SECURITY: I do not give out passwords. I have secured my login with 2FA and suggest you do the same.
A random lot of Cuban Chains, and lovely coin Pendant! Wooohoo!
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/5TpiKOH
Trading gold for gold! Gold for cash and gold! Open to bullion, jewelry (chains, pendants, earrings, bracelets). I love fractional AGE’s 🙂 and gold Pandas 🐼! Can cover difference if your trade is more than mine (PayPal, and Venmo ready!).

1. 14K Yellow Gold Miami Cuban Link Chain - Super clean and tight links on this one! Classy piece, that can fit many different occasions! 😎The chain is about 4mm thick, and is 20 1/4” inches long. Weight is scaled at 24.1 grams! $1150 (Trade Only)
   
2. 14K Cuban Curb Link Bracelet - Nice piece that doesn’t weigh too much, or too little. Conservative and clean cuts along the links so it’s not too flashy, but makes a statement. Links are about 6.5mm wide, and is 8 1/2” inches long. Weighs 24.6 grams. $1125 (Trade Or Sale!)
   
3. 1987 Bahamas $100 Coin Pendant in 18K Bezel - Cool back showing Christopher Columbus & Queen Isabella. With a neat ship / dock background. Nice nautical / history piece. Bezel is 18K. Coin is 6.48g and 21K gold (what’s cool is $100 BSD converts to $100 USD!). Total weight with bezel is 7.8 grams. $560 (Trade or Sale!)
   

At time of posting Gold Price: $2386.90
SECURITY: I do not give out passwords. I have secured my login with 2FA and suggest you do the same.
Shipping: $5 flat rate! Everything ships via USPS with tracking. I aim to ship same or next day when possible. Only exceptions are weekends, holidays, and class days (usually Wednesday & Thurs).
Payments: Cash or Venmo! For Venmo (Preferred!) please no notes in comments. Emojis 🤩 are fine!
Last words: I’ve tried to describe everything to the best of my knowledge, if there’s a need for correction please let me know! My weights are approximate on the scale, purities have been tested. Finally, once I ship - liability ends. However, I will always help where I can! Pandas rule the world, secretly.
🐼
SECURITY: I do not give out passwords. I have secured my login with 2FA and suggest you do the same.

A random lot of Cuban Chains, and lovely coin Pendant! Wooohoo!
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/5TpiKOH
Trading gold for gold! Gold for cash and gold! Open to bullion, jewelry (chains, pendants, earrings, bracelets). I love fractional AGE’s 🙂 and gold Pandas 🐼! Can cover difference if your trade is more than mine (PayPal, and Venmo ready!).

1. 14K Yellow Gold Miami Cuban Link Chain - Super clean and tight links on this one! Classy piece, that can fit many different occasions! 😎The chain is about 4mm thick, and is 20 1/4” inches long. Weight is scaled at 24.1 grams! $1150 (Trade Only)
   
2. 14K Cuban Curb Link Bracelet - Nice piece that doesn’t weigh too much, or too little. Conservative and clean cuts along the links so it’s not too flashy, but makes a statement. Links are about 6.5mm wide, and is 8 1/2” inches long. Weighs 24.6 grams. $1135 (Trade Or Sale!)
   
3. 1987 Bahamas $100 Coin Pendant in 18K Bezel - Cool back showing Christopher Columbus & Queen Isabella. With a neat ship / dock background. Nice nautical / history piece. Bezel is 18K. Coin is 6.48g and 21K gold (what’s cool is $100 BSD converts to $100 USD!). Total weight with bezel is 7.8 grams. $560 (Trade or Sale!)
   

At time of posting Gold Price: $2386.90
Shipping: $5 flat rate! Everything ships via USPS with tracking. I aim to ship same or next day when possible. Only exceptions are weekends, holidays, and class days (usually Wednesday & Thurs).
Payments: Cash or Venmo! For Venmo (Preferred!) please no notes in comments. Emojis 🤩 are fine!
Last words: I’ve tried to describe everything to the best of my knowledge, if there’s a need for correction please let me know! My weights are approximate on the scale, purities have been tested. Finally, once I ship - liability ends. However, I will always help where I can! Pandas rule the world, secretly.
🐼

Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick
Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)
Dr. Kirkpatrick was asked by USD(I&S) to stand-up and lead AARO in early 2022. Known as Dr. K to his staff and team, he brings over two decades of experience and a significant depth of expertise in scientific and technical intelligence (S&TI), S&TI and space policy, research and development, acquisitions, and operations, specializing in space/counterspace mission areas.
Dr. Kirkpatrick was born in Columbus, GA to an Army family. He grew up in the Atlanta area, where he attended the University of Georgia as an undergraduate, to study physics. Dr. Kirkpatrick finished his Ph.D. work in nonlinear and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics of rare earth doped fluoride crystals also at the University of Georgia, and is currently an adjunct professor at UGA.
Dr. Kirkpatrick began his career in Defense and Intelligence related science and technology immediately out of graduate school. After receiving his Ph.D. in Physics in 1995, he subsequently took a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, investigating laser-induced molecular vibrations of high explosives under an AFOSR program. In 1996, he was offered a National Research Council Fellowship at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. investigating novel solid-state lasers for the Department of the Navy. In 1997, he was recruited by the Air Force Research Laboratory to build an Ultrafast Laser Physics Lab to investigate nonlinear optics, novel ultrafast spectroscopic methods, and nonlinear micro/nano-fabrication techniques for the Air Force. In 2003 he was offered a program manager position in the National Reconnaissance Office, and converted to CIA in 2005. In 2007, he was assigned as Chief Technology Officer in a joint CIA-DIA program office, where he later became division chief as a DIA officer. In 2010 he was asked to serve as the space control portfolio manager for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Space and Intelligence, Office of the Secretary ofDefense.
In 2012 he returned to DIA, and served as the Defense Intelligence Officer for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, serving as the Department of Defense’s counterpart to the National Intelligence Manager for Science and Technology until 2016. Towards the end of his tenure as DIO/S&TI, Dr. Kirkpatrick served on special assignment to the Principal Deputy Director National Intelligence leading the Intelligence Community’s support to the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center.
From 2016 to his current assignment, Dr. Kirkpatrick served in a variety of no-fail roles including Deputy Director of Intelligence, US Strategic Command; Director, National Security Strategy, National Security Council; Deputy Director of Intelligence and the DNI Representative for USSPACECOM. The USSPACECOM Intelligence Enterprise was the fifth organization he has been the IC lead for establishment. His most recent assignment was as Chief Scientist at DIA’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center.
Dr. Kirkpatrick is the recipient of several scientific and intelligence awards. These include the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal, four National Intelligence Collaboration medallions, the NRO Innovation and Achievement Award, the Cleary Award for Scientific Excellence, and the DIA Director’s Award for Excellence. Dr. Kirkpatrick holds 2 open patents and has contributed to several scientific books on nonlinear phenomena as well as written multiple strategies for the National and Defense Intelligence Communities. He was appointed to the Senior Service in 2012.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jul/20/2003039076/-1/-1/1/DR-SEAN-M-KIRKPATRICK-BIOGRAPHY.PDF&ved=2ahUKEwjJ1Zf10oyGAxV9LkQIHSnSCKoQFnoECCEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3R8GHHkCVxkjZBwYMWJfyK

References

• Vincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023). "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1". DefenseScoop. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
• Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023). "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
• Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023). "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
• https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214
• "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
• "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia.
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF).
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF)
• Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.ReferencesVincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023). "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1".
• DefenseScoop. Retrieved December 3, 2023. Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023).
• "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
• Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023). "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
• https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214 "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma".
• U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
• "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia.
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF).
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF).
• Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.

Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick
Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)
Dr. Kirkpatrick was asked by USD(I&S) to stand-up and lead AARO in early 2022. Known as Dr. K to his staff and team, he brings over two decades of experience and a significant depth of expertise in scientific and technical intelligence (S&TI), S&TI and space policy, research and development, acquisitions, and operations, specializing in space/counterspace mission areas.
Dr. Kirkpatrick was born in Columbus, GA to an Army family. He grew up in the Atlanta area, where he attended the University of Georgia as an undergraduate, to study physics. Dr. Kirkpatrick finished his Ph.D. work in nonlinear and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics of rare earth doped fluoride crystals also at the University of Georgia, and is currently an adjunct professor at UGA.
Dr. Kirkpatrick began his career in Defense and Intelligence related science and technology immediately out of graduate school. After receiving his Ph.D. in Physics in 1995, he subsequently took a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, investigating laser-induced molecular vibrations of high explosives under an AFOSR program. In 1996, he was offered a National Research Council Fellowship at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. investigating novel solid-state lasers for the Department of the Navy. In 1997, he was recruited by the Air Force Research Laboratory to build an Ultrafast Laser Physics Lab to investigate nonlinear optics, novel ultrafast spectroscopic methods, and nonlinear micro/nano-fabrication techniques for the Air Force. In 2003 he was offered a program manager position in the National Reconnaissance Office, and converted to CIA in 2005. In 2007, he was assigned as Chief Technology Officer in a joint CIA-DIA program office, where he later became division chief as a DIA officer. In 2010 he was asked to serve as the space control portfolio manager for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Space and Intelligence, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
In 2012 he returned to DIA, and served as the Defense Intelligence Officer for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, serving as the Department of Defense’s counterpart to the National Intelligence Manager for Science and Technology until 2016. Towards the end of his tenure as DIO/S&TI, Dr. Kirkpatrick served on special assignment to the Principal Deputy Director National Intelligence leading the Intelligence Community’s support to the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center.
From 2016 to his current assignment, Dr. Kirkpatrick served in a variety of no-fail roles including Deputy Director of Intelligence, US Strategic Command; Director, National Security Strategy, National Security Council; Deputy Director of Intelligence and the DNI Representative for USSPACECOM. The USSPACECOM Intelligence Enterprise was the fifth organization he has been the IC lead for establishment. His most recent assignment was as Chief Scientist at DIA’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center.
Dr. Kirkpatrick is the recipient of several scientific and intelligence awards. These include the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal, four National Intelligence Collaboration medallions, the NRO Innovation and Achievement Award, the Cleary Award for Scientific Excellence, and the DIA Director’s Award for Excellence. Dr. Kirkpatrick holds 2 open patents and has contributed to several scientific books on nonlinear phenomena as well as written multiple strategies for the National and Defense Intelligence Communities. He was appointed to the Senior Service in 2012.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jul/20/2003039076/-1/-1/1/DR-SEAN-M-KIRKPATRICK-BIOGRAPHY.PDF&ved=2ahUKEwjJ1Zf10oyGAxV9LkQIHSnSCKoQFnoECCEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3R8GHHkCVxkjZBwYMWJfyK

References

• Vincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023). "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1". DefenseScoop. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
• Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023). "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
• Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023). "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
• https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214
• "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
• "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia.
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF).
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF)
• Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.ReferencesVincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023). "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1".
• DefenseScoop. Retrieved December 3, 2023. Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023).
• "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
• Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023). "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
• https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214 "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma".
• U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
• "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia.
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF).
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF).
• Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
• Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)Dr. Kirkpatrick was asked by USD(I&S) to stand-up and lead AARO in early 2022. Known as Dr. K to his staff and team, he brings over two decades of experience and a significant depth of expertise in scientific and technical intelligence (S&TI), S&TI and space policy, research and development, acquisitions, and operations, specializing in space/counterspace mission areas.Dr. Kirkpatrick was born in Columbus, GA to an Army family. He grew up in the Atlanta area, where he attended the University of Georgia as an undergraduate, to study physics. Dr. Kirkpatrick finished his Ph.D. work in nonlinear and nonequilibrium phonon dynamics of rare earth doped fluoride crystals also at the University of Georgia, and is currently an adjunct professor at UGA.Dr. Kirkpatrick began his career in Defense and Intelligence related science and technology immediately out of graduate school.
• After receiving his Ph.D. in Physics in 1995, he subsequently took a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, investigating laser-induced molecular vibrations of high explosives under an AFOSR program. In 1996, he was offered a National Research Council Fellowship at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. investigating novel solid-state lasers for the Department of the Navy. In 1997, he was recruited by the Air Force Research Laboratory to build an Ultrafast Laser Physics Lab to investigate nonlinear optics, novel ultrafast spectroscopic methods, and nonlinear micro/nano-fabrication techniques for the Air Force. In 2003 he was offered a program manager position in the National Reconnaissance Office, and converted to CIA in 2005.
• In 2007, he was assigned as Chief Technology Officer in a joint CIA-DIA program office, where he later became division chief as a DIA officer. In 2010 he was asked to serve as the space control portfolio manager for the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Space and Intelligence, Office of the Secretary of Defense.
• In 2012 he returned to DIA, and served as the Defense Intelligence Officer for Scientific and Technical Intelligence, serving as the Department of Defense’s counterpart to the National Intelligence Manager for Science and Technology until 2016. Towards the end of his tenure as DIO/S&TI, Dr. Kirkpatrick served on special assignment to the Principal Deputy Director National Intelligence leading the Intelligence Community’s support to the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center.From 2016 to his current assignment, Dr. Kirkpatrick served in a variety of no-fail roles including Deputy Director of Intelligence, US Strategic Command; Director, National Security Strategy, National Security Council; Deputy Director of Intelligence and the DNI Representative for USSPACECOM. The USSPACECOM Intelligence Enterprise was the fifth organization he has been the IC lead for establishment. His most recent assignment was as Chief Scientist at DIA’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center.Dr. Kirkpatrick is the recipient of several scientific and intelligence awards. These include the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal, four National Intelligence Collaboration medallions, the NRO Innovation and Achievement Award, the Cleary Award for Scientific Excellence, and the DIA Director’s Award for Excellence. Dr. Kirkpatrick holds 2 open patents and has contributed to several scientific books on nonlinear phenomena as well as written multiple strategies for the National and Defense Intelligence Communities. He was appointed to the Senior Service in 2012.
• https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jul/20/2003039076/-1/-1/1/DR-SEAN-M-KIRKPATRICK-BIOGRAPHY.PDF&ved=2ahUKEwjJ1Zf10oyGAxV9LkQIHSnSCKoQFnoECCEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3R8GHHkCVxkjZBwYMWJfyKReferencesVincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023).
• "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1". DefenseScoop.
• Retrieved December 3, 2023. Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023).
• "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
• Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023).
• "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214
• "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
• "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia. "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF). "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF) Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023.
• Retrieved June 9, 2023.ReferencesVincent, Brandi (November 30, 2023). "Pentagon's UAP investigation chief to depart Dec. 1". DefenseScoop. Retrieved December 3, 2023. Seligman, Lara (November 7, 2023). "Pentagon UFO boss to step down next month". POLITICO.
• Retrieved November 12, 2023.
• Degges, Ireland (November 8, 2023). "AARO Shakes Up Executive Team With 2 New Leadership Changes; Kathleen Hicks Quoted". Retrieved November 14, 2023.
• https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/12/sean-kirkpatrick-ufos-pentagon-00126214 "USD(I&S) Ronald Moultrie and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick Media Roundtable on the All-domain Anoma". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
• "Sean Kirkpatrick, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics". University of Georgia.
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Deputy Director of Intelligence and DNI Representative, USSPACECOM" (PDF).
• "Dr. Sean M. Kirkpatrick Director, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)" (PDF).
• Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.

Some more random junk drawer things!
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/cTcBiTb (More photos available upon request!)
Feel free to make reasonable offers! Trading for AGE’s 🦅 or a few ASE’s! Selling to buy AGE’s 🦅 and few ASE’s! 🤩

1. 14K Yellow Gold Miami Cuban Link Chain - Classic, solid, and tight links! The chain is about 4mm thick, and is 20 1/4” inches long. Weight is scaled at 24.1 grams! $1150 (Trade Only)
   
2. 14K Cuban Curb Link Bracelet - Nice piece that doesn’t weigh too much, or too little. Conservative and clean cuts along the links so it’s not too flashy, but makes a statement. Links are about 6.5mm wide, and is 8 1/2” inches long. Weighs 24.6 grams. $1130 (Trade or Sale!)
   
3. 14K Lion 🦁 Pendant - Cool Lion pendant, you don’t have to be a Leo to wear this! Kind of reminds me of like UK English castle stuff on armor. About 3/4” wide by 1” tall, weighs 2.8 grams. $123 (Trade or Sale!)
   
4. 1987 Bahamas $100 Coin Pendant in 18K Bezel - Cool back showing Christopher Columbus & Queen Isabella. With a neat ship / dock background. Nice nautical / history piece. Bezel is 18K. Coin is 6.48g and 21K gold (what’s cool is $100 BSD converts to $100 USD!). Total weight with bezel is 7.8 grams. $560 (Trade or Sale!)
   

At time of posting Gold Price: $2343.00
Shipping: $5 flat rate! Everything ships via USPS with tracking. I aim to ship same or next day when possible. Only exceptions are weekends, holidays, and class days (usually Wednesday & Thurs).
Payments: Cash or Venmo! For Venmo (Preferred!) please no notes in comments. Emojis 🤩 are fine!
Last words: I’ve tried to describe everything to the best of my knowledge, if there’s a need for correction please let me know! My weights are approximate on the scale, purities have been tested. Finally, once I ship - liability ends. However, I will always help where I can! Pandas rule the world, secretly.
🐼

Hey Sportsfans — it's time for Week 7 of baseball Power Rankings: These baseball numbers have been forwarded directly from Manfred's office. They are accurate and caanot be questioned.
Every voter has their own style / system and the only voting instructions are these:

"To an extent determined individually, you must take into account how strong a team is right now and likely to be going forward. You must, to some degree, give weight to the events and games of the previous week."

TRANSPARENCY: This link will show you who voted each team where and has added neat statistics!
Check out the Auxilliary Post for added statistics and fun!
If something is a little messed up, feel free to pester me let me know.
Total Votes: 30 of 30. Another Perfect Vote!.

#		Team	Δ	Comment	Record
1		Dodgers	0	The Dodgers started off a mediocre road trip by sweeping the Marlins in dominant fashion, followed by a sleepy series against the padres. My early season prediction of the Dodgers's infield defense being the biggest issue was completely wrong. Mookie looks natural at short, and Muncy has been playing pretty darn well at 3rd. We will be using our prayers this week to pray that Shohei is going to be okay	27-15
2		Phillies	+1	It's tough to end the week on a walkoff loss to the Marlins and feel good, but it's hard to complain about a 4-2 stretch. Nick Castellanos might finally not be the worst hitter in baseball after he says he started treating hitting like glorified batting practice again. Ranger Suarez has arguably been the best pitcher in baseball, pitching to a 1.5 ERA and an astounding 0.72 WHIP with team wins in each of his starts. Somehow this performance isn't even all that surprising for a guy with a 4.18 ERA last year. He was this dominant in a half season between the bullpen and rotation in 2021 and has a career 1.62 ERA in 7 postseason starts and 2 relief appearances. This week: another weird scheduling quirk as they play a 4 game set against the Mets with the first two at Citi Field and the next two in Philly before the Nats come to town for a 3 game series.	28-13
3		Orioles	-1	I was hoping the Orioles would go 5-1 this week but they went 4-2. Still nothing to be super upset about. I think the main concerns right now are Mullins is hitting under .200 and Santander still not hitting the way he can. Yesterdays game was just not great so hopefully it was just a one-off and can be flushed and they move on. Blue Jays and Mariners are in town this week so it doesn't get any easier.	26-13
4		Yankees	0	Our pitching is so good right now. Anyone in the rotation could pull a Glasnow and write their number on a ball for a cute girl, and she’d call. Doesn’t even have to have their name. She doesn’t care if its’s Nestor Cortes or Clarke Schmidt. Yankees starter? She’s calling, and she’s shaving her legs beforehand. If we signed Pete Davidson for some spot starts there'd be a second baby boom. By the way, my nickname for Clarke Schmidt used to be Farte Schidt. He has very much made me eat my aforementioned schidt this year, and officially has the second-best starter ERA behind Luis Gil, as we all predicted. In other news, Judge and Stanton both have their pop at once, Soto is doing what Soto does, and Verdugo is playing sneaky good right now. We also officially took the season series against Houston 6-1, which feels GREAT. If only they were a playoff team so we could finally bounce them this year. Oh well. A Yankees-A’s ALCS it is.	27-15
5		Braves	0	The walk off loss hurts, but can't be too upset with a 4-1 bounce back week! Big time perfromance from our SP. Giving up only 4 ERs in 23.2 IP (1.52 ERA) in these 5 games. Our bats are not what we have come to expect, but that can't last much longer. Signs of life from Acuña and Olson and continued performance by Ozuna. If by the end of May we don't see massive improvement to our offensive numbers, I will be surprised. Until then, buckle up because the offense is coming.	24-13
6		Twins	+3	Another great week, Sausage be praised! We took series from the Blue Jays and Mariners with both blowouts and well-pitched close games. I think it's safe to say that the team has found its groove, and this is how the Twins can be expected to perform moving forward. The only blip has been that the bullpen is having a slight slump, but that will even out shortly.	24-16
7		Brewers	0	Paul Who? The only starting pitcher debut I care about is BOBBY GAS who threw 6 innings of 2 hit, 0 run ball in a win against the Cardinals. He fills a much needed spot in the Brewers rotation, and likely would have been up sooner if not for an injury of his own. Rhys Hoskins also had a monster week, racking up 3 HR and 9 RBI in hist last 5 games. I had my doubts this young lineup and shaky rotation actually could be a contending ballclub over 162 games, but I'm not going to argue with the results.	24-16
8		Guardians	-2	Another bad week. The Guardians had rough series against the Tigers and the mighty World Champion favorite White Sox. This coming week, we play the reigning World Series champs and the hottest team in our division. I'm not worried. Not at all.	25-16
9		Cubs	-1	The Cubs went 3-3 this week in what felt like a complete microcosm of their season. While they did get Justin Steele, Cody Bellinger, and Seiya Suzuki back from injury, they lost Dansby Swanson and Yency Almonte, who had been a rare reliable bullpen arm. Christopher Morel also had a scare after tweaking his knee sliding into sexond, but fortunately is alright. Otherwise, the offense remained inconsistent, the starting pitching was outstanding, and the bullpen was abysmal at worst and heart-stopping at best. While he didn't continue his usual dominance against them, Ian Happ extended his streak of 62 consecutive games reaching base vs the Pirates. This week, the Cubs travel to Atlanta to take on the Braves before hosting the Pirates for 4 games.	24-17
10		Royals	+2	The Royals have a chance to be in first place by themselves this late in the season for the first time since 2016. It feels like a lifetime ago. Yes, it is just seven weeks into the season but hopes are usually gone by this point. Maybe this year can be different.	25-17
11		Mariners	0	Apologies for any typos, doing this from mobile is miserable. Not the best week, but given the pitching hiccups I can't complain too much. Woo is back (and hopefully staying back, him getting pulled was a bit of a scare.) The next few series are another gauntlet, and if the M's can make it through playing relatively well they'll be in a good positon to take advantage of their schedule for the end of the month and early June. Up next: 3 vs. Roy L's, 3 @ Oreo L's	22-19
12		Padres	+2	The San Diego Madres beat LA on both día de las Madres (friday) as well as Mother’s Day, wherein both we got great pitching performances from King and Darvish respectively. Arraez capped off the walk-off win on friday, and it was nice to see Bogaerts get one deep on Sunday. So far in ‘24 the Padres haven’t lost a series to the Dodgers, whether in LA, San Diego, or South Korea. It’s a bit cathartic, though I do wish there was less blue in the stands this weekend though. Really interested to see how they come out against the rocks, as SD was only able to split the 4-game series earlier in the season. This one lines up between the series’s vs LA and ATL, it could be a bit of a trap, hoping the Pads continue their series winning streak (which is now at 4) and just take care of business.	22-21
13		Rangers	-3	The baseball gods are unforgiving. Sacrfices have to be made and will continue to be made to the baseball gods. Oh dear baseball gods please forgive our hubris for thinking the baseball suffering was over. It was not but also, flags fly forever.	22-20
14		Red Sox	-1	The Sox have not been having a good May. Losing Casas has been brutal, and the expected bump in performance from Vaughn Grissom at 2nd hasn't happened (well, at least not yet). As a team we have a decent looking triple slash, but situationally they've been horrible. In high leverage PAs, the Sox are hitting .195/.264/.272 in 247 PAs. We have loads of talent, but there's always some issue whether it be defense or clutch hitting that holds us back from being truly competitive.	21-19
15		Tigers	0	The City Connects... phew phew phew. Looks like we got tire tracks laid on us after a truck ran us over. No thanks. I hate it... and that's not even mentioning the dumb hat. In terms of actual baseball, though, Tarik Skubal is still Skuballing. This week: 3 vs. MIA, 3 at ARI.	20-20
16		Rays	0	It was a .500 week for the Rays, and the good news is things are looking better, but only like maybe? Randy and Yandy seem to be coming back a bit; glancing at the lineup's batting avg in the game threads isn't painful anymore. Ben Rortvedt is over .300 in the catcher position which is unheard of for this team. The bad news is pitching is only bouncing back from abysmal to below average. A week against division opponents on the road will test if that improvement is here to stay or if it was just a new uniform bounce.	20-21
17		D-Backs	+3	The Diamondbacks have been winning more games of late but are still underperforming their Pythagorean record and are 3 games below .500 despite a +17 run differential. Reinforcements should be coming back from injury soon which should help.	19-22
18		Mets	-1	I prewrote a big and extremely negative blurb about the Mets getting swept by the Braves. That did not happen, Brandon Nimmo hit a walk off homer on Sunday Night Baseball immediately as I was about to close my computer. Never been so glad to be wrong. Bring on the Phillies and Marlins.	19-20
19		Nationals	0	Two large accomplishments for the Nats in the last week - 1) For the first time since 2021, the Nats climbed over .500 with an opening win over the Orioles in a 2-game series. 2) Patrick Corbin recorded a win this week vs the Red Sox (his first since 9/11/23 vs the Pirates). The Nationals quickly slid back under .500 losing the 2nd game vs the Orioles and then 2 of 3 against the Red Sox. James Wood is hitting everything in AAA (over 1.000 OPS) so there are lots of calls for HRCHU.	19-20
20		Blue Jays	+1	Very up and down week for the Cyrulean Winged Creatures of Ontario. A 1-1 split with Philly and a 1-2 tilt vs Minnesota extended a too-long stretch of not winning series. Turns out, the combination of bad offense and a bad bullpen is bad. But there have been some glimpses of hope, at least. Alek Manoah threw a gem on Sunday, giving up 0 ER and 1 BB over 7 IP with 6 Ks. Also, Vladdy is hot as shit right now; since the last week of March, he's been hitting over .400 with a nearly 1.000 OPS. Still, the Jays in general continue to underperform and hover just below .500. Mid-May is not the time to freak out and this team is in too deep to consider a full tear-down even in a lost year, but things will be getting worrisome if they can't pull out of this middling stretch that has defined the first quarter of the season.	18-22
21		Giants	+4	Believe it or not, the Giants had a winning week. They continue their flirtation with being a decent team. However, we would like the world to know about several issues	19-23
22		Athletics	0	Happy Mother's Day, say hi or I'll drop by. Rough week, our bullpen had some awful games esp w/ Kotsay's choices. Will possibly fall below the Astros this week as we play them along with the Royals, and unlike last year I don't think we're a better team than KC. Toro and Harris have been playing well with Soderstrom getting some reps in (A+ defense from them), but Gelof will likely return and change something there.	19-23
23		Reds	-5	What is the meaning of suffering? This question has stumped philosophers throughout the ages, but nobody has come up with an answer. On the opposite side of this, we have also been in search of evidence of the divine, and we’ve searched for it in things like the miracle of our world. But again, we haven’t found anything. What if we’re looking in the wrong place? What if suffering is the greatest proof of a divine presence? Suffering is an art. Perhaps the greatest art ever devised. Devised by who or what though? Some greater power looming over us all? Some great cosmic being who looks upon us the same way as we do ants? Some primordial consciousness created trillions of years ago in the Big Bang that’s been merely existing all this time and only gets enjoyment out of the suffering of others? How do we figure this out? Who do we ask? I have a suggestion, we can ask baseball fans. We are connoisseurs of suffering. Ask an A’s fan about the meaning of suffering and you’ll get your answer just by looking into their eyes. Ask a Rockies fan, or a White Sox fan, or even a long dead Expos fan. It’s weeks like this that make me ask why do people even like baseball. Why do I even like baseball? Well, I remember my grandfather, since I live in the midwest we always called him Papaw, and he was the biggest baseball nut I know. He got me into baseball at a young age, and I remember one day asking why he loved it so much. When I say he was a baseball nut, I mean he was a season ticket holder, bought all the merchandise, had books about baseball and biographies written by baseball players, he had all of it. He could tell you everything about the sport with ease. So I asked him why did he love baseball so much because at that time I found it boring, and you know I still to this day remember his response. He told me baseball is 3 hours of nothing happening, but when something did happen, it was the most beautiful sport god ever created. I loved that man. Anyway this is all a long way to say the Reds suck ass right now.	17-23
24		Astros	0	Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, especially yours. I'll visit her later, don't worry. The Astros continue to take 1 step forward and 3 steps back. Kyle Tucker is the man and we should extend him immediately. Our pitching is still mostly trash and no one deserves an extension.	15-25
25		Pirates	-2	Paul Skenes made his highly-anticipated debut on Saturday, and it was one of two games the Pirates won last week. And they only won that game after first blowing a 6-1 lead thanks to 6 (SIX!) walks with the bases loaded. At one point. Kyle Nicolas threw 12 straight balls with the bases loaded. The bullpen was so depleted that Nicolas had to pitch the next day after Aroldis Chapman gave up 2 runs and 2 walks in the 10th inning, only for Nicolas to give up another run on a wild pitch. The Pirates then hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning and lost 5-4. So yeah, that's how things are going in Pittsburgh right now.	18-23
26		Cardinals	0	Bro, I'm straight up not having a good time.	16-24
27		Angels	0	Hot and then cold and then hot again, Jo Adell hit three homers this past week. With a wRC+ on the season now standing at 134 and a wOBA of .363, the next step for him is now maintaining a level of consistency. With a bottom-ranking farm system, his future may not ultimately be in Anaheim. The looming rebuild is going to be a long and slow process and at the age of 25, it is hard to see much point in keeping him if someone else starts looking his way.	15-26
28		Rockies	+2	We have the longest winning streak in baseball. We just swept the defending champs. I'm pretty sure that means Rocktober is coming. In all seriousness, the Rockies finally gelled for the first time this season. The Rangers didn't play poorly, the Rockies just played well. The concern now is what kind of "Coors Hangover" we'll see.	12-28
29		White Sox	0	The White Sox had a shockingly good week while clinching the season series against the Rays and winning 3 of 4 from the Guardians over the weekend. They have been playing objectively better baseball lately (which means that their 72 wRC+ season stat was at 84 last week, and their pitching has been middle of the league since the start of May). It's not much, but it's something. Myself, I'm excited to attend my first ball game of the year tonight. Of course, I'll be going to the Schaumburg Boomers home opener.	12-29
30		Marlins	-2	So the fish still cant produce runs but at least we got burger back. Luzardo looks much better in his return to the bigs but oof braxton garrett. Somehow miami managed to squeeze out a win this week against two top teams but well see how they do against the tigers and mets this upcoming season.	11-31

• ASSEMBLY : Two players can combine their mechs into a stationary quad-autocannon HMG with double the ammo if both also carry the autocannon
  
• WASN’T ME : Teams who have only turrets as stratagems gain 50% more localization confusion / less detectability
  
• GODLIKE : A kill counter between any team death - once it hits a threshold (say 1000), ennemies become afraid of you and hesitate to engage / shoot less accurately. Resets on the next player death.
  
• CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS : If your past three orbitals killed at least 50 ennemies each, you get reduced calldown/one more use because obviously you know how and where to throw your shit.
  
• INVISIBLE MAN : if during the first 5 minutes of a mission you don’t engage and are not detected you gain 50% speed and 50% less detectability for 10 minutes.
  
• MARATHONIAN : if you run an aggregated 5 km without dying you get unlimited instant resupplies.
  
• YEEEHAAAA : if you rodeo an elite for a combined 60 seconds you get a permanently active jumppack with unlimited use.
  
• IRWINATOR : if you frontally hug emote a stunned charger while being at less than 5% health it becomes your pet and fights alongside you.
  
• I HAVE BECOME DEATH : if you kill at least 100 ennemies in one shot/stratagem you gain an aura that makes all ennemies in a 50m radius be 50% more vulnerable, until you die.
  

Nestled in the heart of the Caribbean, Puerto Rico boasts a history as vibrant and diverse as its tropical landscape. From the indigenous Taíno people to Spanish conquistadors, African slaves, and American influences, the island’s history is a tapestry woven with threads of resilience, struggle, and cultural fusion. Check out: Historia de Puerto Rico
Let’s embark on a journey through the fascinating Historia de Puerto Rico.
The Indigenous Roots: Long before the arrival of European colonizers, the island of Puerto Rico was inhabited by the Taíno people, who called it Borikén. These indigenous peoples lived in harmony with nature, cultivating crops like maize, cassava, and sweet potatoes. They also left behind a rich legacy of art, music, and spirituality, with intricate petroglyphs and ceremonial sites scattered across the island.
The Spanish Conquest: In 1493, Christopher Columbus set foot on the shores of Puerto Rico during his second voyage to the Americas, claiming the island for Spain. The Spanish conquistadors, led by Juan Ponce de León, soon followed, establishing the first European settlement at Caparra in 1508. Over the centuries, Spain exerted its influence, building forts, churches, and cities, while also exploiting the indigenous population through forced labor and disease.
The Legacy of Colonialism: Under Spanish rule, Puerto Rico became a strategic hub for trade in the Caribbean, with its ports bustling with ships carrying riches from the New World to the Old. However, this prosperity came at a cost, as the native Taíno population dwindled due to disease, warfare, and enslavement. In the 19th century, Puerto Rico’s status as a Spanish colony came under scrutiny, leading to calls for autonomy and independence.
The American Era: In 1898, following the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris. Under American rule, the island underwent significant changes, including the imposition of English as the official language, the introduction of American-style education, and the implementation of economic policies favoring mainland interests. Despite this, Puerto Ricans retained their cultural identity and resilience in the face of adversity.
Struggles for Autonomy: Throughout the 20th century, Puerto Rico experienced periods of political turmoil and social upheaval as it grappled with its colonial status. Movements for independence, led by figures like Pedro Albizu Campos, clashed with efforts to integrate Puerto Rico as an American territory. In 1952, the island adopted a constitution establishing a Commonwealth status, granting limited self-government while maintaining ties to the United States.
Modern Challenges and Resilience: Today, Puerto Rico faces a new set of challenges, including economic inequality, environmental degradation, and the aftermath of natural disasters like Hurricane Maria in 2017. Despite these hardships, Puerto Ricans continue to celebrate their cultural heritage through music, dance, and cuisine, forging a sense of unity and pride in their identity.
Conclusion: The Historia de Puerto Rico is a story of resilience, resistance, and cultural resilience in the face of colonialism and adversity. From its indigenous roots to its modern-day struggles for autonomy, the island’s history is a testament to the enduring spirit of its people. As Puerto Rico continues to navigate the complexities of its past and present, its rich tapestry of heritage and diversity remains a source of inspiration for generations to come.
For more information regarding Libros Puerto Rico visit our website: https://eladoquintimes.com/

Some more random junk drawer things!
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/RykBBUb (More photos available upon request!)

1. 14K Solid Yellow Gold Diamond Cut Rope Chain Necklace - This one is interesting because each individual link is welded together, and the individual diamond cuts are each unique. So if you want a strong rope, this is the way to go! The links are 3 mm thick, and it is about 20 1/4”inches long. Weight is about 21.1 grams! $933 (Spot!) SOLD
   
2. 10K Yellow Gold Miami Cuban Link Chain - Classic, solid, and tight links! The chain is about 5mm thick, and is 24” inches long. Weight is scaled at 42.3 grams! $1380 SOLD
   
3. 14K Cuban Curb Link Bracelet - Nice piece that doesn’t weigh too much, or too little. Conservative and clean cuts along the links so it’s not too flashy, but makes a statement. Links are about 6.5mm wide, and is 8 1/2” inches long. Weighs 24.6 grams. $Expired
   
4. 14K Box Cut Link Bracelet - Unique piece with links you do not see too often. Diamond cut sides, and top. Links are 3.2mm wide, and bracelet is just a hair over 7 1/2” inches long. Weighs 5.3 grams. $240 SOLD
   
5. 14K Lion 🦁 Pendant - Cool Lion pendant, you don’t have to be a Leo to wear this! Kind of reminds me of like UK English castle stuff on armor. About 3/4” wide by 1” tall, weighs 2.8 grams. $Expired
   
6. 1987 Bahamas $100 Coin Pendant in 18K Bezel - Cool back showing Christopher Columbus & Queen Isabella. With a neat ship / dock background. Nice nautical / history piece. Bezel is 18K. Coin is 6.48g and 21K gold (what’s cool is $100 BSD converts to $100 USD!). Total weight with bezel is 7.8 grams. $Expired
   

At time of posting Gold Price: $2359.70
Will Consider 1/4 or 1/2 Oz Gold Eagles Trades $ Cash!
PAYMENTS: Cash 💵 or Venmo! For Venmo (Preferred!) please no notes in comments. Emojis 🤩 are fine!
SHIPPING: $5 flat rate! Everything ships via USPS with tracking. I aim to ship same or next day when possible. Only exceptions are weekends, holidays, and class days (usually Wednesday & Thurs).
LAST WORDS: I’ve tried to describe everything to the best of my knowledge, if there’s a need for correction please let me know! My weights are approximate on the scale, purities have been tested. Finally, once I ship - liability ends. However, I will always help where I can! Pandas rule the world, secretly.
🐼

They literally just rebranded it. Like they do with everything else. Maos Cultural Revolution got rid of the old ideas that made China successful. Cancel Culture is getting rid of ideas that made America successful but with a modern twist.
Say something the elites don’t like? Canceled.
Promote God? Canceled.
Promote Constitutional Rights like Freedom of Speech and your right to bear arms? Canceled. And Censored.
Defend the Founders of America? Racist and you somehow support Slavery.
Promote the guy who discovered America Christopher Columbus? You support Slavery and Genocide.
Don’t forget the rebellion in China started in Schools. Then it went to destroy Statues and erase History. Aka the “old values”. Just like what we are seeing in America with destruction of Statues and book burning of online Speech. Values that are supposed to remain untouched online.
If you wanted to destroy a nation but couldn’t do it with your military? How would you do it?
Import the 3rd World. People who have no loyalty to the Host Nation and need continuous Government Handouts.
Feminize men. Rebrand normal masculinity as “toxic masculinity”. Men are the fighting force. Men are the protectors. Can’t have a normal fighting force if all your life your being told your normal masculinity is “toxic”.
Tell your women it’s a “right” to abort your offspring.
Poison your food with chemicals and other products that are banned in other 1st world nations.
Install leaders that have dual loyalties to other nations.
Continuously Install leaders who are weak old men and women. (Looking at you Diane Feinstein,Chuck Schummer, Mitch McConnell).
I would love to go much deeper in this thread. But I can’t because that’s considered “Hate Speech” by Reddits TOS. So I’m ending these late night thoughts here.

II. The Narcissistic Personality of Our Time
Narcissism as a Metaphor of the Human Condition
…
Theoretical precision about narcissism is important not only because the idea is so readily susceptible to moralistic inflation but because the practice of equating narcissism with everything selfish and disagreeable militates against historical specificity. Men have always been selfish, groups have always been ethnocentric; nothing is gained by giving these qualities a psychiatric label. The emergence of character disorders as the most prominent form of psychiatric pathology, however, together with the change in personality structure this development reflects, derives from quite specific changes in our society and culture - from bureaucracy, the proliferation of images, therapeutic ideologies, the rationalization of the inner life, the cult of consumption, and in the last analysis from changes in family life and from changing patterns of socialization. All this disappears from sight if narcissism becomes simply “the metaphor of the human condition,” as in another existential, humanistic interpretation, Shirley Sugerman’s Sin and Madness: Studies in Narcissism.
The refusal of recent critics of narcissism to discuss the etiology of narcissism or to pay much attention to the growing body of clinical writing on the subject probably represents a deliberate decision, stemming from the fear that emphasis on the clinical aspects of the narcissistic syndrome would detract from the concept’s usefulness in social analysis. This decision, however, has proved to be a mistake. In ignoring the psychological dimension, these authors also miss the social. They fail to explore any of the character traits associated with pathological narcissism, which in less extreme form appear in such profusion in the everyday life of our age: dependence on the vicarious warmth provided by others combined with a fear of dependence, a sense of inner emptiness, boundless repressed rage, and unsatisfied oral cravings. Nor do they discuss what might be called the secondary characteristics of narcissism: pseudo-self-insight, calculating seductiveness, nervous, self-deprecatory humor. Thus they deprive themselves of any basis on which to make connections between the narcissistic personality type and certain characteristic patterns of contemporary culture, such as the intense fear of old age and death, altered sense of time, fascination with celebrity, fear of competition, decline of the play spirit, deteriorating relations between men and women. For these critics, narcissism remains at its loosest a synonym for selfishness and at its most precise a metaphor, and nothing more, that describes the state of mind in which the world appears as a mirror of the self.
<…>
Scribe Note:
I think the moment Pathological Narcissism is taken as an opening through which contemporary culture and subjectivity can discussed, in concrete relation to socioeconomic or historical particularities, is the moment the Pathological Narcissus is transformed into a metaphor. Here I understand the metaphor as intrinsically concrete. Serving as a connective tissue, medium, and threshold. Alternatively a meeting place. The shape of the Pathological Narcissus orients and organizes. Find Lasch’s approach implicitly architectural. He approaches his work as a craftsmen. Reading Lasch I envision a series of papers detailing seemingly disparate cultural phenomena unfolding and filling in a human-outline, this outline is the Pathological Narcissus. Flipped right-side up, the Pathological Narcissus reveals the real framing device. Contemporary technologies and the move away from the Industrial without properly buffering the agrarian or the small and mid-sized manufacturing that contained/shaped the animating brilliance, innovativeness, and sociality of the American peoples. The Pathological Narcissus cannot be concrete without the abstract as its genesis. Abstract in so far as it is an atomized or segregated sequence of symptoms (an individual reduced to his symptoms) that emerges into view within the transferal space(eros-field) of the analyst’s office. Detailed and expounded upon in the literature. The grounding is perhaps necessarily abstract (to clarify, my usage of the term is distinct from spectral).
Lasch appears at the verge of anticipating and integrating the easy criticism one might levy against him, that this all rests on the presupposition that psychoanalysis has any genuine scientific validity, that Melanie Klein and Otto Kernberg’s contributions to psychoanalysis serve as the standard bearer of psychoanalytic theory and practice (concretely if I’m not mistaken this is absolutely the case in the United States) and more to the point that the psychoanalyst is a trustworthy authority - into his own Criticism. In my reading of The Culture of Narcissism and The Minimal Self, Lasch spirals around this particular critique and the implications. As if it’s a thread we mustn't risk pulling on lest the whole thing unravels. Serves almost like a therapeutic fiction or ‘noble lie’. Still I think it’s implicit in Lasch’s broader critique. In the essay From Mirror to Window: Curing Psychoanalysis of its Narcissism, James Hillman (who I believe had a superior approach to the question of the Image or Icon compared to Lasch who expresses a stunningly consistent Anglo-Germanic and Reformationist contempt for imagery, indeed Lasch’s Iconophobia is nigh Islamic) notes as much,
“Eminent culture critics - Karl Krauss, Thomas Szasz, Philip Rieff, Christopher Lasch, Paul Zweig, and the notorious Dr. Jeffrey Masson - have each seen that psychoanalysis breeds a narcissistic subjectivism inflicting on the culture an iatrogenic disorder, that is, a disease brought by the methods of the doctors who would cure it.”
The “personality disorder” viewed in this light is a diagnostic category that could only come about thanks to the faddish popularity of psychoanalysis. The mother-tongue and womb-religion of the narcissist is psychoanalysis.
The metaphor serves as the site of agonism. Что делать? What is to be done?
What Lasch does here, in my opinion, is update the Narcissus. Can see why this continues to prove a difficult task. One of the issues with the Metaphor is that it becomes very very difficult to differentiate it from the Phantasmatic Type. Especially once it enters into popular usage. Danger of using psychoanalytic terminology in this manner outside of the institution of psychoanalysis. The Pathological Narcissus is that thing the other person is. The tinge of recognition is painful. Or perhaps the greatest danger comes from over identification with the Spectral Narcissus which is easily syncretized with seductive literary or cinematic types i.e., the Superfluous Man or whatever Woody Allen is- and/or falling into a masochistic hypochondria loop of psychic despair. Important to have the example of what an actual Pathological Narcissist is.
<…>
Psychology and Sociology
Psychoanalysis deals with individuals, not with groups. Efforts to generalize clinical findings to collective behavior always encounter the difficulty that groups have a life of their own. The collective mind, if there is such a thing, reflects the needs of the group as a whole, not the psychic needs of the individual which in fact have to be subordinated to the demands of collective living. Indeed it is precisely the subject of the individuals to the group that psychoanalytic theory, through a study of its psychic repercussions, promises to clarify. By conducting an intensive analysis of individual cases that rests on clinical evidence rather than common-sense impressions, psychoanalysis tells us something about the inner workings of society itself, in the very act of turning its back on society and immersing itself in the individual unconscious.
Every society reproduces its culture - its norms, its underlying assumptions, its modes of organizing experience - in the individual, in the form of personality. As Durkheim said, personality is the individual socialized. The process of socialization, carried out by the family and secondarily by the school and other agencies of character formation modifies human nature to conform to the prevailing social norms. Each society tries to solve the universal crises of childhood - the trauma of separation from the mother, the fear of abandonment, the pain of competing with others for the mother’s love - in its own way, and the manner in which it deals with these psychic events produces a characteristic form of personality, a characteristic form of psychological deformation, by means of which the individual reconciles himself to instinctual deprivation and submits to the requirements of social existence. Freud’s insistence on the continuity between psychic health and psychic sickness makes it possible to see neuroses and psychoses as in some sense the characteristic expression of a given culture. “Psychosis,” Jules Henry has written, “is the final outcome of all that is wrong with a culture.”
Psychoanalysis best clarifies the connection between society and the individual, culture and personality, precisely when it confines itself to careful examination of individuals. It tells us most about society when it is least determined to do so. Freud’s extrapolation of psychoanalytic principles into anthropology, history, and biography can be safely ignored by the student of society, but his clinical investigations constitute a storehouse of indispensable ideas, once it is understood that the unconscious mind represents the modification of nature by culture, the imposition of civilization on instinct.

• Freud should not be reproached [wrote T. W. Adorno] for having neglected the concrete social dimension, but for being all too untroubled by the social origin of… the rigidity of the unconscious, which he registers with the undeviating objectivity of the natural scientist… In making the leap from psychological images to historical reality, he forgets what he himself discovered - that all reality undergoes modification upon entering the unconscious - and is thus misled into positing such factual events as the murder of the father by the primal horde.

Those who wish to understand contemporary narcissism as a social and cultural phenomenon must turn first to the growing body of clinical writing on the subject, which makes no claim to social or cultural significance and deliberately repudiates the proposition that “changes in contemporary culture,” as Otto Kernberg writes, “have effects on patterns of object relations.” In the clinical literature, narcissism serves as more than a meta-phoric term for self-absorption. As a psychic formation in which “love rejected turns back to the self as hatred,” narcissism has come to be recognized as an important element in the so-called character disorders that have absorbed much of the clinical attention once given to hysteria and obsessional neuroses. A new theory of narcissism has developed, grounded in Freud’s well-known essay on the subject (which treats narcissism - libidinal investment of the self - as a necessary precondition of object love) but devoted not to primary narcissism but to secondary or pathological narcissism: the incorporation of grandiose object images as a defense against anxiety and guilt. Both types of narcissism blur the boundaries between the self and the world of objects, but there is an important difference between them. The newborn infant - the primary narcissist - does not yet perceive his mother as having an existence separate from his own, and he therefore mistakes dependence on the mother, who satisfies his needs as soon as they arise, with his own omnipotence. “It takes several weeks of postnatal development…before the infant perceives that the source of his need…is within and the source of gratification is outside the self.”
Secondary narcissism, on the other hand, “attempts to annul the pain of disappointed [object] love” and to nullify the child’s rage against those who do not respond immediately to his needs; against those who are now seen to respond to others besides the child and who therefore appear to have abandoned him. Pathological narcissism, “which cannot be considered simply a fixation at the level of normal primitive narcissism,” arises only when the ego has developed to the point of distinguishing itself from surrounding objects. If the child for some reason experiences this separation trauma with special intensity, he may attempt to reestablish earlier relationships by creating in his fantasies an omnipotent mother or father who merges with images of his own self. “Through internalization the patient seeks to recreate a wished-for love relationship which may once have existed and simultaneously to annul the anxiety and guilt aroused by aggressive drives directed against the frustrating and disappointing object.”
Narcissism in Recent Clinical Literature
The shifting emphasis in clinical studies from primary to secondary narcissism reflects both the shift in psychoanalytic theory from study of the id to study of the ego and a change in the type of patients seeking psychiatric treatment. Indeed the shift from a psychology of instincts to ego psychology itself grew partly out of a recognition that the patients who began to present themselves for treatment in the 1940s and 1950s “very seldom resembled the classical neuroses Freud described so thoroughly.” In the last twenty-five years, the borderline patient, who confronts the psychiatrist not with well-defined symptoms but with diffuse dissatisfactions, has become increasingly common. He does not suffer from debilitating fixations or phobias or from the conversion of repressed sexual energy into nervous ailments; instead he complains “of vague, diffuse dissatisfactions with life” and feels his “amorphous existence to be futile and purposeless.” He describes “subtly experienced yet pervasive feelings of emptiness and depression,” “violent oscillations of self-esteem,” and “a general inability to get along.” He gains “a sense of heightened self-esteem only by attaching himself to strong, admired figures whose acceptance he craves and by whom he needs to feel supported.” Although he carries out his daily responsibilities and even achieves distinction, happiness eludes him, and life frequently strikes him as not worth living.
Psychoanalysis, a therapy that grew out of experience with severely repressed and morally rigid individuals who needed to come to terms with a rigorous inner “censor,” today finds itself confronted more and more often with a “chaotic and impulse-ridden character.” It must deal with patients who “act out” their conflicts instead of repressing or sublimating them. These patients, though often ingratiating, tend to cultivate a protective shallowness in emotional relations. They lack the capacity to mourn, because the intensity of their rage against lost love objects, in particular against their parents, prevents their reliving happy experiences or treasuring them in memory. Sexually promiscuous rather than repressed, they nevertheless find it difficult to “elaborate the sexual impulse” or to approach sex in the spirit of play. They avoid close involvements, which might release intense feelings of rage. Their personalities consist largely of defenses against this rage and against feelings of oral deprivation that originate in the pre-Oedipal stage of psychic development.
Often these patients suffer from hypochondria and complain of a sense of inner emptiness. At the same time they entertain fantasies of omnipotence and a strong belief in their right to exploit others and be gratified. Archaic, punitive, and sadistic elements predominate in the superegos of these patients, and they conform to social rules more out of fear of punishment than from a sense of guilt. They experience their own needs and appetites, suffused with rage, as deeply dangerous, and they throw up defenses that are as primitive as the desires they seek to stifle.
On the principle that pathology represents a heightened version of normality, the “pathological narcissism” found in character disorders of this type should tell us something about narcissism as a social phenomenon. Studies of personality disorders that occupy the border line between neurosis and psychosis, though written for clinicians and making no claims to shed light on social or cultural issues, depict a type of personality that ought to be immediately recognizable, in a more subdued form, to observers of the contemporary cultural scene: facile at managing the impressions he gives to others, ravenous for admiration but contemptuous of those he manipulates into providing it; unappeasably hungry for emotional experiences with which to fill an inner void; terrified of again and death.
The most convincing explanations of the psychic origins of this borderline syndrome draw on the theoretical tradition established by Melanie Klein. In her psychoanalytic investigations of children, Klein discovered that early feelings of overpowering rage, directed especially against the mother and secondarily against the internalized image of the mother as a ravenous monster, make it impossible for the child to synthesize “good” and “bad” parental images. In his fear of aggression from the bad parents - projections of his own rage - he idealizes the good parents who will come to the rescue.
Internalized images of others, buried in the unconscious mind at an early age, become self-images as well. If later experience fails to qualify or to introduce elements of reality into the child’s archaic fantasies about his parents, he finds it difficult to distinguish between images of the self and of the objects outside the self. These images fuse to form a defense against the bad representation of the self and of objects, similarly fused in the form of a harsh, punishing superego. Melanie Klein analyzed a ten-year-old boy who unconsciously thought of his mother as a “vampire” or “horrid bird” and internalized this fear as hypochondria. He was afraid that the bad presences inside him would devour the good ones. The rigid separation of good and bad images of the self and of objects, on the one hand, and the fusion of self- and object images on the other, arose from the boy’s inability to tolerate ambivalence or anxiety. Because his anger was so intense, he could not admit that he harbored aggressive feelings toward those he loved. “Fear and guilt relating to his destructive phantasies moulded his whole emotional life.”
A child who feels so gravely threatened by his own aggressive feelings (projected onto others and then internalized again as inner “monsters”) attempts to compensate himself for his experience of rage and envy with fantasies of wealth, beauty, and omnipotence. These fantasies, together with the internalized images of the good parents with which he attempt to defend himself, become the core of a “grandiose conception of the self.” A kind of “blind optimism,” according to Otto Kernberg, protects the narcissistic child from the dangers around and within him - particularly from dependence on others, who are perceived as without exception undependable. “Constant projection of ‘all bad’ self and object images perpetuates a world of dangerous, threatening objects, against which the ‘all good’ self images are used defensively, and megalomanic ideal self images are built up.” The splitting of images determined by aggressive feelings from images that derive from libidinal impulses makes it impossible for the child to acknowledge his own aggression, to experience guilt or concern for objects invested simultaneously with aggression and libido, or to mourn for lost objects. Depression in narcissistic patients takes the form not of mourning with its admixture of guilt, described by Freud in “Mourning and Melancholia,” but of impotent rage and “feelings of defeat by external forces.”
Because the intrapsychic world of these patients is so thinly populated - consisting only of the “grandiose self,” in Kernberg’s words, “the devalued, shadowy images of self and others, and potential persecutors” - they experience intense feelings of emptiness and inauthenticity. Although the narcissist can function in the everyday world and often charms other people (not least with his “pseudo-insight into his personality”), his devaluation of others, together with his lack of curiosity about them, impoverishes his personal life and reinforces the “subjective experience of emptiness.” Lacking any real intellectual engagement with the world - notwithstanding a frequency inflated estimate of his own intellectual abilities - he has little capacity for sublimation. He therefore depends on others for constant infusions of approval and admiration. He “must attach [himself] to someone, living an almost parasitic” existence. At the same time, his fear of emotional dependence, together with his manipulative, exploitive approach to personal relations, makes these relations bland, superficial, and deeply unsatisfying. “The ideal relationship to me would be a two month relationship,” said a borderline patient. “That way there’d be no commitment. At the end of the two months I’d just break it off.”
Chronically bored, restlessly in search of instantaneous intimacy - of emotional titillation without involvement and dependence - the narcissist is promiscuous and often pansexual as well, since the fusion of pregenital and Oedipal impulses in the service of aggression encourages polymorphous perversity. The bad images he has internalized also make him chronically uneasy about his health, and hypochondria in turn gives him a special affinity for therapy and for therapeutic groups and movements.
As a psychiatric patient, the narcissist is a prime candidate for interminable analysis. He seeks in analysis a religion or way of life and hopes to find in the therapeutic relationship external support for his fantasies of omnipotence and eternal youth. The strength of his defenses, however, makes him resistant to successful analysis. The shallowness of his emotional life often prevents him from developing a close connection to the analyst, even though he “often uses his intellectual insight to agree verbally with the analyst and recapitulates in his own words what has been analysed in previous sessions.” He uses intellect in the service of evation rather than self-discovery, resorting to some of the same strategies of obfuscation that appear in the confessional writing of recent decades. “The patient uses the analytic interpretations but deprives them quickly of life and meaning, so that only meaningless words are left. The words are then felt to be the patient’s own pression, which he idealizes and which give him a sense of superiority.” Although psychiatrists no longer consider narcissistic disorders inherently unanalyzable, few of them take an optimistic view of the prospects for success.

According to Kernberg, the great argument for making the attempt at all, in the face of the many difficulties presented by narcissistic patients, is the devastating effect of narcissism on the second half of their lives - the certainty of the terrible suffering that lies in store. In a society that dreads old age and death, aging holds a special terror for those who fear dependence and whose self-esteem requires the admiration usually reserves for youth, beauty, celebrity, or charm. The usual defenses against the ravages of age - identification with ethical or artistic values beyond one’s immediate interests, intellectual curiosity, the consoling emotional warmth derived from happy relationships in the past - can do nothing for the narcissist. Unable to derive whatever comfort comes from identification with historical continuity, he finds it impossible, on the contrary, “to accept the fact that a younger generation now possesses many of the previously cherished gratifications of beauty, wealth, power and, particularly, creativity. To be able to enjoy life in a process involving a growing identification with other people’s happiness and achievements is tragically beyond the capacity of narcissistic personalities.”

Hi all, I posted this in WeirdLit the other day, but thought you all might enjoy the recommendation as well. Post is slightly edited from the original--removed my TW because the vibes here are very different.
Butcher is a gorgeous, compelling exploration of power structures, womanhood, and the cruelty of indifference. It is also, frankly, the most nauseating, disgusting, repellant fiction I have ever read in my life.
Butcher is a fictional biography of Silas Aloysius Weir (loosely based on a real person), the self-proclaimed "Father of Gyno-Psychiatry." Set in the mid-19th century, the story follows Weir as he performs experimental surgeries on the women in his asylum, with the ultimate goal of "curing" mental illness. Weir believes that all madness stems from infection, and thus, by "correcting" the source of the infection, he can tangibly affect the psychiatric symptoms of his patients. This line of thinking leads him to some truly horrific actions.
I have a high tolerance for body horror. When viewed in a vacuum, it is not the most distressing body horror you'll come across. But viewed in the context that Oates creates, Butcher's body horror is brutal and relentless and deeply distressing. Much of the book is journal entries from Weir himself discussing the results of his experiments, and the casual indifference with which he discusses removing a clitoris, or burning the inside of a vaginal canal (which, as we all know, has been scientifically proven to not have any nerve endings), or swaddling a woman in wet blankets for eight weeks while force feeding her through a tube, is what turns the book from merely gross to psychologically disturbing. The terrible, inescapable truth of Butcher is that people like this actually existed (exist?), and they are the foundation of much of our medical industry. This is fiction, but it is also real.
Through Weir's journals, the reader receives insight and access to his mistakes, his pride, his vanity, his blinding idiocy, the fundamental contempt he has for women, but he doesn't see it, and the medical community at large doesn't either. He is praised as a hero of modern medicine. He is guided by Providence, and God will reward him for his selflessness.
All in all, Butcher is a fascinating, disturbing read. I loved it, and if you can handle it, I would recommend it. Oates is at the top of her game. Stylistically, Butcher is gorgeous. Varied perspectives, consistent tone, stark, brutal prose. But read at your own risk. I have never before read a book that compelled me to drink while reading just to get through some sections.
To close, I'd like to share the epigraph of the book. (I'm not technically allowed to quote the ARC without comparing it to the finished text, but I doubt this is subject to change. Don't rat me out to the Penguin Random House feds.)
"As Columbus gazed upon the New World in wonderment, as Copernicus and Galileo gazed upon the Heavens, so I, Silas Aloysius Weir, M.D., have gazed into the dark enigma of the female vagina--alone of all men, until this time."
TL;DR: Butcher is great. Butcher is truly disgusting. Read at your own risk.

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Proof .
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Album - more/closer pictures of everything are in here. Check for toning, condition, etc. If you need more pictures than what's in here, Please let me know!
Chat please!
Spot is WAY up - I just updated a few of the prices but most are the same. I added the price drop tag because the rest are lower in relation to spot.
Silver
YPS - both #0012 and sealed in plastic - $240

• 5oz Swords
• 3oz Phoenix

4x 2x Vintage bars $62

• Oxford and Montana are available

3x $10 Casino strikes $54
1/10 oz 2018 Libertad $8
15x 2022 1oz Libertad $35
15x 2023 1oz Libertad $34
4x 1oz Beskar bars $85 each or all 4 for $320
3x 2oz less than BU (ie spotting or contact marks - ie queen's cheek) $60 each or all for $175
1x 100g YPS poured bar
1oz BullionStacker poured bar $30
1 pound (16 ozt) Eagle-like round with COA, box
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Gold -
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2015-W Liberty High Relief Gold Coin (w/Box & COA) $2650

• High premium item but well below wholesale - any less and I'll sell it to my wholesaler.

19x 1/10 RCM Polar Bears sealed $249 each
12x loose 1g bars
1/10 gold Maple (not bu) $247
4x 1/10 Prospectors
1990 Bahamas 100 Dollars Discovery of the New World - Christopher Columbus $450

• 6.48g 90%

1/2 oz Argor 1225
2019 gold Sovereign $600

• Appears to be proof?

1916 London gold Sovereign $750

• Only 1.55 million minted

1oz Argor
1oz PCGS AGE
1oz PCGS Buffalo
​ Jewelry
.925 necklace with pendant $5
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**Chat please!** Please state preferred shipping option and payment method (both detailed below) ....after replying on here.
**Zelle** is the best option. Venmo works as well for fee free payment option - no comments in remarks (emoji ok). CashApp is doable if a must (extra hoops for me so there could be a delay in me confirming receipt of payment). Check ok for someone established - shipment once check clears on my end (ie funds are received into my account).
Shipping to US only. $6 Ground Advantage with tracking - up to 8 total oz to the mainland USA (total package weight = coins, padded envelope, etc). I will ship to HI and AK but need to check rates for GA first. $10 for flat rate priority shipping anywhere in the US. (extras like signature confirmation and registered mail available at cost - make sure you ask if you want them; how it's shipped via USPS is up to you). I pack well so no worries about loose items rattling around and use plenty of tape so the package doesn't fall apart if it gets wet. Once it's in USPS' hands, it's out of my control/responsibility. If something happens I will do everything I can to help but will not provide a replacement or a refund. Any purchase made is subject to these terms.

Recently I’ve noticed a trend online and in real life in which black people adopt a certain belief system that seems akin to psychosis. Let me expand, I’ve noticed recently that my roommate, (who is black) several of my black friends, and various online personalities (who are black) have adopted a “worldview” that is utterly insane. To keep things short, this extensive pantheon of beliefs can be summarized like this; the black race is an ancient non human plant-based species that originally ruled over an earth spanning empire based in North America. White people are extra terrestrial beings from outside of the flat earths Antarctic ice wall. Black people taught white people much of the technology and culture associated with civilization as we know it. Somehow, black people became enslaved in the 1400s by Christopher Columbus and Queen Elizabeth III (not the II the III) they claim the dominion of the white race is slowly coming to an end. Things such as statistics, modern medicine, and the agreed upon historical record are modern inventions by the white man to justify their existence and dominion.
Is this some kind of mass hysteria or am I wrong and this is the truth.

I'm not really interested in your personal feelings towards nation of Islam. I just find the lore interesting like I would a dark souls video game. Yakub the mad scientist created the white man, and it's mentioned in the process he created red and yellow men. But in other NOI writings it is said that the native Americans Christopher Columbus found were original man like the black men and thus not made by Yakub right?

The Kickoo are setting up their ports, fishing in the vast sea, and harvesting banoo on the shore. They're doing this in hopes of making Okikoko a prosperous city.
You arrive at one of the ports, after crossing from a port a few miles North of Kelador Town.
((Action/Option 1: Find somewhere to throw up; this is for those whose RP gets sea sick easily.
Action/Option 2: Talk to some of the Kickoo STEBEs who're about to go fishing.
Action/Option 3: Collect Banoos and seashells with the Kickoo STEBEs.
Action/Option 4: You choose.))

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Proof .
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Album - more/closer pictures of everything are in here. Check for toning, condition, etc. If you need more pictures than what's in here, Please let me know!
Chat please!
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Silver
.999
1/10 oz 2018 Libertad $10
4x 1oz Beskar bars $85 each or all 4 for $320
6x 1oz Maples
26x 1986-2022 ASE - starter set with a few duplicates
6x 2oz less than BU (ie spotting or contact marks - ie queen's cheek) government issue $60 each or all for $337
5oz St Helena 'Truth Conquers All' $150
1x 100g YPS poured bar $95
7x 10oz bars $278 each or all for $1930

• Ital is $281 - unique variety - include it with the 7 other 10oz bars for $2200

1 pound (16 ozt) Eagle-like round with COA, box and outer box. $440
100oz IGR bar $2745
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.925
2x Bicentennial $52

• 1st Continental Congress

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90%
7x Commemorative halves
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Gold -
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4x 3x 1/10 Prospectors $246 each
1990 Bahamas 100 Dollars Discovery of the New World - Christopher Columbus $447

• 6.48g 90%

3x 1/4 Cook Islands Grandeur $581 each
1/4 2023 Kangaroo
20 Francs $443
1/2oz 2022 Britannia
1oz $2320 each

• PAMP (assay's seal didn't hold)
• Krugerrand

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**Chat please!** Please state preferred shipping option and payment method (both detailed below) ....after replying on here.
**Zelle** is the best option. Venmo works as well for fee free payment option - no comments in remarks (emoji ok). CashApp is doable if a must (extra hoops for me so there could be a delay in me confirming receipt of payment). Check ok for someone established - shipment once check clears on my end (ie funds are received into my account).
Shipping to US only. $6 Ground Advantage with tracking - up to 8 total oz to the mainland USA (total package weight = coins, padded envelope, etc). I will ship to HI and AK but need to check rates for GA first. $10 for flat rate priority shipping anywhere in the US. (extras like signature confirmation and registered mail available at cost - make sure you ask if you want them; how it's shipped via USPS is up to you). I pack well so no worries about loose items rattling around and use plenty of tape so the package doesn't fall apart if it gets wet. Once it's in USPS' hands, it's out of my control/responsibility. If something happens I will do everything I can to help but will not provide a replacement or a refund. Any purchase made is subject to these terms.