This book is an interesting look into the family and history of Donald Trump. It isn’t exactly a “tell all” about the many stupid, harmful, spiteful actions of her uncle Donald that we are all so painfully aware of, but rather an attempt to put his actions and personality in context with his rearing, or as described by don Miguel Ruiz as his “domestication.” It isn’t so much about all of the rather unusual (and dangerous) features of his personality, but more about how that might have been created. The book’s author, Mary Trump, is the daughter of Donald’s older brother who was initially selected by her grandfather to be the “heir apparent” for the family’s fortune. Her father fell out of favor when her grandfather and Donald decided to close ranks. Her father experienced many difficult and humiliating encounters with his brother and father, eventually dying at early age from alcoholism.

When Mary was talking to Donald’s sister, Maryanne, during the lead up to the election, she as asked Maryanne, “Does anybody even believe the bullshit that he’s a self-made man? What has he even accomplished on his own?” Her aunt responded, “Well, he has had five bankruptcies.”

In her professional opinion as a licensed and experienced clinical psychologist is that Donald meets all of the nine criteria for being a narcissist as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), but that is just the tip of the iceberg of the extremely dangerous psychological tendencies that fuel his destructive behaviors. In her opinion, he also meets the criteria for antisocial personality disorder that often accounts for chronic criminality, arrogance, and disrespect for the rights of others. He also meets some of the criteria for dependent personality disorder, the hallmark of which include the inability to make decisions or take responsibility, discomfort with being alone, and going to excessive lengths to obtain support from others. In addition, he probably has a long un-diagnosed learning disability that for decades has interfered with his ability to process information. His habit of drinking a twelve-pack of Diet Coke a day may be part of the cause of his severe inability to sleep because of the caffeine, which combined with a exceptionally poor diet and lack of exercise may contribute to or exacerbate his other disorders.

Dr. Trump points out that performing an accurate and complete diagnosis would require extensive neuropsychological and psychological tests that aren’t going to happen – the most that can be done is to observe closely, which is impossible because he leads a mostly hidden life where he is only visible for brief moments that are controlled by his “handlers” (who appear to have a very difficult with that chore). She points out that we all see enough of his behavior to recognize an extremely unbalanced and out-of-control individual, but there is not much that can be done to reign him in as long as “his base” (his self-described “Second Amendment people”) continue to support him come hell or high water. It seems clear to me that his base doesn’t really care about him, they are using him as an excuse to promote antisocial agendas that have been festering for decades (perhaps since the founding of the County).

The reason that no amount of evidence of wrong doing, no amount of evidence of being wildly outside of normal social constraints, and no amount of evidence of arbitrary and capricious decision making has any importance to his supporters. All that matters is that he will support them, and will not stand in their way. They are finally free to express and act upon their personal agendas that have been blocked for generations. Mary Trump makes it clear that not only her uncle suffers from a long list of psychological disorders, but that these were created by a highly dysfunctional family, especially a father (her grandfather) that shared these traits with his son – resulting in his supporting and promoting the worst of the traits. My conjecture is that he shares a great many of these traits with “his base” – resulting in the apparently empathy with his approach to life.

The family related issues that the Mary Trump discusses as potential “causes” of her uncle’s behavior seem very real to me because I have experienced, or witnessed, most of the problems first hand with my family or those who are close to me – including close friends. I recognize the impacts of ostracizing one’s son while supporting another, as my father did with my brother and me (I was the chosen one, but saw and experienced the damage done to my brother). I recognize what happens when a family decides to provide financial support to one, leaving out others. I have seen, and experienced, many of the problems described in the book – I suspect almost all of have these kinds of dark ghosts in our past. None of these problem are all that unique. Luckily most don’t result in the kinds of deep dysfunction described by Dr. Trump with regard to her uncle Donald Trump. However, I am surprised about how many of my close friends and acquaintances have long term relationships with host of therapists, how many are taking “meds” to moderate the great harm caused during their “domestication” and how many are teetering on emotional collapse. Some are well over 80 years old and still suffering from problems created during early childhood. In most of these cases the problems have “merely” resulted in ruined lives, deep anger and personal anguish that then is repeated for the next generation. The problems described by Dr. Trump aren’t that rare, the problem is that it is happening with an extremely powerful person.

While I can easily understand how Donald got the way he is, the book has helped me have compassion and empathy with his plight, that doesn’t make him a safe choice for someone in the position as the most powerful person in the world. I agree with his niece’s opinion that if he gets back into office it is very likely going to result in the end of democracy in America. Having a better idea of how he got the way that he is, have a better insight into the depth of his dysfunctional behaviors, knowing that he is incapable of understanding much of anything doesn’t make it better – it makes is much, much worse.

The book’s description of some of the events that happened during the month’s before the election reminded me of when Hillery made the comment about the folks that she characterized as a “basket of deplorables,” saying that many of his supporters are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic. My reaction was that perhaps those folks exist, but who would self-align with these characteristics? It turned out that ALL of my neighbors did. They all identified as being part of that group, and were mad as hell that there were being scolded for their positions on these topics. Soon after Hillary made that statement I went to a neighborhood party (perhaps a birthday party or something, I don’t recall right now). Everyone was focused on these phrase, not in what I would have expected by denying their inclusion in this group, they agreed with her characterization but were angry that she had the temerity to judge their beliefs as somehow “bad.” It quickly got the point where I had to excuse myself from the gathering because I refused to join in with agreeing that I was also racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic. I was seriously concerned that I was in danger by being in that group of “friends”.

The author states that “His (Donald’s) pathologies have rendered him so simple-minded that it takes nothing more than repeating to him the things he says to and about himself dozens of times a day – he’s the smartest, the greatest, the best – to get him to do whatever they (smarter, more powerful men) want, whether it’s imprisoning children in concentration camps, betraying allies, implementing economy-crushing tax cuts, or degrading every institution that’s contributed to the United State’s rise and the flourishing of liberal democracy.” Toward the end of the book, Dr. Trump seems to catch the essence of the situation with this description, “Every time you hear Donald talking about how something is the greatest, the best, the biggest, the most tremendous (the implication being that he made them so), you have to remember that the man speaking is still, in essential ways, the same little boy who is desperately worried that he, like his older brother, is inadequate and that he, too, will be destroyed for his inadequacy. At a very deep level, his bragging and false bravado are not directed at the audience in front of him but at his audience of one: his long-dead father.”

A couple of weeks ago my neighbor put the book “Kochland – the Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America” in my newspaper box. We are still being careful to stay isolated during the pandemic, so mostly communicate electronically and share things using this method of putting the item in a designated spot. We tend to share books that are designed to “get under our skins” – such as this one. I immediately knew that this is one of “those” books by the subtle graphics on the cover – Giant black block text on a bright yellow background! The cover makes it have the “look and feel” of junk literature like is displayed at the check-out counters in grocery stores. Normally I would skip over something so garish, but since it is an offering from my neighbor I decided to read it.

I found the story to be rather intriguing. The first 7/8 of the book described a ruthless but principled adherence to the “free market” tradition in America. According to the book, the Koch brothers have an extremely sharp focus on maximizing profits and power. They have figured out how to make vast amounts of money off of investments that others either didn’t notice, or weren’t in the place to take advantage of. The story is very much about maximizing profits by optimizing efficiency. That seems like a good thing, and they have been very successful. They did this by being flexible, and looking into long term opportunities rather than quick turn-around deals. Rather than sell off assets of newly acquired businesses, they invested heavily to bring things up to snuff. Rather than attempt to “get by” on regulations such as EPA or OSHA requirements, they enforced a policy of 100% compliance.

They had their share of problems, and more than their share of successes.

However, toward the last part of the book the story takes a dramatic turn to what I consider the “sinister” aspects of the Koch brothers that have become evident since around the time that Obama took office, and that has escalated ever since. For the past 60 or 70 years their guiding philosophy with regard with the role of government is that there should be no role. In their stated opinions, anything that the government does can only turn out to be bad. Bad for industry and bad for everyone else. At around the year 2010 they seem to have decided to use their great wealth to do whatever they can to achieve this philosophy – doing whatever they can to destroy and eliminate government and the regulations that come with it.

I found this to be quite thought provoking. They seem to have embraced “the American Dream” using the approaches espoused by the “brains” in universities. They found that the techniques work – but it is clear that they work in an extremely heartless way that only results in wealth and power for the business enterprise, without consideration to collateral damage to individuals or Society. They managed to garner great wealth, but they also seem to have left a great swath of destruction behind them – not the least is caused by their insistence that green house gases are not a problem, and that the global warming is hoax. They have pushed this so hard, for so long, in so many different ways that we are in a very real existential threat because of lack of belief and inaction. The Kocks are a major reason why we have been unable to settle down and do what is necessary to prevent the likely highly destructive future. They got theirs, now the future can get whatever is left.

Now they are wielding their wealth and power to transform the American way of politics and with it the American way of life. So now we all have a major problem on our hands. How do we manage our financial and power systems in ways that benefit all, and how do we prevent wealthy individuals and corporations from destroying the “American Experiment?” It looks to me like the experiment is being pushed toward failure by a few people that managed to accumulate great wealth are dead set upon getting it their way. My final opinion is that the “American Way” will always fail unless it has sufficient controls. Uncontrolled growth, uncontrolled monopolies, and uncontrolled greed will keep popping up “winners” who get all of the marbles, usually from “accidents” and situations that come about in an almost random way. Sometimes these random events result in “success” – resulting in the lucky ones thinking that they were the cause of their success. Therefore they come to believe that they are all knowing and all powerful.

by Emily Levesque

The subtitle of this book, “The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers”, fails to do justice to what is actually contained in the book. Yes, it has a lot of fun and interesting stories about astronomers – including some really nice descriptions of some of the more difficult to comprehend parts of astronomy – but for me the book something that I have never read before. It gives a glimpse of what it “feels” like to be a scientist in general, and specifically an astronomer.

Over the years of working around “high tech”, big science, projects one of the things that always amazes me is the “feeling” of the place. There is something about big machines humming in the background, pure energy and potential. There is also usually an odd feeling of disjointedness, of being in some kind of “other world” where time is different, the smells are different, and the people are a special “bred” of their own. Dr. Leveque nails it with her description of boredom, excitement, exhaustion, enduring discomfort but enjoying every minute of it. I don’t know how to describe what she does – but she manages to bring humanity into her interesting (and fun) stories. It isn’t just about the people and equipment involved in the explorations, it is also about the people put in ways that I could “feel” as if I was there.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it reminded me why science is so much fun, why it feels so important, and what the people behind the headlines are doing and experiencing. I guess I can relate as a fellow “science nerd” – even though I don’t actually do any science.

Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz

As a long time reader of don Miguel Ruiz’s books, I have been avoiding this one because I made the assumption that I knew what it was about – and therefore it would end up being a waste of time to read it. For those that might not be aware of his writings, one of the most popular of his books was “The Four Agreements.” I assumed that somewhere along the line he realized that while the four are important, he neglected to include one more.

The four agreements that he discussed were:
– Be impeccable with your word;
– Don’t take anything personally;
– Don’t make assumptions;
– Always do your best.

The fifth agreement is:
– Be skeptical, but learn to listen.

the first four of these are almost easy to understand, but quite challenging to bring into your life. As usual, I assumed the fifth agreement was going to be similarly “obvious” but difficult to live. It turned out that this new book is very different from what I expected. For one, the first half of the book is a restating of the four agreements in a way that is quite different from the original. The book The Four Agreements makes use of a lot of allegories and metaphors in presenting the ideas. I found them to be impactful, but far from obvious. I had listened to don Miguel in person describing the ideas behind the “agreements” so was somewhat prepared to interpret the meanings behind the allegories. Over the years, I have had many people ask me to help them understand the meanings behind the stories. The discussions in The Fifth Agreement don’t depend upon the allegories and metaphors. The discussions are much closer to how I have been attempting to explain the concepts using clear straightforward explanations. Perhaps they are only “clearer” to me because I have been attempting to understand the concepts and integrate them into my life for the past 15 years or so. Maybe they are only clearer to me because they align with what I had come to understand. In any case, the duplication was not wasted, both styles of presentation have much value and seem to enhance each other.

The second half of the book was devoted to the ideas embodied in the rather simple statement of being skeptical but learning to listen. My first level of interpreting this had to do with being skeptical about what I hear, read, or see because it is likely to be far from “the truth” – but to continue to engage because it is likely to contain much that is true. This is a pretty straightforward idea. Given the source of the statement, I also assumed that it includes paying attention to myself – be skeptical about what I am telling myself, but listen because there is almost certainly a lot of “truth” and important information in my personal story (dream).

While all of this is in fact included in the book, there is a much deeper and more interesting thread running through it. There is a big idea about how we create and use symbols (letters, words, objects, pictures, etc) when engaging with the world. I think the general idea is that we create our “knowledge” out of symbols, and we understand that knowledge based upon manipulating the symbols (including talking to ourselves in our own head). But – since that knowledge is only based upon symbols used to represent “the truth” it is not the truth. There is a truth of who we are, but it is not contained in our knowledge represented by these symbols.

I don’t think this is the place to expand further upon these ideas, afterall it took don Miguel and his son over 200 pages to describe the ideas. I can’t possibly do them justice in a few lines. However, I can recommend exploring these two small books if you are interested in getting to know yourself better, and to find ways to live your life with more peace, joy and happiness. These little books contain ways to make amazing transformations in your life and happiness.

The little book about the Vandevert ranch is the type of little books to be found in small towns across America. They are found for sale on the counters of small grocery stores, hardware stores, fishing tackle stores and bait shops – local stories written by local folks (usually older people) to capture some of their family history and local “color” in stories of the past. This one is one of those little books about the Vandevert ranch near Bend Oregon. The stories, told as a journal, start at 1892 when “the family” first settled in Oregon, and becomes personal reminiscences of the author starting around 1934 when she was five years old. Much of the book is very specific to family history, detailing birthdays, deaths, jobs and whatnot of the individual family members. This is important and interesting for the intended audience (the family), but of little meaning for those of us that are “accidentally” looking in from the outside. However, there are still many interesting “gems” about ranching, shopping and schooling in that era. There is also an interesting section concerning the army’s activities during WWII. Apparently Bend was the headquarters of the Western branch of the Army Corps of Engineers training activities. This resulted in something like 100,000 men “invading” the local community. These weren’t all there at the same time, but rather came in waves of new recruits learning their new profession as Army engineers.

https://tubitv.com/movies/547706/another-country


My friend that I traveled with in Australia told me to find a way to watch Another County by David Gulpilil.  Here is a link to a free version (with some rather annoying ads in the middle of it).

The story, people and scenes are absolutely true from what I experienced when I visited my friend for a month in Kowanyama on Cape York, north eastern Australia.  It could be the same place except that it clearly is not – so I guess this is what you might call “typical”. This documentary is not overplaying the problems, or apparently trying to pull tears and sympathy, it is just telling the story as it is. Actually, if anything it has downplayed the full scope of the problem. We have similar problems in America, with the Native Americans, blacks, browns, poor, disenfranchised, a LOT of groups – all of which are hurting through no fault of their own.

As I watched it I found that I was falling in love with these people all over again!  Such truly authentic and loving people, trapped in a cycle of hell on earth.  If I had a lifetime to run it all over again, I would want to be with these folks – even though they are having an extremely difficult time with the white fella. This is why the “first peoples” on Cape York (and beyond) are connecting with global partners, such as some native Americans from up by Seattle.  They are sharing experiences, problems and approaches for finding some kind of good solution.

I found that watching this movie got me to wondering about the whole role of “culture” with regard to our understanding of the world. I of course think that my view of the world is the “real” one, not only do I think it is the real one, but I don’t even know how to question it. There are no “edges” that I can peak under to see if there is a different one that is just as complete, compelling and “obvious” as my view. I spend a lot of time trying to do that but it seems that I am actually just trying to fit what I observe into my vision of the possible scope of “sane” options that still fits into my world. It is obvious that there a great range within my “universe” but everything I see or think about is within that universe. However, while watching this movie I began to question if perhaps they are in some important way inhabiting a very different universe, not just at the extreme edges of mine, but maybe someplace all together different.

If you have a little time you might find it interesting.

Charlie

A true story of two teenagers and the crime that changed their lives.

The 57 Bus is an extremely thought provoking look into a lot of co-emerging issues causing much confusion and angst in these days of LGBTQ (or whatever it is today), BLM, restorative justice, hate crimes and all that seems to keep sweeping over us these days, while we hunker down hiding from the pandemic.

The story takes place in “less affluent” parts of Oakland, California starting at about the year 2000. The book ends in 2016 without an “ending”, but since this is a true story it clearly continues on into the future. The book is about the lives and challenges of many living not just in the community of Oakland, but in the world at large today with our growing recognition that “gender identity” is much broader than man, woman, gay, lesbian – rather there are dozens of categories, perhaps so many that each person (such as you and me) are different enough that we are all part of an extended continuum rather than discrete categories. I found myself wondering what the big deal is, we are whoever we are and that is just fine. However, obviously it is not such an easy transition for “society” to make the jump from the world being made up of “normal” (man/woman) people, and “those others” (usually thinking of gay/lesbian) people. Now the lid is being removed and we are seeing that there are just people trying to be happy, joyful, comfortable, loving, and included. In addition to being somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum, several of the people in the book are on some part of “the spectrum” (the autism spectrum that goes from very disturbed to mildly eccentric). All of this plays out in high schools in the middle of a black/brown community ravaged by drugs, violence, poverty and broken homes – where three-strikes and you are out is much of the marching orders for law enforcement and the DA’s office.

While the mix of terrible problems and injustices would seem to result in a rather depressing and anger producing book, the author does a great job of putting it all into a perspective that while is truthful, brought me in enough so it felt like I could “look around” from the inside out, rather than just from the outside in. Things make a lot more sense that way, and in this case there appear to be some shining lights that might point toward a more just and less violent future. In one of the chapters the author touches upon the concept of “restorative justice” as a means for providing justice and closure for the victims of crime, but help the perpetrator(s) and society improve rather then merely punishing the perpetrator. It is an interesting, and apparently powerful, tool for working toward a more just and functional society.

While this book is just a story of events happening to a few select people, it is written in a way that invites the reader to think more deeply about their roles in all of this, and in perhaps getting a bit more compassion to those that find themselves entwined in a difficult and dangerous society.