Displacing Your Rage
Well, Wafers, What's New?!
posted by Morris Berman at 5:44 PM
192 Comments:
Mike-
Thanks for great review; very kind of you.
mb
Beautiful album! Young put out an unreleased album from those days recently called "Chrome Dreams"
It's incredible how organic his music is, it obviously comes from a state of flow....
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kQxON3h-WzpzA5yLj95yinjmPO4JmOI2U&si=eBGF89XfGBXOmRxV
Music Review: Neil Young caught in his 1970s prime with yet another 'lost' album, 'Chrome Dreams' | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/neil-young-chrome-dreams-review-7b97dbdcef2ce15fbf7787035fc07e5d
Foster-
Thank you. I shd tell you that I've been to Hollywood, and I've been to Redwood.
mb
I was lying in a burned-out basement
With a full moon in my eyes…
Listening to After The Gold Rush
while reading Spinning Straw Into Gold…
Kneel Jung
Kneel-
This is great. But in future, pls lead with Kneel as your handle, not with Anon. Thanks.
mb
Hello Dr. Berman. I just posted a review of your book on Amazon.
Peace,
Vince
Interesting piece that documents that from 2003-2022, American adults reduced socializing by 30%! For teens, the decline was nearly 50%....
There is no record of any period in history when ppl spent more time alone. Paging Rob Putnam!
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/america-decline-hanging-out/677451/
Vince-
Many thanks, much appreciated.
Dino-
Thanks for the ref. There are by now a # of bks discussing American loneliness. Americans are being punished for their way of life, but as I've said b4, the punishment is 'wasted' because they don't understand that they've done anything wrong. Examples:
-Ignore Carter, and embrace Reagan
-Ignore Kennan, and embrace Paul Nitze
-Ignore Mumford, and embrace 'growth'
It's actually a long list (see WAF for more details).
Toynbee said that civilizations didn't go under from outside attacks; rather, they committed suicide. But I don't think he conceived of a collapse based on self-destruction, stupidity, and buffoonery. The crucial problem, today:
-Self-destructive people don't realize that they are self-destructive
-Stupid people don't realize they are stupid
-Buffoons don't realize that they are buffoons
Moving in the direction of health is thus extremely unlikely.
History is calling on Trumpi in to finish the job. The positive aspect: an end to this stupid war in the Ukraine, and against Russia; detente with Putin; withdrawal from NATO. The negative aspect: on the domestic front, in the name of making America great, he will actually be killing us off. Who cd have imagined that the agent of America's endgame wd be a putz, a bulvan, and a schmegegge?
mb
ps: Rebecca Grossman was just found guilty of killing the 2 young Iskander boys. Sentencing will be on April 10; she cd get 34 yrs in prison. Personally, I think she shd be baked in a casserole dish.
Amerikkkan society is a free-4-all now, where you've got teens beating the shit outta their parents...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/teen-beats-up-his-father-for-calling-his-friend-the-%E2%80%9Cn-word%E2%80%9D-video/ar-AA1l3CpP
AND toddlers being ganged up on by older kids & grown ass adults. Daaaaaaamn
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/2-children-2-women-face-charges-in-beating-death-of-3-year-old-toddler-in-louisiana/ar-BB1ixitm
ps2: The US just put some piece of technology on the moon. BFD. Who cd give a shit, really?
Satch-
Wafers know, but the rest of the country doesn't, that the US is a horror show. But what declinists also know is that Bad Is Good. We are descending into hell; wh/is the end of the US.
And where, I ask you, is Tulsi in all this? Her silence is deafening. Not to mention Gisele. Nikki has her head deeply embedded in her rump, and Kamala is a rancid bag of douche fluid.
mb
A bit of topic and possibly just a bulletin posting but I wish to inform fellow Wafers that the influence of Morris spreads far and wide.
There are two references to his book The Re-Enchantment of the World featured in a book titled The Call of The Reed Warbler published in Australia. One reference calls it a Powerful Book and describes its message as unabashedly inspiring.
The other features a paragraph introducing the theme of chapter 12 which has the title Dancing Under the Moon
Information about the book can be found here:
www.uqp.com.au/books/call-of-the-reed-warbler-revised-edition
The new introduction is featured on the Kindle edition.
Normal-
Today the blog, tomorrow the world! Thanks for the heads-up; I wallow in the adoration of millions. However, in future pls refer to me as Mr. Berman or Great Seer of the Western Hemisphere. Thank you.
mb
Apologies Dr. Berman, it’s been many moons since I last posted and I’m a bit rusty (never sleeps) on protocol.
Your books and blog continue to illuminate and inspire…
Kneel Jung
Kneel-
Not to worry.
https://www.google.com/search?q=rust+never+sleeps&sca_esv=6895027673ed6d92&hl=en&source=hp&ei=hE3aZaPOLb_okPIPt9uBoAw&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZdpblFAMeeQNYwYDsM58AkcnWZo8WaVc&gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TcwzC4qszA1YPQSLCotLlHISy1LLVIozklNLSgGAJbNCkc&oq=rust+never+sle&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ig5ydXN0IG5ldmVyIHNsZSoCCAAyBRAuGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAESNEvUABYmRdwAHgAkAEAmAGeBKABqxeqAQkyLTEuMS4zLjK4AQHIAQD4AQGYAgegAtQYmAMAkgcHMi0xLjEuNQ&sclient=gws-wiz
mb
MB-
WOW Love the Rust album...
You're posting some bangers! Gonna have a beer and a joint later and put that on :)
Typical USAin callousness and cruelty. A bum accuses his girlfriend of infidelity. So how does he extract revenge? He blows away her 3 year old son.
https://abc7news.com/santa-clara-3-year-old-killed-sergio-colin-gomez-murder-charges-court/14458304/
But on the funny side, check out this cop who shows up to an accident scene drunk. LOL!
https://nypost.com/2024/02/21/us-news/nj-cop-slams-own-police-chief-onto-car-hood-after-boss-shows-up-drunk-to-accident-scene-reports/
https://www.app.com/story/news/local/2024/02/22/watch-bradley-beach-police-chief-sergeant-get-physical-at-crash-site/72700454007/
Yes. As the saying goes, “You can’t make this stuff up.” And it’s only here in the U.S.A!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Scouring this blog's archives led me down a rabbit hole. In the July 2022 post entitled “An Anatomy of the World”, someone named Kevin posted a substack essay about an Amerikkkan feeling like a stranger in a strange land. A comment on that essay yielded a link 2 a group called the “Federation of Egalitarian Communities”. This seems 2 b folks who are going the alternative NMI route, having farms, growing food, sharing land & resources, etc.
https://www.thefec.org/
Dub-
Be sure to read the final essay in "Are We There Yet?", on Dual Process.
mb
Wafers-
Nikki refuses to realize she is toast. To wh/I say:
NIKKI SCHMIKKI!
And we might also add:
TULSI SCHMULSI!
KAMALA SCHMAMALA!
America has the highest Douche Baguette Index in the world.
mb
Well, I'll be damned, the Chinese representative to The Hague declares that Palestinians have the right to violent resistance according to international law. With all the American forced discorse of terrorism (forced on the whole world), this is a unique stance. The Chinese will show their fangs whenever deem the situation has no consequences.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/palestinians-use-of-force-to-resist-foreign-oppression-well-founded-in-international-law-china/3144798#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIn%20pursuit%20of%20the%20right,of%20Justice%20in%20The%20Hague.
There's also an argument that the Gulf states are making a soft empire in the Middle East/North Africa region. This guy puts a good analysis for it (he does come from a specific position, but that does not invalidate many of his analyses)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCM2l10Wseg
This same guy stated in another video that it is the nature of things that all empires decline. And it is up to the empire to make the decline graceful or ugly. It seems to me that the US decline will be the ugliest there is. The very schismogenetic nature of the US (borrowing from anthropologist Gregory Bateson) and its addiction to the maxima (rather than the optima) means that the only way for the US to go is more division, and every attempt at a solution will only bring more division.
french-
The US will only make things worse for itself. This is an absolute given. Even if Wafers were to go door to door across the country, administering the slapping/urine treatment to every single resident, it wd make no difference.
mb
I just had to alert Wafers to the following important and refreshing development. In his post this morning on The Duran podcast, commentator Alexander Christoforou asked a rhetorical, “Why doesn’t Nikki Haley drop out” after losing the South Carolina primary, and gives, as one of a number of possible reasons, that she is a “buffoon”, and that maybe she should just “buffoon away”. The buffoon designation is around the 22:00 mark:
https://theduran.locals.com/post/5312476/nasty-surprises-asymmetric-war-nikki-loses-meloni-elensky-no-5-annalena-sanctions-dont-work
Also in the same podcast, Christoforou interprets Victoria Nuland’s extensive recent interview with CNN’s “very important foreign correspondent” (his sarcasm), which demonstrates the lack of a reverse gear of Schmidendom in regard to Project Ukraine. Isn’t the definition of stupid when somebody keeps doing something that fails repeatedly, but expects a different result?
Jack-
Actually, that's the def of insanity. But many thanks for alerting us to referral of Nikki Schmikki as a buffoon(nette). Perhaps the classic Wafer vocabulary is finally starting to seep into the public political discussion. Can we look forward to naming such figures Nikki Schmikki, Kamala Schmamala, Tulsi Schmulsi, Biden Schmiden, etc.? Ojala!
mb
Israel has now murdered nearly 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. A gd % of these deaths are the result of Biden's aid to Israel. Meanwhile, at the UN, the US vetoes any ceasefire. What great countries America, and Israel, are! Bastions of humanitarianism!
mb
This pearl-clutching piece was originally published in the WSJ, asking if Amerikkka will abandon Ukraine. I suppose 1 fiasco has run its course, & now it's on to the next
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/will-the-u-s-abandon-ukraine/ar-BB1iLTOc
But Amerikkka has certainly abandoned its own ppl. Yet ANOTHER train has derailed & spilled chemicals. Nothing learned from that East Palestine, Ohio disaster
https://www.foxnews.com/us/train-derails-colorado-spills-hundreds-gallons-diesel-fuel
Fly-
When a civilization is in collapse, it lurches from one disaster to the next, both at the foreign and domestic levels. What it never does, is step back, and re-assess what it is doing. Which in turn serves to accelerate its decline. Buffoonage precedes carnage, wh/leads to more buffoonage, in a faster and faster vicious circle. In cybernetics, this is known as a system in runaway.
mb
Thomas Piketty wrote perhaps the most widely read economics book of the 21st century: "Capital In the 21st Century." It is worth reading in full, though here is a nice summary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOZJBKZqw40
The inequality between "capital" and "income" as Piketty categorizes it in the book, has increased to pretty much what it was during "The Gilded Age" of the Robber Barons, and threatens to get even more extreme. The phenomenon of our age seems to be "psychopathic populist strongmen autocrats", with this inequality as perhaps a main causal factor: Putin, Erdoğan, Trump, Modi, Xi, Netanyahu, Bolsonaro, the former Hugo Chavez (who even fooled Chomsky for a time), etc.
I've been trying to get a better sense of Modi, however. He is the one person on the list I'm not quite sure of. My smart friends in India think very highly of him. But there is a sinister side to him, particularly with regard to things like the "Ram Mandir" and his muscular "Hindutva," (The RSS youth clubs, his inaction during the Gujerat massacre, etc.) which often leads him to be silent during outrages to the 250 million Muslims in his country. But he is a formidable figure. I'll give him that. He has done some good things. You can't lead a billion plus people and not be formidable. But he worries me. This book is an excellent history of modern India and captures pretty well the main problems with Modi: (Hopefully this isn't too off topic. But I thought it might interest some here.)
https://www.amazon.com/Malevolent-Republic-Short-History-India-ebook/dp/B07VGXWTDV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3C8CK6R6DI438&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.n227eRWtChH-WN6Ppv8bPRRt6-UKZyQRlEbf5KG2i0O-CdlNEW8PvzHzemg1RvqFjGPYK7e8ZrMldYkunSZg7z94KBUsilXrxP9OOlntaDcKWruD9EMfzTPeaOXrbyzgcnspAmwY0VKJf3Kfh3_Yej5iXplXPG6Su2l-V1tsgy2s6R3snIFCbBAPwjMIxf-leUA2zDGyEtxhfS1iI3eCyC15e167nBUVhjP2JNDgvmg.soQd1n57A8wucrldZnLFfppI2HDLD8u6yGTSUkn_-eM&dib_tag=se&keywords=malevolent+republic&qid=1708927329&sprefix=malevolent+republi%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-1
Hello Dr. B,
No need to thank me for the review of Crisis. I can't tell you how much your writing helps me stay sane in an otherwise crazy land. I listen to the radio almost every Sunday to catch Harry Shearer's Le Show. A quote from the most recent show went something like this: "Don't let the failures of the past cloud your vision of the failures of the future". I thought that sounded rather Waferish. Harry also publishes his broadcasts in the form of podcasts.
Catch the podcasts at https://harryshearer.com/le-show/
Frankly I'm amazed that our local NPR station is still allowed to broadcast Le Show. Too much truth there for the simple Merikan mind.
Megan-
Thanks for yr informative discussion, as usual. Piketty is certainly rt abt the economic causal factor, but the historic imperialism over the 3rd World has a strong racial component as well, which is fueling a massive 'tectonic' shift that is playing out in our time. Karma, many wd call it. But pls note that yr over the half-pg limit; you need to be cognizant of that in the future. Thank you.
Mike-
Glad my work is of benefit to you. The larger, over-arching perspective/drama is that the world is in the midst of a huge 'tectonic' shift (see my reply to Megan), and this explains a lot of what is going on. A "new world order" was put into place after WW2, wh/included the Cold War (e.g., the formation of NATO, wh/George Kennan warned against), and wh/envisioned Anglo (esp. US) control of the planet, both economically and militarily (when deemed 'necessary'). The result has been practically endless war, both cold and hot. (Kissinger once remarked that if you set yrself up as a hegemon, everyone else is going to try to knock you down.) The challenge to this biased, unfair world order (wh/eventually included Israel as an American 'outpost' in the Middle East) has now reached fever pitch, and we are seeing the effects of it, and on the microlevel as well. (Disintegration of the American Dream, for example, includes white Americans displacing their rage onto the 'Other', as well as road rage, nationwide 'short fuses', and so on. I discuss some of these effects in the Crisis bk.)
And yr ref to simple Americans is rt on target. There is no way 99% of the American public cd understand all this. Plainly put, they are dumb. They are not trained to think historically or sociologically. Rather, they are trained to think jingoistically, in Manichaean formulas. I doubt there has ever been a more gullible, narcissistic, and frankly stupid people on the face of the earth. But History, and the tectonic shift, will play out regardless, and one might even argue that this stupidity is actually a factor in this process. Which is why I frequently say, Onward & Downward! (See also my reply to Fly, along w/the structural approach of the World Systems Analysis School.)
mb
I'm not a fan of Barack Obama as a president, but he seemed to have a good sense of humour. Here's a show called Between Two Ferns. The host and his guest insult one another and the guest in this episode is Barack Obama.
https://youtu.be/UnW3xkHxIEQ?si=dy7vkEN24dcSZFxl
Hello Dr. Berman and Wafers,
Last night this video came across my YouTube feed. It is an update on the Doomsday Clock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER-LFVSXUo
At around the 26 minute mark, Peter Carter from the IPCC makes a comment about why the world is in the state that it is in. It is a profoundly Wafer statement.
I am often reminded of your statement Dr. Berman about turning around an aircraft carrier in a bathtub.
Peace,
Vince
Finally, some Americans are realizing America is going down the drain. I say some:https://medium.com/an-injustice/why-the-trumpian-grotesquery-is-happening-now-to-america-93e9aa7516fc.: Trump, then, is a symbol, not just a man. Indeed, as a man, he’s plainly a monster. But that’s largely overlooked because of the relevance of Trump’s symbolic content to the United States, and to the American-led global monoculture. After all, consumerism turns us all into petty narcissists. He’s the epitome of capitalistic greed, the quintessence of consumerist myopia. We can pretend we’re drawn to higher principles, but our actions speak louder than our words, and consumer society is well-represented by Trumpism. I am writing my memoir which I describe my experience in America. Some of my friends in the US read it and told me it was too negative and full of hate. Instead, of realizing it America is negative and full of hate, they projected it on me. I am insane, not America. From what I see America's decline got its momentum and is snowballing faster and faster every day. But the morons don't even see it.
The NY Times has published yesterday an excellent piece that is a condemnation of the US if anything (I'm sure americans are unable to see the condemnation part.) The CIA has bases all over Ukraine, and it has been operating anti-Russia campaign for a decade now. Putin has been said many times that America is the one to blame, but who's to listen
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html
Everything you need to know about the current state America can be summed up in a picture of a cop holding a gun on a person burning to death.
Kid sets himself on fire for Gaza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhHFQpv3J2A
comrade-
Decades ago, Buddhist monks set themselves on fire to protest the war in Vietnam. This suicide by a member of the Air Force is a heavy indictment of Israel. But as for the cop w/a gun: not a true American, imo. If he were, he wd have gunned the kid down like a dog, in the street, and then received a medal.
BH-
Violating half-pg rule. That's a no-no.
french-
Here is article across the paywall:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/europe/cia-ukraine-intelligence-russia-war.html
Americans rdg this article are so stupid, they will think this is a gd thing. What I say is this:
Ukraine, Ukraine
America down the drain!
Liv-
Your 'friends' have dog excrement in their heads. Feel free to quote this little poem:
Trumpster, Schlumpster,
America in the dumpster.
Vince-
Clearly, the guy is a Wafer. But he and other fellow-travelers need to start using the word 'buffoons'. Because *that* is the core of our problem. He calls the present economic system insane, but insanity = buffoonery.
Into the Pit, my friends!
mb
Davos in the Desert, on the Coast
In Miami, leading lights from tech, finance, media, and entertainment gathered at the Saudi investment conference, yet another attempt to sanitize the autocratic regime.
https://prospect.org/world/2024-02-26-davos-in-the-desert-on-the-coast/
Kushner got a $2 billion kickback from the Saudi government right after leaving the White House, and David Plouffe went from the Obama WH to Uber liaison for the Saudi regime. The Biden Admin hired 28 people with ties to Saudi Arabia and UAE. It’s routine and bipartisan...
From the Chinese news source CGTN: “Experts say Amerikkka needs to accept China's rise & multipolar world order”. Lotsa home truths here, including this gem…
“Arrogance is the downfall of empires” (whodathunkit??)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OCmey08Jr_s
All hostile empires eventually fail and collapse into the pages of time. History has proven that so many times it makes one wonder why certain morons keep doing it over and over again
Satch-
In a nutshell: buffoonage!
mb
comrade simba and Dr Berman,
on the issue of the young man burning himself to death in front of the Israeli embassy, I have a take on it. Setting himself on fire may be similar to the vietnamese monk in apperance, but they come form a different metaphysical/psychological make up. I do believe that the kid had good intentions. The way I see it is that he had a glimps of what the US really is, and the only reaction he was able to do is to do to himslef what Americans do to each other (and to the rest of the world)
More anger here in the land of dumb hot heads with their deadly violence. Now we’re at the point where, on the roads, USAins don’t even wait to scream at each other before pulling out a gun and blowing the other person away.
https://www.wisn.com/article/south-milwaukee-man-killed-in-apparent-road-rage-greenfield-man-arrested/46977769
Add cigars to the list of reasons for killing somebody.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/brooklyn-deli-worker-37-fatally-shot-in-head-over-cigar
And from the “Not My Problem” department:
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/li-man-killed-by-drugged-driver-after-wheelchair-fall-pd
What a country! U.S.A!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
@Not so french
I've been thinking about that very thing when I read about what that young men did and North American psychological and cultural makeup. The thing about it is that this type of symbolic protest is that it only works in cultures that give a shit about human life. This mans death more than likely will become a 4Chan meme to mocked and derided throughout the social media echo chamber. As MB has pointed out time and time again, American culture is viscerally callous and solipsistic, that is the true tragedy of his death, it is meaningless because the man is embedded in a meaningless culture.
Joe-
Keep in mind that true Americans use guns and shoot for any reason at all. They deserve medals.
mb
Wafers-
Schmiden is taking a cucumber up the ass:
https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+ahead+of+biden+in+polls&sca_esv=fc7c61e83823ecc2&hl=en&source=hp&ei=g2HeZdyQKL2eur8Ppa2NiA0&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZd5vk0pfEz93xnk5-IsgnUoXuZ8Dhogk&ved=0ahUKEwic3sybyMyEAxU9j-4BHaVWA9EQ4dUDCBU&uact=5&oq=trump+ahead+of+biden+in+polls&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6Ih10cnVtcCBhaGVhZCBvZiBiaWRlbiBpbiBwb2xsc0iiOlAAWNQzcAB4AJABAJgBqgSgAYFEqgELMC40LjcuOC40LjO4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgagAvYVwgIFEC4YgATCAgUQABiABMICBxAAGIAEGArCAgcQLhiABBgKwgIMEAAYgAQYChhGGPsBmAMAkgcHMi0xLjEuNA&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:053c76ea,vid:s1xXXIHylHM,st:0
When I got hired at Sony, I got one of the most cringe inducing emails of all time.
“Welcome to the Sony Family”
I’m not blind. I know how the game works, but the degree to which corporate America uses the word “family” makes my skin crawl.
Anyway. I spent all of last year working myself ragged to get the stupid fucking Spider-Man 2 game done. It’s sold 10 million copies so far. Wildly profitable.
My ‘family’ at Sony just shitcanned a bunch of us anyway.
Make no mistake. Trump is a buffoon. But he’s here as a historical actor to help bring the whole shithouse down in flames. I’m voting for him because I want this system to experience maximum chaos. I hope the average American is reduced to eating cans of Sterno and drinking his own urine for survival.
https://wccftech.com/sony-lays-off-8-of-playstation-workforce-london-studio-closed-guerrilla-naughty-dog-insomniac-affected/
Gam-
Yeah, 'family' my ass. What total hooey. And yes, Trumpi falls into Hegel's category of the World Historical Individual. His historical role is to bring down the curtain on the American experiment, and it seems to me that that is definitely in the cards. But as I've said before, Toynbee never imagined that buffoonage cd be a crucial factor in civilizational collapse.
mb
Good essay:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/28/us-voters-foreign-policy-trump
This is the positive aspect of a Trump presidency. It makes Schmiden look like the senile doofus that he is. His cranium contains a large amt of goose fat.
America is a hellscape.
Norfolk Southern CEO received 37% raise following East Palestine train derailment
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/02/26/business/norfolk-southern-ceo-pay-raise/index.html
Ra-
It's also a collection of trashy people living in degradation:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lauren-boeberts-son-arrested-over-110857705.html
mb
Hello Dr. Berman and Wafers:
It's been a while since I posted anything on this blog, but I just read an article by an American plastic surgeon who volunteered his services at the European Gaza Hospital in southern Gaza. He tries to describe what he experienced and saw there. Very sad.
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/02/im-an-american-doctor-who-went-to-gaza-what-i-saw-wasnt-war-it-was-annihilation/
Also, Professor Johan Galtung has died at the age of 93. Too bad he seemed to be at the margins of what is of concern in the West.
https://www.transcend.org/tms/2024/02/memorial-prof-johan-galtung-24-oct-1930-17-feb-2024-rip/
Joe-
You ran over half a pg. Pls compress and re-send. Thank you.
Michael-
As nations go, it doesn't get more brutal than Israel. Unless it's the US.
mb
The latest in violent USAin anger: A Dunkin Donuts employee offers a customer a free cup of coffee. He shows his appreciation by throwing it in her face.
https://www.newsweek.com/dunkin-gives-free-coffee-throws-hot-drink-face-cops-florida-1873234
With the joke religion here known as Christianity, check out this Bible Belt pastor. If he were a person on a jury, he’d acquit a rapist if the woman wore shorts.
https://www.wxii12.com/article/north-carolina-pastor-sermon-womens-fashion-choices-sexual-assault/46971139
And if I may, Doctor, here’s Trump’s latest grift, sang to the tune of Nancy Sinatra’s Boots:
“These shoes are made for grifting
And that’s just what they do
For the past week these shoes
Have conned you stupid right wing fools
Are you ready,Fools? Well,keep buying!”
The shaky basis of the attempts to maintain global hegemony by the U.S.-led West with its commitment to an bezzle economy based on quick gains and the attempted financialization of everything has been laid bare in Will Schryver’s most recent essay. Schryver argues that the larger lesson of the impending defeat of the U.S. and its NATO allies in Ukraine by the Russians is that an economy based on production of tangible goods and social commitments is triumphing over deindustrialized countries incapable of sustaining a war of attrition, and indeed, providing a tolerable level of social welfare for their populations. He declares the West’s dream of breaking up and looting Russia to be shattered as the American coalition will be forced into a decisive strategic defeat.
https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/the-bitter-pill-of-decisive-strategic
Jack-
bezzle?
But author deploys an impt phrase: "shallow minds of the western intelligentsia". How many times have I talked abt the stupidity of many hi-IQ Americans? I don't know what Schmiden's IQ is, for example, but it shd be obvious to all that he is a colossal dummy: fomenting a proxy war w/Russia? Backing Israeli genocide? And then there's the generation that gave us the Vietnam war, labeled "the brightest and the best." Yeah, right. "Clowns" wd be more accurate. Jesus, is the US dumb.
Joe-
Regarding yr first link: check out the guy's face. Is this America, or what?
mb
ps: Jack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBl0JHtsa3M
Gee, Really? Dept.:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/02/war-profiteering-defense-industry-ukraine-war/677572/
There is a grass root campaign going on to expell the US from the UN. I don't believe it'll have any effect. Still, the stronghold the US had on people's Minds and heartiste is weakening. The 2030 vision of the decline is becoming clearer
https://invokethe6th.org/
https://www.change.org/p/expel-the-us-from-the-united-nations?recruiter=802029571&recruited_by_id=b680ec00-a764-11e7-955d-836580089cb8&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page&utm_medium=whatsapp
french-
A short poem commemorating the rejection of the US by all the countries of the world:
When buffoons are degraded
The world is elated.
(Move over Keats)
mb
Meanwhile, Fani Willis shot herself in the foot, and rammed her head up her ass, where it remains. Score 1 for Trumpi.
Then the Supreme Court (a completely fair and unbiased institution) handed The Man yet another delay. Score 2 for Trumpi.
Does anyone really think Trumpi will spend time in jail, or that he won't be elected president next November?
But all of America is waiting for Tulsi to say: "I will go to Evergreen and explain the principles of Tulsism." And a glorious day that will indeed be. To round off the events, Jack L. will introduce Nikki Schmikki, and Gisele Bundchen, who will raise their fists in the air in a victory salute: the greatness of America for all to see.
Go, Boebert!
A pathbreaking new study hitting the presses! An excellent new book, by far the most accomplished work in the field, comparable to Althusser's work on Marx and Freud/Lacan, Adrian Johnston's forthcoming "Infinite Greed: The Inhuman Selfishness of Capital."
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/infinite-greed/9780231214735
Paco-
Speaking of infinite greed, the hardcover edn of the bk is selling for $140. I can't get over the inability of some writers to acquire even a smidgen of self-transparency.
mb
And now, w/apologies to Bobby Darin (1959): Dream Tulsi!
Every night I hope and pray
A dream Tulsi will come my way
A Tulsi Schmulsi to hold in my arms
And know the magic of her charms
'Cause I want (yeah-yeah, yeah)
A Tulsi (yeah-yeah, yeah)
To call (yeah-yeah, yeah)
My own (yeah-yeah)
I want a dream Tulsi
So I don't have to dream alone
Note that there are other versions of this famous song, using Nikki, Gisele, Kamala, and Boebert. Wafers: Sing, and be happy!
ps: The following yr, Chubby Checker gave us this:
Come on, Tulsi
Let's do the twist
Come on, Schmulsi
Let's do the twist
Take me by my little hand
And go like this
E-yah, twist
Tulsi, twist
Ooh yeah, just like this
Come on, little Schmulsi
And do the twist
(Also adaptable to Nikki, Gisele, etc.)
A synonym for Schmiden: toast.
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/us/politics/biden-trump-times-siena-poll.html
Looks like Tulsi might want to be vice president. Lord help us all.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gabbard-signals-she-would-be-open-to-being-vice-president/ar-BB1jdK3z?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=791c82c3244340e7a70622d90aaf7872&ei=171
BH-
Remember our slogan: Bad Is Good. Can you imagine a VP debate between Tulsi and Kamala? At the very least, this might force her to finally say what the hell Tulsism is!
mb
Wafers-
24 yrs later, leading political analysts are catching up to me:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/02/the-us-as-defender-of-democracy-will-not-win-votes-trump-gets-it-biden-does-not
As for Schmiden, he is increasingly perceived as a destructive, and genocidal, buffoon, if not a totally senile doofus. He's toast, my friends. On Nov. 5th, a SWAT team of Wafers needs to drag him out into the street, slap him silly, and hose him down w/yellow fluids. Then, with Tulsi at our side, we will waterboard Kamala. On Jan. 20, the new pres will dispatch me to the offices of the NYT, to throw everything out onto Times Square, and--assisted by Gisele Bundchen--put the Op Ed crowd into a dungeon, in chains, for life. Yes, amigos: exciting days are on the horizon.
Go, Boebert!
mb
A "suicide deterrent net" was recently put up @ the Golden Gate Bridge after much caterwauling. This net is simply mesh stretched out over some poles, that someone can just jump off of if they really wished...see the pic on here
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/03/golden-gate-bridge-suicide-prevention-net-completed
But what is it about Amerikkkan life that makes so many want to check themselves out? And what about other suicide methods? How will folks get rid of those? Nobody dares ask these questions
Dub-
This cd be a macro/micro issue. Inasmuch as America is committing suicide, as a whole, so are thousands of its citizens doing the same thing. The country has no future; these citizens realize this on a personal level.
On an unrelated topic, let me say that Fani has her head rammed up her fanny.
mb
National Divorce starts in California.
https://www.yescalifornia.org/
I agree with this. All roads lead to balkanization, in my opinion. While secessionist movements aren't new in America, I do think the tinder is now there to start the fire.
For what it's worth, Dr. Berman, I've spoken to several well educated people who agree with your assessment of 2030 being the year to keep an eye on. It does increasingly feel like 6 years after 2024's cavalcade of political diarrhea will be enough to permanently break the system.
Trump or Biden? Who gives a shit.
Smart countries aren't going to trade using the dollar much longer.
Gam-
On the theme of secession, check out my discussion of this in "The Crisis of Our Time."
As for shit, the US is up to its eyeballs in it. Things are so fucked up, and so fraudulent, that one wonders how the nation can even make it to 2030. Karma is no longer a shadow haunting us; rather, it's staring us in the face.
mb
ps: Hemingway said that civilizations can collapse “gradually and then suddenly”. We are certainly doing gradually rt now; when will suddenly arrive?
It is funny how much work it takes to actually have an "informed" opinion about much of anything. Take Mearsheimer's stance on Ukraine, for example. It actually requires that you read and understand a good bit of history, for it to make any sense. I totally see why someone would have a visceral reaction to Putin's invasion, and simply oppose him as a "genocidal monster." Gary Kasparov, for one, has a strong anti-Putin book, "Winter is Coming," which, while you are reading it, it is hard not to be sympathetic. You actually have to take an intellectual step back to realize why following Kasparav's advice, might well lead to a nuclear war.
But everyone I know, especially my "Trumpy" friends and acquaintances, are all so annoyingly cocksure in their poorly informed viewpoints. On the "Plandemic" the "stolen election" and so forth. Their rabid distrust of "expert consensus" especially galls me. When I was 33 I had read a great deal by normal standards, and had opinions about many issues: the economy, the Iraq War, and so forth. By my current lights at 53 most of what I believed then was pure nonsense. (Dr. Berman and John Gray woke me from my dogmatic, Neoliberal slumbers. I'm deeply grateful.) But how much one has to read and study to even have a clue that one hasn't a clue! I spend most of my waking moments reading and thinking, and in a sense it doesn't matter. No one around me reads or has any interest in what I do, so it is just a solitary pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Anyhow, for some light listening, when it all just seems too much, this guy has a cute sense of humor in taking down the bumpkin Trump cult. (Needless to say, I don't endorse all of his views.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6zzJch2QAg
"There is a profound emptiness in large parts of the US — a purposelessness, hopelessness, and spiritual vacuum, being filled by an addiction to the momentary relief...and dulling numbness of weed, booze, and perc 30s."
Walking Phoenix
A quick retreat from an expansive hell on earth
https://walkingtheworld.substack.com/p/walking-phoenix?triedRedirect=true
Megan-
Sounds like you cd use a whole new bunch of friends. I don't think you have wasted your time, but keep in mind that when myth meets fact, myth inevitably wins. As for the Ukraine, maybe Ritter, Sachs, Pilger, and a few others might be more accessible. Or even Jimmy Dore and the online critic crowd, like Douglas Macgregor, Ray McGovern, Larry Johnson, et al.
mb
Tigg-
The spiritual suicide happening on the individual level is reflected in the s.s. happening on the national level. Micro/Macro. Everywhere you look, we're toast.
mb
Nothing says birthday party like 7 shot, 4 killed.
https://youtu.be/aY9EzSSP498?si=BaJBbcK8LxkIh0Pm
Dan-
It's not even news anymore, is it?
mb
As Wafers know, 98.3% of USA-ins we’re not very concerned about improving themselves as human beings -Not really interested in intellectual, spiritual, and ontologic pursuits unless money was involved.
However, they appeared very concerned about eating hamburgers and showcasing them.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/01/most-mcdonalds-big-macs-eaten-lifetime-world-record-don-gorske
Dr. Shit-
What happened to the sacred chicken sandwich, then?
mb
Rev. Hedges is up to his usual shenanigans writing about the Aaron Bushnell self-immolation. What a horse’s ass. Has it been 2 decades now recycling this bullshit?:
1. “These individual self-sacrifices often become rallying points for mass opposition…that can ignite revolutionary upheavals..”
2. “These acts are sacrificial births”…”a divine violence”…and “a sublime madness in the soul.”
3. “Communities of resistance …are bound together by the sacrifices of martyrs…The martyr…weakens and severs the bonds and the coercive power of the state…Divine violence terrifies a corrupt and discredited ruling class.”
4. “One day, if the corporate state and apartheid state of Israel are dismantled, the street where Bushnell lit himself on fire will bear his name.”
Quite literally a “broken record” in every sense. Has he no shame?
https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/aaron-bushnells-divine-violence-read?
Lee-
Happily, Hedges doesn't have much of a platform anymore; one doesn't hear much from him these days, thank god. "Recycled bullshit" does indeed sum the poor guy up. He's little more than a guitar w/one string.
In my work, I've made a distinction between intellectual and ontological knowing. I've also discussed the phenomenon of hi-IQ idiots. Hedges is one of these; he has very little in the way of ontological savvy. In fact, one can pt to the obvious: that in terms of that latter category, he's just plain stupid.
His career turned into a joke, and a lie--plagiarizing other people's work (see the article by Chris Ketcham in The New Republic, yrs ago, wh/caught him dead to rts). The "Reverend" Hedges is, when all is said and done, an American buffoon.
mb
ps: speaking of buffoons, take a look at Zuckershmuck:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/04/style/india-ambani-merchant-wedding-party/index.html
The Elite: Trash! These people are grotesque.
https://newrepublic.com/article/179548/poll-voters-trump-dictator-threats
New polling conducted by Dems finds that an alarmingly small percentage of voters surveyed are familiar with Trump's most blatant authoritarian threats, such as his "dictator" quote. This is probably bc Americans are such shrewd readers of current events:
Colin Firth’s wet Mr. Darcy shirt from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ among scores of costumes up for sale
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/05/style/colin-firth-darcy-shirt-sale-scli-intl/index.html
Wafers-
In the yr 2000, the Supreme Court wanted Bush Jr. to be president. So they covered up their bias w/a bunch of legalese, and handed him the election. There is a name for such people: corrupt scumbags. Now, even more corrupt scumbags are doing something similar for Trumpaloni. Consider Clarence Thomas: what a piece of garbage! But as a declinist, I find the sight of the highest court in the land being shabby and dishonest--a delight! What cd be more effective in adding to our collapse?
mb
I found a new religion for America, Trump Buddhism (I'm tempted to join)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/chinese-artists-buddha-trump-yuge-online-sensation/story?id=76553732
"May my inner peace be tremendous, truly tremendous. Nobody does inner peace like me, believe me. I'm going to make mindfulness great again, folks. Bigly."
On serious news, the shithole will airdrop aide on Gaza, but god forbid they let a cease-fire resolution pass. If this isn't an insult I don't know what it is
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68457937
french-
Let me simplify things for you.
1. Trump is trash.
2. The US is trash.
3. Israel is trash.
Deeper political analysis is not really necessary.
-mb
ps: Alternate version:
1. Trumpi Schmumpi
2. America Schmamerica
3. Israel Schmisrael
Also, Schmiden is dreck, and the Supreme Court, along w/Tulsi, is a joke.
Go, Boebert!
The newest angry violent fad here in the Big Apple: unprovoked subway attacks. Either punch someone, slash somebody, or throw him onto the tracks. Don’t fall asleep on them either. You may wake up to find someone’s hands down your pants. Oh but of course many of them have “mental health” issues. Yeah. What a great USAin society.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/subway-violence-riders-punched-slashed-kicked-onto-tracks
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/group-sought-after-man-punched-in-head-on-bronx-subway-train
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-25-awakes-on-6-train-to-find-hand-down-pants
And not even hospitals are safe here in this country’s biggest city from people who are “emotionally disturbed”.
https://nypost.com/2024/03/04/us-news/teen-bites-slashes-nyc-hospital-workers-in-unhinged-rampage-days-after-he-was-cut-loose-from-jail-cops/
Well, apparently Nikki Schmikki will quit the race. She stood for nothing, and anything--echoing America at large, really; an empty and meaningless country, en route to karmic collapse. I'm guessing she'll eventually endorse Trumpalumpi. What a turkette/sleazeball she is. Meanwhile, polls have Trumpi out ahead of Schmiden, and I'm guessing the Supreme Court will grease Don Corleone's path to victory in Nov.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered, mostly women and children. The IDF won't let more than a trickle of aid into Gaza, and when a food convoy arrives, they shoot the people desperately trying to get to it. Schmiden couldn't care less abt this genocide (weapons for wh/came from the US, and he wants to send more); but he has of late woken up to the fact that backing Israel seems to have cost him a lot of potential voters, esp. among younger Americans. That's all that matters to him--clearly, a great humanitarian. Meanwhile, the US refuses to endorse a cease-fire at the UN; smart! As for the Ukraine, they seem to be steadily losing ground to the Russians; both NATO and America are revealed as buffoons. Has Zelensky bought his airplane ticket to Italy yet?
I ask all Wafers to spend 5 mins. each morning contemplating what an abject failure America is. Alan Ginsberg published "Howl" in 1956. Nearly 70 yrs later, there is much more to howl about. Some neo-Beatnik needs to write a sequel, and call it "Dreck."
mb
Dr. Berman,
Thank you sir for your response. I was very impressed with “War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.” So was my (then) son-in-law Gary, who sent me a copy back in 2005, if I recall. But I just caught up with Gary, who at one time corresponded with Hedges re: the Colonel Yingling uproar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Yingling
Gary was a “stringer” with some Gannett/AFJ affiliations, let’s leave it at that. So Gary filled me in on some of the details of Hedges’ loss of esteem.
I didn’t know about the Ketcham angle, however I did see that Ketcham is a Contributing Editor at Truthdig, where Hedges used to work before he was fired. Read into that what you will!
https://www.truthdig.com/about-us/
I continue to find Hedges fall from grace quite discouraging, and frankly a bit mind-boggling. But you bring clarity here and that is very helpful. And encouraging. Thank you.
Take care,
Leonard (Lee)
Realized yesterday that I am truly undecided between Trump and Biden. I'm genuinely not sure which laughably catastrophic buffoon would collapse the US imperium more quickly, and I need to vote for the guy who can finish the job ASAP. MB - where are you on this right now?
Also, once overheard, "a corporation calling employees family is akin to a guy telling a whore he loves her." It has been noted this sort of creepy rhetoric is capitalism playing on the human longing for the relationships our culture has systematically destroyed. May be one reason maternity leave is so fanatically opposed by corporations.
Bud-
I don't vote, but if I did, I would take the "None of the above" option.
Lee-
I think the real topper was when Hedges, a few yrs ago, began to post articles on how moral he was(!). Talk about buffoonery. If someone is bragging about their morality, you can be sure they ain't.
mb
Kris-
We try to be more of a discussion forum than a bulletin board. I'm wondering if you cd re-send the link, and add a paragraph of yr own commentary. Thank you.
mb
Under the heading “Woke as we wanna be” we find the following item:
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/va-backtrack-kiss-picture/?utm_term=Task%26Purpose_Today_03.06.24&utm_campaign=Task%20%26%20Purpose_TPToday_Actives_Dynamic&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email
In sum, a senior official at the Veterans Administration decided that the photo “V-J Day in Times Square,” which depicts a US Navy sailor embracing and kissing a woman he encounters on the street on 14 August 1945, is inappropriate as it shows a non-consensual act. Therefore, this bureaucrat sends out a memo stating that this photo should be removed from all VA facilities throughout the system.
The Secretary of the VA, Denis McDonough, recognizing the colossal stupidity of this instruction rescinds the memo; the image will stay up, presumably until a “woke-er” Secretary comes along.
Jas-
It's a famous foto, by Alfred Eisenstaedt; a reminder of happier times, I guess. I'm surprised that the VA secretary realized that the senior official was a complete asshole.
mb
ps: The one in Paris was shot by Robert Doisneau, another famous photographer, and another famous icon.
America supports and facilitates this:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/06/middleeast/israel-gaza-starvation-siege-mothers-babies-intl/index.html
Two great countries, Israel and America!
Toddlers are now accidentally shooting & killing themselves cuz the parent(s) couldn't be bothered to properly lock the things away
https://www.yahoo.com/news/mother-toddler-accidentally-shot-killed-160418143.html
You also have moms slaughtering their babes cuz they just won't shut up.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article285985516.html
A small % of Amerikkkans must know on some level that their lives are shit, but don't have the brains to do anything about it. So infanticide it is!
ps: And get a load of this:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/06/israel-weapons-sales-loophole
Is there a more disgusting nation on the planet?
Black, Hispanic or white. Male or female the elites in this country are trash. Ruby corado head of a charity that helps LGBTQ youth and the homeless is arrested for money laundering. She opened a bank account in El Salvador and took $150k.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/03/06/casa-ruby-founder-charged-corado-money-laundering-fraud/
MAGA: If This Happens (Trump Loses) We'll Have Civil War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCNr1l1Wwy8
They'll get their Civil War eventually, IMO, but it'll have nothing to do with Trump.
Once the dollar is dropped as the reserve currency, and REAL economic hardship is visited upon a much deserving American public that's been satisfied with smelling its own farts, there's no question that the finger-pointing will turn our current 'Cold Civil War' into a 'Hot War'.
As a bonus, here are the Democrat elites desperately pretending that Biden isn't going to get trounced by Trump and the 'spite vote'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NashBy8WcME
Mo-
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of BLM, apparently gave a large chunk of cash from BLM coffers to her own family. One online report adds: "Patrisse has now amassed a $3M property portfolio, owning four homes in the expensive, upmarket areas of California and Georgia." She's a hustler; so are most Americans. This is what America is all about.
Satch-
Somehow, the image of toddlers gunning each other down in the street, like dogs, strikes me as being symbolic of America at large. Gun-toting toddlers! What cd be more inspiring?
Go, Boebert!
mb
Gam-
I'm assuming a lotta shit will hit the fan if Schmiden wins again. Civil war cd be one possible outcome. But look at the following:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4496878-trump-leading-biden-seven-swing-states-survey/
Trumpola apparently has a narrow lead in the swing states, at least rt now, and they are the states that will determine the winner. Trump's felony trials, between now and Nov., throw things into question, of course; but then, the (corrupt) Supreme Court is doing what it can to get him elected. Overall, it's too close to call; there are too many variable factors.
As for the economic hardship you point to: it's happening slowly but steadily, and as long as it's slowly, we have the situation of a frog in gradually boiling water. My own crystal ball, however, tells me that eventually, it will hit a crunch, along the lines of 2008 or even worse, and then all hell will break loose. But this is only speculation on my part.
mb
8 students shot waiting for a bus in Philly. It's the 3rd violent incident on Philly's transportation system this week. And to think I was so happy to receive my senior pass which allows me to ride Philly's trains and buses for free. Of course our new mayor is committed to making Philly a safe place to raise a family. By the way, expect a massive outbreak of violence around in Israel during Ramadan which begins Monday. This could be akin to the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam. My guess is that US State Department officials are now looking for some country to replace Israel in the region, do you think?
https://youtu.be/3-2xzVFKcfE?si=ErQJ8dmJbCn4rKic
Dan-
If shootings continue at this rather unbelievable rate, it's possible that Americans will kill each other off. In wh/case, the problem of the American empire will be solved. As for Israel, God abandoned it long ago, I fear.
mb
Ah! A couple of examples here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! of “close knit families”. A family will in dispute ends up in murder. And your typical “fine young lad” stabbed his grandmother over a hundred times.
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/daughter-murdered-her-father-shot-his-girlfriend-in-the-face-after-he-removed-her-from-the-will-and-wouldnt-let-her-sell-his-house-jury-finds/
https://clarksvillenow.com/local/teen-pleads-guilty-to-murder-of-grandmother-found-stabbed-114-times-in-clarksville-home/
p.s. As an aside, Doctor, check out the newest sleazy Republican presidential ad making fun of Biden’s age. But whoever made it up must have listened to you noting about Harris always laughing when all else fails.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-super-pac-ad-blasts-bidens-age-opening-general-ad-rcna142224
Here in Cascadia, a whiff of secession is in the air. A recent poll by YouGov cited by the Seattle Times has 1-in-4 Washingtonians wanting the state to secede. The Times article mentioned a 2012 petition that went nowhere to the White House asking for a peaceful state secession. (Peaceful? Ha! Wafers suspect that history does not come free.) The UK’s Daily Mail in a recent “Goodbye America” discussed the same poll and showed Washington wasn’t alone in secessionist sentiment.
Meanwhile, a new issue of Lapham’s Quarterly, “Power Outage,” points to a larger malaise surrounding this latest secessionist breeze. Editor Lewis Lapham cites thinkers William Ophuls and Lewis Mumford to make the case that America is dwindling into entropy – defined as chaos, randomness, and disorder – a meaningless tautological mess where “What is moral is what makes a profit; what makes a profit is moral.” Ophuls projects the imperial dreams of the globalist elite spawned by America too costly to maintain and bureaucratically so complex as to guarantee failure, explaining why the center may no longer hold.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/1-in-4-washingtonians-want-state-to-secede-new-survey-shows/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-voters-want-state-secede-union-Texas-California-New-York-Alaska
https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/energy/power-outage
This doesn't bode well 4 those screeching about “them dern Mexicans takin’ our jobs!”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/border-crackdowns-won-t-solve-america-s-immigration-crisis/ar-BB1jaew2
Some thoughts on this…
Wannabe immigrants have been duped by the Amerikkkan dream myth
Amerikkkans tend not 2 want the lower-skilled jobs taken up by them
Is this really a “crisis”? Or more scapegoating & diversion from the REAL source of Amerikkka's ills?
Jack-
Regarding secession, check out my discussion of it in the "Crisis" bk.
Otherwise, America lies in wait for a declaration by Tulsi. Since I'm writing the 5-vol. work on her philosophy, I asked her to provide the nation w/5 bullet pts, saying what it was, exactly. Is this too much to ask?
mb
In America, disgusting scumbags are always off the hook:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/07/uvalde-police-failures-school-shooting-investigation
Wafers-
Everyone is excited abt Schmiden's speech, pro or con. Here are a few observations.
-There will be no US demand for a ceasefire in Gaza. In fact, the military is supplying Israel w/weapons on the QT. The IDF will also invade Rafah; Schmiden will do 0 abt it. And then there's this:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/middleeast/gaza-israelis-aid-trucks-protests/index.html
-Trumpi was over the top when he told Putin he shd feel free to invade nonpaying NATO countries. But the larger context is that he envisions a different world order than the one in place since 1945, and wh/Schmiden seeks to preserve. In this new order, NATO wd be abandoned by the US, and Trumpi wd cultivate detente w/Putin, not Cold War opposition to him. In short, Schmiden is a warmonger, while Trumpi wants to free America of the 'world policeman' role.
-The major part of Schmiden's pitch is that he stands for democracy, while Trumpi stands for autocracy. The reality is that this is a nonstarter for the American public. They just don't care abt it, and it won't garner Schmiden any votes.
-All the facts and figures Schmiden can bring forth to show how Americans are better off economically--wh/may be statistically true--also make no difference, because most Americans are not experiencing any immediate benefit from all these programs, or events. And this is what they care abt.
-Did Schmiden's aggressive style turn the tide in his favor? The Dems think so, and apparently many GOPs are a bit worried. But Nov. is 8 mos. away, and the new Schmiden 'glow' may not last. Keep in mind that millions buy into Trumpi's narrative abt persecution and witch hunt.
mb
ps: As part of America's destructive and obsolete foreign policy, Schmiden wants to keep fueling the Ukraine. Not likely that Trumpi will follow that path.
Doctor.
So let me get this straight. The US provides Israel with near unlimited military, financial, and moral support while Israel joins the Chinese led Belt and Road Initiative which is inimical to American interests.
https://www.tandfonline.com/#copy_link
If I may add one more thing. Biden plans to provide some food relief to Gaza but, as you say, will continue to send arms. This makes perfect sense. Plump Palestinians are easier to detect and shoot.
Dan-
As far as Israel and the Ukraine go, the US has its head rammed deeply up its ass and is rolling around like a donut. Regarding alleged food relief: I don't think we are going to see too many fat Palestinians at any time soon (or ever).
mb
As folks here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! like to say: “HAPPY TRAVELS.” Here are some happy travelers on the roads. Maybe “FIRE AWAY” also should be wished!
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/virginia-semi-truck-driver-grabs-2-guns-to-shoot-at-another-truck-driver-in-florida-deputies
https://local12.com/news/local/shots-fired-during-road-rage-incident-in-blue-ash-cincinnati-cornell-reed-hartman-gun-crime-arrest-suspect-felonious-assault
https://local12.com/news/local/shots-fired-during-road-rage-incident-in-blue-ash-cincinnati-cornell-reed-hartman-gun-crime-arrest-suspect-felonious-assault
https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/one-person-dead-following-shooting-on-military-highway-in-chesapeake/
Speaking of which, although he’s too stupid to obtain a driver’s license to gun down someone on the road, our main doofus guns right activist—high school dropout Killer Kyle—is speaking again at a college. Wow! What knowledge to be gleaned! Tickets on sale now! LOL!
https://www.localmemphis.com/article/news/local/kyle-rittenhouse-memphis-university-speaking-stop-tour-recap/522-ec68cddb-9f47-4d3f-8445-490c046867af
Wafers-
It's come down to this. In a month or so, no one will give a warm turd abt Biden's speech. The truth is that there is a way for America to save itself, but it will take real dedication on the part of these powerful, intellectual women, getting together and taking charge of the gov't:
Tulsi Schmulsi
Nikki Schmikki
Fani Schmani
Kamala Schmamala
Boebert Schmoebert
Greene Schmeene
Palin Schmalin
And of course, Gisele Bundchen.
If these 8 cutting-edge, brilliant women were to storm the W.H., and toss Schmiden out onto the street, like a rancid piece of dreck, America might have a chance. One can only hope.
Go, ladies!
mb
Israelis protesting the shipment of emergency supplies to Gaza, claiming that it was going to Hamas, were confronted, amazingly, by a CNN reporter who told them they were being callous, which they were. Here's a the clip of it:
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/03/08/embed-clarissa-ward-gaza-aid-israeli-protesters-02.cnn?cid=ios_app
I'm amazed the this happened at all and that CNN aired it. The sense of Israeli entitlement on display should be unnerving to anyone with a conscience. Biden, John Kirby, Antony Blinken, etc. are each clearly lacking a conscience. I can see a bit of Eichmann in each these folks. Maybe more than a little.
ccg-
There's no arguing w/Zionists. I've tried, both in person and on this blog. All they know is Israel Uber Alles. Their lives are the only ones that count. As for Schmiden et al.: genocidal war criminals.
mb
Dr. Berman and Wafers,
The main story on reuters.com this morning was this: "US 'prepper' culture diversifies amid fear of disaster and political unrest"
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/prepping-disaster-diversifies-more-americans-lose-trust-2024-03-09/
Apparently 20 million Americans now are "preparing" for not only natural but also political disaster by buying weapons in addition for first aid kits.
"Attendees and those running the booths said the show reflected the concerns of millions of Americans who no longer feel that they can always count on the government or private industry to provide the basics, like electricity, water and food. They cited the pandemic disruption of supply chains, the 2021 power grid crisis in Texas that left millions without power, and the recent outages for thousands of AT&T mobile users."
Yet another sign that things are getting pretty bad in the U.S. Hope you are all well.
-- Torreblanca
GSWH
I've just downloaded a kindle copy of The Crisis Of Our Time, and am really looking forward to it. Many thanks in advance for what I know will not only be well argued, but also stylishly written.
Have a great day - w
willy-
Many thanks. Hope you enjoy it. It is, like myself, extremely stylish. :-) If the spirit moves you, perhaps think abt doing a review on Amazon.
Torre-
On a daily basis, there are increasing signs that the US is going down the toilet. As for Mexico, of course lots of problems, but AMLO is a very gd president, and his protege, Claudia Sheinbaum, is likely to succeed him in the June election. As for the coming US election, check this out:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/09/politics/election-president-trump-biden/index.html
Trumpi is leading in the swing states, and Schmiden just isn't popular. A Trump presidency is starting to look likely. Hopefully, he will end the Ukraine nonsense, and open up detente w/Putin; what he'll do w/Israel is anyone's guess, but I'm not sure it cd be worse than what Schmiden is doing, i.e., genocide. Anyway, if Schmiden is defeated on Nov. 5, I'm hoping a contingent of Wafers will go to the W.H., drag him and Kamala out into the street, bang their heads together, and then hose down their shoes.
Let me also add, Go, Boebert!
mb
Great people, the Israelis:
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/we-are-the-masters-of-the-house-israeli-channels-air-snuff-videos-featuring-systematic-torture-of-palestinians/
Today’s selected mugshots. These fine citizens are just a few of many who take part in the normal daily violent occurrences that happen anywhere here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
So, who gets the prize? The dog park killer in Tampa? The attempted murderer road rager in Ohio? The homeless creep who poured hot water on unsuspecting women in N.Y.C.? The disgruntled lover who set his girlfriend’s apartment on fire in San Antonio? Or the shooter that caused 5 Kentucky schools to go to lockdown mode?
https://www.fox13news.com/news/tampa-man-facing-murder-charge-with-hate-crime-enhancement-after-deadly-dog-park-shooting-hcso
https://www.wlwt.com/article/blue-ash-road-rage-shooting-winkler/60142784
https://nypost.com/2024/03/07/us-news/creep-hurled-hot-water-on-women-in-random-nyc-attacks-cops/
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/instagram/man-sets-girlfriends-apartment-ablaze-during-heated-fight-styrofoam-cup-fire#
https://www.wkyt.com/2024/03/08/suspect-large-after-shooting-situation-that-put-several-ky-school-districts-lockdown/
Schmiden: one of the greatest scumbags in the history of the world:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/09/biden-legacy-israel-gaza-palestinian-death
I just have to vent:
This afternoon I had a talk with an acquaintance of mine who, like me, is appalled by what Israel is doing in Gaza. We've talked a lot about that over the past few months. But then he started talking about the fiasco in Ukraine, and it turns out he's totally on board with what Genocide Joe is pushing in Ukraine! He realizes that the MSM is lying all over the place about Gaza, but cannot bring himself to realize that they're lying about almost everything, especially Ukraine. He got almost verbally abusive with me because I told him I didn't go along with that accepted narrative. And I pushed back with some facts he didn't know anything about. He claims that Putin never wanted to sign a peace agreement, but I told him that an agreement was just about in place between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022, and that that was when the US sent Boris Johnson to Kiev and basically ordered Zelensky to back out of it. Of course he (my acquaintance) knew nothing of this. I knew he wouldn't because he reads the Times. The MSM has never reported on it. This guy has a serious case of Trump derangement syndrome, just about the worst case I've ever seen, which I think is why he's fundamentally just fine with our proxy war in Ukraine.
Yep, he really believes the NY Times is giving him the straight truth on Ukraine, but not Gaza. A great example of a high IQ moron. He's an academic.
ccg-
You keep wasting yr time w/these buffoons. Why not take up tennis, or Sanskrit, instead? Keep in mind that when myth meets fact, myth always wins. Plus, the Buffoon Index in America is over 98%.
I do know abt the peace agreement of 2022, and what happened, but then I don't bother with the NYT or whatever. However, providing a link to the subject wd have been helpful to all us Wafers, thanks.
mb
https://www.axios.com/one-million-us-covid-19-deaths
I've been thinking a bit about Covid lately, Dr. Berman and Company. What did it expose about America?
We might never know the true global mortality rate, but the best information we have is that over 1 million Americans died from it, with the entire world suffering a total of 6 million deaths.
America is 5% of the world's population, but accounted for almost 17% of the world's Covid fatalities. As much as I detest America and its 'culture', there's something about this that just stabs my soul.
My heart feels like it's breaking even as I type this; there are tears in my eyes. The 'death instinct' isn't a philosophical abstraction in America's case. It can be interpreted literally.
Sorry for the downer post, but America is such a brutal place.
Gam-
Abt 15 yrs ago, an American journalist wrote that "the death instinct hovers over the United States." Perhaps he meant it metaphorically, but I think that by now it is, as you suggest, literally true. Imo, on both the micro and the macro levels, the country is committing suicide. If Trumpi wins in Nov., the process will be speeded up. But either way, we are doing ourselves in, and there is simply no way to reverse this downward trajectory. As I've said in the past, it wd be like trying to reverse an aircraft carrier in a bathtub. One sad aspect of this is that very few Americans understand what is happening. They are not trained to think historically or sociologically, so all they can do is lash out; which we see happening on a daily basis. Between now and 2030 the self-destruction will increase, steadily or rapidly.
mb
ps: Perhaps a Fani Willis/Tulsi Schmulsi ticket for Nov. might save us. Just a thought.
Now here's a smart guy:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/10/pope-francis-criticised-for-saying-ukraine-should-raise-white-flag-and-end-war-with-russia
His 'outraged' critics are buffoons.
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/10/katie-britt-state-of-the-union-rebuttal
What a douche baguette. Why not just say, "I goofed. Sorry."? Instead, she doubles down on horseshit.
"If you believe Katie Britt
You're full of shit!"
"She stood in her kitchenette
The embodiment of a buffoonette!"
Even fellow Republicans regard her 'rebuttal' as a disaster.
No amount of urine...
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/03/10/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news
This is Schmiden trying to have it both ways. The bottom line is that Netanyahu will ignore him, and continue to murder Palestinians. Both he, and Schmiden, are war criminals. Schmiden's real eye is on the election polls, not on the Israeli death machine or its victims. This is why shipments of arms to Israel are being made on the QT.
For many yrs now, it's been understood by both governments that the tail wags the dog. That Israel might say what the US wants to hear, but it will do whatever it wants, and the US will look the other way.
mb
Maher floats Biden swapping out Harris and replacing her with Nikki Haley: ‘That’s my dream, a unity ticket’
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.foxnews.com/media/maher-floats-biden-swapping-harris-replacing-her-nikki-haley-my-dream-unity-ticket.amp
I know we reference Maher a bit on here as he's often a popular pundit comedian saying the quiet part out loud, but shit like this is why I can never take him seriously... Dear God lol.
A picture here shows aid drops happening at the exact same time as northern Gaza is being shelled.
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/this-is-what-our-ruling-class-has-decided-will-be-normal-15ff8632ba78
I remember the occasional CNN stories about Palestine when I was a kid. Up until recently, Israel did a good job of controlling the narrative, and when I was young, CNN ran the same 'reporting template' every time:
Back then, they would usually show a clip of Palestinians throwing rocks at Israeli police, and accompany it with 'reporting' on how Israel is fighting 'Arab terrorists'. No context. No nuance. No intelligent analysis.
It's interesting to see Israel's propaganda machinery starting to falter at the same time America's self-belief is shattering into million pieces.
BB-
Occasionally, Bill says some very wrong things. Getting rid of Kamala--a total dunce, an inept turkette--does make some sort of sense (but in favor of Nikki, who is completely full of shit?), but it wd be politically unwise on Schmiden's part, since she is the 'diversity' candidate, wh/plays big with wokes and minorities. Another example of Maherian stupidity is his continuing support for Israel, in the face of the country murdering 30,000 Palestinians. For this, he shd be ashamed. (In this regard he is like a lot of American Jews, sad to say; altho there is, in fact, an American Jewish pro-Palestinian contingent w/a heart.)
Pen-
Yeah, not much chance CNN wd interview Ilan Pappe, for example, let alone Nur Masalha. That'll be the day, as Buddy Holly once said. Meanwhile, world condemnation of Israel is steadily increasing; there is no question that what they are doing is genocide. I can't imagine this violent, sick, apartheid regime will make it to its 100th birthday (2048). As for the US, my prediction for 2030 still stands, altho it wd be gd to see more Americans recognizing that the American Dream is a pile of crap. The American Buffoon Index (ABI) is still rather high.
Who are the real terrorists, eh?
mb
MB:
Here's link to an article about the failed peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia:
https://thewire.in/world/why-peace-negotiations-between-russia-and-ukraine-failed
That peace talks even took place has never appeared in the MSM as far as I can tell.
You are right, of course, that talking to someone like that fellow I mentioned yesterday is a waste of time. It's worse than that because it's upsetting. He's a zealot when it comes to all things Ukraine/Putin/Trump. He also seems to think it was good thing for the US to have killed a
few million people in Korea during Korean War. Why? Because now South Korea has a booming economy. I found that appalling. I guess you say things like that if you're not the one being killed for the greater good in the years come.
Regarding Putin, he believes that Putin is trying reconstruct the Russian empire or even the Soviet Union (the borders of it, anyway). I can find little to support it that is not obvious propaganda.
ccg-
Personally, I like to conserve my energy, and put it in areas that show positive promise. (It's how I write my bks.) Conversations w/morons doesn't have much appeal. As for Putin: he may, in fact, be trying to resurrect the Russian empire; the sort of vision I profile in "The Soul of Russia." But this is only speculation on my part.
mb
Hello Dr. Berman,
Here is a link from Scheerpost / Patrick Lawrence.
https://scheerpost.com/2024/03/11/patrick-lawrence-old-man-shouting-the-american-empire-is-doing-great-but-it-isnt/
What I gathered from the article was that if we do not surrender our need to dominate the world, then we will fail as the world moves on. But if we do surrender that need, then we acknowledge that we have failed, and we can move on.
As you have said, and I agree, a change of course is not in the cards. As global carbon emissions continue to rise we have continue to seal everyone's fate.
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/feed/report-emphasizes-urgent-need-reduce-global-emissions
Adaptation will be the only way, provided there is anything left to adapt to in the future.
Peace,
Vince
Morris Berman and company: what books would you recommend on the history of Palestine and Israel? I really enjoy your writing style, Dr. Berman, I remember reading Twilight of American Culture and then Dark Ages America.
You are my favorite author on sociocultural issues.
And I agree, the United States is full of morons. I hope to move to Europe someday.
Pris-
Note that the Twilight series had a 3rd volume, after DAA:
https://www.amazon.com/Why-America-Failed-Imperial-Decline/dp/149233393X/ref=sr_1_9?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vCc3CkACJNsVuF7fi1-pvGgs7QekxVmza5LLIJKIvfIapSAVETXfegQLalgyKcPGsvE8Jg0ks5_vNHrLOjwUlCFoY-cuAG_XMoxUvPyvSPIKqH4il9HM2_j3uXsFwAtLqTfjAD_mL_BCWU6N5xBb7NMhOktx7VUkD3KJ8BNtsRArPYq7Gw_nMVLaXfRnXSM4p02v5-EBalEXgLUw5om4AwO1LF2ZdWcSrsHlacqzPgaXv1MV-55Nvaz9-X_7HHDUd0MmJbsPXsmCjaF9ytb5wYuW-Q7U2k4jlhUu9pZ7vX4.6QJL0VbVACrAgjpdrYxWF4wtViHxxjK0TKsRjkVCmfc&dib_tag=se&keywords=morris+berman&qid=1710195945&s=books&sprefix=morri%2Cstripbooks&sr=1-9
It's also selling for $3.84.
On Palestine:
https://www.amazon.com/One-Palestine-Complete-British-Mandate/dp/0805065873/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1V7WTZZ6N5KE7&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dHo0FGhJ5TRkEOJub7F1j8Li-MfLXF60uVGGzyNHurIc7a-47e38K3zS1uISN_-IcGkt06k0Q1o5ZyLeE8UOJS6lqEeMOJcasG5nvbDTI_DQI9VfmV0970YfAThjxmfHrW7NmYEwiMHhz3kNxggO2g.DUxvzA4hCpY5h7lWjX32zdhzDtSn6pdhQDl_Y8UeqJo&dib_tag=se&keywords=tom+segev+one+palestine&qid=1710196127&s=books&sprefix=tom+segev%2Cstripbooks%2C848&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Goliath-Life-Loathing-Greater-Israel/dp/1568589514/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18XQIRBSJ6SW1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.32t4WPB2hwfPbQdeRk24JqcqKpnwYcWCoxEZyb4IcA2tce7sf5fC0WQRql3v9aM7jb_pDhdZQ_Or0SesVeXd2vqW_nJ3SG99vgYueNEUz1I.Ki6rH-vb0MiGRhv-cBPSpJGEx6xf15cUvwIokNvAtSw&dib_tag=se&keywords=max+blumenthal+goliath&qid=1710196177&s=books&sprefix=max+blumenthal%2Cstripbooks%2C841&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Cleansing-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1851685553/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PRG8U9KSJESJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sxL1MCsKL-iLQHhNt3ZMFdgA9UbHNUa68cWBqc6k5i93I36LTCqfR38wE_pKtRhkAVTXUHe5fkUBoreQrvfRoh53sCzRuBhQ6f4Q1566aVRXI4oHF5fXFhlnWBOb4O8-xJalzvtWUSUgOntxmf2LXDmvBQkmav8S_xWYEOeudNI4hJcrYrLOKBjgwUMZfsZPBA7BvXWMjftTn6yeaA-uuwQgaUsAxl7q6KcgrUqIMNg.L_whQjwt8lEyAi88kQFwhM_YH7V58umI-vB6saUFOGg&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+ethnic+cleansing+of+palestine+by+ilan+pappe&qid=1710196223&s=books&sprefix=ilan+p%2Cstripbooks%2C779&sr=1-1
Nur Masalha: several bks.
Vince-
Here's an update for yr post-it:
MORONS DON'T CHANGE DIRECTION
This is all u need to know abt America's future.
mb
Angry violent road rage continues in high gear here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! On New York’s famous Cross Bronx Expressway, drivers in the usual stalled traffic jam on that road get to witness a driver attacking and pummeling another driver, with, of course, the “not my problem” syndrome of not helping out and deescalating it.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/bronx-road-rage-fight-nypd/5211775/
In Florida a car takes out a motorcycle.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/dashcam-video-shows-car-slam-florida-motorcyclist-alleged-road-rage-incident
And of course, most violent road rages wouldn’t be road rages without shots being fired. Where? Florida and that great gun loving state of Texas of course.
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/03/11/man-survives-road-rage-shooting-grazed-by-bullet-on-back-of-head-police-say/
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2024/03/11/man-arrested-charged-with-attempted-murder-in-road-rage-incident-in-jacksonville/
Wafers-
Check out link provided by Vince, to essay by Patrick Lawrence. It's rt on the money. Alternate title, imo: "Buffoonage."
mb
Great essay by Patric Lawrence!
I came across an essay by former diplomat Chas Freeman (from a time when the US actually practiced at least some diplomacy, I guess), about the US idiocy in Ukraine:
https://chasfreeman.net/the-many-lessons-of-the-ukraine-war/
I came across Freeman in a video where he was slamming Biden for the genocide in Gaza. I suspected he would go against the narrative in regard to Ukraine as well, and it didn't take long to learn that that was the case.
ccg-
The overall dynamic is what I said earlier about the shifting of tectonic plates. Schmiden hasn't a clue abt this; he's caught in old formulas, while History is passing him, and America, by.
"Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
The battle outside ragin'
Will soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'"
--And that was in 1964!
mb
ps: And on a micro level:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/opinions/side-hustlers-american-dream-graham-grede-sheppard/index.html
Malaysia calls for the abolition of the veto. The primary reason is the American abuse of the power. In fact out of 82 Times the US has used the veto, 46 were used to help Israel with something. The point however is that 2030 is near. 30 years ago I doubt that any nation would be critical of the US, now everyone is distancing himself from. The whole World seems to recognise that it's over, except for the US, they still think they're number 1 (what else would you expect from toddlers playing politics).
https://youtu.be/wV_ho2GcKBE?si=8wsTmwOGgakwNCh2
https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/10/26/how-the-us-has-used-its-veto-power-at-the-un-in-support-of-israel
On the Europeans front, the EU can't supply Ukraine with the quantity if ammunition it promised, now they are looking for shells to but from outside the EU. I guess European military manufacturing is not ou to the task anymore, either that or the EU doesn't want to cut it's lisses in Ukraine.
https://www.gulf-times.com/article/678662/opinion/inside-europes-drive-to-get-ammunition-to-ukraine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVLZ5Yj_-SI
CIA Spy : “I Don’t Want To Live In The USA When THIS Happens 2030…” | Andrew Bustamante
He's DEFINITELY been reading your works, Dr. Berman. No question.
The way he picks apart the modern conceptions of equality and equity also reminds me a lot of what you've been saying about living authentically. On some level, we'll never outrun our chimpanzee roots, but the American left, in particular, subscribes to a 'sunshine and rainbows' salespitch that's neither honest nor achievable.
Amazing video.
french, gam-
One way to understand the current situation of the US in the world is simply to recognize that it is a fraudulent pile of shit. As time goes on, this recognition will probably increase on a worldwide basis. I'm just hoping that in all of this reportage, the word 'buffoon' will finally make an appearance.
And speaking of our collapse, I urge Wafers to check out an essay by Christopher Caldwell in the NYT for March 9th. Hard to believe the NYT wd run it. It's a review of a hot-selling French bk by Emmanuel Todd, the English title of wh/wd be "The Defeat of the West." I used a bk by Todd of 2002 in DAA, I believe, but this is even a darker picture than then. Todd writes that millions now believe that the Ukraine gig is an attempt by the US to beat back a challenge to its hegemony. He believes that American imperialism has endangered the rest of the world, and corroded the American character. Also that the US no longer has the means to deliver on its foreign policy promises, and that educational 'progress' in the US has actually brought abt educational decline. He believes our values are extremely negative; that we don't value the lives of our young. He claims that we are unable to distinguish facts from wishes, and so continue to screw up. The real threat to the Western order, he says, is the hubris of those who run it. And rt now, America is too unstable and disunified to be able to commit to anything at all, the Ukraine included.
Caldwell cites a 1985 bk by Loren Baritz, "Backfire" (wh/I read back in the day), abt Vietnam. The question Baritz was asking was what went wrong in Vietnam. His answer: "*We* are what went wrong in Vietnam."
This is the crux of it: *we* are an error, on almost any level you can think of. While Baritz never used the words 'shitpile' or 'buffoons', he might as well have, because this is really what he is saying; and the American character, m.o., way of being in the world and distorting reality, did not chg after Vietnam. As Gore Vidal once put it, "Americans never learn." They simply don't profit from their mistakes, because they think everything they do is not a mistake. Which is our greatest mistake of all.
Karma means that if you're a crap country, you wind up in a pile of crap. It's not rocket science, except to Americans.
mb
Recently circulating on Twitter/X are remarks made by one of France's longest serving Foreign Ministers, Hubert Vedrine, to Madeleine Albright circa 1996. According to Mr. Vedrine, la Albright accused him of "betraying Lafayette" (the famous French general who helped secure the US' independence) because he opposed her on a particular subject. Vedrine's response: "Actually, we didn't intervene at all to help America. We did it only to annoy Great Britain. Besides, if we had known what you were going to become, a kind of arrogant, dominating empire, all that, I think we wouldn't have helped you!"
France and other "allies" would have been wise to distance themselves from the US. Alas, they have done the opposite and will suffer incalculable damage for many years to come.
Bilirubin passes through the liver and is eventually excreted out of the body. (Yuck)
The French have known that we are a rancid collection of degraded buffoons for many years now.
-mb
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/tech/tiktok-ban-us-bill-explained/index.html
Addicted to TikTok? Here’s what the House vote to effectively ban it could mean for you
---
Well, Dr. Berman, we've exited the Advanced Beating Off stage and moved into Relentless Beating Off. People REALLY think there's substance to this bill.
Moreover, imagine what that article headline reveals about the emotional poverty of America. Without our constant hallucinatory distractions, we might have to face the unpleasant realities of our lives, and that's just too painful a prospect for us.
Of course we're addicted to a stupid toy like TikTok. Like any addict, we're constantly moving from one high to the next like we're living in some twisted Pavlovian experiment.
Are you suffering from bankruptcy due to medical bills? Here's a 10 second clip of a bird dancing to "Doo Wah Diddy"!
Pen-
If you check into cnn.com any day, and look at what they regard as 'news', you see how Americans are distracting themselves from the Void w/crap. A pathetic, empty people, and a pathetic, empty nation. The Ukraine is another distraction, and our president is a sad, empty person, and his VP little more than a joke. What we are all hiding from is the obvious fact that we have no future.
mb
I'm wondering if gunning down toddlers might become the new Thing:
https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/toddler-killed-mother-shot-near-langley-park-in-prince-georges-county/
In addition, I wd support the rt of toddlers to bear arms.
Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! A road rage first: a replay of Tyson-Holyfield II. One angry road rager bites the other road rager’s ear off as they get into it! LOL!
https://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/2024/03/12/ear-bitten-off-man-in-road-rage-fight-two-charged-with-assault/72950234007/
Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! Two men as revenge plan to set a python on an ex-girlfriend’s daughter to have her for dinner.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/george-ex-stalking-python-explosion-b2510922.html
And only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A,! will you see a daycare worker, in her own words, “lose her cool” and toss a 2 year old against a wall.
https://lawandcrime.com/crime/i-just-kinda-lost-my-cool-frustrated-day-care-worker-threw-2-year-old-like-a-piece-of-luggage-police-say/
Yeah. A great “loving”, “gentle” and “non violent” “exceptional” society we have here.
I'm only 22 minutes into this (so don't hold me responsible if has a poor ending!), but I think it is safe to recommend. Mostly stuff we already know, but well done, entertaining, and he has some good insights into why Americans are so stupid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_jTnN1i43o&t=1319s
Megan-
I watched this for 35 minutes. So far, it's clear that we are totally screwed. Thanks for posting it.
mb
Re: CNN and its' laughable "news" and (lack) of integrity-
Here's footage from another US empire war in which two "journalists" are going through their script... Reminds us of a Carol Burnett comedy routine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWtwjDhgN3Q
Doctor,
Watching that video reminds me of something you wrote years ago: "Being a success in America
just means you sit on top of a dung heap."
Wafers-
If you haven't read Pappe's bk, "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine," now wd be a gd time. Meanwhile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-YLROxeHA0
mb
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/14/chuck-schumer-israel-speech
I suspect most of the world already regards Israel as a pariah. Yrs ago, Noam Chomsky said the US was a "rogue state." No shit. If Israel and America were persons, we wd have to call them scumbags.
ps: Be sure to check out the link Megan submitted.
ps2: Regarding that link: the conclusion is b.s., that a few heroic individuals can save the US. This is not how history works, and this conclusion reminds me of those bks, critical of America for 290 pages, and then in the last 10 attempt to pull a rabbit out of a hat and say: but we can turn things around. Yeah, my tuchus we will turn things around. But otherwise, a very impt documentary.
ps3: The vigor w/wh/the US is beating off--at every level, in every institution--is, from a declinist pt of view, inspiring. You think: Oh, they can't possibly be *that* stupid; and then--they are!
Go, Boebert!
This is great! Kyle is speaking at two more universities. The book “Idiot America” needs a sequel! LOL! And this functionally illiterate, empty headed, high school dropout doofus definitely should be included in it. LOL! Now Doctor, just think for a moment. When you were in college you lined up to listen to W.H. Auden. Today college students are lining up to listen to this nitwit! LOL!
https://wkuherald.com/75690/news/kyle-rittenhouse-to-speak-at-wku/
https://dailymemphian.com/article/42437/kyle-rittenhouse-to-speak-at-university-of-memphis-event
But perhaps he isn’t that dumb after all. He is partaking in our USAin hustling to make a quick buck. Well actually a quick grand. (Oops. In Madison Avenue lingo, $999.) Ya gotta love it! Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! p.s. Kyle for Trumpi's Secretary of "Defense". LOL!
https://www.newsweek.com/kyle-rittenhouse-body-armor-armored-republic-social-media-1879578
https://www.ar500armor.com/rittenhouse-bundle.html
Joe-
An excellent representative of America today. What else can one say? Yes, I lined up to hear Auden, ca. 1963. Today, douchebags line up to hear a douchebag. Honestly, I love it.
mb
We had goat fuckin’, now horse fuckin’. USA-in takes the us empire shitshow on the road to Thailand to sexually assault a pregnant horse.
What type of degenerate and debased society would chronically produce these scumbags?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13186893/American-student-18-Virginia-arrested-Thailand-sexually-assaulting-pregnant-horse.html
2day's Amerikkkan kids don't read 4 fun anymore. Screens are more interesting, dontcha know?
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/12/among-many-u-s-children-reading-for-fun-has-become-less-common-federal-data-shows/
What's the result of this? According 2 stats from Regis College…
“Children of adults with low literacy skills are 72% more likely to be at a low reading level in school, according to ProLiteracy”
https://online.regiscollege.edu/blog/child-illiteracy/
The solution 2 this would be simply having parents limit screen time & get their kids interested in bks again. But parents now are far too stupid 2 actually b parents. Makes good declinist fodder, tho
Anon-
Sorry, I don't post Anons.
Satch-
Successive generations of degradation.
Dancing-
This is beyond disturbing. I'm hoping they lock him away for good. More symbolic representation of contemporary America.
mb
Note to yer-in-nation-
We are actually more of a discussion forum than a bulletin board. Perhaps you cd re-send that link, but add a paragraph of yr own commentary to it. Thank you.
mb
America have become so reliant on cheap foreign labor and unwilling to hold corporations accountable that it turns a blind eye to children suffering to feed its insatiable appetite for gadgets. It will contort itself into legal, and ethical, knots to justify any and all horrors it perpetrates. But that's only the outward manifestation of the same treatment the workers in the US get. What boggles the mind is that they like it (or a big portion of them at least).
https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-appeals-court-dismisses-child-labor-case-against-tech-companies-2024-03-05/
https://www.epi.org/publication/union-membership-data/
https://www.epi.org/blog/employers-regularly-engage-in-tactics-to-suppress-unions-examples-at-starbucks-amazon-and-google-illustrate-employers-anti-union-playbook/
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/02/01/labor-unions/
french-
We are living in degradation. Most Americans don't know this, and wdn't care if they did. Can you imagine any American getting up one morning, looking in the mirror, and suddenly shouting:
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I AM A DEGRADED BUFFOON!
It just doesn't seem likely.
mb
Canadian journalist Stephen Marche, in his 2022 book "The Next Civil War: Dispatches form the American Future," contends that a new American civil war is inevitable. “The United States is coming to an end. The question is how.” To his mind, “The United States is descending into the kind of sectarian conflict usually found in poor countries with histories of violence, not the world’s most enduring democracy and largest economy.”
What have I been saying, amigos?
mb
Hello MB and Wafers,
Didn't post for a long time. Nothing much to say. Sometimes I fell like I am 'comfortably numb' in the prevailing madness. Every now and then I think of a statement Wallerstein made in one of his last commentaries: next 30-40 years will be hell. We are in hell, or at least pretty close to it.
Sharing this nice piece by Mukul Kesavan in the Calcutta (Kolkata) Telegraph. A perspective of how the decline/fall of not just the US, but of western exceptionalism is viewed from outside.The punchline, for me, is 'It’s hard to be a hegemon and a laughing stock at once.'.
Indian-
Pls send link, por favor. As for Wallerstein, in a bk of ca. 1990 called "Utopistics," he said that it was hard to determine what the post-capitalist socioeconomic order wd look like, except that it wd be different from the one of the last 500 yrs. But for sure, we're going to have 30 or 40 or 50 yrs of shit before we get to another place. Which I personally am hoping is better (not just different) than what we've got today. For more on this, check out my latest: "The Crisis of Our Time."
mb
Many Europeans believe if America collapses then Europe will as well. I don't believe in it but many people do. Some even think the EU is already collapsing and in worse shape than the US. But I live in Spain my 6th year and life is not even close to insane America. The way of life here is 1000 times more humane than American life. So, I don't get them. Sure, most of them never lived in the US and know America only from Hollywood movies, they have no clue. What do you think Dr. Berman? I can't wait for America to go down the drain from a declinist POV. The world needs to be done with the American Empire.
“After Buddha was dead, his shadow was still shown for centuries in a cave…”
An anthropologist who studied enchantment dies, you won't believe (well, you might) what happens next
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/marshall-sahlins-new-science-enchanted-universe/
For all those that also enjoyed MB's reenchantment book!
Mcgill-
Many thanks for this essay. My own similarity to Sahlins' work, even more than "Reenchantment," was "Wandering God," my only anthropology bk. I loved "Stone Age Economics"; I'm also 1st-generation American, with Russian-Jewish immigrant parents. Sahlins to me is a classic example of what I argued in WAF: America failed because it paid no attention to the thinkers, and the concepts, that cd have saved it. All it ever cared abt was economic and technological expansion, aka hustling, and by ignoring people like Sahlins, it degenerated into the empty culture we have today. And like Sahlins, the closest thing I come to religion is humor (w/a dash of his type of mysticism as well). Finally, regarding his interest in the Axial Age, check out my essay, "The Never-Ending Conflict," wh/I posted here a while ago, along w/Appendix III of my Japan bk. He was a great man, a truly creative thinker, marginalized at our peril.
Liv-
Once again, congratulations on your move to Spain. The US is a trashy, stupid culture, and it will be finished by 2030. And I doubt it will take Europe down w/it.
mb
I really feel like I need to preface this by saying outright that I have no problem with trans people. A few are personal heroes of mine (Wendy Carlos).
That said, I maintain that the seeming explosion of non-binary gender identities is telling us something much darker:
Western culture is alienating people from their own bodies.
It’s the destination point of a culture that’s designed to tell you that your feelings are wrong, and desire for community is weakness.
https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1097/JU.0000000000001971.20
The latest science says that suicidality doesn’t change when people medically transition, particularly for people who are born male.
I don’t have the answers, but I’m not surprised that people can find themselves confused about something so basic as gender in this toxic culture of ours.
Pen-
Well, I don't deal w/trans matters in my writing, but I have written a fair amount about the body. You might start with these two: "Coming to Our Senses," and "Healing."
mb
Lo siento mucho, MB (I hope that was not incorrect).
Here is the link to the article by Mukul Kesavan: https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/tiktok-tick-tock-the-dissolution-of-the-us-led-western-world-order-amid-chinas-rise/cid/2007419
Doctor and fellow Wafers,
You have to watch Blonde Kamala. She does an uncanny impersonation of our illustrious VP.
https://youtu.be/yJ8XImZm0YY?si=viW0ufO93BUdctOr
Dan-
Great stuff! She really is a rancid bag of douche fluid.
mb
Mass shootings here in the Land of Shit have been quiescent lately. So what better time to spark them up than on (an albeit minor) holiday weekend that celebrates some Roman Catholic hall of famer.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-792192
https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/17/us/washington-dc-shooting/index.html
https://www.newsweek.com/st-patricks-day-shooting-florida-jacksonville-beach-1880165
And here’s even more and BETTER news on Kyle. He’s going to be talking at Kent State. We all know what happened there May 4, 1970.
https://www.cleveland19.com/2024/03/15/kyle-rittenhouse-speak-kent-state-sponsored-by-student-organization/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Schmiden has a "cure" 4 fixing the Death by Opioid phenomenon, so sez this piece here. I bet he can also move mountains & make the blind see;)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/mar/15/bidens-got-cure-for-opioid-overdoses/
Speaking of ODs, now they've got kids carrying around Naloxone. Amerikkkans r paying a heavy price 4 their stupidity, & not facing their situation head-on
https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/03/18/opioid-deaths-spur-push-for-kids-to-carry-naloxone-in-maryland/
For almost 80 years the Palestinians have had to put up with this shit. This is nothing short of heart-breaking.
https://youtube.com/shorts/EX3rJH8rCJc?si=oPiBD_u4nyybY7Lr
Dan-
Give us a bit more commentary, por favor. Karma is going to overtake Israel, but in the interim it may murder another 30,000 Palestinians. What an awful country.
Remember George Carlin, on where our leaders come from (not Mars). A nasty people produced a vicious leader, Netanyahu. In the US, a collection of buffoons gave us Schmiden and Schmamala.
mb
Last episode of Netflix's Turning Point: The Bomb & the Cold War says US set precedence for Putin by invading Iraq: not a threat to us, not involved in 9/11, didn't have WMDs, cost $728b, 4,492 killed, 32,292 wounded, ~200,000 Iraqies killed. https://youtu.be/qHuuLo-CSRo?si=vyMc8w2apPXoYhnD
Jules-
Touche, and thanks for the ref. Also $6b got lost, was never accounted for, and probably wound up in private pockets. The economic payoff of war to US arms merchants is an obvious motive of American wars, but as I've also argued in a # of my works (see esp. QOV), psychologically speaking, America needs to have an enemy; it thrives on opposition, because it is hollow at the center, and war distracts it from self-examination.
mb
Anon-
Sorry, I don't post Anons.
mb
Post a Comment
<< Home