November 12, 2020

410

Wafers-

Well, that last thread had a lot of good discussion in it. Now, we can continue our analysis of the theater of the absurd, i.e. American politics. The nation is broken in two, and each part refuses to recognize the presidency of the other part. More than 70 million people, apparently, regarded Obama as illegitimate--the whole "birther" business fomented by Trumpaloni. So when the latter squeaked through on razor-edge margins in 2016, he was never given a chance by the other 70+ million Americans. Granted, he is an awful human being--perhaps one of the most awful in the history of humanity--but he was legitimately elected, and from Day 1 the Dems went to work to discredit that election: impeachment, plus daily attacks in the press (items normally reserved for the editorial page were now on the front page--opinion as "news"). Of course, Trumpi did himself in with his botching of the covid crisis, and his callousness toward George Floyd and black people in general; but nevertheless, the Dems took their gloves off and went for the jugular. In that sense, although his claims of voter fraud this election are completely farcical, I can sympathize with the poor douche bag: of course he wants to instil in the public mind, his base in particular, that this election got stolen. Joe Biden's call for unity sounds heartwarming, but the reality is that again, 70 million Americans will regard his presidency as illegitimate. Sure, it would be great if he can get a handle on the virus, on climate change, and on racism; but the bottom line is that the country is a broken political entity, like Humpty Dumpty, and I can't see the king's horses or men being able to put it together again.

Of course, from a declinist point of view, it's just as well. I've suggested before that the American empire can collapse via a number of different scenarios, and fascism was certainly one route. If we have now averted that, there is a more likely scenario on deck: we just tear ourselves apart, and continue to do so until secession becomes the obvious solution. Whether that will generate a better world than the one we have now is anyone's guess, but what I do predict is that the world will regard America with pity--as politically irrelevant. I think it was David Susskind who once remarked (rather unkindly) that Canada was "a large, snow-covered land limping toward anonymity." Leaving the snow aside, that might be more our fate than Canada's.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to this new thread.

-mb

194 comments:

  1. A good WAFER essay...


    https://medium.com/the-apeiron-blog/donald-trump-won-no-matter-what-happens-next-203f7c3a55c7

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  2. Having grown up a minority in Hawaii and regarding Black people as ... "white people with black skin" if that makes sense (and it's a thing) I don't think I'll ever understand at the gut level so many mainlanders' hatred of Obama. I literally only see a rather debonair guy who went to high school with my older sister. And the birth cert. thing is pure WTF material, hell, my own cert. looks just like his and my SSN is *very* close to his.

    I think more of the country than wants to admit it wants a Biden term just to hold off the crazy for a bit. But then, beware, abhor, the ides of '24...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good morning WAFers,

    Compelling discussions on this blog, for sure.

    Found an interview with former presidential advisor David Gergen and Trump's estranged niece Mary Trump discussing the dangers of the next 70 days and the transition of power:

    https://youtu.be/KgsWcwSp-MI

    Gergen: "Trump may be out of office but he doesn't want to leave the stage..he will try to become a shadow president"

    Here's a longer interview with Mary:

    https://youtu.be/vHG_JRWccrA

    And here's another episode of "This Week in Culture", post-election edition:

    https://youtu.be/RLBHDx9RXuc

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  4. vso-

    I think Trump playing the role of 'shadow president' over the next 4 yrs is very likely (sort of like the English system). How much damage he can wreak is not yet clear, but at the very least he can keep the country divided and antagonistic. Altho he cd have done more by way of decline had he been reelected, he can still contribute to that trajectory in a more limited way. So "it's all gd," as some people like to say.

    mb

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  5. Hola a los Waferes,

    @ jj Thanks for the link. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

    Reading books and essays is a a great pleasure with or without the relish of social isolation and solitude; with or without a pandemic. I like the simple, one-word titles.

    "Fear" - bobwoodward.com/books/fo3ts5c6Ijss8h25q3j2x92thehuey

    "Rage" - cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/bob-woodward-rage-book-trump-coronavirus/index.html

    Hope I got those links correct. "Fantasyland" was also good. "Common Sense"? Is there any left? My trumpolist neighbor told me one day last year about the place he had once been to "with the little green men". He said he doesn't worry. "I just buy another box of shells". I asked him: "Who are they? Me, for instance?" A totally civil conversation. I felt like Gene Woodward of Rawhide. People confide some funny things to me. Rave and Rage On, it's a crazy feeling!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shaun King has a great audio clip of his thoughts, which I tend to agree with:

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/4aT5lqmUFg3EWsEy8oU5dC?si=m32tAxUPRySedhNbMw-j4Q

    Like everything Trump has done in his life, contesting the election results is just another hustle. He will continue to con his pathetic followers out of their hard-earned money in the name of protecting America until Inauguration Day. And it will most definitely work. Meanwhile, COVID will spread like wildfire. The mess he leaves for Biden will be the equivalent of a tremendous, flaming bag of shit on the front steps of the White House.

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  7. CJ-

    All that is true, but I'm enjoying Biden's strategy: modeling for Trumpi, the bubbas, and the Karens, what a sensible, restrained, self-respecting person looks and acts like. Of course, that will just enrage them more. But I'm getting a kick out of it. On the prog side, we have 75 million people thinking that diversity and identity issues amount to democracy and socioeconomic equality, with only the tiniest handful of critics saying what is really going on. Man, this is such a stupid, fucked up country. It's really very entertaining.

    mb

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  8. al-Qa'bong10:55 AM

    Hello Wafers:

    We have our own strain of Bubbas here:

    "He came up to me ... saying I was uneducated, et cetera, like, I need to check my facts, do my research, I've been lied to," she said. "And I just kept saying: 'Leave me alone. My dad has cancer.' I just wanted space."
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/protest-against-mandatory-masks-saskatoon-midtown-mall-1.5794696

    I suppose these jerks think they are defending their constitutional rights as 'Murrkans to be free to do harm. The idea that adopting measures to protect everyone from a disease is a politically-motivated ploy to enslave them is ludicrous beyond description.

    Who is advocating shutdowns and mask wearing? It ain't the gubmint:

    'We are losing this battle': More than 300 Sask. doctors sign letter demanding government action on COVID-19
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/doctors-open-letter-1.5797316

    Here, the government in question is the right-wing Slack-Jawed Yokel Party I mentioned in an earlier post. They're hardly communists.

    This party's big brother is fielding a similar request from the medical community in Alberta.

    Hundreds of Alberta doctors, 3 major health-care unions join calls for 'circuit-breaker' lockdown
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-tehseen-ladha-heather-smith-jason-kenney-deena-1.5798897

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  9. al-

    Thanks, but pls watch length. Half pg max.

    mb

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  10. James Allen2:23 PM

    Trump Schmump.

    Interesting assessment from the folks Down Under.

    “America Has Serious Problems. It’s Time to Stop Blaming Them on Trumpism.”

    https://quillette.com/2020/11/09/america-has-serious-problems-its-time-to-stop-blaming-them-on-trumpism/

    Musing of an angry introvert: would the coronavirus crisis be ameliorated and perhaps experience a turn in a favorable direction if random clusters of maskless morons suddenly collapsed on the streets of cities across the land? I say it could hardly hurt.

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  11. Jas-

    Very thoughtful essay, thank you. Optimism at the end doesn't ring true, however; it wd have made more sense for him to suggest that every American be vigorously slapped.

    mb

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  12. Greetings MB and Wafers,

    America in a nutshell dept.:

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/06/steve-bannon-banned-by-twitter-for-calling-for-fauci-beheading

    I'm thinking it might be better to boil Fauci alive.

    Miles of Flog

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  13. Jeff-

    Perhaps the key to accelerating the American decline is to take any American who is doing something positive and ship them off to some remote South Sea island. This wd, of course, include Fauci. Maybe also the owners of Canter's in Fairfax, tho I wd hate to see pastrami leave the American continent. At the same time, Tulsi needs to replace Biden, and my latest bk, "Tulsism for Dummies," needs to be put on the curriculum of every class in the land, from kindergarten to grad schl.

    mb

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  14. alimony3:30 PM

    MB - do you think multi-culturalism and mass immigration has been good for the West?
    Do you support a "Constitutional Bill of Rights model" over "democracy"?

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  15. alimony-

    Gd questions, but it wd take a few hrs to reply, and I fear I don' have the time. Short answer to #1: some gd and some bad; depends on what the limits are. As for #2: I'm not sure I know the difference between the 2.

    mb

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  16. Parcifal3:52 PM

    You are an in-bred un-athletic un-attractive anti-intellectual tow the Zionist line kike - aren't you turkish the turkey. Congratulations on your tribes' inhumanity.

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  17. Parcifal-

    You must hurt a lot, no? What poison, what misery!

    Wafers: just a sample of the crap I hafta deal with. Wanna learn abt America? Start a blog!

    mb

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  18. Riffe5:19 PM

    vsoguy - Exhibit A to prove the ignorance and violence of the American people. Blacks attacking an old white man for suggesting they march peacefully? How stupid can u get?

    What we know of Trump suggests that he will continue to feed on the carcasses of of chaos. The man is just too interesting to be removed from the stage entirely. What would the TV news channels do him? report the news?

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  19. Dr. Shithouse5:27 PM

    Dr. Berman: These were american douche bags (redundant). These outbursts would make a great case study in psychosis (loss of contact w/ reality); their poison appears to be projection. They HATE themselves, and perhaps, know the us empire was fucked, hence the vitreol. But denial is fun.

    Great Seer--are you flying into DC to support Trump Sat Nov 14? Getting verklempt seeing all these pickem up trucks, patriots, etc... this was the us! This will definitely change things structurally. Weeping as I'm typing this...so proud.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZAH4pbVqks

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  20. Dr. Shit-

    Sadly, I can't make it. But let's cheer on the bubbim and bubbot.

    Riffe-

    Any evidence for yr news item? A link?

    Wafers-

    Check it out:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/12/can-history-predict-future/616993/

    mb

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  21. Ziggy Zag6:37 PM


    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-reportedly-very-aware-lost-143004283.html

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-allies-hyping-desperate-improbable-145606305.html

    Trump certainly knows that his base has the mentality of fans
    of WWE wrestling, the epitome of American Theater. The GOP
    secret plan is his way of telling his base that he demands a
    rematch with Biden. Yes, this is all such great fun for the
    Dadaists!!










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  22. Brentano, who taught Freud and Husserl, is a lesson to us all https://aeon.co/amp/essays/brentano-who-taught-freud-and-husserl-is-a-lesson-to-us-all

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  23. I for one, Morris find you very athletic and attractive.

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  24. Neil-

    Ha ha. Thanks, but I'm not terribly worried abt our friend Parcifal. Honestly, there are so many antisemitic douche bags around, who apparently have a lot of free time on their hands. The US is very talented at cranking out emotional cripples.

    mb

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  25. Athletic ability is highly overrated anyhow. Kindness, intelligence and curiosity are the most attractive traits for me. I think a lot of other women would agree.

    James Allen, thanks for Quillette article. Really enjoyed it. Did Bret Weinstein coin the term Trump Derangment Syndrome? Some of my friends in DC truly think everything wrong in their lives is because of Trump. One friend actually blamed menstrual cramps on him! It’s the intellectual laziness and inability to see the bigger picture of what the US actually is that drives me nuts. I despair that many of these people are Ivy League grads that define the idea of American success. As Dr B says, even smart Americans are stupid.

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    Replies
    1. Agree, Jamie...

      Dr. Berman is a cutie. Brains are a turn-on.

      He happens to be decently good-lookin' in my book, too. Just sayin'!

      Love, Cindy

      Delete
  26. More on the Proud Boyzzzzzz.... https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/civil-war-brewing-inside-proud-boys-as-top-leader-says-hes-done-pretending-isnt-a-nazi/

    Coup or loot-and-scoot? https://www.reddit.com/r/SocialistRA/comments/jt5ikc/is_this_bigger_than_a_coup/

    Interesting discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/anarchogeoism/comments/jsja71/calm_before_the_storm_million_maga_march_could_be/

    MB - The US/Ferengi culture of "if it can be calculated, it can be solved" has created a society of "childults" who can barely understand Aesop's Fables level ethical questions.

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  27. alex-

    Proud Boys turned out to be Paper Tigers.

    Jamie-

    Hey, I played tennis for yrs. Once I even took a game off an instructor who had played on the pro circuit. But I have wondered if Trump was capable of causing menstrual cramps.

    ps: Neil: In future pls address me as GSWH or Mr. Berman. Thank you.

    mb

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  28. Douche Bag Documentary:

    https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/nov/12/the-reagans-showtime-docuseries

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  29. Why, whod'a thunk???

    https://getpocket.com/explore/item/a-2-year-study-of-more-than-5-000-people-shows-this-1-activity-destroys-your-emotional-and-physical?utm_source=pocket-newtab

    "Want to stay healthy, both emotionally and physically? Researchers from UC San Diego and Yale have some simple advice for you: Limit the amount of time you spend on Facebook. While this may sound like typical anti-social media crankiness from academia, this time they have some impressive research to back up their case."

    and ending with an acknowledgement of the stupidity of her readers-

    "...So what should you do? I'm not going to tell you to stop using Facebook. You wouldn't listen to me anyway..."

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  30. G. Wilson11:06 AM

    "In one striking instance of rising majoritarian sentiment against an already alienated minority, high schools across France plan to circulate booklets with degrading images of the Prophet in order to affirm “the values of the Republic.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-11-12/macron-doesn-t-need-to-insult-islam-to-defend-free-speech

    Pankaj Mishra is a brilliant writer

    - Gary

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  31. Gary-

    Smart move! That won't generate a counterreaction at all!

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  32. Dear Dr. Berman,

    Some quotes relevant to the US:

    "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
    -- Isaac Asimov

    "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
    -- Martin Luther King Jr.

    "We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces."
    -- Carl Sagan

    Looks like this decade will be the "blow up in our faces" decade for the US.

    Himanshu

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  33. Riffe5:42 PM

    MB - on evidence of news item. I was commenting on a segment in vsoguy' video. View it for the segment I referenced.

    I've been doing some reading on 20th century evangelists recently - their rhetoric, live show techniques, what they did to draw such large crowds - and there seem to be more than a few parallels to Trump's rallies. I can provide citations and be more explicit about similarities later - but at this point, do Trump's rallies and evangelists' crusades seem familiar to anyone else? Similarities might also explain why so many evangelicals supported him.

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    Replies
    1. Dogheart9:13 PM

      Riffe -

      Some - if not most - of the similarities that you're seeing between Trump's rallies and evangelical services stem from their common background in hypnotism. In 2015/2016 campaign, there were people with hypnosis-related academic backgrounds publicly describing the techniques employed by Trump. There are a lot of verbal/auditory techniques supposedly being attempted. Full disclosure: I personally refused to watch Trump after 2017 inauguration because of how it made my gut feel. So I don't know if it's still being used. I think one person of note who was predicting Trump's win already in 2015 based on his knowledge of hypnosis was Scott Adams.

      Delete
  34. Nadine Bupkis6:27 PM

    Dr. Berman,

    I don't think you don't need to ship Dr. Fauci off to a remote island to accelerate America's decline. The number of COVID cases is growing exponentially. Today, as of 6:01 pm EST, there have been...*drumroll*...173,000 new cases!

    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

    And there will be thousands more before 10:00 PM EST, the cutoff point for tallying daily cases. For reference, keep in mind that just one month ago, there were only 50,000 new cases per day in America. Apparently, Dr. Fauci's helpful urgings aren't doing all that much. At this rate, there will be 1,000,000 new cases a day within two months.

    By politicizing COVID, Trump set into motion events that will destroy America within maybe 5 years, I would think. Half the country (Trump's base) will *never* believe COVID is both real and dangerous, and will never get vaccinated. This will be America's undoing.

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  35. Ziggy Zag7:22 PM

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

    How else to explain the 47% who voted for Trump? One can
    surmise that these dummies are simply TOO American for
    their own good after digesting the fables about America.
    One could contend that they are becoming obsolete in a
    world of artificial intelligence and automation and are
    destined for dead-end low-paying jobs while praying for
    a billionaire to save them with the assistance of Jesus.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Nadine-

    Well, it sure don' look good. You may not be aware of the original version of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, wh/he (unfortunately) changed at the last moment. (Of course, he cdn't know abt covid, wh/makes it even more prescient.) Here's the original conclusion:

    "...and that government of the buffoons, by the buffoons, and for the buffoons, shall surely perish from the earth."

    BTW, I asked my dr. abt the vaccine. He's only 1 person, but for what it's worth, he suggested I hold off on getting it. He said that anything produced that quickly was not entirely trustworthy; that there cd be undesirable side effect; and that it wd be better to wait 2 yrs to measure its success over time. Meanwhile, he said, just get an ordinary flu shot. Of course, this cd be bad advice, but it was an honest medical opinion--altho he's not an epidemiologist.

    Riffe-

    OK, sorry, my bad. You do realize (as do the trollfoons who chronically attack me) that I am by now seriously senile.

    Himan-

    I'm pretty sure this is the crucial decade. As for Asimov, he may have been taking his cues from Richard Hofstadter. Anyway, it's possible that the Proud Boys will step in at the last minute, and save us. (Or failing that, Tulsi)

    mb

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  37. Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:

    Trump's chance for re-election may not be over and if the election is called into serious question as this article seems to suggest it could, Trump may get the opportunity to end the American Empire. The chairman of the U.S. Federal Election Commission says ballot count observers have been prevented from observing ballot counting at multiple locations. At the very least, these allegations may drag on in the courts as the country is hit by the second COVID 19 wave.

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55867.htm

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  38. Michael-

    Wow! Didn't see that coming. I wonder if it's true.

    Zig-

    The problem is that the Reds have legitimate grievances against a system that is fucking them over (in addition to nativist factors), and rather than acknowledging this, the Blues just want to label them crazy, end of story. This is kind of a repeat of the syndrome I describe in WAF ch. 4, in which the South is branded in toto with the word 'slavery', as tho that were all it ever consisted of. That refusal/blindness was a big part of Hillary's loss in 2016 ("basket of deplorables"), and may account for the failure of any "Blue wave" to materialize this time around, as the Dems thought it wd. Sure, Biden won, but the split-ticket voting was obviously enormous, such that the Dems lost seats in the House and probably will not gain control of the Senate. For starters, check out Essay #15 in AWTY--Trumpi didn't win by accident. When, for example, he pointed out that Southerners displayed the CSA flag because of pride in their region, he may have been overlooking the racism involved, but he was not entirely wrong. The progs are literally unable to say to the bubbas: "I hear you."

    mb

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  39. Hola a los Waferes,

    GSWH - good to see the return of Ms. Applebaum in the Atlantic article you linked us to in the last post. I like her. You may recall getting a bit torqued with me several years back when I cited her views and comments. I still see no value in antisemitism. Which makes me a non-starter with the right wing, buffalo wing chicken-shit crowd. I was glad to see Drumpf trumpt. Beat a drum and bang a gong.

    But, Dr. Berman, here is my question: Are we there yet?

    the-sun.com/news/721538/amazon-rainforest-deforestation-coronavirus-lockdown-illegal-loggers/

    I would say: yes. The human race is collectively up the Amazon River of no return. Without a paddle. Without any plan. Which occurred to me in a song lyric inspiration back in 1977.

    Goddess help us!

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  40. mean-

    Honestly, I don't recall any torquing, and I'm not a big fan of antisemitism either. So I really dunno what yr referring to. However, keep in mind that I am senile, and that this worsens every day. :-(

    As far as yr question goes: not quite.

    Hope u.r. virus-free, and ingesting yr daily dosage of chopped liver. For more on pastrami, check out ch. 2 of "The Heart of the Matter." According to scientists on the staff of Canter's Deli in LA, covid collapses on contact with deli meats. There is a god, and apparently he's Jewish.

    mb

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  41. Pastrami and Coleslaw11:54 PM

    Dr. B. Don't worry too much about the upcoming vaccines, many (if not most) are based upon treatments developed for the first SARS pandemic, not that many remember that. I would encourage WAFers to keep an open mind on it. See this for more:

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7371592/

    I for one will be first in line for a vaccine, but since I have an autoimmune disease I have to stop some of my prescriptions (Mycophenolate if anyone wants to know) before a shot.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Krakhed11:59 PM

    Thank you Wafers and GSWH for your chronicling of our collapse as of late. Shmiden is the man to lead us towards another 4 years of beating off and nose picking and booger eating.

    Though I'm not holding out hope that Trumpi emerges with some fresh deceit to stay in power and pwn the libs for the rest of his life. We can only hope that more morons come into power to more quickly bankrupt this corrupt and destructive system.

    I had a strange encounter the other day. Some presumed neighbor walked by and exclaimed to me loudly that I live in a "shithole neighborhood". Not used to banter like this, I was dumbfounded on how to respond.

    A little later on I realized that this guy pointed out to me how I lived in a shitty neighborhood right next to a Trump sign in a neighbors yard. I really regret not responding to him with "so what this is a shithole country." But I'm a little nervous how an American might respond. This guy was certainly a douchebag, so I don't want to put myself in harms way.

    Speaking of douchebags: https://news.yahoo.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-congress-masks-oppressive-orientation-191419432.html

    I think Marjorie is a real promising figure in politics in the USA. Imagine if she teamed up with Tulsi? Talk about a dream team!

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  43. Riffe - the parallels I see are Italy 1920s and Germany 1930s.

    MB - Indeed, we're headed for the rocks if we see the "Deplorables" as The Other. I'm pretty much a Communist but I grew up going barefoot, catching crawdads to eat, having one "good" T-shirt, shooting BB guns, and bathing maybe once a week. I can relate to Deplorables on a very basic level, but the brainwashing ... the idea that they can go back to Mayberry RFD and The Little Red Reader if they just kill off the libs and the jooz, the question being how to insinuate a little reality into their heads. Huey Long, do we ever need you now...

    Meanwhile, the "Deplorables" have left the frying pan for the fire, er, the parler... https://americanepitaph.com/2020/07/parler-republicans-and-200000-fake-saudi-arabians/

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  44. Krak-

    You did the rt thing. Americans are volatile now--confused, bitter, and angry--and you can never know what might set them off. Even an innocent remark can provoke a hostile confrontation.

    Zig-

    Cdn't run it (24-hr rule).

    mb

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  45. Aardvark6:44 AM

    Yes, it’s all the fault of Big Oil, Facebook and ‘the system’. But let’s talk about you this time

    https://thecorrespondent.com/796/yes-its-all-the-fault-of-big-oil-facebook-and-the-system-but-lets-talk-about-you-this-time/105316520056-9134847d

    An article on commitment to personal change. I've always felt that was an important factor in being a Wafer.

    Have a safe weekend folks

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  46. Waesfjord9:41 AM

    Dear Wafers, Dr. Berman,

    I am so excited by football coach-turned-senator Tommy Tuberville. From the NY Times:

    "In his first big interview as a senator-elect, Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, misidentified the three branches of the federal government, claimed erroneously that World War II was a battle against socialism and wrongly asserted that former Vice President Al Gore was president-elect for 30 days."

    I need to find a a Subway's dumpster to beat off into. Jesus, this stupidity is glorious.

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  47. Yesterday, over 180,000 Americans got infected by coronavirus. And yesterday, 1306 Americans died from coronavirus. It is being reported that this will get worse. These are probably Trump's supporters - recall how Trump went around holding rallies in which his supporters worse no masks and did not social distance.

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  48. Wow, Dr B. Never knew you were a tennis champ. I got out a laugh out of this because around 13 I spent the summer working with a tennis coach. I wanted to meet the cute boys on the tennis time. Despite my efforts, I had less than zero talent or ability. I also never got the attention of any of those tennis players. It was 6:00 am cold mornings at the pool, dry skin and green hair for me. Thinking back on my physical state in high school from the pool time, I’m wondering if that is why I was a dating failure.

    An old college roommate from Mexico recently was going on about her dislike of Amlo. Even though she is pretty passionate, she still referred to his supporters as her “brothers.” As an American, I nearly cried. Why can’t either side see the opposition as a brother? Your books obviously already deal with this but I still find it crushing to my soul.

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  49. We may now have a better answer to Lincoln’s proposition, “a house divided against itself cannot stand,” no shit, so why fight a war to keep it “together?”

    Thank god for the six foot rule as far as dealing with toxic angry Americans, it gives me some space to slip away b4 I say something “provocative” (literally everything that comes out of my mouth)

    ReplyDelete
  50. Tolli1:23 PM

    Joe Biden plans to label countries as “climate outlaws” for failing to address climate change. Brazil might be at the top of his list.
    https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/21558425/brazil-bolsonaro-biden-climate-change-amazon

    Pretty sure the US would be right at the top of such a list next to China. Kind of awkward.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Big tech has plans for your life (1st link) and they're using neurolinguistic programming (2nd link) to manipulate you.

    https://off-guardian.org/2020/11/12/own-nothing-and-be-happy-the-great-resets-vision-of-the-future/

    https://www.wired.com/story/italy-five-star-movement-techno-utopians/

    I always thot NLP was the devil's spawn and the Five-Star tech gurus prove it. Very interesting that the Brexit people went to Italy to take lessons from them and won as well. And that old evildoer, Steve Bannon, pops up too. Props to naked capitalism for the original links. IMO very little that big tech does for the human being is good for us, collectively or individually. Except for this blog, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  52. alimony6:11 PM

    IMO mass non-qualified non-assimilating immigration across the West has been a disaster for Caucasian Europeans, civility, and an imposed war crime. Divide and conquer non-linear warfare always leads to a powerless easily incorporated identity-less nation-less people. Homogeneous societies are far more peaceful and resistant to demoralization and degradation.

    The P. Boys are state within the state sponsored and controlled IMO. Hegelian dialectics always used by alphabet agencies - in a land where known war criminals of every kind go free and are protected by the courts. The boys are changing nothing from the colour rev lefty victory dance over the U.S. domestic majority as the cops stand down to terrorists. You're on your own if attacked by the left and the integrated system doesn't let you defend yourself or your businesses e.g. K. Ritten-house sp? - made an example of in the polit-buro courts etc.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Birney Zouave9:30 PM

    Dr. B:

    Tulsi discusses "hyper-partisan politics" in her Diwali (Hindu festival of lights) message-

    https://youtu.be/kb9Phe5JkIU

    "Everything is politicized as we are pitted one against the other along the battle lines of race or class, religion, gender, age, or values."

    ReplyDelete
  54. Ziggy Zag11:37 PM

    Practice using chop sticks and pack your bags. Scroll down
    to get the full list having U. S. at #46.
    https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/

    [I'm not sure how 24-hour rule works. If a remark is
    sent prematurely, is it tossed out OR to be printed
    later?]

    ReplyDelete
  55. This just about settles it. There are an awful of white-skinned women in the USA with mashed potatoes where brains are usually found :

    https://truthout.org/articles/yes-55-percent-of-white-women-voted-for-trump-no-im-not-surprised/

    Now I'm not suggesting that they should have voted for Joe Biden. Nope.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Greetings again, Dr. Berman & Wafers. Our Karens are as wild as ever, as are a few Darrens. Enjoy as our fine ladies continue to help make the United States the laughing stock of the world on Karen Sunday, Episode 17.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEvp5xIoI7Q

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xUcZKo4mdM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0R1ME2HahU

    ReplyDelete
  57. WAFers,

    The million MAGA march in DC happened on Saturday (Bubbas and bubbettes gathering to protest the election results). It's pretty revealing to see how the media slants their stories:

    Fox news:

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/violence-maga-march-dc-antifa-blm-counterprotesters

    Headline: "Trump blasts 'ANTIFA SCUM,' media after violence mars MAGA marches in DC"

    CNN:

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/14/us/trump-washington-voters-rally-far-right/index.html

    Headline: "MAGA March brings together Trump voters, far-right leaders and counterprotesters, ending in some clashes"

    Wandered into an article by Tucker Carlson while I was on Fox news:

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-saluting-america-beautiful-nice-happy-sweet

    "This is a profoundly nice country, the nicest in the world. Americans are kind to children, to pets, to strangers. We give more money to charity than any other place. We tip our waiters more. There's no country on earth you'd rather be lost in, because someone will help you in America."

    What a crock!

    ReplyDelete
  58. One Third of Biden's Pentagon Transition Team Hails From Organizations Financed by the Weapons Industry

    https://inthesetimes.com/article/joe-biden-department-of-defense-pentagon-transition-team-weapons-industry-military

    ReplyDelete
  59. The Flabster8:10 AM

    As I read the news today, all I could think of was Kurt Vonnegut’s character/prophet Bokonon:

    “Pay no attention to Caesar, Caesar doesn’t have the slightest idea what is really going on.”

    America needs his humorous wisdom about the pointlessness of our efforts. Not that many would understand.
    More Bokonon:

    https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Cradle

    On a more serious note: https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/this-isnt-feminism-it-s-imperialism-in-pumps-edabb527ed4d

    Possibly the best journalist in America right now. No actual alternative to imperialism at home or abroad is on the table right now, from either party.

    Not that many of us need a reminder what imperialism at home looks like (sorry if someone already posted this):

    https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/hal-rogerss-kentucky-kingdom

    It seems the Democratic Party is focused on soft empire abroad, the Republican Party on bard empire at home under Trump. Either way a stunning lack of insight into how to do things.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Hola a los Waferes

    @ Aardvark Thank you for that link. After 40 years of 99% meatless protein preference ("fish not being "meat") I think I am doing quite well, given my pre-existing realities. "Be the change you want to see" is the idea here. A good post.

    Am I deprived? Now I am smiling, chuckling slightly. No, I'm not deprived, But, I would be the last to say "Ban the pastrami, piglets, baby goats, lamb and calf." My choice will never be your mandate. Do your own thinking.

    Happy eating. Stay safe.

    ReplyDelete
  61. I enjoy Robert Reich within his limits. He can give succinct, relatively clear analyses of what is going on. But he suffers from Hedges Hope Disease something fierce. Like this article in The Guardian today-

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/14/donald-trump-concede-election-republican-donors-covid

    "The president-elect aspires to find a moderate middle ground. This will be difficult because there’s no middle. The real divide is no longer left versus right but the bottom 90% versus the oligarchy.

    "Biden and the Democrats will better serve the nation by becoming the party of the bottom 90% – of the poor and the working middle class, of black and white and brown, and of all those who would be $47tn richer today had the oligarchy not taken over America.

    "This would require that Democrats abandon the fiction of political centrism and establish a countervailing force to the oligarchy – and, not incidentally, sever their own links to it."

    Ha. Ha. Ha. Love that ...'not incidentally, sever their own links [to the 10% oligarchy]..." I find myself understanding some long-standing cliches of popular culture more and more. What can you say to such tripe other than, to quote Wayne, "Yeah, when monkeys fly out of my butt..."

    ReplyDelete
  62. Saudade11:18 AM

    Some coverage of John Gray's new book on philosophy and cats

    John Gray reviewed in The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/feline-philosophy-john-gray-review-cant-humans-like-cats/

    Dangerous Minds has an interview with John Gray:
    https://dangerousminds.net/comments/cats_and_the_meaning_of_life_john_gray_on_feline_philosophy

    ReplyDelete
  63. al-Qa'bong11:44 AM

    Hello Belman the Spherical, and all Wafers on land and sea:

    Back in the 80s I said that at least one benefit of having a sexist society is that it keeps 51% of the sharks out of the water...

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/11/15/this-isnt-feminism-its-imperialism-in-pumps/

    "Modern mainstream feminism has abandoned women’s interests so thoroughly and completely in almost all spheres of importance that it has largely become only superficially distinct from the patriarchy it purports to oppose. The plight of mothers, elderly women, young girls, caregivers and wives have been almost entirely shuffled out of popular discourse, with focus instead shifted onto discussions about whether women are being adequately rewarded for their service to the God of Capitalism, or how they’re just as qualified as men to murder thousands of people at a time."

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous12:07 PM

    The programmes of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day, but there was none in which Goldstein was not the principal figure. He was the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Party's purity. All subsequent crimes against the Party, all treacheries, acts of sabotage, heresies, deviations, sprang directly out of his teaching. Somewhere or other he was still alive and hatching his conspiracies: perhaps somewhere beyond the sea, under the protection of his foreign paymasters...

    1984

    ReplyDelete
  65. Krakhead,
    As Dr. B. state, you did the right thing. Here's just one example you may have already heard about:

    https://www.kare11.com/article/news/crime/man-charged-in-alleged-political-attack-on-elderly-couple/89-9471d9a5-523e-4f3c-9ace-529674a06b9a

    ReplyDelete
  66. I Am--

    You need a better handle, thanks.

    al-

    Hemispherical.

    Dan D-

    Reich is just a tedious, mainline Democrat. He needs to be slapped.

    vso-

    In future be sure to limit length to half a pg. Thanks.

    Zig-

    Tossed out.

    alimony-

    I had a hard time understanding you. Also, just broadcasting an opinion is not very helpful. You need, instead, to state your thesis *clearly* and then provide solid evidence for it. This is how the blog works. Note that there are many other blogs without these stringent demands.

    Wafers-

    The entire nation continues to beat off. It has lost any idea as to what intercourse is.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  67. alimony - Following your link, you seem to be saying that for a longer life (not sure that's a good thing these days) one need to move to Hong Kong or Japan. Hong Kong's significantly less pleasant these days and as for Japan, I'm fairly certain that's including Okinawa which is known for high life expectancy. Those figure are changing fast and the long lives in these Asian countries are going to be a thing of the past because the younger generations are eating a modern Westernized diet and getting fat, getting the beetus, etc.

    Traditional diet, access to modern health care, and exercise built into one's lifestyle (like walking 2 miles to/from work for example) seem to be the trifecta. For most of us in the US it's fail, fail, fail.

    Article in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-020-0677-5

    ReplyDelete
  68. Dr. Shithouse8:30 PM

    Who's George Floyd?

    ReplyDelete
  69. A STUPID Fckg AD....or “KITSCH”...a word I learned from Morris!


    https://youtu.be/6VKeiNjM-AM

    ReplyDelete
  70. WuduFugel10:27 PM

    Alex, I think we are in a similar position here. I live in the south, my dad grew up on a farm picking tobacco leaves. I care deeply about the people here, which I should, because they are my co-workers, my family, my friends. They're certainly not "deplorable". They're people like me just trying to live their lives.

    But it you asked me to speak on their grasp of reality...well...I don't have a lot of complementary things to say. For many Trump is their hero, though if you ask them what legislation his administration has passed that benefits them, they don't know, and cannot say, but they're certain he's fighting the Deep State for them. To them the U.S. is a benevolent Kingdom guided by God's hand. None of them know who Stephen Kinzer is. Climate Change scientists are scammers because they've heard about ill-defined emails, but don't ask them what the science says - they don't know. I could go on.

    I love these people, but at a certain point you have to call a spade a spade. Kurt Anderson's book Fantasyland was perfectly titled, this is what a lot my neighbors live in. The left has their own version of it, mostly involving trying to make people feel shame about various things and yelling at them on twitter. But at least they think climate change is real, that's got to mean something.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Ziggy Zag10:46 PM

    It is time to say good-bye to those leaving
    Washington DC (Douchebag Collection). The term
    has been used to describe many who have appeared
    in your pages and perhaps you could add some to
    the list present in this video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW-HnAfUqA8

    ReplyDelete
  72. I just listened to the final 2 chapters of John Hersey's Hiroshima on a radio program. The descriptions were awful. As a Japanese-Amerikkkkan now expat in Brazil, I'm glad that disgraceful cesspit is on a steady decline, because it deserves it so much. That shithole has a lot to answer 4

    ReplyDelete
  73. Aryeh Wade5:50 AM

    Factory farming will kill us all
    Industrial meat production has created the perfect breeding ground for the next deadly disease
    https://unherd.com/2020/11/factory-farming-will-kill-us-all/

    The ways we treat animals ...

    ReplyDelete
  74. Northern Johnny8:13 AM

    Dr. B:

    I see academic writers in today's Guardian (UK) are declaring that the US political system will be gridlocked during Biden's term (assuming he actually becomes president) and that we can expect him to make small and delayed reforms, that is, that we can expect him to tread water and merely slow down the rot for four years. Quote: "The paradox emerging from these elections is this: although ideological conflict is at a fever-pitch high, both between and within the parties, the most likely outcome remains a modest and incremental policy agenda. " https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/16/american-politics-is-now-a-four-way-struggle-gridlock-lies-ahead

    But you've been saying this for months (years?).

    There are many reasons why I continue to visit your blog. Among them are your insight and your foresight and your being in a rare and unique position of being able and willing to diagnose reality, beyond shallow partisanship.

    -Northern Johnny

    ReplyDelete
  75. Evenflo10:51 AM

    https://globalvoices.org/2020/11/12/conflict-nagorno-karabakh-raises-scrutiny-israeli-arms-azerbaijan/

    "Armenia is David. Why is Israel arming Goliath?"

    Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh raises scrutiny of Israel's arms sales to Azerbaijan
    Israeli-produced drones gave Azerbaijan a key advantage over Armenian forces

    ReplyDelete
  76. Hola a los Wafers,

    search bar this and listen to the first one:

    [performance with vocal and guitar of stephen foster song "hard times come again no more]:

    I bet you're cryin' - laughin is the only possible antidote

    Mean

    ReplyDelete
  77. Kirk R. Glass11:54 AM

    Former US president Barack Obama in his memoir has likened Indian opposition figure Rahul Gandhi to a hapless student, in biting commentary on the dynastic scion who twice led his party to crushing defeats https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/obama-likens-india-opposition-figure-200849183.html

    Modi makes Trump look like Jimmy Carter in comparison, yet Mr Obama always had his back.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Pete Christen5:07 PM

    Dr.B and Wafers: Excellent quotes sent by Himanshu. Here's another for the list, from Jon Schwartz at the Intercept:
    "Everyone has a mental map of the world inside their head. Mentally healthy people adjust their interior map when they see it doesn’t match reality. Mentally unhealthy people try to force reality to change to match what’s inside them."

    https://theintercept.com/2020/11/07/everyone-failed-during-trump-era/

    ReplyDelete
  79. jj-

    In future pls refer to me as GSWH or Mr. Berman. Thanks.

    Wudu-

    Check out bks by Joe Bageant.

    Keiko-

    Check out a bk called "Neurotic Beauty."

    Johnny-

    It doesn't look like the Dems will get control of the Senate, but even with it, he's not programmed to make waves. The collapse will be slower than with Trumpi, but 0 can stop it now.

    Zig-

    Pls start observing 24-hr rule. Thank you.

    Dr. Shit-

    Gd pt.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  80. Some of you seem to be sure that Biden will ascend to the presidency. What I've been seeing lately tells me that Trumpaloni is not done yet, he'll try everything to stay in power. If you read his Tweets and re-Tweets, he's already pushing the idea that "we simply cannot let that happen" no matter what it takes. Let's see if it works, but I won't be the least surprised if he's still there on Jan 21. When they rule against him in court, he's gonna try to declare them corrupt or something and the whole GOP will back him. Don't lose hope!

    ReplyDelete
  81. Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:

    Here is a more expansive charge of vote fraud in the presidential election described by James Howard Kunstler which focuses on voting machines manufactured (and controlled?) in other countries. I kinda hope there's a real possibility that this election could be overturned.

    https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/dont-mess-with-mix-powell/

    Because I believe as Caitlin Johnstone says, a Biden administration will be worse than Obama's. However, I don't buy her notion that progressives can fix anything - the future belongs to the extreme right in the US, certainly as long as there is a US. Johnstone does back up her accusation that Biden will be worse for the average person than Obama with linked info.

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/11/17/biden-will-likely-be-worse-than-obama-the-left-must-lead-the-backlash-or-the-right-will/

    ReplyDelete
  82. Here's an anecdote that I picked up from listening to Amy Goodman this morning (2020-11-17). Apparently many persons in South Dakota who currently are quite sick with covid-19 continue to deny that they've got the virus all the way until they're about to die or until they die. They don't even want their relatives to be notified because "they're going to be fine". I thought to myself that these persons probably voted for Donald Trump, by and large, as South Dakota always votes Republican.

    Is this country going crazy? Have a substantial portion of the population in some locations lost their capacity for rational thought? I'm sure that many of these sick people in South Dakota are "good Christians". This isn't supposed to happen to "good Christians", is it?

    https://www.shelbynews.com/news/national/nurse-some-patients-who-test-positive-refuse-to-believe-they-have-covid-19/video_729d494d-75ac-5dd1-b605-28472967da30.html

    ReplyDelete
  83. GSWH and Wafers:

    Ready your bladders for a trip to the UN. Patrick Lawrence destroys prog illusions that Schmiden will change anything.

    "Biden’s army of foreign-policy transition advisers — 2,000 in number — is chock-a-block with warmongers, Russophobes, Sinophobes, Iranophobes, exceptionalists, puppets of apartheid Israel, humanitarian interventionists, and others promising nothing but trouble. We’ve known this for some time."

    As Dr. B says, 0 can stop it now.

    PS: Consortium News provided gavel to gavel coverage of the Assange trial. Worth looking into if only to recognize how far the US is willing to go to destroy one individual. Not something you'll find in MSM.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I’ll bet one of the Biden’s first reversals is to replace the troops Trump is bringing home from Afghanistan, “USA! Hope and Change!

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/17/politics/afghanistan-iraq-withdrawal-pentagon/index.html

    Ethan Hawke is making some amazing movies (First Reformed) and now a limited series on Showtime The Good Lord Bird - the story of John Brown and the raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, complete with appearances by Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas. Highly recommend.

    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/02/the-mischievous-irreverence-of-the-good-lord-bird

    ReplyDelete
  85. WuduFugel - thanks for the link, I had to use it to find out who this Kinzer fellow is as I'd never heard of him. Sounds like a real truth-teller; no wonder he's so little known. I've tried being kind to various lower-class or "street" people in my area and it's amazing how much they're against the very things that help them or would help them. You know the story: Trumpers on Welfare etc.

    Keiko - In Buddhism there's the idea/fact that bad acts will travel on and on (guy's boss treats him badly, he comes home and beats wife, wife hits kids, kids grow up to be abusers, etc down the ages) unless at some point along the chain, someone decides to absorb it and not pass it on. US'ians believe in hurting the other guy 10X as much, plunder, destroy, etc. So yes, the US has TONS of bad karma coming its way. I wonder if this is what John Lennon was talking about in "Instant Karma" and why he got capped.

    ReplyDelete
  86. So this is what Americans do in the middle of an aerially transmitted virus: a parent who has a child at home, positive for Covid-19, then takes a sibling of the Covid-19 child who lives in the same home and should be quarantined... takes this child to play a soccer game. The parents knew the kid lived with an active case, and took both themselves and another child to play soccer. Now another child has symptoms, is awaiting a test, and the family does the right thing and goes into quarantine.

    https://twitter.com/Bookgirl96/status/1328821328225382401

    "LET ME REPEAT: The parents of a soccer player on an opposing team knew they had a kid at home with Covid, yet still attended the game AND allowed their kid who HAD BEEN EXPOSED to Covid at home play the game. My mistake: assuming parents would not do that."

    Senator Chuck Grassley speaks on Senate floor without a mask, and is then diagnosed with Covid-19.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/17/republican-senator-chuck-grassley-tests-positive-coronavirus

    Ha. Ha. Ha. First as tragedy, then as farce.... what comes after the farce stage? because I think we are there...

    ReplyDelete
  87. James Watrous10:40 PM

    This country is so divided I do wonder if states will break off from the country and become their own countries. I live in California and I can see California doing it. A small state like Rhode Island might not be able too. Maybe some of the other eastern states could join up with Rhode Island if it really were to happen. Only time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  88. Fred60611:26 PM

    ‘It’s a sovereign place’ https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/it-s-a-sovereign-place-t-2AcUX5tECI8JjwfthISA

    This is incredible. Good of them!

    ReplyDelete
  89. Kirk R. Glass7:12 AM

    Obama sobre Lula: tenía los "escrúpulos de un jefe mafioso" https://www.elpais.com.uy/mundo/obama-lula-tenia-escrupulos-jefe-mafioso.html

    In his new memoir, Obama says Lula da Silva had “the scruples of a mafia don.”

    Surely Obama must actually be referring to the dubious Lava Jato lawfare investigation his DOJ helped manage, which got Lula jailed and helped Bolsonaro take power.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Milena7:41 AM

    Don't know quite what to make of this, by Tom Holland, as it's pretty rich and dense, and seems to take a poke at both sides of the debate over French secularism. Think you'd find it of interest, Wafers

    https://unherd.com/2020/11/the-age-old-clash-between-islam-and-france/

    ReplyDelete
  91. Hi Wafers:

    Mean Gene - There are several modern recordings of the song Hard Times.

    Here are two of my favorites:

    Nancy Griffith's version:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOKU07UGHsw

    Mavis Staples:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ixbah9u234

    Enjoy the music!

    ReplyDelete
  92. Unknown-

    Sorry, I don't post Unknowns.

    alimony-

    You probably need a different blog. Good luck!

    Kirk-

    In general, Obama is dramatically full of shit.

    Fred-

    Wafers + Native Americans might be the only folks in the US with non-US values.

    Crickets-

    This is the wrong blog for antisemitic trash. You will find many welcoming blogs in that category in the blogosphere. Godspeed!

    James-

    I have been predicting secession for ages. For my latest effort, see ch. 2 of "The Heart of the Matter."

    alex-

    No conspiracy involving Lennon. As for Kinzer: I use his work in DAA, and also have an essay called "The Brothers" floating around the Net somewhere. Good man.

    Cyr-

    We cd use some links...

    Marc-

    Trumpi managed to create an alternate universe, and 71 million Americans live in it. But then, mainstream America has always lived in an alternative universe, namely Disneyland.

    GB-

    But what if, on Jan. 20, Biden pees on Trumpi's shoes on nationwide TV? What then?

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  93. @WuDu...I second MB's recommendation of Joe Bageant, esp. his book "Deer Hunting with Jesus". You can also google for MB's blog post after Mr. Bageant passed. Thx also for introducing me to Kurt Anderson / FantasyLand (& also his book, "Evil Geniuses")

    I continue to be slack-jawed (I know, I shouldn't) at some of the people we elect in this country....for instance, Greg Gianforte (who plead guilty a few years ago to body-slamming a reporter...and then was elected, & then re-elected, to the House), was just elected governor of MT. A mini-Trump, he pledges to "streamline" mining, logging, etc, get rid of those pesky land protections, reduce access to fishing streams, etc. It's the same story writ over many states and the federal government. "We" in the US seem only to operate on a mission to prove that we can destruct-and-destroy absolutely any living or caring system. It's totally fucking sick. (reference: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/09/montana-governor-greg-gianforte-climate)

    And I could pick on the progs too, I know, but they aren't in control of very much in this country, barring some cities and a few states.

    ReplyDelete
  94. Flabster5:02 PM

    So eventually everyone is going to realize how close to finished the us empire is if The Atlantic is catching on:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/post-trump-world-will-never-go-back-normal/617131/

    The world is moving on quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Birney Zouave5:21 PM

    Dr. B:

    Here's the latest from Mikey Weinstein-

    https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/11/18/1996592/--We-re-Coming-For-You-in-a-White-GMC-Truck-to-Blow-You-and-Your-Wife-s-Heads-Off

    ReplyDelete
  96. WuduFugel5:38 PM

    James, I've been thinking about this lately too....for obvious reasons. This is also an idea explored frequently in fiction. I could see a future scenario where the NE is its own country with stronger ties to Europe, and the deep South becomes its own country that will probably look like the handmaid's tale outside of big cities. The midwest is hard to forecast, people in Chicago are pretty different from a rural farmer in Idaho.

    I could see the Pacific states having a closer relationship with asia and forming their own unit, though people out in the hills of Oregon are pretty conservative so they'd probably rather break off. The big cities could form their own peripheral style nation that looks like Chile, centered on Interstate 5, running from Seattle down to san diego.

    Whatever happens, I'd like to think in the end the country might be better off but history tells us that this kind of process is usually pretty ugly. Look at India/Pakistan or Yugoslavia. If/When the US does go through balkanization, the rest of the world will probably let out a sigh of relief if they can survive the economic aftermath.

    ReplyDelete
  97. Ziggy Zag7:01 PM

    I continue to be surprised by the amount of total
    subversion offered on YouTube. Self-confessed malcontents
    like MB, Chomsky, Hitchens, Hedges, Richard Wolff, Malcolm X,
    James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, et alia. Proper parents should
    simply not allow their children to view any of these
    inside agitators. Listen to Chomsky on the topic of
    sacred work...work that makes money for the rulers.

    ReplyDelete
  98. Hola a los Waferes,

    @Mike Kelly - thanks for those music links. Ms. Staples, pretty good. Ms. Griffith, well...a casual acquaintance with her in Austin in 1977 left me with an impression of opportunistic phony. Only okay.

    I appreciate the song from listening to the soundtrack of the Ken Burns documentary "Mark Twain" many years ago. For a good, simple solo guitar version notated and tabulated by William Bay, see "Flatpicking"; which book can be found @ melbay.com.

    It's a good challenge for enthusiasts of the guitar. I play it often, having memorized it in 2004. The point here is: music for self-entertainment and benefit to others is the best antidote to the covid-19 pandemic and the collapse of empire Twain spoke to in his life's work. Which subject we discuss here @ DAA blog. Thanks to GSWH.

    Rave on!

    ReplyDelete
  99. Oops!

    Hilliary as UN Ambassador:

    https://consortiumnews.com/2020/11/16/patrick-lawrence-hillary-clinton-at-the-un/

    This is a video wrap-up of the Assange trial on Consortium News

    https://consortiumnews.com/2020/10/15/watch-the-trial-of-julian-assange-with-roger-waters-john-pilger-ray-mcgovern/

    There are many other live reports from the trial on the website but you have to dig a bit for them now.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Pascali9:47 PM

    Hi Dr B,

    Trump is really scaring lots of people both inside and outside USA.
    Will there be another man who can scare people like Trump?

    ReplyDelete
  101. I've discovered that it's possible to get banned from YouTube for talking about things like general strikes if the 'rump isn't dumped.

    Google owns YouTube. Google owns Blogger/Blogspot and needless to say, Google owns Gmail. Google also seems to own Wordpress.

    With all the talk of widdling on shoes and such here, I really encourage the good Doctor to consider getting a .mx domain. .tv, something because if it's possible for me to get banned from YT for 1% talk of general strikes and 99% gushing about various Asian culture and food videos, then they can certainly shut the good Doctor down.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Jonathan Barrker2:30 AM

    Unherd is a curious site. It pretends to offer a different perspective on controversial issues. But from my perspective it is mostly a forum for back to the past right wing group-think. Its comments section is dominated by culturally illiterate right wing dingbats, most of which are falling-off-your-seat laughable.

    ReplyDelete
  103. alex-

    I suspect they regard me as fairly innocuous. Also see post from Ziggy, above.

    Ziggy-

    Chomsky link?

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  104. Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:

    Here's a report that actually came out on several news outlets that some South Dakota patients with COVID19, even those who were dying, denied they had the disease, said they had the flu, pneumonia even lung cancer, rather than COVID19.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/south-dakota-nurse-says-many-dying-patients-still-insist-covid-19-not-real/ar-BB1b3Ljm?;pfr=1

    Trump really didn't do these people any favors by denying the reality of COVID19 or, for that matter, saying he'd bring back the jobs lost overseas and to Latin America over the last 40 years. Sad.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Government shutdown looming? Dec 11 funding runs out - I’m thinking Trump will hit the ground running on the 12th

    http://www.crfb.org/blogs/upcoming-congressional-fiscal-policy-deadlines

    ReplyDelete
  106. “Tyson Foods ordered employees to report for work while supervisors privately wagered money on the number of workers who would be sickened by the deadly virus.” https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/11/18/lawsuit-tyson-managers-bet-money-on-how-many-workers-would-contract-covid-19/

    This is America!

    ReplyDelete
  107. Riffe2:04 PM

    Marc - Yes, Yes, and Yes

    Janet - America's greatness is based in its ability to destroy whatever interferes with its desire to dominate the globe. We are exceptionally good at destroying peoples and nations which prevent or threaten to prevent geographical advances and cultural infiltration.

    ReplyDelete
  108. Harrington2:45 PM

    “Rose, a Mexican-American student... voted for Donald Trump. But if asked by her family, she’ll tell them she voted for libertarian Jorgenson... one of Rose’s parents is undocumented, and another family member is a DACA recipient.”

    https://slate.com/human-interest/2020/11/voters-lie-family-friends-trump-bernie.amp

    Damn. Some nuance to the picture.

    ReplyDelete
  109. Greetings Wafers,

    Mean Gene - You might like this song Kingdom Coming in the Year of Jubilo by abolitionist Henry C. Work. It would be banned if it were written today because of the some of the language but the sentiment is pure.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqV1Sy4qXHA

    There was a band I like called the Red Clay Ramblers that played this tune but I can't find it on Youtube.

    ReplyDelete
  110. Anonymous3:44 PM

    mb at al,

    Most here agree that season 5 of Celebrity Apprentice:White House! will see the beginning of secession, possibly a guest appearance by the military. How does it split, California by itself?

    ReplyDelete
  111. Nadine Bupkis7:16 PM

    As far as secession is concerned, when that happens, I suspect the new countries will be third world shitholes where race and gender determine one's class and one's rights. Think of the Indian caste system, then add American stupidity and violence into the mix, and you'll see where this is likely to lead. The so-called progressive "woke" movement and the far-right fascists both espouse a racial/gender hierarchy, and it is these movements that will shape the countries that break away from America.

    Some of you mentioned karma, America's karma finally starting to ripen. America created many failed states, and will disintegrate into many failed states. I suspect that once this happens, the rest of the world, no longer afraid of America, will pour scorn on America and everything it stands for.

    ReplyDelete
  112. Ziggy Zag7:22 PM

    DAMN!!! I hope you not angry for my violating 24-hour rule.
    I figure you'll want to enter it into my remark.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR1jzExZ9T0

    ReplyDelete
  113. COrvell8:24 PM

    Stephen Wertheim
    Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy

    https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-World-Birth-Global-Supremacy/dp/067424866X/

    ReplyDelete
  114. Deirdre Tan9:01 PM

    Watching the US struggle to contain a rogue executive just underlines the folly of imperial presidencies.
    https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/opinions/2020/11/14/a-postmortem-of-a-colonial-election/

    'A Postmortem of a Colonial Election'

    ReplyDelete
  115. cubeangel10:34 PM

    Dr. B

    I was reading about the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov and the concept of Psychohistory. Basically, it is a fictional branch of science that combines history, psychology and mathematical statistics that predicts certain outcomes of huge population sets.

    You can't predict though what a small sample will do that easily. What if you introduce a small anomaly into the huge population set. Could this small anomaly introduce change and this change over the centuries and decades grow over a geometric rate and because of this could it be possible that America could actually change for the better? Am I making sense?

    ReplyDelete
  116. Madagascar10:57 PM

    Chomsky defends Zionism and financial support of Isn'tReally. Democracy Now is Kosher approved.

    ReplyDelete
  117. Ziggy - You sound like quite the student of those lecturers. Good taste there. Are you about to put on pants any time soon?

    Pascali - there's much talk of a more competent Fascist running for office in 2024. All we've done is buy some time.

    meangenekaz - Selco, survivor of the Yugoslavia breakup, relates how tough guys were essentially killed at the whim of warlords, but a willowy guy with long hair who played the guitar was treasured because there was no music otherwise. Also old saying: "The fiddler will always sup and have a warm place by the fire". Also see how Django Reinhardt got through WWII.

    MB - I probably *was* spamming since I used the same word string repeatedly. I kind of thought they warned a person first and I saw plenty of pro-'Rump repetitive word strings but it is what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Colin Le Fanu8:22 AM

    BBC News - France's Macron issues 'republican values' ultimatum to Muslim leaders.

    • Children will be given an IDENTIFICATION NUMBER to help locate them.
    • Imams must register.
    • No political actions as Muslims.

    Macron taking cues from the Marine Le Pen playbook
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-55001167

    ReplyDelete
  119. MB, The following question has been on my mind for a while. For the progressives, starting with Marx and Engels, history has a direction. In simple terms from feudalism to capitalism to socialism etc. Marx cites the European experience in support. Apart from the fact the each society/culture has its own unique experience, the European experience has a once in a civilizational kind of event determining its course in history. I am talking of the plague in the mid 14th century. There has been enough discussion on how the 'Black Death' led to the collapse of feudalism in Europe and hastened the emergence of capitalism. For societies that were not devastated by such a pandemic, what is the necessity that they will transit to capitalism from feudalism? How can a very unique experience in history of a certain continent be generalized?

    While the questions are obvious, what I am interested in is whether there have been serious academic work on these.

    ReplyDelete
  120. Flabster12:38 PM

    https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-dumbest-coup/

    I think the pos sorry I mean POTUS might succeed.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Indian-

    Which societies are you talking abt, that might transit from feudalism to capitalism? I wasn't aware that there were any feudal societies left.

    alex-

    Pants? Also, I dunno what yr referring to abt spamming etc.

    Madagascar-

    Very sorry to hear that. But WTF is Isn'tReally?

    Riffe-

    An example (with evidence)?

    Nadine-

    That's one scenario, but there are other possibilities. As of now, it's all up for grabs.

    Zig-

    Pls be conscientious abt providing evidence, and abt 24-hr rule. Thanks.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  122. To Nadine:

    I also imagined a scenario of the US breaking up into a bunch of smaller countries and all of them being hell holes. I also have imagined the day that Americans will be seen as the scum of the Earth and where no other country will open any doors for them once they see what Americans really are.
    I remember that in the 90s they were a bunch of sick degenerates and no sane person would want to be anywhere near them and this was when apparently there was relative prosperity and tranquility. Could anyone imagine being around them when that shithole collapses and goes to hell?

    ReplyDelete
  123. With all the news and headlines each day about Don Trump still trying to subvert the election, let’s not forget the average daily occurrence of mass shootings that take place. This latest one took place in Wisconsin.

    https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-mall-shooting-injuries-
    891ae890c2ef263710562efb97b5c1be

    And speaking of Wisconsin, conservatives all chipped in and posted bail for Kenosha, Wisconsin, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse.

    https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/11/20/bail-posted-for-kyle-rittenhouse-antioch-teen-
    accused-of-killing-two-people-during-kenosha-protest/


    ReplyDelete
  124. Greetings MB,Wafers
    Ordinary Indian,I suggest the works of Giovanni Arrighi.
    This is from his wiki page .....

    His most famous work was a trilogy on the origins and transformations of global capitalism, which began in 1994 with a book that reinterpreted the evolution of capitalism, The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times. The book is a classic in the field, published in at least ten languages. Giovanni completed a second edition of The Long Twentieth Century in 2009. In 1999, he published Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System with Beverly Silver, and in 2007, he published Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, comparing Western and East Asian economic development and exploring China’s rise as an economic world power.

    ReplyDelete
  125. mb - Whenever I see the name Ziggy I remember the pantless guy in the newspaper's comic page telling Dad jokes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggy_(comic_strip)

    As for spamming, it seems YouTube put in me the penalty box for putting in the comments of many videos "GENERAL STRIKES IF THE 'RUMP ISN'T DUMPED" and since although hand-typed in in each case, would qualify to them as spamming (although endless repetitions of "Trump 2020" are perfectly OK because Nazis, profit...)

    Meanwhile, since everything the 'Rump does is stupid, why not a stupid coup? https://medium.com/indica/i-lived-through-a-coup-america-is-having-one-now-437934b1dac3

    ReplyDelete
  126. A good reminder of why things may not get much better wihtout Trump in office.

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/21/can-american-democracy-survive-donald-trump

    The American belief in conspiracies, lies, and deception were here long before Trump and live on stronger than before.

    "...Over the last four years, many have acknowledged, however reluctantly, the ways in which Trump’s presidency is symptomatic of entrenched maladies in the American body politic: his divisiveness, rage, dishonesty, greed, double-dealing, dishonour, puerility, truculence, fragility, narcissism and paranoia, all characterise American society today. Trump’s exceptionalism is also American: the rules apply to everyone but him. Trump is all of America’s worst qualities, the nation’s id come to roaring life.

    "If Trump is symptomatic of America’s diseases of power, then his compulsive dishonesty might be the most revealing pathology of all. The US is a chronically untruthful country, deceit written into its very framework. The constitution contains explicit protections of slavery but never uses the word “slavery”, a deeply mendacious deception that eventually became a collective self-deception..."

    ReplyDelete
  127. Irate McDonalds customers got nothing on these dipshits, this is what happens to sugar, fat, and salt junkies. Would’ve been a better story if someone had brought an AR-15 to the show.

    https://www.tmz.com/2020/11/20/in-n-out-opening-aurora-colorado-creates-chaos-fights-12-hour-wait/

    ReplyDelete
  128. MB, This is an interesting point. While no society is untouched by capitalism, it being the world system, not all societies are touched in the same way in my opinion. In India, for example, though the economy runs essentially in a capitalist mode, the traditional society retains much of its feudal character. The relations of power are quite often feudal. Also, a large part of the economy is ‘informal’, and in this segment feudalism rules. Many feudal lords have done a smart makeover so that they exert the same old power in society now via the electoral process of a liberal democracy. Not surprisingly, it is the same in Pakistan. See Aatish Taseer, Stranger to History. I won’t be surprised if it’s the same in many African societies.

    Point is, can one claim that these societies made transitions from feudalism to capitalism due to inherent contradictions in feudalism as existed? Perhaps not. Capitalism arrived in these places as an external influence. So where is the inevitability of social ‘progress’ from feudalism to capitalism ....? My point of curiosity and lack of understanding is, did Marx make too much of an accident (and it’s aftermath) of history? His critique of capitalism is a different matter all together.

    ReplyDelete
  129. Adrienne11:31 AM

    Culture wars fuel Trump’s blue-collar Latino gains
    “Most Latinos identify first as working-class Americans. And Trump spoke to that.”

    Marc A Caputo writes in his story today: “Trump improved his margins in 78 of the nation’s 100 majority-Hispanic counties.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/21/culture-wars-latinos-trump-438932

    ReplyDelete
  130. Indian-

    Perhaps. Marx was surprised by Russia, which went from feudalism to socialism, skipping the capitalist phase.

    Gunnar-

    Who waits 12 hrs for a burger?

    Cindy-

    I tell ya, sometimes I sit on my sofa, contemplating my cuteness, and I nearly faint as a result. Meanwhile, know that I'm madly in love with you. :-)

    Thanks to all Wafers for continuing to document the degradation and debasement of the American people. Do you realize how many of them need slapping? Meanwhile, the sharpest critics of America fail to identify the major source of our ongoing collapse: Americans! (It wdn't be politically correct, so they delude themselves.)

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  131. Hola a los Waferes,

    @ Mike Kelly - that link to "Jubilo" was good. I do know the melody. In 2006 or 2007 I formed a small ensemble with my wife, a violinist-turned-mandolinist, and a pianist turned 5-string banjo student. An interesting aside there - he was a transgender botanist from Massachusetts whom had studied with the pianist Jaqueline Schwab, whom was featured on the "Mark Twain" soundtrack. The lineup was: mandolin, two guitars, concertina and vocals. We gave two home performances, our only two rehearsals, and played "Hard Times", "Dixie", "Ashokan Farewell", "Wayfaring Stranger", "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", "House of the Rising Sun", "Morrison's Jig" and a few others. Our audience was an anesthesiologist. The group then disbanded. Very 1865-ish. What fun.

    John Coltrane, John Jorgensen, John Lennon are alternative mainstays for me.

    @ GWSH - In 2015 I enjoyed reading Walter A. McDougall's "Freedom Just Around The Corner." Have you read his book "The Throes of Democracy"? It looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  132. Zoondar3:23 PM

    Has anyone noticed how anti-"white" a lot of the rainbows and unicorns SJW groups are (NGO's and such). Always "white supremacism" or "male patriarchy" causing corp state abuse - ignore the female CEO's . . . I can't get through a day without being shamed and gay-op'd by this meme being pushed so much. Who would benefit from such projection? Each time I got outsourced to mediocre and incompetent E. Indian IT racists (which ruined my life) I wasn't feeling any "privilege". Which country BTW gets the most post-war reparations? Where are my reparations from globalization?

    On another note MB Cindy may be a ginger - so be very very careful because as you probably know when they pounce . . .

    ReplyDelete
  133. Riffe5:38 PM

    Evidence of what I wrote previously- any accurate history book of the USA. If you need something in particular, see:
    Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace - Gore Vidal
    The Twisted Dream - Douglas Dowd
    The trilogy on American decline by Morris Berman
    The trilogy of early American history by Bernard Bailyn
    A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
    An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States - Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

    All, in whole of part, support my thesis.
    What else might I do to satisfy you, MB?

    ReplyDelete
  134. al-Qa'bong6:03 PM

    Hello Wafers, spherical and otherwise:

    I don't know what it looks like from the inside, but the view of the USA from afar is of a looney bin. For example, right now the Trumpniks are saying the election was stolen, while the liberALS say Trump is in the midst of staging a coup. While both cannot be correct, it's pretty certain that both are wrong.

    Is it possible that language is a factor? I've mentioned this before, but people in the US seem to use words as if they have no clear definitions. Biden can be called a "communist" by Trumpniks for instance, even as he himself brags about crushing the "socialist" Schmernie. Those throwing around these terms may as well accuse each other of being "infidels" or "helots" for all the accuracy their barbs contain.

    I've even read recently that Marx is a "progressive." He might take issue with that, were he afforded the opportunity.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Ziggy Zag7:12 PM


    I regret being the one having to send these upsetting videos.

    The first video presents the background to magical thinking.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_uV0RZZn98

    This one tell the viewer that the Democrats, with the money
    from China, the Clintons, Soros, and Gates, somehow got to
    God to derail Trump.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gIAtDxyTaM

    ReplyDelete
  136. Flabster8:28 PM

    The bubbot strike back!


    Check out the headline photo
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/19/heres-how-seriously-you-should-take-trump-legal-teams-conspiracy-theories/

    As I currently live in the US, I have come to an acceptance, that I’m fucked!

    ReplyDelete
  137. Gunnar - In-N-Out eaten outside of California is about as delightful an experience as sushi in Nebraska. What got the chuds flocking there is probably that In-N-Out is run by rabid Christians. There are Bible verses on the bottoms of the cups and the crossed palm trees are intended to somehow represent the cross. It goes on and on. In-N-Out ran "Come to Jesus" ads on the radio in the 80s after they realized how many people were taking the free In-N-Out bumper stickers and cutting them up and rearranging the letters to say "In-N-Out Urge". I'm guilty of having eaten plenty of In-N-Out here in California and once or twice in Arizona - the latter awful. You can make a better burger at home so why support Big Republiburger?

    Adrienne - Most Hispanics are Catholic and I think the 'Rump's campaign hammered on abortion, abortion, abortion ...

    MB - New TV series: Karl Marx, Time Traveler .... wooooooooooo (creepy music)

    ReplyDelete
  138. MB - it was even worse in Colorado Springs where they waited 14(!) hours for a burger, (I think I’d rather be in jail than sit in my car for over half a day). I’m guessing these are the same people who get irate in a thirty minute traffic jam waiting for the cops to clean up after an elderly person on a walker is hit and killed in a crosswalk. Very weird - it’s a point of pride for these numbnuts. Reminds me of this puerile show where people compete in a race through cities in Europe, I mean who wants to take their time in a craphole city like Paris?

    https://www.google.com/search?q=amazing+race&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS910US910&oq=amazing+race&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i433j0i131i433j0i433l2j0.5894j0j4&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#wptab=s:H4sIAAAAAAAAAOMwU-LSz9U3MC-2qIrPecRYzC3w8sc9YamsSWtOXmNM4RIOKQspCyjKTy9KzHUtyCzOT0ktFtLgYnPNK8ksqRSS4-KTQtKvwSDFw4XEF1Lm4glOTSzOz_MrzU1KLRIS5mKTYjI20uCQ4pRkAAMHB55dTHwhZVDD3UszU1IXsUqFZKQqOOYmVmXmpSsEJSanKkCMUTA2AgCyrZNzsgAAAA

    ReplyDelete
  139. Happy Karen Sunday. This day of the week often brings out the Bible-thumping Karen & Darren street preachers here in this joke known as the United States.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSELSrt4FOU

    Part II is a rather long segment but worth every minute of it. Enjoy!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn1F-fpQfJY

    This group had it right. “American woman, stay away from me.” -The Guess Who. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  140. "the key to suicide: loss of community" From a review of Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, one of the NYT's 100 notable books of the year https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/books/review/deaths-of-despair-and-the-future-of-capitalism-anne-case-angus-deaton.html

    ReplyDelete
  141. WuduFugel11:11 AM

    Dan, good article, pretty much agree with everything it says. I like to use the more Jungian term in relation to Trump - he is America's "shadow". Americans like to think of this country as strong, benevolent, fair, just, sophisticated, and guided by Providence. And by Providence I mean either Divine will or just some version of "American Exceptionalism". What Trump shows is that America is really divided, violent, ruled by wealth, crass, and stupid, guided by nothing except meaningless consumerism. To me one of the other good lines from the essay was this one, from historian Robert Paxton, “Feelings propel fascism more than thought does.”

    As Americans detach themselves further from reality, their feelings will guide them more and more into political absurdity - and most likely a dark future. I like to riff on Gore Vidal, who called us the "Empire of Amnesia". We are the Empire of Inertia. We've been the world's empire since WW2, but that political and economic momentum is slowing down more each year, and when its finally gone, there will be nothing left to prop up the American way of life.

    ReplyDelete
  142. Farmer, I will check that out. Thank you. I somehow missed your comment last time. Sorry.

    MB, then Marx would be totally flummoxed by China. It essentially went from feudalism to socialism to capitalism!

    ReplyDelete
  143. Eric Jensen12:22 PM

    How many people have told you, "I never pay attention to the commercials..." Over $350 will be spent specifically on you to influence your decisions. How about your news? Facebook has done experiments and proved that they can influence voting by what they call "nudging." Now look at the huge numbers of people who truly believe that the majority of news outlets are misrepresenting Biden's victory. The misinformation industry has taken hold as an ineluctable destructive force. Look how the NY Times ensures adherence to their "religion."
    https://www.rt.com/op-ed/507403-nyt-western-propaganda-operates/

    ReplyDelete
  144. Zoondar-

    WTF is a ginger? Anyway, I doubt Cindy has that much to fear.

    Riffe-

    Provide links, play by blog rules. Otherwise, you will be cast into utter darkness.

    al-

    The # of Americans who need slapping is reaching asymptotic proportions.

    Flab-

    As long as yr a Wafer, and regularly tune into this blog, you aren't fucked.

    Dogheart-

    The same was said abt Hitler. Turned out to be b.s.

    Gunnar-

    See my reply to al.

    Wudu-

    Also an empire of children.

    Indian-

    Well...it's state capitalism, not laissez-faire capitalism.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  145. Wafer quote for the day, from Rainer Maria Rilke:

    "Let everything happen to you
    Beauty and terror
    Just keep going
    No feeling is final."

    ReplyDelete
  146. Hola a los Waferes,

    @ al-Qa'bong - "trumpniks" is good. My brother uses "trumpkins". He likes the Yellow Brick Road reference and it is good, given the view from the outside looking into The Cuckoo's Nest of Fantasyland USA!

    Tiptoe through the tulips with me!

    ReplyDelete
  147. It's interesting how the NYTimes can write a long book review on white working class deaths of despair while doggedly avoiding the word "neoliberalism". In fact, it may be fairly said that the entire purpose of the NYTimes in 2020 and beyond is to suppress any general understanding of what that word means, and what it portends for not only the white working class under Biden, but the rest of America's degraded, depressed, sinking wage slaves.

    "Capitalist Realism", a term coined by British cultural critic Mark Fisher (who died his own death of despair in 2017), is perhaps an even more pointed way of thinking about neoliberalism and how it has this sick culture by the balls:

    https://youtu.be/3IXvaFCauLw

    ReplyDelete
  148. al-Qa'bong4:11 PM

    Hello Wafers:

    I checked my copy of Frank Crumit's "Kingdom Coming and the Year of Jubilo," Mean Gene, and was pleased to see it was recorded on November 29, 1927, which is perfect timing for next week's show.

    I'm looking forward to playing "Give Me a Chaw Tobacco," recorded on Nov. 22, 1928 by Carter Brothers and Son tonight.

    Yessir, I'se makin' radio great agin, a-streamin' on cfcr.ca.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Anonymous7:48 PM

    Final election results for Wafers only.

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/El6V6fUU4AU1TSW.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  150. Pascali8:39 PM

    Dr B,

    America may finally implode. Some people in Texas are waiting for an order from Trump to take up arms against USA.

    From the article:
    "Some supporters of President Donald Trump in Texas say they’re willing to take up arms against the American government the minute that Trump gives them the order."

    https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/texas-trump-supporters-say-theyre-ready-to-take-up-arms-the-minute-the-president-gives-the-order/

    ReplyDelete
  151. Great little 16-minute documentary and I think worth is for the scene of the burning windmill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZBzkOwohMs&feature=emb_logo

    Interesting recent movie that may prove prescient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushwick_(film)

    MB - A "ginger" is a redhead for some reason. It confused me for a long time because one of the horses in "Black Beauty" was named Ginger and was indeed yellow-tan like ginger root is. But in Commonwealth English redheads are gingers.

    ReplyDelete
  152. Ziggy Zag3:44 AM

    One should review the analysis of what brought Hitler
    to power. These 70 million Trumpites seem to be with
    us for structural and historical reasons as were those
    in Germany who brought Hitler to power.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RxAkex2oVI

    A thinker close to what should be read is, of course,
    Sheldon Wolin in his "Democracy Incorporated." This
    was written when "W" Bush was around, who does not in
    any way support Trumpism. Imagine what Wolin would
    now think of Trump and his 70 million worshipers.

    ReplyDelete
  153. Musgrave7:39 AM

    Plato and Aristophanes saw this coming... https://www.indy100.com/news/us-election-donald-trump-joe-biden-quote-rigging-us-election-2020-vote-7401266

    ReplyDelete
  154. I can't even drum up any amusement, watching American politics going crazy over two senile 80-year-olds - and with all the viciousness of the two parties of late Roman chariot racing hooligans that occasionally tore apart Byzantium. Of course a chariot race would be far more satisfying than anything American culture can puke up.

    ReplyDelete
  155. Since Trumpo has been successful in hijacking the Repugnantan party our coward Senate majority leader’s name shld be Mitch McCuckold

    ReplyDelete
  156. Dear Dr. Berman,

    Trump made US a joke at G20. World leaders should keep treating it as such after The Don's gone

    https://www.rt.com/op-ed/507575-g20-summit-us-trump/

    How much longer before world leaders openly begin to say: " Mr. Biden/Trump you and the US are a joke?"

    Himanshu

    ReplyDelete
  157. Sad: Libertarian Wants To Have Big Thanksgiving To Defy Government But No One Wants To Hang Out With Him https://babylonbee.com/news/sad-libertarian-wants-to-have-big-thanksgiving-to-defy-government-but-no-one-wants-to-hang-out-with-him/

    ReplyDelete
  158. Nadine Bupkis5:10 PM

    It seems that even self-described American leftists are being pulled ever rightward in terms of their politics. Bret Weinstein, who used to be a genuine progressive, is now saying that competition, not cooperation, must be the foundation of every workable political system, and that to do otherwise always ushers in a Communist nightmare.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3yV3MjdD84&t=1506s

    Here he can be seen promoting this idea while being hosted by the William F. Buckley Institute, a right-wing propaganda outlet in Yale University.

    What do you make of this, Dr. Berman?

    ReplyDelete
  159. Dr. Berman & Wafers,
    Once again, let’s forget about Don the Con Trump. He’ll soon be history. Let’s instead keep up with the daily mass shooting occurrences here in the planet’s wasteland, otherwise known as the United States of America.
    https://www.newsweek.com/mass-shootings-2020-increase-coronavirus-pandemic-1547729
    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/11/22/Nebraska-police-arrest-man-for-shooting-4-killing-2-at-Sonic-restaurant/4461606100386/
    https://www.amny.com/news/nyc-shootings-deadly-house-party-shooting-in-brooklyn-may-be-gang-related-cops-say/
    And why should we stop with civilians killing each other? Now newly elected members of the House of Representatives can blow someone away while Congress is in session if a heated debate occurs.
    https://mynbc15.com/news/connect-to-congress/gun-toting-congresswoman-elect-may-carry-glock-at-capitol

    ReplyDelete
  160. Hola a los Waferes,

    Two Rolling Stones hits come to mind with these two stellar amerikan psychopaths:

    "Play With Fire" -

    kwtx.com/2020/11/23texas-man-sought-after-girlfriend-set-on-fire

    "You Can't Always Get What You Want" -

    kwtx.com/2020/11/22/man-arrested-in-deadly-attack-at-nebraska-sonic-restaurant

    I usually prefer to post thoughts about the up side of music, but these really had me pondering the down side.

    ReplyDelete
  161. Greetings MB, Wafers

    Gov. Cuomo wins Emmy for COVID briefings.

    https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-coronavirus-cuomo-emmy-20201123-2f2giwhe5fbj7gocuj5ohdtezq-story.html

    Indian,

    You are welcome and not to worry for to err is human and I believe the error is mine. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread and I sure did dive headlong into your back and forth with Dr. Berman. A little learning is a dangerous thing.

    ReplyDelete
  162. Dan Daniel, I read Churchwell’s article in the Guardian with interest. Dr Berman’s chapter on the US Civil War runs contrary to her assertion that the South created a myth that slavery wasn’t the reason for the war. Dr B’s insight into the culture of the South is astounding, entirely original and intellectually brave. Surely most Wafers have read this chapter numerous times. I also disagree that Republicans are the elites of the US. Both parties are funded by large donors with enormous assets, not just Reps. With her PhD from Princeton and a Booker Prize judge, she is elite. Prog views dominate the elite worlds of academia, publishing, entertainment, journalism and so forth. America’s wealthiest communities are decidedly blue. She is scapegoating and blaming instead of seeing the true reality of the US. Both progs and bubbas are fucking horrible. She only acknowledges half of the equation.

    ReplyDelete
  163. Nadine-

    Very sad. He was doing a lot better when he was fighting political correctness at Evergreen. What a stupid place to wind up.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  164. Nadine Bupkis4:49 PM

    Dr. Berman,

    I have some thoughts I'd like to share with you about competition, and I suspect you and I see eye to eye on this issue. Competition is harmless in a very limited context, but once you take it seriously, you start feeling anger, envy, and the desire to undermine and one-up others. I know this because I used to be competitive, thanks to my American upbringing, and let me tell you, it was absolute hell to think and act that way.

    I don't know how I abandoned competitiveness, but it was the greatest thing I ever did for myself. I'm genuinely happy, and I've stopped comparing myself to others. Meanwhile, I see my American countrymen trying to one-up and undermine each other all the time, not realizing they're destroying the nation's social cohesion by doing so. In fact, many think dog-eat-dog competition fosters social cohesion, as long as everyone believes in it and is optimistic. Can you imagine a dumber idea? Cause I can't.

    ReplyDelete
  165. And more "wonderful" news from the front lines:

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/11/22/nebraska-sonic-drive-shooting-man-arrested-murder/6384210002/

    https://www.wmcactionnews5.com/2020/11/12/shot-system-memphis-childrens-hospital-overwhelmed-by-young-shooting-victims/

    I live about an hour north of Memphis, TN and the latter is seen as a news item virtually every day. So sad.

    ReplyDelete
  166. Dear Dr. Berman,

    Below is a quote (taken from an email exchange with me) from an extended relative (he is in your age group) who lives in SD. He does visit your blog but has not commented as far as I know:

    "This covid stuff has sure opened my eyes to ignorance around me-- I had no idea people could be so stupid. The covid cases are skyrocketing and SD is leading the way yet some of my neighbors and friends refuse to wear masks and Trump is still their hero."

    I responded to him by quoting Gore Vidal who has been quoted here many times: "Stupidity excites me."
    Best Wishes,
    Himanshu

    ReplyDelete
  167. Ziggy Zag8:00 PM

    For Rolling Stones, THE greatest rock'n' roll ever possible
    in this or any other universe is "Gimme Shelter" and should
    be played every day when the topic of America arises.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbmS3tQJ7Os

    It seems that fascist talk shows have given up on Trump
    reversing the election results. For evidence, a new
    sponsor catering (literally) to survivalists now that
    doom is certain without Trump is a patriotic firm:
    https://mypatriotsupply.com/

    ReplyDelete
  168. @ Jamie at al- I think that, each in its own way, most Americans are fools. Liberals, conservatives, academics, proud dumb a**es, at the end of the day they are all pretty much the same. And not that different from you or I. We are all just trying to make the time between birth and death as interesting as we can, each in our own weird way. The Churchwell article is a way to look at it. Like walking in a forest. From one position the trees look like A, from another they look like B, on and on. But it's all the same trees. I enjoy writers who present an interesting perspective but know that that is all that they are doing- viewing and mumbling from one spot out of an infinite number of possible spots (sorry, Doc B, nothing personal).

    And every now and then, you stumble across someone who can present multiple views of the trees- ALL AT THE SAME TIME!! Bach. Hegel. There are others...

    I do keep coming back to this article (not for its Hegelian complexity). Among other things, his 'split' isn't Dem or Repub, Trump or Clinton. He sees Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton as more alike than different. He finds education to be key, and that Dem technocrats are pretty much the most destructive thing going...

    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/05/the-view-from-the-back-row

    ReplyDelete
  169. Sang-

    Post only once every 24 hrs, max. Thank you.

    Nadine-

    Most people don't really accept themselves. As a result, they try to show that they are better than everyone else. Check out Alfred Adler.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  170. @ Nadine,
    I think it is helpful to take up the principle that “Youtube intellectuals” are not to be taken seriously; The masses love them because they provide entertainment— entertainment that’s wrapped in faux intellectual bombast that in the end doesn’t make substantive existential demands on listeners because their message is just the status quo in a different language (ex. Weinstein’s now embrace of “competition”… what an original and daring idea!)

    Just compare the auras of someone who got famous intellectually entertaining on YouTube (Jordan Peterson), to someone who is a serious human being that ‘talks boring’ (Noam Chomsky).

    ...Not surprising from Weinstein.

    ReplyDelete
  171. Wendy3:04 PM

    https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/13/america-is-exceptional-in-the-nature-of-its-political-divide/

    America's always exceptional!

    ReplyDelete
  172. Small owl found trapped inside Christmas tree bound for Rockefeller center:

    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/11/rockefeller-the-viral-stowaway-nyc-christmas-tree-owl-flies-free/

    Macy's annual Thanksgiving day parade to be a "TV only" event due to the pandemic:

    https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-2020-tv-only-pandemic/index.html

    Here's a thought, why not just forget the tree and the parade? Of course that isn't doable because such things are what give life any meaning here in the US.

    My own plan for Thanksgiving is a day of fasting and mourning for the indigenous that were slaughtered and displaced in the name of "progress".

    Take care all.

    ReplyDelete
  173. Dr Berman, Wafers

    Here is an offering from a writer who in my estimation is not what Wolfgang Streeck refers to as a "wilfully neutered academic".

    https://harpers.org/archive/2020/12/the-silenced-majority/

    ReplyDelete
  174. Nadine Bupkis7:49 PM

    https://www.healthline.com/health-news/north-dakota-has-one-of-the-worst-covid-19-mortality-rates-in-u-s-heres-why

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/23/south-dakota-gripped-by-pandemic-amid-kristi-noem-no-mask-approach

    Apparently, being right next door to Canada hasn't made North or South Dakota any saner. They have the highest COVID death rates in the world, and their governors are either resisting the mask mandate or failing to enforce it. Those who are dying of COVID continue to claim that nothing is wrong, and that it's all a hoax. This is self-delusion on an epic scale. These people are living in the Twilight Zone.

    ReplyDelete
  175. BretDevereaux .7:34 AM

    It's quite ironic that Flynn really did have freakishly hawkish positions on Iran and other foreign policy subjects -- so leave it to crusading FBI/CIA Resistance Dems to turn him into an overall sympathetic figure.

    Onward and downward!

    Bret Devereaux

    ReplyDelete
  176. "Oligarchic imperialism is the new dominant world religion. It is the scripture that everyone reads from. It is what shapes our culture. It is what holy wars are fought over and acts of terrorism committed for. It’s what power is built around." https://t.co/tXU4W0IZhv"Oligarchic imperialism is the new dominant world religion. It is the scripture that everyone reads from. It is what shapes our culture. It is what holy wars are fought over and acts of terrorism committed for. It’s what power is built around." https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/11/26/oligarchic-imperialism-is-the-new-dominant-world-religion/#

    ReplyDelete
  177. Pedro-

    If you have any disagreement with ideas or positions held by folks on this blog, myself included, that's fine: just state your argument politely and then back it up with evidence. But if you attack this blog, attempt to denigrate it in any way, you won't be on it. Word to the wise.

    Anon-

    Sorry, I don't post Anons.

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  178. Nadine Bupkis2:44 PM

    Brian,

    You make an excellent point. It's sad that many of America's leading leftist intellectuals have sold out and become right-wing political entertainers. The list includes Bret Weinstein, Eric Weinstein, Heather Heying, Dave Rubin, Jonathan Haidt, Glenn Lowry, John McWhorter, Christina Hoff Somers and (especially) Tim Pool, who used to be part of Occupy Wall Street and is now a gun-toting Trump fanatic. The worst part is they don't admit that they've switched ideologies. They still claim to be liberal, which leads me to believe they want to rebrand liberalism so that it becomes indistinguishable from neoconservatism.

    But I guess this is to be expected in a dying civilization. I guess we should expect most of the few good, sane Americans to lose their minds and stop being good. Being a right-wing mouthpiece is very profitable (as Bret Weinstein and his wife Heather Heying have discovered, much to their delight), and in these uncertain economic times, few have the integrity to stand by their moral principles.

    ReplyDelete
  179. Dan Daniel, thank you for posting this exceedingly insightful article. I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I certainly see why you keep coming back to it again and again. I’ve read it twice now and plan to read it with my husband too. As for Churchwell, I certainly enjoyed her article and agreed with quite a lot of it. Those were the main points with which I disagreed. I also a fan of her work on the Great Gatsby from a few years ago. Gatsby is certainly one of the greatest critiques of America decadence and its accompanying meaninglessness. Actually one of the last things I did before leaving DC for a new life outside the US was go up to Rockville, MD to pay my respects to Scott and Zelda, two of America’s most famous expats. I may or may not have had a few shots of gin while there.

    I will certainly be sharing the Current Affairs article with others who are looking for answers and not merely empty rhetoric. Please do post additional articles you come across in this vein. Very thankful for insight such as this on Thanksgiving Day.

    ReplyDelete
  180. Dr. Berman & Wafers,
    This is utterly hilarious, something taken right out of Don the Con Trump’s playbook. Here is a group of obvious grifters—the “nonprofit" True the Vote Inc.—conning and hustling a wealthy Republican businessman out of $2.5 million; and all because he didn’t like the election result and naively fell for this incessant election fraud canard. Ya gotta love it. LOL.
    Hustling in the United States knows absolutely no bounds.
    https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/11/26/Donor-sues-pro-Trump-group-to-recoup-2.5M-in-failed-election-lawsuits/8041606417254/

    ReplyDelete
  181. Hola a los Waferes'

    @ Farmer Brown - thanks for your post and link to the Harpers essay. Very Orwellian...

    @ Nadine Bupkis - My buddy Joe jokes about being a"knucklehead". He's next door in Utah, I'm in Wyoming- I call it Cowpokeyville. We wear masks, practice social distancing and are covid-19 free (though he thinks he contracted the virus before escaping Manhattan last Spring). There are lots of connections and parallels with Cowpokey and North Dakota/South Dakota. The politico-fascists s are really sharp here, as they are in the Dakotas. The guv might even be a "knucklehead":

    dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8990495/Wyoming-Governor-Mark-Gordon-tests-positive-Covid-19.html

    saddle up!

    ReplyDelete
  182. DeadThoreau5:19 PM

    Just thought I would pass along a very Waferesqe book, The Enchantments of Mammon:
    How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity

    "McCarraher illustrates how we start to break down on the road to “progress.” We become split creatures who submit to calculation and control in the external world, but inside indulge in hedonistic daydreams first stoked by sentimental religion and popular novels, and later, by consumer culture and the self-help industry. We get distracted by our fantasies as Mammon’s economist-priests order the flock to suffer any conflict or scarcity for the promise of material happiness that awaits. He points out that it was Adam Smith himself, in the Theory of Moral Sentiments, who revealed the Great Lie fed to the congregation in his description of a poor boy who, glimpsing the lifestyles of the rich, becomes “enchanted” and vows to work tirelessly to fulfill his desire for luxuries – only to find out in the end that it has all been a trivial pursuit. Pitiful, but how else do you keep him in line?

    The misenchantment McCarraher describes is so pervasive that it even infects dissenters, like unions that downsize their ambition from power to just a little redistribution; beatniks and hippies whose bohemian visions are incorporated into consumer culture and corporate consciousness; or environmentalists who accommodate capitalist expansion. The Occupy Movement provides powerful anticapitalist testimony, but it looks like a lot of the “99 percent” want to “take back” the American Dream, not awaken from it. Many, with the exception of the rising number of socialists, many of them young people, still buy into the concept of progress based on unlimited economic growth and technological development, all of it driven by expanding material wants and expectations for godly control and transcendence."

    https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/the-gospel-of-capitalism-is-the-biggest-turkey-of-all

    ReplyDelete
  183. Vincent5:50 PM

    https://civileats.com/2020/11/25/14-stories-of-resiliency-and-food-justice-in-indigenous-communities/amp/

    "CivilEats has long reported on Indigenous foodways. We share 14 recent stories of hope, reconciliation, & justice in Native communities & dedicate this to Ohlone elder & food justice advocate"

    ReplyDelete
  184. Ziggy Zag7:41 PM

    Dada lives in America! Here's a mere 37 seconds providing
    an excellent exercise for fans of psychoanalysis. Bypass
    the usual chitchat from tedious academics and go directly
    to the evidence of the nature of the 70 million Trumpites.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONrssi6-GNc

    ReplyDelete
  185. Another Schmoe11:27 PM

    Happy indigenous peoples day MB, as they say in Berkeley and thereabouts.

    Here in the zany USA a weird calm, almost a coma has set in since the wild liberal street party when Biden was declared winner. It's like everyone has snapped out of the dream of the Trump "fascism world" and now everyone is pretty much unclear on what to do.

    The virus keeps spreading of course, and financial bubbles are wilder than ever. Feels like the moment when a tsunami is about to hit shore and the water recedes and dumb tourists frolic on the suddenly uncovered bay sand.

    All I can say, for all of us...is mazel tov.

    ReplyDelete
  186. Namaste12:15 AM

    Dear Mr. Berman,

    Happy Thanksgiving !! I would like to Thank You for enriching my life through your writings. Your books and this blog have been a source of great knowledge for us Wafers. May Waferism live on forever and you be blessed with great health.

    As you have said before, would like to repeat that “if not for the GSWH, we would have thought something is wrong with our understanding of the Amerikkan culture.”

    ReplyDelete
  187. Happy Thankstaking everyone!

    This site may be a bit far from the Collapse Of The Evil Empire, but I'm curious if anyone thinks there's any credibility to it, or whether it's just dark, tarry hopium instead of the purified light-colored hopium the dealers usually dispense.

    https://www.darkoptimism.org/

    ReplyDelete
  188. Greetings to Dr. Berman and his Merry Band of Wafers!

    I’ve recently come across an article by Russian writer Dmitry Orlov (http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2020/11/watch-this.html), who predicts that the United States will suffer a worse breakup than the Soviet Union. Like Orlov … and probably everyone here … I see this election as utterly pointless, but I find it entertaining as well, knowing one side would have some kind of amusingly delusional meltdown when the other won. Now Joke Biden’s Blue Meanies are saying Trump is staging a “coup” by refusing to concede, but I see it more as a Jugoslav-style breakup on the horizon. Orlov envisions that the United States will fracture into maybe hundreds of tiny statelets. I agree with that assessment for the Red areas, but I think the Blue areas along the Pacific Coast and the Northeast will agglomerate into large republics, as I think the Blue folk are more amenable to collectivism and centralization. Any feedback on this idea?

    ReplyDelete
  189. al-Qa'bong10:16 AM

    Hello Wafers:

    I can't say I know much about Tulsi Gabbard or why she's hated so much here, but this is good:

    "Representative Tulsi Gabbard has called on President Donald Trump to pardon National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange before he's set to leave office on January 20, 2021."

    https://www.newsweek.com/tulsi-gabbard-trump-pardon-edward-snowden-julian-assange-1550573

    This isn't:

    Top Iranian Nuclear Scientist Reportedly Hospitalized Following Assassination Attempt Near Tehran
    "Iranian officials are almost certainly going to say this has U.S. and Israeli hallmarks all over it"


    Gee, why would Iranians think that?

    https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/27/top-iranian-nuclear-scientist-reportedly-hospitalized-following-assassination

    ReplyDelete
  190. al-

    I don't hate her, but I *would* like to hold her head under water for 10 mins. :-)

    Namaste-

    Your welcome, my pleasure. I am indeed the GSWH; there is none like unto me. I will die in 2045, but Waferism will carry on. Meanwhile, let us celebrate the massacre of an entire indigenous population.

    Thank you all for yr fine contributions. Where else can you go on the blogosphere, and not see heads rammed in rumps?

    mb

    ReplyDelete
  191. Hola a los Waferes,

    Morris, I'm with you, Ziggy Zag and the slightly misfit crew - Gimme Shelter!

    ReplyDelete
  192. megan-

    Great imagination! But yr very much off base. 1st, there is no such thing as Freudian Erotic Transference, or anti-transference. And when I think of Tulsi, I just wanna hurl; which isn't terribly sexy. As for Sarah, what excited me abt that scenario was that Ed Meese might be present.

    mean-

    Pls address me as the GSWH, or Mr. Berman. Thanks.

    mb

    ReplyDelete