April 25, 2021

425

Waferinos-

Well, Derek Chauvin was found guilty--a relief, if not a surprise--and meanwhile, a number of massacres occurred in the wake of this, including the gunning down of black men by white cops. You'd think the cops would want to curb their enthusiasm as a result of the verdict, but no: the death toll kept going up. I doubt this bodes well for the current "defund the police" movements going on, and the odds are that when the dust settles, any changes to American law enforcement will be cosmetic at best. As I've said many times before, substantive change in the US, in a large variety of contexts (not just law enforcement), would require a whole different way of life: a different set of values, a different population, and finally a different country. Since there is no way that can happen, short of the complete disintegration of America, cosmetic changes are all we can expect, at least in the short run.

As for the long run: well, I've also said that America will be a very different country in 2030 than it is now. In this case, by "different," I mean "worse." And I don't doubt that for a minute. But if we were to look 20 years down the line...I don't have a crystal ball, but it's possible that by then, secessionist movements will have been successful, and the US will literally be broken down into various independent regions. Some of these will not be particularly benevolent; I'm guessing Texas will be very different from Vermont, for example. In terms of substantive change, we would be able to say that in such a decentralized situation, the American empire, and American imperialism, would be finished--a relief to most of the world. But one would also hope that the mentality of hustling would be finished, and that perhaps a few of these independent regions might wish to emulate the world view and way of life of Native Americans, most of whom we destroyed. A return to the values of craft, community, true friendship, a homeostatic economy (de-growth or no-growth), care for the environment, and perhaps trust in the Great Spirit, however that may be defined. Sustainability at all levels, in short, and a way of life that honors human dignity rather than the possession of objects. And certainly, a redefinition of the word "wealth."

Hey, a man can dream.

-mb

197 Comments:

Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

Sorry, here are a few links for the points I made in my earlier post:

On slave patrols and the racist origin of policing:

https://theconversation.com/the-racist-roots-of-american-policing-from-slave-patrols-to-traffic-stops-112816

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-invention-of-the-police

On Solomon Northrup:

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2014/jan/13/12-years-slave-original-story-solomon-northrup

W.E.B. Du Bois early criminology research:

http://users.soc.umn.edu/~uggen/Dubois_99_NegroCriminal.pdf

Miles

9:44 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Fret not, Dr. Berman. So what if there were six additional shootings by cops after the Chauvin verdict. At least one of them kept his cool; and instead, in a professional act of authoritarian kindness, he body slammed an autistic kid to the ground.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/video-california-police-officer-shoves-punches-teen-boy-with-autism/

And look at the bright side. We still have our lovely Karens. LOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh9Ni7hMw7I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDxwcUR-VFg

10:22 AM  
Blogger malaga mike said...

Hello Wafers

Very difficult to reside here in 'Merica.

I dreamed Chauvin was publicly hanged. Cops might get a clue they are finally being watched and will pay.
Margaret Kimberly of Black Agenda Report nails the connection of state sanctioned violence abroad and at home in an essay below;

https://blackagendareport.com/freedom-rider-gun-violence-starts-top

While at a protest sometime back in the tRumpi era, a driver pulled over and spouted the time worn line, "why don't you move to another country?" I responded, "Any country of geo-political importance the US has mucked up and continues to control in some manner economically or militarily. And, that odds are the US might sanction, invade or occupy a country I might choose to live in, forcing me to make a choice to fight those forces as a foreign national and kill former neighbors."


Any body know of employment opportunities abroad? I'm healthy, male, 62 years old, can grow food, enjoy dialogue and all forms of nature.



11:53 AM  
Anonymous Eric Jensen said...

Based partly on the scientific research my brother in law does for the military, I think that it is easy to underestimate the extent to which our current government can make life difficult for uncooperative citizens. https://www.militaryaerospace.com/power/article/14072339/emp-high-power-electromagnetic-weapons-railguns-microwaves
Or look at these recently deployed toys that are being used by some local police forces: https://www.bostondynamics.com/

(one of many sources) http://acidrayn.com/tag/william-casey/

I don't think we can have any concept of what this territory will look like in 2030 except to say that it will almost certainly be worse than we expect.

11:59 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

malaga-

I can't think of any country that wd allow you to work there, wh/wd mean taking jobs away from the natives. Unless you have some special skill. However, I believe you are eligible for Soc Security at age 62 (unless the age limit got changed). If you go to the embassy of yr choice, and show them a letter from Soc Sec, plus bank statements, and say u aren't seeking employment over there, that might work. Most countries want US dollars flowing into their economy.

mb

12:46 PM  
Anonymous Namaste said...

Mr. Berman,

Has there ever been a bunch of worse assholes than Americans. When US needed raw materials Trump threatened India and now when India needs help, Biden admin says Americans first. Fuck this nation ..the sooner it goes to complete shit the better ...usa should not disintegrate it should just vanish. Maybe Musk can take all americans to fucking mars...

https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/us-defends-restrictions-on-export-of-covid-19-vaccine-raw-materials-amid-indias-request-to-lift-ban/article34391251.ece
“When asked when the Biden administration would decide on India’s request to lift a ban on the export of vaccine raw materials, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “...the United States first and foremost is engaged in an ambitious and effective and, so far, successful effort to vaccinate the American people.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saibala/2020/04/13/why-did-president-trump-request-india-for-hydroxychloroquine/?sh=429eccff70bb
“ President Trump stated that if India did not cooperate in these easing measures, then there would be retaliation;”

1:24 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Namaste-

In answer to yr question, No. As for Mars: if we colonize Mars, we'll fuck up that planet as well.

Time 4u 2 refresh yr bathrm mirror post-it: DEGRADED BUFFOONS

Be sure to look at that every morning.

mb

1:49 PM  
Blogger Ajay Singh said...

The poor in India has always been phuked, as they are being now by callous, apathetic, fascistic leadership. Paradoxically—ironically—the two countries that have come to India’s aid in the wake of the recent surge in Covid infections are its old cold war-era pal Russia and hostile frenemy China, while MerKKKa continues to twist Indian elbows to atrophy India’s relations with Russia. The Butcher of Gujarat, who rose to power over the dead bodies of 2,000+ Muslims in India's richest state—for which even such a person as George W. Bush denied him a visa to turn tens of thousands of U.S. Indians into even greater fascists than they already are—no longer has time to receive a visiting foreign minister from Russia. So writes a former Indian ambassador, exposing the complete hollowness and extreme selfishness of India's elite:

https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/4/20257/Indias-Vaccine-Policy-Unravels?fbclid=IwAR1UspwLj6kdbZ6uhFKlx9bi-jLSG4KpBJE_N4sLuig1XGEiAaOfE8AItCI

2:07 PM  
Blogger futuroexpat said...

Dr. B., not all changes in the USA are cosmetic. One such significant change we saw in the Chauvin trial: the police chief and fellow police officers testified against Chauvin.

Another change in the wider USA society: "women now outnumber men on many USA college campuses, making up 57% of college students. Despite stereotypes about African Americans, Black Americans in the United States are among those most likely to earn a postsecondary degree. For example, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that from the academic years 2000–2001 to 2015–2016, the number of bachelor's degrees awarded to Black students increased by 75% and the number of associate degrees earned by Black students increased by 110%."

From such graduates, including women and people of color, jury pools are made... and the percentage of Minnesotans who serve on a jury in a given year is about the same as the national average.

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/college-graduation-rates-for-african-americans-are-at-an-all-time-high-so-why-arent-their-
finances-2018-03-01

2:09 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

futuro-

Of course the Chauvin verdict was cosmetic, inasmuch as no serious changes will subsequently occur in law enforcement. Of that, my friend, you can be absolutely sure. As for yr stats: they don't really matter, because no matter what degrees blacks and women have earned (the quality of which has radically declined in the last 30 yrs, to the pt that the acquisition of genuine critical thinking is dubious at best; and again, dropout rates for blacks are quite high), juries, as I tried to explain to you, operate ontologically, not intellectually. Which is to say they react emotionally, as every attorney knows, and which was certainly the case in the Chauvin trial. Once again, your argument is a nonsequitur. It looks gd, but on closer examination can be seen to be extremely weak. Among other things, it ignores the forest for the trees.

mb

3:09 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

ps: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/25/us/justice-in-america-chauvin-verdict/index.html

and https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/25/us-policing-is-far-less-about-fighting-crime-than-controlling-the-poor

3:25 PM  
Anonymous Pastrami and Coleslaw said...

Now I'm wondering what substantive change would be ... normal cops banned from carrying guns, cut the military by 90% (I'm with long lost and missed WAFer Bill Hicks on that one) and use the savings for healthcare, school, basic universal income, etc.

With how f-ed up amerikkkans are, I really question if even all that would actually change anything for your average Karen. Considering how many people are still refusing the vaccine around here among other things I doubt even something so drastic as cutting the military would *actually* change the people. I'm guessing it would take years, perhaps generations to do that.

4:10 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Pastrami-

Mass lobotomies, another possibility. Or round up all Americans except for Wafers and Native Americans, ship them off to the Seychelles, and have the Wafers and Native Americans rebuild the country from scratch. In lieu of these 2 options, what I propose is to completely disarm all white cops, then hire black cops (with guns), and then have the black cops gun down the unarmed white ones, in the street, like dogs. Or kneel on their necks for 10 mins. I think this might qualify as substantive chg.

mb

4:25 PM  
Anonymous Democritus said...

Yes, Chauvin got what he probably deserves, but the corruption is systemic. Take a gander at this:

https://www.concordmonitor.com/6-charged-in-NH-youth-detention-center-sex-abuse-probe-39875110

These people are your neighbors, and...they vote.

9:22 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Demo-

Just look at the faces of these guys. Yikes. These are the faces of America.

mb

9:50 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

https://www.vox.com/2021/4/25/22367019/gop-laws-oklahoma-iowa-florida-floyd-blm-protests-police

Republican states have started to pass nebulously-worded legislation that allows drivers to run over protesters under "specific circumstances" which, let's be honest, will be just about any circumstance you can think of if those protesters happen to be liberals. This is fascism; no other word can describe laws that, due to their vague wording, allow the murder of peaceful protesters just because someone, somewhere, "suspects" danger or violence. So far, Oklahoma, Iowa and Florida have signed these laws, and similar laws will surely be signed by many more Republican states.

Let's put this latest piece of news in the context of recent events: nearly all Republican lawmakers defended Trump's deadly insurrection and Marjorie Taylor Greene's unhinged Jewish space laser screed, and are now making it legal for the citizens of their respective states to murder their political opponents with cars. How, exactly, are Republicans different from Nazis? I don't see any difference.

11:57 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Nadine-

Well, they aren't herding their enemies into death camps; or at least, not yet. Just bumping them off w/cars (very inefficient). As for the loony Jewish space laser bit: I find it so funny that I bought a T-shirt off the Net that shows a JSL and labels it as such.

In the history of the world, has there ever been a country so obviously ridiculous?

mb

12:16 AM  
Blogger alex carter said...

MB - A thin line of communication is possible through YouTube comments. I found indeed the son of the great Herman Wouk and did indeed communicate with him, back-and-forth. A horrible Trumper and a disgrace to his father and told him so. Can't find his channel again to save my life. I tried.

Malaga Mike - we're in similar situations. Can't move to X or Y other country because you. will. be. an. outsider. My plan is to retreat to the US backwater I grew up in and "local it up".

Futureoexpat - It needs to be 1:1. One civvie dies, one cop goes also. Also Nationwide licensing and registry and insuring of cops just like EMTs, nurses, and the guy who hangs your drywall.

MB regarding your reply to Pastrami - Right on!

12:20 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

I like the 1:1 idea, altho feel that if we had implemented Herman Cain's 999 Plan, all wd be well today. Esp. if Tulsi had been his VP. Imagine: 2 cutting-edge thinkers at the helm!

mb

12:58 AM  
Anonymous Rockwell N. Role said...

Both the economic bustOOOO back in 2007/8 and the current CV
pandemic resulted in a decrease in carbon emitted into the
atmosphere. Here's a short video of someone concerned about
this and doing what he can to get more carbon back into the
atmosphere.
https://izismile.com/2021/04/13/nice_neighbor_video.html

3:31 AM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Hola a los Waferes,

As usual, a relevant discussion here on tGBOE (The GReatest Blog On Earth).

@ Dr. Berman, Nadine, Alex, Democritus, et al: NMI is the only possible survival strategy going forward (?) in loony tune amerikkan world, amid fascism rising. As previously suggested:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q="On+Tyranny"+by+Timothy+Snyder&atb=v268-7oc&tia=web

Also, it appears that there is a free download pdf available.

So What? I mean I'm mean

4:54 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

gene-

u.r. 1 mean dude, no doubt abt it. Pity you can't come to the 7th Wafer Summit; we cd use yr wit and wisdom. Meanwhile, just keep being mean.

mb

5:00 AM  
Blogger Xair said...

WAFERS,
Just another day in the USA.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/large-fight-breaks-miami-international-014512370.html

7:52 AM  
Anonymous Boyes said...

2021 World Happiness Report amid COVID, with a focus on resilience.

To note: Costa Rica is #1 in the developing world (#16 in the global ranking) despite all the challenges...

https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2021/

10:41 AM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

Lesson one in fascism, they have no mercy.

https://youtu.be/deLlROkphCw

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/04/26/karen-garner-booking-video-loveland-police/

And they’re cowards.

11:04 AM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

As India experiences unprecedented levels of infection and death from the COVID virus, this news from a company on the forefront of the vaccine manufacturing process:

The CEO of Emergent BioSolutions, Robert G. Kramer, sold $10 mllion worth of the company’s stock in January and early February. It was revealed at the end of March that production problems at the Baltimore firm had necessitated the destruction of some 15 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Another vaccine developer, AstroZeneca, has moved production of its own vaccine out of Emergent in the wake of the JNJ revelations.

If Kramer were to sell an equivalent number of shares today, he’d get about half what he earned from his January-February sale.

Hey, sometimes you just make the right move in the market.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/emergent-robert-kramer-stock-sales/2021/04/25/de151434-a2b6-11eb-a7ee-949c574a09ac_story.html

1:13 PM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

@Nadine @Ajay, it’s important to call a spade a spade early enough. Saying this from my first hand experience. In 2014 I had written to a friend of mine that once we have elected Modi, we cannot hope for a course correction without much bloodshed. Turned out to be on dot. But even then, I could not imagine the present tragedy due to COVID. Any human being in charge of the country would have acted differently.

On a slightly different note, watched this well made docu on the great greenwash of green economy. Hypocrisy at its best.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/featured-documentaries/2020/9/7/the-dark-side-of-green-energy

1:19 PM  
Anonymous Angel said...

988 people have been shot and killed by police in the past year
Updated April 23, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/

2:28 PM  
Blogger Michael Burgess said...

Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:

Indi.ca has written and created a video presentation about the US embargoing m-RNA vaccine components to India while hoarding 100 million doses of COVID19 vaccine. What for? Profit, hegemonic power politics (I think). The author is pretty pissed about this, as he should be. We really are a crappy country and I hope, even if I die as a consequence of the resulting disorder, the US breaks apart sooner than 2030 and ceases to be a world power.

https://indica.medium.com/america-is-embargoing-supplies-while-india-burns-30a82a7481d9

2:34 PM  
Anonymous Kapi said...

After Thousands Die Unnecessarily, the U.S. Agrees to Let India Have Its AstraZeneca Vaccines
But only after the company jumps over more regulatory hurdles.https://reason.com/2021/04/26/us-biden-agrees-to-send-india-modi-astrazeneca-vaccines-thousands-die-fda/

If this had happened on Trump's watch you could've heard the outcry from the moon.

3:05 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Michael-

Most of the world probably hopes the same thing. Meanwhile, we're just a kleptocracy; i.e., a collection of scumbags (or scumbag wannabes).

mb

3:43 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

Of course I enjoyed yr list, but cdn't run it because of half-pg-max rule. Suggestion: re-do it, but use slashes/ between items so as to compress it all into half a pg. Thanks.

Tulsi forever, amigo!

mb

5:38 PM  
Anonymous Penn said...

The Free Market is Dead: What Will Replace It?https://time.com/5956255/free-market-is-dead/

It's the end of the dominance of free market ideology. W/ a nice description of how a real market - the Lancaster Central Market - operates.

5:51 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

Has America gone insane?

mass shootings/serial killers/out of control police/military violence inflicted at will around the world/the NRA/grotesque wealth and horrific poverty/1/2 million homeless/30 million w/o basic health insurance/widespread ignorance/stupefying malfeasance and widespread corruption/decaying infrastructure/endemic crisis of drug addiction and alcohol dependency/political nonsense/Marjorie Taylor Greene/Tulsi Gabbard/belligerently racist ex-president (soon to be once again in the arena)/Caitlyn Jenner/Oprah/Werner Erhard/more than 1/2 of Americans never traveling to another country/baconator fries/shamrock shakes...

(Feel free to add to this list, Wafers)

In any event, it's a seemingly endless list. Yet most Americans believe that they live in the best of all possible countries. How can this be so? Why do they put up with such feculence and folly? The only thing that I can make out is that people w/deep psychosis don't fully realize that they are in psychological crisis.

Miles

6:54 PM  
Anonymous wakkawakka said...

The Amazon rainforest is now a net carbon producer and no longer absorbs more carbon than it produces due to deforestation. My god, we really are viruses with shoes.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amazon-rainforest-now-emits-more-greenhouse-gases-it-absorbs-180977347/

7:17 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

Gd list. I've become convinced that the deep root of America's failure is our unwillingness to embrace our Inner Tulsi. We all have one: a part of us that is stupid and vapid, ugly in a kind of chic way, and that has no more gravitas than a feather. Of course, we wish to repress this disgusting vulgarity that is Tulsi Gabbard. But repression won't work: the vulgarity only comes back, that much stronger. There is only one answer, and that is for each and every one of us to EMBRACE OUR INNER TULSI. Only then will America be able to get back on the rt track. Americans, repeat after me:

I NOW EMBRACE MY INNER TULSI

You'll see what a difference this will make. In the meantime, I am wearing my Jewish Space Laser T-shirt (seriously), following all of Oprah's "spiritual" advice, and thinking of joining "est," along w/the NRA.

mb

7:26 PM  
Anonymous Dr. Shithouse said...

2 videos of stupid (redundant) americans -Bill Maher.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUD6lwB4lck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_bPjft8Yi0

And another us-ian war hawk peddling his stupid nasty "country" to the Aussies (at least he's a "realist" and knows that the us empire is very, very nasty).

Could you imagine the bravado of this american to come to another country and force them to pick a side....the Manichean construct that Dr. Berman eludes to with most us-ians; e.g., black-white simpleton 'thinking,' no nuance, just with us or against us, bad or good, etc. no layers, no connecting dots, no inference, etc..

https://vimeo.com/471495888

8:08 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dr. Shit-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQOAtztz8fc

mb

8:44 PM  
Anonymous Rollo Dice said...

Can you imagine the audience for a pay-for-view of dozens of mass serial shooting in New York City?
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-supreme-court-hear-major-134529643-171944913.html

8:53 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Rollo-

Short answer: yes. Have you recently reflected on the # of Americans who need to be slapped? I tell ya, when I think of it, I get so exhausted I hafta lie down.

mb

9:15 PM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Dr. Berman,
Here is a nice piece of good and welcome "news"! Let's rejoice! It signifies what this country also worships besides its imaginary Christian god and the dollar bill.
What better fanfare than to proudly proclaim the launching of another war vessel. Will it be used to invade Antarctica and take care of those Communistic penguins?
What a pathetic piece of crap this country is.

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/04/23/higbee-destroyer-christening/
4451619203295/

9:37 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

It actually is a pathetic piece of crap. This is a gd example of it. Also see my reply to Rollo.

mb

10:11 PM  
Anonymous Art Baker said...

A belated Happy Earth Day! Yes, humanity tries to kill Nature and
Nature retaliates. Nature has been learning for eons, while
humanity is still in its addled infancy.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/scientists-25-000-barrels-ddt-220852011.html

11:23 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Art-

U2, check out reply to Rollo.

mb

1:09 AM  
Blogger Mike Kelly said...

@Miles - that is some exhaustive list and volumes could be written about each item on the list. In fact, Dark Ages America may be the volumes. I hope this blog gets preserved in history so, like Dr. Berman suggests, the Chinese can understand what the hell happened to this country.

@Pastrami - evoking memories of our friend Bill Hicks. Bill told it like it was. He would have enjoyed discussing the following:

https://www.desmog.com/2021/04/22/struggling-fracking-investors-are-searching-for-the-exit/?fbclid=IwAR2wMGMnA0h6Wbf0wLEfeZLkHybnS2WjzcLYKXm6L_UVPg6r22yYkWa6xZA

The miracle of fracking turned out to be just another racket.

One of the things to remember about Americans, is that the limits to greed are infinite. If you doubt that, then read the book Empire of Pain about some rags to riches Americans:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/patrick-radden-keefe-exposes-sacklers-in-empire-of-pain.html

Greed may be nearly as addictive as Oxycontin. Days after finishing the Empire of Pain, I am still gobsmacked.

@meangene - I'm sorry that you won't be at the Wafer conference. Stay mean, bro.

11:03 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Mike-

The elite are trash. Always keep that in mind. And millions admire them. What a country.

mb

12:23 PM  
Anonymous Cinnie said...

Former Obama White House advisor Seth Andrew Arrested, Accused of Stealing from Charter School he Founded https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/04/27/former-obama-white-house-advisor-seth-andrew-arrested-in-charter-school-theft.html

1:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Cinnie-

America is hustling; it isn't much else. And the elite are trash, as are the wannabes. Hard to hang onto yr lunch, in this country. Barf.

mb

2:22 PM  
Anonymous Matt S. said...

Dear Dr. Berman,

When I hear the American national anthem I honestly don't feel or sense togetherness in the tune. Instead it sounds like a sport anthem, and makes me imagine that someone is out to get something by competing against someone else.

Matt

2:52 PM  
Anonymous Boots said...

The US may still be helping Saudi Arabia in the Yemen war after all https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2021/4/27/22403579/biden-saudi-yemen-war-pentagon

4:17 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Matt-

We shd probably get Miles' opinion on this, but myself, I never found the thing very musical. More appropriate for Americans would be "Turkeys in the Straw" (or Shit):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2Oc31yPxfk

Yee-hah!

mb

4:20 PM  
Anonymous Glans Butterworth, III said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z3Mg9dgHOo

Maybe another contender for the US empire's theme musak/national anthem.

4:29 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Glans-

It's not stupid enuf.

mb

4:53 PM  
Anonymous Alejandro said...

Antonio Gramsci died in a facist prison on this day in 1937 – MB writes about him in "Genio"

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/observations/2018/02/why-antonio-gramsci-marxist-thinker-our-times

5:03 PM  
Anonymous Mr Crumper said...

A secret video obtained by The New Yorker shows the N.R.A. chief Wayne LaPierre and his wife hunting elephants. His wife, Susan, kills an elephant, cuts off its tail, and holds it in the air. “Victory!” she shouts. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-footage-of-nra-chief-wayne-lapierres-botched-elephant-hunt

Monsters.

5:14 PM  
Anonymous Mike R. said...

Perhaps a more stupider anthem for the huge mistake (Freud referring to America).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IK0vcAzJtw

5:41 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

MB, Matt-

I agree. It's time to ditch the Star-Spangled Banner. As a replacement, I would like to suggest "Idiot Wind" by Bob Dylan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBLViMLws10

or "Lotta Love" by Neil Young:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_J6e9lOdhU

Miles

6:03 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/30/what-happened-to-glenn-greenwald/

A good article detailing Glenn Greenwald's descent into madness. The sentence about Greenwald having no ideology other than reflexive contrarianism these days rings true. This brings to mind Americans' negative identities, how they define themselves and their positions only in relation to what they hate. I wonder whether Greenwald acquired a negative identity at some point, or whether he always had one.

It seems very few leftist American intellectuals have maintained their sanity and integrity in the face of America's ongoing disintegration. They've either become Trump fanatics (e.g., Glenn Greenwald, John Michael Greer), allies of the far-right (e.g., Bret Weinstein, Heather Heying) or woke retards (e.g., Chris Hedges, Derrick Jensen). It's sad watching great minds turn to shit, but I'm hardly surprised. This is America, after all.

6:26 PM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

From The Elites Are Dreck department, this:

Wayne LaPierre, head honcho of the National Rifle Association, told Americans agitating for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012 that “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a guy is a good guy with a gun.” A year later, he and his wife Susan travel to Botswana, where together they kill an African elephant with the assistance of local guides. The New Yorker obtained video.

As NPR has taught us, we are obliged to say “Some readers may find the following article and video disturbing.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-secret-footage-of-nra-chief-wayne-lapierres-botched-elephant-hunt

6:37 PM  
Anonymous Cosmo Como said...

Looks like a sure way to reduce the number of gun toting holy
crazies.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/brianna-keilar-covid-19-misinformation-evangelicals-074920682.html

6:38 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Mike-

I think the phrase he used was "gigantic mistake."

Alejandro-

Thanks for the ref. One of my heroes.

Nadine-

He reminds me of Christopher Hitchens, in fact. Article also mentions Taibbi, wh/(if true) wd be a real shame. Others you mention, like Greer and Hedges: well, what can one say, really? As you pt out, the US is a huge buffoon-generating machine, and even the brightest can't resist it. I'm still sticking w/"Turkeys in the Straw" for our national anthem. As for the Elites, yes, they are trash, but apparently so are the anti-Elites. Read my new book, "Tossing My Cookies: A Concise History of the US."

Jeff-

Is there no song called "Breaking Wind"?

mb

7:41 PM  
Anonymous Seneca’s Cliff said...

I politely disagree with the counterpunch articles description of greenwalds decent in to right wing advocacy. I looked over all of his recent articles on substack and my takeaway is the Glenn is an old fashioned journalist who seeks to expose lies, hypocracy, self-dealing and foolishness no matter the ideology. We have become so used to the concept that a “journalist” like Rachel Maddow ( cough, cough) is expected to be an unwavering advocate of a political point of view that anything less is looked upon with suspicion. Just because a journalist does not toe the party line does not mean he has joined the other party. Many other sharp critics of the status quo, from Lenny Bruce to George Carlin have critiqued both sides equally.The article in the following link is a good example as it highlights a now-proven truth in a very partisan incident.

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-media-lied-repeatedly-about-officer

9:45 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Seneca-

I'm not really qualified to judge on this matter, but of course I hope yr rt. Maybe other Wafers can weigh in, tell us what they think. Thanks for speaking up, in any case.

mb

11:00 PM  
Anonymous FerQ said...

To Michael Burgess:

You said "We really are a crappy country and I hope, even if I die as a consequence of the resulting disorder, the US breaks apart sooner than 2030 and ceases to be a world power."

I am hoping for the same thing. The sooner the US and its sick degenerate people go to hell and disappear, the better.

To MB and Wafers:

This video shows the reality of the present and the future of the US.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpr5pnqvU8


11:58 PM  
Blogger Systems Crash Go said...

Re the Indian Situation

I am living the apocalypse for real this time. No more "collapse in the future". Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters go to the hospital and die on metal trolleys on the pavement gasping for breath. There is no link, no words, nothing that I can say to describe it. A close family friend's elderly parents went to the hospital for treatment and have since disappeared from the face of this earth. The hospital has no record of their admission or presence. In all probability they died and their bodies were dispatched to the crematorium without informing the near ones. This is where we are.

2:27 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Nadine-

Sorry, cdn't post it (24-hr rule).

Systems-

Thank you for letting us know. What a horror show.

mb

6:18 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

I've been watching videos of Bill Maher over the last few yrs, and it's interesting: when you put them all together, what he seems to (inadvertently) be doing is documenting the demise of the country. I doubt he *thinks* he's doing it, because my guess is that he's a patriot and believes we can do better. But try this as an expt, and see if you don't see what I see: add it all up, and the evidence that we have no future seems to be overwhelming.

mb

9:08 AM  
Anonymous Sybok said...

Ben Cain on The Tragic Overkilling of George Floyd:

The event of Floyd’s death was a perfect storm, which is to say in part that his death had multiple causes. Granted, every event has multiple causes, but what makes for a perfect storm is when the underlying causes compete with the overriding factor for relevance to the explanation... Democrats contend that one such factor was systemic racism, but collectively the evident factors point to a more complete breakdown of American society.

Nadine, I don't think John Michael Greer is a Trump fanatic. His writings set out to explain why Trump appeals to the working class, but they hardly lionize the man.

9:17 AM  
Anonymous Ralff said...

MB:

Personally I can't stand Maher but I think you're right. In fact he might be the person I find most obnoxious that I also most often agree with.

9:55 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Ralff-

Please note: only 1 post every 24 hrs. Thank you.

Sybok-

Complete breakdown is what we are going thru. You can't have a massacre a day and still be a viable political entity. And when are we going to have the boogaloo, BTW?

mb

10:38 AM  
Blogger Xair said...

Wafers,

So I was in a deli yesterday, and the owner was lamenting how ignorant Americans are. To prove his point he then said he would give a free lunch to any customer that could name every president from FDR to Biden. It goes without saying that nobody ate for free. It was truly pitiful to watch these people struggle for answers, as most couldn't get passed Reagan. One guy went from Carter to Nixon, and when I mentioned he forgot Ford, he actually thought I was making a joke/referencing the car company. You can't make this shit up!!! I swear Americans are as dumb as a box of rocks.

Here are some stats on American ignorance

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cfr.org/news-releases/americans-lack-knowledge-international-issues-yet-consider-them-important-finds-new%3famp

https://www.goacta.org/news-item/the-danger-ignorance-of-history-poses-to-the-future-of-a-free-society/

10:56 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Xair-

All of this is not surprising when you realize that the country largely consists of degraded buffoons.

mb

11:09 AM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

As dumb as things are now just imagine what it’ll be like when this generation of kids become adults - I figure Covid-19 put them 3-4 years behind other advanced countries rather than the usual 2 years and they’re traumatized.

Another public execution- 6(!) cops responding to 1 drunk guy. No one should EVER get put in restraints in the prone position (face down) esp. an obese person. It’s common knowledge in psychiatric settings.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/04/27/mario-gonzalez-alameda-police-bodycam-footage-family/4868347001/

https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/system/files?file=file-attachments%2F701801.pdf

https://www.westword.com/news/troy-geskes-colorado-mental-health-institute-death-due-to-malfeasance-grand-jury-reports-5899599



11:55 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Gunnar-

It's as tho the George Floyd murder never happened, eh?

mb

12:07 PM  
Anonymous Sadler said...

Nadine:

G Greenwald gave us two of the biggest stories of the 21stC (Snowden/NSA and Brazil/Car Wash) no?

He doesn't seem like the nicest guy (and does seem pretty open to get into petty feuds) but I try to focus on what's more important/substantive.

MB, he differs from Hitchens in my view in that while Hitchens was an incredible wordsmith/writer, I didn't ever see him as a great journalist. Whereas I actually think Greenwald is kind of a bad writer, but a very punchy journo.

No one's perfect I guess. EE Cummings is one of my favorite poets but I've read he was an asshole.

12:42 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sadler-

I don't think Nadine was denying the early impt work of the people she cites. Her pt is that for some unknown reason, they seem to have gone to hell in a basket, as of late. Wh/is a valid pt, I think (if it's true).

mb

3:14 PM  
Anonymous Anjin-san said...

I don't follow trans issues but this article caught my eye as another fine example of American decency and fair play.

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/04/concerned-father-arrested-peacefully-testifying-arkansas-trans-health-care-ban/

I can't imagine what it would be like to live in that state and country.

4:04 PM  
Anonymous Deli-licious said...

I don't see how a Wafer level intellect could not find Bill Maher insufferable (arrogant) and full of deflection from more important issues and analysis.

Miles it's because the West (Europeans) lost - since Stalingrad.

4:46 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Deli-

Not all Wafers think the same, amigo; we do not march around in lockstep. Plus, much of his focus is precisely the way Americans are preoccupied w/crap, and deflect from more impt issues! Hope you will learn to be more astute/tolerant in the future. (like most Wafers)

mb

5:32 PM  
Anonymous Dr. Shithouse said...

A failed "nation" of scum bags.

Woman kills man and his dog in hit and run while fleeing from another hit and run moments before.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-kills-man-dog-hit-run-fleeing-hit/story?id=77337673

Such a fine us-ian, getting a bit verklempt. Mr. Hedges, Dr. Chomsky, et al. these are YOUR 'peeps'-they'll definitely 'rise up' and 'fight' the 'man' the 'govt', 'corporation', etc. poor things, they're getting duped left /right/ center, if only they could remove that wool.....

6:42 PM  
Anonymous Jobe said...

Drought-hit California moves to halt Nestlé from taking millions of gallons of water | California | The Guardian

https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/27/california-nestle-water-san-bernardino-forest-drought

I see a lot of this in our future

7:04 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icJpXplwIZs&t=634s

In this clip, starting at 38 seconds, you can hear Greenwald calling Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump and Steven Bannon socialists. Yes, he said Steve Bannon, a horrific white supremacist fascist, is a socialist. I don't think this needs further analysis; it's pure insanity to make this claim.

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/as-the-insurrection-narrative-crumbles

Here's an article by Glenn Greenwald claiming that the government wildly overreacted to the right-wing violence on January 6th. He claims that the safety precautions and lockdowns imposed by the government were wholly unnecessary. It's an idiotic line of thought; did it ever occur to him that further riots didn't occur precisely because the safely precautions and lockdowns were imposed? Later in the article, Greenwald becomes much more unhinged; he describes the liberal media as an "apocalyptic cult leader" predicting the end of the world on January 6th, January 20th and March 4th. He also refuses to acknowledge that more far-right violence might erupt in the future. Although the liberal media is horrible, he's wildly overstating how insane it is and refusing to mention how the conservative media is even more insane, thereby revealing his own insanity.

7:08 PM  
Blogger Jamie said...

Hi Dr B and Wafers. Just got back a few days ago from camping in the Sonoran desert before the heat sets in for the year. It’s was an amazing time in nature without any distractions. Very cleansing and therapeutic.

Since returning from camping, I have been watching a Netflix documentary that only further confirms that the elite are trash. It’s about the 2019 college admissions scam. A great hustler film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFHj8e7mU_I

8:51 PM  
Blogger Brian said...

@Dr. Berman
Respectfully and granted,
Bill Maher does have a hilarious sense of humor and sharp wit for the idiocy of American society. On the other hand (I don’t think we disagree), he is a turkey when he calls Biden a ‘transformative president‘ and when he with implication, scorns the younger Bernie Sanderistas for being dissatisfied with Biden’s status quo maintaining crumbs. From a political thinking standpoint, it is like his brain is wired directly to the thought machine of the liberal news media establishment, the result of which is him just parroting conventional political thinking. So I do think Maher is a case of, as you put it, “in America, even the smart people are stupid”. I think the segment below justifies my opinion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPSK7inXesA (re-posting of the previous link)

9:12 PM  
Anonymous Seneca’s Cliff said...

I think we need to take a look at Greenwald’s statements from a more nuanced and waferistic point of view. His comment on various Trumpers being socialist was a huge lightning rod and got the BAM ( Biden Apologist Media) in to a frenzy like a chunk of Limburger dropped in to a mouse cage. If you got your understanding of socialism from a booth at the county fair this can seem shocking, but there has been a more complicated discussion of how socialism fits in as a counterpoint to neoliberalism which is what Glenn is referring to but explains poorly.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/04/08/open-borders-is-socialism/

And his article on the lockdown of the capital seems well argued and sensible to me. It only seems crazy if you believe the Biden Regimes claims that a bunch of Bubba’s taking selfie’s and swiping souvenirs were the equivalent of the British burning the capital in 1812. As a wafer and a declinest I would argue that for the good of the world we should leave the capital open. After all what could better hasten the USA on the way to the dustbin of history than mobs of Bubbas tuning up Nancy, Chuck and Mitch with Axe handles on a weekly basis, then urinating on their shoes for good measure.

9:38 PM  
Blogger Mohamed said...

Bill maher is funny and I agree with most of what he says. But you are right he is a insufferable. I wouldn’t want to meet him in person

10:10 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Seneca-

Always, always, capitalize Wafer.

Brian-

All I wanted to observe was, that if you watch his shows for the last 2 yrs, there seems to be a progressive, inadvertent documentation of the collapse of the country.

Jamie-

These people are lower than pond scum. And they got off relatively lightly, imo. 20 yrs wd have been gd for Lori Loughlin.

mb

12:47 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Dr. Berman,
You really have to laugh at these two articles.
https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/04/28/britain-hmsqueenelizabeth-F35B/5851619638319/
https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/04/28/indopacific0ussjeffersoncity-navy/5801619631436/

The British, otherwise known as “America Lite”, that former empire, appreciate us sending fighter jets and one of our carriers to join up with them. And one of our submarines heads for the Pacific to “defend freedom”; or should we say “defend ‘commerce’ “? The chief of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on a conference call with the American Enterprise Institute discussing the deployment. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all. LOL.
What a country! LOL!

1:33 AM  
Anonymous Northern Johnny said...

Hi Dr. B. and WAFERS:

I have a lot of respect for the American thinker Nancy Fraser, who has been a leading socialist and feminist since at least the 1980s.

I did a careful reading of Fraser's book of conversations on Capitalism that she did with Rahel Jaeggi (a German critical theorist) in 2018, and found it clarifying and rewarding, especially on the issues of capitalism and ecology and capitalism and race/ethnicity: https://www.wiley.com/en-ca/Capitalism%3A+A+Conversation+in+Critical+Theory-p-9780745671567

In any case, big picture assessments of the American situation are welcome at this moment and Fraser offers a concise and pointed one in a recent interview for New Left Review: https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/american-interregnum

Fraser sees America as continuing to be in a Gramscian 'interregnum.' I think this is significant, because some mistakenly believe the Biden turn means the 'interregnum' is over.

-Northern Johnny

8:32 AM  
Blogger Mike Kelly said...

Living up here on the frontier of America, I often make the mistake of thinking that we're immune to some of the bad things that happen elsewhere in America on a regular basis. Often I am proven wrong. See below. Typical workplace shooting, ex-military guy goes unhinged, violent stupidity results.

https://www.pressrepublican.com/news/alleged-watertown-shooter-found-dead-after-fleeing-to-franklin-county/article_e56863a2-a875-11eb-aaea-ab1493923bcf.html

8:37 AM  
Anonymous Glans Butterworth, III said...

Wafer Northern Johnny-thank you kindly for the link to Dr. Nancy Fraser.

She does have very interesting and researched arguments-the only issue in my view is that she proposes more of "we ought to, we need to," American-style thinking; e.g., generally, a vibe of 11th hour rabbit out of a hat predictable US yammer.

It appears as psychosis (loss of contact w/reality) for many Americans-no matter how "smart" they are, how researched, etc... They simply cannot state the US is finished, it's over, it's done. Finito. It's a mental blockage and-or inability to face reality.

These analyses are interesting from a historical perspective--like a forensic scientist combing through airplane wreckage; however, the "plane" has already crashed. There's NOTHING we can do about 400yrs+ of massive mistakes. These typical academic exercises/fantasies of "we ought to, we need to, we should"...are laughable through the US prism.

Why can't these "smart" folks just say: IT'S OVER and there's nothing left to do other than 1. leave, 2. NMI?

10:44 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Another 'surprise':

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/28/us/north-carolina-watauga-county-deputies-shot/index.html

12:34 PM  
Anonymous Mike R. said...

USians in action...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhk7m1SSmRs

12:43 PM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Greetings MB and Wafers,

Worth a shot dept.:

Olivia Taylor-Washek, 28, offered free lap dances to citizens and a free fuck to police officers. Perhaps this kind of *offer* will ease coppers itchy trigger fingers:

https://www.ibtimes.sg/olivia-taylor-washek-florida-model-arrested-offering-people-free-lap-dances-asking-cops-57117

Miles

12:49 PM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

MB, Systems and Wafers, What Systems describes, heartbreaking as it is, is one of thousands and thousands of such stories. And there's no end in sight. We are already in a Covid apocalypse, headed towards a likely economic collapse. Frontline workers are breaking down, journalists are breaking down reporting, but our demagogue remains unmoved. In fact, he seems to derive a certain pleasure from the spectacle of the march of the dead. I do not say this out of frustration, there are cool reasons behind that. We will be done much pretty soon. And the world outside will not escape unscathed.

The writer and activist Arundati Roy has called the failure of the govt a crime against humanity. Here are two links for those interested.
1. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/apr/28/crime-against-humanity-arundhati-roy-india-covid-catastrophe
2. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/29/india/india-covid-crisis-world-problem/index.html

Systems, in case you are interested, you may get in touch directly. My google id is prasenup

1:07 PM  
Blogger Rook said...

Dear Wafers, Dr Berman,

In what sane universe could Liz Cheney and some of the largest capitalist orgs in the world be considered left wing?

'Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, alleged Cheney is being backed by “woke” corporations like Walmart, AT&T and T-Mobile, all of which are trying to keep her in office and “bankrolling her against [Bouchard].”

“The ‘woke’ corporations are lining up behind Liz Cheney — FLOODING her campaign coffers with MILLIONS of dollars. These are the same ‘woke’ corporations trying to shove the Democrats’ far-left agenda down our throats,” Bouchard wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning.'

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2021/04/14/bouchard-claims-cheney-is-scared-being-backed-by-woke-corporations/

Demented or what? However, I do agree with Bouchard that woke-ism is found all across the political spectrum.

2:23 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

Nice tits, but there's something terribly wrong w/her face. She is, however, a true American.

Mike-

Also true Americans (douche bags).

mb

2:28 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Rook-

Woke, shmoke. The thing to keep in mind is that across the political spectrum, and in all walks of life, Americans are simply not very bright. The documentation of this is extensive. Bill Maher has a great, short video on this, comparing us to the Chinese, who are quite smart (cited by Xair a couple of threads back). In my view, they are jokes, dressed up to look like human beings.

mb

2:55 PM  
Anonymous Luke Hamilton said...

Anjin-san: 40 minutes for anti-LGBT speakers and 2 minutes allotted for this father of a trans teen, jailed for going 30 seconds over. They couldn't even give an illusion of a legitimate hearing, how brutish.

Nadine & Seneca: In my view, Greenwald and Taibbi are some of the most non-sensationalistic journalists out there. There's so much bluster and nonsense, in mainstream and social media, and they really cut it down to size. Not perfect, some points could be better put--switch socialist with populist, reflect on their historical connections, and hear he wasn't talking about Trump's actual policies so much as his 2016 campaign (which Trump didn’t live up to, e.g., drain the swamp)--but both Greenwald and Taibbi provide nuance and will call out bullshit across the spectrum, something rarely seen in the hive mind that is modern discourse. Their global roots also keep them from being stuck in the silo of American journalism.

Trial-by-media continues, where rumor and gossip kills careers, ruins lives, and is hailed as progress.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/04/29/bail-a29.html

Luke

3:50 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Luke-

Thanks for the link. All of this is woke McCarthyism, ruining careers and dulling the American consciousness (what's left of it). I am a two-times Norton author, and I'm ashamed of what they've done. It makes you realize Trump did have a pt, at least regarding PC. I am hoping there will be a groundswell against them.

mb

4:29 PM  
Anonymous Durdgen said...

MB,

reading anything interesting these days? I'm in a drought as far as impressing or inspiring reading.

Luke,

I was just reading about the cancelled Roth biography. How stupid can we get?

4:51 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Durdgen-

Not just stupid; culturally violent. The progs are doing exactly what got Trumpi elected in 2016. Sickos on both sides. As for my rdg: try the biogs of Russell and Wittgenstein by Ray Monk. You really hafta be into philosophy, tho. A bit more exciting is the bio of Kim Philby, by Ben Macintyre.

mb

5:05 PM  
Blogger Judy Sacco said...

This is for malaga mike. Panama has a Friendly Nations Visa which allows people from particular countries, including the U.S., to get permanent residence in Panama and a work permit. https://panamafriendlynationsvisa.com/

5:05 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

No links just an observation. I don’t know how it works in Europe but “free” child care and pre-k seem to me to be a pedophile’s wet dream. In my mind these positions should require a Master’s degree in a social science but I’m guessing they’ll be shitty low paying jobs in another under funded half assed program constantly in need of more money. A better approach wld be to make it possible for one parent to stay at home thru a universal basic income or a job with a truly livable wage like $20-25 an hour.

I’m terrible at math but what if 5% of the 75 million who voted for trump are ready for civil war. That’s 3.4 million + the ones who didn’t vote. Total number of military personnel in USA is 1.4 million. It might be as easy to storm the country as it was the Capitol.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/232330/us-military-force-numbers-by-service-branch-and-reserve-component/

5:37 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

sorry for breaking 24 hr rule but it’s 3.75 million - terrible at math and too dumb to work a calculator I guess.

5:40 PM  
Anonymous JUS said...

Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers,
This is the idiocy we are up against with 'woke' culture. This is a professor from a community college I attended in the 80's. I'm also taking a class in the same community college district but different school. Not only is she belittling the student but being a horrible example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex2gl3VvXfQ

In addition, I get emails from the college president every week and this is part of one of them that I received last week:

"In my own reflection and effort to lead our community towards racial equity, I read an article earlier this spring that resonated with me. I have shared it with some of you in meetings and virtual spaces when we were engaged in campus planning. I encourage you to read it and reflect on what each of us can do to move Fullerton College and NOCCCD closer to becoming antiracist places to learn and work. The article is titled “Avoiding Racial Equity Detours” by Paul Gorski. In the opening paragraph, Gorski writes, “In schools committed to racial equity, educators who resist anti-racist measures should feel uneasy, isolated on the outskirts of their schools’ institutional cultures. I mean this literally. The educators least invested in racial equity should wonder whether they belong.”

Does no one else see a problem here?

Anyway, love this blog.

7:25 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

JUS-

A douche baguette in action. I'm starting to pine for the gd ol' days w/Trumpi.

mb

7:53 PM  
Blogger Dan Daniel said...

Two reasons the US will not correct and that the best thing to hope for is other countries recognizing that for their own survival and sanity they need to shut this country down:

1) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-11/the-dangerous-rise-of-the-supersized-pickup-truck

Just one quote of an unusual article that basically says that American men are insecure about their penis size- “ Pickup truck front ends have warped into scowling brick walls, billboards for outwardly directed hostility. “The goal of modern truck grilles,” wrote Jalopnik’s Jason Torchinsky in 2018, “seems to be… about creating a massive, brutal face of rage and intimidation.”

2) The combined budgets of US police forces makes them the third largest armed force in the world, behind China and the USA.

https://www.army-technology.com/features/biggest-military-budgets-world/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/america-s-policing-budget-has-nearly-tripled-to-115-billion

The biggest crime against humanity ever committed by the most selfish, evil, immoral nation ever seen. Go Joe Biden!

9:03 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Dan D-

I agree that these vehicles mirror the rage and hatred that most Americans carry around w/them. However, I do believe the USSR, and the Third Reich, were more evil than we are. (Not that that matters, all that much.)

mb

9:15 PM  
Anonymous Gretchen said...

https://coffeeordie.com/afghanistan-contractor/

Contracting in Afghanistan: ‘The Biggest Threat to Us … Was the US Army’

Doesn't this say it all.

9:58 PM  
Anonymous Anjin-san said...

For any American Wafers still on the fence about staying or leaving an article from an ex-pat about how leaving America has given her a better life.

https://www.fodors.com/news/news-and-features/ive-lived-in-four-countries-around-the-world-heres-why-i-dont-see-myself-moving-back-to-the-u-s

10:14 PM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Anjin-sama - Used to daydream about moving to flyover and buying a homestead for my whole family but ... all desire to do so is gone.

Glans - I'm too old and blind to wetback it to somewhere civilized and pick grapes or shovel shit and learn the language and prove I'm a good egg and get citizenship. So NMI it is.

Judy Sacco - 'wonder how they are about retirees who have a dependable $800 or a grand coming in?

Dan Daniel - like car grilles of the 50s? Yes trux are higher and more dangerous and so on, but Eisenhower era cars were nuts.

People ask why I'm a communist, well ... they've got the music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvCGZEqk8Ak

5:54 AM  
Anonymous EB said...

Tucker Carlson referred to WWI as "the Iraq of its day" last night.

Correct (not in the way he meant) insofar as WWI was a complete waste of blood and wealth resulting in the disillusionment of an entire generation


it also screwed up an entire continent leading to further vicious bloodshed down the line

7:16 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

You dirty, filthy pinko.

mb

9:25 AM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Hola a los Waferes,

@ Dr. Berman @ Dan D reply: Right on the mark Dr.Berman. Reading Dr.Timothy Snyders's "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin"; and conversations I had with Alina Kawulok in 2001 helped me to reach the same conclusion.

@ Mike Kelly, Thank you friend. You are one kind elder brother to a Wafer of another mother. That was a good day in NYC in April, 2019. It had to be that year because it was the right time - then we had 2020...This year the timing is off, though I surely would like to travel to DC again. It's not easy bein' mean...

Van Morrison "Bein' Green" - YouTube https://www.com/watch?v=fnCQTNnVIE

12:37 PM  
Blogger Judy Sacco said...

For Alex Carter: $800/month income can get you a resident retirement visa if you also buy real estate worth at least $100,000. Do a search for residency in Panama. There are several types of visas with different financial requirements.

2:28 PM  
Blogger dermot said...

Steve Bell, probably the greatest satirical cartoonist on the planet - frankly in a class of his own - is having his contract at the Guardian clipped. The legendary "IF" series is no more. He may do an occasional spot, but looks like he's pretty much done at that increasingly disgusting rag.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2021/apr/26/steve-bells-if-about-to-breathe-its-last#comment-148856162

Bell himself appears in the comments.

Check out the comments (unless they're deleted by the time you get to it. 100% shocked at the decision, and also shocked that the G is allowing comments at all.

A warmongering rag that has a 1 billion pound trust fund that still has the gall to beg its readers for donations. WTF is wrong with some people?

3:46 PM  
Anonymous Seneca's Cliff said...

I agree with our host that Bill Maher's last couple of months of shows have described the downward spiral of America. But I will go one step further and say that deep down Bill is a Wafer. On his original show " Politically Incorrect" he often had controversial guests and did not really follow the prog party line. Then in 2001 he was punished and had his show canceled for saying that the pilots who flew the planes in the WTC on 911 were terrorists and murderer's but not cowards. He was later offered his current show on HBO but I am sure his contract has many pages stipulating what he can and cannot say and how he must promote a certain point of view. So he is definitely a hustler as he has sold his soul for gold, but he knows it. I think he is also smart enough to know the USA has been going down the tubes for a long time but he is not really allowed to say it. But lately it has been bubbling up to the surface and he can't help but to sneak this point of view in to his monologues and "New Rules" segments. As a snippet of proof of that he agrees with some of us on the blog, I offer his opinion on the death of comic book author Stan Lee.

https://time.com/5458149/bill-maher-stan-lee-blog-post-comic-books/

3:46 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Seneca-

I cd be wrong, but I don't have the impression that Maher is trimming his sails for the benefit of his corporate sponsors. He seems pretty rad to me. And if you line up the shows over the last 2 yrs, the general impression u get is that the US is one big joke, going nowhere in a hurry.

mb

4:53 PM  
Blogger Krakhed said...

Stumbled across this and it reminded me of the discussion I've seen here. Maybe related to The Reenchantment of the World, tho I haven't read it yet.

https://emergencemagazine.org/essay/magic-and-the-machine/

5:29 PM  
Anonymous Noura said...

New Rule: SCAMerica | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1elBgwBu2g

8:03 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Noura-

Terrific talk by Bill M., as usual. He's got the data, too. Thanks for the link.

mb

8:32 PM  
Anonymous SSontag said...

I can't believe as an intellectual that you like B. Maher.

8:58 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sontag-

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. He's funny, and sharply critical of the US. We cd use large doses of both, imo. But don' worry: I still like Hegel.

mb

9:31 PM  
Anonymous Cel-Ray Tonic said...

Thanks Noura, I just ended up watching an hour of Maher's stuff. I'm with MB on this one, it's not all perfect but I'm now a fan. Who else tells the woke mob (I might get the wording wrong) "You can't be nervous because your talking to a 'Person of Color'. Your talking to a person." Or something like that.

However, the lack or discussion of deli meats as of late is even more disturbing.

10:38 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Cel-Ray-

Not to mention the absence of any mention of chopped liver. But chew on this:

In 1914 (b4 WWI broke out), Bertrand Russell was invited to be a visiting prof at Harvard. He was lionized, wh/included being forced to dine w/the 'cream' of Boston society (remember what I have repeatedly said abt elites). He wrote to a friend back in England that Boston prides itself on its virtue. "I often want to ask them what constitutes the amazing virtue they are so conscious of--they are against [Woodrow] Wilson, against Labour, rich, over-eating, selfish, feeble pigs."

I guess things haven't changed much in 107 yrs. All that needs to be updated here is the vocabulary: e.g. they are douche bags, buffoons, turkeys of the first order, etc. etc. Of course, around this time or shortly after, H.L. Mencken was referring to them as morons, so I guess that's a start.

mb

11:24 PM  
Anonymous al-Qa'bong said...

Hello Wafers:

I can't say I'm thrilled with all the cheering for Bill Maher going on here these days. That said, I watch his show every week. I agree with quite a bit of what he says, especially about the environment, factory farming and wokeness, but he has huge partisan blindsides.

He still insists that the Russkies colluded with Trumpi to defeat the ghastly Mrs. Clinton. Today, with Thomas Frank and the other guest sputtering in exasperation, he insisted that Bill Clinton's rightwing dismantling of the US welfare system was a move to the "centre," not to the right. Have you ever heard him say anything about the US alliance with the Saudis, or the war in Yemen? How about his racism against Palestinians?

Maher's in league with Rachel Maddow and the rest of the wealthy liberal Democrat elite. And he isn't funny.

Nuts to him.

11:26 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

al-

I hate ambiguity. Could you tell us how you *really* feel? ;-)

Meanwhile, continuing on w/Bertrand Russell's visit to the US, he wrote to Ottoline Morrell that he felt like an "efficient machine." "It is comfortable, but death. I shall have to come back to life and pain. (I have not met a single person in this country who would know what that means.)" He later wrote her that regarding the Americans, "I feel a brute to be so glad to leave them--but none of them touch one's soul in any way."

Gee, do ya think?

mb

4:23 AM  
Blogger Rook said...

The Rise of ‘Woke Capital’ Is Nothing to Celebrate:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/opinion/liberals-corporations-woke-capitalism.html

'Senator Rick Scott of Florida likewise warned of a “massive backlash coming” for “woke corporate America”; meanwhile, Senator Marco Rubio reckoned that “the bill is coming due” for companies that haven’t fulfilled their “patriotic role.'

'Liberals have largely embraced this backup from corporations, with more than a note of glee at the turning of the tables. There’s something to be said for any port in a storm — but nobody, least of all liberals, has anything to celebrate in the rise of activist industry.'

With corporate America under attack from conservatives for aligning with team Blue, is fascism the logical way forward for the American Right?

5:09 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Unknown-

Sorry, I don't post Unknowns. You need a real handle to participate in this blog. E.g., Hans Scheisskopf.

mb

11:31 AM  
Blogger alex carter said...

For this time only just this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO5x_tJBn7w

11:46 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

alex-

How can we trust a commie such as yrself, who wd dare to ruin our fabulous way of life?

mb

12:24 PM  
Anonymous Sperlock said...

I can't believe you like B. Russel - of the very most powerful families with unlisted homes and property etc., lionized as some polymath because he was an insider like Einstein who also didn't criticize the central bankers much of it all.

Maybe I didn't understand that quote but W. Wilson next to the traitor A. Lincoln was likely the worst president in history selling out Americans to international bankers - the vipers. Of course banking opened the door to consolidate power, tech, social engineering, for globalists which all subsequent presidents have represented. Though, since before Jekyl Island the war for liberty was probably lost because I think the mechanisms and details for the bankers were put in place before becoming officially US embedded.

6:49 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sperlock-

I guess yr new to this blog. Some pointers 4u in the future:

1. Spell names correctly. His name is Russell, not Russel. It's Jekyll, not Jekyl.
2. Read texts carefully b4 you criticize them. Nowhere did I say I liked Russell. I was merely quoting him regarding his observations of America. I agree w/his observations, but I don't admire him all that much, for a whole set of reasons that Ray Monk makes clear in his bio of the man (Nobel Prize notwithstanding).
3. Don't make foolish statements, like saying Lincoln was a traitor.
4. Don't bloviate. What you've given us is your personal opinion. So what? That doesn't impress us here. What impresses us is evidence: links, refs to reliable sources. You provide not a shred of evidence for yr views.

Your debut on this blog was a debacle. But I'll give you one more chance. Following the above 4 pts, clean up yr act. If you are not able to do so, pls find another blog that will appreciate your misspellings, misreadings, misstatements, and lack of proof. Believe me, this won't be difficult. 99% of what's out there is shlock.

Since yr a newbie, let me give you some background. I have been running this blog for 15 yrs, as of last month. During that time, dozens of morons have shown up, spouting the sort of unsubstantiated nonsense that you do. Altho I always knew the outcome in advance, I put it to them this way: Do you want to be a Wafer, or a douche bag? The choice is yours. With one single exception (and he's still with us, I'm happy to say), they all doubled down. I.e., they chose to be douche bags. Instead of recognizing that this was a fairly high-class blog, w/pretty demanding standards, they just ranted and raved against me and the blog. And of course, as a result, were cast out into utter darkness.

This is, I'm guessing, what you will do; but given that 1 exception, I always feel obligated to entertain the possibility that the person who wrote in will make that enormous existential leap, and decide not to be an asshole.

mb

7:37 PM  
Anonymous Birney Zouave said...

Dr. B-

A "killologist" has become controversial in Michigan-

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/04/27/dave-grossman-killology-police/7391492002/

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/04/michigan-police-association-cancels-event-with-controversial-killology-trainer-after-viral-video-sparks-complaints.html

8:06 PM  
Anonymous MFound said...

What the world would I do without this blog. Only someone as smart as a Jew could be so deep and informative and giving of their time to talk about the most important things.

Globalization definition - the art of destruction and genocide to rise from the ashes as tyrannical rulers.

8:50 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

MFound-

Well, boychik: there are a lot of smart, caring non-Jews out there as well. I appreciate the sentiment, but take issue with your word "Only."

mb

8:59 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

re: Bill Maher - he mentioned my great representative Boebert last night. I don't think I've posted these stories on the blog before so here's some background:
https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/glenwood-springs-mayor-deletes-official-facebook-page-following-threats/article_301b9e22-5c69-11eb-b277-974ba568cf18.html

Mug shot: https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2020/10/i-even-got-a-pretty-mugshot-out-of-it/31203/

And her husband is a perv: https://annelandmanblog.com/wp-/uploads/2020/10/BoebertJaysonDVCharge022004-1.pdf

9:27 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Good essay:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/02/great-thinkers-make-sense-of-a-world-racked-by-contradictions

3:43 AM  
Blogger alex carter said...

Hey let's visit tie-dyed, hippie haven Santa Cruz: https://khn.org/news/article/public-health-officials-year-of-threats-menace-santa-cruz-california/

Or not.

7:47 AM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

Dr. Berman,
As you said in an interview last year while talking about our Dysfunctional States of America: “The bubbas are angry. The progressives are angry. The Karens are angry.”
Indeed. There certainly never is a dull moment with our Karens! Check out and especially enjoy the second Karen in this video. Ya gotta love it! LOL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSpzxns3QpQ

11:13 AM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

MB and WAFERs,

I have an idea for America's dollar bills. Instead of "e pluribus, unum", it should be "e pluribus, rectum". America's a gigantic, amoral asshole.

Also...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYoZzi3mdZ8

More Karens for your enjoyment. I suspect Karens are playing a huge part in America's downfall, and this is probably the only blog in the world where people share this suspicion. When people treat each other like shit, it might be very detrimental to their nation; gee, who would have thought? A nation is, first and foremost, a web of human relationships, and when those relationships turn to shit, so does the nation.

1:56 PM  
Anonymous Noura said...

Crypto mania or techno mania! America descent into madness continues unabated.

Cryptocurrencies:Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6iDZspbRMg

New Rule: Crypto Mania! | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaJpYjO136o&t=1s

In my opinion, cryptocurrencies are to the world of finance what Trump was to the world of politics. The reactions are also remarkably similar.

Quoting Dr. Berman from a previous thread: "The everlasting hope of humanity," wrote Dostoyevsky, "is to find someone or something to worship." Anything to stuff the hole in the soul.

I suspect that as America continues to decay, we’re going to see a lot more of these types of symptoms.

4:34 PM  
Anonymous Roland Tarver said...

MB- I haven’t started reading the Julian Jaynes book yet, but I’ll locate a copy of your Reenchantment book, to see what you write about him. Thank you! —Wafers, check this out from Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism (1979!):

<> (footnote p141n, Kindle ed; Chap VI: ‘Schooling & the New Illiteracy’)

6:00 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Roland-

Jaynes didn't really make a gd case for his physiological argument, and his dating of Greek changes was off; but the basic thesis holds, imo. As for Lasch: lots of us don't have a Kindle. Can you provide another link?

mb

6:35 PM  
Anonymous McWilliams said...

‘I’d Never Been Involved in Anything as Secret as This’

The plan to kill Osama bin Laden—from the spycraft to the assault to its bizarre political backdrop—as told by the people in the room. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/04/30/osama-bin-laden-death-white-house-oral-history-484793

10 years ago today Obama assassinated Bin Laden

6:49 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sperlock-

As predicted, you chose douche bag over Wafer. Quelle surprise! Stay an asshole, mon ami; it's your destiny. What trash late-empire America has produced!

mb

7:33 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

If Biden thinks the US is going to defeat China, he has his head wedged in his rump:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/02/america-has-woken-up-to-the-threat-posed-by-china-it-may-already-be-too-late

8:31 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Speaking of douche bags: Howard Zlotkin. What did he think was going to happen? Howard Zlotkin. A new post-it for your bathrm mirror. Kind of a mantra for our times: Howard Zlotkin. A male Karen.

5:26 AM  
Anonymous Wakefield said...

"The overemphasis on race in American life, culture, and politics is actually a continuation of and a complement to America's legacy of racism rather than a departure from it."
- James Baldwin and the trouble with Protest Literature https://quillette.com/2021/05/02/james-baldwin-and-the-trouble-with-protest-literature/

6:34 AM  
Blogger flanagle said...

Wakefield-
Yeah, that Baldwin quote dovetails perfectly with the article I've just now read: "Debate Erupts at N.J. Law School After White Student Quotes Racial Slur"-NYT May 3, 2021. The student was, hesitatingly, quoting from an official court document that included the dreaded slur (used, apparently, by the Black defendant himself). The student has apologized, the prof during the Zoom session has apologized and claims not to have heard the word. Some of her colleagues have rallied to her defense. One said: "...the idea that a faculty member or law student cannot quote a published court decision that itself quotes a racial or otherwise objectionable word as part of the record of the case is problematic and implicates matters of academic freedom and free speech".

11:12 AM  
Blogger Ordinary Indian said...

An interesting piece on Jimmy Carter Wafers may want to read. A new biography and a documentary taking a different look at his legacy.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/03/jimmy-carter-climate-change-carterland-film-biography

What is revealing is how subsequent presidents, all the way down to Obama, actually avoided him.

12:24 PM  
Blogger Joe McIlnen said...

A very happy new week, Dr. Berman & Wafers. Actually it’s just a start to a normal week here in the world’s biggest dystopian wasteland, our good old “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A!”
Be sure to read the related stories below the main one about our great city of New Orleans. And Dr. Berman, I think it’s best not to have any future Wafer conferences in “The Big Easy”. Don’t you think?

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_3788aa82-ac24-11eb-b15b-bf6316f182c3.html

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_8c121f82-a870-11eb-bff1-bb4fa0d0c68f.html

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_dfed9506-a7a2-11eb-9185-db48bae28cb4.html

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_07c68f98-a6cb-11eb-9b79-63e5ca883a73.html

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_952cca88-a5ee-11eb-b894-239fc0ab06aa.html

https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/article_432dfd2e-a4d1-11eb-a29d-577958a7bc21.html

12:47 PM  
Blogger Gunnar said...

As if school isn’t hard enough check out this sadistic bitch

https://www.tmz.com/2021/05/02/elementary-school-principal-paddles-6-year-old-student-mother-films/

2:56 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Joe-

Nyawlins is def not on the future Wafer Summit agenda.

Indian-

I think u know I discuss Jimmy in DAA and WAF.

Flan, Joe, Gunnar-

Once again, I ask u2 reflect on how many Americans need to be slapped.

mb

3:55 PM  
Anonymous Pete Christen said...

Dr B. and Wafers.
Just to add to what Ordinary Indian cited above about Jimmy Carter, people are just now beginning to see what Dr. B has been writing about for decades. Carter is a man ahead of his time, a man with a moral compass, a man with a spine.

4:26 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Pete-

Not really an American, then. Ronnie, on the other hand, was 100% true blue. Guess who Americans identified with?

mb

4:49 PM  
Anonymous Noura said...

Elon Musk might be hosting SNL, but Tesla workers aren’t laughing
https://fortune.com/2021/05/01/elon-musk-snl-host-tesla-autoworkers-union/

Why Is Bill Gates Buying Up Stolen Native American Land?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmEc7_jV3j0

So basically, there are no limits on how much some people can accumulate in America, whether it’s land, money, or anything else.

It seems that the only way to manage immature and irresponsible people is through reward and punishment. If they are given facts and left to their own devices, they will not act responsibly. That’s grim but it’s even worse when our leaders are immature and irresponsible because there is no hope then.

5:49 PM  
Anonymous Namaste said...

Hello Mr. Berman,

While the left and the right are stupid in their own ways, the right is a notch above i feel. If the US has to reach the levels of stupidity shown in the movie Idiocracy ( if it is already not there), the right would take it faster. Look at this piece by Tucker Carlson on Fox News. He tells his viewers to call cops and report abuse if they see kids wearing a mask. He says to confront people wearing mask as they are worn only by “zealots and neurotics”.

https://youtu.be/dMAcd0XePkw

Also Mr. Berman and Wafers, why do Amerikkans make gestures while talking especially on screen. Like shaking head/hands, smiling, facial expressions, etc.. Is it just part of the culture .. sometimes i feel like they fake it ...


6:10 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Nam-

If u wanna see gestures, check out the Italians!

Noura-

See my advice to Flan, Joe, and Gunnar, above.

mb

6:37 PM  
Anonymous Rockwell N. Role said...

I guess we are a long way from Kansas as portrayed in "The Wizard
of Oz." "BANGBANG!! You're in America" would be the title for
the remake.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/kansas-lowers-concealed-gun-carry-211401316.html

7:45 PM  
Anonymous FerQ said...

To Nadine and Joe Mcllnen:

Regarding your posts about the Karens, they are one of the main reasons why American society is so sick and messed up. Speaking from my own experience when I lived in the US, the majority of the hostile and negative encounters that I had were with the typical White, All American females. Their behavior was similar to those females that appear on the videos you posted. Psycho bitches that think they are queens. The second most numerous of the negative encounters that I had there were with the typical White All American males. I was never able to get along with Americans of any ethnicity, race or religion and I don't think any decent human being would be able to either. All of us in this blog know the reasons why. A shitty culture produces shitty people. The Karens are among the most pathetic of the US population if one were to put Americans into categories.
When the US finally collapses, it would be interesting and funny to see how the Karens will try to survive. I think they will be among the first to be gone when that happens.

11:55 PM  
Anonymous Megan said...

Dr Berman,

This is too good not to share. My dear friend Sarah text messaged me this morning. She is truly literate, and an omnivorous reader like myself. Here are her words verbatim:

"Book suggestion. Morris Berman, The Twilight Of American culture. Discusses how classical learning might triumph over political correctness with the rise of the new monastic individual. I'm intrigued. Sounds right up our alley! Heard it all from your pal McKenna." Of course, I should have recommended you to her to you myself, but for whatever reason I never got around to it. But I exaggerated a bit in my response, for effect. "Ah, Dr. Berman is good acquaintance of mine. A fine human being! We have been chatting for years online. Her response was just "I see. And why doesn't this surprise me?!"

1:52 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Megan-

Ha ha.

Fer-

See my advice to Flan, Joe, and Gunnar, above.

mb

2:18 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Did someone post this already? It falls into the "I told you so" category:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/03/jimmy-carter-climate-change-carterland-film-biography

2:39 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

The relentless erosion of the US: In today's news:

The GOP's devotion to Trump threatens to destroy American democracy - CNNPolitics

Why do Americans die earlier than Europeans? | Samuel Preston and Yana Vierboom | The Guardian

8:22 AM  
Blogger Mike Kelly said...

Great article about the leader of the Scottish National Party. See the quote below.

In Sturgeon’s eyes, making momentous choices is exactly what societies should be doing after the pandemic. “People talk about recovery as if it’s some kind of neutral concept,” she said. “It’s not. What you recover to is down to the choices you make, and the values that underpin those.”

I never heard Joe Biden say anything like that.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/nicola-sturgeons-quest-for-scottish-independence

10:34 AM  
Blogger Miles Deli said...

Hola MB and Wafers,

Tomato thickness dept.:

Judith Black, 77, arrested for hurling racial slurs and a Whopper at a Burger King employee. Reason? Anger over the thickness of the tomato placed on her burger.

https://www.villages-news.com/2021/05/03/villager-arrested-in-alleged-whopper-throwing-racial-tirade/

Miles

10:50 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jeff-

I too am indignant over the thickness of that tomato. But it's nice to know that even old geezers in America are totally losing it.

mb

10:59 AM  
Anonymous James Allen said...

Thought perhaps noting an anniversary might not be out of place today:

National Guardsmen called out by the governor to Kent State University in Ohio fired on student antiwar protesters, killing four and wounding nine. The famous photo most would recognize shows teenager Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling by the body of Kent State student Jeffrey Miller. The photo, by Kent State photojournalism major John Filo would win the Pulitzer Prize.

https://www.fox19.com/2021/05/04/kent-state-hold-virtual-vigil-commemoration-st-anniversary-may-shootings/

And Neil Young’s commemorative song, Ohio (Written by Neil Young, performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; released June 1970)

https://youtu.be/TRE9vMBBe10

11:06 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Jas-

That day exposed the iron fist hitherto hidden by a velvet glove (see my chapters on Machiavelli and Gramsci in "Genio"). It became Mary Ann's career, pretty much. To me it calls up that famous painting by Goya, "Saturno devorando a su hijo":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son

What wickedness, the United States. Waging a barbaric war against the Vietnamese, and then murdering those who protested against it. The face of evil itself.

mb

12:23 PM  
Anonymous Nadine Bupkis said...

FerQ,

White Americans are indeed trash. For example, look at these statistics:

https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/race-and-punishment-racial-perceptions-of-crime-and-support-for-punitive-policies/

A large majority of white Americans (63%) support the death penalty. This isn't true of any other race; African-Americans and Latino-Americans are more likely to oppose the death penalty than support it. And then we have this...

https://www.vox.com/2020/11/7/21551364/white-trump-voters-2020

The above article shows that 57% of white voters voted for Trump in the 2020 election. However, this shouldn't surprise us; throughout America's history, the majority of white Americans have been right-wing assholes.

You also mentioned that white American women are more badly behaved than any other demographic. Why is this the case? As a Youtuber once stated, the combination of feminism, extreme wealth, white privilege, a legal system rigged in their favor, and a culture that glorifies them has given them more privilege than any other demographic in human history. People this privileged usually fail to develop empathy, humility or a conscience.

12:51 PM  
Anonymous JoshuaSpellmen said...

Sums up Bolshevism for ethnocentrism.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ctmurealitytheory/permalink/10158205444497486/

1:08 PM  
Anonymous Sybok said...

After Backing Biden and Harris, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson to ‘Consider’ Presidential Run: I Have an ‘Ambition to Unite Our Country’

I'm a little concerned. Just because this guy's a celebrity pro wrestler doesn't mean he couldn't be competent. Considering that Democrats will vote for anyone to defeat Trump in 2024, I think the DNC could certainly do worse than the Rock. Are any Wafers aware of potential Dem candidates who could rival Trump in awfulness? From what I've seen so far it's either Trump or bust.

1:39 PM  
Anonymous Northern Johnny said...

Hi Dr. B. and WAFERS:

Wokeness can be appropriate wholesale by the CIA, you know the phenomenon (I won't dignify it by calling it a 'movement') has reached peak bullshit: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/04/cia-woke-recruitment-ad. Of course, the way things were going, it was only a matter of time before something like this occurred.

Glans - I normally make a point not to respond to comments about comments on Dr. B's blog, but I found your response to the interview I posted with Nancy Fraser dishonest and rather vile. Do you really believe this intelligent, courageous, forward thinking intellectual and scholar is merely 'yammering,' that she suffers from 'psychosis' and that she suffers from 'mental blockage' and an 'inability to face reality'? You do realize that she is probably America's leading feminist and socialist? Show a little respect where it's due.

-Northern Johnny

2:49 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Johnny-

This system can turn anything to its advantage, apparently. As for Glans: I think yr being a bit too hard on him.

Nadine-

Well, perhaps not all are trash.

mb

4:16 PM  
Anonymous OldPanoke said...

Two states just wrote into law no corps can't boycott IsRaHell - Idaho anyone?

J. Mellon Head Yellen just threatened world corps with a 26% tax (carbon tax?) because the destitute consumers (of the environment) really appreciate higher prices - after the money printing got pushed onto their rents. Purgatory for the screwed.

7:06 PM  
Anonymous Glans Butterworth, III said...

Wafer Northern Johnny,

Thank you for your remarks. I respect your comments regarding Dr. Fraser. However, my impression is although she appears erudite and well-researched; she still repeats the 11th hope US-ian glimmer of hope mantras (her other interviews, etc.); e.g., we need to, what we should do, what we ought to do, if we are to improve things, etc..--which means that she still doesn't get it, that the US empire is finito--A mental blockage; regardless of her being a leading US-ian socialist and feminist. If she cannot grasp that "improving" the US capitalist is akin to turning around an air craft carrier in a bathtub (Berman).

I say this with the utmost respect to you and other Wafers.

7:19 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Old-

I guess you don't know how this blog works. 1st, I cdn't understand what you wrote; it came across as gibberish. 2nd, whatever it is you were saying, you need to back it up with evidence. We need links or refs to reliable sources. Do you have any? In a word, we aren't much into incoherent, unsubstantiated nonsense.

mb

7:51 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Wafers-

Here's a little advance notice. This blog will be shut down during May 20-26. I will repeat this announcement a day or two b4 May 20, but if you all cd make a note in yr calendars, that wd be helpful. As you know, the 7th Annual Wafer Summit Meeting will be held on May 22, and the rest of my time will be tied up with being presented the key to the city by the mayor; an interview with Joe Biden; and a # of interviews with various branches of gov't, hoping to hire me at the highest levels. I will also visit the Gov't Printing Office, to arrange for the new newsletter, "It's Over." Anyway, pls make a note of these dates. As for the Wafer Summit, it's going to be an extravaganza the likes of which DC has never seen.

mb

9:52 PM  
Blogger Auriel Ragmon said...

Dr. Berman, I hope also in your travels to the seat of gummint, that they will put your face on of the several dollars that they print. Perhaps the $20 or the new @30 one?
Make it so, Biden!

Jim of Olym. Infrequent writer, extatic and constant reader.

11:59 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Auriel-

I already asked them abt that, but got turned down. Apparently Kim Kardashian's buttocks have higher priority. :-(

mb

3:13 AM  
Blogger alex carter said...

This is not amazing. What's amazing is that it made it onto mainstream radio (NPR)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/05/us-threat-democracy-russia-china-global-poll

5:43 AM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Hola a los Waferes,

@ James Allen Thank you. May 4, 1970 is duly noted. I bought the 45rpm, still own it, went to the Auditorium Theatre In Chicago in July of 1970 and heard Neil Young and friends perform it. We were warned, but the decline has cascaded on down, embraced and embarassing.

Yesterday a good friend of mine in Silver Spring, Maryland informed me that "the Karens are passe". These two short CNN videos on May 4, 2021 inform us on the collapse of the center, Karens, Kims, et al.

CNN on Dizzy Miss Lizzie and Rom Mittney:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/politics/liz-cheney-donald-trump-gop/index.html

On the desparate streets of the penultimate fantasyland flyover states of the empire there is unease and rumors of war. The corruption and hypocrisy thickens, a viscous, volcanic burial mass. Come to think of it, we even have Jellystone Park - hey, Boo Boo!

6:03 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

gene-

Sorry, I don't see links for the 2 short CNN videos you refer to.

mb

7:30 AM  
Blogger Sanguillen39 said...

Mr. Berman,


I'm curious to hear your opinion in regards to the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L0dPKpfHRA


Is the Left capable of what Stefan Molyneux is saying or is this an over-reaction?

P.S.: The video is just less than 6 minutes long.


9:39 AM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Sang-

There's a grain of truth there, but in general, I think he's over the top. He's eager to label communism as evil, but there's no nuance here: capitalism is also evil, it just operates in a different way. There is, however, enuf evidence already to indicate that if the PC crowd ever got real power, the result wdn't be pretty. Just consider the destruction of Blake Bailey, w/his superb bio of Philip Roth; or of Woody Allen, and so many others. Both the left and the right contain a rage for destruction (again, in different ways). Both are grim and humorless; both are essentially fundamentalist, dogmatic. Talleyrand, after The Terror: "Above all, no zeal."

mb

10:10 AM  
Anonymous Ulsa said...

Seinfeld: “Deconstruction Doesn’t Produce Any Sitcom”" https://www.openculture.com/2016/02/jacques-derrida-on-seinfeld.html

10:22 AM  
Anonymous Cass said...

Marx "saw that modern free-market economies, left to their own devices, produce gross inequalities, & he transformed a mode of analysis that goes all the way back to Socrates...into a resource for grasping the social & economic conditions of our own lives" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/karl-marx-yesterday-and-today

10:32 AM  
Anonymous Seneca’s Cliff said...

I thought for a minute as I was reading this article that Chris Hedges had finally gone full Wafer. But then I got to the end where he suggests that we can be saved when Joe Biden is faced with a “sea of pitchforks” held by angry Americans. It’s a good angry rant anyway,

https://www.mintpressnews.com/chris-hedges-dont-be-fooled-joe-biden-american-exceptionalism/276951/

10:41 AM  
Anonymous BB Communications said...

Here in fly-over country, more and more of my conservative acquaintances are realizing the realities of American decline in their day-to day. The smaller circles during pandemic forced lockdown allowed for greater introspection of what is important and constitutes a decent, positive society. This guy, Umair Haque, continues to write relatable opinion pieces that compare European/American “prosperity”. Hustling does not yield prosperity, rather it leads to a sick society that we see here in America. If I had this conversation ten years ago, I would have been stoned by the same people who today reluctantly admit that America is hopelessly flawed. More I told you so than progress unfortunately.

https://eand.co/where-does-prosperity-really-come-from-e9cf2bac5d03

10:42 AM  
Anonymous Burgis said...

"If the goal of improving society would be to get everyone to work as much as possible, we would be deranged.

The goal is to free man to create as much as possible. Dance, paint. Sing. Yes, whatever you want. Freedom."

— Ernst Wigforss, Sweden's finance minister in '30s & '40s

We are deranged

1:35 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

Burgis-

The problem is that Americans don't know how to dance, or paint, or sing; and this applies to progs as well as bubbas. What they do know is how to be pathetic douche bags.

mb

2:24 PM  
Blogger Jamie said...

Cass, thanks for sharing the Marx article. Very interesting and makes me realize I need to place Picketty higher on my reading list.

Burgis, I love the Swedish minister comment. I left my office job a few years ago to make money as a hobby cellist for various events/weddings. Gave me the freedom to spend much more time with my husband, be creative, time to travel. Totally worth it. Of course American society was deeply suspicious of a women in her 30s having that much time and freedom. Was chided for my lack of ambition.

The Derrida/Seinfeld stuff got me thinking of postmodernism. As a MidEast/history major, we lived and died by Said’s Orientalism, a book I still deeply admire. As a lazy grad school dropout, I became more disillusioned with it because its ubiquity limited other arguments. When I did leave grad school, I felt academic freedom was all but dead. Postmodernism is now mainstream and the rush to deconstruct everything seems to hasten US decline. Good for us Wafers. But I do wonder why these deconstructionists never deconstruct themselves or their academic departments/universities.

On this day of American mass drinking, wonder how many Americans know May 5 commemorates victory over the French at Puebla back in 1862.

5:27 PM  
Blogger meangenekaz said...

Dr. Berman,

I apolologize for breaking the 24-hour rule of DAA blog.

The link is in the fourth section of the post. It pulls up a shot of Cheney dressed in blue. Click on the pause icon in the photo and the two CNN videos play sequentially, less than three minutes each one.

Mean Gene

5:34 PM  
Blogger Morris Berman said...

gene-

We've had this problem b4: your links are not evident, and you are making other Wafers try to figure out what u.r. referring to. We don't do that on this blog. Instead, we go out of our way to be explicit, and to make things easy for other Wafers. I hope you will do that in the future. Thank you.

Jamie-

Because then the game wd be up. ("All texts are equal, but our texts are more equal than others." Where have we heard that b4?) As one wag once said, "There is more sociology in a dept. of sociology than in the entire rest of the world."

mb

5:49 PM  
Anonymous Siskel said...

On His Birthday, Let’s Celebrate the Old Man Karl Marx

"Karl Marx’s work during his final years of life is one of the least developed areas in Marx studies. But a growing body of research suggests Marx’s final years might actually be a gold mine filled with new insights into his thought."
https://jacobinmag.com/2021/05/birthday-old-man-karl-marx-later-years

6:47 PM  

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