Stephanie Clifford, aka “Stormy Daniels” on 60 Minutes

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Link to Full Video here.

 

In watching Stormy Daniels, aka Stephanie Clifford, on 60 Minutes last night one thing is clear to me: While she tells us statements that I believe are truthful, she is not consistent in what she says is motivating her.

Daniels wants you to believe she is upset about people talking about her, and she wants to set the record straight. And she also wants you to know she isn’t doing this for the money.

Do I believe either of those statements?

No, I do not.

When it comes to Daniels account of meeting Trump, and having sex with him, I do believe she had sex with Donald Trump, though I believe she fudges a bit on what happened between her and Donald Trump on their second meeting.

I don’t believe she just watch TV with Trump for four hours while nothing happened. Like with Bill Clinton, the caveat here is what Daniels would classify as “sexual relations” or sex.

When Daniels talks about being alone in the hotel room with Trump, I find her reasoning for having sex with him total nonsense and ridiculous:

Stormy Daniels: I realized exactly what I’d gotten myself into. And I was like, “Ugh, here we go.” (LAUGH) And I just felt like maybe– (LAUGH) it was sort of– I had it coming for making a bad decision for going to someone’s room alone and I just heard the voice in my head, “well, you put yourself in a bad situation and bad things happen, so you deserve this.”

Anderson Cooper: And you had sex with him.

Stormy Daniels: Yes.

Every woman knows that getting an invite to a hotel room to meet a man alone in the evening has a high chance the man is expecting sex—especially with a very powerful man with a reputation such as Trump.

Daniels wasn’t so naïve as to not realize this. To suggest so is flat out insulting.

Of course she went with her own expectations and a goal in mind—so if you are going to be honest, Daniels, admit it.

There is also a pattern of Daniels trying to get money. She’s tried and tried and tried.

First she agreed to take $15,000 in 2011 from In Touch magazine, but supposedly the money never came.

Then she took $130,000 from Michael Cohen, Trump’s attorney, on behalf of Trump, but the contract was never signed. Oops.

You wonder when Daniels discovered this?  Was it recently?  Another goldmine?

If she truly got great offers before, then why didn’t she take them between 2011 and the election? I mean she wouldn’t have had to sign a “hush agreement”, which didn’t benefit her at all. The only way I could see her great offers as being true is if she held out and held out for better ones and they never came. Oops, her mistake.

To me, it appears Daniels attorney, Michael Avenatti, is playing a game here. He is slowly building the stakes for Cohen and Trump. Little by little, Daniels is revealing more and more about what happened to the public, and I believe they are hoping before she reveals too much, Cohen and Trump will settle for another undisclosed amount.

Don’t believe me?

Watch Daniels on Jimmy Kimmel a few weeks ago. She taunts and teases the audience and Kimmel—letting her adversaries know she’s willing to talk, but she’s holding back for now.

That didn’t work.

So next she goes on CBS 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper.

She reveals more: Will that work?

Watch her attorney speak since the 60 Minutes interview. He’s upping the stakes even more.

Why do you supposed that is, if it’s not for more money?

Frankly, I wouldn’t want to be in a room with either Trump or Daniels.  I would not trust either of them behind my back for a second.

Ride Sharing Dangers with Steve Kardian

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If you take any ride service, this video is for you! It’s a must watch if you care about your safety.

Steve Kardian, who has been in law enforcement for over 30 years, and whom I know personally, is a trusted and awesome source for safety information.  I trust Steve’s advice on safety and security issues one thousand percent.  What Steve says, I do!

Actually, the reason I got to know Steve is because I sought him out for concerns over my safety and what Steve said was spot-on. That was almost a decade ago now.  Steve helped me understand my concerns and he gave me the confidence to make good decisions. He is well thought out, highly experienced and knows predator behavior inside and out.   He has written a book and also teaches Instructor Certification classes.  I highly recommend both.

What Steve Kardian shares with the Dr. Oz show is vital for people who use any ride services. It could save your life one day.

Last year, I experienced my first Uber ride with a group.  I had no fears with a group, but I did have an innate fear of taking an Uber alone as a woman and wouldn’t do it.

On my second Uber trip, accompanied by a professional I was working with, we got a ride that reinforced why I won’t take these ride services again any time soon.

The person I was working with at the time hired an Uber X car–their least expensive service. About 10 minutes later, our car arrived and when I saw it, I was taken back.  We got picked up on the North side of Chicago by a brightly-colored brand new Cadillac.   It was a $50K plus priced car, without question.

When I saw the car pull up, I was like what?!?  My jaw dropped.

I physically paused for a minute.  My subconscious mind started pinging me immediately, “This is not right.”

What do you do at that moment?  Say stop? I couldn’t even articulate why in that instantaneous second. It took me a minute to figure out why it felt off and during that time, my companion was entering the car.

The person I was with, very trusting and kind and from another country, kindly put my baggage into the trunk, and jumped right into the front seat and put his stuff below his feet.

I intrepidly got into the back passenger side wondering who the driver was.  As I got in, I could tell the driver was in high alert mode. He was a huge, burly man who probably weighted 220 plus and he was monitoring everything my companion was doing.  He showed signs of distress at what my fellow companions was doing in the front seat and with things under his legs on the floor.  My companion didn’t notice.

The driver in a very tense, and deep commanding voice said, “Why did you put your stuff down on the floor? Put it in back.”  It was clearly bothering the driver.

Red flag #2.

I immediately offered to take the stuff put on the front floor to the back seat.  That eased the driver. I could see his tension back down a bit, and I took a deep breath!

As I looked around this luxurious interior, the pieces were coming together:  Huge scary driver, big fancy Cadillac, unease in the front seat…

The picture was clear.

This was likely a drug vehicle being used to hide criminal business. And the driver was no small flea in the chain! And he didn’t like strangers in his front seat with things under the seat that he doesn’t know what they are. I mean if you are in the drug business, there are hits–especially in Chicago.  He had to be on guard!

Guy in front seat with unknown goods?  Not acceptable.

The driver wasn’t from the immediate area. I could tell by his speech.

The driver was NOT friendly and didn’t engage with us.  I kept envisioning us pissing him off and being shot dead, and dumped on the side of the highway.

Yeah, that is extreme, but probably for good reason!  Don’t be so quick to discount scary thoughts–they may be a huge warning signal for you to watch YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR.

I believe my subconscious mind and my gut were telling me this guy is dangerous!! Alert, alert, alert!!  Pay attention! I intuitively and innately KNEW if we in any way upset this driver, we were not going to be a good situation. I also knew if I kept my head about me and just relaxed, the odds were in our favor everything would be fine.  Just keep this man happy was the goal. If he wanted to listen to loud music, it was good for me. He did have on an annoying station.

I quietly sat in the back thinking I would just stay silent on the ride.  But my friend started talking and sharing details about what we had done and were doing — innocent idle chat. It came out that we had worked with law enforcement on a project.  I was not liking that. It could be good, BUT it also could be bad. Many criminals do not think highly of law enforcement and if they think you are involved with them (they don’t know at what level), you are automatically a bad guy.

I did not want to be this man’s bad guy. Ever!!!

As we got going,  I typed in our destination address–which I always do in any hired ride I take. I watched the turn-by-turn moves on my GPS (this is a must do).  I wanted to make sure this guy didn’t veer off on any path that didn’t make sense. In taxi’s you do this to catch block turners ringing up your meter! Had he veered off path, I would have been on him in seconds.  I would have immediately made calls and alerted people of my situation as Steve suggests!  Thankfully, he didn’t and we arrived at our destination without worry.

I also noticed how this driver drove impeccably, too. I mean perfectly on speed, politely–as if not to tip anyone off. Our last driver, no, he didn’t do that. He was more the average driver in his behaviors. Do you notice this stuff?

What did I do the next day?

I read all about how ride share services have been involved in the drug and criminal enterprise. Innocent people have been killed, and raped.  Imagine being in the crossfire. It happens when you are in a target’s vehicle. Gulp.

That ended those services for me. At least for now.

I hope they clean up their acts.  As Steve says in his book, always have a blueprint for what you will do in emergencies. It will save your life!

Next time, I will happily take a taxi. My odds aren’t 100%, I know, but they are better.

Stay safe!

OJ Simpson’s Lost Confession: Did you see it?

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I must confess that I had no idea this was going to be on or I would have recorded it! But I can say the short clips I have seen of this show had my jaw on the floor.

Simpson says he is talking”hypothetically” as he supposedly recounts the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown.

From the clips I’ve watched, there is nothing hypothetical about it.

Are we seeing a chilling, cold calculating killer bask in the limelight again knowing he is immune from punishment?

Are we seeing the arrogance of a man who believes he can fool still fool people?

Are we seeing a deranged killer who loves toying with people and being the center of attention?

I plan to watch this show in full this weekend to get a clear picture of what is going on here!

I will share some of my thoughts either in another post or in the comment section below!  Check back soon!

What do you think?

The Evasive Betsy DeVos: A Great Study

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If video doesn’t work for you above, click here.

If you caught CBS 60 Minutes this weekend, you got to watch the U.S. Secretary on Education, Betsy DeVos, answer pointed questions. She was a fascinating study in human behavior!

DeVos is highly skilled at the “social” or shall we say “fake” smile. She pulls it off with ease and I no doubt that many people looking at her smile would say she is sincere. Can you see that?

She’s also highly skilled at saying what she wants you to hear–directly avoiding answering questions of her.

This is a highly manipulative technique.

When people chose not to answer questions directly, that should be a huge red flag for you. When people are manipulative to this degree, I say WOW– take notice!

What good comes of this behavior?  I say that seriously.

People who are honest are happy to answer questions and talk about all facets of a situation.

Liars, however, will try to direct you to only what they want to talk about, which will never benefit you.  Only them.

Did you find this interview interesting?

Are you really empathetic? Or are you sympathetic?

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Many people believe they are empathetic, but the reality is they are not. Can you differentiate between empathy and sympathy?

Sympathy is feeling sorry for a person’s situation.  You see they are sad and you acknowledge it, but you really don’t connect to that feeling in yourself.

As an example, your friend gets a diagnosis. You’ve never had a serious diagnosis, so you will feel bad for them, and you wish them well, but you really don’t get what it feels like to be in your friend’s situation–so you can’t connect to those feelings.  You just know its a bummer, negative, sad and not good.

And then again, maybe you can.  Seeing your friend’s emotions stirs up a time in your past: You remember when you were sick and in the hospital once and felt helpless and hopeless, and lost and alone. The latter of these two examples is empathy.

Empathy is the ability to truly find that place in yourself that connects to how that person is feeling and to feel it yourself.  So when I see a friend truly sad and hurting, I connect to that part of myself and I can understand their pain. I can intuitively feel it. I know it. I connect to it, and hence connect to you.

The video above is a really good description–I highly recommend watching it (if you haven’t–I’m talking to you!).

Some people have highly active mirror neurons that fire when they see an emotion on another person’s face. Just by seeing it, their brain lights up the same emotional part in their brain and they begin to feel that emotion. Often times this occurs without awareness!

I’ve witnessed this many times in when I teach my classes. These people are highly empathetic people–extremely tuned in to other people’s emotions.  Not everyone has a natural mirror response.

In my training, I play videos with high emotional content.  When I am playing my videos, I often am reading email or thinking about something else.  I’ve seen them 100s of times.  And every now and then, when I am paused and thinking — looking around as I think, I feel a wave of emotion come over me, or I’ll feel my face literally go sad. And I’ll stop myself.   I’ve questioned, why do I suddenly feel sad?

What is going on is my mirror neuron’s have kicked in and I didn’t even realize it!!  As I become aware of what is going on,  I will inevitability find myself staring a person who is highly engaged in the video making a very strong emotional expression. And without even realizing it, my dang mirror neuron’s trip off in my head, induced the emotional response in me and I’m making the freak’n expression on my face.  I’m also feeling the emotion too!  It’s usually sadness that I key into.  Isn’t that wild?

I’m reacting to a person–who is reacting to a video I am not watching! I’m pretty numb to the videos too because I’ve played them so many times. It’s very powerful and profound.

So are you empathetic?  Or sympathetic?  Or both?

And do your mirror neurons fire and activate when you see other people’s emotions on their face?

If you aren’t  sure, next time you see someone displaying a very strong emotion on their face, pause yourself.  Is your face making the same expression?  If so, you’ve caught your mirror neurons at work!  You’re highly sensitive to other people’s emotions and probably extremely empathetic.

If you don’t respond, don’t beat yourself up. You are a not as emotional as some people, and that’s good too. We need people who aren’t as emotional in life to help society do the jobs those with emotions can’t do! And we thank you for that, too!  You are equally important!

If the world depended on me to do the work of a doctor, firefighter or policeman, we’d be in serious trouble!