Columns Old

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2016/01/30/congresswoman-who-grew-up-gas-station/79206952/

Interesting, all those people who won’t speak.

NY Times link.  Interesting woman.  She graduated from BYU and then denounced Mormonism.  She married a man and then said she is bisexual.  She accepts campaign donations from contributors she does not approve of and then gives them to charity.

A little flaky for the Senate?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/30/us/michigan-state-coach-kathie-klages-nassar/index.html

Good quotes.  When people who can stop it don’t.

“The dollar plays a huge role in this,” Mr. Paulsen said. The dollar’s gains versus other currencies has deflated returns for Americans investing overseas. (Returns from international stocks to U.S. investors decline when the dollar rises, and rise when the dollar falls). The EAFE index’s 2018 loss of 3.20% was just 2.27% in local currency.

I never understood that.  Your positions are worth less because of the strong dollar.  But, you can buy more of them because of the strong dollar.

http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20180601/FREE/180609992/international-funds-continue-to-disappoint

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/08/29/were-in-the-longest-bull-market-in-history-what-sh.aspx

http://time.com/money/5241566/vicki-robin-financial-independence-retire-early/

I learned long ago a new blog or web name isn’t the answer.  Perhaps I should ask Keith Raniere as he is the expert at URLs.  “Literary narcissist” is one I can think of.  “Evergreen in Decline” is another.

The great writer Paul Thereaux once wrote “If you write a page a day you eventually have a novel.”  You may do the math and calculate the devotion needed; if I write more parts I will have a book on narcissism.

The latter begs the question, decline from what?

Another, the current name, is Part 5.

I never claimed to be a psychologist, or prophet, or self-help author.  Nor did  I claim to invent fake news or internet scams.  But man, real information and learning, including helping others, is harder to come by than I had thought.

“Confirmation bias” does not mean anything except to those who are confirmed biased.

Part 5 is “You are a narcissist!” is an absurd allegation.  Most of us are.  Almost all of us who are leaders, on a faster track, and are ambitious have narcissistic tendencies.

We could discuss potentially-acceptable examples.  Steve Jobs.  Elon Musk.  They are egotists and narcissists to the max.  Some people they encountered or worked with (i.e., for) admired them; most hate them.

Nonetheless, they are not criminals.

Sometimes people say “eclectic.”  Personally, I do not like the term, but it is narcissistic.

The point here in Part 5 is narcissism is normal if not a tick along-side normal.  Most people are narcissists to some degree.  Achieving people are likely narcissists and extremely driven people are very likely narcissists.

Personally, I call myself confident, even boisterous, but not unsympathetic an not un-empathetic.

The concept is difficult to understand.

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There is a part four and I thank pulchritudinous7 for helping to point it out.

I doubt her ex-husband is really a malignant narcissist.  I think it is a dangerous term to throw around.  But I definitely believe it is something you need to know an awful lot about if you think you are living with one or if you are raising children with one.

Sociopath and psychopath are very strong words to be using too.  It is very hard to define them and harder yet to apply them to individuals.

Now I am writing like M. Scott Peck:  I already wrote that there is ambiguity and perhaps misuse within the maladies and terms for them.  Now I am going to write that there is also truth and science in them.

They are the extreme and they are less clear and recognized.  For me, I could never understand the full cycle, or the extreme, if you will.  Freud described it as the superego.  “The superego is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by which the ego operates” (a simple definition found online).  I will explain.

This helps to explain people who go overboard, people who cannot understand the repercussions of their actions.  They lack empathy to start with.  They cannot tell, or they do not care, when they hurt someone.  They may be very smart people.  They may even believe they are moral and ethical.  But they do not understand that they hurt other people.

Often they hurt people close to them.  They may reach a point where they hurt everyone (or even kill).  They do not understand how their actions, or the repercussions of their actions (e.g., alcoholism) affect others.

They become dangerous.  You have to be very cautious.  Maybe you even have to stay away.

OMG, I’m going to pull a Trina, hire a legal assistant and sue, sue, sue!

Then I’ll move.

First I’ll get books from the Jefferson County Public Library to help me.  Then I’ll sue Jefferson County in Jefferson County court.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2018/08/23/retracing-steps-mollie-tibbetts-street-where-she-was-last-seen-alive

https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/fox-news-mollie-tibbetts-fixation-is-astonishingly-hypocritical.html

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5820178863001/?#sp=show-clips

http://video.foxnews.com/v/5817233235001/?#sp=show-clips

It was nice to understand it.  It is very beautiful.

I didn’t know that Chicago is as far north as Iowa City.  Brooklyn is between Des Moines and the University of Iowa.

It is near Interstate 80 and not far from another major road, so it is something of a truck stop.  There is a lake with cabins and houses; the houses are inexpensive but the taxes are fairly high.  The population is only 1,500 so there cannot be more than a few restaurants or things to do on a Saturday night.

It doesn’t seem like anyone even wants to understand what led him to do it.  He is just a violent illegal immigrant and she was a pretty girl.

You can watch the videos if you want to of the killer in the small, informal, country courthouse.  He is alone and scared to death.

We can also watch the sheriff.  Is it fair to say he is responsible?

Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen were really close to President Trump.  Who else has fallen?  There are a few models, but the publicity and the payoffs probably have not hurt their careers.

I think I would rather pay for the democrats’ spending than Trump’s legal problems.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/14/rick-gates-extramarital-affairs-manafort-trial-777352

It is so hard to tell because the big newspapers at least (NYTimes, WashPo) are so firmly against Trump.  Other major news outlets (CNN, NBC, etc.), I don’t know if it is that one-sided.

It seems Donald Trump is digging a hole he cannot get out of.  Cohen figured it out, others have too, and more will in the future:  there is no reason to be loyal to this man.  Put another way, I’m not taking the (entire) fall.

David Pecker distanced himself.

He has made too many enemies.  I think he is going to have more of them come the November elections.  He has a little over two months to right the ship and, as is always the case, he is digging in deeper.  He is the world’s worst politician.  Everything and everyone he touches…  He is just going to fire someone and try and find someone more loyal.

Fear:  Trump in the White House is coming out soon.

How can it work in the White House and under that kind of scrutiny?  Those who got out fast were really smart.  He prides himself on being able to take the pressure but already he looks worse-off from the stress.

The next two years are not going to be pretty.

Trump himself–it is not his last clinging-hope but eventually it will be one of them–now clings to the illusion that if he is impeached the markets will crash.  I don’t even believe that anymore.  He has just made too many enemies.

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

I encourage everyone to read a book by a psychiatrist as it is probably the closest thing you can get to being on the couch without actually doing it.  I do not know if it exists as a genre — it seems like it is mostly self-help books, one-hit wonders, and shrinks who thought writing books was easier and far more lucrative than working hard for patients.  The ones I have read are not memorable because they are poorly written; these men and women are definitely smart and educated but compelling writing is usually not their forte.  The categories and conclusions having to do with all humankind can be hard to take and eventually turn into editorials; why not just read the science.  But again, it is sprinkled-with if not backed-up by real life.  An incentive to finish the whole book is to weed out the biases by the author.

In atypical internet fashion I have tried to avoid preconceptions and reviews.  About all I know is that it took years and was not easy to get published.  I also knew–OK, I cheated–that the parts on love and religion were likely to be difficult to take.  It was a major hit in the late ’70s and early ’80s and it has held on a bit, meaning it is still around but not as a bestseller or psychology staple anymore.  And I knew that it is about narcissism.

[This blog has never been about my personal family stories and, while that may occur someday, it is not my intention in reviewing the book.  I had the book on my shelf and it was a little worn and it had some very important notes in it.  My grandfather, my mother’s father, had either recommended it to me or had given it to me.  I recall carrying it around for a bit but having a hard time really getting into it.  I do not know when I acquired the book, but the notes are from about 15  years after I graduated with a degree in psychology.]

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I need an insurance company and agent that provides the following:

• the ability to change automobiles daily (this one is liability insured, this one isn’t) daily if necessary.
• accessibility to provide details of the options and fees for such changes.
• an annual review of my auto and homeowner’s insurance (policy options and fees) and, especially if an independent agent, a competitive review.
• office hours, phone, and email access; the phone number is listed on my policy and carried in my car:  someone has to answer the phone.
• the ability to do as much as possible regarding my policies online or through 800# access (I do not know why I am denied these).
• an agent who, as needed is available to receive payments, provide reminders, or such “added value” services.

For some reason I have been denied these even after some 10 years as a Safeco customer.  My current agent, Chris Long (#054388) has been unable to fill the void.  He is virtually unavailable by phone; most of the services listed above are unavailable.  Email service can be prompt but it is cryptic and insufficient.  In my last two specific requests for service 1) called to say needed to change vehicles and review (policies renewing in about 3 weeks); no reply at all.  2) I emailed (I have learned he is basically unavailable by phone; doesn’t answer, doesn’t return calls) only to receive no detail on the options available or the costs; 10 days later I received a bill in the mail from Safeco.

In addition, Safeco has refused to provide sufficient agent service over the years; soon after I chose that company my agent changed positions with her small company and I have been in virtual limbo ever since.  Attached are numerous emails providing details of my problems.

I have not heard from my agent after alerting him of these problems over 3 months ago.  I emailed his firm and have not received a reply.  I have been reluctant to submit this complaint hoping the situation would resolve itself.  I paid the premium due 5/2/18 (about $300) to confirm that I am not trying to avoid payment.  I have not paid apparent changes to my polices or additional bills received since because of the issues.  I have also since protested that payment to “put it on hold” with my credit card company as method of displaying my dissatisfaction.

Now I am totally stuck:  I have two cars and cannot insure them properly or to my needs.  Also, my homeowner’s policy has renewed (also 5/2/18 I believe) and I have not been afforded any opportunity for changes or updates.

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To Trina Wolf and others.  If you want to get your son back (and improve your life), show the court you are not an abusive, narcissistic parent.

It is not an attempt to get you.  It is an attempt to help you.

It is hard to understand.  I can explain it.

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