The Charge of the Douche Brigade
Wafers-
posted by Morris Berman at 1:51 AM
199 Comments:
So here's a sample of what the Israelis are doing to some Palestinians that they didn't yet kill:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/13/gaza-palestinian-detainee-photos-israel/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
Gee, does Joe Biden Know about this? Would it make any difference if he did? It wound not.
The images remind me of the ones that emerged from Afghanistan some 20 years ago, but here with US soldiers replaced by Israelis.
Hello Dr. Berman,
I hope that you are well.
Given world events, it is not easy to maintain a positive outlook on things, especially when one tries to remain realistic.
I came across a piece at Consortium News today that has reinforced my belief that even alternative news sources are subject to language manipulation that usually has its origins in the main stream media.
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/12/13/forcible-transfer-of-gazans-is-a-crime-against-humanity/
When did Palestinians become Gazans? This sounds and reads like a name out of Star Trek. It just seems to me that it used to further distance the people from the actual unfolding humanitarian nightmare unfold before the world's eyes.
I would be interested to read what you have to say.
Peace,
Vince
What’s going on in the American subconscious as the U.S. lurches toward a November 2024 Presidential election few seem looking forward to? Here’s one possibility, imagined by Hollywood as revealed by the trailer of a new film being released in April 2024, “Civil War”. The scenes in the trailer suggest the U.S. military fragments after secessions of California and Texas, and tanks and roaming squads ply the streets as jets and copters roar overhead to turn average American consumers into roadkill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDyQxtg0V2w&t=141s
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Teachers in the US can be just as unhinged as students:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/14/us/georgia-teacher-arrested-threatening-muslim-student-israeli-flag/index.html
Jeff
John-
I guess yr not familiar with this blog. We are not interested in people broadcasting their opinions. Anyone can have an opinion, after all. What interests us is evidence, in the form of links or reliable references. In the future, try this format:
1. State your thesis or argument regarding the collapse of the American empire, and be sure to be specific.
2. Defend your arg w/evidence.
Thank you, and gd luck.
Jeff-
What a meathead. Meanwhile, check this out:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/15/us/palestinian-student-expelled-pine-crest-florida/index.html
Jack-
In case I haven't made my observations clear: America simply has no future. It's over, end of story. The evidence by now is overwhelming.
ccg, Vince-
As the Israelis degrade the Palestinians, they degrade themselves even more. The whole world is watching, most of it w/disgust. And this degradation also extends to the US, of course. Shameful beyond belief.
mb
ps:
Uproar as after-school Satan club forms at Tennessee elementary school | Tennessee | The Guardian (googleusercontent.com)
As far as I'm concerned, America can't have too many Satanic clubs. The country is in dire need of millions of Satanic clubs.
ps2: Great people, the Israelis:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/15/middleeast/israeli-soldiers-burningfood-gaza-intl/index.html
Wafers-
Check it out:
https://www.noemamag.com/in-kissingers-wake/
GREAT essay MB! Just bookmarked the forthcoming book referenced towards the end. Looks like a nice holistic world systems txt:
Children of a Modest Star: Planetary Thinking for an Age of Crisis | Books
https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=37259&bottom_ref=subject#:~:text=Deeply%20researched%20and%20sharply%20argued,and%20policies%20we%20desperately%20need.
Of course anger, violence, and callousness are daily occurrences here. Stupidity too. Check out the latest happenings in one of those bastions of loving peaceful “family values”, that great Bible Belt state of Florida. Let’s see now. A hot head whips out a sword in a road rage. An imbecile who isn’t good at directions drives a stolen ambulance to a sheriff’s office. But of course the excuse is that he has mental issues. LOL! And to top it off, while the state’s Roman Catholic governor is obsessed with his anti-gay and trans agenda, a missing “ good neighbor” husband is involved in child porn with pictures of children as young as age 2. And some doofus tries to sexually assault a manatee statue.
https://news.yahoo.com/florida-man-flings-object-car-234752893.html
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/12/12/florida-man-arrested-after-driving-stolen-ambulance-to-sheriffs-office/
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/missing-nicole-baldwin-husband-brett-baldwin-arrest-neighborhood-reaction
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/florida-man-statue-gator-nuggets-b2465044.html
Well, the New York Times is back to shilling for the continuation of the war in Ukraine in a big way, and this video features a nice take-down of the nonsense being pushed by the Times:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDgPElV_jKw
From videos I've seen with people who know things, like Douglas McGregor and Scott Ritter, it seems that the war is over and Russia is the winner. Of course, Genocide Joe has recently claimed that Russia wants to attack other countries in Europe. I cannot find the video of him saying that, but I'm sure I didn't imagine it.
The Boston Tea Party, which marks its 250th anniversary today, concerned a corporate tax break for a monopolist to undercut domestic merchants.
The protest was also condemned by future revolutionary leaders for improper behavior & destruction of property. 250yrs ago today
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-many-myths-of-the-boston-tea-party-180983399/
ccg-
The American MSM is so full of hot prunes, it makes one dizzy. Meanwhile, once Trumpi is back in office, I'm hoping he closes down the NYT for good. If so, I will personally come up to the Times bldg in NY and help his minions throw office furniture and computers down onto Times Square. I'll also have the NYPD come and take the Op-Ed writers down to a dark dungeon, where they will be chained to a wall; and every day, Wafers will line up to pee on their shoes.
mb
Janus-
Pls send messages to most recent post. No one reads the older stuff. Thank you.
mb
Israelis: ya gotta love 'em:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/16/middleeast/idf-sniper-gaza-church-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html
Amerikkka has declined so much that it now has hobos openly shitting everywhere. A business owner in Spokane has been having trouble w/ the local bums there. I was surprised 2 discover this wasn't in Cali. Civilizational collapse is an ugly thing 2 witness, yo
https://www.khq.com/news/garbage-needles-drugs-feces-downtown-building-owner-shelter-neighbor-frustrated-by-ongoing-crime/article_98a0e898-9957-11ee-bd92-d391d602c8d1.html
P.s: I thought "schmegge" was a made-up til I searched 4 it
ccg - Thanks for the Jimmy Dore link, he made many good points.
There has been a huge amount of propaganda from the mainstream media about Ukraine. Remember all those stories of foreigners volunteering to defend Ukraine when the war started? Why haven't we heard from them? The "Ghost of Kiev" story was a complete lie. The story of the thirteen Ukrainians who died defending Snake Island was also not true. Etc.
https://nypost.com/2022/05/01/heroic-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-doesnt-actually-exist-ukraine-admits/
https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/mar/03/ukrainian-soldiers-alive-captured/
Satch-
1st of all, let's get our Yiddish rt: it's schmegegge.
2nd, recall my joy over Satan clubs. I think it's long overdue to form Shitting Hobo clubs. I love the idea of Hot Hobo Shit. And speaking of warm poop:
Jason-
This entire Ukraine caper was a load of warm poop. And Americans fell for it completely. Why? Because their heads are filled w/warm poop!
mb
Wafers-
Hi-IQ Americans are not only, often, dummies; occasionally, they are total scumbags:
https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Harm-Largest-Psychological-Association/dp/0228018617/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2R9G0BR6PO7AE&keywords=doing+harm&qid=1702828646&s=books&sprefix=doing+harm%2Cstripbooks%2C1267&sr=1-4
I wd like to say this is hard to believe, but sadly, it isn't. Sickness and corruption permeate nearly every American institution. (Just look at the Supreme Court, for starters.)
mb
Sky-
Sorry, cdn't run it. Pls scroll back, see instructions I gave to John. Thank you.
Wafers-
Check out brilliant 1-pg article by Fintan O'Toole, "No Endgame in Gaza," NYRB, Dec. 7.
mb
ps: In the same issue of the NYRB: Here is a letter I sent to a friend (and cell fone user):
Check out article by Nicolas Niarchos, a review of 5 bks on cobalt mining in the Congo (cobalt being the essential mineral in cell fones), and how our use of these fones makes possible the brutality of the mining industry. The lead bk under review is by Siddharth Kara, "Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives." The bk (soon to be a movie) is a best-seller, altho it is not clear as to whether those rdg it have thrown away their fones (perhaps the film version might help w/that). His bk and the others document child labor, exposure to toxic chemicals, wage slavery, tunnel collapse (killing huge #s of workers), and the high rate of rape of women, among other atrocities. Kara writes that we finally have to face the "blood-for-cobalt economy." Niarchos writes, "I can attest to just how shocking the conditions in some mines are--and even more so considering that the minerals will end up in the devices that are so much a part of our daily lives."
So butchery in the Global South is OK, inasmuch as it makes life in the Global North 'convenient'.
Amnesty International did a report on all this much earlier, in 2016, entitled "This Is What We Die For." I guess nobody was listening. One wonders what would get cell fone users to listen, to care, and above all, to act.
In addition, much of this was anticipated by the actress Robin Wright. Try plugging "Robin Wright Cell Phone Campaign" into Google, see what you come up with (numerous articles). Courageous lady, not willing to contribute to the early deaths of Congolese children.
Why is it? For every Ariel Dorfman, 10,000 Pinochets. For every Yitzhak Rabin, a million Netanyahus.
Wafers-
Check out the remarkable, and honest, quote from Ben-Gurion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qhE-vaIU4
“in the end of the Kim regime.”
Blinken, barely into his first big genocide in Gaza, threatens the North Korean people with genocide today. The man is the perfect successor to Kissinger.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2023/12/16/White-House-warns-North-Korea-nuclear-attack-on-US-would-lead-to-end-of-Kim-regime-
Bobby-
Well, I suppose anything is possible, but I v. much doubt that Kim will launch a nuclear attack on the US. He's not *that* stupid. As for Blinken, he's basically a moron.
mb
Justin-
Pls send messages to latest post; no one reads the older stuff. That said: not humor; confusion. (I didn't misunderstand.) But as I suggested earlier, let's let it go. The topic (whatever it is) has reached the acme of boredom; the apex, the climax, the nec plus ultra, etc. In any case, thank u4 yr appreciation, and gd luck w/yr own work.
mb
Advanced Beating Off Dept.:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/18/politics/lloyd-austin-israel-visit-biden/index.html
All talk; blah blah. Meanwhile, Schmiden continues to send military aid to Israel.
mb
More Beating Off: What a pile of crap America is:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/18/un-security-council-vote-gaza-ceasefire-resolution-delayed
Palestinians are getting massacred, but what concerns the US is semantics. Everybody must dance to our tune; everybody must bow down to the once great, now sick, dying empire.
In gun lovin' america, USian gets an MRI exam and gets shot by her own gun.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wisconsin-woman-suffers-gunshot-wound-after-bringing-gun-into-mri-machine/
Does this shit happen in other countries?!?
House - no, in other countries people generally don't fear getting shot in hospitals. Employees in US schools are reporting more violence as well. There's also been a recent trend of people in concerts and stand-up shows throwing things at the performers on stage. This is what the collapse of a society looks like.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-behind-an-alarming-rise-in-violent-incidents-in-health-care-facilities
https://theconversation.com/1-in-10-teachers-say-theyve-been-attacked-by-students-188561
https://www.today.com/popculture/music/fans-throwing-objects-concerts-trend-2023-rcna93631
Wafers-
There are many mos. to go until Nov. 2024, but the indicators are that Trumpi has a gd chance of winning the election, and re-entering the W.H. in Jan. of 2025. As I've said b4, fascism is one way the US cd finally collapse, and Trumpi's latest hate language, replete with Nazi idioms ('vermin', 'blood poisoning'), suggests that that wd become the reining ideology. True, he wd put an end to funding the Ukraine, and that absurd proxy war; and he might back off Schmiden-style brinksmanship w/China; but his victory wd be a clear example of Out of the frying pan/Into the fire. In a word, we may well be looking at 4 horrific yrs, or even more, if he declares himself president for life. Wh/wd hardly be unlikely. If so, he might get 'taken out' by a faction of the US military establishment; wh/wd surely trigger a civil war.
That's the (possible; probable?) macro-picture. For the micro-picture, i.e. increasingly demented behavior of individual Americans, check out the links provided by Jason, above. Two things I've said in the past that seem to be coming true: one, that the US will be totally lost/unrecognizable by 2030, and two, that the endings of societies or civilizations never look very pretty.
Rough road ahead, amigos.
mb
ps: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/19/politics/donald-trump-extreme-rhetoric-2024-election/index.html
Imagine being disabled for life (officially 2000 IDF soldiers are permanently disabled) in the name of heady real estate profits. I mean what's a little genocide compared to making a killing in real estate?
https://youtu.be/ZkN6PH5cG7c?si=TEAXbnHuv1n6T1YO
Dan-
The country gets more despicable by the day, eh?
mb
ps: 20,000 Palestinians murdered, 2 million turned into refugees. Most Israelis are in favor of continued attacks on Gaza. A great people!
Doctor,
I quit. My Judaism will now consist of some food-matzah ball soup, bagels, and a potato latke with apple sauce during Chanukah. That's it. Almost every Jewish friend I have here says "Good" when I mention any of Israel's atrocities. I listened to a Lebanese journalist who said something I had to agree with. He said that if you look at the map of Palestine in 1946 and look at the same map today, you can only come to one conclusion-the people who did this are without any redeeming value.
Dan-
Which is true, but keep in mind: they are Zionists, and Zionism is a v. diff creature from Judaism. Zionists are genocidal scumbags; just check out Ilan Pappe (among other scholars, such as Nur Masalha) for confirming evidence. So here's what you might add to your list of matzoh balls etc.: Moses Mendelssohn, Heinrich Heine, Einstein, Marx & Wittgenstein (partial Jews), Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, Isaac Babel, Sholem Aleichem, Ahad Ha'am, Irving Berlin, Jerry Lewis, Mark Rothko, Marc Chagall, Maimonides, Jerry Seinfeld, Jascha Heifitz, Alan Arkin, Alfred Dreyfus, Isaac Asimov......and hundreds more. That's *your* heritage--and mine!
mb
ps: Proust was partially Jewish. Irving Berlin, Louis Brandeis, Emma Lazarus, Hannah Arendt, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Jonas Salk, Sandy Koufax, Natalie Portman...How impoverished the world wd have been, if there hadn't been any Jews in it!
Here is my thesis with a link to follow. With all due respect, I think most of you have this all wrong. How many innocent Germans had to die in WW2? How many Japanese? Hamas needs to be destroyed. Israel shouldn’t stop until job is done, and then they should change the education and do a form of “denazification.” This worked in both Germany and Japan. No one told us to stop or slow down, and we shouldn’t be telling Israel to do so now either. Biden is a weak simp. Seeing the Israelis as oppressors is just wrong. They are the victims. Any student of history can see this very clearly. The virus of hate must be destroyed. Now the LGBT and woke have joined the Hamas cause. They would be stoned and thrown off bldgs. There is a real sickness and rot in the West and it comes from the Leftist/Marxist philosophy of oppressor and oppressed. This time they have their wires crossed. Here is an article by the excellent Jordan Peterson who tells the truth as always.
https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/blog/pro-hamas-protests-victims-victimizers-and-sanctimonious-psychopaths/
I saw something on "Morning Joe" yesterday, where Scarborough was talking about how the under 30 crowd is no longer supporting Biden. According to one survey, they are unhappy about Biden's handling of Israel and abortion rights. I get the former, though not the latter. In any case, talk about biting off one's nose to spite one's face! Do these people actually think that Trump is going to be a friend to the Palestinians or to women seeking an abortion? My goodness, the Dumbest Generation....
I know that sometimes we point out that "at least Trump isn't a warmonger." Perhaps. But I would submit that Trump is still potentially more dangerous than Biden for two important reasons. The first is his disastrous "climate policy". If the climate consensus is correct, imagine what a "Trump-Republican dynasty" of, say, 16 or 20 years will mean to that oh-so-delicate tipping point of 2 degrees Celsius. Secondly, in spite of Ukraine and the Middle East, I still think one can make a very good "13 Days Argument" against Trump. I'm referring to the Cuban Missile Crisis, of course, and the absolute horror of having Trump in power if, God help us, something similarly grave and catastrophic should arise on his watch. It is impossible to prove that such a hypothetical situation makes him more dangerous than Biden. But on an intuitive level, it is just terrifying to imagine what Trump might have done had he been the president instead of JFK/Kevin Costner.
At any rate, here is a great book, which consciously relates itself to the present moment. It is a really fresh and informative take on Hitler's rise to power.
https://www.amazon.com/Death-Democracy-Hitlers-Downfall-Republic-ebook/dp/B075WYCC7B/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2F7ASK62KT676&keywords=the+death+of+democracy&qid=1703048015&sprefix=the+death+of+democracy%2Caps%2C127&sr=8-1
Megan-
You cd be rt, but I'll let other Wafers argue w/u, if they so choose. I'll just say that while I agree that Trumpi is a loose cannon, he doesn't seem like someone interested in war, or in continuing the Cold War, wh/is
Schmiden's obsolete, and self-defeating, playbk.
John-
Talk abt having yr wires crossed! That wd be u, not us. And citing Jordan Peterson as yr source for political analysis is laughable. You wd do much better citing "Leftist/Marxist philosophy," wh/is hardly wrong in this case. 2nd, in WW2 we were fighting nations, not guerrillas w/o a state; a very different situation, and Germany/Japan were hardly oppressed or occupied by us for 75 yrs. 3rd, what "any student of history" can clearly see is the Nakba of 1948 and what followed (you might start by rdg scholars like Ilan Pappe and Nur Masalha). You yourself are not a v. gd student of history, I fear. Finally, as a # of astute political analysts have written, Israel is copying the path of the US after 9/11, w/our so-called "war on terror," wh/resulted in 20 pointless and self-destructive years in Afghanistan--as the Washington Post trenchantly documented in a series of articles a few yrs ago. There will be no erasure of Hamas, any more than the US managed to wipe out 'terror'; of that, you can be sure; and the attempt to wipe it out cd well be Israel's undoing. Let me add that Israel has now killed 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, which has earned the justified condemnation of most of the world. This is genocide, only partially an attack on Hamas per se. Amigo, you are completely out of touch w/reality, fueled by the mythology of a rabid anti-Marxism and a bizarre devotion to Jordan Peterson. What I just cited are facts, and as an old saying goes, When myth meets fact, myth always wins. Hence I doubt anyone cd chg yr mind, wh/mythologically speaking comes across as both deluded and impenetrable. Perhaps other Wafers might want to try talking to a brick wall, I dunno. But I've done all I can, wh/I'm quite sure was a waste of time.
mb
Doctor,
Thank you so much for such an exemplary list. Still, I've boycotted my synagogue since this started as I'm not sure I can daven comfortably among those (probably 95%) who support what Israel is doing. I know they all went to Washington and cheered wildly when the Speaker said, "No ceasefire!" Yes, I've read Pappe's The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. One line stands out: "Jews have never stopped killing Palestinians." Imagine that I could go into the West Bank, kill a Palestinian with total impunity, and even be feted a hero upon my return to a Tel Aviv hotel. What kind of lunatic society is that!
To be honest, I'm not sure your list is entirely accurate. Celebrity Jews, especially in Hollywood, are more than aware of what happens if they question Israel's actions. In fact, to date I don't know of any celebrity who challenges the official narrative except for Susan Sarandon who has since walked back her comments. Javier Bardem and his wife were critical of past Gazan bombings but I hear nothing from them now. Clearly what happened to Kanye West told others not to question Jewish power.
The drone and missile attacks from the Houthis in Yemen appear to have been the most effective counter force so far to Israel's war against the Palestinians, essentially shutting down shipping activity in the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal as shipping companies decide to use other routes and modes instead of risking damage or sinking of their vessels. The Houthis success has gotten the attention of master Biden buffoon military strategist Lloyd Austin and others in DC who have concocted a new project, Operation Prosperity Guardian, assembling a naval fleet to counter the attacks. But all that fancy military technology might be ineffective and quickly exhausted against swarms of cheaper, more numerous weaponry employed by the Houthis. A potential paradigm shifting moment, as alluded to in this post on the Naked Capitalism blog, that could further display US imperial impotence to a global audience. Perhaps the US is about to experience a Red Sea Moment instead of a Suez Moment, with maybe more escalations to come?
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/12/us-allies-opening-new-front-in-middle-east-with-escalation-against-houthis-over-shipping-lanes
Greetings MB and Wafers,
John-
Why are you and so many others attracted to Jordan Peterson's ideas? Personally, I have long considered him to be an intellectual charlatan, a phony self-help guru for the gullible. Do you ever tire of his endless reactionary talking points about how transgender people and evil socialists pose a threat to social order? In so doing, he dangerously misrepresents both. I could write an entire article about the crazy shit he has said, but let me just give you one example: Peterson is always ranting on and on about the so-called dangers of "postmodern neo-Marxism." He doesn't realize (or care?) that his phrase is a *contradiction*. Consequently, a rather large segment of postmodern theory is actually quite critical and skeptical of the kind of grand-narratives found w/in Marxist theory. Laughable indeed!
In terms of your analysis of the war on Gaza, I would like to add that it's not anti-Semitic to oppose Israel's slaughter of children and innocent lives in Gaza. It's not anti-Semitic to call for an immediate ceasefire. And it's possible to advocate for the downfall of Netanyahu's extremist government (as many brave Jews have) and still support Israel's right to exist. The moral thing to do in this situation is not destroy Gaza, but oppose the war fever and massive flow of US weapons to the IDF that are used to destroy civilians and commit war crimes.
Jeff
Dan-
As you know, Kanye went way beyond questioning Jewish influence. He is rabidly antisemitic, praising Hitler and so on. Anyway, that list I sent you cd be expanded by hundreds, maybe even thousands. As I said, this is your heritage. As for American Jews: mostly, a lost cause. 'Clueless buffoons' doesn't even begin to describe them.
Jeff-
John will just double-down. You can be sure of it. But nice try, anyway.
mb
ps: Wafers: Time to refresh yr post-its. New one:
THERE'S NOT ENUF SLAPPING
THERE'S NOT ENUF URINE
It's been a while since I checked on the fast food industry (a Wafer favorite) so I did a quick news search. Violence and corruption were the top two recent stories.
"An Ohio woman who was found guilty of hurling a piping-hot burrito bowl in the face of a Chipotle employee had her jail time lessened after agreeing to work at a fast-food chain as part of her sentencing arrangement."
https://nypost.com/2023/12/06/news/woman-who-threw-burrito-bowl-at-chipotle-worker-must-work-at-fast-food-restaurant/
"A new federal lawsuit claims inmates inside Alabama prisons are the victims of a “labor-trafficking scheme” that denies them parole and forces them to work in fast food establishments."
https://atlantablackstar.com/2023/12/19/prisoners-sue-alabama-over-form-of-slavery-forced-labor/
First of all, I am a big fan of Dr. Berman, or I wouldn't be writing here. Your books really opened my eyes and confirmed my thoughts when I returned to America from living in Germany. I thought I was crazy back in the 1990s. We should all be allowed to voice our opinions here without being attacked. We can agree that America is going down, but have different opinions for its downfall.
The Nazis also had reasons for raging and being angry. Treaty of Versailles, for example. Haven't Palestinians governed themselves for years now? To me, nothing excuses the killing of civilians, raping, (killing babies) etc. That is bad news, and those Palestinian kids, like the Hitler Youth have been taught hate. One day, after Hamas is destroyed, then Palestinians will thank Israel for freeing them from the hate, just as my German friends thank Americans for freeing them from the Nazi prison of hate. That is just my opinion. Yes, Jordan Peterson is amazing. Only Thomas Sowell seems smarter, but that is my opinion. Getting sick of JP's religious transformation though. Just go back and listen to his podcasts with an open mind, not a pre-conceived notion.
John-
Gee, you doubled-down. What a surprise. You also provided no links or refs, only your personal opinion. As I've said here many times, anyone can have an opinion; this is no big deal. What counts is evidence, and amigo, it is definitely not on your side. For example: the Pals have governed themselves? Who r.u. kidding? People can hardly govern themselves when the context is forced occupation, and when the Israelis ultimately call the shots--this is too obvious to warrant comment. I agree w/u: nothing excuses the killing of civilians. So why aren't you aghast that the IDF has killed 20,000 of them, and created 2 million refugees? You seriously think this is not genocide? Anyway, I predicted there was no getting thru to u, and I was rt. BTW, it was the Red Army that did the heavy lifting in WW2, not the US. Russia lost something like 27 million people; the US, abt 600,000.
I really think our discussion is over, amigo; brick walls are not my cuppa tea. Myth meets fact; myth wins, always.
mb
Wafers-
Consider this:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution
Personally, I think death wd be a bit too severe. My own recommendation is for slapping and urine. Plus, Schmiden shd be required to go on national TV, from the Oval Office, and state unequivocally: "I confess that I am a total douche bag. Let me add that Kamala is a bad joke."
Meanwhile, America's support of Israel's genocide campaign is not going so well:
https://www.spaywall.com/search/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/21/israel-losing-war-against-hamas-netanyahu-idf
Plus, our Urkraine campaign seems to be going down the toilet, as reported by most news services. Perhaps the universities that cancelled courses in Dostoevsky might bring the old sage back. ('Universities' my ass)
Let's be clear: the evidence that the US is finished, both on domestic and foreign levels, cdn't be clearer. Karma rules.
mb
ps: The following article strikes me as being iconic of where the US is these days:
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/los-angeles-domestic-violence-victim-fatally-shot-police
I've been reading lots of stuff on the 1942 internment of Japanese-Amerikkkans for an event they had nothing 2 do w/. My current bk is this 1 called Judgment Without Trial by author Tetsuden Kashima. He argued that Amerikkka planned 2 detain ppl of Japanese descent long b4 Pearl Harbor. It just needed an excuse
https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295984513/judgment-without-trial/
Reminds me of the recent hysteria about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ppl went bananas over that, even tho most Amerikkkans couldn't find Ukraine on a map. Amerikkka's past is littered w/ hysteria about various groups of ppl. Must be part of filling that inner void
Dub-
Also the need to have an external 'enemy'. Check out some of my work on this (like QOV), also bk by Denis Duclos:
https://www.amazon.com/Werewolf-Complex-Americas-Fascination-Violence/dp/1859731465/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ND8AVZTJMRAL&keywords=denis+duclos&qid=1703254610&s=books&sprefix=denis+duclos%2Cstripbooks%2C2352&sr=1-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.17d9e15d-4e43-4581-b373-0e5c1a776d5d
mb
Another possible post-it:
OUR FUTURE IS ILL-FATED
FOR WE ARE BUFFOONS--AND DEGRADED!
Israelis: Ya gotta love 'em:
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/23/middleeast/kamal-adwan-hospital-gaza-israel-abuse-allegations-intl-cmd/index.html
Amerikkka seems to have 4gotten about its failed Ukrainian project when the Israeli-Palestine dustup occurred. But now baby Zelensky is crying for more milk from mama's teat.
https://www.npr.org/2023/12/12/1218588127/zelenskyy-ukraine-funding-biden
Yet Amerikkka is so broke that it can't pay the interest on the multi-trillion $ debt it has. Shit is hitting the fan
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/we-are-near-that-inflection-point-billionaire-ray-dalio-warns-america-is-now-borrowing-money-to-pay-debt-service-predicts-debt-will-accelerate-just-to-maintain-spending/ar-AA1lW9W3
Fly-
When you give something to someone, it requires the dative case. Schmiden doesn't know this, and he doesn't know any Ukrainian. This is the crux of our failure. The dative of Zelensky is Zelenskomu.
Deeper, into the Abyss!
mb
The Year That A.I. Came for Culture | The New Republic
https://newrepublic.com/article/177197/year-ai-came-culture
“The essential truth of A.I. is clear: The largest corporations on earth ripped off generations of artists without permission or compensation to produce programs meant to rip us off even more.”
Technobuffoonery strikes again !
American Jews are also wonderful:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/23/crowdfunding-us-residents-fund-settlements-west-bank
Meanwhile, the IDF has murdered more than 20,000 Palestinians.
Corruption in the Ukraine? O surely not!
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/23/europe/ukraine-defense-ministry-official-detained-embezzlement-intl/index.html
This is a very good up to date video by Krystal Ball on the horror the US is supporting in Gaza:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z53dVJ__ZD8
It turns our, surprise, surprise, that the IDF and Biden were lying about tunnels under the largest hospital in Gaza. This is the one destroyed by the Israelis using 2,000 pound bombs. Lots of other horrors and brought up as well.
It;s all very depressing.
ccg-
What decent person wd not be disgusted by Israel, and the US? Unfortunately, neither country seems to have a whole lot of decent people in them.
mb
It's dismaying to see the fact that Israel propped up Hamas to avoid pursuing the two-state solution mostly ignored in the press (gee, one wonders why). Surprisingly, the NYT has an article about it:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/world/middleeast/israel-qatar-money-prop-up-hamas.html
So does Consortium News: https://consortiumnews.com/2023/10/23/gaza-hamas-netanyahus-likud/
It's obvious to me, at least, that most of the press is ignoring this fact to keep the narrative of "Hamas bad terrorists" going so as to rally support of Israel/Us' policy of decimating the Gaza population.
Baron-
Yr rt on target, I fear. What bullshit we are wallowing in. Israel and the Ukraine are little more than theater--w/brutal consequences. Thousands of people dying for nothing. And the chances that Schmiden will be tried in the Hague as a war criminal? Pretty small, I wd think.
mb
Anon-
Sorry, I don't post Anons.
mb
“Tis the season to be stealing
Fa la la la la la la la
Callous robbers in their glory
Fa la la la la la la la”
Yeah! That’s the Christmas spirit! Here’s the newest creative example of that Yankee Can Do Mentality thievery during the 2023 Holiday Season. “Peace on earth, ‘good will’ towards all.” Yeah. Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U. S. A.! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a GOOD RIDDANCE ( for the few with half-a-brain who decide to leave this good-for-nothing shithole country. )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE4CIfZe4bI
Anon-
Check out my reply to previous Anon.
mb
Merry Christmas everyone!
I've just been sitting around listening to these Sam Vaknin videos and wanted to share. For years I had listened to his talks on personality disorders, on which he is a leading expert. Till I felt like I knew all that one could know, or at least needed to know, on the subject. But recently he has branched out with a series called "Sam's Vaknin's Musings," where he talks about social and geopolitical issues, and I have to say, he is really quite good at this! He has any number of interesting and astute insights into our contemporary world. At any rate, this is my favorite style of thought and intellectual discourse, where a person is able to tie together so many seemingly disparate things, and in a fresh and brilliant way that wouldn't occur to most people. I also like the way he is able to bring his bailiwick of character and personality disorders to bear on larger social and political issues. Hope you enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vky0h1MdPto&t=4258s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5voSlBo5S3I&t=2841s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajIGWre46cw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T9pewmbj70&t=284s
Megan-
Merry Xmas 2u and all Wafers, and anyone else checking in. Let it be a yr in wh/chopped liver flows in the streets, and pastrami is available to all.
mb
Well, this isn’t going to go over too well with the many millions of USAin Christians. The Pope during his Christmas homily decried the profiteering military-industrial complex. All these church going “family values” conservatives here already consider him a no-good liberal pope. First off, he believes in some LGBTQ rights. He also believes in helping refugees. And opposing capitalistic hustling in our militaristic, war-like culture definitely is a no no.
https://apnews.com/world-news/pope-francis-0000018ca11fd7a5a79da55feff40000
But that “goodwill to all” Christmas spirit certainly was in the air. We had mass shootings in Louisiana, Colorado, Florida, & Virginia. And thieves helped themselves to a nice $1500 Christmas present: a stolen ATM. It only happens here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
https://www.newsweek.com/christmas-eve-shootings-multiple-states-americans-celebrated-holidays-1855368
https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/fatal-triple-shooting-on-christmas-eve-in-virginia-beach-1-dead-2-injured/
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/atm-machine-usd1-500-stolen-from-staten-island-gas-station
Joe-
Time for yr new post-it:
DEGRADED BUFFOONS
Paste it on yr fridge, look at it every day.
mb
Wafers-
I found this article inspiring:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/27/chinese-chess-champion-stripped-of-title-after-defecating-in-hotel-bathtub
I think all Americans shd start shitting in their bathtubs, and wearing anal beads. It just seems appropriate.
mb
This is all well and good, but the guy is a colossal douchebag, and his face looks a lot like a horse's ass:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/26/kanye-west-apologises-to-jewish-community-for-2022-antisemitic-remarks
Dawgzy-
Yr welcome. 1st let me note: pls send messages to latest post, as no one reads the old stuff any more. As for my essay, I haven't been able to get it published so far. My Mexican editor is going to translate it into Spanish, to publish it down here; but he also has some contacts in the US, so maybe he can get it published up north, in English. I'm hoping that will pan out.
mb
Tell me they are not crazy. Israel declares they're in a 7 front war, and what the fuck do they do, they fucking assassinate an Iranian general. I can't wrap my head around it, do they want a damn world war. I'm literally hitting my head on the wall, I can't comprehend this insanity.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-bombards-hamas-in-southern-gaza-as-ground-campaign-set-to-widen/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/25/israeli-air-strike-in-syria-kills-top-iranian-general
Happy Holidays to you Dr. Berman and all Wafers,
I hope that you are well.
I just came across this lovely Christmas story.
https://apnews.com/article/shooting-over-christmas-gifts-florida-sister-killed-c6fd4bfde219ae10176fc7744e727c29
I had to read it a couple of times to wrap my head around the piece.
A good look at the outdoor images of the "home" tells me that they were not arguing over home improvement items.
Peace,
Vince
french-
There's no doubt in my mind that Netanyahu has lost it, is completely off his rocker. In a way that's a bit lower key, so has Schmiden.
Vince-
In future, pls don't sign in as Anonymous. As for the shooting: I have repeatedly said that the America's problems wd be solved once and for all if everyone shot everyone else. On that note, Happy New Year!
mb
ps: Time to update yr post-it:
DEGRADED AND DEBASED
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Happy Holidays guys. Here's to life and peace in 2024, if we can somehow stop the bloodletting generated by the US. Yeah, right! Pull this leg and it plays Jingle Bells! As we all know, of course, the US has no interest in peace. In any case, here is a sharp dissection of American foreign policy by Jeffrey Sachs. He argues that the US is essentially a death system that is putting the world at grave risk:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/corruption-of-us-foreign-policy
Jeff
This article perfectly illustrates Amerikkka's warped image of itself. In 1995, the Smithsonian had an exhibit for the 50th anniversary of the nukings of Japan. The original plan was to display the Enola Gay bomber w/ images of dead victims in a show of jingoistic pride. Heated controversy resulted in it being gutted, downplaying the consequences of the bombs. sAmerikkka's refusal 2 own its crimes is part of why it's doomed. Along w/ delusions of grandeur.
https://apjjf.org/-Lawrence-S--Wittner/1777/article.pdf
Satch-
I lived thru those events, as I was living in New Mexico at the time. It was a gigantic mess; the head of the Smithsonian was fired, etc. There was also a bk written abt it. Yrs later, I visited the museum in Hiroshima: very different story. In any case, I wrote up the events of 1945 in "Neurotic Beauty."
mb
Baron-
Pls re-send link, but add a para of yr own commentary. Thanks.
Wafers-
This is an important essay, dealing w/themes we have talked about b4. I'm hoping we can discuss it:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/28/new-romanticism-technology-backlash
I'm currently struggling w/a bk or essay taking off from Pirsig's argument on how Plato's rationality campaign fucked us up. I consider myself a neo-Luddite, or perhaps a semi-Luddite. So far, bk is too short; I'm hoping I can stretch it out a bit. Anyway, I value yr opinion on the article.
mb
I just had to post this piece I came across from the CNN website:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/27/opinions/kamala-harris-democrats-2024-presidential-election-smikle/index.html
The author is an academic, a professor, at Hunter College, The City University of New York CUNY), and from reading the piece he seems to be beyond delusional. Kamala Harris is really gonna save the Biden presidency? How? By giggling profusely?
Notice how this fool dismisses most of Biden's problems as being just "ancillary." He does not even mention the war in Ukraine and the genocide in Gaza, both of which Biden fully supports. I guess these things are merely "ancillary." Is it any surprise that CNN would publish such drivel as this? I think not.
I find this piece doubly annoying because I am also a professor in the CUNY system, though not at Hunter College.
In 1956 Britain, with its empire in severe decline, mounted an invasion of Egypt. Indeed, the new rulers of Egypt dared to nationalize the Suez Canal Company, which operated trade in the Suez Canal. Ultimately, Britain found that their ally (the US) did not support the effort and weakling Britain went home with its tail between its legs. Britain's empire was even dimmer than ever. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education1
Today, trade in the Red Sea is stifled by Houthi attacks and the US is trying to rally support from France and Britain to stop the Houthis. But the US allies are reluctant and waffling. Could this be a "Suez moment" for the US? https://www.reuters.com/world/us-allies-reluctant-red-sea-task-force-2023-12-28/
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Wow, I'm very intrigued by your current work, MB! If there was ever a time to move en masse against Plato's unnatural division of the human soul into its reason and emotion components, with reason given a primary place, it is now. Something is definitely circulating, as the Ross Barkan essay persuasively points out. Personally, I agree w/Barkan, that the pandemic was/is the cause of the philosophical questioning we see happening, as well as the buffoonery of the tech giants like Elon Musk ("Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids." ~ Elton John), or Zuckerberg who wants us all to run around wearing his virtual reality headset.
A completely Platonic and Aristotelian worldview, understood by Pirsig in '74, took many of us in the West into a metaphysical darkness. The brilliance of his argument in Zen is that Plato's over-confidence that reality can be defined rationally was a metaphysical error; something that is avoided in East Asian philosophy. So perhaps a return to the spiritual, artistic, magical, the romantic approach to life, and I would also argue even the sexual is one way out of the mess we have been in for approx. 2,400 years! I look forward to reading what you write about this important topic.
Jeff
Adding 2 my last post. Amerikkka censored data about the effects of radiation from the A-bombs. The officials involved were worried about saving their asses in the aftermath 2 avoid being labeled war criminals. But when military personnel & such started falling ill, it couldn't b hidden anymore. Amerikkka isn’t composed of the cleverest of ppl
https://daily.jstor.org/hiding-the-radiation-of-the-atomic-bombs/
Satch-
In the wake of the Trinity test, restaurants sprang up in and around Los Alamos with names like "Atomic Cafe." One bar advertised "Atomic Cocktails." Americans will try to make a buck off of anything.
Jeff-
Thanks for yr comments. It's a v. complex topic, because a fully irrational world wd hardly be any better than a fully rational one (e.g., ours). Anyway, I'm happy w/what I've written so far, and am now struggling w/the final chapter. This cd take me 2 more mos, not sure. If the text is long enuf (also not sure), it wd be nice to publish it in mid-2024. Stay tuned.
mb
Anon-
I guess you don't know how this blog works. 1st, I don't post Anons. 2nd, it is not permitted to personally attack another Wafer. 3rd, we are not interested in the broadcasting of personal opinions. What *does* interest us is evidence--links, reliable references, used to defend a specific argument abt the collapse of the American empire. In short: you probably need to find another blog.
mb
"First of all, I completely agree with Ralph Nader, who said that the two leading political parties in the US quote are one corporate party wearing two heads in different makeups. Which means all your elected politics are a charade. Number 2: I wasn't disillusioned by Bernie Sanders -- I never believed in him in the first place." - Gabor Mate
https://youtu.be/dB3G5HtHbJ0?si=2R2IOB2SkiDsQn08
Mate is right. I feel silly for imagining Bernie was anything but a way for Dems to let out some populist steam w/o any real change.
Tia-
Nader was paraphrasing a quote from Gore Vidal, who said it first (if that matters). As for Bernie, he was just the court jester. Well-meaning, perhaps, but a pawn nonetheless. How a Jew could run for office and not promise chopped liver for the masses is completely beyond me.
Your new post-it for the New Year, to be placed on your bathroom mirror (or fridge, if u prefer):
NO AMOUNT OF SLAPPING
NO AMOUNT OF URINE
Happy New Year!
mb
ps: I AM LIVING AMONG DEGRADED BUFFOONS would also work.
Here's a deluded op-ed piece that appeared in many different publications recently: "How to Make Russia Pay for Ukraine."
https://hill.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=9233
Amerikkkans got played like a fiddle over the Ukraine fiasco. But Russia defending its national interests means it has to "pay" for it? I guess Amerikkka's massive debt must also be its fault. How ‘bout we blame Canada for the crumbling infrastructure, too?
RE: https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/28/new-romanticism-technology-backlash
Indeed a thoughtful essay. I am reminded of CTOS, and I'm curious how your new work will build on themes you raised therein. An important question that follows: has high technology "made the world a better place?" Are we better off as a species carrying oodles of computing power with us wherever we go? Not at all, in my view. We continue to mistake the glitz for the gut; same as it ever was. Personally, I think we should also indict Western religious traditions for the poor state of affairs at present, particularly Christianity.
DTE
Dub-
Clearly, Chad is the culprit; it hasta be nuked.
The number of buffoons in the US gov't is staggering, n'est-ce pas?
I will also guarantee you this: When Russia finally defeats the Ukraine, and Zelensky retires to his villa in Tuscany w/vast amts of $ in his pockets, the MSM will spin the whole thing as a victory for the Ukraine, and the American people will believe it. But it will be a fun day for Wafers, at least.
mb
Mr Berman, Wafers,
This hurts. This hurts my soul. The US is directly and overwhelmingly to blame for the conflict in Ukraine and as such is directly responsible for this example of horror. I think I may be openly hating the gov't and any those who support it.
https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/1740915576435097656
Dio-
I'm up to my eyeballs in the subject, in fact. It might take me 2-3 mos. to finish this new bk, and hopefully, if it all works out, I can publish it in June or thereabouts. Meanwhile, refs that might interest you: my chapter on Alan Turing in "Eminent Post-Victorians," and on Tarkovsky in "The Soul of Russia."
comrade-
Once again: The US is a genocidal war machine run by a plutocracy and cheered on by idiots. At this pt, the only hope is for Wafers to march thru the halls of Congress, equipped w/bags of urine. Then on to the W.H., of course.
mb
Dear Dr. Berman,
Thanks for keeping the blog going all of these years. The recent essay that you linked to seems to be behind a paywall of some sort, but I am eager to read your new technology themed work. I greatly enjoyed your comparison of Tarkovsky's Solaris and Kubrick's 2001 in "The Soul of Russia." It really gets to the heart of the matter with respect to the techno-buffoonery of the US that you have so ably chronicled in past books. On a related note, I was saddened to learn of the death of philosopher of technology Albert Borgmann earlier this year. There is, however, a final book from Borgmann, Moral Cosmologies, which is scheduled to be published next week. Happy New Year to you and all the Wafers! --- Jerome
https://dailynous.com/2023/05/10/albert-borgmann-1937-2023/
Jer-
Great to hear from u after all this time. Glad yr still alive and kicking. Re: that essay you refer to: it will work depending on when you click on it. The spaywall has "Premium Times" for people who pay, and then available times for those who don't. So I suggest trying again at a non-Premium time. As for my Russia bk: just a suggestion, since you liked it so much: if the spirit moves you, perhaps you cd do a review of it on Amazon. But only if you really want to, of course.
Relevant to that theme is the profile of Alan Turing in "Eminent Post-Victorians."
Anyway, stay in touch. Nice to know yr out there!
mb
To All Wafers and Everyone Else:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
It's sure to be full of morons and douchebags, which we all enjoy! Me, I love a gd buffoon!
mb
A new buffoonette!:
Miracle Rivera, 20, busted for beating a man w/an Xmas tree:
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/florida-woman-strikes-victim-repeatedly-with-christmas-tree-during-argument-police-say
I'm not looking forward to the New Year at all, as the presidential race is already a shit-show. For example, 42 percent of GOP voters *like* Trump's Nazi rhetoric. They want more of it:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4370059-42-percent-of-gop-iowa-caucus-goers-say-poisoning-the-blood-remarks-make-them-more-likely-to-support-trump-poll/
How can this language be tolerated? What's your sense of this MB and Wafers? Personally, I see two schools of thought on this: One would be that certain recent events in this country: 9/11; Iraq and Afghanistan wars; 2008 financial meltdown; Tea Party movement; and ending up in Covid has delivered a series of psychological shocks to the overall body politic, that has essentially driven people functionally crazy, such that they now want a dictatorship. The other school of thought is that it's always been there, of course, but there was a kind of political decorum that existed that people never felt too comfortable expressing those tendencies. There's evidence that if you go back to the 1930s w/Father Coughlin, Lindbergh, and the Nazi Bund, they did openly express these views, but it wasn't as widespread as it is today. I don't know, I could be wrong, tho. I remember reading yrs ago that Arthur Miller in "A Boy Grew in Brooklyn" said he went for walks during the summers of 1939-40, 41 and all he could hear wafting from radios in neighborhoods was Father Coughlin railing against the Jews... In any case, did Trump remove the lid off that so-called political decorum in the US that allowed these people to express what they've always been thinking? Of the two, it's indeterminate in my mind what's more realistic. What do you guys think?
Jeff
Jeff-
I ask u2 look at this girl's face. This is the face of America! As for Nazi rhetoric: in 1989 I wrote that the US was "dry tinder for fascism." This is now coming to pass. Yr probably rt abt the impact of recent events, but I personally believe that Americans carry around a lot of hatred in their bodies, and that it is now coming out in spades. Americans are not merely stupid; they are also just plain awful. While it will be great to finally get Schmiden out of the W.H., the Trump presidency of 2025-28 is going to be a horror show. However, I am hoping he will call on me to (a) come to the NYT offices and throw furniture and computers down onto Times Square, and (b) hose down Kamala's shoes w/yellow fluid.
mb
ps: one of my heroes just died:
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/dec/31/john-pilger-campaigning-journalist-dies-aged-84
In a previous comment I shared an article claiming that part of the casualties in Be'eri settelment were done by israelis on israelis, but I was told that was a conspiracy theory. Now, israelis are saying the same thing
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-general-killed-israelis-7-october-then-lied-about-it/43176
On other news, Xi Jinping is basically saying get fucked to the west as he says that China will reunify with Taiwan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3GIz7gePyM
I believe the Suez canal moment is very near, with many countries refusing to join the US in its Red Sea mission, de-dollarization efforts, and simply not giving a damn about how the US thinks about current affairs
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/04/06/dedollarization-china-russia-brazil-asean/
french-
That first link is abs. amazing. I wonder if the truth will really get out; esp., if Schmiden will hear it. As for America getting eclipsed: I've been saying that for a gd many yrs now. If the country has any future at all, it's going to be an unhappy one.
mb
Wafers-
A short poem for the New Year:
The buffoon levels are high;
Someday they may reach the sky!
(Move over, Philip Larkin)
mb
Dr. B:
NY Times recently published a review-essay that may be of interest to Wafers. Here is the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/books/review/denial-of-death-ernest-becker.html
The Denial of Death is a timeless masterpiece, worth reading and re-reading. A sample:
"And so the core of psychodynamics, the formation of the human character, is a study in human self-limitation and in the terrifying costs of that limitation. The hostility to psychoanalysis in the past, today, and in the future will always be a hostility against admitting that man lives by lying to himself about himself and about his world, and that character, to follow Ferenczi and Brown, is a vital lie." (p. 51)
We lie to ourselves, and the more we lie the more hostile we are to hearing and seeing the truth.
The book in a nutshell: Humans are a complex species driven by wild fantasies that are rooted in our consciousness of, and fear of, death.
Pete-
One of my favorite bks, altho in the end, I think Becker got it wrong. Human beings aren't afraid of dying; rather, they are afraid of living!
mb
The new president of Argentina pulls out of plans to join BRICS, and in older interview he claims he won't enter in any relationship with Brazil, Russia and China (we'll see how that goes), he has plans to hamper the work of the central bank, privatise everything and pretty much wreck havock in Argentina. The guy is an capitalist shmuck in the line of Ludwig von MIses and Murray Rothbard. His election campaign was a joke (à la Trump), yet people voted for him. It's funny to see people vote for the craziest of all when they see no viable solution for a problem, and then pay for it dearly.
America may be going down, but the American virus is strong and kicking. People are still blinded by the alerican political ideals. Yes, the far-right Libertarian school started in europe, but it metamorphosed in th US into a dangerous political satire that is now being exported as some sort of beacon of freedom and prosperity.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67842992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhqq3zDW6E0
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentinas-milei-says-shutting-central-bank-non-negotiable-2023-11-24/
https://www.voanews.com/a/argentina-s-president-elect-wants-to-privatize-state-owned-media-public-companies-/7363247.html
Dr B:
Good point. Fear of living, fear of dying. Fear of most everything. I wonder if fear tracks with possessions. The only ones without fear seem to be those without assets. I guess when you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to fear.
The decline of the U.S. is getting personal, as my workplace was shot up last night. There is conjecture he may have been motivated by the Supreme Court decision to bar Trump from the ballot. But that is unclear given the information so far. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/02/us/colorado-supreme-court-arrest/index.html
Pete-
Given the date of Becker's bk, I guess he can't really be faulted; but personally, I'm having trouble these days reading anything abt the collapse of America that doesn't include the word 'buffoons' in it.
Sharp-
Where was yr gun, amigo? A true American is armed to the teeth, and eager to gun people down in the street, like dogs. Hope you'll be buying 10 or more semi-automatic weapons w/in the next day or two.
mb
I love this sorta stuff:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/02/north-carolina-mcdonalds-pastor-wife-co-worker-deep-fryer
Now this is what I call a Good Jew:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/02/bernie-sanders-reject-aid-to-israel
But I also need to add that I regard Claudine Gay as a total douche baguette. Meanwhile, the Brits seem to have their fair share of buffoons:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/jan/02/andrew-scott-halted-hamlet-performance-after-theatregoer-opened-laptop
mb
Happy New Year!
As you have said Dr Berman the American huckster supposedly looking for a simple way of life really wants to make their big salaries moving widgets around on computer screens and producing nothing really and then being able to live large and eventually ruin whatever areas they move to. Sad really especially since in this declining empire there are many houses for sale for cheap in small towns that have depopulated leaving incredibly lovely and well built homes to rot away.
Of course that means going without healthcare and real food but why can't they build it back again? Why not start buying land around these places to grow food and see about starting medical cooperatives with like minded healthcare people? If they are so clever why move with their materialistic values to places that haven't been tainted yet with corporate capitalism? And I wonder how many of those RV's bought to travel this country will now come up for sale as they move onto the next hip venture? Always trying to be the hip kids and outdoing each other on social media.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-dream-leave-most-us-123000387.html
You will likely remember Stuart Seldowitz, the former Obama administration official who'd been recently harassing the halal food cart work in NYC.
Well, no surprise, he has history of harassing people, including the Russian ambassador and even the ambassador's dog:
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/11/22/islamophobic-obama-official-harassed-russian-diplomats/
It's totally fitting that he can be seen in a picture of Madeline Albright.
We have such wonderful people working in the State Department, yes?
ccg-
He was released w/o bail. He apologized, but not to the halal vendor. Nothing happened to him.
mb
And away we go! Check out the New Year’s first mass shooting at a school.….. on opening day after the winter recess. Yes. No time was wasted! Yes. Another “exceptional” happening in the “Land of Exceptionalism”. Another result of the “freedom” to own a firearm via the 2nd Amendment in the “Land of Freedom”.
p.s. The "family values" caucus in this gun loving state where it occurred is only a few days away.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-active-shooting-perry-high-school-rcna132235
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U. S. A.!
Joe-
Here's the link I found:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/04/iowa-high-school-shooting-perry
America is just a gigantic death machine.
Douche baguette of the year: Claudine Gay.
Douche bag of the year: Prince Andrew.
Plus, the British monarchy is a total pile of shit.
I'm hoping Claudine and Nikki Haley will form a new party and make a run for the White House. Both badly need the Wafer Urine Treatment (WUT).
But if they oust Kamala (Schmamala), I'll be very sad.
mb
If you have HBO Max or can find a way to watch this, definitely check out "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace." It is about this Indianapolis couple who adopt a girl with dwarfism. They think she is three, but she ends up being like 18. It is incredibly creepy, if that sort of thing appeals to you. Natalia ends up being a sociopath who spends her time trying to kill the family members. (This is an actual documentary, not fiction.). But what makes it relevant to this blog is that virtually every character in it is spectacularly grotesque (and I mean GROTESQUE!!), vapid, and repulsive. The mom, the dad, the neighbors--all of them. All soulless and super depressing. It reminds me of how Dr. Berman occasionally points out a mug shot as "the face of America." Perhaps Indiana is worse than other states, but I doubt it. Anyhow, don't miss this one if you can figure out a way to watch it. It made me realize that if my few friends and family die before me, I will lost in an ocean of such people. Oh my god, we are so screwed!
https://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/natalia-speaks-documentary-release-date-quotes/
Megan-
This is why I keep saying that there isn't enuf slapping or urine to fix America. But let's face it: there is something terribly sad about how historical conditions (e.g. capitalism, consumerism) rendered most of a nation's people empty. Their lives have no meaning, and no larger spiritual purpose. Look at how we were defeated in Vietnam. We pounded a population into the ground w/our advanced technology; they had bamboo sticks and a will to survive--and they won. Meanwhile, 50% of Americans are so stupid, they think *we* won. Etc. Now we are just on a merry-go-round, chasing the brass ring of money and power, not a City Upon A Hill, but an empty shell of our former selves. As an American, I'm angry. I keep thinking, "It didn't hafta be this way!" But--maybe it did.
mb
Wafers-
A gd article abt Claudine Gay, except that he failed to call her a douche baguette:
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/01/claudine-gays-resignation-was-overdue/676999/
mb
MB re Gay's plagiarism
The Real Harvard Scandal
Claudine Gay is not the real story. Academics debase their profession when they redefine plagiarism to suit their politics.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/claudine-gay-harvard-plagiarism/677007/
I thought this one was fair too
JJ-
Lots of articles, on both sides of the issue, 2b sure. I'm more persuaded by the negatives. Gay never came clean abt the plagiarism and her personal history, imo. Instead, she played the race card and blamed others. This is very common in the US; to me it reveals the serious weakness of affirmative action (see also John McWhorter on the subject of Gay, and of aff. action). To me, Gay is abt as low as one can get. But overall, I doubt America will ever solve its race "question."
mb
The plagiarism business on the part of Gay really hits close home with me. I say that as someone who has been plagiarized. It happened back in 1984. I discovered in the pages the Physical Review a section of a paper that was essentially verbatim of a section of a paper I had published in the Journal of Mathematical Physics the year before. Of course there was no attribution. I complained to the editors, but the most they were willing to contemplate was to have the miscreants publish an Erratum saying that they had "overlooked" my work. In more recent years, I've had issues with people using techniques I developed where they cite me in their first paper on the subject, but they write a second paper using the same technique but where they cite their own earlier paper as the origin of the whole idea. This is a kind of "soft" plagiarism, I suppose, but I regard it as highly unethical. This has happened several time in my career.
On a completely different topic, here's a video on how CNN is allowing the IDF to censor their coverage of war on Gaza. It's even worse than I thought it would be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15aXFDwAOvc
ccg-
I've had a similar experience, on a # of occasions. It was mostly 'soft' rather than verbatim plagiarism, but it feels like a serious violation (because that is what it is). It's interesting, that a lot of writers can't seem to give credit where credit is due, and need to claim it for themselves.
mb
I've recently read the book "the science of the particular" by Japanese Aikido practitioner and philosopher Itsuo Tsuda. In it he tells a story that happened when he was a studying under Marcel Granet. Granet told a chinese story about a king who wanted to catch a magician. The magician, cornered and having no where to escape, turned himself into a sheep and intermingled with a flock of sheep. The king, not being able to tell who's who, simply left. Marcel then asked "what does this story tell you about the difference between the cultures". Tsuda answered "The king did not kill all the sheep". To which Granet said "Good".
And it struck me, isn't the whole of Western history (and Eastern) the story of sheep being killed. Take recent history, the Afghan war, the Irak War, the war on Gaza. This Total War solution seems to be very dear to humans.
https://yumeshop.fonds-itsuo-tsuda.org/en/itsuo-tsuda/25-the-science-of-the-particular-9791091226219.html
AIV-
Pls re-send link, adding a para of yr own commentary. (We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board.) Thank you.
french-
Well, dear to Israelis, and Americans, at least.
mb
Wafers-
Exciting news! A degraded buffoonette in action!:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/07/lauren-boebert-punch-ex-husband-colorado-restaurant-claims
Her shoes cry out for urine! What trash we have in our gov't! And in our universities! And in the Supreme Court! And in...(etc.)
Meanwhile, major douchebag Antony Blinken is in the Middle East, to beat off. Our comment: Blinken, Schminken!
mb
Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha! Listen to what these dumb Iowan Christian goofball evangelicals are saying: “A City on a Hill”; “He loves America;” God is using that man to govern in godly principles;” He was the most supportive of the Bible of any president.” And comparing him to Jesus. Ha!Ha!Ha!
Doctor and Wafers, You just gotta love it! LOL!
Iowa for Trump! LOL!
https://apnews.com/video/iowa-united-states-government-donald-trump-arkansas-israel-government-f46f6e8c8f784c95beff00a5ad008e32
Wafers-
This is a gd essay, but I have my own theory of why Claudine Gay had to resign:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/opinion/claudine-gay-resignation-racism.html
It's simple: she's a douche baguette!
mb
Wafers-
What did I just say? Blinken rejects calls for a ceasefire. Blinken, Schminken! He goes to the Middle East and beats off!
mb
ps: Long overdue for Claudine Gay and Kamala to team up and make a run for the White House.
ps2: Am I the only one who realizes that the US is one large pile of do-do?
french-
Cdn't run it (half-pg limit).
mb
Portrait of an American jackass:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/10/zuckerberg-cattle-hawaii-beef-environment
What a buffoon!
Here is one to file under "Why Trump is going to Win: The Obscene and Narcissistic Bubble of Self-Regarding Hollywood Elites":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ivIJjUqRX4&t=6s
I largely agree with the commentator, with some reservations. In any case, I found Michelle William's speech offensive for several reasons, even though I am technically a mild "Pro-Choicer" myself. On a personal note, my mom had three miscarriages, all of them around 7-8 months, with all the horror that that implies. Then my sister Elizabeth was born, but only lived half a day. So, it's an issue that is very close to my heart. And William's blithe disregard for any outlook or sensibilities but her own, really shows what a completely vapid and self-referential bubble the elites live in.
Surprisingly, my mom, a Presbyterian, is also a convinced if somewhat reluctant, Pro-Choice person, with the caveat that she thinks that "the longer you wait, the more it begins to shade from a possible moral wrong into moral evil. (I approach her suffering all those years ago with a kind of "holy awe" and give great weight to her outlook on this matter. Compared to her deep, 70-year meditation on the issue, all the opinions of the blowhards for the one side or the other seems to me like so much hot air.) Even the Morning After Pill is not a moral-free choice, but it is far preferable to say, six months. But my mom's overall view (and I follow her lead) is that a humane culture that values life, will try to minimize abortion, and come to a kind of compromise, like the 12-week limit that they have in many European countries. At any rate, lest I get off on too much of a tangent, my point is just that the "in-your-face, fuck you-Pro-life Christians and Red State people, abortion is a holy sacrament!" speech of Michelle Williams, was morally vacuous, and it is perfectly illustrative of why the MAGA Brigade is likely going to bury this country once and for all in 2024.
Wafers-
Food for thought: Toynbee listed the reasons why a civilization might collapse. But there was one item not on his list: that it might collapse from buffoonage. America will be the first, since it supposedly is the first in everything else.
mb
Degraded and Debased:
Sulaiman Ahmed on X: "ISRAELI ACTIONS IMPLEMENTED IN BATH UK https://t.co/l8RHCkiY6M" / X (twitter.com)
(Courtesy of Jack L. in Cascadia)
Blinken goes to Israel. Israeli leaders pay no attention to him. They rightly regard him as a turkey. Giant case of beating off, wh/summarizes US foreign policy. Blinken, Schminken.
ps: Gee, what a surprise!:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/world/europe/us-military-aid-ukraine.html
Whether it's the Ukraine or Israel, US foreign policy consists of incompetence + beating off.
Schmiden, Schmamala, Schminken, Schnikki...what clowns!
Plus, another cowardly American university:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/11/arts/design/indiana-university-samia-halaby-exhibition-canceled.html
How do you counter American scumbags? There isn't enuf urine.
mb
Emmanuel Todd, widely recognized as one of the greatest living French intellectuals, says the best thing that could happen to Europe is "the disappearance of the US":
"Once the United States agree to withdraw from their empire, from Eurasia and all these regions where they maintain conflicts... Contrary to what we think - we say 'what will we become when the US no longer protects us?' - we will be at peace! The best thing that could happen to Europe is the disappearance of the United States."
He also said that "France doesn't exist anymore because it's aligned on the U.S. and controlled by NATO"
Which I couldn't agree more with.
https://www.youtube.com/live/R4HRWQPV6BU?si=urN-8CWg-3k-2OOu
Hammy-
Yes, Todd is a smart cookie (I read him yrs ago) and rt on the money. Plus, the US is going to disappear as a hegemonic power, wh/will have 80% of the world's population dancing in the streets. 2030 is still my target date.
Meanwhile, it looks like the American neo-Nazis are smarter than the US gov't (wh/wdn't take much):
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/11/american-neo-nazi-not-fighting-russia-ukraine-war-far-right-extremist
(Note that the Hebrew male plural of Nazi is Nazim, and the Hebrew female plural is Nazot.)
mb
Wafers-
Do you wanna see the face of America? Here it is:
https://edition.cnn.com/us/houston-rapper-viper-lee-carter-arrest-cec/index.html
mb
I loved the video provided by Jack L. I can easily imagine a Native American version of the same thing.
I suppose everyone knows about the South Africans charging Israel with genocide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dafgG_-FYKY
But I'd like to know why Biden, Blinken, and a host of other American officials, like Lloyd Austen, John Kirby,and almost everyone in Congress, aren't also being charged for being complicit in the genocide.
Maybe they just don't want to get bombed by the US.
Y'all heard about Amerikkka's latest adventures in Yemen? Let's bomb some more brown folks instead of improving shit @ home. What a gr8 idea! Amerikkka always needing a "foe" while it continues 2 sink
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in-yemen-s-houthis-us-and-britain-face-a-ready-war-tested-foe/ar-AA1mTnTG
Meanwhile, opioid abuse rages on. The Amerikkkan experiment is over, folks
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/washington-high-schools-set-to-receive-narcan-amidst-rising-opioid-overdose-rates/ar-AA1mQabt
"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
"In 1984", Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. ~Neil Postman
(Book: Amusing Ourselves to Death https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Neil-Postman/dp/0413404404)
An amazing book that does a great job of predicting just about where we are today. We are living in both worlds at once.... As Winston Churchill put it, “One thing that is certain throughout history is that mankind is unteachable.”
Satchmo, High Seas-
Churchill got that one rt. Just look at the US and Israel: two utterly absurd countries. Meanwhile, I just wrote the FAA suggesting that the following sign be posted at all US international airports:
YOU ARE NOW ENTERING MORON COUNTRY
BE AWARE OF DOLTS
mb
ps: I also told the FAA that an alternative possibility might be the following:
WE BEAT OFF
WE DON'T DO MUCH ELSE
ps2: actually, BE AWARE shd read BEWARE. On a more arcane note, we cd write:
IT'S NOT THE VOLTAGE; IT'S THE DOLTAGE!
ps3: along those lines, be sure to check out the following article in the New Yorker for 11 December 2023, "Peak Performer." It's abt the motivational speaker industry, and a perfect description of what America is abt: hustling. Pathetic people paying HUGE amts of $ to hear platitudes during weekend workshops, in the hope of getting rich. There is a word for such people (you know it).
mb
A while ago there was a discussion here on the proper chinese response to american transgressions in Taiwan, if I remember correctly some american official visited Taiwan even though China warned against it, and China did nothing about it. The discussion here was about how China is loosing face and all. At the time I thought that we are looking at the situation from an orientalist pov (see Edward Said) and that we are judging China with some western made presuppositions on how the chinese think and act (saving face, etc.), and that China's way of thinking and acting is diffirent (I recommended reading François Jullien on that matter). Today I found a youtube video doing a better job at explaining what I meant. I do not agree with all that is said, but the video does a great, especially the section on Linear vs. Lateral Thinking and the Go vs. Chess metaphor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyFZgIXucsQ
french-
Check it out:
https://www.amazon.com/Protracted-Game-Interpretation-Revolutionary-Strategy/dp/0195014936
mb
Attention Wafers-
As you probably know, spaywall is sometimes available, and at other times only available to 'premium' members. I just got a message from them: if you want to become a premium member and have unlimited access, they are offering you a 15% discount. Here's the message:
"we'd like to offer your readers 15% off just again to say thanks for trusting us with your news access. Your readers may use coupon code DARKAGESREADERS15 to get 15% off of Spaywall Premium forever."
Anyway, a nice gesture, and up 2u to use the code or not.
mb
Since MLK day is around the corner, here's a reminder of the kind of system he was vying to get blacks an equal deal in. A patient suffering a medical emergency was booted from an ambulance in Rochester, NY & later died. A rotten pie, indeed
https://nypost.com/2024/01/12/metro/rochester-patient-gets-kicked-out-of-ambulance-collapses-on-sidewalk-and-later-dies/
Dub-
That's the Rochester I know and love! (not)
mb
MB,
Quite recently I learned of a book from the 1950's called Smugtown, USA by journalist Curt Gerling:
https://www.amazon.com/Smugtown-U-S-Curt-Gerling/dp/1557870934
Smugtown being another name for Rochester. Are you familiar with this book?
Having spent a fair amount of time in Rochester, calling it Smugtown seems quite appropriate to me.
I gather that Kodak is one of the victims of this smugness. After all, the company used to employ 30,000 people. What's left of it employs only around 3000. An insider I know attributes this to the smugness of the leaders of Kodak some years back, namely their failure to embrace digital photography. As I understand it, they thought they would make little money from digital photography, whereas they made a lot of money from film. Look how well that turned out.
ccg-
Not familiar, thanks. Title quite appropriate. I spent 1st 18 yrs of my life in that tedious, buffoon-rich environment. "Turkeyville" wd have also been a gd title for the bk. To quote Conrad, "The horror; the horror."
mb
Here's a two hours debate on Israel/Palestine that made my blood boil (you can find shorter clips on youtube. The brat on the israeli side, not only racist, stupid and entitled, He thinks of himself as a successful, intelligent, rational man. (for god's sake the only informationsource he's got fox news), and on top of that he calls the other guy intellectualy lazy every time he's got no arguments (which is every time). Ain't that america, where you need to be a buffoon to be successful and be heard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE71VcdvpAs
Note to Kaz-
Thank you for your all your energy on my behalf regarding the silly and misguided 'review' of my novel, "The Man Without Qualities," by the Terrible Book Club. You can post your objections on their website, if you want, but this blog is not the venue for it, it seems to me; most readers wouldn't know what yr talking abt. I think I said what needed to be said, in my post to them; at this pt, no one (rightly) cares, and it would be beating a dead horse. Note also some blog rules for future posting: only once every 24 hrs; nothing longer than half a page; and provide links or reliable references as evidence. Anyway, I do, as I said, appreciate your defense of my work, but I think it's best to forget abt the TBC, and let them get on with their tonterias, as we say in Mexico. They probably 'review' other works with the same blithe ignorance, sounding like 2 magpies inanely chattering to each other. Products of the American educational system, I'd hafta say, w/o the slightest bit of self-awareness. Hey, what can ya do?
mb
french-
Arguing w/Zionists is a complete waste of time. Their game is always rigged, so that they can't lose. Famous proverb: When myth meets fact, myth always wins. Or as I say on this blog: No amount of slapping, No amt of urine.
Wafers-
Check this out, on the pathology of American individualism:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/12/opinions/self-reliance-hulu-jake-johnson-berlatsky/index.html
mb
A meta-analysis of the dark side of the American dream: Evidence for the universal wellness costs of prioritizing extrinsic over intrinsic goals.
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-90266-001
Here's a meta-analysis of 105 studies that finds that focusing on intrinsic goals (such as growth, relationships, community giving, & health) promotes well-being ( r= .24), whereas a focus on extrinsic goals (such as wealth, fame, & beauty) hurts well-being (r = -.22)
Nora-
For more on this subject, check out 2 of my bks: "Healing," and "Eminent Post-Victorians."
mb
Sing along, Everybody!
No-no, no, no, no-no-no, no, no-no, no, no-no
Na-no, no, na-no, no-no, na-no, no-no, no, no-no, no
No country can do the mass shootings like we do
No country guns down the people like we do
No country can commit violence like we do
No country can do PHILLY like we do
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/2-killed-6-shot-in-strawberry-mansion-mass-shooting/3745975/
Ooh, yeah. Nobody, nobody. Nobody, nobody. Nobody, nobody
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U. S. A.!
This shd trigger some debate:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/12/opinions/self-reliance-hulu-jake-johnson-berlatsky/index.html
mb
Oxfam releases inequality report as World Economic Forum in Davos starts - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/16/oxfam-wealth-inequality-davos/
World’s first trillionaire may emerge in 10 years, disparity report finds....while 5 billion ppl have become poorer. Hah! The world sure can be cruel...
In case anyone is afflicted this January by SADD, here is a wonderful book to cheer you up:
https://www.amazon.com/New-Leviathans-Thoughts-After-Liberalism-ebook/dp/B0BQGGB37Y/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=THE+NEW+LEVIATHANS&qid=1705468400&sr=8-1
It is one of Gray's stronger performances, where he points out "obvious facts" (at least obvious after you have read him) like the fact that the liberal order is dead, with "hyper-liberalism" (Gray's term for Woke) taking its place. And that there is no going back.
Like Berlin, who had a partiality for obscure yet fascinating figures such as Johann Hamann, and De Maistre and from whom he drew such fresh insights, Gray has a similar tendency. In "The New Leviathans" he mentions people like the Jewess Sabina Spielrein (a very poignant life story), and the Dutch Geulincx, the premodern absurdist/Cartesian/Spinozist. (Not quite as interesting as Sabina, but still interesting.)
Lastly, if you haven't seen this, I highly recommend all 17 episodes. It is perhaps the best documentary series on the internet, and its focus on decline goes well with Gray and with this blog. Plus, when you realize that we are just as contingent, fortuitous, and doomed as all of them, it puts the small stuff (and the winter blues) into proper perspective:
https://www.youtube.com/@FallofCivilizations (For fun, pick one you know little or nothing about to start with. Like "Bronze Age Collapse." After 75 minutes you will have a good knowledge of the subject.)
Megan-
Regarding Gray's latest, see the review of it by John Banville in the New York Review of Books, 21 December 2023, pp. 82-83. As for Sabina, check out the film of 2011, "A Dangerous Method."
On Fall of Civilizations: I notice that the US is not included in this survey. There are, of course, a lg # of bks on the subject, several of wh/I refer to in various works of my own (Joseph Tainter, for example). But--speaking of American exceptionalism--none of the 17 in the series you refer to collapsed because the populations of those societies contained a high % of buffoons. Whereas in the case of America, the Buffoon Factor (BF) is a major factor in our present, ongoing disintegration. None of the 17 collapsed because they had turned into a joke, whereas the American collapse has a comical, if not downright hilarious, aspect to it. All of us Wafers have been documenting this aspect for many yrs now, and now we have Trumpi sweeping Iowa, w/his opponents displaying high degrees of buffoonery as well.
mb
The destruction of Amerikkka's kids continues...this time with a Florida law governing what books can be in school libraries. Not adhering 2 the guidelines could make unsuspecting teachers felons. I kinda pity these kids growing up now
"A document provided by the district that lays out new statutory changes to HB 1467 indicates violations could be considered a third-degree felony."
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/politics/florida-school-library-books-law-desantis/index.html
ps: Exempli gratia:
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/japan-plane-american-passenger-bite-intl-hnk/index.html
America is chock full of douche bags, clowns, and buffoons.
The United States is wealthier on per capital GDP basis than almost every country in Europe. Squeezing workers so they're miserable and hate their lives can make a society wealthier, but look at the happiness & quality of life studies in the US compared to Europe. Slave societies can build enormous wealth, that's not a reason to have one.
Why Parents Struggle So Much in the World's Richest Country - The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2024/01/america-failed-parents-rich-countries-raising-kids/677023/
Dub, Kail-
The motto of this blog is "Bad Is Good." In other words, given the fact that America has caused, and continues to cause, such misery in the world, the best thing for the world is that the US collapse. Items like the ones you cite contribute to that collapse. Hence another blog slogan:
Onward & Downward!
mb
Iran attacking what they call anti-Teheran bases in Irak, Syria and Pakistan. After the 80s war with Irak, almost all of Iran's foreign interventions were by proxy (except for Syria). This missile attack is something unexpected from Iran, and in my opinion it has a weight to it. It is an open letter to the US that Iran is taking over. This may be the first crack in the US empire. Pakistan is basically US territory, and Iran either intervenes in Irak through proxy or in secrecy (add to that that they bombarded near the US embassy in Kurdistan). On top of that, South African lawyers preparing lawsuit against the US and the UK. And the Houthis are not giving a damn about American threats.
I tell you what, they are smelling blood, they know this isn't 2003 anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjpeRxnZI24
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/south-african-lawyers-preparing-lawsuit-against-us-uk-for-complicity-in-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza/3109201
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/qatar-pauses-red-sea-tankers-after-western-strikes-houthis-2024-01-15/
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/17/opinion/biden-israel-war-washington.html
This article is gd, but why not just come rt out and say that Netanyahu is a sick, insane piece of dreck, and that Schmiden is a cowardly, destructive buffoon?
mb
Well, here's a piece in today's Times by the disgusting Brett Stephens claiming that charging Israel with genocide is a "moral obscenity":
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox?compose=CllgCKCJDfMbsDJKKZpPnvVzGgWHMKdqJFJrMxdJncRGMLvkwtgtTFnGlkDrrHBnGZhsJtlzDJq
I guess killing 20,000+ children must not be a moral obscenity, eh? I suspect that if Jews were being killed in those numbers, Stephens would consider THAT a genocide, and I would agree. But by fiat, Israel cannot execute a genocide, no matter the evidence to the contrary. They can be the only victims of genocide. I guess that's how this works.
This piece also gave me another reason to despise Daniel Patrick Moynihan more than I already do.
MB--I'll paste the article into an email and send in case you don't have access.
ccg-
Moynhihan? Really?
Meanwhile, Bret Stephens is a moral obscenity.
Wafers-
A glimmer of light:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/17/cellphone-smartphone-bans-schools
mb
Col Larry Wilkerson has a 40 minute interview that had me in stitches several times as he flat out calls america's leaders dumb and stupid. If he had only used "buffoon" as a descriptor we could make him an honorary Wafer. I seldom watch video blogs but made an exception this time. Glad I did. Good summary of world events and america's idiot part in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsVpqFs0zO4&t=2444s
comrade-
The word 'buffoon' needs to become part of everyday political discussion. This is clear. A few other random thoughts:
1. WTF is Tulsi up2 these days? She's completely silent. The truth is that only Tulsism can save America.
2. I'm forced to conclude that Nikki is a rancid bag of douche fluid.
3. But then I think the same thing is true of Elon Musk.
4. When he's president, will Trumpi round up all the wokes and put them in detention camps in Idaho?
5. Will he also hire me to help deconstruct the NYT, and toss furniture, computers, etc. down onto Times Square, and put the op-ed gang in chains, and remove them to a dungeon, to receive urine on their shoes every evening?
Exciting times!
mb
Isn't America wonderful?:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/18/us-supply-weapons-israel-alleged-abuses-human-rights
Idaho University Stadium -
3rd and 4th graders on the 20 yard line with stripped AR 15 in front of them... wokes on the opposite 20 with nail spiked clubs. Blow whistle and hear the crowd roar! "aMAGAca under a trumpi/tulsi ticket would get me off the couch to vote!
I don't recall you ever saying Tulsi, Shmulsi. Probably not Wafer-like.
Oh... here's a link to show how screwed the US Navy is in formerly docile waters. Iran has a missile cruiser fulla carrier killers in the Red Sea to up the ante against the Hegemon and their zionist pals. Onward and Downward!
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-backed-houthis-we-are-now-direct-conflict-us-uk
comrade-
Wd like to have a link to the Idaho Stadium thing, por favor.
As for Tulsi: yes, Schmulsi!
mb
Argentina is in for some Thatcher years. Milei, their president, attacked everything at Davos, socialism, feminism, environmentalism, the state.
If Tulsi does not succeed in the US can we send her to Argentina? Tango plus Tulsi workouts sound fantastic.
The full Davos address
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/01/special-address-by-javier-milei-president-of-argentina/
On other news, the butcher of Tell Aviv, Netenyahu, vows that there will never be a Palestinian state. And buffoons right and left are forcing the Palestinians to accept a two states solution. You know what, you can't force people to be fools and you can't condemn them if they fight you back
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-vows-no-palestinian-state-attacks-israeli-media-denies-blindsiding-gallant/
Wafers-
Symbolic?:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/18/world/peregrine-lunar-lander-astrobotic-nasa-scn/index.html
We can't do anything rt, anymore.
mb
comrade-
You know how this blog works. Pls observe the rules. Otherwise, you won't be posting anymore.
mb
Why the World Is Betting Against American Democracy
Ambassadors to Washington warn that the GOP-Democratic divide is endangering America’s national security.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/01/15/what-foreign-diplomats-say-about-u-s-politics-behind-closed-doors-00135326
Unnamed european ambassador tells politico ahead of 2024 election that usa is a “fat buffalo trying to take a nap” as hungry wolves approach
“i can hear those champagne bottle corks popping in moscow — like it’s christmas every fucking day.”
....European diplomats are such morons. The USA isn't the one that will get eaten, we're going to be fine regardless of what Russia does in Europe. Our national security 'community' and diplomatic establishment will need job retraining assistance, that's what this is about....
Tag-
Clearly, America's future is bright!
mb
What broke the American Dream for Millennials | CNN Business
Grim realization settles in over state of Ukraine war as Washington fights over funding | CNN Politics
We are losing in the Ukraine, Iran is firing on us, and the American Dream is exposed as a pile of dog-do. Plus, the president is a senile doofus, and the population largely consists of clueless buffoons. And all the while, not a word from Tulsi.
O&D, me hearties, O&D!
mb
Hola MB and Wafers,
Slap Happy Dept.:
An irate man slaps a Taco Bell worker after microwave mishap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzpVle8qqiM
Personally, I hope this unhinged conduct increases in America.
Jeff
Here is the latest Scumbag Report-
Middle East crisis live: Biden insists Netanyahu is not opposed to two-state solution (theguardian.com) [when pigs fly]
A senior minister in the Israeli war cabinet has said that only a ceasefire deal can win the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and that Israel is unlikely to achieve its aim of “total victory” over the militant Islamist group. Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the campaign against Hamas…
16,000 women and children killed in Gaza, including two mothers every hour, says UN An estimated 16,000 women and children have been killed in Gaza since the war began, including about two mothers every hour, a UN agency has said. In a report released on Friday on “The Gendered Impact of the Crisis in Gaza,” UN Women estimated that at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households since 7 October. At least 10,000 children may have lost their father, it said. Of the territory’s 2.3 million population, 1.9 million are displaced and “close to one million are women and girls” seeking shelter and safety in a territory where no place is safe, it said.
Spaywall News | Gaza War Indirect Casualties Mount Health Service Decimated
Schmiden is opposed to a ceasefire.
What a sick, deluded piece of crap our president is, and a war criminal to boot.
Ohio cops investigating stolen weapons used flash bangs in a home raid that hurt a sick toddler who was in it. Seems to me like the same militarized abuse leveled @ Amerikkka's "enemies" is now coming home 2 roost
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/ohio-police-used-flash-bangs-during-raid-of-home-with-toddler-on-a-ventilator-inside-body-camera-footage-shows/ar-AA1n6Khu
P.S, As Amerikkka continues 2 crumble, I don't foresee a mass exodus. The populace is far too stupid 2 figure out that it IS crumbling
Jeff-
Honestly, I can't get enuf of it. I'm glad the guy was slap happy, but why did he hang onto his urine? Meanwhile, what's the latest on Shaneka Torres? And speaking of nut jobs: my new bk shd be out on Amazon sometime in Feb. What are the odds Schmendrick will pan it w/o rdg it? I tell ya, the Buffoon Index (BI) is rising exponentially.
mb
Satch-
I continue to be disappointed. These policemen are not true Americans. True Americans would have entered the house w/their guns blazing. Why not just shoot the kid? He was probably a communist.
mb
Dear MB:
Earlier in this thread there was mention of the French analyst Todd Emmanuel and his recently published book about the current state of world affairs, in particular the Ukraine conflict and the West in general.
Here is a summary of the book's content, by that insightful and sarcastic Brazilian journalist, Pepe Escobar:
https://www.unz.com/pescobar/how-the-west-was-defeated/?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=pescobar
Many excellent points here, and Emmanuel does not see a bright future for what Escobar calls "Natostan"
Cheers, Quercus
Quercus-
A very astute article. I'd buy Todd's new bk, except the price is too high. But clearly, it shows the blindness of the West. Biden is surely one of the biggest fools who ever lived, and as I've been saying since 2000, America doesn't have much of a future, because it can't reverse gears and doesn't want to in any case. Meanwhile, check this out:
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/05/opinion/a-fateful-error.html
mb
Ross Douthat, in today's NYT:
"if I were to script a true domestic crisis for U.S. democracy, I would start with America losing a war with China and seeing its global power crack and break."
Ross, Ross: its global power is cracking and breaking as we speak. Or haven't you noticed, boychik?
mb
Dear MB:
In your reply above, you provided a link to an article written by George F. Kennan.
I must say Kennan represents the very best type of person that America can produce. He was intelligent, educated, sensitive and cultured. As a U.S. diplomat during WWII and the Cold War, he spent a lot of time in Russia, spoke Russian fluently and understood its people. He had his ups and downs with various administrations in Washington and was eventually sidelined. Such people are from another era.
I highly recommend the memoir of his life and travels - it includes many insights from a person who saw things:
Kennan, George F. (1989) Sketches from a Life. New York: Pantheon Books
Quercus
Dr. Berman—
Well, Netanyahu has now made clear there will be no two-state solution, giving the US the finger. I leave find the silver lining there to team Biden...
To wit, here's an article by Patrick Lawrence, "The End of Global Leadership", which is a kind of elegy for the US and its preference for the illusion of never-ending “wins":
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/18/patrick-lawrence-the-end-of-global-leadership/
He also references Alisaire Crooke's piece on the end of the empire:
https://strategic-culture.su/news/2024/01/08/something-lost-never-to-be-found-again/
IN A TIME OF DECLINE – A REMINDER
The USA hegemony seems to be bringing terminal ruin upon itself, and a lot of other countries and peoples with it. As Dr. Berman explained in his Decline of the American Empire Series and other writings, such events do not happen all at once, and people live through the hardships in various ways. He very wisely recommended that we make it our business to continue living life meaningfully by our own standards, as uncountable numbers of people always have.
Clearly this option is open to everyone – even the super-rich. Here's a story I think I posted some years ago of one person who came into great wealth as an unintentional outcome of an ethically motivated endeavor and yet stayed true to his original purpose.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20220915&instance_id=71999&nl=the-morning®i_id=60978207&segment_id=106684&te=1&user_id=effb12ec6d39e59b96df24af2fc744ba
Something I insist upon alot is that Europe is marching in the footsteps of the US. A rising tide of far-right, even fascist groups, xenophobia, economic collapse to nam a few. Yanis Varoufakis have a good analysis on the situation from an economic pov. Aanother analysis from a psychological/social pov would provide a more complete picture of a possible European decline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=565mNf8_YrU
french-
Let me quote Kant 2u: "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made."
Authoritarian populism is on the rise because liberal democracy failed. As I characterized it in the Twilight bk, it turned into 'vital kitsch'--an empty shell, consisting only of upbeat slogans. Think back to the pres debates of 2016: What did Hillary have to offer, really? Her 'vision' was that she be the president, nada mas. Biden defeated Trumpi in 2020 only because Trumpi botched the whole covid thing. That won't work in 2024. Biden will offer hollow scripts, same ol' shit; voters will see thru it. Like Hillary, he's empty. He has no vision at all. Trumpi's vision is pretty awful (except for a much saner foreign policy), but at least it's a vision. The choice, in November, will be between no vision and dark vision. Americans will vote for the latter.
Liberal democracy didn't hafta fail, but it was supremely hypocritical, esp. in the US. We pursue wars that have no purpose; we back cruel dictators; we support genocide, and practice torture. The whole world, America excepted, sees this. And what was American 'democracy', other than a shill, a pretext for hustling? We have no moral compass, and it's karma time: w/Trumpi, Americans are getting what they deserve.
mb
DeSantis quits race. What a colossal buffoon. A complete horse's ass. A degraded and debased human being, and a true and accurate representative of America. I toss my cookies on his head.
Dr. Berman,
Up late working on PhD work and saw the news about DeSantis. Did you know he oversaw torture at Guantanamo?
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/4/3/desantis_guantanamo
He is truly a disgusting person, from the torture alone, but for many other reasons too. Of course most Americans are unaware of his involvement in torture, by their own choice to not read factual and informative news sources but rather to get their news from social media or those ridiculous "news" channels on TV that tell them what they want to hear (your counter-argument to Chomsky/Michael Moore etc. comes to mind when I think about this phenomenon).
Hope you are doing well.
-- Torreblanca
Torre-
He is vile, but then members of the American Psychological Ass'n were involved in it as well. Plus, most Americans wd have no problem w/the US torturing "the enemy," even if they knew abt it.
Wafers-
Here's my kinda Jew:
https://www.amazon.com/Myths-About-Israel-Ilan-Pappe-ebook/dp/B01I85OZG8/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=oQonN&content-id=amzn1.sym.6ba8e089-ebb7-4904-98d3-c3c05ce042cf&pf_rd_p=6ba8e089-ebb7-4904-98d3-c3c05ce042cf&pf_rd_r=XW1FVZ550AMY02WWB30G&pd_rd_wg=gwkRv&pd_rd_r=584e20ed-44fe-4ecc-b8ba-e1d691b758a1&ref_=pd_gw_p13n_da_mdi_dlsrr
Also be sure to read his "Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine."
mb
Ron DeSantis posts fake Winston Churchill quote after suspending campaign
https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-posts-fake-winston-churchill-quote-after-suspending-campaign-1862606
LOL gawd who are these people? How stupid this country is.. Now on to the cult of Trump, relevant film rec "The Death of Stalin"
Hello Dr. Berman,
I thought that I would post a link to this article about our dying empire.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/20/caitlin-johnstone-welcome-to-the-empire/
One can't but help wonder if this is the year that something or someone pulls that one card out of our house of cards and the system finally collapses under its own weight.
As for the election. It has already been won. It is won by the same entity every time, the dollar. Jimmy Carter may be the only exception in recent times.
Peace,
Vince
£25,000 for a burial plot next to Karl Marx? The philosopher would turn in his grave | Death and dying | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/17/25000-for-a-burial-plot-next-to-karl-marx-the-philosopher-would-turn-in-his-grave
Sheesh..... Can you imagine what Karl would think? I still hold him as a heroic figure of history, not sure what a Marxist is anymore, or what that means..
McMean, Vince-
Thanks for the links. One thing missing from them, however, is the word 'buffoons'. W/o that, there cannot be a complete picture of our situation.
mb
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