It is one of our most precious gifts of evolution, because it is only through such vision that we can save ourselves when our situation has become unlivable. Anything that diminishes or makes banal our imagination chains us more tightly to a here and now that may not be viable. #RandolphHarris 12 of 25
Every compelling goal and project, whether projected for five minutes or five years into the future, rests upon our capacity to imagine another way for the World to be, with us in it. Such a vision of transitional utopia may function as an irresistible temptation or invitation that the person may accept, showing this acceptance through action. Just as imagination can enliven us, ordering and directing our life, so it can demoralize us, even kill us. If one imagines oneself to be weak or helpless, it is but a short step from imagination to belief that such is the case. Healthy personality calls for the ability to discriminate among modes of experiencing. Under conditions of intense need or emotion, a person may confuse imagination with perception and with confirmed truth. There is another aspect of imagining, or literally “image-ing,” that when misunderstood can affect a person’s body and action in deleterious ways but that, appreciated, can serve the person’s well-being and growth. When a person engages in imagining, it is done not just with the mind, but with the entire body. Indeed, the art of actin on the stage is a deliberate, imaginative imitation of some other person. One “becomes” the imagined person, acting and experiencing the World as the role requires. #RandolphHarris 13 of 25
Hypnotists tell subjects that they are tired, or strong, or that they can remember the past so well that they will become three years old again, and the compliant subject “yield.” They fulfill the hypnotists’ suggestions by being as they imagine a tired or strong person is, and they act as they imagine or remember what it was like to by three years old. One’s body image is the way in which one chronically imagines the body to be, whether weak or strong, energetic, or exhausted, vulnerable to disease or resistant. Fisher and Cleveland were able to show that an image of one’s own body as only weakly “bounded” was related to increased susceptibility to diseases and malfunction of the internal organs, such as stomach ulcers; an image of one’s body as rigidly armored against the World—excessively so—was related to diseases of the skin, bones, and muscles, for example, arthritis. I have been so impressed by the influence of imagination upon one’s body and one’s capacities to act that I say to my patients, “Be careful how you imagine yourself to be, because you might become that way.” So-called psychocybernetic and optimistic thinking work in this way, as a kind of self-hypnosis or intense argument with oneself, by saying, “I can do this, I can survive, I can succeed,” and believing the statement. This self-[persuasion can affect a person in beneficial ways, just as imagining oneself as dead, or as a failure, can bring the image of doom to reality. #RandolphHarris 14 of 25
When a person becomes aware of an existing blockage, he should drop whatever analytical pursuits he is engaged in and take the resistance as the most urgent problem to be tacked. It is as useless to force himself to go one against the resistance as it would be to try again and again to light an electric bulb that does not burn; one must see where the electric current is blocked, whether in the bulb, in the fixture, in the cord, in the switch. The technique of tackling a resistance is to try to associate it. However, in all resistances occurring during analytical work it is helpful, before associating, to go over the notes that precede the blockage, because there is a fair chance that the clue for it lies in an issue at least touched upon, and that while glancing over the notes the point of departure may become evident. And sometimes a person will not be capable of going after a resistance immediately: he may be too reluctant or feel too uneasy to do so. It is advisable then, instead of forcing himself, merely to make a note that at this or that point he suddenly felt uneasy or tired, and to resume work the next day when he may have a fresh perspective on matters. In advocating that he “associate to a resistance” I mean that he should consider the manifestation of the blockage and let his thoughts run freely along that line. Thus, if he has noticed that no matter what problems are concerned his interpretations always make him come out on top, he should try to take that finding as a point of departure for further associations. #RandolphHarris 15 of 25
If he has become discouraged at a finding he should remember that the latter may have touched upon the factors that he is not yet able or willing to change, and try to associate with that possibility in mind. If his difficulty is in starting to analyze, though he feels a need for self-examination, he should remind himself that a previous piece of analysis or some outside occurrence may have produced a blockage. One object of script analysis is to fit the patient’s life plan into the grand historical psychology of the whole human race, a psychology which apparently has changed but little from cave days, through the early farming and ranching settlements and the great totalitarian governments of the Middle East, up to the present time. Dr. Freud, Jung, and their followers have demonstrated irrefutably that the logic, the heroes, and the deeds of myth survive into modern times…The latest incarnation of Oedipus, the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stand this afternoon on the corner of Forty-Second Street and Fifth Avenue, waiting for the traffic light to change. While the hero of the myth achieves a World-historical triumph, the hero of the fairy tale achieves merely a small domestic victory. And patients are patients, we may add, because they cannot achieve the victories they aim for and still survive. Hence, they come to the doctor, “the knower of all the secret ways and words of potency. His role is precisely that of the Wise Old Man of the myths and fairy tales whose words assist the hero through the trials and terrors of the weird adventure.” #RandolphHarris 16 of 25
The way the Child in the patient see it, no matter how his Adult tells the story, it is quite evident that all children, since the beginning of humanity, have had to cope with the same problems, and have had about the same weapons at their disposal. When it comes to cutting, life is the same old wine in new bottles: coconut and bamboo bottles gave way to goatskins, goatskins to pottery, pottery to glass, and glass to plastic, but the grapes have hardly changed at all, and there is the same old intoxication on top and the same old dregs at the bottom. So, there will be found little variation in the shapes of the adventures and the characters involved. Hence, if we know some of the elements of the patient’s script, we can predict with some confidence where he is heading, and head him off before he meets with misfortune or disaster. That is called preventive psychiatry, or “making progress.” Even better, we can get him to change his script or give it up altogether, which is curative psychiatry, or “getting well.” Thus, it is not a matter of doctrine or necessity to precisely find the myth or fairy tale which the patient is following; but the closer we can come, the better. Without such a historical foundation, errors are frequent. A mere episode in the patient’s life, or his favourite game, may be mistaken for the whole script; or the occurrence of a single animal symbol, such as a wolf, may lead the therapist to bark up the wrong tree. #RandolphHarris 17 of 25
Relating the patient’s life or his Child’s life plan to a coherent story which has survived for hundreds or thousands of years because of its universal appeal to the primitive layers of the human mind, at least gives a feeling of work from a solid foundation, and at best may give very precise clues as to what needs to be done to avert or change a bad ending. For example, a fairy tale may reveal elements of a script which are otherwise hard to dig up, such as the “script illusion.” The transactional analyst believes that psychiatric symptoms result from some form of self-deception. However, patients can be cured just because their lives and their disabilities are based on a figment of the imagination. The philosopher achieves what is rare—a cool mental detachment from things or persons, united with a tender feeling for them. No man can become philosophical and yet derive complete satisfaction from or attach complete importance to whatever is favourable in his external life. He sees to clearly how transient, how imperfect, and how compensated by disadvantages it all is. Indeed, he outgrows the excessive common interest in and the excessive common preoccupation with the ebb and flow of external life. He finds more and more trivial what he once found—and the generality of men still find—worthy of serious attention. #RandolphHarris 18 of 25
Is it possible to be inwardly aloof from the pleasurable things of the World and yet be outwardly able to enjoy them? It is possible to love another in a human way yet retain the inner detachment requisite for resting in philosophic peace? Can we make the best of these two Worlds? Just as we can learn by practice to remain inwardly peaceful amid outward turmoil, so we can learn to remain peaceful during outward pleasure. However, this practice is hard to learn, and most beginners fail at it. For a man to train himself in emotional control over the mad loves and insane passions, the recurrent longings, and tormenting desires, is like training himself to die. Let no one underestimate this tremendous task. We plan to gain insight into the meaning of man, who not only is determined by history but who also determines history. History is to be understood as concerned not only with the life of man on this planet but as also including such cosmic influences as interpenetrate our human World. This generation is discovering that history does not conform to the social optimism of modern civilization and that the organization of human communities and the establishment of freedom and peace are not only intellectual achievements but spiritual and more achievements as well, demanding a cherishing of the wholeness of human personality, the “unmediated wholeness of feeling and thought,” and constituting a never-ending challenge to man, emerging from the abyss of meaninglessness and suffering, to be renewed and replenished in the totality of his life. #RandolphHarris 19 of 25
The Sacramento Fire Department is committed to the preservation and protection of life, property, and the environment from fire, disaster, and hazardous materials related incidents through emergency mitigation, public education, and code reinforcement. “In every fire station it’s important for everybody to be able to perform at maximum efficiency at all times. We don’t get working fires every day, though lately we’ve been very busy. With applicants of the firefighter job, we use urinalysis. I think it’s a better test than polygraph. I think a lot of people are eliminated unnecessarily because of the polygraph. I’m in favor of a good, lengthy background investigation and urinalysis. We have a lot of young guys in the department. They’re not stereotypically troublesome people. Many of them are married, so there is no drinking or drug abuse problem there. People think that firefighters have a pretty soft job. They don’t see the guys at three in the morning. They don’t see them after one of their fellow firefighters has died or when a child has died in a fire. They don’t see the look on the guys after they come off duty, the total exhaustion from fighting a fire. We have a lot of education to do. At three fires this year that I was in charge of, we lost kids, multiple fatalities. #RandolphHarris 20 of 25
“In comparing fire departments, I think what the administrators fail to look at is the types of buildings we have. In cities like Scottsdale, Arizona, or Plano, Texas, where they have sprinkler ordinances, they don’t have the risks in property and people that older cities have. I discuss the job with my wife a lot. She has always been a great support to me, and she always worried about me going to work. That was on her mind. One year we lost seven guys. There was a fire in a garage where they were repairing a propane truck. A water heater was on the floor, and the truck blew. We lost three guys there. Then we had a fire at a metallurgical factor, where manganese dust collected and blew up, and we lost four guys there. So the fact that you could get killed on the job was pretty evident. I never really worried about it. I was always safety-conscious. I became interested in the problems of protective clothing because I saw the need for it. When I got promoted, that was always my prime concern. You want to get through your whole career without having any firefighter who works for you getting killed. When something like that happens, it makes you take a look at things and reassesses your position. We have difficulty convincing the city managers of the need for minimum manning on the fire trucks. Though we don’t have five men on a truck anymore, we feel fortunate that we have been able to maintain four and four, that is, four on a truck and four on an engine. #RandolphHarris 21 of 25
“The department has been cut down from twelve hundred men to something like nine hundred ninety. We have had problems where we haven’t had enough truck companies to cover the city. The city administration doesn’t appreciate truck work. They don’t understand the importance of immediate search and ventilation. And if the truck company can’t do its job, it makes it really unsafe for the firefighters. The city was interested in consolidating, closing down stations. So we consolidated three stations into one. About a month later, there was a fire where we lost a lady who ran a restaurant. She was a celebrity in that area. The people in the community were really upset, and the city responded by reopening a single station. It was our busiest engine company. The consolidated station was a long way from the fire site. It took longer to respond. So the single house was reopened. There’s always a debate about whether you’re better to arrive in the fire ground in sixty or so seconds with a single engine company or, say, in three minutes with three companies. It’s more expensive to operate single houses, but I doubt that this house will be closed down again. Computers are certainly not right when it comes to a lot of things, because there are many factors AI technology cannot consider. #RandolphHarris 22 of 25
“I can’t say the city hasn’t cooperated as far as protective clothing goes. I can’t think of anything that the present chief or the chief before him didn’t push for us at city hall. I think Sacramento was the first major department to use Nomax turnout coats. But when they combined the two busiest battalions into one superbusy battalion. I know the administrators have a lot of demand put on them, and obviously they are trying to save money. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a disaster for people to see their mistakes. Right now, I’d like to see more manning on the fire companies. The heavy fire duty makes for better camaraderie. It’s not like having an eight-hour job. You will with these people, you work with them, you die with them. It’s a special feeling. There’s nothing else like it in the World. In the past, it was a very close-knit group in the firehouse. We did a lot of things together. We had a lot of activities with families, with groups. We would have picnics together. We’d have outings together at each other’s houses. There’s a different feeling now, though, because things have to be run differently. We have a serious morale problem, where a lot of members think there’s been unequal treatment. Many houses still have a good feeling of camaraderie, but morale is not what it used to be. So we are conscious of building morale. #RandolphHarris 23 of 25
“My best time in the fire department was when I was a captain and a battalion chief. I was five or six years with Truck X, the busiest truck company in the city. We had a super group of guys. I worked with a lieutenant who was older than me. And he was truly a firefighter’s firefighter. He would do anything and go any place. We had a god we had taken in. That dog would climb the aerial ladder. He was fantastic. He went to all the fires with us. This was really a close-knit group of guys who really took pride in the job. You could count on any one of them for anything. You like to see that kind of company. My lieutenant died at fifty-five. He could have retired. He had a heart attack after coming back from a fire in a housing project. That was a very traumatic experience. The man was doing what he wanted to do. He stayed on a busy company until the day he died. It seems that our best companies and the closet companies are the ones that are busiest. Out of five hundred new firefighters, 95 percent are conscientious young guys who really want to do the job. And they do do the job. We have problems, but they’re different problems. During the time of the riots, you felt here was a good change you were going to get injured or killed, maybe not even from a fire. We had incidents where our apparatus was shot at, tires were flattened, hoses were cut. The risks were so great it made the troops come that much closer together. #RandolphHarris 24 of 25
“We have had fires where somebody dies, the family is distraught, and they try to blame somebody. And the one they like to blame is the firefighter. We had a fire recently in an apartment house, and two children died. The people complained about our response time. Well, when it was all brought out, from the time we received the call until the time the two victims were in the hospital, it was less than five minutes. That includes getting to the scene and taking the victims out of the building. That’s a pretty tight time span. When you lose kids in a fire, you try to be diplomatic, but people get distraught. They don’t appreciate what you’ve done, and you have to understand them. That’s one of the tough things” The Sacramento Fire Department is a premier public safety organization committed to the safety and welfare of their community. You can help save lives and property by donating. Also, to help preserve our community, please raise your children to love America, be patriotic, love God and Jesus Christ, respect law and order, treat others with dignity and kindness, and to buy American made cars and other American made goods and services. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I before Thy greatness stand and am afraid; all my secret thoughts Thine eye beholdeth, deep within my bosom laid. And, withal, what is it heart and tongue can do? What is this my strength, and what is even this, the spirit in me too? However, indeed, man’s singing may seem good to Thee; so I praise Thee, singing, while there dwelleth yet the breath of God in me. #RandolphHarris 25 of 25
The spacious kitchen at Residence 2 at Magnolia Station is a dream for those who love to entertain! With ample counter space, a large island, and modern appliances, this kitchen is perfect for hosting gatherings and preparing gourmet meals. The open design seamlessly connects to the living and dining areas, creating a welcoming atmosphere for guests. https://cresleigh.com/magnolia-station/move-in-ready-homeiste-63-copy/
Discover how this kitchen can be the heart of your home – explore Residence 2 today! 🍽️🎉 #CresleighHomes
The Winning of the West
Christopher Columbus was indeed looking for “spices,” but her most certainly was not lost. It is quite a special secret pleasure how the people around us fail to realize what is really happening to them. It is also possible to classify long series of transactions, extending even to a whole lifetime, so that significant human social behaviour can be predicted, both short term and long term, can be predicted. Such chains of transactions take place, even when they yield little instinctual satisfaction, because most people become very uneasy when they are faced with a period of unstructured time; hence, they find cocktail parties, for example, less boring than being by themselves. The need to structure time is based on three drives or hunger. The first is stimulus or sensation hunger. Far from trying to avoid stimulating situations, as some people have claimed, most organisms, including human beings, seek them out. The need for sensation is the reason why roller coasters make money and why prisoners will do almost anything to avoid solitary confinement. The second drive is recognition hunger, the quest for special kinds of sensations which can only be supplied by another human being, or in some cases, by other terrestrial beings. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21
That is why milk is not enough for baby monkeys and human infants; they also need the sound and smell and warmth and touch of mothering or else they will wither away, just as grownups do if there is no one to say Hello to them. The third hunger is structure hunger, which is why groups tend to grow into organizations, and why time-structures are among the most sought after and the most highly rewarded members of any society. An interesting example combining both stimulus hunger and structure hunger is found among rodents raised in a state of sensory deprivation, that is, in complete darkness, or in a constantly lighted white cage with no variation. Later in the lives of these animals, after they had been put in ordinary cages with “normal” rodents, it was found that they would go to food in a maze if it were placed on a checkerboard, but they would not go to food is it was placed on a simple background. Normally raised rodents would go to the food regardless of the background. This showed that the hunger of the deprived rodents for a structured stimulus was more important than their hunger for food. The experimenters concluded that the need for structured stimuli (of as they put it, for “perceptual experience”) may involve biological processes just as basic as food hunger, and that the effects of early sensory deprivation may persist throughout life in the form of a strong attraction to complicated stimuli. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21
There are four basic classifications for the short-term structuring of time in human social behaviour, with two limiting cases. Thus, if two or more people are in a room together, they have six possible kinds of social behaviour to choose from. At one extreme the limiting cases is withdrawal, in which the people do not overtly communicate with each other. This may occur in such diverse situations as a subway train or a therapy ground of withdrawn schizophrenics. Next to withdrawal, in which everyone remains wrapped in his own thoughts, the safest form of social actions is rituals. These are highly stylized interchanges which may be informal or may be formalized into ceremonies which are completely predictable. The transactions which make up rituals covey little information, but are more in the nature of signs of mutual recognition. The units of a ritual are called strokes, by analogy with the way in which infants are recognized by their mothers. Rituals are programmed from outside by tradition and social custom. The next safest forms of social action are called activities, what is commonly called work, in which the transactions are programmed by the material that is being worked with, whether it be wood and concrete, or problems in arithmetic. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21
Work transactions are typically Adult-to-Adult, oriented toward the external reality—that is, the subject of the activity. Next in the order are pastimes, which are not as stylized and predictable as rituals, but have a certain repetitive quality and are in the nature of multiple-choice, sentence-completion interchanges, such as take place at cocktail parties where people do not know each other very well. Pastimes are largely socially programmed by talking about acceptable subjects in acceptable ways, but individual notes may creep in, leading to the next form of social action, which is called games. Games are set of ulterior transactions, repetitive in nature, with a well-defined psychological payoff. Since an ulterior transaction means that the agent pretends to be doing one thing while he is really doing something else, all games involve a con. However, if there is a weakness it can hook into, handle or “gimmick” to get a hold of in the respondent, such as fear, greed, sentimentality, or irritability, only then does a con work. After the “mark” is hooked, the player pulls some sort of switch to get his payoff. The switch is followed by a moment of confusion or crossup while the mark tries to figure out what must happen to him. Then both players collect their payoffs as the game ends. #Randolphharris 4 of 21
The payoff, which is mutual, consists of feelings (not necessarily similar) which the game arouses in both the agent and the respondent. Unless a set of transactions has these four features, it is not a game—that is, the transactions must be ulterior so that there is a con, and the con must be followed by a switch, a crossup, and a payoff. We recently saw in example of this when the 2020 Presidential election was stolen from President Trump, then he was replaced by Joe Biden, whom everyone knew was mentally incompetent, and as time drew closer to the 2024 election, the con was followed by a switch, putting Vice President Kamala Harris in office for a crossup, and a payoff. This can be represented by a formula. C+G=R–>S–>X–>P (Formula G). The cons hooked into a gimmick, by all the sudden making it public that they wanted President Biden to step down because he was mentally unwell. The democrats then pulled the switch, by making Kamla the new democrat nominee by default because they knew she could not legally earn the ticket, this was followed by a moment of confusion, and both players got to collect their payoffs. Biden gets to remain president and Kamala has a chance at becoming the next president. Whatever fits this formula is a fame, and whatever does not fit it is not a game. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21
For example, the mere fact of repetition or persistence by President Trump in running for re-election in 2024 does not constitute a game. This, in a therapy group, if a scared patient repeatedly asks the therapist for reassurance every week (“Tell me I will get better, doctor”) and when he receives it, says “Thank you,” that is not necessarily an ulterior transaction. The patient has stated his need frankly and has had it gratified, and does not take advantage of the situation in any way, but gives a courteous response. These transactions, therefore, do not constitute a game but an operation, and operations, no matter how often they are repeated, must be distinguished from games, just as rational procedures must be distinguished from rituals. If another patient, however, asks the therapist for reassurance, and upon receiving it, uses the response to make the therapist look stupid, that constitutes a game. For example, a patient asked: “Do you think I will get better, doctor?” and the sentimental therapist replied, “Of course you will.” At that point, the patient revealed her ulterior motive in asking the question. Instead of saying, “Thank you,” as in a straight transaction, she pulled the switch with: “What makes you think you know everything?” This reply crossed the therapist up and threw him off balance for a moment, which is what the patient wanted to do. Then the game ended, the patient feeling elated at having conned the therapist, and he is feeling frustrated; and those were the payoffs. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21
In a sense, Kamala is the patient. She knew all along that President Biden was mentally unfit to run the country, but took so long to admit it because she wanted to pull the switch and throw the American people off balance. Now Kamala is feeling elated at having conned the White House and the American people, and Biden is left feeling frustrated. If Biden is unfit to be the democratic nominee, then how can he be fit to fulfill the remainder of his presidency. Furthermore, you remember President Trump predicted this would happen. Everything his says is truth and he often can see into the future. Some people will say, “President Trump lies. He said that he wanted to lock Hilary up, then when asked about it said that he did not say that.” Well, what happened is he said, “The people said that.” These people could have been his campaign contributors, and he did not send Hilary to jail. Therefore, Trump did not lie, nor does he. The game Kalama played followed Formula G precisely. The con was pretending not to know Joe Biden was unfit to be president, and the gimmick was the country’s sentimentality. When the con hooked into the gimmick, the American people responded in the way she expected. Then she pulled the switch, causing a crossup, after which each collected a payoff. So, C+H=R–>S–>X–>P. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21
This is a simple example of the game called, from the patient’s side, “Slug Him,” or “Whammy,” and from the therapist’s side, “I am Only Trying To Help You.” Colloquially, the payoff is called a trading stamp. “Good” feelings are spoken of as “gold” trading stamps and distressing feelings are said to be “brown” or “blue trading stamps. In this case the Kamala got a counterfeit-gold trading stamp for a counterfeit triumph or success, and the President Biden got a brown one, which is not unusual. Each game has a slogan or motor by which it can be recognized, such as “I am Only Trying To Help You.” This slogan is colloquially called a “sweatshirt.” Usually, the same of the game is taken from its slogan. Beyond games lies the other limiting case of what can take place between people, which is called intimacy. Bilateral intimacy is defined as a candid, game-free relationship, with mutual free giving and receiving and without exploitation. Intimacy can be one-sided, since one party may be candid and freely giving, while the other may be devious and exploitative. Activities involving pleasures of the flesh offer examples which cover the whole spectrum of social behaviour. It is ecident that they can take place in withdrawal, that they can be part of a ritualistic ceremony, or that they can be all in a day’s work, a pastime for rainy day, a game of mutual exploitation, or acts of real intimacy. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21
Theredore Roosevelt, who had been a Burgess’ student at Columbia Law School was also inspired why the drama of racial expansion. In his historical work, The Winning of the West, Roosevelt drew from the story of the frontiersman’s struggle with the Indians the conclusion that the coming of the whites was not to be stayed and a racial war to the finish was inevitable. “During the past three centuries,” wrote the young scholar-in-politics, “the spread of the English-speaking peoples over the World’s waste spaces has been not only the most striking feature in the World’s history, but also the event of all others most far-reaching in its effects and its importance.” This great expansion he traced back many centuries to the days when German tribes went forth to conquest from their marshy forests. American development represents the culminating achievement of this mighty history of racial growth. The writings of John Fiske, one of the earliest American synthesizers of evolutionism, expansionism, and the Anglo-Saxon myth, shows how tenuous could be the boundary between Spencer’s ideal evolutionary pacifism and the militant imperialism which succeeded it. A kindly man, whose thought was grounded in Spencer’s theory of the transition from militancy to industrialism, Fiske was not the sort to advocate violence as an instrument of national policy. Yet even in his hands evolutionary dogma issued forth a in bumptious doctrine of racial destiny. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21
In his Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy, Fiske had followed Spencer in accepting the universality of conflict (outside of family relationships) as a fact in savage society; he believed it an effective agent in selection. However, the superior, more differentiated, and integrated societies had come to prevail over the more backward by natural selection, and the power of making war on a grand scale had become concentrated in the hands of “those communities in which predatory activity is at the minimum and industrial activity at the maximum.” So warfare or destructive competition gives place to the productive competition of industrial society. As militancy declines, the method of conquest is replaced by the method of federation. Fiske, who had long believed in Aryan race superiority, also accepted the “Teutonic” theory of democracy. This doctrine sanctified any conquest incidental to Anglo-Saxon expansion. English victories over France in the eighteenth-century colonial struggles represented a victory over Spain and the acquisition of the Philippines Fiske interpreted as a high point in a conflict between Spanish colonization and superior English methods. In 1880, when he was invited to speak before the Royal Institute of Great Britian, Fiske gave a series of three lectures on “American Political Ideas” which became widely known as a statement of the Anglo-Saxon Thesis. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21
Fiske praised the ancient Roman Empire as an agency of peace, but argued that it had been inadequate as a system of political organization because it failed to combine concerted action with local self-government. The solution to this ancient need could be provided by representative democracy and the local self-government embodies in the New England town. By retaining the rustic democracy of America’s Aryan forefathers, American federal organization would make it possible an effective union of many diverse states. Democracy, diversity, and peace would be brought into harmony. The dispersion of this magnificent Aryan political system over the World, and the complete elimination of warfare, was the next step in World history. With characteristic Darwinian emphasis upon race fertility, Fiske dwelt upon the great population potential of English and American races. America could support at least 700,000,000; and English people would within a few centuries cover Africa with teeming cities, flourishing farms, railroads, telegraphs, and all the devices of civilization. This was the Manifest Destiny of the race. Every land on the globe that was not already the seat of an old civilization should become English in language, traditions, and blood. Four-fifths of the human race would trace its pedigree to English forefathers. Spread from the rising to the setting sun, the race would hold the sovereignty of the sea and the commercial supremacy which it had begun to acquire when England first began to settle the New World. #RandolphHarris 11 of 21
If the United States of America would only drop that its shameful tariff and enter a free competition with the rest of the World, it would exert such pressure, peacefully of course, that the states of Europe would no longer be able to afford armaments and would finally see the advantages of peace and federation. Thus, according to Fiske, would man finally pass out of barbarism and become truly Christian. Reverend Josiah Strong was dissatisfied with American’s spiritual life. He was against immigrants, Catholics, Mormons, saloons, tobacco, large cities, socialists, and concentrated wealth—all grave menaces to the Republic. Still, he was undaunted in his faith in universal progress, material and moral and the future of the Anglo-Saxon race. He employed the economic argument for imperialism; and a decade before Frederick Jackson Turner he saw in the imminent exhaustion of the public lands a turning point in national development. It was Anglo-Saxonism, however, that brought him to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. The Anglo-Saxon people, the bearers of civil liberty and pure spiritual Christianity, said Strong, “is multiplying more rapidly than any other European race. It already owns one-third of the Earth, and will get more as it grows. By 1980 the World of Anglo-Saxon race should number at least 713,000,000. Since North American is much bigger than the little English isle, be the seat of Anglo-Saxondom. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21
“If human progress follows a law of development, if ‘Time’s noblest offspring is the last,’ our civilization should be the noblest; for we are ‘the heirs of all the ages in the foremost files of time,’ and not only do we occupy the latitude of power, but our land is the last to be occupied in that latitude. There is no other virgin soil in the North Temperate Zone. If the consummation of human progress is not to be looked for here, if there is yet to flower a higher civilization, where is the soil that is to produce it?’” Strong went on to show how a new and finer physical type was emerging in the United States of America, bigger, stronger, taller, than Scots or Englishmen. Darwin himself, Strong noted triumphantly, had seen in the superior vigor of Americans an illustration of natural selection at work, when he wrote in The Descent of Man: “There is apparently much truth in the belief that the wonderful progress of the United States, as well as the character of the people, are the results of natural selection; for the more energetic, restless, and courageous men from all parts of Europe have emigrated during the last ten or twelve generations to that great country, and have there succeeded best. Looking to the distant future, I do not think that the Reverend Mr. Zincke takes an exaggerated view when he says: ‘All other series of events—as that which resulted in the culture of mind in Greece, and that which resulted in the empire of Rome—only appear to have purpose and value when viewed in connection with, or rather as subsidiary to…the great stream of Anglo-Saxon emigration to the west.’” #RandolphHarris 13 of 21
Returning to his theme that the unoccupied lands of the World were filling up, and that population would soon be pressing upon subsistence in the United States of America as in Europe and Asia, Strong declared: “Then will the World enter upon a new stage of its history—the final competition of races for which the Anglo-Saxon is being schooled. If I do not read amiss, this powerful race will move down upon Mexico, down upon Central and South America, out upon the islands of the sea, over upon Africa and beyond. And can anyone doubt that the result of this competition of races will be the ‘survival of the fittest’?” Life is precsrious and unpredictable, and the only way to live it is to make every effort to save it as long as there is a possibility of doing so. However, we must put a stop to the idea that it is part of everybody’s civil rights to say whatever he pleases, and it should be illegal to burn the American flag. Indeed, it is part of the probability that the improbable happens. A real possibility means that there are psychological, economic, social, and cultural factors which can be demonstrated—if not their quantity, at least their existence—as the basis for the possibility of change. There is a reason democrats are allowing an invasion at the southern border. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21
A violent revolution in the style of the French or Russian revolutions, which means the overthrow of the government by force and the seizure of power by revolutionary leaders is not currently possible for several reasons. First, there is no mass base for such a revolution. Even if all the radical students, including military marginalized populations, were in favour of it—which, of course, they are not—this mass base would be completely lacking because together they constitute only an exceedingly small minority of the American population. If a small, desperate ground tried a Putsch or a kind of guerilla warfare, its suppression would necessarily follow. Those who think in terms of a guerrilla war of the marginalized populations against the majority in the cities forget Mao Tse-tung’s basic insight that guerrillas can be successful only if they work within a population favourable to them. It need not be stressed that the real circumstances are precisely the opposite condition. Furthermore, it is most doubtful that even if the two factors mentioned so far did not exist, a violent revolution could succeed. An extraordinarily complex society like that of the United States of America, based on a large group of skilled managers and managerial bureaucracy, could not function unless equally skilled people took the place of those who run the industrial machine now. Neither the students nor the marginalized masses offer many men with such skill. That is why Kamala had to steal with election and they are allowing 20 million migrants to invade America. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21
However, a “victorious revolution” would simply lead to the breakdown of the industrial machine of the United States of America and defeat itself, even without the forces of the state, which would suppress it. Veblen, in The Engineers and the Price System, already states this essential point over one hundred years ago. He wrote: “No movement for the dispossession the of Vested Interests in America can hope for even a temporary success unless it is undertaken by an organization which is competent to take over the country’s productive industry as a whole, and to administer if from the state on a more efficient plan than that no pursued by the Vested Interests; and there is no such organization in sight or in immediate prospect.” He adds an observation which is particularly relevant to today, when there is talk of revolution by sabotage and guerilla warfare. “Wherever the mechanical industry has taken decisive effect, as in America and in the two or three industrialized regions of Europe, the community lives from hand to mouth in such a way that its livelihood depends on the effectual working of its industrial system from day to day. In such a case a serious disturbance and derangement of the balanced process of production is always easily brought on, and it always brings immediate hardship on large sections of the community. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21
“Indeed, it is this state of things—the ease with which industry can be deranged and hardship can be brought to bear on the partisan organizations as the A.F. of L. It is a state of things which makes the sabotage easy and effectual and gives it breadth and scope. However, sabotage is not revolution. If it were, then the A.F. of L., the I.W.W.. the Chicago Packers, and the U.S. Senate would b e counted among the revolutionists. To take effect and hold its own even from the time being, any movement of overturn must from before hand provide for a sufficiently productive conduct of the industrial system on which the community’s material welfare depends, and for a competent distribution of goods and services throughout the community. Otherwise, under existing industrial conditions, nothing more can be accomplished than an ephemeral disturbance and a transient season of accentuated hardship. Even a transient failure to make good in the management of the industrial system must immediately defeat any movement of overturn in any of the advanced industrial counties. At this point, the lessons of history fail, because the present industrial system, and the manner of close-knit community life enforced by this industrial system have no example in history.” It is important to consider the difference between the technical aspects of industrial society in 1968 and of Russian society in 1917, or even German society in 1918. These were societies which were by comparison much less complex and where, indeed, the apparatus of the government and of industry could have been taken over by intelligent and capable people from outside. However, in 2024, in the United States of America, what we thought was impossible, we are seeing take place before our eyes. RandolphHarris 17 of 21
We touch again here on the problem of violence. It is a most amazing and bewildering paradox that in a situation where violence is losing it rationale—in international relations because of the existence of thermonuclear weapons and within a state because of the complexity of its structure—it is looked upon as a method of solution, although only by a small minority. This popularity of violence is an outcome of the psychic and spiritual despair and emptiness, and the resulting hate against life. It is greatly furthered by the literature which portrays man as driven to violence by his innate and almost uncontrollable destructive instinct. On the other hand, the change in society cannot be accomplished simply by the publication of books advocating it or even by ideas spread by gifted speakers or orators. Unless such ideas can be translated into specific plans and actions, they may win the sympathies of several people who will, however, become even more disappointed when they see that these ideas in themselves have had no influence on reality. What, then, is the basis for the “real possibility?” Generally speaking, this real possibility can be formulated in a simple fashion: that it is possible to “move” public opinion to such a degree that it makes itself felt in the decision making of the executive and the legislative branches; that by its influence it restrains further expansion of the policies we are now embarked on’ that eventually it gains a majority of voters; and thus that those who represent the ideas of the new movement become the political leaders of the country. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21
What are the conditions which form a real possibility to achieve this end? First, there are certain psychological conditions which have been on the increase for some time, and which have become still more visible in the American people. I refer to the widespread dissatisfaction of people of all classes and ages with our way of life—its bored and lack of joy. However, if it were not for the presence of a positive condition, namely, that of a longing for new directions, for a renewal of values, for the end of the dehumanized, bureaucratic method, for a new psychospiritual orientation— this negative psychological condition would be much less effective. The second condition is that our democratic system continues to function. Even though it does not live up to its promises, it is not insensitive to major swings in public opinion. Even our professional political bureaucracy—self-seeking as many of its members may be—wants to be re-elected and hence needs to pay attention to what people think and want. The first concrete condition, then, of achieving our aim is to preserve that minimum of democratic structure which we have got and to fight at every point where it is threated. The new constituency of the forces which want a new direction in American life exists already. It has such a great power as a potential precisely because it is not restricted to one political party, social class, or age, but comprises a wide sector of the American population, from conservatives to radicals. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21
The Sacramento Fire Department is a team whose members are effective, empowered, and enthusiastic in their service. They have been recognized as regional leaders by their community, neighbours, and peers. They enthusiastically supported by their community, which views them with pride, respect, and confidence. Their mission is accomplished by a physically fit, healthy, and increasingly diverse work force, well trained in a in a multitude of specialized skills, and empowered with a high level of involvement in their success. Theu equipment is dependable, capable, and consistent with the needs of the community, embracing cutting-edge technology and emphasizing firefighter safety. “The Sacramento Fire Department has been very good to me, good to my family. I have excellent benefits, but there’s still a lot I desire. Coming up from Santa Clara, you want to see some changes, but every department has its own little ways of doing things, and you can’t make the changes. I went through the riots of COVID pandemic. I was in the at the north end. I saw a lot of destruction. They were doing it against their own people and communities. They didn’t care who they were destroying, because it was all in their own area. They were putting people out of business, their own people, and it was very said. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21
“I was never really in a situation where I felt I’d never see my children again. I’ve learned from experience, and I know my limitations. Many times, in a fire you’re with somebody and then you’re not with somebody. They might have backed out of something happened. But I never really felt I was alone. It’s almost like having an angle there with you. I’ve been in situations where I was alone and I had gone deeper into a fire than I should. But I never really felt I was alone. It was almost life a tap on the shoulder: this is enough, back.” The Sacramento Fire Department core value is to always be respectful while keeping their community safe. You can help save lives and property by donating to the Sacramento Fire Department. Also, please remember to raise your children to love America, be patriotic, respect law and order, and to treat everyone with respect and dignity, but know when to say, “No.” Love of the divine is our primary duty. Love of our neighbour is only a secondary one. Behold, I am prepared, ready to fulfill the commandments of my Creator. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic, for which it stands, One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21
The Winchester Mystery House
Day by day, the amazing manifestations of Mrs. Winchester’s tormenting spirits were noted down. In between the new and full moon disturbances in Llanada Villa were worse. It is no secret that Mrs. Winchester was being treated by psychic experts. One night after a particularly exciting day, Florence Farr magnetized her head and quietened her, and suggested that Mrs. Winchester should go to bed. Going up the stairs a small table and a crystal vase crashed over, and a little later a great noise of banging and tearing was heard in Mrs. Winchester’s room. When Florence went into the room, it looked as if a tornado had swept over it.
While touring The Winchester Mystery House, mysterious ceremonies may infuse, as it were, something of a ritual during the Victorian times, and the Devil himself may appear in the form of a human being. Join us for our summer Flashlight Tour, happening for one night only. Do not miss out or you will be left in the dark…literally! Our Final Flashlight tour of the year 27 July 2024. https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/
The Awakening of Nations that Have Been Silent for Nearly Two Hundred Years
In Latin America, the United States of America is involved more directly than they are in other countries. There are heavy investments from the United States of America in many Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Argentina, Guatemala, and Cuba. U.S.A. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Venezuela stock was $3.2 billion in 2022, a 5.1 percent increase from 2021. U.S.A. FDI in Argentia (stock) was $12.6 billion in 2022. More than 200 U.S.A. and other foreign firms have active investments in Guatemala, benefiting from the U.S.A. Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). FDI stock was $22.5 billion in 2022, a 5.3 percent increase over 2021. On June 16, 2017, the President issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) on Strengthening the Policy of the United States of America Toward Cuba. On November 8, 2017, the Departments of State, Commerce, and the Treasury announced certain changes to implement the President’s June 2017 NSPM. Cuba is facing a severe economic crisis and the cash-strapped government is unable to provide basic services. The investment of Cuban Americans in private businesses on the island could be a game changer, many observers have said. However, while the Cuban government has said in the past that they would welcome Cuban American investment on the island, they have yet to issue regulations to allow foreigners to own or invest in the small and medium-sized enterprises known as pymes that were first authorized in 2021. #RandolphHarris 1 of 22
The United States of America is Guatemala’s largest trading partner accounting for nearly 35 percent of Guatemala’s trade. Both nations enjoy a growing trade relationship, which became ever stronger after the implementation of the CAFTA-DR in 2007. As of January 1, 2015, most U.S.A. consumer and industrial goods enter Guatemala duty free (for goods that meet the country-of-origin requirements). In general, CAFTA-DR has benefitted all parties. Intra-regional trade among Central America countries and the Dominican Republic increased from $27.2 billion in 2021. U.S.A. goods exports to Central America and the Dominican Republic have reached $48.31 million in 2022 (this figure was $16.89 million in 2005). Nevertheless, CAFTA-DR has been unable to solve some of the region’s most serious problems—including insecurity and corruption. U.S.A. merchandise exports to Guatemala were $10.21 billion in 2022, an increase of $2.14 billion or 23 percent over 2021. Leadning U.S.A. exports to Guatemala include mineral fuel oil, machinery, electric machinery, plastics, and cereals (corn, wheat, and rice). U.S.A. imports from Guatemala totaled $5.31 billion in 2022, an increase of $640 million or 12.8 percent over 2021. U.S.A. imports include apparel; edible fruits, melons, and nuts; coffee; edible vegetables, roots, and tubers; sugars and confectioneries of sugar. U.S.A. products and services enjoy strong brand recognition in Guatemala, and U.S.A. companies have a good reputation in the Guatemalan marketplace. It is estimated that approximately 200 U.S.A. firms have a presence in the market. #RandolphHarris 2 of 22
The United States of America and Argentina maintain a bilateral relationship based on deep economic ties and shared interests, including, democracy and human rights, counterterrorism and rule of law, improving citizen security, science, energy and technology infrastructure, people-to-people ties, and education. A U.S.A. Presidential Delegation attended the December 2019 inauguration of the new president of Argentia, Alberto Fernandez. Members of the delegation met privately with President Fernandez to fortify the relationship between the United States of America and Argentia. The Fernandez administration has said it seeks a mature relationship with the United States of America based on shared interests. The Department of State allocated $3.1 million for Argentia for fiscal years (FY) 2020. This funding promotes regional security. The Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs partners with Argentia to deliver counter-narcotics and criminal justice capacity building, which has strengthened the ability of both governments to disrupt transitional crime in the Western Hemisphere. The United States of America enjoys a trade surplus with Argentina, and is Argentina’s number three goods and services trading partner behind Brazil and China.) U.S.A. goods and services trade with Argentia totaled $161 billion in 2020. There are more than 300 U.S.A. companies doing business in Argentia, employing more than 150,000 workers. The United States of America is the largest foreign investor in Argentina, with approximately $10.7 billion (stock) FDI in 2019. #RandolphHarris 3 of 22
Venezuela gained its independence from Spain by 1819 as part of the Republic of Columbia and separated from Columbia in 1830. The United States of America recognized and established diplomatic relations with Venezuela in 1835. The United States of America recognizes the 2015 democratically elected Venezuelan National Assembly as the only legitimate branch of the Government of Venezuela. The United States of America and the 2015 National Assembly collaborated closely to achieve the goal of a peaceful restoration of democracy via free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections. The United States of America supports the protection of human rights, the promotion of civil society, the strengthening of democratic institutions, and transparency and accountability in the country. Since 2017, the United States of America has provided nearly $2.8 billion in humanitarian, economic, development, and health assistance to support Venezuelans inside Venezuela and throughout the region. Since 2005, the President of the United States of America has determined annually that Venezuela has “failed demonstrably” to adhere to its drug control obligations under international counternarcotic agreements. Venezuela also does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking and is not making any efforts to do so, according to the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons report. The President of the United States of America has issued a national interest wavier to enable certain assistance programs vital to the national interests of the United States of America, such as human rights and civil society programs, to continue. U.S.A. humanitarian assistance helps to meet critical life-saving needs, including for food and nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene; healthcare; protection and other goods and services. #RandolphHarris 4 of 22
The United States of America seeks a stable, prosperous, and free country for the Cuban people. The United States of America pursues limited engagement with Cuba that advances our national interests and empowers the Cuban people while restricting economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government or its military, intelligence, or security agencies at the expense of the Cuban people. The U.S.A. government seeks to promote human rights, religious freedom, and democracy, encourages the development of telecommunications and the internet in Cuba, supports the growth of Cuba’s nascent private sector and civil society, and engages in areas that advance the interests of the United States of America and the Cuban people. The United States of America is committed to supporting safe, orderly, and legal migration from Cuba through the effective implementation of the U.S.A.-Cuba Migration Accords. Due to injuries sustained by our diplomatic community in Havana, visa processing for most Cuban applicants is presently taking place in third countries. Although economic sanctions remain in place, the United States of America is the largest provider of food and agricultural products to Cuba, with exports of those goods valued at $220.5 million in 2018. The United States of America is also a significant supplier of humanitarian goods to Cuba, including medicines and medical products, with total value of all exports to Cuba $275.9 million in 2018. Remittances from the United States of America, estimated at $3.5 billion for 2017, play an important role in Cuba’s state-controlled economy. #RandolphHarris 5 of 22
The situation in which humanity finds itself is exceedingly grave. The policy of deterrent will not ensure peace; it will most likely destroy civilization, and it will certainly destroy democracy even if it preserves peace. No one knows what the first steps in avoiding a nuclear cataclysm and preserving a democracy are. However, it is clear that more important than climate change and electric vehicles is dealing with the immediate danger of nuclear war. Another central issue of today is that of the future course of the underdeveloped nations, which comprise the majority of the human race. They insist not only on obtaining political independence but also on rapid economic development. These people will not wait two hundred years to achieve the economic level of Europe or the United States of America. The Communists have shown that by means of force and fanaticism it is possible to attain results; their method will become irresistibly attractive unless it can be demonstrated that similar results can be achieved without terror and without the destruction of individuality, through central planning along with economic and technical assistance from the industrialized countries. Such a policy requires the acceptance of a neutral bloc by both the East and the West and the strengthening of the United Nations as a supernational organization charged with the administration of disarmament and economic aid. The pursuit of the policy suggested here requires such drastic changes in the American attitude that one cannot avoid having serious doubts whether such a policy is possible; in fact, its acceptance would seem to be impossible unless there is a growing conviction that it constitutes the only alternative to war. #RandolphHarris 6 of 22
The pursuit of the policy suggested here requires such drastic changes in the American attitude that one cannot avoid having serious doubts whether such a policy is possible; in fact, its acceptance would seem to be impossible unless there is a growing conviction that it constitutes the only alternative to war. First, such a policy would require that the President and Congress subordinate the special interests of the armed forces and of the big corporations (especially those with strong capital investments abroad) to the main goals of the United States of America’s policy, peace and survival as a democratic nation. Furthermore, this policy requires a material and spiritual reorientation in the West entailing the replacement of projective-paranoid attitudes toward communism by an objective and realistic appraisal of the facts. Such realism is only possible if we take a critical view of ourselves and recognize the discrepancy that exists between our professed ideals and our actions. We claim that our present system is characterized by a high degree of individualism, and of religious or secular humanism. In reality we are a managerial, industrial society with a diminishing amount of individualism. We like to produce more and to consumer more, but we have no goal—either as individuals or as a nation. We are developing into faceless organization humans, alienated from ourselves and lacking authentic feelings and convictions. This very fact lends us to put so much emphasis on the lack of freedom and individualism in other nations because we can then protest against features of their society which in reality we are approaching in our own. #RandolphHarris 7 of 22
The people in Russia, China, India, Mexico and Africa are today in some resect where Americans were one hundred and sixty years ago; they are building a society, full of hope and enthusiasm to go ahead and to accomplish what they have set out to do. While in the United States of America, although there is still unnecessary poverty and unnecessary suffering, we are only filing out what has been left to do; we are only doing more of the same. We have no vision of something new, no aim that truly inspires us. If this continues, we and the West will not survive. We will lack the energy and vitality that are necessary for any nation or group of nations to live and to survive in a World that is witnessing the awakening of nations that have been silent for nearly two hundred years. Our weapons will not save us—at best they will drag our enemies into the holocaust thirty minutes after we have perished. What can save us and what can help humankind is a renaissance of the spirit of humanism, of individualism, and of America’s anti-colonialist tradition. By our hesitant and often ambiguous policy toward the underdeveloped peoples we have helped the Communists realize one of their most significant successes: to become the leaders in the historical movement of the “New World,” and to stamp us the “reactionary” forces trying to arrest the historical trend. We must, if not surpass, at least equal the Communists, by being wholly and unreservedly with the wave of history, rather than halfheartedly and hesitatingly. As has been said over and over again, the present struggle is a struggle for the minds of humans. Once can win it only if one has ideas to offer that are authentic because they are rooted in the realities of nation’s life. #RandolphHarris 8 of 22
The West is old, but by no means exhausted. It has shown its vitality by achievements in scientific thought that are unparalleled in history. We are suffering not so much from exhaustion as from the absence of goals, and from the “doublethink” that paralyzes us. If we ask ourselves where are and where we are going, we shall have a chance to formulate new goals socially, economically, politically, and spiritually. The Russian, Chinese, and Indian systems challenge us to develop a system that can satisfy the needs of humans better than communism does. However, while we talk a great deal about freedom and the superiority of our system, we avoid that challenges of these other nations and prefer to describe communism as an international conspiracy out to conquer the World by force and subversion. The hope of these other nations is to see the victory of communism as the result of its superior performance. Are we afraid that we cannot mee the Communist competition, and is this the reason why we prefer to define the struggle as a military one rather than as a socioeconomic one? Are we unwilling to make the necessary changes within our own society, and do we, for this reason, declare that no essential changes are necessary? Are we afraid to curb the political influence of our corporate investors in Latin America, China, and the Middle East? By concentrating on the military threat against us and the resulting arms race we miss the one chance for victory: to demonstrate that it is possible to have at home—and in Asia, Africa, and Latin America—economic progress and individuality, economic and social planning and democracy. This is the answer to the Communist challenge—not the nuclear deterrent. #RandolphHarris 9 of 22
Our present thinking is a symptom of a deep-seated, though unconscious defeatism, of a lack of faith in the very values which we proclaim. We only cover up this defeatism by concentrating on the evils of communism and by promoting hate. If we continue with our policy of the deterrent and with our unholy alliances with dictatorial states in the name of freedom, we shall defeat the very values we hope to defend. We shall lose our freedom and probably also our lives. What matters today is preserving the World; but in order to preserve it, certain changes have to be made, and in order to make these changes, historical trends have to be understood and anticipated. All humans of good will or, rather all humans who love life must form a united front for survival, for the continuation of life and civilization. Withall the scientific and technical progress humans have made, they are bound to solve the problem of hunger, poverty, and overpopulation, and they can afford to try solutions in different directions. There is only one thing humans cannot afford—and that is to go on with preparations for war, which, this time, will lead to catastrophe. There is still time to anticipate the next historical development and to change our course. However, unless we act soon, we shall lose the initiative, and circumstances, institutions, and weapons, which we created, will take over and decide our fate. Another problem humans are facing is they are becoming Homo mechanicus. All the pleasures these beings enjoy are sought within the frame of reference of the mechanical and unalive. They expect that there must be a button which, if pushed, will bring happiness, love, pleasure. (Many go to a psychoanalyst under the illusion that one can teach them where to find the button.) #RandolphHarris 10 of 22
Homo mechanicus men look at women as one would at an Ultimate Driving Machine: he knows the right button to push, he enjoys his power to make her “race” and he remains the cold, watching observer. Homo mechanicus becomes more and more interested in the manipulation of machines rather than in the participation in and response to life. Hence, they become indifferent to life, fascinated by the mechanical, and eventually attracted by death and total destruction. Consider the role that killing plays in our amusements. The movies, the comic strips, the YouTube videos, the newspapers, video games are full of excitement because they are full of reports and/or scenes of destruction, sadism, brutality. Millions of people live humdrum but comfortable existences—and nothing excites them more than to see or read of killings, whether it I murder or a fatal accident in an automobile race. Is this not an indication of how deep this fascination with death has already become? Or think of expressions such as being “thrilled to death” or “dying to” do this or that, or the expression “it kills me.” Consider the indifference to life which is manifested in our rate of automobile accidents. Briefly then, intellectualization, quantification, abstraction, bureaucratization, and reification—the very characteristics of modern industrial society, when applied to people rather than to things, are not the principles of life but those of mechanic. People living in such a system become indifferent to life and even attacked to death. They are not aware of this. They take the thrills of excitement for the joys of life and live under the illusion that they are very much alive when they have many things to own and to use. The lack of protest against nuclear war, the discussion of our “atomologists” of the balance sheet of total or half-total destruction, shows how far we have already gone into the “valley of the shadow of death.” #RandolphHarris 11 of 22
These features of a necrophilous orientation exist in all modern industrial societies, regardless of their respective political structure. What Russian state capitalism has in common in this respect with corporate capitalism is more important than the features in which they system differ. Both systems have in common the bureaucratic-mechanical approach, and both are preparing for total destruction. The affinity between the necrophilous contempt for life and the admiration for speed and all that is mechanical has become apparent only in the last decades. Yet as early as in 1909 it was seen and succinctly expressed by Marinetti in his Initial Manifesto of Futurism: “We shall sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and boldness. The essential elements of our poetry shall be courage, daring and rebellion. Literature has hitherto glorified thoughtful immobility, ecstasy and sleep; we shall extol aggressive movement, feverish insomnia, the double quick step, the somersault, the box on the car, the fisticuff. We declare that the World’s splendour has been enriched by a new beauty; the beauty of speed. A racing motor-car, its frame adorned with great pipes, like snakes with explosive breath…a roaring motor-car, which looks as though running on a shrapnel is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace. We shall sing of the man at the steering wheel, whose ideal steam transfixes the Earth, rushing over the circuit of her orbit. The poet must give oneself with frenzy, with splendour and with lavishness, in order to increase the enthusiastic fervour of the primordial elements. There is no more beauty except in strife. No masterpiece without aggressiveness. Poetry must be a violent onslaught upon the unknow forces, to command them to bow before humans. #RandolphHarris 12 of 22
“We stand upon the extreme promontory of the centuries! Why should we look behind us, when we have to break in the mysterious portals of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. Already we live in the absolute, since we have already created speed, eternal and ever-present. We wish to glorify war—the only health giver of the World—militarism, patriotism, the destructive arm of the Anarchist, the beautiful Ideas that kill, the contempt for woman. We wish to destroy museums, the libraries, to fight against moralism, feminism and all opportunistic and utilitarian meanness. We shall sing of the great crowds in the excitement of labour, pleasure and rebellion; of the multi-coloured and polyphonic surf of revolutions in moder capital cities; of the nocturnal vibration of arsenals and workshops beneath their violent electric moons; of the greedy stations swallowing smoking snakes; of factories suspended from the clouds by their strings of smoke; of bridges leaping like gymnast over the diabolical cutlery of sunbathed rivers; of adventurous liners scenting the horizon; of broad-chested locomotives prancing on the rails, like huge steel horses bridled with long tubes; and of the gliding flight of aeroplanes, the sound of whose screw is like the flapping of the flags and the applause of an enthusiastic crowd.” It is interesting to compare Mr. Marinetti’s necrophilous interpretation of technique and industry with the deeply biophilous interpretation to be found in Walt Whitman’s poems. At the end of his poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” he says: “Thrive cities—bring your freight, bring your shows, ample and sufficient rivers, expand, being than which none else is perhaps more spiritual, keep you places, objects than which none else I more lasting. #RandolphHarris 13 of 22
“You have waited, you always wait, you dumb, beautiful ministers, we receive you with free sense at last, and are insatiate henceforward, not you any more shall be able to foil us, or withhold yourselves from us, we use you, and do not cast you aside—we plant you permanently within us, we fathom you not—we love you—there I perfection in you also, you furnish your parts toward eternity, great or small, you furnish your parts toward the soul.” Or at the end of the “Song of the Open Road”: Camerado, I give you my hand! I give you my love more precious than money, I give you myself before preaching or law; will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?” Mr. Whitman could not have expressed his opposition to necrophilia better in this line: “to pass on (on living, always living!) and leave the corpses behind.” If we compare Mr. Marinetti’s attitude toward industry with that of Walt Whitman, it becomes clear that industrial production as such is not necessarily contrary to the principles of life. The question is whether the principles of life are subordinated to those of mechanization, or whether the principles of life are the dominant ones. Obviously, so far the industrialized World has not found an answer to the question which is posed here: How is it possible to create a humanist industrialism as against the bureaucratic industrialism which rules our lives today? It is ofttimes the Prince of Death as a murderer—working through the ignorance of God’s children as to his power, the conditions by which they give him power, and the victory of prayer by which they can resist his power—who cuts off God’s soldiers from the battlefield. #RandolphHarris 14 of 22
It is the ultimate negative as a murderer who give “visions of glory” and “longings to die” to workers of vale to the Church of God, so that they yield to death even in days of active service, and slowly fade away. Believers who would have victory over the ultimate negative at every point must resist its attack on the body, as well as on the sprit and mind. They should also know the place of the body in the spiritual life: its prominence, and yet its obscurity. Paul said, “I keep under my body”—I discipline it. They must understand that the more knowledge they have of the devices and power of the Adversary, and of the fullness of the Calvary victory within their reach for complete victory over him, the more he will plan to injure them. The whole of his schemes against God’s children may be summed up under three heads: To cause them to sin, and he tempted Jesus as the Christ in the wilderness; To slander them, as Jesus as the Christ was slain at Calvary, when, by the direct permission of God, the hour and the power of darkness gathered around Him, and He by the hands of the wicked men was crucified and slain (Acts 2.23). As the believer gains victories over the ultimate negative and his deceiving and lying spirits by thus recognizing, resisting and triumphing over them in their varied workings, his strength of spirit to conquer them grows stronger, and he will become more and more equipped to set forth the truth of the finished work of Calvary as sufficient for victory over sin and the ultimate negative. Done in the power and authority of Jesus as the Christ by the Holy Spirit, this will set others free from their power. #RandolphHarris 15 of 22
It must, of course, be clearly recognized that victory over the ultimate negative in these aspects will not be without great onslaughts from him and sharp conflict, which may well be called “the evil day,” Ephesians 6.13. We first consider the negative aspect of the transition from the temporal to the eternal, the exclusion of negativities and ambiguities. The Greek word for judgment, krinein, indicates the separation of the negative symbolized by the ultimate judgment. This judgement is not a temporal event, for time is only the form of the finite, and eternity is its inner aim, or telos. To explain this continuous process, we must consider it a bold metaphour. Eternal life is likened to “eternal memory” in which the positive is remembered and the negative forgotten. However, since forgetting implies a moment of remembering, the negative is forgotten in the sense that it is acknowledged and rejected for what it is, nothing. Since Eternal Life is identical with the Kingdom of God in its fulfilment, it is the non-fragmentary, total, and complete conquest of the ambiguities of life. The ambiguities that accompany the life processes of the self-integration, self-creativity, and self-transcendence are overcome by the perfect balancing of the ontological polar elements: individualization-participation, dynamics-form, and freedom-destiny. Consequently, in the fulfilled Kingdom of God morality, culture, and religion disappear as special functions. #RandolphHarris 16 of 22
There is no morality because there is no ought-to-be which is not. There is no culture because the work of the human spirit becomes the work of the divine Spirit. And there is no religion because there is no estrangement, and God is everything in and to everything. Unambiguous, non-fragmentary fulfilment is the result of the purification of the last judgment. If the morality of “thou shalt not lie” is rejected, “the sense for truth” must legitimate itself before a different tribunal: as a means of the preservation of man, as will to power. The same goes for our love of the beautiful: it, too, is a will to shape. The two-sense stand side by side; the sense for the real is a means of acquiring the power to shape things as one pleases. The delight in shaping and reshaping—a primal delight! We can comprehend only a World we ourselves have made. On the multifariousness of knowledge. To trace one’s relation to many other things (or to a kind—how can that be “knowledge” of something other! This kind of knowing and recognizing is itself already among the conditions of existence—so that the conclusion that there could be no kind of intellect (even for us) other than the one the preserves us, is too hasty: this de facto condition of existence is perhaps only accidental, perhaps in no way necessary. Our cognitive apparatus is not designed for “knowledge.” The most firmly believed a priori “truths” are, for me—provisional assumption, exempli gratia, the law of causality, very well-rehearsed habits of believing, so deeply incorporated that not believing them would drive the race to extinction However, are they for that reason truths? What a conclusion! As if the truth could be proved by man’s continuing to exist! #RandolphHarris 17 of 22
In the cases of self-analysis which I have observed untoward consequences have never occurred. However, these observations are as yet too limited to produce any convincing statistical evidence; I could not say, for instance, that this unfortunate outcome has occurred in only one case out of a hundred. There are, however, good reasons to believe that the danger is so rare as to be negligible. Observation in every analysis shows that patients are well able to protect themselves from insights they are not yet able to receive. If they are given an interpretation that represent too great a threat to their security they may consciously reject it; of they may forget it, or invalidate its relevance for them, or ward it off with arguments, or simply resent it as unfair criticism. One may safely assume that these self-protective forces would operate also in self-analysis. A person attempting to analyze oneself would simply fail to make any self-observations that would lead to insights as yet intolerable. Or one would interpret them in such a way as to miss the essential point. Or one would merely try to correct quickly and superficially an attitude conceived by one as faulty, and thereby close the door to further investigation. Thus in self-analysis the actual danger would be less than in professional analysis, because the patient intuitively knows what to avoid while an analyst, even a sensitive one, may err and present to the patient a premature solution. Again the danger is one of futility through too much evasion of problems rather than of positive change. And if a person does work through to some insight deeply disturbing to one, I believe there are several considerations that we can rely on. #RandolphHarris 18 of 22
One of these considerations is that hitting upon some truth is not only disturbing but is also, and simultaneously, of a liberating quality. This liberating force inherent in any truth may supersede the disturbing effect from the beginning. If so, a feeling of relief will ensue immediately. However, even if the disturbing effect prevails, the discover of a truth about oneself still implies a dawning recognition of a way out; even if this is not seen clearly it will be felt intuitively and thus will engender strength to proceed further. A second factor to be considered is that even if a truth is deeply frightening there is something like a wholesome fright. If a person recognizes, for instance, that one has been secretly driving at self-destruction, one’s clear recognition of that drive is much less dangerous than letting it silently operate. The recognition is frightening, but it is bound to mobilize counteracting self-preserving energies, provided there is any will to live. And if there is no sufficient will to live, a person will go to pieces anyhow, analysis or no analysis. To express a similar thought in a more positive fashion: if a person has had sufficient courage to discover an unpleasant truth about oneself, one may safely trust one’s courage to be strong enough to carry one through. The mere fact that one has gone that far indicates that one’s will to come to grips with oneself is strong enough to prevent one from becoming crushed. However, the period between staring to grapple with a problem and solving and integrating it ma be prolonged in self-analysis. #RandolphHarris 19 of 22
Finally, we must not forget that really alarming disturbances in analysis rarely occur only because an interpretation cannot be properly grasped at the time. More frequently the real source of disquieting developments lies in the fact that the interpretation, or the analytical situation as a whole, stirs up hatred that is directed against the analyst. This hatred, if barred from awareness and thereby from expression, can enhance existing self-destructive tendencies. To let oneself go to pieces may then become a means of revenge against the analyst. If a person is confronted with an upsetting insight quite by oneself, there is almost nothing left but to fight it through with oneself. Or, to be cautious, the temptation to ward off the insight by making others responsible is lessened. The caution is warranted because, if the tendency to make others responsible for one’s shortcomings is strong anyhow, it may flare up also in self-analysis as soon as one realized a shortcoming, if one has not yet accepted the necessity of taking responsibility for oneself. Self-analysis is within the range of possibility, and the danger of its resulting in positive damage is comparatively slight. Certainly it has various drawbacks that are more or less serious in nature, ranging, briefly, from failure to prolongation of the process; it may take a considerably longer time to get hold of a problem and to solve it. However, against these drawbacks there are many factors which beyond doubt make self-analysis desirable. There are, to begin with, obvious external factors of the kind mentioned before. #RandolphHarris 20 of 22
Self-analysts would be desirable for those who because of money, time, or location cannot undertake regular treatment. If in the intervals between analytical sessions, and also during the sessions, they were inspired with the courage to do active and independent work on themselves, and even for those who are having treatment, it might shorten the procedure considerably. However, even apart from such blatant reasons, certain gains are beckoning to those who are capable of self-analysis which are more spiritual in character, ess tangible but not less real. These gains are an increase of inner strength and therefore of self-confidence. Every successful analysis increases self-confidence, but there is a certain extra gain in having conquered territory entirely through one’s own initiative, courage, and perseverance. This effect is the same in analysis as in other areas of life. To find a mountain path all by oneself gives a greater feeling of strength than to take a path that is shown, though the work put in is the same and the result is the same. Such achievement gives rise not only to a justifiable pride but also to a well-founded feeling of confidence in one’s capacity to meet predicaments and not to feel lost without guide. The existence of various values is implicit in the general criteria of mental illness or maladjustment. The difficulty in answering it (“What is a case?”) comes from the fact that inevitably at some place there is a value judgment involved. I think that mental health or mental sickness cannot be conceived of without reference to some basic value. We are all trained to exclude values from our thinking; and the way we try to exclude them is not to talk about them. A more appropriate manner of dealing with this basic difficulty is to spell out what the values are that underlie our particular concept of mental health or mental illness. #RandolphHarris 21 of 22
How do value systems relate to the problem of defining mental illness? In answering this question, we are helped to see that the diagnostic problem which superficially appears to be concrete and practical has roots in issues of an highly philosophical nature. A value system may place major worth on the individual or on society—actions may be preferred that augment the states of the individual at the expense of the group, or choices may be made that enhance the strength of society to the relative disregard of the individual. Recognition of the right to “conscientious objection” during wartime is expressive of a value system in which the individual’s scruples are given priority over what conceivably could be the nation’s security. By contrast, laws such as the ill-fated Prohibition Act are expressive of a value orientation in which the presumed welfare of society is predominant over individual freedom. All those who toil ere, yet they pass from childhood’s years, who live in squalor, pale and gaunt, to every evil a prey;–to human greed these all are slaves, and we must set them free. Why then, with plenty everywhere, should humans still lack their bread? Justice hall we pp as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Manifest Destiny is the way to save the World. Humans shall do no evil and work no destruction, for the Earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. This holiday season, please open your hearts and make a donation to the Sacramento Fire Department. They are not receiving all of their resources and have proudly been risking their lives to save the community since 1851. #RandolphHarris 22 of 22
No appointment needed! Cresleigh Havenwood features four distinct floor plans ranging from 2,293 – 3,377 square feet and offering up to five bedrooms.
Each plan has been thoughtfully designed and includes great features such as single story homes, guest suites, optional offices, garage workshops, and more!
Get the most out of your new home with Cresleigh’s All Ready smart home featuring all the connectivity needed to keep your house running.
Best of all, each Cresleigh home comes with owned solar included!
Located off of Virginiatown Road and McCourtney Road, residents of the 83 homesites of Cresleigh Havenwood will benefit from a brand new neighborhood in the charming City of Lincoln.
Palo Verde Park, is just down the street and there’s plenty of recreation to take part in all around town.
Two stories with customizable floor plan, open entertaining connects to outdoor spaces with outdoor living customizable space, large loft, spacious Primary Suite, 4-Bay garage with optional GenSmart Suite. https://cresleigh.com/havenwood/residence-four/
We are Perfect the Way God Made Us
All life is sacred. Human life is especially so. Sacred means worthy of veneration and respect. By designating something as sacred, the Lord signals that it is of higher value and priority than others things. Sacred things are to be treated with more care, given greater deference, and regarded with deeper reverence. Sacred ranks high in the hierarchy of Heavenly values. God sends light and knowledge from Heaven and he invites us to receive and treat it as sacred. “Protecting human life is of utmost importance to God. He takes this so seriously and personally because he made humanity reflect him. We are his Earthly representatives, made in his image. To murder another person is to mount an attack on the One who created him or her,” reports Genesis 9.8-10. Moral reciprocity—doing to others as one would have them do to oneself and giving an equal return for benefits received—is closely linked to impartiality, for to be impartial between oneself and someone else would mean doing nothing to profit at his or her expense. We believe in being honest, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all people. Traits of virtue, broadly practiced, can loosen and derail Satan’s firm and insidious grip on the hearts, minds, and spirits of mortal humans. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7
How does this spoiling of God’s initially good creation come about? Evil has entered into the Universe through the culpable violations of free creatures, angels, and people. Their sin consisted, not in choosing positive evil (for there is no positive evil to choose), but in turning away from the higher good, namely God, to a lower good. For when the will abandons what is above itself, and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil—not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked. Natural evils, such as disease, are divinely ordained consequences of the primeval fall of humanity, and thus all traces of evils are directly or indirectly linked to a wicked misuse of creaturely freedom. God is the highest, richest, and most intensely real being, is the supreme good, and everything that he has brought into existence is ipso facto good. For this reason, the corruption which we call evil can never be complete; for if a thing becomes so vitiated in nature that it ceases to exist, the evil which is parasitic upon it must also crease to exist. The Divine Mind is like an infallible calculating machine, surveys all possible combinations and selects the best, to which it then gives existence. We are perfect the way God made us and all here to learn our own nature, which will determine where we spend eternity. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7
The sacred cannot be selectively surrendered. As we seek answers from God, we feel the still, small voice whisper to our spirits. These feelings—these impressions—are so natural and so subtle that we may overlook them or attribute them to reason. Those who choose to abandon even one sacred thing will have their minds darkened. There is a generally recognized right to be left alone. An invasion of privacy occurs when someone unjustifiably intrudes on this right. If your privacy has been invaded by intrusion, misappropriation, public disclosure of private facts, or false light, an individual may have suffered physically and emotionally, or otherwise and may wish to bring a civil lawsuit to recover from this harm. The harm to one’s intertest in privacy depends on which form of privacy invasion an individual suffered. If private facts were publicly disclosed, one would be entitled to economic compensation for the harm that came from the disclosure, such as harm to your reputation and standing in the community. Mental or emotional distress that one has suffered from is also recoverable. And, if the invasion caused one to incur any special damages (specific quantifiable damages, such as medical expenses one has incurred) an individual may also recover those. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7
Daily reflecting upon and recording the impressions that come from God help us recognize our personal encounters with the divine and preserve them for ourselves and our posterity. Confidentiality is a respected part of the medical code of ethics. Doctors understand that people need to feel comfortable talking about private and revealing private information, they need a safe place to talk about anything they would like, without fear of that information leaving the room. They take your privacy very seriously. Laws are also in place to protect your privacy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) contains a privacy rules that creates national standards to protect individuals’ medical records and personal health information. The right to control other’s access to one’s personal World, whether psychologically or physically can be attained by physical barriers or by communicating boundaries verbally. Privacy is important to not only a person’s psyche, but also the sense of self-worth. No one wants to live in a community where the government and media has violated their privacy and spread around rumors and sensitive information, and every time you meet someone, they feel like that know you, but actually have no idea who you are. They only know things that they have heard about you, which they may take as facts. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7
Light and knowledge from Heaven is sacred. It is sacred because Heaven is its source. It can be deeply disturbing when you meet people for the first time and they are talking about things you shared in confidential messages, and you know they would have no access to unless they are hacking into your personal messages. Sometimes the media will stoop to levels you cannot believe and work like witches over a cauldron to create a story. In 2013, police arrested six journalists because of phone hacking and suspicion of corruption charges that caused the News of the World newspaper empire to close. The reporters were accused of phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Scotland Yard investigators found evidence of a further suspected conspiracy—above and beyond the scope of the original phone hacking probe that led to the paper’s demise. The journalist intercepted viocemails (answering machines messages on a mobile device). The board reach of the scandal became even more evident when Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, announced his resignation. There was ongoing speculation and accusations relating to the Metropolitan Police and with the News International at a senior level and in particular in relation to Mr. Neil Wallis, who was editor of News of the World, until 2009. He was also arrested as part of the scandal. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7
The news media swooped down on innocent people like a plague of crows and felt that they were above the law as they violated privacy laws. It was even revealed that Milly Dowler, a teen murdered in 2002, allegedly had her voicemail hacked and messages deleted by a reporter from the newsroom. The owner of the news agencies went on record and apologized. There was also a connection to September 11, 2001, as allegations surfaced that reporters tried to tap the phone of 9/11 victims in search of yet more sensational headlines. “Many, many innocent men, women, and children their private tears bought and sold by News International for commercial gain,” reported Gordon Brown the former British Prime Minister. As a result, the government established a judicial inquiry to look at criminal activity, media ethics, and media ownership. The media is very helpful at being a voice of the community, and getting justice for some people, but they can also be a very dangerous criminal organization and ruin the lives of people by targeting them in an effort to profit from “Breaking News.” No matter which way you turn, you get it right between where the Sun does not shine because so many people are morally adrift in a secular white squall. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7
Salvation is free. The sacred cannot be selectively surrendered. Money is not the root of all evil, it was new in Biblical days, they did not know much about it. Those who choose to abandon even one sacred thing will have their minds sulked in darkness as if they are in the bowels of the Devil. And unless they repent, the light they have will be taken from them by a theft in the night, allowing Satan to take root in their souls. Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. Studying history is important because it allows us to understand our past, which in turn allows to understand our present. If we want to know how and why our World is the way it is, we have to look to history for answers. History does not repeat itself, people do. If we study the successes and failures of the past, we may, ideally, be able to learn from our mistakes and avoid repeating them in the future. Studying history can provide us with insight into our cultures of origin as well as cultures with which we might be less familiar, thereby increasing cross-cultural awareness and understanding. People know good from evil and the law is given to them. God is light, and people that receive the light, and continue in that light grow brighter and bright until the perfect day. May the Lord bless us to ever and always recognize, remember, and hold sacred that which we have received from above. As we do, we will have the power to endure the trials an overcome the challenges of our day. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7
Great Nations Eat
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Ryan Phillippe tries to be neutral, he wants to stay out of the political minutia between the government and the TV news reporters, he did not want to be a savior, nor did he want to be part of the problem. However, Ryan makes a decision that his family and others need him most, he shows that is a righteous guy. Many others would have just ignored the call for help or would have decided to be a bad guy. Others stand by idly while the Mayor attacks Ryan’s son. Where do the good qualities in Ryan come from? Outward ceremonies will not compensate for the want of virtue. The impulse of love are so subtle, and the influence of false reasoning, when enforced by eloquence and passion, so unbounded, that no human virtue is secure from degeneracy. Like the rainbow, Peace rests upon the Earth, but its arch is lost in Heaven. It is amazing what war will do for commerce, as well as what it does against it!
Virtue is the only nobility. Virtue alone is true honor, true freedom, and solid, durable happiness. People should not neglect their virtue. We already know that trauma and learned helplessness is potentially debilitating. However, we want to look at something better. Others also are required to see that the World is still beautiful and we can help save it and others. Currently, we are seeing how our currently leaders are acting cruelly and turning the World into a prison. Where is something with true authority to clean this up and make a change for the better? I am for war, if to give you a chance to find out who your friends are. An officer may resign when an unjust war is declared; and ought to resign, and refuse to be accessary to the homicide which it occasions. Prejudice or not, confidence is not a bad thing when a conflict is unavoidable.
There is a dignity in conscious virtue. Virtue consists of wisdom and knowledge, humanity, justice, courage, temperance, honesty, love, transcendence. Different strengths contribute to virtue. Virtue consists in actions, and not in words. Virtue is so dear to the human heart, that when her form forsakes us, we pursue her shadow. Did ever mortal hear of a man’s virtue. The human virtue humanity, for instance, includes the strengths understanding, integrity, bravery, persistence, and vitality. So what is goodness? By desiring what is perfectly good, even when we do not quite know what it is and cannot do what we would, we are part of the divine power against evil—widening the skirts of light and making the struggle with darkness narrower.
Expressing virtuous actions, even when it presents an extreme risk or a potential cost to oneself, is a righteous because there is not guaranteed benefit for you, so you are being truly altruistic. Running out into the conflict to save his son, during the critics’ attack on the Capitol Castle is an ongoing situation, and shows that Ryan is a righteous guy. Ryan wants more power and control, he sees that his son is a good person because he sacrifices so to uplift and inspire others and show them beautiful holograms that they have probably never seen. Ryan’s son, Randolph, also makes people feel special by telling them about the good things they do and why people like them. Ryan sees that his son possesses courage, honor, intellect, and altruism to become a master.
Ryan’s son is trying to build his own corporation and news station because he wants to make people see the World is good and the true purpose of reporting is to provide a free education so because can give back to the World, and support the government, which will have us maintain a stable economic system, and eliminate poverty and war. Randolph’s intrinsic motivation shows that he has a desire to help the community establish peace and serenity. Randolph is able to meet his goals, although incomplete, but at least partially by displaying faith, love, loyalty, determination, and compassion. Prudence is a virtue, equally with generosity; and a man may be unjust to himself, no less than to another. Nothing, humanely speaking, can deserve higher respect than a profession in which a man devotes the labors of his life to the support of justice.
Unbelieving people can claim that there is no true altruism because every beneficent deed allegedly involves potential benefit to oneself, even if that benefit is merely the joy that comes from putting a smile, from ear to ear, on the face of another. Trust me, trying to debate with the critics is a waste of time. They will drag you into a feeble verbal war to try and stir up insecurities, hurt, anger, and pain. Altruism and good exists because people are putting their lives on the line to bring you education and they are using their own money out of their own pockets, nothing is free, yet they are not asking for money from anyone. If we count the act of helping others, despite personal risk or costs, it proves that there are good people in the World.
Comparing bids: Two contractors bid on a home remodeling project. The first, Ryan, bids $9,350.00 for the entire job. The second contractor, Rick, will work for $27.50 per hour, plus $4,500.00 for materials. He estimates that the job will take 150 hours. Which contractor has the lower bid? Well, this second bid, from contractor Rick, if done on schedule will cost $8,625.00, which is less than Ryan’s offer by $725.00. So Rick’s bid for the job seems to be the better deal, as you may save $725.00. However, if Rick has to put in more hours, the price of the project make increase, whereas Ryan is telling how much he will charge no matter how many hours he has to put in. Helping appears to go with the natural requirement to interact with others. Who shall put his finger on the work of justice and say, ‘It is there’? Justice is like the Kingdom of God—it is not without us as a fact, it is within us as a great yearning.
So on this deal, you would need to understand that often times projects come in over budget, and if someone is giving you a set price, you may want to consider taking it so your project gets completed. Trying to save $725, with Rick’s deal, could cost more in the long run. Empathy, that deep emotional concern whose absence can indicate psychopathy, is one of the greatest predictions of altruistic behavior. Empathy is more complex than it may sound. Affective empathy involves feeling sympathy, compassion, or even distress in line with the way others feel, whether that means taking the perspective of real people or identifying with legendary characters. Feeling and knowing pave the way for the actions we call altruistic. Good people endeavor to go good things. Justice is certain and inflexible.
Proof must be built up stone by stone. The end crowns the work. It is not enough that Justice should be morally certain; she must be immorally certain—legally, that is. Denying oneself to benefit others, we call good. Exploiting others to benefit oneself, we call bad. Tormenting others to achieve self-important satisfaction, we call evil. The Mayor of the City of Sacramento, the city manager, and many of the TV reporters have been labeled as evil and extreme bullies. Empathy plays an important role in altruistic behavior and its absence features prominently in a psychopathic personality, but we tend to perceive the greatest evil when monsters such as Kevin Maurice Johnson (Mayor of Sacramento) and John F. Shirey (City Manager of Sacramento) actually enjoy their cruelty.
The leadership in Sacramento operates in its own methodical way—chaos and corruption. These rouges and criminals shake things up—disaster. Ryan and Randolph may be a threat to people who like chaos and corruption because they accomplish great things directly by caring, and evil people see them as cheating them out of their fuller lives. When men are about to commit, or to sanction the commission of some injustice, it is not uncommon for them to express pity for the object of that or some parallel proceeding, and to feel themselves, at the time, quite virtuous and moral, and immensely superior to those who express misfortune at all. Ryan is for doing justice, and leaving mercy to Heaven. Kings are accountable for injustice permitted as well as done. Before spending billions on an arena, I would like to remind you, 20 percent of families are starving and cannot even afford Thanksgiving dinner.
Randolph Harris II International 