October 31, 2019

Cortinas de humo

"When a society is collapsing, all it can really do is beat off"--Horace J. Hardmember IV

It means smokescreens, which is what politics in the US and UK now boil down to. America beat off for 2 years with the Mueller Report--which came to nothing--and is now jerking off with impeachment, which will give us another year of meaningless distraction. It's little more than theater: party lines are so hard these days, that there is abs. no chance Trumpi will be convicted by the Senate (which requires a 2/3 vote). In addition, the impeachment--which probably will happen--can only serve to energize Trumpo's base, and win him the election for a second term. From the viewpoint of a declinist, what could be better? Trumpaloni has done a huge amount of damage since January 2017, and I believe we can look forward to even greater damage during his 2nd term. And then, god willing, he'll cancel the 2024 election and declare himself president for life. OK by me, amigos. So there's nothing to worry about, and only one thing to remember: Brexit, Schmexit. Also: Opa!

-mb

172 Comments:

Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Doctor Berman,
I easily can see Trump being president for life. If anyone is capable of figuring out a way to pull it off, it's Don the Con. He's had the American public brainwashed about how great he is for about 40 years now. That's because being president, he now has reached his personal absolute pinnacle. Anything else for our President P.T. Conem would be a downer for him.
If that happens, help me check out the real estate in Gunajuato. This here wafer shall be a coming to join you.

9:17 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

1. Always, always, capitalize Wafer.
2. Please, please, do not move to Guanajuato.
3. Who the fuck is Conem?

mb

9:26 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Every now and then I have glimmers of hope that Americans will come to their senses and turn this lumbering Titanic of a disaster away from the iceberg. Then I remember that it hit the iceberg long ago and we are simply watching the rich climb in the lifeboats while telling everyone else that all is well and great. And not all the Boomers have cashed in. Many of us live as poverty stricken as most of America, having not worked for the CIA or MIC or US Government or Wall Street, about the only growth industries left. So we look forward to an old age of debt collectors and cat food-

https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2019/08/15/elderly-bankruptcy-why/#84c471c4f513

I live in a very small city that has a 2000 person waiting list for affordable senior housing. Yet the mayor extols backyard cottages as the answer to housing shortages. I assume his seat on the lifeboat is secured...

https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/livable-communities/livable-documents/documents-2019/ADU-guide-web-singles-071619.pdf

In ten years, 35 of these housing units have been built. So, let's see.... in only 571 years they will have housing for everyone!

9:32 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

Post only once every 24 hrs (very impt). Thank you.

mb

10:39 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

If the police blow up your house with a rocket(!!) to defend Public Safety against a (possibly) armed shoplifter who's fled to another house nearby, Amurrika owes you nothing! Nothing! (Sgt. Schultz voice here).

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/774788611/police-owe-nothing-to-man-whose-home-they-blew-up-appeals-court-says

But scroll down and look at the monstrosity the guy built with the insurance money. Just when you feel sorry for American'ts...

12:43 AM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

Life expectancy among American men has dropped for the third consecutive year.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-expectancy-for-american-men-drops-for-a-third-year/

An article on the general decline of American health.

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-10-30/report-finds-americans-health-is-flagging

Drop in math and reading scores among American students.

https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-10-30/across-the-board-scores-drop-in-math-and-reading-for-us-students

5:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Portrait of a douchebag:

"Adam Neumann was every bit the McAfee/Bezos hybrid, high on his own supply of crusading bluster and rectal-shelving insights about the nature of work in the modern age. Lank-haired, often barefoot, Neumann was an Israeli hippie – a kibbutz kid – who would give long, mesmerising God-flecked quasi-TED talks to his employees in which he laid out his vision: a vision to be the Apple of place, the Amazon of work."

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/ywaejk/wework-ceo-adam-neumann-ipo-news

Kanye

5:21 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kanye-

There really is no end to these sorts of people, is there? I do like the expression, "rectal-shelving insights." A lot of those around as well.

mb

9:03 AM  
Anonymous Amir said...

Israeli Soldier Who Killed Palestinian Teen Gets 1-Month Sentence

Othman Rami Halas was killed last year by an Israeli soldier. | Photo: Social Media

Published 30 October 2019

The soldier was not convicted for the killing, but for shooting without receiving an order from his commanders.


https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/One-Month-Sentence-for-Israeli-Soldier-Who-Killed-Palestinian-Teen--20191030-0015.html

9:07 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Amir-

How charming!

mb

9:27 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Meanwhile, Americans continue to polish each other off at an amazing rate:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-01/

(Not sure why I, or the newspapers, bother to report these massacres anymore.)

10:08 AM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

Microsoft touts its corporate philosophy calling for ethical use of facial recognition software. But in June, it joined other companies investing in the Israeli firm AnyVision, one of whose products allows tracking objects and people on live video. AnyVision’s facial recognition software is central to the IDF surveillance regime in the West Bank, according to NBC and Ha’aretz reporting.

https://www.vox.com/2019/10/31/20937638/israel-surveillance-network-covers-palestinian-territories

And, under the heading “Nature Strikes Back,” this:
Oxford, Indiana resident Laura Hurst was found dead on 30 October with an eight-foot reticulated python (a non-native species, we might point out) around her neck, the obvious victim of asphyxiation. Police later found 140 snakes on the property, 20 of which were Hurst’s. The home is owned by local law enforcement officer Donald Munson, the Benton County sheriff. Munson did not return a CNN call seeking comment. (Perhaps on advice of counsel?)

https://ktla.com/2019/10/31/dead-woman-with-8-foot-python-around-neck-found-at-indiana-sheriffs-snake-filled-house/

11:10 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Someone wrote me that my links to LA Times stories aren't working. I tried again with the Oct. 31 massacre in the East Bay (of SF), and got the same link. Not clear what to do at this pt.

mb

11:49 AM  
Anonymous Leduc said...

MB - re: LA Times links -- what was the 1st link about in the last post?

1:26 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Anon-

Sorry, I don't post Anons. You need a real handle. Thank you.

Leduc-

I'm afraid I just can't remember. Not clear what to do in future abt posting articles from the LA Times.

mb

2:04 PM  
Anonymous Ludi said...

"It makes you think about what you are eating. There is no mould." ��

Iceland livestreams 10-year-old McDonald's cheeseburger

It's like America's a freak show
https://bbc.in/2NA7l8c

3:04 PM  
Anonymous Cel-Ray Tonic said...

Sorry MB, I forgot to sign in with my name. It just looks like the whole address didn't get copied over:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-01/california-halloween-shooting

4:55 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

Horace J. Hardmember IV dept:

John Hale, 56, arrested for public masturbation.

Meanwhile, here's a good video of daily life in America:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqVlAswRh3s

Miles

5:28 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

A great video. I think the answer is to ship all 329 million Americans to Fiji, or the Seychelles, or whatever. I.e., empty the country out and start over. And of course, rename the country. Something like "Buffoons Not Welcome Here."

Gaustian-

Sorry, I cdn't make out what you were saying. Try clarity/coherence, specific points, and evidence. That's how this blog works.

mb

6:49 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

Of Course he did....because MANY of today’s American Teenage Boys are Thugs and Gangsters, and MANY of the girls are Sluts & Tramps.


A Florida teen has been arrested and accused of trying to hire a hitman to kill a staff member at his high school, authorities said Friday.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-teen-hire-hit-man-kill-high-school-staffer

7:36 PM  
Anonymous Terra said...

Nope not like socialism at all....


'40% of farm incomes this year will come from federal aid to offset trade war damage, disaster assistance, the farm bill and insurance indemnities'

https://amp.axios.com/farmers-income-insurance-federal-aid-bankruptcies-5a05b8cb-3348-447b-8bac-ee718fd409fd.html

8:43 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Hair Trump says this:
https://apnews.com/e1e156deb2004bd49ee40bf9af4c73ec

Then this happens:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/us/chicago-shooting-halloween.html

It’s an embarrassment to the Earth and everything unto...wldnt a ten year old victim of crossfire shock the conscience of other countries? This one hurts b/c my bday is Halloween. It’s was such an innocent little holiday back in the day, maybe everything went to shit when the razorbade in the Apple urban legend prevailed. Now families congregate in parking lots and trick or treat their kids, ugh...but still not a blip of righteous outrage for a young black kid.

9:00 PM  
Anonymous Sybok said...

I seem to be approaching the limits of my capacity for cynicism.I say all this without any worries, for I know that the situation is out of my hands. Whether I go insane or find some superior coping mechanism is largely a matter of chance.If I do lose it, I don't expect to be unhappy; pronoid schizophrenia sounds fun - and original! But until then, I thought I'd make my contribution.

First off, the state of California is lighting up like a matchbox. So far 8000 acres have been converted into charcoal and 7000 turkies displaced. Happy Thanksgiving! Next, 3 Portland teens have been indicted for murdering an elderly can collector and taking his car on a joy ride that included a meal at Taco Bell. Finally, back in Cali yet another mass shooting has claimed the lives of at least 9 trick 'r treaters. I guess they should have incorporated a bullet proof vest into their costumes!

Go Amurica!

9:22 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sy-

1. paranoid, turkeys
2. The Orinda shooting left 4 dead

Gunnar-

Happy Birthday. Keep in mind that during yr lifetime, things will get much worse. But perhaps not 4u personally.

mb

10:20 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

MB - Here you go for the massacre in the East Bay last night and more, more, more!

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/dead-halloween-party-shooting-san-francisco-bay-area-66689260

Amurrika just keeps on giving.

12:27 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Waferinos-

A somewhat corny film, but I loved it: "Yesterday," with Himesh Patel. For me, a great walk down memory lane.

mb

2:15 AM  
Anonymous Dan said...

Actually, the parties are fully in agreement about the impeachment. Both think it's good for fundraising and the dems use it as an excuse not to deal with the Green New Deal or Medicare for all which comes from their progressive wing. It's all show and no doubt will be played again if and when the next president is a dem.
Poor Israel, wasting the past 71 years tethered to the US and now the US is in full retreat from the middle east. The Russians have air supremacy over Syria so I think Israel has launched it's last air attack over that country. Hannah Arendt warned Israel not to depend on the western powers and encouraged it to make peace with the indigenous population. Now it's too late for any reconciliation. Imagine what Israel could have been had the Jews incorporated the Palestinians into one state with full equal rights for all. Gaza would certainly have become akin to Singapore with its strategic port and Israel would not be facing a man power shortage in its military (draft dodging has become a national past-time in Israel) just to stay loyal to this wretched 19th century ideology called Zionism. I know Israel likes to quote Abba Eban that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity but I think that line is more in tandem with Israel.
Finally, noticing some comics saying that their stage persona is not really them in real life. I think they're being told to say this to cover themselves for any politically incorrect statement. Really depressing to hear Anthony Jeselnik say he's really a nice guy off stage.

9:06 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dan-

Aha Ha'am (Asher Ginsberg) wrote in 1891:

In his book "Wrestling with Zion," he urged the Jews "not to provoke the anger of the native people by doing them wrong...we should be cautious in our dealings with a foreign people among whom we returned to live, to handle these people with love and respect and, needless to say, with justice and good judgment. And what do our brothers do? Exactly the opposite! They were slaves in their Diasporas, and suddenly they find themselves with unlimited freedom, wild freedom that only a country like Turkey [the Ottoman Empire] can offer. This sudden change has planted despotic tendencies in their hearts, as always happens to former slaves ['eved ki yimlokh – when a slave becomes king – Proverbs 30:22]. They deal with the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, trespass unjustly, beat them shamefully for no sufficient reason, and even boast about their actions. There is no one to stop the flood and put an end to this despicable and dangerous tendency. Our brothers indeed were right when they said that the Arab only respects he who exhibits bravery and courage. But when these people feel that the law is on their rival's side and, even more so, if they are right to think their rival's actions are unjust and oppressive, then, even if they are silent and endlessly reserved, they keep their anger in their hearts. And these people will be revengeful like no other."

This was the opportunity that the early Zionists missed.

mb

9:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Full-scale douchebaggery about to be unleashed:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/02/and-theyre-off-68bn-christmas-ad-spree-gets-under-way

Ho ho ho

2:26 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kanye-

Well, the true spirit of Christmas, clearly. I wonder if Christ ever used the phrase, douche bags. Of course, he wd have said it in Aramaic, which complicates things.

mb

3:48 PM  
Blogger Jack Lattemann said...

Greetings Wafers, here is your Cascadian news report:

A proposed decree by the U.S. Department of Agriculture about food stamp eligibility is projected to deny thousands of WA kids free school lunches:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/a-proposed-trump-rule-could-make-it-harder-for-thousands-of-washington-state-kids-to-access-free-lunch/

In Eastern WA, a douchebag who stole a car and eluded cops stole another car of a Good Samaritan who came out of his house to see if the driver of the crash was ok:

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/edmonds-man-who-stole-car-from-good-samaritan-led-deputies-on-chase-pleads-guilty/

As for what Christ might have called douchebags, I suggest he might have cried “Dooshbhags!” I do know that Hawaiian for douchebag is “kakowail”. Kakowail! Dance the Wah-Tulsi!

4:42 PM  
Anonymous Yankelovich said...

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/in-california-the-rich-are-buying-their-own-firefighters/

Well this is something. Not enough prisoners working the job to go around for a dollar an hour. The rich need their own private fire brigades

5:01 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

MB-

I enjoyed "Yesterday" as well. It's amazing how, since they broke nearly 50 yrs ago, every few yrs some cultural pop phenomenon reintroduces the Beatles back into our collective consciousness. While for folks like you, who grew up w/the Beatles in real time, the film must have been a great nostalgia ride. It's also great that a film like this can serve to introduce succeeding generations to the music and history of the Beatles. While in Portland I picked up the book, "Growing Up With The Beatles" by Ron Schaumburg. A delightful read. I also liked "Phil"; a quirky, but great film. Many thanks for the recommendation.

Miles

5:04 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

The film reminded me of how revolutionary all those songs were, when they first came out; how startling. Trying to think of the sixties w/o the Beatles--well, impossible for me. Wd have been a whole other reality.

Jack-

One theory has it that Christ liked to scream 'malacca!', which is Greek for 'wanker!' Also relevant to this is the likelihood that Tulsi Gobbler will be off the political stage by Thanksgiving. In a final tribute to an absolutely incredible douche baguette, we can all dance the Wa-Tulsi. What's Greek for 'absurd clown'?

mb

10:23 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

This is exactly what a Dangerous Demagogue looks and sounds like...This isn’t a “President.”

https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2019/11/02/trump-attacks-impeachment-inquiry-mocks-orourke/4138378002/


Pretty Italian town gives homes away for free

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-cammarata-free-houses/index.html


I quit my job, moved to Alaska to bake bread — and rebuilt my identity

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/video/i-quit-my-job-moved-to-alaska-to-bake-bread-and-rebuilt-my-identity-72617029666

11:04 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

jj-

A nation in decline needs dangerous demagogues. Trumpi is fulfilling his historical role. I think we probably also need to establish a National Demagogue Day. As for the Alaska girl: the problem is that this is extremely healthy. In order for the country to collapse, Americans need to stay on a hustling, self-destructive path. Hopefully not too many of them will find this link. But I wd also suggest establishing a Hustle Your Way Into The Grave Day, to celebrate our way of life, the American Dream. This gal is a threat to that way of life. She must be stopped.

mb

11:37 PM  
Anonymous DioGenes said...

Still not going far enough with the private fire brigades. Which individuals on these private fire brigades really get the job done, and which are slackers? We need more advanced metrics to motivate and shame people into winning.

One of Augustus' early acts as Roman emperor was to set up a public fire department. In the late republic (oligarchy), men like Crassus would have private fire brigades *block access* to burning buildings while they tried to squeeze the owner down into selling at low price. They sell, the fire gets put out.

Generally, the inability to psychologically cope with natural phenomena is a major sign of decline. You should see the hysteria when it snows in the Midwest. Somehow their ancestors went on without a climate-controlled SUV...

8:20 AM  
Anonymous Gloria Lamb said...

https://news.yahoo.com/anti-vaxx-mom-says-she-153902456.html

Anti-vax mom says she gave out lollipops tainted with chickenpox for Halloween: 'We have the packaging down pat'

8:55 AM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Moral collapse: Sheriffs release prisoners who have medical issues so that they don't have to pay for medical care. Somewhere an MBA is smiling at the cleverness of this practice.

https://www.propublica.org/article/these-sheriffs-release-sick-inmates-to-avoid-paying-their-hospital-bills

"Michael Tidwell’s blood sugar reading was at least 15 times his normal level when sheriff’s deputies took him to the hospital. But before they loaded the inmate into the back of a car, deputies propped up his slumping body and handed him a pen so he could sign a release from the Washington County Jail.....

"....By signing the document, which freed him on bond from the small jail in south Alabama, Tidwell had in essence agreed that the Washington County Sheriff’s Office would not be responsible for his medical costs....

"...Tidwell had been on the receiving end of a practice referred to by many in law enforcement as a “medical bond.” Sheriffs across Alabama are increasingly deploying the tactic to avoid having to pay when inmates face medical emergencies or require expensive procedures — even ones that are necessary only because an inmate received inadequate care while incarcerated....

"...What’s more, once they recover, some inmates are quickly rearrested and booked back into the jail from which they were released..."

9:38 AM  
Blogger Himanshu said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

For fellow Wafers especially those who reside in the cold northern regions of the US (and elsewhere):

Native Echoes — Reflections, Meditations, and Stories about the time of year we are about to enter.


https://kentnerburn.com/native-echoes-reflections-meditations-and-stories-about-the-time-of-year-we-are-about-to-enter/

Best Wishes,
Himashu

10:57 AM  
Anonymous Old Classics Lady said...

What John Rawls Missed - a review of ⁦Kat Forrester⁩’s important text In the Shadow of Justice by ⁦Jedediah S Purdy⁩ (I hadn’t realized how much Wittgenstein influenced Rawls!). https://newrepublic.com/amp/article/155294/john-rawls-missed-create-just-society

Possible Leonardo painting possibly of Machiavelli.. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/possible-leonardo-portrait-machiavelli-1692961/

12:04 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Classics Lady-

No way. This is not Machiavelli. Check out portrait by Santi di Tito in my bk "Genio", and you'll see the lack of resemblance. Montaigne, possibly. You might also be interested in the ch. on Wittgenstein in "Wandering God." Thanks for Rawls ref.

mb

2:06 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Waferinos-

The original German manuscript of "Darkness at Noon," by Arthur Koestler, was discovered in a Swiss archive in 2015, and has now been (re)translated into English. How it compares with the original English trans (by Koestler's then girlfriend, Daphne Hardy) I have no idea, as I have read only the 1st translation, not the new one. But a very good discussion of the bk, and its remarkable impact (from 1940 on), can be found in the Sept. 30 issue of the New Yorker (article by Adam Kirsch). For those of u interested in the larger picture, there is a bio by Michael Scammell that is 1st-rate. Fascinating stuff, the Cold War.

mb

4:44 PM  
Anonymous Anjin-san said...

I can't imagine being a teenager in the modern world.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/gaggle-school-surveillance-technology-education?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits

Given this 24/7 surveillance I wonder if Bob Dylan would have ever been able to pen "if my thought dreams could be seen they probably stick my head in a guillotine"

He'd be tazed sedated and hauled away to a Mental Health institution instead.

5:14 PM  
Anonymous Moore said...

https://youtu.be/VYOjWnS4cMY

MB Did you ever see this music video for the Childish Gambino song "This Is America"? It is grotesque yet there is something perpetuating in the music that keeps you hooked -- not unlike America itself. Everyone is smiling and dancing yet beneath it all is unmitigated violence.


T Moore

5:17 PM  
Anonymous B. Louis said...

Leading up to the 2008 crash, advertisers were well aware of the schmuckitude of the average American.

I submit 2 examples.

You, the average American male, are a putz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0HX4a5P8eE

You, the average American male, are also a henpecked putz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20n-cD8ERgs

5:29 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Moore-

Degraded buffoons! Declinists can only cheer them on.

mb

5:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Louis-

Cd it actually be, that these companies understand that their target audience consists of degraded buffoons? There is something inspiring abt that...

mb

6:12 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Recently published:

https://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Record/dp/B07VZWH6NB/ref=sr_1_1?crid=37GFVNJ5OPJCQ&keywords=permanent+record&qid=1572830053&s=books&sprefix=perm%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C233&sr=1-1

I also enjoyed the 2016 Oliver Stone film, "Snowden".

8:15 PM  
Anonymous Polpus said...

“the men in this video are not IS militants, but rather fighters for a rebel alliance known as the Syrian National Army, trained, equipped and paid for by a Nato member, Turkey.”

And before that, they were trained, equipped and paid by the USA.

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-middle-east-50250330

8:48 PM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Doctor Berman,
Regarding “Permanent Record”, I think most people are missing the boat. I have my own saying regarding this country's massive surveillance apparatus and it goes like this:
"Question. Who's doing the actual spying on American citizens?
Answer. The advertising agencies!
Big Brother doesn't work for the government; he works for a marketing firm.
And when each of us who doesn't own a smart phone, instead has a chip implanted inside our bodies that also can emit sound, we all will be walking commercials!"
The Hidden Persuaders, as Vance Packard referred to these creeps from Madison Avenue, are the true folks who run things in this capitalistic system of ours. They in fact are the ones who unconsciously and subliminally control people's lives.

9:39 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

I think it's been said b4; and ref to this was also made in the "Snowden" film, if I remember correctly. But I doubt it bothers most Americans, since their primary passion is shopping anyway, so what the heck. Gov't surveillance seems to me to be more of a threat, but I cd be wrong. What clearly emerges in the film, and what Snowden was/is most concerned abt, is the obsession w/power and control that the US gov't has--global reach, down to minute details. If this kind of mentality shows up in a single individual, we call it psychosis. But there is such a thing as national psychosis, and this took a quantum leap after 9/11. If Manichaean fear predominates, eventually the State eats itself alive; which is what happened in the USSR (gulags, Moscow trials, and so on). Now it's our turn to head down that terrible road. We have done far more damage to ourselves than the events of 9/11 ever did.

Relevant rdg material: Norman Cohn, Pursuit of the Millennium, and Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger.

mb

11:39 PM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

An article by William J. Astore on the militarization of America.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/31/the-militarization-of-everything/

2:23 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Tom-

It's impt that the country be militarized, monetized, digitalized, weaponized, and of course moronized. We have made great strides in the case of the last item, but still remain insufficiently weaponized. Over and over, I write letters to the Pentagon abt the need to supply every single American with a private arsenal, including a nuclear device; yet I get no reply. What, do they think I'm some sort of NRA lunatic? How else, I ask you, can Americans protect themselves? Are we to wait until they are all dead, before we arm them to the teeth?

mb

3:48 AM  
Anonymous Robin Blair said...

Mr Berman: are you reading or planning to read the Snowden memoir? Was thinking of ordering that myself

7:12 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Robin-

I haven't ordered it as yet, but do what you want; don't go by me. Meanwhile, if you do read it, give us yr feedback.

mb

9:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"She and I have made a commitment to support one another, in hopes of securing a brighter future for our planet."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/02/world/greta-thunberg-leonardo-dicaprio-trnd/index.html

And yet, he flies in private jets to cocktail parties around the world:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3704014/Environmental-activist-Leonardo-DiCaprio-hops-helicopter-gas-guzzling-private-jet-Saint-Tropez-celebrity-eco-fundraiser.html

Makes me want to hug a tree.

Kanye

11:52 AM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

When a gun or knife isn’t handy, resourceful Americans won’t be deterred. A man throws acid into the face of a Peruvian-born US citizen in Milwaukee. The victim didn’t even have to invade a white neighborhood: the perp came to him.

“In late 2018, the FBI released data which showed hate crimes in the US rose by 17% in 2017, the third straight annual increase. Many incidents go unreported and not all regions supply hate crime data to the federal agency.”

Just watch as the population ratios shift even further in the direction of minority status for white folks.

Milwaukee man arrested for allegedly throwing acid at 'illegal' US citizen
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/04/milwaukee-man-arrested-allegedly-throwing-acid-illegal-us-citizen?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

11:53 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kanye-

There apparently is no end to eco-chic. What a douche bag.

Jas-

Last line of that article is completely untrue.

mb

12:36 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

“I told her she’s just an inspiration," Lewis said. "I know I don’t think I would walk 12 miles just to go to work or to come home from work on a daily basis.”

Who the fuck can? She’s no inspiration to me - one of the lucky homeless the machine uses to congratulate itself on its ”caring“ and ”compassion.” (Nice pants lady)

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/04/gofundme-fedex-worker-darlene-quinn-12-mile-walk/4154337002/



12:58 PM  
Anonymous Gimme Snax said...

"Chess simulates the meaning of life because it is a ritual encounter with death in disguise, where we experience the responsibility to stay alive one move at a time."

Review of chess master Jonathan Rowson's "The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/happiness-chess-joy.html

1:10 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Gimme-

Bishop to Bishop 4.

mb

1:46 PM  
Blogger Quercus said...

Gimme:

Regarding chess as a ritual encounter with death, see the Bergmann film classic, "The Seventh Seal".


Quercus

2:34 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAMWsWvcbtg&feature=youtu.be

Amazing all the reasons to be found for hating black people. Amazing how the
thinking of 150 years ago still survives.

3:35 PM  
Blogger Krakhed said...

MB & Wafers,

I started reading "Civilized to Death-The Price of Progress" by Christopher Ryan. Some interesting material in there. There are some ideas similar dual process that the author calls peer networking. The hardcover book is $30 on Amazon, but I think you can get the audio book for a bit less. Or maybe your local library will buy it. Here's a review:

https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/is-modern-life-making-us-miserable-civilized-to-death-author-christopher-ryan-thinks-so/

In ongoing collapse news-- Even pregnant woman are weaponized in Amerika

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-ar-15-home-invasion-pregnant-20191104-r4qyamuxzrft3eogn3b5qksyre-story.html

Shootin' up on the freeway with a car full of kids

https://nypost.com/2019/11/03/florida-mom-ods-on-heroin-in-car-with-3-kids-on-highway/

-Krakhed

5:00 PM  
Anonymous Ingram said...

My submissions:

https://www.amazon.com/Surveillance-Valley-Military-History-Internet/dp/1610398025

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/10/31/the-militarization-of-everything/

5:07 PM  
Blogger Lucullus said...

I wonder what the Dem's endgame is. I don't think they've fully thought this through. What do they think the reaction of Trump's base if they got the 2/3rd's. I think they are risking political violence that the dems might be the direct victims. I don't think they've considered blow back.

What if the military has to be involved. Will the rank and file choose Woke Dems over the Trumpians? Will the military split and choose various sides? Again this could be really bad.

I'm begging to think I've got to get the hell out of here!

5:09 PM  
Anonymous Mike Kelly said...

Another sign of decline:

https://www.routefifty.com/health-human-services/2019/11/preterm-birth-rates-rise/161059/

If you really want to dive into the statistics on premature childbirth try this link:

https://www.marchofdimes.org/mission/reportcard.aspx

In this great nation of ours even the wee ones have to come out fighting. God bless America. We're gonna need all the blessings we can get, though they be few.

5:52 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Mike-

I think god is no longer interested in our great experiment.

Lucullus-

Don't beg; just leave!

Krak-

I look forward to the day when American babies emerge from the womb fully armed.

mb

6:06 PM  
Anonymous trying to stay sane said...

An American in America, Part I - While driving my car one day, I was distracted by an 19' python and ran into a telephone pole from which fell a facial recognition camera. Smiling, I wished the observer on the other end a nice day and ran over the python until it was quite dead.

All that exertion started my stomach juices flowing so I stopped in at the nearest Mickey D's for a burger. The special that day was a 10 year old double cheese which had been aging in a warehouse in New Albany, IN where it would be protected from CA wildfires. When the burger appeared as if by magic on the counter, I noticed it only had 1 piece of cheese instead of the promised 2. This really pissed me off. So I grabbed the cashier by her ugly blue uniform and dark wig and jerked her around until she fell to the floor. This did not pass the attention of other customers. Before I knew what was happening, 3 black men, obviously waiting for the opportunity to beat the shit out of a white dude, attacked me and threw me out of the restaurant.

On the way out, I noticed a young white male with a shotgun under his coat walk in. While getting back in the car, I saw Jesus walking in. He stopped just long enough to give me the finger and say FY in Arabic, which sounds amazingly like the English pronunciation. Or maybe it was a hallucination, brought on by the damage to my head at the fierce violence of an innocent man by urban thugs. Alas, America is just not what it used to be.

6:21 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

trying-

I think you might be on the edge of a great novel.

mb

7:02 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Gd article on the emptiness, vapidity, and self-destructiveness of the hi-tech hustling Silicon Valley life in the Sept. 30 issue of the New Yorker: "Girl, Disrupted," by Anna Wiener. Short version: a buffoonette realizes that she, and everyone around her, is a buffoon, and decides to give up that way of life. She has a bk coming out in a couple of months, elaborating on all of this (I'm guessing). Imagine if every American came to the same conclusion!

mb

7:45 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: Any of you remember this song (The Backyard Sessions)?

Look what they've done to my brain, Ma
Look what they've done to my brain
Yeah, they picked it like a chicken bone
And they think I'm half insane, Ma
Look what they've done to my song...

Look what they've done to my song, Ma
Look what they've done to my song
Yeah, they tied it up in a plastic bag
And they turned me upside down, Ma
Look what they've done to my song

This is from 1970. I tell ya, folks, the rt way to live is not some big secret; ya just gotta know where to look to find the instruction manual. The info has been w/us for a very long time, and in a large # of places. And yet most Americans let the system turn them upside down, with nary a peep of objection. Yikes!

mb

7:57 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

MB-

Melanie Safka? Jesus, that goes way back.

Miles

ps: I'm currently reading a book about the life of Gram Parsons, "Twenty Thousand Roads" by David Meyer. Absolutely terrific.

8:14 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Possibly the most grotesque face in all of America:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/04/hillary-clinton-mark-zuckerberg-pay-price-damage-democracy

Let's hope she is the Dem candidate, a yr from now. How much more Botox can the country stand?

mb

10:22 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

This face hasta b the champ for the face of America! I live very near the Temple, even in pothead Pueblo the tensions they are rising!

https://www.cpr.org/2019/11/04/fbi-says-colorado-man-arrested-in-plot-to-attack-synagogue-in-pueblo/

11:25 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Note to Dan-

Check out interesting article by Assaf Sharon in NYRB of Nov. 7. Gd analysis (I think) of stuckness of Israeli left.

mb

11:27 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

Because a 38 year old (KID) who is a Congresswoman only because her Father was a politician on the small Hawaiian Island and a War Hero (REMF) wants us all to know just how in shape she is to be President...


Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, took to Twitter Monday to show her intense workout regime while on the campaign trail.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tulsi-gabbard-posts-intense-workout-video-on-twitter

11:31 PM  
Anonymous B. Louis said...

Part 2 of my thesis on "How Advertisers Truly Understand the Rank Soul of America".

You, the American male, are not only a putz, but you should be thankful for the opportunity to work yourself into a coronary by the age of 43. Better dead than French, you schmuck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4KsvFnCy0I

11:38 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

From the Assaf Sharon article:

"Unlike his challengers in four consecutive elections, Netanyahu stands for something. While many Israelis find his actions and style odious, his opponents persistently fail to realize that in politics, a flawed something is still better than nothing"

As a non-subscriber I was not able to read much past this part but I have an inkling that it's the most important paragraph in it.

1:23 AM  
Anonymous Millennial Realist said...

"Man stabbed to death in Maryland Popeyes after altercation over chicken sandwich, police say" https://www.fox26houston.com/news/man-stabbed-to-death-in-maryland-popeyes-after-altercation-over-chicken-sandwich-police-say

Ma$$ $hooting$: "These Businesses Say They've Got What You Need to Survive a Mass Shooting"
https://time.com/5698423/bulletproof-backpacks-school-shootings/
“These companies are capitalizing on parents’ fears,” says Shannon Watts.

Shut it all down, Trump! "Government shutdown looming ahead of Thanksgiving" https://abc13.com/government-shutdown-looming-ahead-of-thanksgiving/5671893/
^^The turkeys are coming home to roost.

The rich irony in her statement: "Hillary Clinton urges Democrats to pick a candidate who can win the Electoral College" https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/468956-hillary-clinton-urges-democrats-to-pick-a-candidate-who-can-win-the
^^I thought the Electoral College was the problem? Or was it Putin? I really can't wait for her completely ego-driven campaign. Her book "Gutsy Women" is a perfect metaphor for her (delusional) 2020 campaign, seeking revenge against her 2016 adversaries: Putin, Zuckerberg, the Electoral College, Trump, Tulsi, Jill Stein, the media, James Comey, etc etc etc. It must be exhausting to have so many enemies.

5:58 AM  
Anonymous Henri said...

Jimmy Carter, on facing death: "I didn’t ask God to let me live, but I just asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death. It didn’t really matter to me whether I died or lived." https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/04/jimmy-carter-says-he-is-completely-ease-with-death/

Jimmy can I have just a fraction of the goodness of your soul

6:52 AM  
Anonymous DioGenes said...

Re: buffonettes and Girl, Interrupted

I think many people do realize they live among buffons (how could you not?). But we have many defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from this realization. Many involve seeing idiocy as opportunity for exploitation. Kmowledge does not automatically lead to virtue. Think about how easy it is to manipulate the barely two dimensional knee jerk thought patterns in America. This is the game of the quieter, less obvious elites.

The interesting philosophical question— does living in such cynical bad faith ultimately erode your perception of reality? Do you ultimately come to believe your own BS? Probably, which is why these Machiavellian types also are so sure of their moral superiority in saving the country by donating to Joe Biden...

7:48 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dio-

Biden? Biden, Schmiden!

Henri-

And to think Americans wanted Reagan instead! Talk abt buffoons!

Mil-

In the great tradition of Wafer Heroine Shaneka Torres, I guess. When you banked on the American Dream, and later realized that someone sold you a bill of goods, what else is left in yr life beyond a chicken sandwich? As for Hillary: poor gal; it was everyone's fault but her own. Meanwhile, LOOK AT THAT FACE!

jj-

This is actually gd evidence for brain damage. Check out her foto: she looks like she was hit on the head with a 2 x 4. Jesus, what a buffoonette! You may recall that at the height of the great Rom Mittney campaign, I was preparing a 5-vol. treatise on Mittnaic philosophy. (Some of the pages even had print on them.) Then he crashed; the publisher was no longer interested. But I think now that a 5-vol. treatise on Gabbardism, including some info on her gym workouts and Jack L's poems on dancing the Wa-Tulsi, is clearly called for. Her penetrating intellect and brilliant insights (commonly known as 'Tulsites') need to be shown to the American public at large.

mb

8:42 AM  
Anonymous siliconvalleyburnout said...

As regards alternatives to capitalism, you may also want to research EF Schumacher

9:38 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

news of the day!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/business/oprah-winfrey-could-beat-donald-trump-run-office-says-tina-brown/

10:13 AM  
Blogger Jack Lattemann said...

In the spirit of supporting MB’s new book project, “Gabbardism”, I offer the following quotes for potential inclusion:

Tulsi on making Merica great again:
"It's when we care for each other - choosing inclusion and love over division and hatred - that this great country is at its greatest."

Tulsi on what there is to be done, starting with the “we” of cultural change:
"We have to put an end to the culture of selfishness and corruption that allows greedy Wall Street banks and executives to rip off working people without any consequences."

Tulsi on the Manichean outlook (good guys and bad guys):
"The Taliban didn't attack us on 9/11 - Al-Qaeda did. That's why I and other people joined the military - to go after Al Qaeda. Not the Taliban."

Tulsi on American Empire:
"I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster."

Tulsi on discernment:
"We must stop arming terrorists."

KAKOWAIL! Everybody now, do the Wah-Tulsi!

10:34 AM  
Anonymous Quiet Desperation said...

I'm abt halfway thru "Permanent Record" and it's an excellent read so far. For a guy who basically skipped school in the '90's and spent virtually all of his time on the internet, Snowden's intellect, grace and general gravitas is striking. His reasoning and purpose for his actions that have landed him in exile are clear, concise and defendable as heroic. Here is a recent interview with the ACLU (which is participating in his legal defense), don't be put off by his nerdy persona, it's who he is:

https://www.aclu.org/podcast/edward-snowdens-permanent-record-ep-66

Again, can't speak highly enough of the Danny Haiphong and Roberto Sirvent book on American Exceptionalism:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Exceptionalism-Innocence-News_From-Revolutionary/dp/1510742360

10:46 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jack-

Very helpful; these Tulsites are gems. Clearly, a great mind at work. Hell, if Trumpi can be pres, why not Tulsi? Why not Freddie Wadsworth? At her (inevitable) inauguration, all Wafers will be urged to fly to DC and dance the Wa-Tulsi on the Mall.

burnout-

Yes, read him many yrs ago.

Quiet-

Thanks for bk ref, looks gd.

mb

11:02 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: Maybe instead of Tulsites we shd call them Tulbites.

1:14 PM  
Anonymous Terrapin said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/opinion/martin-scorsese-marvel.html

Scorsese disassembles the Marvel Movie myth

Marvel superhero movies are, IMHO, the apotheosis of cinema.

This is a very good example using Seven Samarai - Drama Through Action


https://youtu.be/jZSRxp-dJ-Q

4:22 PM  
Anonymous trying to stay sane said...

An American in America, Part II - You recall, dear reader, that last you heard I was recovering from a beat-down at the hands of overzealous urban racist McD's customers and a crude and rude manifestation of the Spirit of God, himself. After licking my wombs (literally; I've always liked the taste of my own blood - the iron level gives it that extra kick), I rededicated myself right then and there, in the McD parking lot of all places, to the Rat Race/American Dream. And to prove my sincerity, I raced downtown for the Hustle Your Way Into the Grave Day parade, sponsored by the Chamber (of Horrors) and the local medical establishment which was in line to make a fortune on stress related illnesses.

A clown looking a lot like IT threw a lollipop from a float. It dropped right in front of me so I picked it up and began giving it a good suck. I was soon seeing chickens everywhere. Small red dots began to appear on my skin. Roosters pecked at my toes so I peed on them, which only encouraged them.

But what to my wandering eyes should appear but Tulsi G and eight tiny pineapples on a sand colored float with palm trees. Tulsi promised to cure me right then and there if I promised to join the Army and sign up for what was left of Syria to guard the Orange Shah's oil wells. "Of course" I told her. "How I could I refuse the wishes of a soldier as gallant as she. Long may she live - and the idiots who come after her".

5:33 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Wafer Trivia (WT):

1. Who projected pornography onto his garage door?
a. Woody Held
b. Antonio Smallwood
c. Phoebe Condom
d. Dick Rising

2. Who battered her husband when he declined her request to have sex?
a. Charity Beaver
b. Yolanda Squatpump
c. Rachel Butterbaugh
d. Destiny Hooker

3. Who called 911over subpar Chinese food?
a. Tracey McCloud
b. Gaylord Silly
c. Holden Butts
d. Ruth Boning

4. Who stole cash from an EMT working on her dying boyfriend?
a. Kris P. Bacon
b. Crystal Metheny
c. Prudence Moxie
d. Brittany Carulli

5. Who dumped a bucket of urine on unruly youths?
a. BJ Cobbledick
b. Moe Lester
c. Albert Einsig
d. Chubby Cox

6:20 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

trying-

Tulsi apparently endorses torture, if Muslims are the victims. I'm wondering if she enrolled you in the special Tulsi Torture Tryouts (TTT)? Pls let us know how that goes.

mb

6:23 PM  
Anonymous al- Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Here's a bootleg link to that Assaf Sharon (NYRB) article.

http://www.politique-actu.com/dossier/israel-long-paralysis-israeli-left-assaf-sharon-nyrb/1777946/


This happened in my neighbourhood yesterday:

A 17-year-old student from Holy Cross High School who died on Saturday is the latest suspicious death in a record year for Saskatoon homicides.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/saskatoon-suspicious-death-holy-cross-student-1.5347593

The nickname of sports teams from Holy Cross High School is "The Crusaders." I don't know why this place isn't shut down being a school for violent religious extremists that promotes a regressive, dangerous mediaeval ethos. They obviously don't share our cultural values.

7:02 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

I think 2 is c, tho I love the name Squatpump. 3 is a; 4 is d; and that's all I can remember. We need to work in Chrystal Walraven, somehow.

BTW, has anyone heard from Bill Hicks? Is he all rt? I'm worried.

mb

7:47 PM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

As if we needed more evidence that Donald Trump is the perfect president for America, Trump has made televangelist Paula White one of his official advisers.

https://apnews.com/407fc27d402145ab9dcb62cc0d4bf40c

3:05 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Tom-

What bothers me is he picks *her*, while there is a whole slate of Wafer heroes to choose from; as (partially) itemized by Miles (see above). I won't rest easy until Lorenzo Riggins has a cabinet post, e.g. the Dept. of Missing Cheeseburgers.

mb

3:38 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Beatles trivia quiz:

In the song "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," what was Molly and Desmond's last name?

mb

4:40 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Narcissistic Progs on steroids.

"Like a growing number of single women, Jackson says she takes herself out on dates."

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/06/consciously-uncoupled-the-joy-of-self-partnership

You can't make this stuff up.

Kanye

8:23 AM  
Blogger Sarasvati said...

Jones?

8:36 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sar-

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kanye-

Well, the language being used here is kinda barfy, but the idea that 'true love' can apply to more than just another individual is actually a healthy one. As Anthony Storr pts out in "Solitude," prior to the modern era it was perfectly OK to be in love with god, or art/creativity, or gardening etc., w/o being regarded as an emotional cripple. He blames Freud for making heterosexual partnering the standard of mental health. But then everyone blames Freud for everything.

mb

9:53 AM  
Anonymous CrazyOne said...

Dear Mr. Berman

Any comments on the murder of the 9 Mormons? While I agree with your comments on the US I feel you have rose coloured glasses concerning Mexico. I am sure where you live in the wealthy part of Mexico City things there are good. But does not much of the rest resemble a failed state?

Have you heard the old joke - the USA stole half of Mexico? The half with roads, water, oil, agriculture and people who get up in the morning.

12:10 PM  
Anonymous Cel-Ray Tonic said...

Ha, Kanye I just read that article. While I agree with the sentiment (especially along the lines of the book by Anneli Rufus, Party of One: The Loners' Manifesto) but, holding an actual ceremony ... to marry yourself? And actually inviting friends? And having friends with such a lack of self-respect that they actually show up? That's a step too far.

12:44 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Crazy-

No rose-colored glasses for me, but very dark ones 4u. You speak out of a lot of ignorance. The Mormons apparently got caught in a mistaken identity as part of the drug wars. High crime rates here are confined largely to border states, because of these wars. The US supplies the very great need for drugs (due to an awful, desperate way of life--talk abt a failed state!); it also supplies the guns, in little shops just north of the border. I don't live exclusively in Mexico City, BTW; half my time is in a small town several hrs away. In the city, I live in a nice part of town, but I wdn't call it wealthy. It's not cheap, but it is heavily 'bohemian'. There are parts of the city that are lovely, and parts that are poor and depressed--much like NY, SF, LA, etc. The US is not only a failed state; it's a rogue state. Same cannot be said of Mexico.

I am, however, well aware of the corruption that exists here; narcotraficantes are in bed with many of the federales--a situation very hard to correct. I don't have any solutions, but then neither does AMLO.

The US stole more than half of Mexico, you shd know; I find yr joke off-base and offensive. Maybe you shd live here a while, b4 u pass judgment. I've lived on both sides of the border. Unlike u, I know the difference.

mb

1:00 PM  
Anonymous trying to stay sane said...

It's the Democrats, stupid. Don't blame the Russkies. Botox face did a lot more damage than Putin.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/04/its-the-dnc-stupid-democratic-party-not-russia-has-delegitimized-the-democratic-process/

Christian "evangelism" threatens to wreck another country's culture. A LONG history of interference on behalf of Empire in the name of a non-violent, peace-making, marginalized Jew.

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/11/04/christian-tourism-to-israel-buyer-beware/

2:22 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

Nothing like listening to fascist talk radio to suggest that 40% of 'mur'kans
suffer from anencephaly.
Do you know that the Democratic Party is sending
people from blue states to live in red states to
challenge the GOP? Do you know that they want
to somehow fill these states with illegals who will
get instant citizenship so they can vote for Democrats?
These same well-financed propagandists dare to complain that
your children cannot get a decent education in public schools.
If they could and did, do you think they would believe any
of this fascist claptrap?

2:23 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Art-

A link, amigo; just give us a link.

mb

2:31 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

https://www.google.com/search?q=mark+levin&rlz=1C1GCEV_enCA874&oq=mark+levin&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.4535j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Be informed that there's a virtual network of fascist talk shows filling the AM
dial. What one goof says, pretty well all the other say the same. Catching brief
moments of these guys makes one think that there's a factory that produces the standard
line for the day and all the goofs just repeat it. Remember that their nonsense
fills the brains of 40% of 'mur'kan--a few minutes and you'll become ill listening
to it.

4:09 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Today on Twitter:

>>>>>>>>>>>Alyssa Milano:

He’s going to take the whole Republican Party down with him.

All these politicians who haven’t found the balls to do the right thing as patriots—mark my words—they are done.

Last night was proof that The People will do what’s right to correct the system.

They are all done. <<<<<<<<<<
(not sure how to link to twitter but this is the sender’s name and the text)


Haha. People think that a couple of close elections that go their way shows that The People will make everything right.

Haha. Are they in for a surprise. Well, not really, I don’t think it will even register how deluded they are.

@crazy- read Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian.

5:51 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Hola MB and Wafers,

Wafer Trivia answers:

1. b (Antonio Smallwood)
2. c (Rachel Butterbaugh)
3. a (Tracey McCloud)
4. d (Brittany Carulli)
5. c (Albert Einsig)

I guess history started back up again:

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/observations/2018/10/francis-fukuyama-interview-socialism-ought-come-back

"At this juncture, it seems to me that certain things Karl Marx said are turning out to be true."
~Francis Fukuyama, 2019

Miles

7:50 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff: When Pigs Fly Dept.: Fukuyama looks into a mirror and says: "My god! I'm an utter jackass!"

8:11 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Desmond & Molly JONES ....

Next time this guy will think 2X about stealing that package of Donette Gems ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=X_vNHb9q5_I

Meanwhile, this guy's found a solution: AppleGoogleFaceAlexa can't get to him now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SanJose/comments/dskz0u/thats_sj_for_ya/

8:41 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

OK, then: Desmond has a barrow in the marketplace. What in hell is a barrow? And what does he say to Molly that gets her to go out w/him?

mb

8:52 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

News in America Dept.: I needed to know this:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-11-06/t-i-daughter-hymen-virgin

This country gets nuttier by the day.

mb

9:03 PM  
Anonymous A Reader in Dubai said...

Dr Berman,

I ordered a copy of your new book to be shipped here to Dubai for my husband (who is from Perugia). He is enjoying it immensely and is even rationing his reading of it so that it may last longer.

I look forward to reading it when he finishes.

Thank you!

12:14 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

No more than 1 post per 24 hrs. Thank you.

Reader-

That's so great! What I suggest is that after you've read it, he read it again. :-)
My feelings re: Perugia chocolate are quite fierce.

mb

1:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@MB,

The problem is that these douchebaguettes aren't doing it to be "in love with god, art/creativity, or gardening etc" (if only), but simply out of pure virtue signalling and narcissism. They've derided males as useless buffoons for the past 10 years, now end up being single and consequence: singlehood is the new Holy Grail for them and they're all in love with themselves. Of course, they *have* to make a whole splash out of it in the media, "marry themselves" etc...

It's nauseating, but then John Calhoun predicted this all back in the 60s already. We're all just "beautiful ones" now.

Kanye

4:16 AM  
Anonymous ReHustle said...

B. Louis

This 'anti-french' ad from Cadillac does indeed tell almost all what is discussed here on this blog. It's insane how accurately this ad depicts the general US mentality concerning work, life, material possessions. I'm gobsmacked... Especially by the fact the ad-makers consciously promote this 'life' over the supposedly soft Euro 'non-ambitious' lifestyle and think this hustling life is really a badge of honor. What better proof than this ad to Dr Berman's claim that most Americans will never want real change as they actually desire this life and hustling culture.

Are there any Wafers in Hawaii? Or have an opinion about it? I moved to Hawaii about a year ago from Europe. But the longer I stay, the longer I notice how a hustly place, this really is. I feel sorry for such a beautiful place. But the US steamroller of arrogance and greed has almost completely destroyed the native Hawaiian culture here. And continues to do so. The whole discussion if the 30 meter telescope should be built or not on top of Mauna Kea, a sacred mountain for most native Hawaiians, is again a blatant example of how US hegemony is forcing it's way again against the wishes of so-called non-ambitious natives. Jobs you know. That an arid mountain can be sacred and therefore untouchable for business or development, hard to understand for in real US culture.

4:55 AM  
Anonymous Niles said...

Nice essay on Frankl’s book, The Will to Meaning

Is there a will to meaning?
https://medium.com/@FigsInWinter/is-there-a-will-to-meaning-f863e4070c3f

5:54 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Kanye-

I'm sure a lot of what you say is rt, but I don't think that's the whole story. Making a 'declaration' may be seen as necessary for going against the grain in a 'pairing is healthy' culture such as ours. They might, in other words, need to 'propagandize' abt it, altho I agree it has a kinda barfy aspect to it. Well, maybe some of these chicks will find god, or art; who knows.

mb

7:30 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Janus-

Cdn't run it. We have a half-pg-max rule on this blog, and yr comment exceeded that limit. Pls compress by abt a third, and resubmit. Thanks.

mb

10:10 AM  
Blogger Sanguillen39 said...

The following is not exactly about American declinism, but it is associated with it. A House Impeachment panel wants ex-National Security Adviser, John Bolton to testify in regards to Trump's possible quid pro quo in the Ukraine saga. He has already remarked in an e-mail sent out on Thursday morning (11/7/2019) that "While America is preoccupied with events on Capitol Hill, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are doing everything in their power to take us down," Bolton says in the email, which links to a "survey" on political and national security questions. "We're doing more to destabilize ourselves than they could ever accomplish in their wildest dreams." https://news.yahoo.com/impeachment-ex-trump-adviser-john-080002132.html

So, I decided to look up John Bolton in Wikipedia to learn a little more about his background. I already knew he was a war hawk and American nationalist, but then I saw this quote from him in regards to our invasion of Iraq - "Bolton is regarded to be an "architect" of the Iraq War. In 1998, he was a signatory to a letter sent to President Bill Clinton urging him to remove Saddam Hussein from power using U.S. diplomatic, political and military power. He supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein and continued to stand by his support of the invasion by 2018. In 2007, Bolton said the only mistake that the United States did with regard to Iraq was to not leave earlier after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and tell the Iraqis "Here's a copy of the Federalist Papers. Good luck."

That last comment was just sickening. This is basically American foreign policy in a nutshell. Destroy them and give them historical American documents to guide their country by. Here is the Wikipedia link - https://news.yahoo.com/impeachment-ex-trump-adviser-john-080002132.html.

Sanguillen39

11:44 AM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

re: Mexico vs USA! I confess “gee, we sure bash us but what about Mexico, hmm?” crossed my mind once or twice. But it was quickly put down by many things even an idiot like me can see as “self evident.” (Mexico isn’t the topic of this blog)
1. Did Mexico invent and then detonate an atomic bomb?
2. Aren’t we really nothing more than war profiteers building our empire on the corpse of 50 million killed in WWII, and by the way we only lost 700,000 of those 50 million. 2 million dead in Vietnam. Didn’t Clinton order the murder of 100,000 Iraqi children? We learned our murdering skills, sharpened our sword so to speak, at home in the genocide of Natives, and “conquering” a continent, for me the truly unconscionable repugnant was the village idiot with a rifle hunting 65 million buffalo to extinction (what a noble tragic species) replacing them with cows and then deify the fuckers who done it (fuck you cowboy).
3. This shit just percolates in the collective unconscious of modern Americans so they become “a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.” (Death of a Salesman) Empty, dead inside murderous thugs, Erich Fromm’s “Fascism with a Smiling Face.” And then projects itself to the world as God’s chosen civilization, agree, obey, or die!
4. Anyway I could far surpass a half page limit so, Mexico worse than USA! are you fucking kidding me?

11:52 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Gunnar-

Some estimates have it that we killed 3 million in VN, while we lost 58,000. Clinton's murder of Iraqi kids was actually 500,000. Mexico certainly has a lot of problems, and I for one don't foresee any quick solutions; but the major pt of comparison is the tenor of daily life. It's a gracious country, unlike the US, and strangers treat each other w/courtesy in a whole # of ways. It doesn't possess a sick ambience of hustling and competition, for the most part, where relations are abt rivalry and one-upsmanship. This graciousness is woven into the culture; it's not just an affectation of the well off. The sort of ignorant badmouthing of the country by jackasses like Crazy, who spout American clichés abt Mexico, is really depressing. What can you say to a putz, finally?

Sang-

Bolton is truly a fucked up guy, besides being a moron. This may come as a surprise, but many yrs ago, when he was some sort of minor official in the Maryland gov't (I think it was), I actually knew folks who worked in his office. Not only, they told me, was he a meathead; he also treated anyone under him like dirt. They predicted he'd eventually crash and burn. Instead, he became National Security Adviser. Only in America.

mb

1:18 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

To immerse yourself in radio mind rot=
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEV_enCA874&q=conservative+talk+radio+conservative+radio+hosts&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiE89_18tjlAhXBPn0KHYR1AuEQ1QIoAHoECA0QAQ&biw=1440&bih=789

Some of these are available on-line for their fans in Mexico.

Some are on air for THREE hours a day to deliver areas of study of the 'mur'kan
unconscious mind. Sadly missed are the old, old days of psychoanalysis and
no-foolin' Jewish lefties warning of the coming threat of virulent fascism.

3:14 PM  
Anonymous Sybok said...

Crazy ought to brush up on his American history.

Most of Mexico's problems were caused by the USA. For starters, we stole half of Mexico's territory in the Mexican-American war & this included the bread basket of California, as well as vast forests & mineral deposits. But even after the war Mexico was still left with immense resources. In the 70's Prez. Portillo was going to capitalize on them & use the profits to raise the standard of living for everyone, but he made the mistake of making the peso exchangable with the dollar to attract foreign investors. American speculators used this opportunity to devalue the peso, which forced Mexico to take out massive loans to pay back the same investors who just destroyed their economy. Finally there was NAFTA. 3 million Mexican farmers lost their livelihoods because they couldn't compete with gov subsidized corn from the U.S.

It's time for Mexicans to take back what's theirs.

4:00 PM  
Anonymous Pastrami and Coleslaw said...

A good (and long) article on the real environmental cost of the US Military and the posible future military cost of "green" tech:

http://www.wrongkindofgreen.org/2019/11/06/climate-and-war-bill-mckibbens-deadly-miscalculation/

"Indeed, we are now faced with the potential that no matter how great our efforts, the everyday materialism and violence that makes our system function, and the steepness of the changes now required, may prove too daunting to adequately address."

Despite a bit of optimism at the end, at least the author recognizes the likely violent future we face.

Paging Bill Hicks! @billhicks or however you do that...

4:55 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Pastrami-

I didn't realize that McKibben needed to be debunked. It's interesting how many 'solutions' to our various crises turn out to be nonsolutions because in the end, they are not willing to bite the bullet of hard truths. As for blaming elites: sure, but the wo/man in the street wants the same thing.

Sybok-

I agree, and I've occasionally talked abt the Zapatistas, and Subcomandante Marcos, in public lectures. That movement was triggered by NAFTA, after which (e.g.) the price of corn oil went up 300%. So it was fight or starve in Chiapas. As for Crazy, he's like most Americans: shoot off yr mouth abt things you know nothing abt, while thinking yr clever.

A graffito from Chiapas: "Nuestros suenos no caben en sus urnas"--our dreams don't fit into your ballot boxes."

mb

5:14 PM  
Anonymous Lester said...

@Terrapin: Woooow! Thanks a million for the cinematic review. Cannot stand those marvel films. Reminds me of a new fact I learned about my favorite cinematic piece. The tears you see in the "La Marseillaise" scene in CASABLANCA ('42) are real. Most of the extras in the film were French expatriates who had fled Nazi occupation.

https://youtu.be/cOeFhSzoTuc

Challenge to @Wafer film buffs, @Professor Berman, name a *true* piece of your favorite cinema, that bears such life!

5:55 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

In May of 1968, the Beatles met up at Kinfauns, George Harrison's home in Esher England. Just back from India, and eager to record what they'd written there, the Fab Four bang out rough acoustic tunes into George's Ampex reel-to-reel taping system. The result is know as the Esher Demos. They remain one of my favorite recordings by the Beatles. Here's Paul's rendition of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzH9vHmT9Rw&list=RDfzH9vHmT9Rw&start_radio=1

Enjoy,

Miles of McCartney

6:03 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Some days it is just too funny. This has to be 'ironic' on one level. The funny thing about irony in cases like this is that even if you are doing something 'ironically,' you are still doing it (cf. David Letterman). Parody might be more like it, but parody requires a level of introspection and detachment that I don't think is at work here:

AXE THROWING!!!

For all you manly men who are sick of feminazis and #MeToo oppression, capitalism has come to your rescue. Liquor license arriving soon because nothing makes life more interesting than weekend warriors on break from their marketing jobs getting drunk and throwing hunks of sharpened steel.

As the web site says- https://www.burlyaxe.com/

"Activate Your Inner Lumberjack... Competitive Axe Throwing originated from lumberjacks slinging axes at wooden planks for fun. Each competitor throws an axe at a target, attempting to hit the bulls eye as near as possible. Now this thrilling game is bringing friends, colleagues and families together."

Check out the raucous fun being had on their facebook page-

https://www.facebook.com/Burlyaxe/

Can someone pull the plug on this country? Please?

6:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

Fabulous! A million thanks.

Lester-

Favorite film: "Sundays and Cybele". 'True' piece: Cybele tells him (Pierre? ex-pilot in Algerian war) that she will tell him her secret name (Cybele) if he gets her the cock (rooster) off the weather vane at the top of the church in the town. He lost his memory in Algeria, along w/his name and personal history (severe anmnesia). He removes the cock, brings it to her; she hands him a piece of paper w/her name on it, and suddenly, his name and entire memory comes flooding back to him. (I think I've got the sequence rt; it's been a long time since I last saw it.)

2nd favorite: the "parable of the pebble" scene in Fellini's "La strada," where the Fool (Richard Basehart) picks up a stone and tells Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) that everything has a purpose, even a stone.

mb

6:49 PM  
Anonymous Sarah said...

A fairly old half-assed attempt

www.wcia.com/news/city-to-install-signs-where-woman-jumped-off-bridge/amp/

Apparently this is the best amerikkkans can do, since they're too stupid to see the bigger picture. Rofl

7:37 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sarah-

This is known as the tech fix. It's how Americans 'think', wh/is to say, not at all. Many yrs ago, industrial waste was being dumped into a river in Oregon (I think it was), and the fish had very high levels of mercury or some other shit in their flesh as a result. So they were inedible. The govt solution--I can't remember if it was state or federal--was to develop some kind of treatment or antidote, so as to neutralize the poison in the fish, thereby rendering them edible. Scientists were hired to figure this out; I dunno if it was successful or not. But the one thing that was NOT tried was to close down the plants that were dumping the toxic material into the river. It wasn't even mentioned as a possibility.

mb

8:53 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dubai Reader-

I forgot to mention that I wrote 2 novels with a marginal Italian flavor to them. Yr husband might enjoy these: "Destiny," and "The Man Without Qualities."

mb

9:37 PM  
Blogger jjarden said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/book-by-anonymous-describes-trump-as-cruel-inept-and-a-danger-to-the-nation/2019/11/07/b6b6c6f2-0150-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html




https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/07/politics/federal-judge-slams-trumps-attacks-judiciary/index.html

9:44 PM  
Anonymous B. Louis said...

Part 3 of my thesis on "How Advertisers Truly Understand the Rank Soul of America".

Americans are depressed.

But remember, buckaroo, if you're depressed in America, it's ALL YOUR FAULT. What's wrong with you, anyway? Didn't you get your new iPhone? Shut your mouth and get to work. You're not being paid to believe in the power of your dreams.

Take Cymbalta. If you experience any of the 38 side-effects comically listed in the latter half of this ad. Well, we've got pills for those too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTZvnAF7UsA

10:01 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Not Too Shabby Dept.:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/08/greta-thunberg-effect-driving-growth-in-carbon-offsetting

And check this out:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/08/on-top-of-the-world-europeans-say-they-are-happier-than-ever

mb

9:18 AM  
Blogger Xair said...

MB,

I wonder how different Mexico would be if it didn't share a border with the U.S. I am assuming that this would lessen the impact of American cultural products and the shitty American values those cultural products espouse. However, American cultural products do have a way of penetrating almost all cultures.

10:18 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Xair-

It wd have had a chance of being a very different country, imo. Also the opinion of Porfirio Diaz, who declared that Mexico was "tan cerca de los Estados Unidos"--too close to the US.

mb

10:25 AM  
Anonymous Mike R. said...

Dr Berman and Wafers, respectfully submitted another chicken sandwich fast "food" fiasco. The video depicted is priceless. The usa-er tries to beat everyone to the punch in the fast food shit house drive through and wrecks her car in the process.

These were americans. These are your neighbors (Berman). These were Mr Hedge's proletariats who will rise up, resist, and fight......for a chicken sandwich.

https://www.theroot.com/thechickening-claims-another-victim-as-woman-destroys-1839672556

10:26 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Mike-

What a moron. Americans are pretty much brain dead. When you have so little in yr life, a chicken sandwich isn't just a chicken sandwich. As for the Hedgean revolution, if the masses ever do rise up, all the gov't needs to do to close it down is make free chicken sandwiches available to them. Poof!

mb

11:02 AM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

Xair and MB,

If you thought geographical distance would insulate Mexico from Amerikkanism, you got it wrong. Being on the other side of the globe is not saving us. The country (India) ended its protectionism in the early 90's. And see where we are in ~30 years of Neo-liberal policies. So much of the old has simply vanished! Particularly in the urban middle-to-upper classes. The rural folks, and `backward' classes still retain the older traditions. One of my friends commented that all that the urban middle-to-upper class kids need is a smartphone. From phone calls to music, movies, cab booking, money transfer up to getting food, all are there on the phone. So life begins and ends with the latest smartphone, its paraphernalia, and the digital cocoon they create.

Looking globally, finally, man's (the species) pride is eating it up. The most immodest thing man did was to name itself homo sapiens. I do not see much sapinza around. England is drowning. California is burning, Australia is seeing lightning w/o rain due to huge bush fires that create their own weather conditions. Yet the developing world wants more development to live like the industrial world. Uncle Sam exits climate treaty and, in addition, keeps sliding down every single day. His cousin across the Atlantic is not doing much better. Tibetans, Uyghurs and Kashmiris suffer silently with nobody to pay even lip service for their causes.
The world is slowly getting under the control of Xi & Putn, the latter having the last laugh (or does he laugh?) in every situation. A declinist watches with glee the utter destruction brought on by human greed. Revolution? TINA, life revolves around smartphones. Now only a climate apocalypse seems the only event which can stop this madness.

11:43 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Doctor Berman and Mike,
The violence around the the Popeye chicken sandwich is only one fiasco of our debauched American culture. Let's not forget the frenzies, stampedes, and violence in years past with childrens toys like the Cabbage Patch and Tickle Me Elmo dolls. We probably haven't seen anything yet with Black Friday and Christmas just around the corner. What newest “must have” consumer product promoted by Madison Avenue will there be this Holiday Season to pander to our “free market” consumerism and to continue to fuel this dysfunctional moribund capitalist economy of ours?
What an outright joke American society really is.

Remember this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEGEdNLFOTU

12:08 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

Over the yrs there have been stampedes at Wal-Mart sales in which people have actually been trampled to death, and frenzied consumers wdn't let the EMT thru, because they were going nuts over $29 dvd players. Worse than a joke, America is an abortion. Basically, a large collection of shitheads (of all ages).

Ordinary-

Actually, Diaz got it rt: proximity has historically been a major factor in the Americanization of Mexico. There's no question abt it.

mb

1:42 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Various aspects of American heads in rumps:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/slavery-black-immigrants-ados.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/opinion/warren-biden-trump.html
(This topic I discussed in Essay #15 of AWTY)

I love the fact that there is no upper limit to Cranial-Rectal Embedment in the US. Honestly, I can't get enuf o' this shit. Wonderful examples of how to ignore what's significant and get 0 done, politically speaking. Meanwhile, we're still beating off with impeachment. What a sane, intelligent country!

mb

3:10 PM  
Anonymous Birney Zouave said...

Dr. B-

Apparently, he has not read any of your books-

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/08/americas-streets-and-squares-are-waiting-when-will-people-rise-fill-them

4:50 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Birn-

Poor Ralph; he means well. But he's a prog, and that means he's blind. His article ends: "Show up America!" But progs don't understand that this woman is quintessentially America:

https://www.theroot.com/thechickening-claims-another-victim-as-woman-destroys-1839672556

This stupid, demented woman *is* America. She's not interested in 'rising up'; she's interested in a chicken sandwich. Herbert Hoover promised "a chicken in every pot." Well, she's come to get hers, along with 329 million other chicken-seekers. And in so doing, she's taking America down the drain. A declinist hero, if the truth be told. We salute: Shaneka Torres, Brittany Carulli, Lorenzo Riggins, Freddie Wadsworth, Chrystal Walraven...the list gets longer every day.

mb

5:17 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Hola MB and Wafers,

Mike, MB, all-

Fantastic video! I just wanna say, that I'm behind the chickening of America 110%. This is what America is actually about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpFcpRIE65E

And when it comes down to the life of a person or getting a chicken sandwich, the chicken sandwich wins every time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GuD-jH49tw

Miles

6:25 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

People are born, live, and die, but a chicken sandwich is forever.

"sandwich longa, vita brevis"--Horace? Cicero? I forget.

Yes, these are your neighbors, and their heads are filled with schmaltz (chicken fat).

mb

7:04 PM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

Amusing as it is to see Popeye’s chicken sandwich customers wrecking their cars to get at the poultry, there are aspects of the general decline that should be condemned, it seems to me.

Example: the demand by the President that the whistleblower be publicly identified is being taken up by his supporters. With the followling result, just reported by The Daily Beast:

“Former Obama White House staffer R. David Edelman woke up Thursday to a bizarre new reality: Many people on the pro-Trump internet were convinced that he was the anonymous whistleblower at the heart of the impeachment proceedings.

And then the death threats started.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpkins-thought-this-man-was-the-whistleblower-they-were-wrong

I have friends who have worked in government—one of our number, Bill Hicks, is himself a former State Department official—and I have no doubt that there are enough crazies among the Trumpistas who are capable of violence. Wrecking your car in pursuit of chicken nirvana is one thing, getting into a fistfight over missing fries in your fast food order yet another. But threatening the life of someone is something else entirely.

7:13 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jas-

You may be mixing up apples and chickens; I'm not sure. Bill Hicks cd probably clear all this up, but where the heck is he? Meanwhile, the US cd end in a violent orgy of complete and utter destruction, fueled by Trumpaloni. I have often wondered what % of the population is totally insane, ready to go batshit, given the rt provocation.

mb

7:45 PM  
Anonymous Flyingspaghettimonstr said...

Here's a page full of comments/observations by disillusioned immigrants who've learned the cold hard truth about Amerikkka

http://happierabroad.com/ebook/Page32.htm

10:12 PM  
Anonymous Tom Servo said...

@Dr. Berman,

On the subject of the United States vs. Mexico, I like your quote "In Mexico, nothing works, but everything works out. In the US, everything works, and nothing works out." I think this succinctly describes the differences between the two countries.

@ Lester,

My favorite film is “Dersu Uzala” a 1975 Soviet-Japanese co-production directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is a film about the friendship between Russian explorer Vladimir Arsenyev and Dersu Uzala, a native Nanai hunter in the Russian Far East. I think the themes of the film are very Waferish. I would also recommend the book that the movie is based on, Arsenyev's memoir entitled “Dersu the Trapper.”

https://www.amazon.com/Dersu-Trapper-Recovered-Classics-Arsenev/dp/0929701496

10:15 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Tom-

A fabulous film. That scene at the end, with Dersu sitting in his yurt watching an American sitcom on his little TV, is the story of the 20thC. For more elaboration, check out "Wandering God."

Flying-

Thanks for the link. I've been saying it for yrs: the US is a turkey country filled with turkey people. This is the alpha and omega of our entire situation; there's actually little more to be said. It's a population that is vapid, empty, and stupid, with a culture that consists of not much more than $ and technology. Conversations w/Americans were for me, decade after decade, depressing, because living in it I cdn't grasp the fact that Americans were jerks. Crossing that southern border in 2006 was one of the happiest days of my life.

Ever see Tina Fey's movie, "Mean Girls"? There's a scene where she walks into a video store run by teenagers (some of whom are her students), and makes a joke, and they just stare at her, slightly nervous and not knowing what to make of her. 30 miles south of that border I crossed, I came to a gas station w/a cafeteria attached, manned by (Mexican) teenagers. I made a joke in Spanish, and they loved it, immediately came back w/jokes of their own. And I thought: This is what life is supposed to be abt, not abt paranoia and stupidity. Americans, the kids especially, have no idea as to how degraded their lives are. Misery, masked by trivia and consumerism, and where slogans pass for thinking.

mb

10:47 PM  
Blogger Krakhed said...

I for one cannot get more excited about chicken sandwich violence. We are truly sinking into Idiocracy. I saw something today which made me wonder if brain damage is contagious. It was a slapping contest that went viral for some reason. There was a man who outweighed another by at least 100 pounds and of course the big guy nearly knocked the other's head off. Is this the entertainment people are craving?

https://www.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/dsmwtl/slapping_competition/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

We are are on the dumbest timeline

11:43 PM  
Anonymous A Reader in Dubai said...

Thank you Dr Berman for the re-read suggestion on Genio and the recommendation of your other two books.

Yes, Perugino chocolate is a treat to be savoured when we visit!

Ciao

11:49 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Anon-

Sorry, I don't post Anons. You need a real handle to participate. Thank you.

mb

2:46 AM  
Anonymous Delfield said...

Slavoj Žižek examines humanity's fascination with the living dead ... https://iai.tv/articles/return-of-the-living-dead-slavoj-zizek-auid-1261?fbclid=IwAR2F2gKfBsoeRovFlzE-mQviF4Dcc00UpGXTifkaVg3MX7sf9re7Ryhgmac

BUT when will humanity examine its own fascination with Slavoj Zizek?!

9:03 AM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

“Thank you fer yer service and a Happy Veterans Day!”

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/watching-my-students-turn-into-soldiers-of-empire/

Near the end of the piece he names as one of his many wounds “moral injury.” I believe there are many American souls, not just veterans, who “cope” (there is no cure) with a deep feeling of complete betrayal. Al Pacino’s portrayal of such a one in the movie Scent of a Woman sums it up perfectly, “ I have seen boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn’t nothing like the sight of an amputated spirit; there is no prosthetic for that. ” And yes MB American military might is indeed a paper tiger.

10:30 AM  
Anonymous Franklin, Jacob said...

Professor- From Mexico, do you have much of a touch on the pulse of what's happening in Bolivia? Morales filled me w/ such hope yrses ago, and Bolivia was an actual socialist 'success' story, if but for a historical moment.

But then it's president decided he'd rather be a dictator.

Old, old story.

Morales ran for a fourth term.

To win in the first round, he needed 10% more than his competitor.

Constant updates from the electoral commission showed he was falling short. Then the updates suddenly stopped for 24 hours. When the official results were announced, he had won. But I'm reading that was some legally?

But then this

https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/8/headlines/tensions_rise_in_bolivia_over_disputed_presidential_election

My word !

10:38 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jacob-

I fear I haven't followed events in Bolivia--sorry. But for a gd film on Latin American politics, check out "Our Brand Is Crisis."

mb

10:56 AM  
Blogger Jack Lattemann said...

Greetings Wafers everywhere, here are some weekend tidbits.

The Marlboro Man is dead at his Colorado ranch! And, he never smoked!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/marlboro-man-bob-norris-dies-at-90-having-reportedly-never-been-a-smoker/ar-BBWu8th?ocid=spartandhp

And here’s another contribution to MB’s forthcoming book “Gabbardism” (will it have a CD with Gabbardbites?): This week she attended Variety magazine’s Salute to Service luncheon where she opined what was needed – “Truly being a force for good in the world that the United States of America can and should be.”

https://variety.com/2019/scene/news/tulsi-gabbard-hillary-clinton-third-party-campaign-military-1203395689/

And finally: Kakowail! Kakowail! A Gabbard qualifies for the November Presidential media display aka “debate. Debate, schmabate … Kakowail! Do the Wa-Tulsi!

https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/11/06/breaking-news/tulsi-gabbard-qualifies-for-november-presidential-debate-defying-predictions/

PS --- Thinking of Bill Hicks – we hope he’s OK and will be back on the blog soon!

11:32 AM  
Anonymous al- Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

Jeff: the Beatles ripped off Dizzy Gillespie. As a jazz cat, you know that had a tune from around 1950 called "In The Land of Oo Bla Dee."

Sure, everyone complains, but I thought radio was so bad 25 years ago, Art Baker, that I started my own show on community radio. If you have such a station in your area, give it a shot.

The discussion of "The Chickening" ("There can be only one!") has inspired me. If you tune in to cfcr.ca tomorrow (Sunday) at 7:00 CST, expect to hear such numbers as "A Chicken Ain't Nothin' But a Bird" by Cab Calloway, "Chicken, Don't Roost Too High" by the Georgia Pot Lickers, "There's A Trick In Pickin' A Chick-Chick-Chicken" by Harry Reser's Jumping Jacks and "Chicken Rhythm" by Slim Gaillard.

12:02 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

al-

Don' ferget Bird (Parker).

Jack-

u got me dancin' the Wa-Tulsi! The CD will be called Tulbites. Am so glad she'll be w/us in Nov., promoting the notion that the US is a force for gd in the world. So many countries wd agree!

mb

12:21 PM  
Anonymous Yuan said...

×Failed state sparks exodus of refugees.×
https://m.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/leaving-sf-survey-moving-out-of-bay-area-14814850.php

12:24 PM  
Anonymous trying to stay sane said...

Exclusive! The Chicken Lady Speaks - I don't know why everybody is getting down on me. Who are you to criticize me? I did what every other red-blooded, chicken-eating American would do if he had the balls. Popeye's has been advertising that chicken thing on TV like they want to monopolize the fast good industry. I can resist it for only so long. How many times can my brain tune it out before I gets in my car and drives down there to get lard sandwich? By that time I am so under their spell that I would kill my own grandmother if she got in my way. I HAVE TO HAVE IT.If you know what's good for you, you'll get the fuck out of my way.

Most Americans have weak minds, easily persuaded to buy whatever is advertised and believe whatever they're told. We are easily led to the promised land/eternal life/ the pot of gold by hucksters of The Product and The Truth. The economy is grounded in the myth that everyone who tries hard enough will succeed. And if she doesn't, she only has herself to blame. So you better get out of her way. She is a woman on a mission and will not be stopped until it is accomplished.

12:59 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/anonymous-book-excerpt-trump-oval-office-meeting-144858931.html

That's the trouble with you naysayers: you forget to talk about the
virtues of 'mur'ka. Do you ever praise her for allowing the mentally
defective to become the president of these here United States? You
do not!!

2:30 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dan D-

Cdn't run it. Pls stick to half page max rule, thanks.

trying-

With Tulsi still in the running, I'm looking forward to that glorious day when she steps into the W.H., flanked by Chrystal Walraven and the Chicken Lady. Let's just hope the C.L. is not driving!

mb

4:47 PM  
Anonymous Birney Zouave said...

Dr. B-

Students at a Franklin & Marshall College Halloween party in Central PA dress as Mexicans and Asians and create a brouhaha-

https://www.abc27.com/news/local/lancaster/photos-show-fm-students-wore-disturbing-culturally-insensitive-costumes/

Tuition at F&M is $52,000 per year (with no grants/scholarships...)

Here's a letter in response to the controversy from the college administration-

https://www.abc27.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/55/2019/11/bcl_335200988.pdf

I wonder what Ben Franklin & John Marshall would think.

5:49 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEOGJJ7UKFM

Looks like we'll have to relive those happy moments years ago when my beloved Dick
Nixon took early retirement. I first came across him in the late '40s and am now
pleased that his destiny had been reached. The trouble with Trump is that his is
a mere white collar crime, boring and bureaucratic with NO real 'mur'kan sex, hatred,
or violence to get the electorate keenly interested in his fate. MB should have
volunteered as a script writer.

2:52 PM  

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