#CO3 – RJsCorner

My Bucket List – I Hope I Live Long Enough…

August 9, 2019August 8, 2019RJ Walters

I know some of you don’t like the idea of a bucket list, but I am kinda fascinated by them. Some of the things on my bucket list are more symbolic than others. But, I thought I would add my bucket list to this blog via the My Life & Times category here at RJsCorner. Here is the first installment:

I hope I live long enough to see Andy Jackson taken off the $20 bill.

If you do a search for “Andy Jackson” at RJsCorner you will pretty quickly find that he is no hero of mine. Up to the last two years he was in serious contention for the #1 worst president, but of course that quickly changed on January 20, 2017. Now he and Andrew Johnson vie for the number two spot. Two “Andrew”s, humm… interesting…

When Obama was president he put plans in place to take Jackson’s picture off the bill, but when the current Oval Office Occupant (#CO3) came in that plan was quickly squashed. Since then #CO3 has made it his life’s purpose to erase everything President Obama accomplished. Getting back on topic, it seems that #CO3 thinks of himself as the 21century version of Jackson, and he could be right about that. They are both braggarts, narcissists, racists, dividers, and many other like terms.

I don’t know how long it will take to get Jackson off the twenty dollar bill, but I suspect the next president will make it happen pretty quickly. The question is, will I live long enough to actually have one in my hand? 🙂

The Psychology of Insults

January 21, 2019January 20, 2019RJ Walters

You would not believe the number of things that come up if you google the word “insult”! They cover a myriad of topics about that word. And of course, you shouldn’t be surprised that they often mention the current Oval Office occupant #CO3. He does have the art of insult down to a T.

Many sources found from the search cover the psychology of insult. I imagine that Insult psychology has become a specialty degree now. Some other search results tell you how to react when you have been insulted. The Steve Job’s example of how to respond was covered in great detail. Some try to explain why people insult others. That seem to mostly involve insecurity and low self-esteem issues. That makes sense.

It is unfathomable to me how #CO3 managed to insult his way through dozens of others to get to the Oval Office. It is even more unbelievable how he maintains his base that way. The more he insults and lies the more they seem to support him. What kind of people are they???

Given the possibility, however remote it is, that #CO3 should survive until the coming political season, it will be surreal. I can imagine that the supply of “Insult psychologists” will be drastically below the demand. Any serious candidate would never even get involved in the coming madness without one on his or her permanent staff.

One of the ways the experts say to deal with insults is to just ignore them. Elizabeth Warren and several other recipients of recent tweet rants are already doing that. After all, the “Tweeter-in-chief’s primary objective behind his rants is to encourage reprisal. If he doesn’t get it, he will perceive the absence as a failure.

Benefit Of The Doubt… Wrong!!

October 31, 2018October 27, 2018RJ Walters

There are many people who I have come across in my life that I give the benefit of the doubt to what they say. For those who might be a little fuzzy on that term, here is an explanation:

Even though I am a skeptic at heart I trust them to be telling me the truth. For the most part, they have earned my respect by their previous actions. One person who has had the exact opposite effect on me is the current Oval Office occupant (#CO3). My modus operandi for him is to take whatever he says as being false until it is proven to be true. I have been critical of past presidents but never to the degree of this one.

Part of my distrust and maybe even animosity toward #CO3 is my personal association with another extreme narcissist who was for limited times in my life my mother. Even at a young age, I realized that she often said things that I knew to be not true. Most of her lies, like #CO3’s, centered around making herself the center of attention. I also came to realize later in life that she probably believed the lies she was telling. I also came to realize that much of this was due to an inferiority complex. She claimed she was a nurse even though she never likely graduated from high school. Later in life being a nurse was not enough, she then claimed to be a doctor.

From these experiences, I have come to have a deep distrust of anything #CO3 says. I realize that when the attention is taken away from him he will do anything to get it back. Absolutely everything HAS to be about him. How we ever allowed such a person to occupy the highest office in the land is totally shocking to me!

I only pray that the coming election stifles any further damage he is doing to our democracy. Let him rule during his last two years if he is not impeached before then with strong checks and balances from the legislative branch.

Proud Beta Male, MeToo…

October 5, 2018October 5, 2018RJ Walters

I have to give you a quote from one of my most recent regular reads in the blogsphere. It is from John Pavlovitz. He is a North Carolina pastor who speaks to my heart. Here is the snippet for discussion in Today’s post. It is about a Trumpster who tried to insult him by calling him a beta-male (as opposed to an alpha-male I suppose):

Source: Confessions of a Proud Beta Male

Evidentally #CO3 has been using this term in his rallies/self-adoration sessions. He intends it to be an insult/putdown but it seems that many are now proudly taking up that mantle. I am one of them, I now call myself a Beta-Male.

I guess to him and his base it means that you are not an alpha-male:

You are not a take-charge guy who has to dominate every situation.
You are not a guy who proudly boasts of his conquest over others, especially females, and proudly proclaim the things you can do to them with complete immunity.
You are not a guy who strikes back in anger when you feel even a slight bit challenged.
You are not a guy thumping your chest and proclaiming yourself superior and vastly more intelligent than others.
You are not a guy who berates and mocks those you have decided are your enemies.
You are not a guy who primarily makes decisions with gut feelings as opposed to studying the situation to make an informed choice.

I, like Pastor Pavlovitz, proudly proclaim that I am a beta-male. Thank you #CO3 for painting me as very different from you and so many of your base. I will proudly wear the mantle you perceive as a smear.

I am a proud beta-male

#CO3 = Current Oval Office Occupant

Because She Is Good…

September 12, 2018September 11, 2018RJ Walters

America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. — Alexis de Tocqueville

It has been a while since I last read “Democracy in America by de Tocqueville. I think his book written almost two centuries ago is as important in learning where we in America have been and where we are going as any on my bookshelf. I put a small bio here for those who don’t know about him. I have read this book at least a half dozen times.

The quote above was written in the early 1800s but at least until recently we have for the most part been “good”. Have we been perfect? Of course not, but at least we have strived to be good. I hope that after the current period plays out we can return to a degree of civility, truthfulness, and empathy as a country. But, will we ever be deemed “great” again? That is the question of the day.

While our present government has shunned its responsibility to lead the way, much of the rest of the world continues without us. It is becoming more obvious as each year passes that global warming is a fact of life. Those who argue otherwise must be part of the flat-earth society. 🙂 Sadly, with #CO3 in office, we have lost our leadership role in fighting climate change. He says coal is the answer! How archaic… and ignorant.

But not to worry Europe and pretty much the rest of the world is jumping at the chance to become the new world leaders in this and many other areas. Does it matter that the US is losing its dominant role in the world? I kinda think there might be some good even come out of that fact.

#CO3 = Current Oval Office Occupant

America’s Form Of Capitalism…

August 27, 2018August 28, 2018RJ Walters

This post is about the question “Is America’s form of capitalism being pushed aside?” Is the world moving beyond the American definition? Some might say the Capitalism as it exists in America is “The rich get richer, and nothing else matters…

“What happens when a society reinvests the gains from industrialization into things like healthcare, education, and so forth? Well, it’s economy changes — radically. You see, the American economy is still 75% consumption — McMansions, SUVs, designer jeans, and so forth. The problem is that 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They can’t afford those things anymore. But if America had invested in public goods, then the economy would be made less of consumption, and more of investment.

Source: How to Think About the World After Capitalism – Eudaimonia and Co

I like to blame all of our problems on #CO3 but I recognize that our “consumption” problems are ingrained in our capitalist system. The “rich get richer” and “survival of the fittest” is a dominant part of our version.

Our version of capitalism will likely change in the coming years. One path will be divorcing ourselves from the rest of the world. Going it alone. Another path is that our capitalist system may morph into the version practiced by Western Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada as cited in the source article.

So, what is the basic difference? These countries practice what some may call social democracy. They give all their citizens what they see as inalienable rights. They include healthcare, education, transportation, and retirement. Because these rights are endemic in their version of capitalism they divorce themselves from the “survival of the fittest mentality”. I think we have some things to learn from them in that and many other regards.

#CO3 = Current Oval Office occupant

Vote Independent … But Maybe Not This Time

July 30, 2018July 29, 2018RJ Walters

I am very serious about trying to wrestle control of our political processes from the two dominant parties. I am convinced that they are just too entwined in battling each other to be focusing on what is good for those who they represent. Adding another political party is critical to changing things. BUT, maybe not this time around.

There is one thing that should drive everything else in the political sphere in the coming election and that is to prevent #CO3 from doing any more damage to the democracies of the world. To do that Congress must be delivered to a party opposed to his madness. I would love to think that there are enough independents running for office to do that but I am for this election very skeptical of that possibility.

So, for the coming elections, I will be voting Democratic. There just seems to be no one in the Republican party who has the courage to stand up to the executive branch. They all are deathly afraid that the fringe who put the extreme narcissist in office might turn against them out if they voice a contrary opinion to #CO3. The only Republicans who are brave enough are the ones that are not running for re-election or are dying.

So, I will be taking off my third party hat temporarily to effect immediate change in the direction our country is headed. Maybe it is too little too late but I have to try.

Don’t Give In To The Fear…

July 19, 2018July 19, 2018RJ Walters

Fear of this or that is so prominent in our American society right now. A substantial minority on the right fringe of our political system has made fear a foundation of their lives. But the most tragic thing is that those on the rest of the political spectrum have allowed the rather thin minority’s fear to convince us that all hope is lost!

I know, 81% of white evangelicals voted for #CO3 because they fear what America is becoming. They can see that they will soon no longer have the dominant role in our country’s future and that scares the hell out of them. Many in this category are racists by nature and upbringing and just can’t fathom a country where “those other people” have the same leverage as they do.

This 81% make up less than one-in-five voters in this country and due to the rest of us not taking our responsibility to vote seriously enough, they managed to put a racist and totally unqualified narcissist temporarily in control. Instead of surrendering to the Evangelical fear we need to be gearing up to do everything necessary to take our country back. That effort starts this November and is finalized twenty-four months later.

So, the primary message of this post is that all you folks who have let the right fringes’ fear traumatize you quit the pity party and recognize how this happened. If we do that, we will look back at these times as when we let a radical fringe temporarily take command. Hopefully, this is a lesson we don’t have to learn again anytime in the future.

#CO3 – Current Oval Office Occupant