Ok. So my mother is out of the hospital and in a rehab / nursing home facility that is far more private and amenable to her longterm needs than the assisted living facility she was in before. The only problem is, because the deed to her house was in her name, Maryland — and the new facility — are showing her to be in the black to the tune of over $150K. Therefore, though she’s penniless, she’s not eligible for financial assistance; which is to say, because my brother had legal power of attorney at the time of the sale, any money he took is considered a “gift” to him from my mother — at least in the eyes of the state.
I’ve sent the facility copies of the legal paperwork and put them in touch with both the Detective working the case on the Baltimore end, the lawyer I retained in FL, and have sent them documentation showing that my mother was not at the house closing and that my brother had the money wired to a joint account he’d set up for he and my mother (which she didn’t know of) that is still active, though my mother’s name has been removed from the account, making it impossible for us to close it or even know what exactly is in it. So they are reviewing all that and hopefully will work with us.
I note this here knowing that my brother — who followed me on Twitter (he still keeps the risible and embarrassing “goldie” in his name) — is likely to find out what exactly is going on. He’s been calling my mother trying to get her to sign documents refusing to press charges; problem is, if she feels sorry for him and does as he asks — he’s clearly beginning to understand that I’m not fucking around — she won’t be eligible for any financial assistance and will have to move out of the new facility, which she really likes and needs.
On the law enforcement end subpoenas for financial records are in the works. On the civil end, constructive trust and lien applications have been filed.
I’ll be heading back to Baltimore with the wife and kids to visit my mother later this month, from the 23rd-26th. I’d like to send out a special thanks to JR, who was able to help us out with some frequent flyer points, which takes some of the financial stress off of us (tickets around Thanksgiving are expensive, but that’s the only time Satch is out of school).
Thanks, also, to RI Red for his recent contribution.
Beyond that, we’re just taking it day by day. I’m still coaching wrestling — I leave in about an hour or so for practice, and our second tournament of the year is this Saturday, which we have to leave for at 6:30 am — and I look forward to it as a distraction, even though my own health hasn’t been great recently.
Oh. And Satchel took first place in the first tournament of the year last weekend at our home gym, going 5-0 with 2 pins, wrestling up to 62 at 54.3 lbs. So he got to go to grab a nice chicken sandwich at the southern chain of homo hate.
Which was nice.
updated update to the updated update: Thanks nr and Daniel K for your contributions!
if she feels sorry for him
The #1 method that sociopaths use to manipulate others is make the mark feel pity for the sociopath. You’d think it was intimidation (to which they resort when pity doesn’t work) but because most people are basically decent, sociopaths find that affecting a hang-dog mien has the best ROI.
Which means that sociopaths can almost always play their mothers like cheap violins. Of all the people they should be decent to…
good luck satch
Keep on Truckin’!
Huh. Guilt and intimidation. Sounds like liberalism.
Given the potential of charges of grand theft (or is it “embezzlement”?), wouldn’t your brother’s attempts to pressure your mother — to wit, the victim of the crime under discussion — to sign paperwork claiming to refuse to press charges result in an additional charge of interfering with a victim/witness to a crime? (That latter charge is a felony in most jurisdictions, regardless of the criminal level of the original charge, AFAIK.)
Something to ask about, at any rate, and since he has lost power of attorney, he cannot claim that status when making the phone calls, and he would therefore have no expectation of privacy, nor any statutory protection (such as that between attorney and client, priest and parishioner, spouses, etc.): I would suggest that a recording be made of any ongoing telephone calls. I would check with an attorney about this, but since the two ends of the conversation are in different States (even though both Maryland and Florida are “two-party” States), the call DOES cross State lines, therefore Federal Law would cover it, and Federal Law only requires one-party consent to record a telephone conversation, State Law to the contrary notwithstanding.
Hang in there Jeff, and best wishes to you and your family (excluding that one who resides in central Florida, living on misappropriated funds, results of which in the long run will likely find him spending Friday nights with Jamal and Bruno in Cell Block 17, squealing like the pig that he is for years to come. Even the goldiest of pigs gotta pay their tabs eventually.. ) .
i had chik fil a for breakfast
i took the brown and then it turned into the orange so i got off and caught the next brown and it took me to state & lake where I went down to the street and got my tasty chicken biscuit sammich and one for my doughty co-worker D
the cows are so pleased with Jeff and ‘feets
Did anyone else hear the theme to “The Bob Newhart” show when happyfeet described his trek?
[now with more update!]
Does this mean we’re not going to get an “Updated update updated” post?
‘Cause I was looking forward to that title.
– Video #5, where Super Grubman ‘the stupider of Nottinham’ disses his critics because Progressives turn out to be pussies when you get in their face.
> small lander that touched down on the comet on Wednesday would have enough battery power to phone its findings back to Earth 500 million km (300 million miles) away…..After a 10-year flight, Rosetta arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August<
link
1 light year =
5.87849981 × 10^12 miles . you may need warp speed in the future.
I was sure it could get there in less than 12 parsecs.
1 light year = 5.87849981
Significant figures
Oh hey, this is post 55555.
Also, I just listened to a bit of Prager today and he had Santorum on, who is pushing some big petition thing telling POTUS to not do the pen/phone thing with amnesty.
“We need to let the president know how many of us don’t want this,” he said. Dennis also encouraged people to sign the petition.
Alec Guinness pulled out his ratty copy of the Geneva Conventions and showed the Japanese commander where the prison camp was in violation. That camp by the river Kwai.
Holy cow, Salem Radio Network is behind the curve. Not only did they back McConnell over Bevin, they actually think Obama gives a rip about vox populi.
::despairs::
Not sure you can classify Goldidoxed as a full-on sociopath, Di, unless there’s an entry-level grade on the scale. What this hedonistic little fellow’s done is as a pure feed-my-narcissism-now! level moron; he’s an endless summer beach bum who never grows up, and for the life of him he can’t understand why anyone would view his self-serving actions as anything but justified.
He’s the sort who can push around his own mother for to fund his endless party life. Her end justifies his means. Unfortunately for his family, his intellectual capacity isn’t at a level that allows for soul-searching self-analysis.
A longtime doper with a very shrunken brain is my guess. Party ON!
hi rick and other gop losers
>THE CLASH LYRICS
“Clampdown”
Hey, hey!
Ooh!
The kingdom is ransacked
the jewels all taken back
and the chopper descends
they’re hidden in the back
with a message on a half-baked tape
with the spool going round
saying I’m back here in this place
and I could cry
and there’s smoke you could click on
What are we gonna do now?
Taking off his turban, they said, is this man a Jew?
‘Cause they’re working for the clampdown
They put up a poster saying we earn more than you!
When we’re working for the clampdown
We will teach our twisted speech
To the young believers
We will train our blue-eyed men
To be young believers
The judge said five to ten, but I say double that again
I’m not working for the clampdown
No man born with a living soul
Can be working for the clampdown
Kick over the wall ’cause government’s to fall
How can you refuse it?
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D’you know that you can use it?
The voices in your head are calling
Stop wasting your time, there’s nothing coming
Only a fool would think someone could save you
The men at the factory are old and cunning
You don’t owe nothing, so boy get running
It’s the best years of your life they want to steal
You grow up and you calm down
You’re working for the clampdown
You start wearing the blue and brown
You’re working for the clampdown
So you got someone to boss around
It makes you feel big now
You drift until you brutalize
You made your first kill now
In these days of evil presidentes
Working for the clampdown
But lately one or two has fully paid their due
For working for the clampdown
Ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!
Working for the clampdown
Ha! Gitalong! Gitalong!
Working for the clampdown
Yeah I’m working hard in Harrisburg
Working hard in Petersburg<
link
Not sure you can classify Goldidoxed as a full-on sociopath, Di, unless there’s an entry-level grade on the scale.
So if, as a kid, he blew up frogs or tortured cats or watched his friend drown without doing anything, because he just wanted to see what it looked like?
Yes, there needs to be more than just this incident.
>deology is a specious way of relating to the world. It offers human beings the illusion of an identity, of dignity, and of morality while making it easier for them to part with them. As the repository of something suprapersonal and objective, it enables people to deceive their conscience and conceal their true position and their inglorious modus vivendi, both from the world and from themselves. It is a very pragmatic but, at the same time, an apparently dignified way of legitimizing what is above, below, and on either side. It is directed toward people and toward God. It is a veil behind which human beings can hide their own fallen existence, their trivialization, and their adaptation to the status quo. It is an excuse that everyone can use, from the greengrocer, who conceals his fear of losing his job behind an alleged interest in the unification of the workers of the world, to the highest functionary, whose interest in staying in power can be cloaked in phrases about service to the working class. The primary excusatory function of ideology, therefore, is to provide people, both as victims and pillars of the post-totalitarian system, with the illusion that the system is in harmony with the human order and the order of the universe. . . .
{9}The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, <
link
If at one end of the sociopath scale we find little Goldie, the other end is fictional Dr. “I’m having an old friend for dinner” Lecter. An endlessly fascinating character, really.
>Thus the power structure, through the agency of those who carry out the sanctions, those anonymous components of the system, will spew the greengrocer from its mouth. The system, through its alienating presence in people, will punish him for his rebellion. It must do so because the logic of its automatism and self-defense dictate it. The greengrocer has not committed a simple, individual offense, isolated in its own uniqueness, but something incomparably more serious. By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. He has exposed it as a mere game. He has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has upset the power structure by tearing apart what holds it together. He has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has broken through the exalted facade of the system and exposed the real, base foundations of power. He has said that the emperor is naked. And because the emperor is in fact naked, something extremely dangerous has happened: by his action, the greengrocer has addressed the world. He has enabled everyone to peer behind the curtain. He has shown everyone that it is possible to live within the truth. Living within the lie can constitute the system only if it is universal. The principle must embrace and permeate everything. There are no terms whatsoever on which it can co-exist with living within the truth, and therefore everyone who steps out of line denies it in principle and threatens it in its entirety. <
hi doc gruber
@10:08 more havel
HansJon Gruber’s fascination with and delight at finding ways to do an end-run around the will of the electorate is also sociopathic behavior, though I’d have to know more about his behavior to peg him in that hole.The guy who dug up the Gruber vids says that Gruber seems like a nice guy, with a family and kids and stuff.
Which, that doesn’t rule out sociopathy: those four-percenters are often charming and engaging and are tremendously good at using spouse and kids as camouflage.
Towering narcissism also could explain his behavior as well, though such narcissism can be acquired by spending too long absorbing the accolades of academe.
To be fair about the subject of cat torturing, my cats consider running the shower or not sharing pork ribs with them to be forms of torture, not to mention taking them to the vet in a crate after what I call “the struggle”. And they sometimes take BITES out of each other.
The Brown Line enters the Loop at Wells/Lake, circling the circuit counterclockwise on the outer track, before heading back out (northwest) to Kimball/Lawrence.
The Orange Line enters at Wabash/Van Buren, thence clockwise on the inner track and on back out (southwest) to Midway Airport.
One doesn’t turn into the other. For those of you scoring at home.
Newhart? Not quite.
Isn’t this one of those traits where narcissism and sociopathy overlap?
Some high-functioning sociopaths may be able to understand the “why,” but Goldie doesn’t strike me as on the same plane as, say, Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes.
Cat torturing is 3 minutes late serving tasty turtle soups.
Goldie doesn’t strike me as rising above the level my cat burys crap in a litter box.
Some high-functioning sociopaths may be able to understand the “why,” but Goldie doesn’t strike me as on the same plane as, say, Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes.
A fictional character is not a good model for studying a psychological phenomenon, because the writers aren’t trying to present a case study but rather use the sociopathy to make an interesting character. Same with Hannibal Lecter. Story first, accuracy second.
They add sociopathic behavior, such as when Sherlock pretends to be that chick’s boyfriend to get some information, but a real Sherlock would not have any degree of appreciation for Watson’s decency; rather, he’d see it as a weakness and a prime means of manipulating Watson. Which he’d do for fun, not to obtain information.
Bernie Madoff and Saul Alinsky are good case studies of high-functioning sociopaths. In this book that I read (recently, as you can plainly see), the more self-aware sociopaths see their lack of scruples as a gift, because it allows them to do what they want without nonsensical constraints. (They are also unable to form social bonds and they need constant stimulation, so none of us should envy their “freedom.”)
The book also says that sociopathy doesn’t correlate to IQ or talent or anything else, so the low-talent, stupid sociopaths tend to be first-class parasites whereas the higher-functioning ones spend their lives looking for excitement, which often consists in manipulating other people to spectacular effect. Most con artists are sociopaths (except in Nigeria, where they’re just plain thieves).
Gruber strikes me as a sociopath because of his delight in finding ways to game the populace and the system. Many of his enablers are likewise sociopaths, but other are just plain evil or deluded or whatever.
nonono Mr. guins the brown turns into the orange – rarely – but for reals it happens and this rare and special phenomenon has been documented
so if it ever happens to you DO NOT PANIC
just get off and wait for the next brown train
everything will be ok and you’ll still get your chik fil a
I’m seeing Goldie as an overgrown kid more desperate to maintain his good times rock’n’roll lifestyle past it’s expiration date, using increasingly heavy-handed tactics (calling, then shouting and cursing are impromptu acts of drunks and/or stupids who are desperate and clueless) than a lifelong practiced sociopath.
Don’t credit this little fellow with anything more than garden-variety ill-thought buffoonery gone awry.
‘feets, you seem to have chosen the best time of year to arrive in Chicago. Why, it won’t even get cold until mid-January! You can walk barefeets, trippin’ in the tulips for weeks yet!
is gloomy but so beautiful still
than a lifelong practiced sociopath.
Sociopathy is something you’re born with, not learned. Jeff would know if the kid has displayed soulless indifference and exploitation from the off.
I mean, is it really mere buffoonery to not give a rip about your stage-4 cancerous mother? That goes way past ill manners: it’s indicative of something terribly wrong.
Unless he’s a full-time doped-up addict, I’m looking at something past beach-bum stupidity.
Only Jeff and other members of his family can possibly know what and who Goldie is.
Question: Does any of this speculation about our friend’s brother help or hurt our friend?
Bob
I don’t think it would hurt. From my own personal POV is that coming to an understanding on what a person really is helps in coming to the final realization that no matter what you do, the other person is never going to change.
Then you can just move on without any expectations that if you just did >>this< < or >>that<< differently the outcome would be different.
Heh, Bob. I’m trying to give the guy a break of sorts. If he can use the excuse “…drugs just recently shrunk my brain, I’ve been a good person until those dratted kids passed me a joint!”, then long-term stigma is lifted.
Either way, sociopath or left the path, won’t matter to Jamal and Bruno.
Heh, Bob. I’m trying to give the guy a break of sorts.
Why?
Anyone who engages in such egregious elder abuse deserves to be pronounced a sociopath first, then make him prove otherwise.
Giving people like that the benefit of the doubt only prolongs the problem. The more you try to appeal to their sense of decency instead of dropping a load of bricks on them, the more time you waste and the more damage you do.
If you’re dealing with an addict, you react one way; if a sociopath, another; if a narcissist, slightly another. (Narcissists can be manipulated by carefully appealing to their grandiosity.)
Like Darleen says, if you know what you’re dealing with, you know how to deal with it.
If you’re dealing with a sociopath or a hardened narcissist, you can cut that person out of your life completely, with a clear conscience. Otherwise, you’ll just get pulled back in to that person’s abusive appeals to your decency.
And yes, that’s also how you deal with the Left: when they go on Yet Another Wilding over a rocket scientist’s shirt, you know not to address the putative issue (feminism) and address the bullying instead.
I stand corrected.
If You Wanna Get to Heaven (You’ve Got to Ride a Little El)