This is the Blog for MORRIS BERMAN, the author of "Dark Ages America". It includes current publications and random thoughts about U.S. Foreign Policy, including letters and reactions to publications from others. A cultural historian and social critic, MORRIS BERMAN is the author of "Wandering God" and "The Twilight of American Culture". Since 2003 he has been a visiting professor in sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Feel free to write and participate.
posted by Morris Berman at 10:59 AM
Morris Berman is well known as an innovative cultural historian and social critic. He has taught at a number of universities in Europe and North America, and has held visiting endowed chairs at Incarnate Word College (San Antonio), the University of New Mexico, and Weber State University. During 1982-88 he was the Lansdowne Professor in the History of Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Berman won the Governor’s Writers Award for Washington State in 1990, the Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies in 1992, and the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity (from the Media Ecology Association) in 2013. He is the author of a trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness–-The Reenchantment of the World (1981), Coming to Our Senses (1989), and Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality (2000)–and in 2000 his Twilight of American Culture was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times Book Review. Dr. Berman relocated to Mexico in 2006, and during 2008-9 was a Visiting Professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City.
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190 Comments:
Doctor,
I ordered both it and the Healing book which I haven’t read yet. I’m looking forward to both and to gleaning more exquisite knowledge and real life enlightenment which you always provide.
p.s. If you don’t mind, here is a follow up from my previous post down below. It’s the classic example of how this country is toast and going down the drain. A lot of the young are doing their thing and contributing to the U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! demise by attending. It’s part of our Wafers'/Declinists’ dream! Can you believe this? It’s going to be an overflow crowd! LOL! It’s the hottest ticket in town in the great conservative gun loving state of Tennessee! It already is 13,000 and climbing! Heck! It may instead have to be held outside in a large professional sports stadium! It’s akin to one of those old southern Billie Graham revivals! LOL!
http://www.supertalk929.com/2024/01/24/kyle-rittenhouse-scheduled-for-etsu-appearance-february-8/
https://newschannel9.com/news/local/kyle-rittenhouse-to-speak-at-etsu-in-february
Joe-
Read my new book, "Buffoons Out of Control."
mb
Talk of secession is in the air in the U.S., but is it real, or just the gaseous emissions of buffoons goofing around? The latest issue of Newsweek takes the so-called Texas Independence Movement seriously and raises the specter of Texit if the Biden regime attempts to federalize the Texas National Guard over removal of border wire. Texit talk was the focus of several recent blog posts such as one by Simplicius the Thinker. However, Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris in their Duran podcast today discussed a more mundane possibility of maneuvering between Biden and Republican Congressional leader Mitch McConnell as McConnell reacts to the coalescing of support around Trump and his stance on the border and Biden continues to press Congress to approve another injection of funds for Project Ukraine. Arguing in favor of a more buffoonic interpretation is the hustling of Texit merch on the internet this week. U-S-A! U-S-A! continues to be more of a bad joke falling apart as the rest of the world watches.
https://www.newsweek.com/2024/02/09/texas-independence-texit
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/border-crisis-heats-up-as-biden-admin
https://the duran.locals.com
https://store.thetexan.news/collections/apparel
The Elite Are Trash, Part Deux:
Alyssa Milano, using her married name Bugliari, has established a GoFundMe account to collect money to send her son’s baseball team to Cooperstown, NY.
Her spouse, David Bugliari, is a talent agent with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The couple’s estimated net worth is 4 million dollars.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-01-26/alyssa-milano-criticized-soliciting-donations-sons-travel-baseball-team
Jas-
They're trash. Quite simply, they're trash.
Jack-
I discuss the secession option (not just for TX) in my new bk. Long overdue to break up the US, imo.
mb
Recently I've read The Philosophy of Living by the french philosopher François Jullien, it reminded me of a quote by another french philosopher Edgar Morin "there is a difference between mere surviving and living". I was gripped by the subject, especially in the modern world that we live in, mediocrity, MSM, disenchantment... the question is not are we alive? the question is ARE WE LIVING? Naturally I compiled a short list of books to read, among them dr. Berman's Trilogy of Consciousness, and now the new book is going in the list too. I can't wait to read it.
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo22177261.html
On other news, 3 US soldiers were killed in the middle east and Biden is accusing Iran. I am tired of saying it is on, but it is on, thing are spiraling from bad to worse in a slow but steady pace. All that I am hoping for is that Trump, if elected, can be an agent of peace (which is a satire not even the greeks can dream of)
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan
french-
Hope you enjoy it. As for Schmiden: a senile, genocidal, warmongering doofus. Also a colossal turkey, and a buffoon of the first order.
mb
Dr. Berman—
Just to relieve Biden from doofus duty for a moment, Nancy Pelosi wants the suffering in Gaza to stop, but NOT through ceasefire! That's Putin's line! So she wants the FBI to investigate ceasefire activists as Russian agents.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ceasefire-2667108639
"...the demand for a cease-fire is hardly coming from the fringes of American society, but rather from more than two-thirds of Americans in a November poll by Reuters/Ipsos. Three-quarters of Democrats in the survey backed a cease-fire, along with half of Republicans." Bye-bye credibility...
Oops-
Not sure of yr pt. Pls clarify.
mb
Looks juicy!
Thank you!
jw
This wasn't on any front page news that I am aware of but John Pilger has passed away.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/business/media/john-pilger-dead.html
He did his best to make sure news about atrocities and government corruption made the news. He stood up for Julian Assange when many others wouldn't too.
BH-
A short while ago, yes. I shd have posted something abt it. He was a true journalist, a truth-teller, wh/made him persona non grata to the MSM. Not too many guys like that around, sad to say.
Justin-
I think you'll find that this bk is crammed full of juice.
mb
Greetings Doctor Berman,
Just bought "Crisis" and you hooked me from the start. Persig's ZAMM is one of the books that was most formative in my education. Read it many times. I am most eager to but part of a Berman lesson that uses ZAMM as it's foundation. Thank you
Dr. Berman—
Abou my previous post you said, "Not sure of yr pt. Pls clarify."
My point regarding Pelosi saying she was for stopping the suffering in Gaza but that supporters of ceasefire must be Russian agents and should be investigated by the FBI was that it signals a clear crisis of legitimacy.
Obviously ceasefire would be the first thing you'd do to end the suffering. But also 2/3 of Americans and 3/4 of her own party support ceasefire. She's making political adversaries of 3/4 of her own party. My question is, how much longer can the powers that be maintain legitimacy with this absurd gaslighting? I live here, so I can't cheer it on. But one does have to stand in awe of all the dumb n' dumber.
A Wal-mart employee was sacked after recording a mother whose kid was in the store wearing nothing but a diaper. The video made waves, the mom was arrested & charged w/ child neglect. Sounds 2 me like someone who thought parenting was all fun & games, & learned the hard way that it wasn't the case. #BadisGood
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mom-charged-with-child-neglect-after-son-seen-in-walmart-in-diaper-amid-cold-snap-reports/ar-BB1hqSwi
Satch-
Let me give it 2u straight: the following is all you need to know abt the US: The whole country is beating off. On every level, in every area, that's all it's doing. Once you realize this, you don't need to follow the news or analyze anything, because this beating off is the bottom line. It may *look* like we're doing stuff, but in truth, all we're doing is beating off. (Tell yr friends)
mb
ps:
Here's a typical example of America beating off:
Pentagon vows ‘all necessary actions’ to defend US troops after deadly strike | US military | The Guardian
And this was predicted in Wm Gibson’s novel of 1984, “Neuromancer”:
Elon Musk says Neuralink has implanted first brain chip in a human | Elon Musk | The Guardian
‘Progress’ my ass. We need this like a hole in the head.
An example of someone not beating off:
Spaywall News | No Phone Screen Time Weekend
Two anti-beatoff texts, that will of course be completely ignored:
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Defining-Root-Our-Existence/dp/B0C47YQXYQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=morris+berman&qid=1706576422&s=books&sprefix=morri%2Cstripbooks&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Our-Time-Morris-Berman/dp/B0CTFF8JKF/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=morris+berman&qid=1706576478&s=books&sprefix=morri%2Cstripbooks&sr=1-2
ps3: And here's one of them: a douche baguette:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/pelosi-criticism-palestinian-gaza-protests-russia/index.html
Why can't I be allowed to bang her head against that of Nikki Schmikki on national TV for 20 mins?
Justin-
Pls observe 2 blog guidelines:
1. Post once every 24 hrs max
2. Post half a pg max
Thank you.
mb
Dear Dr. Berman,
Congratulations on yet another book, as well timed as it's well aimed. Your dedication to thinking and writing are truly inspiring. I can't wait to lay my hands on Crisis. And, as a lover of book titles, I cannot resist suggesting this one for your future books: Beating Off Since 1776.
With every warm wish from Angel City,
Ajay
Ajay-
Hope you enjoy the bk. As for my next title: "Beating Off" is gd, but I'm also thinking of "Buffoons Out of Control: A Story of Horror and Non-Redemption."
mb
Hello Mr. Berman,
I am not a follower of Osho but I think he was a pretty good philosopher and was right about quite a few things. Here is an old video (maybe from the 80s) of his views about the Israel-Palestine conflict.
https://youtu.be/xnOvQWYPXv8?si=zkWMLITpCvsYsNam
Dear Professor Berman,
I have just purchased three of your books: Healing, The Soul of Russia and The Crisis of Our Time. I read Genio two years ago and used it as a guide book of sorts when I visited Rome. I enjoyed your succinct explanations and analysis. Later I bought Eminent Post-Victorians and it inspired me to read A Room With a View by Virginia Woolf. Thank you for that.
I ordered Healing largely because I had no idea what you meant by an authentic life. I have never had the unexpected emotional experiences of the kind you describe in the book nor any sense that I have not lived the life I wanted. I have had surprisingly strong emotional experiences occasionally but they were linked to things I understood, e.g. the freedom of leaving my job and heading out to unknown adventures, success at achieving a political goal I had worked on for many years, that of expanding public healthcare in Canada, and others. On the other hand the book does help me understand the experiences of people I know and the dangers they face. I have only read the first half and look forward to the rest.
Here is my contribution to the declinist theme and my ticket into the blog as it were. An interview with Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst, who outlines the recklessness and stupidity of current US leadership: https://sonar21.com/the-attack-was-in-jordan-but-jordan-plays-dumb/
I was listening 2 a podcast episode where the guest discussed entrepreneurship & corporate whistleblowing. He blew the whistle on his company when they asked him 2 falsify sales forecasts just b4 a merger. It reminded me of the various scandals that brought large corporations 2 their doom (Enron, WorldCom, Lehman Bros., etc.) Are such frauds a symptom of Amerikkka's hustling nature, or in the DNA of capitalism in general?
https://richardmbowen.com/what-do-lehman-brothers-enron-and-citigroup-have-in-common/
Dub-
May not be any difference. But in America, the buffoon factor always plays a major role. Americans are degraded and debased, and don't really care abt it.
Keith-
George Carlin pointed out that US leaders come from the American population, so let's be clear that we are talking abt stupidity all around. Americans, and their leaders, are little more than jokes. (Bad ones)
But I'm glad yr enjoying my bks. You might wanna order a few dozen of each, to give to yr friends. :-)
mb
Keith,
A Room With A View was written by E.M. Forster. Maybe you meant A Room Of One's Own, which was by Woolf. But I recall it as being an essay, not a novel. I even recall some well-known British actress "performing" it as a one-person play many years ago.
My response to this (excellent) essay is: No kidding!:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/29/donald-trump-americans-us-culture-republican
Only one crucial word is missing from it. You guys know what it is.
mb
Joe-
Remember, this is not a bulletin board. You need to provide some discussion w/yr links. Thank you.
mb
Doctor & Wafers,
Check out today’s mugshots. First, check out this basket case. Folks like this mentally sick buffoon only can exist here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
The guy decapitates his own father; cries about not getting a high paying job because he’s a white man; writes in a pamphlet about killing his own family; and wants everyone in this country born before 1991 to die because “they’re traitors” to this country. LOL!
https://www.newsweek.com/justin-mohn-wrote-book-satanic-cult-1865604
And check out the typical “loving” U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! mom. She tried to slowly starve her disabled son. Ah yes. The citizens of this country certainly are “exceptional”.
https://www.lex18.com/news/frankfort-mom-accused-of-starving-son
Joe-
This woman's face: the face of America.
Every day, the Buffoon Index (BI) rises higher. But then, I love a gd buffoon.
mb
Wanna see an illustration on how stupid TPTB really are? Behold this story in New Yorker mag about how the Pentagon Papers got smuggled out by a damn HARVARD GRAD. She was one of several co-conspirators who helped expose those docs, fueled by her ire over the Vietnam situation.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-untold-story-of-the-pentagon-papers-co-conspirators
Amerikkka's bonehead "elite" likes to think they're clever. But the Amerikkkan populace are buffoons. Therefore its so-called "leaders" can't be any different
A while ago I've shared some articles on the new president of Argentina claiming things like "Argentina will not have any relations with China and Russia" and "Argentina will dismantle its central bank and switch to the US Dollar". I said that I doubt that any of this will happen. Lo and behold, in a recent interview he's changed his vews about China, he doesn't like them but trade is trade and he must maintain economic ties with them. I think his vews on the currency issues will be changing soon too.
This guy (a buffoon already) is a right wing ultra-liberal populist, a self described anarcho-capitalist (the Murray Rothbard cursed ideology). And like all the ideologues like him he's got the same traits: contradictory statements, lying, etc.
https://youtu.be/Sai3gC9LZYI?si=rmqszh0dWo2djW8Z
On other news, recently I've discovered a french philosopher by the name of Clément Rosset, and I believe Wafers will appreciate him. Most of his work is centered around the question of why people choose to sidestep reality even though they see it clearly. Only two of his books are translated into english, I hope it is to your liking:
https://www.amazon.com/Joyful-Cruelty-Toward-Philosophy-Real/dp/097961211X
https://www.amazon.fr/Real-its-Double-Rosset-Cl%C3%A9ment/dp/0857420348
Are the better angels really winning? - "One might think the fact that the most recent century of human civilisation saw upwards of 150 million deaths through warfare might act as an obstacle to any theory of declining
https://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/comment/2024/01/17/are-the-better-angels-really-winning
A fine take down of Pinker's treatise that the 20th/20stC saw a decrease in human violence. I read it the year it was published, a finely written Hobbesian polemic but obv out of touch w reality. Any Wafers get thru that one?
Ethan-
Pinker's a shmuck, a gd example of what I have referred to as a hi-IQ moron. And given what Harvard has become, he belongs there.
mb
I imagine that everyone here knows of Samantha Power, who made a name for her with scholarship of genocide. She wrote a book on it called The Problem From Hell.
She worked for Obama and was pretty much in the Hillary camp of war mongers, which is well discussed in the book by Jeremy Kuzmarov: Obama's Unending Wars.
She now works for the administration of Genocide Joe, running USAID. Well, it's come to light that her staff there has been pushing back on her total support Biden and refusing to call this a genocide:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/01/31/samantha-power-usaid-confronted-gaza/
So Power, the "expert" on genocide cannot see genocide when it's staring her in the face. Well, at least some members of her staff can see even if she can't.
Samantha Power is trash.
ccg-
All elites are. Meanwhile, we cd use links for her bk and the one by Kuzmarov. Thanks.
mb
Dr. & Wafers, Check out these far right Christian Nationalist goofball space cadets, part of an upcoming documentary. Of course Trumpi, if elected, will use these dumb suckers to the fullest of his monetary advantage. LOL! More important for us Declinists, they should help speed up and expedite this country’s demise. Political consultant James Carville ( not sure, Doctor, of your opinion of him) in the second video expounds on it. But what these theocratic buffoons don’t know, however, is that, like Aesop and Homer, Jesus probably never even existed. LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTQKmR6a9fw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l47FyVyglI
Check out also a couple of the many annual headline stories that appear here in the Land of Buffoonery this time of the year—the Super Bowl ads. Like this is really important in USAin life! Ha!Ha! As the GSWH said, “What passes for news in the United States is comical.” LOL!
https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-marketers-advertisers-clydesdeals-budweiser-bud-light-de48ada3b99169502dae7f29473ab48b
https://apnews.com/article/kris-jenner-super-bowl-commerical-0716563ad9f2cb358dfa59e37ceb4fc4
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Joe-
Do you realize how many Americans need a severe beating (plus urine)? But sure, after Trumpi is in office, no more warmongering, but he'll roll up his sleeves and polish off the country, once and for all.
Long live buffoons!
mb
Interesting new research showing a relationship between America's increasing social isolation and our increasing cultural materialism.
Two problematic trends linked together.
The research finds individuals with anxious attachment styles are more prone to engage in status-signaling consumption, driven by materialistic values.
Link between anxious attachment and materialistic values revealed in new psychology study
https://www.psypost.org/2024/01/link-between-anxious-attachment-and-materialistic-values-revealed-in-new-psychology-study-221103?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Cuke-
Gd article, thanks. And not surprising at all.
mb
Wafers-
Here is a new, powerful meditation for you, to be done for 1 hr every day. I call it my Buffoon Meditation. Just close your eyes, focus on your breath, and think about how practically all of the American population consists of buffoons. After an hr of this, you'll emerge refreshed, ready to tackle the buffoons in your environment.
mb
Wafers!
The U.S. have just bombed 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, Generalissimo Biden has just pronounced that "the United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world." [1] and Bret Stevens of the NYT proclaims that "Attacking Iran’s Proxies Won’t Do the Job [...] Iran has used its proxies to start fires across the Middle East. They won’t be put out until the arsonist is taken down." [2]
Help me out! I am finding myself a bit in a double bind here!
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/feb/02/us-begins-wave-of-airstrikes-retaliating-for-drone-attack-that-killed-three-american-soldiers-live
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/30/opinion/thepoint#iran-proxy-military-attack
MB,
As your requested after my last posting, here are links to the books mentioned:
https://www.amazon.com/Problem-Hell-America-Age-Genocide/dp/1455879991
https://www.amazon.com/Obamas-Unending-Wars-Fronting-Permanent/dp/1949762009
In the latter book, the author first mentions Power quite early on, on page 22, pointing out that she was "...predictably selective in her concerns for human rights...ignoring the U.S. sponsored Israeli assault on Gaza..."
So it's no surprise that she's denying that genocide is taking place in Gaza right now.
Martyn-
This is the bottom line, and the honest truth: Americans are simply not very bright. Our entire foreign policy since 1945 has been self-destructive, and we don't know how to blindly, and mechanically, stop following an ideological formula that is a heavy distortion of reality. This is really all you need to know by way of explanation of American behavior. Fancy talk from NYT Op-Ed writers will hardly serve to clarify anything, because they are trapped w/in the general American paradigm. Only a critique from the outside can clarify things, and I'm giving it to you, rt now. And of course, you can also consult the late John Pilger, Jeffrey Sachs, Noam Chomsky, Scott Ritter, John Mearsheimer, etc. etc.
A metaphor for the US: imagine millions of people, leaders esp., rolling around w/their heads rammed in their buttocks, and while doing it, proclaiming the brilliance of their vision, wh/is in fact brown. This is not hyperbole, amigo; it captures the essence of our entire way of life. Anyone who mounts a serious critique is marginalized, and as I wrote in WAF, this is why America failed. Of course, I shall never be profiled by the New Yorker, for example; but if that did happen, it wd only be to ridicule me. Meanwhile, that magazine was in favor of our destruction of Iraq, and is now pro-Israel. We live in an echo chamber, a hall of mirrors. Reality is simply not welcome.
Many yrs ago, and quite amazingly, Charlie Rose had Noam on his program for an interview, and wd hardly let him speak. He kept talking over him, and in 1 hr, Noam was given maybe 10 minutes. Charlie simply cdn't tolerate what he was hearing, reinforcing the old saying that when myth meets fact, myth wins. There is simply no way of penetrating that hall of mirrors, and the result is that the country is collapsing both from the inside and without. Aldous Huxley once said that men learn nothing from history, and that fact is the only thing we *have* learned.
mb
Pristine-
Sorry, cdn't run it. I guess yr not familiar w/this blog, but one of the guidelines is that a post can't be longer than half a page.
mb
Wafers-
I think I or someone ran this b4. I still get a kick out of it:
https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1744125164462252289?lang=en
mb
Aaron Good's American Exception channel presents some of the most concise and thorough analysis of the USA Empire.
https://youtu.be/WQCdvv4sDfQ?si=dzE7badowL5mbgty
This video entitled Hegemonic Panic presents an analytical scholarly framework to explain the many crimes of the empire and its need to create and control narratives to cover its tracks. It then applies this framework to historical events providing a narrative up to the present day to explore and explain what happened. Much of this will be well known to followers of this blog.
However starting at approximately the 64 minute mark he present a convincing analysis of the intertwining of Zionist fascism with American fascism to explain the current timing of the horrors of Gaza.
One point of resonance with this blog is his statement that change will be forced from outside the USA not from inside. We are watching that happen in real time.
I am not optimistic about the outcome.
Anjin-
Gd stuff, thanks.
mb
Wafers-
Schmiden is trying hard to hang on to America's hegemonic empire status. This effort will fail miserably. Schmiden is a doofus, and karma will take its toll. When Freud called America "a gigantic mistake," he knew what he was talking about.
It's over, my friends; it's over.
mb
Doctor & Wafers,
Here still is more from the “diamond in the rough”, “hot shot” Gen Z poster boy for dumb, functionally illiterate ( imaginary) god fearing Christian Right conservatism. I reiterate, this doofus, the symbol for our dumbed down culture, definitely deserves a top Cabinet position in Trumpi’s presidency/Christian theocracy next year. Better yet, and get this, our great ( imaginary) god is going WiFi through Patriot Mobile, America’s only Christian Conservative wireless provider! Just type in promo code” KYLE”! LOL! So who needs to watch Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, or the Trinity Broadcasting Network ?
Just as important, check out the Shot ( a great name!) Show video that was held in Vegas celebrating gun ownership. Kyle had his own booth. So did Erik Prince of Blackwater. Ted Nugent showed up. As did Don Trump Jr. Check out too the “In God We Trust” on a pistol! This is great! Ha!Ha!Ha! Onward to 2030! U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
https://twitter.com/ThisIsKyleR/status/1749507419103982023
https://www.patriotmobile.com/patriot-mobile-makes-big-impact-show-show-2024/
Jeff-
Loved yr buffoon report, but pls edit down to half a pg and re-send. Thanks. Buffoons Rule!
mb
Dr. Berman,
I just had to share this with you and Wafers. I bring you news of an event involving a well-known figure in the American entertainment industry. This person, in addition to being a rapper, is "also known as a social and political activist, focusing on subjects including social inequality, police brutality, and systemic racism. In addition to discussing cognate topics in his music, he has lectured about similar issues at colleges and universities..." (Wikipedia)
Well, according to recent reports (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/05/killer-mike-arrested-grammys-2024-update-run-the-jewels): "Killer Mike has been arrested and booked for 'misdemeanor battery' after an alleged physical altercation backstage at the 2024 Grammy awards, just after he won three awards including his first in more than two decades."
I don't have much to say other than to point out the hypocrisy, and that he is a violent, degraded buffoon. (Also: who assaults someone mere minutes after receiving the highest awards in his profession?)
-- Torreblanca
Torre-
Here's what I was able to find online: "KM is accused of knocking down a security officer after they did not get out of his way quick enough." Of course, given the fact that he's an American, the odds that he's a horse's ass are v. gd. Note that Bill Maher recently had him on his show.
mb
Buffoon Report:
1. Celia Barrett, 35, decided it was a good idea to rampage a store buck naked. Celia, at one point, began to masturbate in front of the cops:
https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/nude-woman-celia-jude-barrett-sharp-object-accused-florida-threats-destruction-racetrac-convenience-store-sharp-edged-peeler-corer-st-petersburg-aggravated-assault-disorderly-intoxication-exposure-sexual-organs-trespassing-pinellas-county-deputies
2. Kambria Darby arrested for child neglect when she brought her son into a Walmart wearing only a diaper during freezing weather. Note her incomprehensible language and cellfone use. Who in their right mind would impregnate Kambria? I tell ya, nothing gets me cranked up like a gd buffoon!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Y26uG9RO4
Jeff
Jeff-
Can't express my delight. Bad Is Good.
mb
Report from people who aren't buffoons:
Isolated Indigenous people as happy as wealthy western peers – study | Happiness | The Guardian
The other day I posted the 17 "Fall of Civilization" videos. He just added a new one on Egypt which is as well done as all the others. (Make sure to watch the ones with video. He has two versions of each topic, some being just a screenshot with him talking. The one on Egypt is speech only at the moment, but later he should add video, and in any case, they are all worth watching twice. (Plus, there seems to be universal agreement in the comments section that these videos are ideal right before bed, due to the soothing nature of his voice, haha)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cuh1oxLHDU
There is also one on the Maya in this series, which is around an hour and a half. But he has another excellent four-and-a-half hour, in-depth documentary on the Maya, which simply has to be the best one there is. It is very dramatic and begins with a horrific shipwreck/cannibal (true) story. Anyhow, since you basically live there, Dr. Berman, I figured you might enjoy this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNbuF1NWXKo
Otherwise, don't forget that there are more things in heaven and earth than Trump, road-rage, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Facebook, Elon Musk, and belligerent ugly Americans. To wit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXLKu-HglnM
Megan-
But what abt Lauren Boebert, or Tulsi Schmulsi, or Kamala Schmamala, or Blinken Schminken? Not to mention Gisele Bundchen, the central cause of the American collapse. Plus all of the crucial activities of Taylor Swift, wh/we all need to focus on. I tell you, the list is endless.
mb
Get this, Doctor and Wafers. There are suggestions that the day after the Super Bowl should be declared a national holiday. What to call it? “Hangover Monday”? “Indigestion Day”? LOL! Perhaps with all the gambling and the resulting wife beating by the angry husbands who lost their paychecks on losing bets; pigging out on buffalo wings and nachos; and chugging down countless beers, etc, it makes sense. Companies state that productivity is lost on these Mondays. The employees who don’t call in sick look as if they’re spaced out when they show up for work. LOL!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2024/02/04/super-bowl-monday-holiday/72369926007/
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/11258-super-bowl-fever-employee-truancy.html
https://wmmr.com/2024/01/17/petition-make-the-day-after-the-big-game-a-national-holiday/
Where else but in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Joe-
So many beatings are necessary. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
mb
Look at this piece of art, a man beheads his federal employee father on YouTube trying to mobilize the national guard against Biden. The America we love!
https://abcnews.go.com/US/man-accused-decapitating-father-national-guard/story?id=106901005
Ps, look at that empty face
Oy.
-mb
I found a piece on this phenomenon of folks wearing PJs in public. I have some relatives who are into fashion, & they'd NEVER dream of going out somewhere in some damn PJs. Looking like a bum seems to be in vogue now. It's like the Amerikkkans who do this know their nation is finished, & are trying 2 advertise it thru dressing like bums
https://www.cnn.com/2014/02/19/living/pajama-pants-stretchy-clothes-fashion/index.html
Satch-
See my reply to Joe, above.
mb
Check it out:
Tucker Carlson confirms Russia trip and teases Putin interview | Tucker Carlson | The Guardian
Dr. Berman,
Apologies, I was too quick to call Killer Mike a violent and degraded buffoon. It turns out that the altercation occurred before the awards ceremony began. It may have just been a misunderstanding between him and the security guard, who knows at this point in time. The original article made it sound like the battery took place right after he received his awards!
-- Torreblanca
Torre-
Do you have a link that corrects/updates the event?
mb
Wafers-
I need suggestions for the next inaugural, in Jan. 2025. Here's what I've got so far:
If it's Schmiden, we stand at the back of the ceremony w/a large sign that simply says SCHMIDEN. (This shd make the pt.) If, on the other hand, it's Trumpi, the sign shd read GO, TRUMPI, GO! I also like displaying one that wd say, HIRE BERMAN TO DISMANTLE THE NEW YORK TIMES
Anyway, pls submit your suggestions when you have a moment, amigos.
mb
Some inaugural sign suggestions for the coming Trumphreich II:
VIVA M.A.G.A.
MAKE AMERICA GO AWAY
DEEP SIX THE DEEP STATE
FREE WAFER SHOESHINES!
STREAMING RELIEF THAT'S ALL ON YOU
AMERICA THE BUFFOONABLE
SOONER, NOT LATER:
BREAK IT UP
Shoe shines: gd idea
Unconscious telepathy from here being spread perhaps? Or maybe more people than we thought are reading “Why America failed”? Wow! Our good Doctor’s words about the demise of the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! are getting around! Check this out. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe the commentator ( at about the 4:45 mark) asks a U.S. senator, “Are they thinking that America is no longer a serious nation?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTLaaCkMGPE
But as it falls into obscurity on the world stage, a good chunk of its citizens—about 65 million of them this weekend—are partaking in this wasteland’s real national pastime: gambling. Ah! Bread and circus, 21st century USAin style! LOL!
https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-betting-gambling-49ers-chiefs-9ddbcc9ad65d2d82d5d03c3b5c094df2
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Joe-
Gd, but the vocabulary is still too polite. I wanna hear buffoons, turkeys, collection of morons, poopie-heads, etc. I wanna hear "Kamala is a rancid bag of douche fluid." Plus something abt the need for slapping and urine. You get the idea.
mb
Hola MB and Wafers,
MB-
I submitted a review of your latest book, "The Crisis of Our Time" on amazon three days ago. It was never posted. I haven't received any reason why it wasn't. It was a very positive review. The only thing I can think of is that amazon was incensed by my use of the word "buffoons" in reference to Americans. I removed the impolite word today, and resubmitted it. I guess we'll see if it goes thru. In any case, I really enjoyed the book. Many thanks for the updated data on American buffoonery, your perspective on Pirsig and Plato, and looking thru the American crystal ball, so to speak.
Jeff
Jeff-
One of my editors told me that most of Amazon operations these days are done by computers. It may be the case that for reviews, they have a filter in place for swear words or just words they don't like. And I guess there's no way to find out the reasons for a rejected review (wh/wd obviously be very helpful.) Anyway, let's see if your revised version makes it thru.
One thing I find a bit annoying are the ratings w/o a review. For example, someone gave it 3 stars, w/no explanation. What's the pt? I just don't get it, and wish Amazon wd require a review text to accompany every rating. I'm curious as to what Mr. 3-Stars' objections were. (And also abt the positive ones as well.)
mb
ps: Notice to all Wafers and others interested in reviewing the Crisis bk on Amazon: avoid referring to Americans as buffoons, and be sure not to say that they need to be slapped and have their shoes peed on. This will be our little secret. Altho pls note, a short while ago, on his show, Bill Maher said that Americans have become "shittier". Direct quote; I kid you not. I may hafta fly to LA and hug him. List of the only serious analysts of the American people, and the cause of our decline (the extremely few non-beating-off thinkers):
-H.L. Mencken ("boobocracy", future pres will be a moron)
-Gore Vidal ("nation of morons")
-George Carlin ("our leaders don't come from Mars")
-MB (buffoons, who need slapping and urine)
-Bill Maher ("Americans have become shittier"; also his
clip of abt a yr ago called "Dumb-Merica")
Wafers-
Can you fucking believe this?:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/07/baby-decapitated-delivery-homicide-georgia
And certain members of the medical profession, and hospital staffs, shd *not* be referred to as buffoons? Really?
mb
Check it out:
https://www.foreignaffairsreview.com/home/kennan-revisited-nato-expansion-into-the-former-ussr-in-retrospect
Dr. Berman,
Yes, here:
https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/killer-mike-arrested-allegedly-shoving-grammy-security-guard-1235599769/
https://apnews.com/article/killer-mike-arrest-grammys-7c95ddb7a5180de4dd13b6b2cd415bb7
https://news.yahoo.com/entertainment/killer-mike-addresses-grammy-arrest-162814071.html
The chronology seems to be: 1) he won his awards in the pre-televised portion of the Grammys, 2) he left, 3) he came back an hour later and, when trying to re-enter the venue, shoved a security guard, who then called the police.
So he didn't hit someone backstage right after winning the awards like I had assumed. However, the security guard did apparently require medical attention.
-- Torreblanca
A while ago Israel claimed that the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, or at least some of its employees, was complicit in the events of october 7th, after which 19 western nations suspended their funding. Guess what, that was a pile of crap, the same as the baby in the oven, the beheaded babies and the rape claims. Israel is simply doing all it can to make Gazans life a hell, just another tactic for their aim of ethnic clensing. That's not my point though, 19 western nations immideatly suspending donations for a relief agency for a people that are being slaughterd without waiting for evidence is beyond disgusting. They are complicit in Israel's aim for an ethnic cleansing.If it proves anything, it proves that they are racist, hegemonic, colonialist pieces of shit. Honest to god, the western world is becoming the worst thing to happen to humans in their history.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-02-07/ty-article/unproven-allegations-u-k-channel-4-slams-israels-charge-against-unrwa/0000018d-837c-d636-adef-cffe76790000
https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20240205-as-donors-suspend-critical-funding-to-unrwa-allegations-against-staff-remain-murky
https://truthout.org/articles/report-finds-no-evidence-in-key-dossier-to-support-israels-unrwa-allegations/
The Surgeon General has declared that loneliness is an epidemic and is killing people. Those gadgets and trinkets are not cutting the mustard and according to the Surgeon General, more Amerikkkans than ever before are committing suicide over being too lonely to live
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/05/03/new-surgeon-general-advisory-raises-alarm-about-devastating-impact-epidemic-loneliness-isolation-united-states.html
People lived much healthier lives before the advent of these devices that have been touted as great technology to make our lives more interconnected and it did the exact opposite. We have “followers” as opposed to real-time friends and that is a sad ass shame
Fly-
See ch. 3 of WAF for an analysis of technology as the hidden religion of Americans. Also my chapter on Alan Turing in EPV, and the one on Tarkovsky in the Russia bk. Facebk and all that stuff is pure crap, and Zuckershmuck belongs in jail. Americans will fall for anything, altho this foolishness is worldwide.
French-
I'm with you. Barf city, for sure. The killing goes on, while the world debates if this is *really* genocide. And what total scumbags the Israelis are, defended by Schmiden, American Jews, and the MSM.
mb
Speaking of the Tucker Carlson Putin interview, good grief. Even though Tucker often says sensible things, he is such a smug and smarmy, dishonest and totally opportunistic character. As for the guy he was interviewing, listening to Putin made me re-interested in the question of whether he was the one behind the Moscow Tower Bombings. I have an allergy to conspiracy theories, but there is a good deal of evidence pointing to Putin being behind all that. I think there is a good chance that he was. It is a fascinating mystery, as it would be one of the most monstrous acts of the past century. I find the evidence pretty compelling. Here is some of it in brief:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d655du7D-6M&t=25s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVumec3ZQ9A&t=26s
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/killer-in-the-kremlin-new-book-explores-vladimir-putins-bloody-reign/
https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Kremlin-bestseller-gripping-explosive-ebook/dp/B09XGXJKJF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2O2XC4N9QETRJ&keywords=killer+in+the+kremlin&qid=1707465644&sprefix=killer+in+the+kremlin%2Caps%2C321&sr=8-1
Do you have an opinion, Dr. Berman, as to Putin's involvement, or are you agnostic on the issue?
Megan-
Honestly, I don't know anything abt those bombings. I suppose I shd do some research on the topic. Too bad there aren't 48 hrs in a day. As for the interview, to paraphrase Jerry Lee Lewis, Whole lotta beating off going on. Which is too bad, because NATO and the US *did* cause the war in the Ukraine, and very few Americans understand that (or anything abt our foreign policy). It looks like Tucker blew his chance for something more substantive.
Meanwhile, Trumpi continues to slide tow'd the W.H. This recent report on Biden's senility is digging Schmiden's grave. Altho the report didn't specifically use the word 'doofus', it apparently came pretty close.
mb
ps: But we also need to be clear that Nikki is a colossal douche baguette, a pathetic clown, and dumb beyond belief.
It think it's interesting that the establishment (the MSM, the Democrats, academics, at least most of the ones I know) so instinctively shout "conspiracy theory" in regard to anything that goes against the narrative they all buy into. Russiagate was and is a conspiracy theory that most establishment figures were too willing to accept, evidence to the contrary be damned.
Remember how the Mueller investigation was supposed to bring down Trump for colluding with Putin to throw the 2016 election? Even when that investigation collapsed into nothing-burger, the establishment types still kept insisting that there was collusion between Trump and Putin. And they still do. I hear about it almost every day. Isn't it interesting that conspiracy theories accepted by the establishment always seem to go in one direction, this being: Trump bad, Putin bad?
Of course the MSM does little reporting on anything that doesn't fit the Trump bad, Putin bad narrative. In reality, the Trump administration was implementing lots of sanctions against Russia. Here's a list of them:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/on-the-record-the-u-s-administrations-actions-on-russia/
Has the New York Times ever reported on this? Has NPR? Not that I'm aware of.
Wafers-
Compare a poised Putin with a senile Schmiden.
Handwriting on the wall, amigos.
mb
ps: I can't help myself: I love Americans:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/09/new-orleans-lousiana-dentist-stabbed
But then, a glimmer of hope from the UK:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/09/reading-is-so-sexy-gen-z-turns-to-physical-books-and-libraries
ps2: a small poem for all of you to refresh your post-its:
The Buffoon Level is high;
Soon, it will reach the sky.
ps: Another glimmer of hope, this time from France:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/10/fighting-the-smartphone-invasion-the-french-village-that-voted-to-ban-scrolling-in-public
Personally, I think the best way to end the use of cell fones is to simply shoot people who are using them. (Not the majority view, I realize.)
Found a video that documents 10 Amerikkkan states that the uploader predicts will go down in the future, & why you should avoid them. The stuff he mentions about certain states (obesity, high crime rates, drug addictions) really applies 2 the whole nation. Amerikkka is a dying empire on its way out. Perhaps the whole sorry experiment should be avoided
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvVLd7c_KaQ
P.s, what is meant by “late-stage capitalism”?
Dub-
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=late-stage%20capitalism
mb
Well, as I type this we’re one day away from the annual so called “big game”. The usual annual drinking, stuffing one’s gut with buffalo wings, and gambling of course shall take place. But this year’s main news Super Bowl story is…ready?…..Taylor Swift making it to the game on time! She even has outdone Madison Avenue; their dumb inane brainwashing commercials are taking a back seat! LOL!
https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-kelce-travis-super-bowl-eras-japan-13248c81324a4da46df425f0e6a7654c
And of course anger and violence is a daily occurrence on the roads here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! Check out today’s mugshot of a road rager who ran over a bicyclist.
https://www.fox13news.com/news/road-rage-arrest-bicyclist-st-petersburg-florida-crash
Joe-
An entire country beating off, in various ways. Meanwhile, Rome is burning.
mb
Dr. Berman—
Here's a report on exactly what the circumstances are surrounding Biden, the alleged leader of the free world who couldn't find his car in a 7Eleven parking lot, and his dementia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9KeS_ihTdk
You'd think adults would be worried about someone this clearly out of it running a proxy war in Ukraine, enabling a genocide in Israel, pushing the red line endlessly for WWIII, while sitting atop a steaming pile of national debt. But no. Calling attention to the dire aspects of this situation for any democrat makes you a "Trump supporter." And these are the middle class elites, PMC — the readers of the NY Times, doctorate holders.
Excuse me, I think I see the drain we'll be circling coming into view below...
Hi everyone.
I have been reading about the Agenda 2025 that freaks a lot of people out lately:
https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/project-2025
Is this really not going to be anything that we have not seen before, particularly back in the days of the spoils system where elected officials awarded their supporters jobs in the government until civil service "reform" was passed into legislation. As for these reforms I have read all it did actually was embed elite or family of elite in high positions in government where they could not easily be gotten rid of and make sure the government towed the line in not doing anything that hurt their business interests. Of course anything the government claims to try to do on behalf of the little guy will be bollocks. And I assume Agenda 2025 is really just another way to grab votes and give false hope to the little conservative people. In the end if it is implemented it won't amount to anything.
Oops, BH-
The bottom line is that the American people are dumb as a bag of rocks. They haven't a clue abt anything, really, and think pure emotions constitute valid arguments. They are steeped in degradation, and are unable to see that karma is coming down hard on them and on the US. What are we facing in Nov. 2024? A contest between a senile doofus, war criminal and warmonger, and a morally depraved scumbag. Talk abt a nation getting what it deserves!
I predicted the US wd make it to 2030. Hmm...maybe not.
mb
Nesim-
I guess you forgot how this blog works. We are not interested in opinions. Anyone can have an opinion. Big deal. What does interest us is evidence, in the form of links or reliable references. If you wish to return to this blog, try this format:
1. State your specific argument about the American empire.
2. Defend your pt of view with evidence, as indicated.
Thank you.
mb
Here's another video about Biden's disappearing brain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zc0q5QAfB8
This video features within it several examples of Biden simply not functioning. But it also contains much commentary as to why the DOJ did what did in the publishing comments on Biden's obvious dementia, and also why his handlers had him face the White House press corp and even went so far as to allow them to ask questions of Biden which he'd be sure to stumble over, which he did. Oh yeah, he talks to dead people, too.
This makes sense as there must be, finally, some Democratic party people who see a disaster in the making if Biden is on the ticket. The same for Kamala, too, I guess.
Long before the 2000 election, I tried to tell people that Biden was showing signs of dementia. His gaffes gave it away. But the faithful told me it was all just the result of his "stuttering." Either we had a populace that didn't know what stuttering is, or these people were all in denial. Will they still be in denial after these revelations? I expect they will be.
Sorry, I think these are good articles to start with. The US grip on power has waned considerably. The entirety of NATO's Defense Industries cannot keep Ukraine supplied. Western Media is hiding Ukraine's grizzly casualties as "infantry shortages". America is unable to deter Ansar Allah and clear the Red Sea. Geopolitical, this is an amazing collapse of power.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/business/red-sea-crisis-global-trade-explained/index.html
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/08/corporate-medias-push-for-us-war-in-yemen/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/08/ukraine-soldiers-shortage-infantry-russia/
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-nato-politics-jens-stoltenberg-business-c50b44b430ae86f289baee9da5e35345
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/09/russia-ukraine-war-us-aid-weapons-spending/675343/
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202401/1304603.shtml
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2024/01/16/the-wests-nightmare-how-russia-and-hamas-are-winning-the-geopolitical-wars/
Nesim-
Thank you for the references. Let me say that I don't think there is any hope for the Ukraine, nor any hope for the US. It is long overdue for Zelensky to retire to his villa in Tuscany, w/mucho dinero in his bank account. As for America, I ask you and all Wafers to contemplate this: On 20 January 2024, a complete and utter buffoon will put his hand on the bible and swear to defend the Constitution of the United States.
ccg-
It is finally time for Wafers to assemble outside of the W.H., holding up a large banner that says SENILE DOOFUS.
mb
ps: Nesim: sorry, I meant 2025. I guess the senility is catching. :-)
Now this is just sick and sad in my opinion. You pardon a man who does such things to children? I'm going to have to follow this story to figure out why that woman would even put it in her mind to do such a thing.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hungarian-president-resigns-amid-pedophilia-pardon-scandal/ar-BB1i5qCR?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=46f78b78f5694a118da626a62a7d24f6&ei=32
It just shows America doesn't have a monopoly on idiots for leaders.
Chopped-
At least she admitted her mistake, and resigned. Do American leaders ever do that? Nixon (to take just one example) never did, and he was *forced* out of office.
Meanwhile, 3 things I've been thinking abt:
1. When we give our version of events, all of America regards it as the truth. When Putin gives his version, it's automatically 'propaganda'. But just the reverse is true, no?
2. The scourge of karma: it looks like Trumpi will be back in the W.H. in 2025. He will do terrible things to the country. Hence, the cruelty we have visited on other nations for so long, will finally come home.
3. While America deserves this punishment, Americans are too stupid to understand it. They will just see it as grossly unfair. Thus Bush Jr. declared, "we are so good," and Obama regarded the US as a "magical nation." In a sense, the punishment will be wasted on us. But Mencken wdn't have been surprised. Gore Vidal wdn't have been surprised. George Carlin wdn't have been surprised. Hmm...
mb
Impt essay:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/11/denouncing-critics-of-israel-as-un-jews-or-antisemites-is-a-perversion-of-history
Doctor,
Let's not forget Hillary in her acceptance speech at the 2016 Democratic convention: "America is great because the American people are great."
Dan-
Also said, "basket of deplorables."
One of the trashiest people on the planet. Badly in need of slapping and urine.
mb
More cannon fodder bit the dust somewhere they didn't belong
https://www.stripes.com/branches/army/2024-02-11/soldier-death-noncombat-kuwait-12972220.html
Amerikkka has bitten off more than it can chew. Bogged down w/ the debacles of Ukraine/Russia, Israel/Palestine, the Houthis are bombing Amerikkkan/Israeli-owned ships in the Red Sea, soldiers in the Middle East were killed by ppl who want them outta their countries. Now it’s all of a sudden a big deal 4 Amerikkkan soldiers 2 die in some foreign country they’ve no business in? No it's not. That's what Amerikkka’s problem has always been, minding another country’s business 2 the detriment of its own.
Fly-
Perhaps that newsletter shd be renamed "The Buffoon Times." See my reply to Chopped, above. We're getting what we deserve. It was impolitic for Malcolm X to say, in the wake of JFK's death, that the chickens were coming home to roost. But it looks like the man was rt. And this was in 1963! What we have coming home now is a battalion of chickens. And home is a stupid country doing stupid things.
mb
Megan/MB:
I'm about a third of the way through Tucker Carlson's interview of Vladimir Putin. It's fascinating. Putin's a bad guy, but we know that. I don't get the opposition to interviewing world leaders. Tucker cd'v done worse but u agree w MB he blew getting something w more depth....
Here's a decent breakdown of Putin's BS:
https://twitter.com/khodorkovsky_en/status/1756041473630360047?t=30FbOf0YSEn96vbUpcgHPg&s=19
The Super Bowl in Las Vegas: What Would Hunter S. Thompson Think? – DNyuz
https://dnyuz.com/2024/02/10/the-super-bowl-in-las-vegas-what-would-hunter-s-thompson-think/
Interesting essay w emphasis that we live in a world of shadows on the cave...
Plus Americans probably don't even know who HST is anymore.
MB have you read Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution? Any hot takes on it from you--my fav maverick historian. I'm starting reading it for the first time. I know you also live close to his home.
Tom-
Hell, they can't even tell you what Hiroshima means, or where it is. Or really, much of anything.
Cyl-
Cdn't read it, as I'm not on Twitter or any social media. Anyway, what abt America's BS? Bottom line: like JFK in 1962, Putin is defending Russia's borders from NATO and the US. Read Ritter, Mearsheimer, Pilger, Sachs, et al. All the promises we made, and promptly violated.
mb
Nap-
I never read the Trot per se, but stuff abt him by Isaac Deutscher, yrs ago, wh/I thought was pretty gd. You might also enjoy my discussion of Deutscher in the Isaiah Berlin chapter of EPV. Yes, I live nearby. I kept telling the antisemites to come get me there, using an ice pick like Ramon Mercader did; but I guess I called their bluff, as they finally faded away (poison emails being a lot easier than actual murder).
On a (very) unrelated matter: that of American beating off going into high gear: will someone tell me why an intelligent person wd give a rat's behind regarding the Super Bowl, and Taylor Swift getting shtupped by some football player? Oh, right: America does not consist of intelligent people. I almost forgot.
mb
When I read the Guardian headline this morning, my brain went, gee, I thought the official narrative was that it was the Russians running out of shells and missiles and suffering ginormous casualties. This article starts out with a dose of reality, but then retreats back into magical thinking of ineffective Russian generals and the Ukies holding out another year as the European Union fills the gap from shrinking US aid to allow the Ukie military to regroup and rearm.
In other words, the current drift of the the DC Blob is to have the European vassals kick the Ukie can down the road another year, while one faction of the political class is in a panic over whether or how to prop up an increasingly erratic Schmiden while the shadow of the Orange Man gets bigger, and Senate critters criticize the “despicable” Department of Justice report concluding Schmiden’s brain was no longer firing on all cylinders. We’ll see how all this works out, down to the last Ukrainian, as both Ukraine and the Big Guy in DC totter into the spring, and maybe the summer.
https://theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/11/ukraine-outgunned-and-exhausted-what-hope-if-us-military-aid-dries-up
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/02/09/congress/senate-dems-criticize-hur-over-biden-report
Jack-
Douche bags beating off. What else is there to say?
mb
Wafers-
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/biden-netanyahu-israel-gaza/index.html
Meanwhile, Biden is trying to send huge amts of $ to Israel. What hypocrisy. As if his words, public or private, are going to deter the actions of a homicidal maniac. How is Schmiden *less* disgusting than Trumpi?
mb
MB,
OK but earlier in this blog entry you posted this:
"Wafers-
I think I or someone ran this b4. I still get a kick out of it:
https://twitter.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/1744125164462252289?lang=en"
If you don't want to read something just say that. I've read all those authors enthusiastically, doesn't mean I can't criticize Putin as well as the US....
Cyl-
I'm confused. What does that link hafta do with Putin, or the Ukraine? What is it you think I don't wanna read? And I'm not telling you to not criticize Putin, but if you wind up w/him as the bad guy here, I wd argue that you have drunk America's Kool Aid.
mb
Degraded and Debased! A nation in the toilet!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/12/new-york-city-subway-shooting-bronx
Wafers-
Gore Vidal once said of the American people: "Stupidity excites me." I have the same feeling. The country is going down the drain, and what are Americans focused on?: Taylor Swift. This is beating off to the max. Honestly, I love it. And every day brings us closer to President Trumpi, who--it's certainly clear now--will proceed to dismantle the country, and ring down the curtain on the American 'experiment'.
mb
I believe that Cyl's comments have nothing to with the purpose of this blog which I believe is about chronicling the decline of America. I agree that Putin has obviously destroyed the arguments of the Western Press in Tucker's interview and that Cyl's last tape is a humorous depiction of the Zionists ongoing 76 year genocidal project in Israel. But in the devastating essay of Kenan Malik in the Feb 11th,
The Guardian, he has put to shame the apologists of Israel once and for all. I have had several Jewish friends over the years but none of them ever defended what the Zionists had been doing in Israel. They were both socialists and truly anti-Zionists.
Railroad Ed
Ed-
Wd be nice to have a link to Malik's essay.
mb
Yippee! More money is on the way for the capitalistic military-industrial complex! Or as Seymour Melman called it, “Pentagon Capitalism”. Get your stocks ( Boeing, Raytheon, et al.) while they’re hot! Three cheers for our Senate. Hopefully the House and Schmiden will go along too. And included in the mix with Ukraine and Israel is Taiwan! Yeah, baby, Stick it to China too! It’s great to see our tax dollars going to work for a good cause. LOL!
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2024/02/08/senate-moves-forward-on-ukraine-israel-taiwan-aid-bill/
And here’s a great post-Super Bowl story. Kentucky schools were closed on Monday. So not only does productivity in workplaces go down on Hangover Monday/Indigestion Day. So does learning. LOL!
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/02/10/Paris-City-Schools-Kentucky-Super-Bowl/5911707593162/
https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article285322037.html
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Hello Dr Berman
Long time daily listener but have not posted in quite a while and then under a different Handle.
I just love your blog and have read quite a few of your books including the Dark Ages trilogy. You are simply the best!
Actually you gave me and your readers the link for The Guardian essay Sunday at 9:46am I believe.
My Dad was a Trotskyist from the late 20's in the Communist League and then in the 4th International until he died in 1956. He was a local organizer of the SWP and participated in the 1934 violent truck drivers strike that finally made Minneapolis a union town.
So I knew quite a few of them including radicalized Jews that had no time for Zionists, and as far as a I know, none of them became neo-cons like many did. By the time I reached adulthood I had abandoned that ideology and just considered myself to be a sort of an informal social democrat. I still feel that way and I am a fan of the great economist, Michael Hudson, who incidentally was the god child of Trotsky himself. I knew personally some of the SWP locals that were Trotsky's bodyguards in Mexico during the 30's. Quite fascinating stories for a young teenager! Sorry if this is too long.
Railroad Ed
Ed-
OK, got it, thanks. (I can't remember everything I've posted, esp. since I'm increasingly senile.) As for Trotsky's bodyguards: I guess they didn't do such a great job, eh? Glad you've enjoyed the blog; I agree, I am the best. What was yr previous handle, BTW?
mb
Jeff-
Thanks for great review of "Crisis." Glad 2c Amazon finally let you thru, altho a reference to buffoons wd have been a nice touch.
mb
Wafers-
Some time ago I posted an essay by George Kennan, in wh/he said the formation of NATO was a grave and aggressive error, leading to endless conflict w/Russia. That has proven to be true. Of course the US is up in arms over Trumpi's recent remarks abt Putin shd attack NATO etc., and at the very least, the US pulling out of it. They cry: "But he'll disrupt the international order": meaning, the American-led order. To wh/I say: Good! Just what we need. I tell ya, w/Trumpi as pres once again, some things will be a lot better. What person in his/her rt mind cd imagine that 4 more yrs of a senile, warmongering doofus wd be beneficial? On the other hand, domestically, w/Trumpi, things will become a lot worse; altho rounding up the wokes and putting them in a detention camp in Idaho wd be a very gd thing, along w/hiring me to physically dismantle the NYT. I will also ask to be allowed to take Kamala (Schmamala) and Nikki Schmikki and bang their heads together for 20 mins. on national TV. But in conclusion, I can't help but ask: In these perilous times:
WHERE IS TULSI?
WHERE IS GISELE BUNDCHEN?
mb
ps: a perfect example of a buffoon in action:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/12/politics/cq-brown-nato-trump/index.html
Saw this while browsing 1 of the carts outside a bookstore
https://www.amazon.com/50s-Story-Decade-New-Yorker/dp/0812983300
The 50s are romanticized as some golden age utopia, but this bk delves into the anxieties & paranoia of the times: the H-bomb tests, Cold War, McCarthyism, etc. Since amerikkka always needs an external enemy, u had anti-Japanese sentiment & persecution of blacks, too. A nation that needs constant “enemies” can't do much else but rot from the inside
Take Me to Your Leader: The Rot of the American Ruling Class
“Marx and Engels were bourgeois intellectuals. Lenin was educated as a lawyer; Trotsky was born to a rich farming family and educated in cosmopolitan Odessa; Che Guevara was another child of the middle class surrounded by books and political conversation”
https://jacobin.com/2021/04/take-me-to-your-leader-the-rot-of-the-american-ruling-class
Speaking of Trotsky made me think of this essay in Jacobin that is also about how America's "intellectualism" caught the rot. I wonder what America will be like in 10yrs time. Shiversome! Thinking of moving to Portugal...
Elder-
Do it, move. As for the elites: they are trash.
mb
Dr. Berman—
Did you see Schmeiden's weirdly sophomoric tweet during the Superbowl?
https://twitter.com/kendallhosseini/status/1756891410668699768
Al Jazeera ran an article trying to explain the thing.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/12/just-like-we-drew-it-up-whats-behind-joe-bidens-super-bowl-post
But the degree of cluelessness involved is pretty striking. Not only is it insensitive that he tweets this creepy image while enabling a genocide, as critics said, but what does it say about the overall maturity and empathetic nature of a society whose presidential choice posts such a creepy image of himself, even in jest? This is the president of the largest superpower on Earth, not some middle school geek. (I read elsewhere that his PR team was planning on using the image throughout Brandon's campaign.) If Biden wins, he and his frat should run his jockstrap up the White House flagpole.
Where’s Tulsi? I’ve been wondering about this myself. Given her relative absence from the political arena over the past year, was Tulsism but another flash in the U.S. political pan? I decided to poke around and find out.
I figured that the leader of Tulsism had to have a podcast, but the Tulsi Podcast has been silent since February 2023, with no new posts. Then I scanned for any mainstream news articles mentioning her in 2024. Bingo! In August 2023, a Western Journal article reported that Tulsi was thinking every day about the Republican Vice-Presidential nomination. Even better, I found a Newsweek post from a week ago on msn.com that Tulsi “was open to having a conversation” with Trump about becoming the Trumpi running mate. So, Tulsism might become absorbed into the platform of Trumphreich II. But Wafers everywhere have wondered about her relative silence over the past year – turns out she’s been doing photoshoots of months of workout sessions. The sweaty beat of Tulsism goes on.
https://www.tulsigabbard.com/podcast/
https://www.westernjournal.com/tulsi-gabbard-asked-vp-gop-ticket-2024-think-every-day
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tulsi-gabbard-open-to-having-vp-conversation-with-donald-trump
https://meaww.com/tulsi-gabbard-takes-time-out-from-limelight-to-share-photos-from-incredible-workout-session
Jack-
What if she were to team up w/Taylor Swift, and the 2 of them made a run for the W.H., derailing both Schmiden and Trumpi?
Oops-
I don't get the tweet. The guy is a doofus, period. Shmuck City. I barf on him. The US has become a cartoon.
mb
ps: Wafers: An update for yr post-its:
Kamala Schmamala
Schmamala Kamala
Nikki Schmikki
Tulsi Schmulsi
Greene Schmeene
Boebert Schmoebert
Palin Schmalin
Pelosi Schmelosi
and last but not least:
Gisele Bundchen!
Crypto libertarian floating utopia gets hit by wave, killing fraudster founder:
https://bnnbreaking.com/world/fugitive-it-experts-floating-city-ambition-ends-in-tragedy
It's like there's a metaphor in here somewhere... Technobuffoonery, plutocracy, libertarianism... Could we have expected anything else?
Dr, Berman, here is a poem in your honor.
There was was a buffoon named Biden
Who made all sane people want to go into hide'n
But then there was Trump
Who was a big horses rump
In competition with Biden to turn everything into a dump
But never fear
let me be clear
Kamala Schamala wants her turn too all along
silly giggle like she just smoked a bong
Goood Lord, this country dont have long.
BH-
Thank you for yr moving poem. I wept.
But now gather round, y'all; I've got something important to say. 10 or 12 yrs ago, when all of England, if not all of Europe, was up in arms over Brexit, I gave the definitive word on the subject: Brexit, Schmexit. And it proved to be true, i.e., it was a lot of hot air. Did anyone listen? No. But during the last decade or so, England has been engaged in watching the shadows in Plato's Cave and thinking they are real. Look back: Who cd give a warm crap over Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, the Labour Party, debates in the House of Commons, etc. and etc.? All of this was just beating off; it made no difference at all. The Brits wd have been a lot smarter to have regarded these 'events' as entertainment. I am now suggesting y'all do the same regarding 'events' in the US.
Because I have a similar prediction regarding our poor, disintegrating country. Scroll back to my list, beginning w/Kamala and ending w/Gisele. Please, print it out and stick it on the door of yr fridge, so you can see it every day. This list is in the same category as Brexit, Schmexit. In other words, this is the real US. Sure, you can, if you want, get all exercised over our involvement in the Ukraine or in Israel; or in Schmiden's age; or in Trumpi's huffing and puffing--and so on. But my friends, these are just shadows on the wall of the Cave, and really do need to be treated as entertainment (as Bill Maher does, a lot of the time, for example, despite being, at bottom, a patriot). The reality in the case of Brexit was that the light causing the shadows was going out: England was joining the graveyard of empires. After all, what is England today? Nothing. It has no real clout on the world stage, no real influence. It's little more than a shell. It's economy is for shit, and many Brits are practically starving, buying cat food to survive. The National Health is also in deep trouble. Etc.
Well, it's now our turn; something similar is happening to us. The record of History is clear: no empire lasts forever. No one (again) will listen to me, but that list that I gave you sums up contemporary and future America. If any of the women on that list were to become president (and Kamala is actually a possibility), the country wd *still* go down the drain. The light is going out, and this is the bottom line. Karma looms large over a country that pursued selfishness, narcissism, endless competition, genocide, imperialism, self-destructiveness, and outright stupidity.
"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."--Shakespeare, Macbeth
mb
Grammar schools. Shopping malls. Churches. Let’s add one more venue for a mass shooting: A professional sporting event championship parade!
https://apnews.com/article/chiefs-super-bowl-parade-kansas-city-c373ac902961ded32bccc11c67afbd37
And don’t forget. Deadly road rages are a common occurrence here in this violent shithole. Heaven forbid you accidentally scratch someone’s paint while just tapping on their car. You'll wind up dead.
https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/there-needs-to-be-justice-highland-family-reacts-after-grandfather-shot-during-road-rage-incident/
Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Wafers-
This is v. exciting:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/02/14/tulsi-gabbard-trump-defense/
Question: Will Trumpalumpi, as president, embrace Tulsism (whatever the hell that is)? I wd faint w/joy.
mb
ps: Jack: Is Evergreen still in business?
Tucker Carlson's interview with Pres Putin didn't gain much traction in the media. Perhaps he would do better by interviewing Tulsi in a Wonder Woman outfit?
Anyway, to keep your baby warm at naptime don't use the oven as a crib. Another face of a fine american: https://i.imgur.com/YTny3vX.png
It's interesting how movies, TV shows & other pop culture junk can shape one's perception of things, even though they're fiction. I learned about the Mariel boatlift "crisis" that was depicted in Scarface. Amerikkka played a part in the mass immigration of Cubans from Port Mariel in 1980.
https://www.history.com/news/mariel-boatlift-castro-carter-cold-war
Than along comes Scarface in 1983, which depicted them as criminals & druglords. Gotta have an enemy, eh?
https://remezcla.com/features/film/scarface-cuban-representation-35th-anniversary/
Joe-
The Kansas City shooting is quite amazing. America is coming apart at the seams.
mb
Edgar Morin's op-ed in Le Monde a few weeks ago
"The multiplication of wars, global warming, the rise of authoritarian regimes: the world is rushing towards disaster, but we must resist hatred..."
https://footnotes2plato.com/2024/02/03/the-progress-of-knowledge-has-led-to-a-regression-of-thought-by-edgar-morin/
A vitally important must-read for everyone, everywhere. Not sure about a short-term optimism, but I will continue to gave long-term hope for this world...
This is in reply to Joe's post about road rage.
A couple of years ago I had a man hit my car at work and drive off. A coworker saw it out the window and got me. She got in my car and we followed him. The coworker told him she saw the whole thing and that he better make it right. I asked him why he didn't stop and try to find out who the car belonged to or leave his information on the windshield.
His answer:
"I have my wife and niece with me and was scared I might have hit the car of some psycho who would have gotten angry and tried to hurt us."
At that point my heart melted because I could understand his reasoning. Working retail I have seen some scary altercations where people blow up over what isn't worth blowing up over. I told him I would forgive him and not call the police if he would give me his insurance information and he call right then to say he made a mistake and get the repair process started, which he did.
It is sad.
Sorry Dr. Berman that I didn't go all Shaneka Torres on him. I thought about you and what you might want but the niece was young and might buy one of your books when she grew up.
BH-
Only one?
mb
The Trumpian end of the liberal world order
With the former president’s return the West may finally be released from its mission impossible
https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/02/the-trumpian-end-of-the-liberal-world-order
Mr Gray w an analysis of Trumpi's return.. Will the States finally give up the ghost?
https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2024/02/the-trumpian-end-of-the-liberal-world-order
Meanwhile an act of disobedience to save Assange' life
Artist says he'll destroy $45M worth of Rembrandt, Picasso and Warhol masterpieces if Julian Assange dies in prison
Bri-
A great essay. Gray is always on the mark. But he left out the crucial word: buffoons. How many times have I talked about hi-IQ morons? These are the people Gray is describing, and they are utter dummies, hi-IQ's notwithstanding. As he notes, you can't get them off of their self-destructive trajectories; no amt of slapping or urine will do it. But when Trumpi calls me to come to NY and completely trash the offices of the NYT, and put the op-ed crowd in chains, in a dungeon: TRUMPI, I WILL HEED THE CALL!
mb
ps: need link for Assange
Wafers take note (a great man)-
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/edward-said-palestine-israel-gaza
Plus, there is something symbolic about this event; it seems to capture the essence of contemporary America:
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/maggots-delta-flight-turnaround-amsterdam/index.html#:~:text=On%20Tuesday%2C%20Delta%20Air%20Lines,station%20FOX%202%20(WJBK).
I can't help it; I love it. Can maggots be regarded as metaphors for buffoons?
mb
More hilariousness on the roads here in the dysfunctional Land of Violence, the laughing stock of the world. USAins certainly are an angry people. Get this newest one. A beginner can’t even take student driving lessons ( and heaven forbid, make a mistake) without another impatient driver going ballistic and threatening to shoot her.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article285511767.html
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/florida-man-allegedly-threatens-to-shoot-dad-daughter-during-driving-lesson
Check out these two angry out-of-shape blowhards stuck in a traffic jam trying to duke it out. LOL!
https://nypost.com/video/new-york-drivers-fistfight-while-stuck-at-traffic-light-during-upstate-road-rage-brawl/
And of course up in the air, the “friendly skies” aren’t so friendly when it comes to USAin airline passengers.
https://www.tmz.com/2024/02/14/passengers-brutal-fight-brawl-southwest-flight-video/
Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Joe-
Regarding yr first item: just take a look at the guy's face, and tell me this isn't America.
mb
File this under Blinken, Schminken:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/14/opinions/palestinian-american-blinken-gaza-batniji/index.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna79718
Wow. I wonder what this will mean for Ole Russia. Surprised he wasn't defenestrated tbh... He was a right-wing nationalist but at least some kind of voice if opposition
Yoo-
Right! Navalny and Assange were imprisoned for the same reason, exposing crimes of their respective empires. Right now liberal media outraged by Navalny’s death, while pro Kremlin and right wing media are calm and disinterested.
If Assange dies in prison, you will see the opposite picture.
https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/354-is-moral-progress-a-fantasy
How odd: John Gray is on Sam Harris's podcast? Id imagine it's a debate bc of how critical JG is of the New Atheists and the sort of right-of-center neoliberal politic Harris appears to cultivate. JG probably mood the floor w Harris, my guess.
W. Va is not only dealing w/ Fentanyl ODs, but some other drug that's used 2 sedate livestock.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fentanyl-xylazine-west-virginia-rcna128327
What's rarely discussed is why so many Amerikkkans gravitate towards drug use. The amt of zoned out druggies walking around is a sad commentary on Amerikkkan life
Here's a video featuring an interview with Tucker Carlson on why he wanted to interview Putin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seAi8WseLuU
I found this to be quite compelling and that it's a breath of fresh air. The interview was done at something called the World Summit, apparently in Dubai. You can be sure that it will never be seen or even discussed on America media. I quite like the fact that at one point he refers to Hilary Clinton as a child, which she is, mentally.
Hosch-
Exactly how did Gray mood the floor w/Harris? This was not clear.
Jones-
You understand that disinterested means neutral, yes?
(Just trying to clean things up here)
mb
A funny example of USAin anger. Never complain to a USAin about how dirty or untidy her house is. You may get stabbed by an out-of-control mother. LOL!
https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/news-what-tatiana-iniguez-do-charges-explored-nebraska-woman-accused-attacking-houseguest-minor-dispute
Speaking of angry moms, check out this creep who tried to run over her very own son.
https://www.al.com/news/2024/02/alabama-mother-makes-7-year-old-son-walk-from-school-then-runs-him-over-police-say.html
And here’s a funny example of the trigger-happy USAin Keystone Cops. An acorn falls onto a cop’s head; he then yells that he’s been shot and quickly unloads his ammunition at someone. And where does he aim? At his very own police car. LOL!
https://6abc.com/okaloosa-county-sheriffs-office-acron-cop-florida-deputy-jesse-hernandez-shooting/14432563/
https://6abc.com/okaloosa-county-sheriffs-office-acron-cop-florida-deputy-jesse-hernandez-shooting/14432563/
But perhaps some of them are like that because, if they work EMS on the side, their ambulances may get shot at during an emergency call. LOL!
https://whnt.com/news/huntsville/hemsi-no-one-hurt-after-ambulance-shot-on-beard-street/
These things only happen here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Some random notes-
1. "The shooting [Kansas City] on Wednesday marked at least the 48th mass shooting to happen in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive." [That's in 6-7 weeks!]
2. When Trumpi is president, he will dismantle NATO and put the lid on $ for the Ukraine--the end of this phony war. Also the end of the neo-Nazi Azov regiment. Zelensky will decamp to his villa in Tuscany, w/bags of cash. As for the slaughter in Palestine: not clear, as Trumpi is not a fan of the Palestinians.
3. We will, thank god, never hear from Kamala Schmamala again. She will, however, remain a rancid bag of douche fluid, and a laughable bozo (bozette).
4. Every day is another nail in the American coffin, another slap in the face. This will continue as we fall apart on every level.
5. Tulsi will in all probability remain silent, ditto Gisele Bundchen.
mb
ps: 6. Trumpi's recent crushing defeat in the courts, amounting to nearly half a billion dollars in fines, will serve to strengthen his popularity w/his base, and to propel him into the White House come November.
About Said, I use him as a buffoon metric. The guy's work tend to devide people. Those who read it and reject it wholly are necessarily buffoons. However, those who accept his premise are not necessarily non-buffoons. (I found that those who are totally brainwashed by the US and its ideology, whether americans or colonial subjects, really hate the guy).
As for Trump, the french say "plus ça change plus c'est la même chose" (the more it changes, the more it's the same thing). Everything that is being done to Trump will only make his position stronger.
On other news, Russia's economy outperforms the G7 nations, and still, spokespersons of western nations still declare on every occasion that they are winning the economic war against russia. This is reminiscent of US generals declaring that they are months away from winning in Vietnam (and we know how it ended)
https://youtu.be/VrNkTCzMI7U?si=xTo2iM2yTRmDAc6F
https://youtu.be/NkVZF4pd7eY?si=OvZbEQx-612dPRkJ
Finally, some very, very sickening news
https://youtu.be/-T_MHhqIj74?si=pnfH1wocjd6lGceL
MB: Mops* for the floor with Harris
Subway cellist attacked in New York. Again, to quote Hillary, "America is great because the American people are great.
https://youtu.be/yCf5CLXZClo?si=hWo6VGml5amgNdej
Dan-
Not clear why the woman didn't just shoot him.
french-
Apparently 50% of Americans believe we won the war in Vietnam.
mb
Horsch-
Past tense wd be mopped.
ps: Dan: a true American wd have gunned him down, like a dog.
mb
Here's the latest on the Ukraine war, and Israel:
1. The Ukraine is getting crushed. It will not win this war, despite the endless b.s. propaganda from the MSM on how poorly Russia is supposedly doing.
2. Zelensky, a buffoon, is being punished.
3. NATO and US, a large collection of buffoons, are being punished.
4. The American people are being slightly punished, indirectly; but are too stupid to understand this.
5. Schmiden will continue to believe that words can affect Netanyahu, while he (Schmiden) keeps trying to send him (Netanyahu) huge amts of $.
6. An impt saying: Buffoonage precedes carnage.
7. Once again: America is beating off. Tulsi is a douche baguette; Kamala is a joke; Hillary makes serious people want to vomit; etc. America is a tale told by an idiot, etc. The curtain is coming down.
mb
Tucker Carlson interviewed Putin a while ago. The fact that he did that, the only western journalist that seeked to know the opinion of the other side, and that he was critical about the conditions back home, earned him some points in my account. He's still a buffoon mind you, but even in buffoon there are differences.
The CNN, the buffoon central, didn't like that apparently. How dare he speak to the enemy and critisize home? Here is a rampage of one of their arch-idiots
https://youtu.be/AlHWfYsujjI?si=BxRN6p8-vFy82Vef
and here's some funny stuff from the senate. Russia has some space nukes (some 007 phantasy)
https://youtu.be/Ti7Em8xLFuM?si=URcl4gOhiCIQDogf
french-
Following the blog theme that Bad Is Good, we are doing ourselves in. This is what buffoons do.
mb
If you get a chance, check out the CNN film called "Navalny". It is quite inspiring. I would put up a link but it looks like it is only on HBO Max at the moment and not Youtube. But keep your eyes out for it. He really was a great, heroic and courageous soul. It is a reminder too, that although Mearsheimer's "raison d'etat" outlook, while largely correct is not absolute. While the imperatives of the state often do have far more importance than individuals (and so Republicans and Democrats, for example, pretty much end up always doing more or less the same thing foreign policy-wise), sometimes individuals DO matter. In any event, if Navalny were president of Russia, there would certainly be no Ukraine war.
I recommended "Killer in the Kremlin," by John Sweeny last time. It is a very good study of Putin's countless assassinations (including the Beslan Massacre and theater bombing which he also pins on Putin). He makes a very strong case that Putin was behind the Moscow Apartment Bombings, as I said last time. If you ever do decide to explore it further (and it is fascinating), Dr. Berman, this is the book that Alexander Litvinenko sacrificed his life to publish:
https://www.amazon.com/Blowing-Russia-Secret-Bring-Power-ebook/dp/B00APDOLIO/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8M8YHXLLL8ZA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.J1kl3KEzswwarWYuOOeTcGRAR8h9fdJ6qTwjUse2C8Am3BOThVq3B-8Vhh6x2KLApzpvJAKecerQ2-B2GmWo7RG8iIu1QPtDshNb1w3kS5i9kNfSXXcNp-1wvQGEz-X9OnfHNUtHBzgQLaX2mzBm-D8W5fCqddaJqlekCaxt2hWYPdCrop0myyyCdUuIi-4ZTpxAse4uzs4Fz3Q0lw18TyQx03g0aWW8fFSqsLmoudc.uIYQcjY5yOIF5Y7RFLCY5-ngomustFDAjCwN8Tt9_I8&dib_tag=se&keywords=blowing+up+russia&qid=1708361432&sprefix=blowing+up+russia%2Caps%2C353&sr=8-1
Presidential experts rank Biden 14th among presidents in survey, Trump comes in last
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/4476288-presidential-experts-rank-biden-14th-among-presidents-in-survey-trump-comes-in-last/amp/
What a stupid listing
My all time worst Presidents:
1. Andrew Johnson (whiny, ineffectual, liked the KKK)
2. James Buchanan (maybe caused the civil war)
3. Franklin Pierce (bleeding Kansas)
4. Woodrow Wilson (segregationist piece of shit)
Maaaybe Trump makes #6? After Bush 2.0 for sure...
Hello Dr. Berman,
I just finished reading your two latest books.
The Crisis of Our Time was an eye opener for me. Forgive me for using this analysis, as it may seem a bit simplistic. But the inner struggle of Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek was on my mind the entire time I was reading this book. His logical Vulcan half always having to "control" is Human feeling half.
You elaborated on the lack of connection that we as americans have to one another. As a society / culture immersed in screen interactions everyday, this is not surprising. Screen images only serve as caricatures of reality. We see the death and destruction on a daily basis, yes?
But we feel nothing meaningful for it. Therefor we do nothing about it. Thus we rationalize the reprehensible.
I just wanted you to know that your book has meaning in this day and age that more people need to heed.
Peace,
Vince
Vince-
Thanks. I'm really glad it was helpful to you.
Patty-
Not same as poll taken w/man in the street, so to speak. In wh/case, wd u believe, Reagan ranks as the favorite. He was a simpleton, and so are Americans.
mb
ps: Vince: If the spirit moves you, feel free to post a review of "Crisis" on Amazon. But only if you really want to (personally, I won't object :-)).
ps: Patty: You forgot Obama and Millard Fillmore (utter nonentities).
Ed-
I need you to edit your post down to half a page (a blog guideline), and also not to attack another Wafer. (You can disagree, but watch your language.) You also seem to be attacking this blog--another no-no. So I'll be glad to post your message if you can clean it up a bit. Thank you.
mb
GSWH(Great Seer of the Western Hemisphere) & GBOE(Greatest Blog on Earth) readers-
Isn't this country wonderful!?
https://apnews.com/article/prison-to-plate-inmate-labor-investigation-c6f0eb4747963283316e494eadf08c4e
So what if large corporations use prison labor to increase their profits? The whole justice system is rotten to the core.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/25/1225957874/housing-unaffordable-for-record-half-all-u-s-renters-study-finds
It's no wonder people are miserable in the US. They turned the basic necessities of life into a racket in the USA. People are losing their grip.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/dad-beat-daughter-ate-fast-food-did-drugs-she-died-back-seat-car-prosecutors-allege
All I can do is grab some popcorn and watch in horror.
Looking forward to reading the new book, it just arrived in the mail for me.
-Krakhed
I just finished reading Crisis. It reminded me of your recent blog post entitled "Taking a Breather" published on November 5. I was amazed at "Taking a Breather". I read it two or three times. I found the message helpful in further understanding why western civilization, particularly in America, is crumbling. I appreciated the footnotes you provided in "Breather" and realized that I had been provided an awesome reading list if I decided to avail myself of it. Then along comes Crisis. What a book! I'll also read it two or three more times, and the footnotes in that book are a whole library of further investigation. I'll probably write a review on Amazon soon. Thank you so much for your works and for making me a slightly, if only slightly, smarter person.
Mike-
Many thanks. Now just multiply yrself by 332 million, and we'd have a different country! (Not likely) I guess we can start the process w/an Amazon review. :-)
Krak-
What a sad story, the life of a little girl snuffed out like that, before she had a chance to live it. And it's no use calling an incident like this 'anecdotal'. You have enuf anecdotes, and yr talking abt stats. How incredibly violent Americans are, so full of hate. Anyway, check out the stats I produce in the Crisis bk.
mb
American genocidal scumbags:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/20/us-vetoes-un-resolution-ceasefire-israel-gaza
Here's an excellent (or so I think) video by Glenn Greenwald taking on the Nalvalny narrative appearing in the MSM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Vvgo7SKf0
Surprise! Surprise! Nalvalny was not all he is claimed to have been. He was very much a racists who referred to immigrants as insects. Greenwald includes a video ad the guy made to push this point. It seems likely that he very close to being a neo-Nazi. He was certainly an ultra-nationalist. But the MSM finds him useful for propaganda purposes, which was obvious from the get-go. I guess we're all supposed to get another 5-minutes of hate towards Russia because of this.
There's a lot in this besides just the Nalvalny story.
ccg-
Well, Glenn buys into the Trumpi narrative, that he is the victim of a Democratic witch hunt; wh/I think is baloney. In other words, contra Glenn, the Trump situation and the Navalny situation *are* completely different. (Trump *did* encourage an insurrection against the legitimate victory of Biden, for example.) That being said, there is a lot of info on Navalny being fascistic, wh/is ignored so that the guy can be used in the West as a political football against Russia. And of course, being a collection of clueless buffoons, Americans will believe anything the gov't tells them.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting for Ed (see above) to clean up his post. He has a lot of info on the 'real' Navalny.
On another (unrelated) topic: Fani Willis. Cd anyone be dumber than Fani Willis, wrecking her own position vis-a-vis a crucially impt trial? Fani has her head up her fanny! Yet another American buffoonette.
mb
Hello Dr Berman
I am very sorry. I now know your guidelines and promise that I will follow them.
I have discovered very disturbing things about Navalny. From a BBC article of Feb 24th, 2021 by Sarah Rainsford: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/24/970995185/amnesty-rescinds-prisoner-of-concience-designation-for-russia-activist-navalny "Amnesty Intl. says it no longer considers jailed Russian..activist Alexei Navalny a 'prisoner of conscience', citing comments..reach the threshold of hatred..at odds with Amnesty's definition". Wiki says on Navalny "aligned himself with far right neo-nazi and nationalist groups: the Movement Against Illegal Immigration and Great Russia. He has released anti-immigration videos, including "he compares militants from the Caucasus to cockroaches". In Wiki under 'Russian march' the annual march of far right groups, where Navalny has participated in. I'm looking for the new video where Navalny is compared to Assange.
Railroad Ed
Some news from the Bad is Good dept. Medical bankruptcies have been on an uphill climb. But u won't see this discussed on the Lamestream media. Nor are the Amerikkkan morons in a place to come together to change it. They're so intellectually bankrupt, they think going broke over medical bills is some type of "freedom"
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/healthcare-bankruptcies-rising-five-major-filings-2023/700132/
Ed-
I usually begin my day by checking into CNN, but it has become v. painful to do so. The 'news' is little more than a US/Israeli/Ukraine propaganda sheet. The topic can be Biden, Navalny, Putin, whatever; the 'news' largely consists of biased editorials. This is what Americans get fed, and what they believe. Media by buffoons, for buffoons.
mb
Joining other Wafers in chronicling crapification of life in America, I offer as “bad is good” evidence a post at today’s Naked Capitalism by independent economist Michael Hudson on the transformation of U.S. higher education into just another racket where institutions become real estate fronts that happen to hold classes on their properties, underpaying staff and students while providing expanded opportunities for administrative grift. Hudson uses the New School in New York City as a case study.
Closer to home here in Cascadia, crapification was the big story at Olympia’s Evergreen State College as the college announced it would use $1 million in reserve funds to pay for a Washington State Patrol investigation, temporary housing, and repairs after one student died and three others were injured from carbon monoxide poisoning in propane-heated student housing. Apparently, the college was too cheap to install carbon monoxide detectors. At a campus vigil, students complained about the college’s lack of maintenance of student housing, illness from mold poisoning, and having to spend their own funds on carbon monoxide detectors out of fears of dying in their sleep.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/02/michael-hudson-higher-education-crapification-the-new-school-case-study
https://news.yahoo.com/evergreen-college-spend-1m-costs
https://komonews.com/news/local/evergreen-state-college-carbon-monoxide-death-21-year-old-jonathan-rodriguez-investigation-olympia-washington-state-patrol--wsp-executive-vice-president-dexter-gordon-campus-housing-student-health-safety-education
Jack-
True, higher ed in America is pretty much a joke. I keep waiting for Evergreen to change its name to Buffoon State College, thereby calling a spade a spade. (Altho Douchebag University wd work just as well)
Is there a single institution in the US that isn't chock full o' crap?
mb
ps: Long overdue for Tulsi to be app'ted president of Everpoop, and Gisele Bundchen provost. At the inauguration of Tulsi, she cd give a speech outlining the basic tenets of Tulsism. As for Gisele, perhaps she cd display her rear end (illuminated with klieg lights). Then the entertainment portion of the ceremony: you and I bang Kamala's head against Nikki Schmikki's for 20 minutes, uninterrupted. Whee!
ps2: Some late night thoughts:
Tulsi Schmulsi
Nikki Schmikki
Kamala Schmamala
Hillary Schmillary
Boebert Schmoebert
Greene Schmeene
Great women, leading America into the future!
Yes, Doctor and Wafers. The end times are here! LOL! Onward and forward to the 2030 demolition! Perhaps the demolition will be sooner should “the Don”…oops… I mean to say “the true Messiah” appointed by God secures the election later this year! Vote for Trumpi! LOL! And let’s keep that “true Christian” MAGA Mike as House speaker! Christian Right, unite! Bible-thumpers, man your battle stations! Christian theocracy here we come!
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
https://news.yahoo.com/apocalypse-now-donald-trump-dons-104504565.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
https://www.salon.com/2024/02/21/donald-may-not-believe-in-god-but-he-still-plans-to-turn-america-into-a-christian-theocracy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPyzEZ-y27A
Dear Flying Spagetti Monster, other Wafers, and Dr. Berman,
Here's an instance of Dual Process at work in the matter of medical debt.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/02/politics/connecticut-cancel-medical-debt/index.html
Bizarre evidence of collapse is easy to find - in fact hard to avoid, since it's the only thing MSM wants us to know about. I'm sure you all know, the phenomenon of Dual Process is an ongoing one, though usually we have to seek out certain independent news platforms to learn of what's being done right in the world. In this case, it seems Connecticut Governor Lamont's action is seen as so radical and involves so much money as to be newsworthy - as even CNN, CBS, NBC, etc. are talking about it - a little. I just want to say that, while it's fun to play the bad-news game, it's probably good for our health to remain very aware of the important and inspiring good stuff that goes on and the uncountable people who are dedicated to providing a rational and meaningful way of life for themselves and their progeny. And in the longer term, The World. Paul Hawken called this the planet's immune system working - a compelling concept as he explain in his wonderful 2007 video, "Blessed Unrest".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsHTZDTTpbQ&ab_channel=DominicanUniversityofCalifornia
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