Archive for February, 2018
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years (!) it is that things are usually what you think they are. You are going to be wrong on the details, sometimes embarrassingly so.
The other thing I have learned is that I need to proofread.
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/07/rob-porter-wives-abuse-trump-aide/
http://www.bornebackceaselessly.com/journal/2017/4/24/why-i-stayed
And the commenters come pouring out like asylum seekers from a refugee camp. I mean, get out of the way because it is going to be dangerous. “He cried and apologized,” now that is real.
The whole thing is real. Making fun of the bishop, the Kennedy School, Idaho, Orrin Hatch, or any of the contemporaries isn’t going to help.
It was so weird. The link to theintercept.com came up quickly on my cellphone. Investigating journalism my ass, but the only two witnesses talked (and blogged). Here were the facts. After days on the front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post, here is what actually happened: the broken window was on the front porch after his suitcase was out and the door locked; a punch in the face occurred after being thrown on the bed; shoulders where grabbed and she was forced out of the shower.
Naked? Bad joke.
I thought about improper police behavior: it is almost always about physical injury. What about corruption or bribery? As general as we might like to make it, usually it is about a quid pro quo, or a money trail, at least in criminal terms.
I went over the facts noted in theintercept me-too piece. There is what really happened and is pretty clear, plus there is the chronology and apparent abusive, belittling, and confrontational nature. The that both marriages were so short–did you know each other at all before the marriages?–and his behavior changed so dramatically is disturbing. Violence, or an extreme temper, is a real clue; now, the crying and apologizing in the blog post is another. “Fucking bitch” is not normal.
But I had to go back and read the blog post. At first I thought I can’t find it! That’s it! It is a real disappointment as is the bevy of comments. If you want to be a celebrity and consultant to others at least improve the writing.
Aren’t they really saying why did I marry him, I didn’t know, I didn’t know better, I accepted some really bad advice, and such? Maybe they’re saying now I know how to protect myself, I have grown up, and I am finally my own person.
My feeling is, you don’t constantly belittle or abuse someone you love and neither should someone accept it. Violence? Mistakes or misunderstandings, probably only once, they can happen. But what is the real problem? In the case of Rob Porter I thought, what if it really is just two bad marriages among really immature people who are also unable to communicate for whatever reason? Alcohol, stress, an abusive parent, the church, or, I’m going to stop before I offend someone because that is a certainty. He seems to have some or “other” problems and I don’t know what they are. One of them is now two ex-wives claiming with convincing evidence that he can be violent.
There are times, I think, suitcase by the front door, a window can get broken. You need to find someone more rational and experienced at fighting! Hopefully that isn’t the solution either. Knowing when to or not to call the cops is another thing to learn. There are times I think when, being on your own, you have to learn these things and others. Experience with law is one thing to learn. Psychology could be another.
I know that when I came racing back to the shared house there was another reason. You’re right, it’s gotta and it should end. But there are also probably other reasons or, very likely, the ones you used to make up your mind aren’t even true. Correction: people may not even believe them.
I hate for it to ever reach a stage when you can’t grope someone. Yeah, there’s a right time and a wrong time AND PERSON.
OMG. This is the post everyone hates, when blog writers use their blog to sob and confess.
For the first time ever I am happy with the reverse chronology format.
Long-winded yes, and sorry. My favorite blog is mgoblog although half the brian/ace tandem is on sabbatical. Brian’s season and game predictions? Someday gamblers will learn to bet the opposite or invest short. They are always wrong, but they never, ever go back and edit anything. More specifically, edits are publicly posted only for corrections but the basic post is never changed. They’re already thought-out and the writer is willing to go with them even with the predictable fallout. And sometimes they’re nothing more than rants, raves, and placeholders way briefer and more vivid than that. So be it.
People do read this blog and all are welcome. I refuse to say if you don’t like it don’t read it. I am glad people read it because this blog is about me. It is not about anyone mentioned, real or imaginary, it is about me. Frankly, it is terrible and I always say I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Many of the images and videos are blank or removed and that doesn’t matter because it isn’t for show and it isn’t about the past. You may use the past to judge. It exists and it won’t go away.
But it is about now, the last post, if you will.
More wisdom from When Harry Met Sally. Can men and women just be friends? No, because you always want to… Perhaps you know the rest. And finally, Sophie’s Choice. And this is my only confession: I like to reference great books and movies.
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There’s a woman, written about below, who one could say I have done a lot of bashing. It is not bashing because it is real. I cannot stress that enough. None of it is a surprise. It has all been said before. Everyone knows it because it is real.
Up until recently I had one giant question in my head. Is she another Pam Phillips?
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/broward-sheriff-detain-people-over-social-media-1162887747675
I wonder what Nancy Pelosi’s position is on gun control?
Safest in Florida.
Qualified immunity.
I saw shots of her at the state of the union address and she looked good and composed. Then I found out she is 77. I am going to learn more about her speech on dreamers but on the surface it looks heroic.
You can’t call it research, I just had a hunch. I mean, you can’t call finding a way to prove your point unbiased research. Anyway, Ms. Pelosi feels strongly about it and she is not quiet about it.
Rob Porter
Boy this blog is boring. Very few videos or images. The part on the right hasn’t been updated in about 5 years.
It really is just about writing; not writing to heal but writing to plan and plot. It is writing to move forward.
I’ll start with Rob Porter. Sometimes Donald Trump has a flair for events and he put it very well:
Trump said “it was very sad when we heard about it.”
“He says he’s innocent, and I think you have to remember that,” Trump said. “He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent, but you’ll have to talk to him about that.”
Writing (and blogs) shouldn’t be about healing. And it shouldn’t be about revenge either. Just communication is hard and risky. Exposing, that is getting closer.
It should be about learning. After all, “exposing” is always a two-way street.
It doesn’t have to be angry either. If it is thought-out and fair, and if it just needs to be said, it won’t be angry. Or healing!
This is the greatest customer satisfaction story I’ve ever heard. (This is my last year of being poor and I want to make the most of it. There are good things about being poor!)
I’ve had this row with T. Rowe Price. I wanted to learn more about bond funds because a lot of people live off them, and other reasons including they’re tough to invest in especially when interest rates are rising. I invested in three different bond funds, corporate, emerging markets, and U.S. high yield. I didn’t expect tax changes and thought everything was plenty high, and re-buying stocks after 3 or 4 months was a possibility. As it turned out, the bond funds were up 1 or maybe 3 percent in about 4 months and the better stock funds were up 10% or more; it was not a wise move.
I am smarter than… no one. Maybe I could sneak in with a few percent plus safety. Interest rates are and will rise and that means bond prices will go down; existing, older bond prices will decrease in value. They will still pay interest–Venezuela oil bonds notwithstanding–but it is becoming a matter of covering for the decline in NAV. It is not worth the risk. Stocks or cash is the plan for 2018.
These bond funds pay interest. At T. Rowe Price it is distributed back to the fundholders at the end of each month. You can choose to reinvest it in the bond fund–isn’t the fund always buying more bonds?–or distribute it to another fund. Easy to do online, change the dividend reinvestment option to invest in the money market fund.
Over three months it it didn’t work. Three separate times the money came out of the fund but didn’t go in the other one. You can see the transactions online immediately, the next day: dividends coming out of one fund and destined for another fund where they never arrive.
For three months, shortly into the new month I called to complain. First they moved the money into the destination fund the next day and backdated the trade; next time they wired the money to my (non-IRA) checking account almost immediately. The third time Jay called me back asking for me to identify myself presumably so the money could be wired to my checking account again.
He told me T. Rowe Price had solved the problem. The reason the two men I spoke with this AM didn’t do anything about it or know anything about it is the last person I spoke with didn’t leave proper records. He should have left an alert on my account so that the next time I call they’ll know what to do. I can talk to any associate and they’ll know what to do.
The solution, the proper procedure, to wait until I call and wire it to an outside account where I don’t necessarily want it to go. Or, backdate a trade and put it somewhere else. But only when I call.
I have never seen that before: the policy is to cover-up the glitch. And the glitch is taking money out of customer accounts and not putting it anywhere. But the policy is let the customer try and correct it (even though it can’t be corrected).
The dividends do not get deposited in a different fund as intended. For over three months I have forcefully pointed the problem. Apparently they cannot or will not correct the problem.
The manager (he insisted he is in charge) said the problem is they “didn’t leave alerts.” The previous people I spoke with and wrote to did not keep proper records FOR THE NEXT TIME I CALL.
Is that a new definition of team work, i.e., regardless of who did or didn’t do what, this department should have covered it up. I even said, “that is not a solution it is a cover-up,” when he supposedly offered to wire the missing IRA funds to a non-IRA account.
It is using customer service–in T. Rowe Price’s case, a rigidly-protected, only conduit to the customer–to cover up other failings. I have never seen that in terms of customer service. I’ve heard of, is there a name for it?, the Grisham Rainmaker cover-up. Another example is Bernie Madoff with the always-locked, secret floor where the actual operations take place. It is keeping departments separate and ignorant each other as a means to obscure, cover-up, or lie about something.
You could describe handling people or information in the same way: Someone who refuses to acknowledge or even removes themselves from something or someone. As I have often written-about here, mores seem to be shifting toward you should have known. FWIW, more personally, I believe in personal responsibility, as well as transparency, and a lack of denial, and I could go on.
So the senior, he seemed very junior, guy says ‘we should have handled it.’ I could tell he wasn’t the brightest bulb–I said I’ve already argued about this on the first of the month for the last three months and he said no, you called on the 2nd of January. He could have just meant he and they could have done better… No. Three months and too much evidence. I have asked, who, where, how, why? over and over and no reply or correction. I think he means our job in “customer service” is to follow rules and cover up.
* In trying to find a name for this thinking, this intentional way of operating I came across “separation of duties” as a business approach which advocates two separate check-offs for key decisions. I couldn’t find an easy way to explain it as intentional obfuscation, especially in terms of customer service.
Epiloge
It is good to be poor and pay attention to these things. I wanted to learn more about bond mutual funds. If the returns are good they’re fine; when the safe investment is losing money while everything else is going up there’s a problem. Businesses and economies are booming in very large part to years of really low interest rates. Now, as the heat is clearly showing, interest rates are increasing. Much of the world hasn’t followed yet, but the U.S. leads.