from Jesse’s Café Américain:

“Learn what is to be taken seriously and laugh at the rest.”

Hermann Hesse

“Narcissism falls along the axis of what psychologists call personality disorders, one of a group that includes antisocial, dependent, histrionic, avoidant and borderline personalities.

But by most measures, narcissism is one of the worst, if only because the narcissists themselves are so clueless.”

Jeffrey Kluger

“Narcissistic personality disorder is named for Narcissus, from Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection. Freud used the term to describe persons who were self-absorbed, and psychoanalysts have focused on the narcissist’s need to bolster his or her self-esteem through grandiose fantasy, exaggerated ambition, exhibitionism, and feelings of entitlement.”

Donald W. Black, DSM-5 Guidebook

The silliness of these markets and those who enable them make me laugh.

The politicians of the day are almost unbelievable— stylized caricatures of human beings.  If you take them out of their Capitol elements they seem out of place, oddities.

 In modern times we call them ‘speaking fees’ and ‘consulting contracts’ and lobbyist positions’ and ‘book deals.’