453
I don't have much to say today. Instead of 453, I could have written "Heads Rammed in Rumps," which seems to summarize both current foreign and domestic policy. Biden's disapproval rating is now up to 55%; the possibility of the Democrats not getting buried this November is quite small. In addition, when asked what were the most pressing issues for them, something like 60% said the economy (read: inflation), and 3% said US foreign policy. Which is to say that the war in the Ukraine is not big on Americans' hit parade. Biden is doing nothing to curb inflation, and is trying to send $40 billion in military aide to the Ukraine. So do the math, as they say.
posted by Morris Berman at 2:36 PM
192 Comments:
Greetings MB and Wafers,
MB, Wafers-
Biden's disastrous presidency will pave the way for the return of Trumpi. I would like to give him a few campaign slogans for 2024:
1. Biden is one dumb muthafucker!
2. Who's got 40 billion to give Ukraine? I don' care what happens to Ukraine.
3. Our beautiful babies are starving.
4. Beef Zelensky is a poor substitute for a chicken sandwich.
5. A Chicken Kiev in every pot!
6. Have you seen the butter? It spurts everywhere!
That should do it. Good luck Trumpi.
Miles
Jeff-
The fact is, it *is* a disastrous presidency. Trumpi won't hafta make things up. Schmiden has done 0 for the country (unless yr gonna count trivial diversity app'tments), and has stupidly restarted the Cold War, at a potential cost of trillions. (Are Tulsi and Rand Paul the only ones who see this?!) He doesn't give a damn abt the Ukrainian people, and nearly everyone knows this. And he can't dump Kamala, because of the diversity issue, so he's saddled w/an utter buffoonette as a running mate. Meanwhile, the midterm election is a foregone conclusion. Bill Maher, Liz Warren, and I begged the Dems: for heaven's sake, don't beat off; *act*. So what do they do? Beat off more vigorously! (What a surprise) Their humiliating defeat in Nov. will pave the way for a return of Trumpaloni, a bulvan w/o equal. Once in office, he will roll up his sleeves and polish off the country, once and for all. Declinists will dance in the streets. Really, how many times can ya say, "It's over!"?
mb
Wafers-
I think it's long overdue to establish a Beatoff List (BL). Here are 2 biggies:
1. The Jan. 6 Committee. What have they accomplished? And does anyone seriously believe that Trumpi will be called to account for fomenting this insurrection? That any of his advisers, Bannon included, will wind up in jail? All they've been doing, really, is beating off.
2. The usual handwringing in the wake of the Buffalo shootings. Taking action means legislation restricting guns, across the board. Instead, what everyone seems to be doing is making speeches. = beating off.
Can anyone add to this list? True, the entire country is beating off, but let's provide some specifics.
mb
Why do you never announce some rare good news about America? Always
the dismal, bleak, discouraging, and UNpatriotic assaults on the
greatest nation ever possible in the history of the universe is printed to prevent a good night's sleep.
Reduced from the previous $500M!!
https://luxuryes.com/2022/01/bel-air-mansion-the-one-to-sell-for-295-million-at-auction/
Think of drugs that already got through! Why does the US need so
much palliative care?
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/sophisticated-cross-border-drug-trafficking-152007249.html
Rock-
What can I say? Yr rt. I have no excuse, and I hang my head in shame. But I do seek to expand my Beatoff List (BL).
mb
Dear Dr. Berman,
Talk about a Freudian slip (be sure to watch the video):
https://thesaker.is/the-brutal-invasion-of-iraq/
Himanshu
dermot-
This isn't a 'hit and run' bulletin board. Pls familiarize yrself w/how this blog works. Thank you.
Himan-
Too funny/horrible, really. Condi Rice made a similar mistake, a short while ago. One thing Americans are not noted for is self-transparency.
mb
My contribution today to the B-O List is the suspension of the Schmiden Disinformation Board, announced yesterday. Its director, Nina Jankowicz, apparently resigned in a huff after she was “subjected to unjustified and vile personal attacks and physical threats.” Wafers can nod and move on. Side note: We were personally amused by the Washington Examiner’s news categories in the link below.
www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/news/bidens-controversial-disinformation-board-suspended-after-wave-of-criticism
US empire "exceptionalism," "Heroes" and Zeros. Intoxicated NJ police chief lying in street.
https://www.nj.com/burlington/2022/05/police-chief-charged-with-drunken-driving-was-lying-in-street-when-cops-arrived-videos-show.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAI9xDcY6mQ
Hola MB and Wafers,
Can the Beatoff List (BL) include a guy who actually beatoff? If so:
Beatoff List (BL):
4. A San Jose California cop beatoff inside the home he was dispatched to for a disturbance:
https://www.valleycentral.com/news/officer-charged-after-masturbating-at-home-he-was-dispatched-to/
Miles
If you're looking for signs of USA's imminent demise, look no further than education. I can't offer scientifically gathered data; I report only my own, but extensive, experience tutoring mostly middle and upper class American students for college entrance exams, which has left me with no illusions about the future of American politics and civilized discourse. Most college-bound 11th-graders students I meet with, despite having every advantage in life, can't comprehend a paragraph written with any real level of complexity, recognize and explain proper grammar, or do basic arithmetic (especially fractions) without a calculator. When asked for the main point of a paragraph or passage, many are clueless. It's as if they've never read a book. In grammar, sometimes it's necessary to identify the subject of a sentence, and it's perfectly normal for students to point to every word in the sentence, including prepositions, adverbs, conjunctions, etc., before arriving at the actual subject. It's shocking, and I could go on. I really have to wonder how school is being conducted these days if students can reach their last years before college so deficient in basic skills. If they don't know the structure of a sentence, how could they expect to utter a coherent one? I'm thinking they never will and won't really mind either.
Let’s get ready for another wild weekend here in the “exceptional” U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!. For starters check out this mug shot of your average USAin.
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news/buffalo-man-accused-of-threatening-employees-at-north-buffalo-supermarket
Here’s another fine lad.
https://fox59.com/news/columbus-man-arrested-after-possible-road-rage-incident-off-us-31/
Go Chicago!
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/live-updates/mass-shooting-chicago-10-shot/
And drive safe. But it probably doesn’t matter. You never know when your next drive may be your last in this pathetic f*ckin’ shithole.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2022/05/20/we-heard-six-to-10-shots-garden-city-woman-injured-in-road-rage-shooting-incident/
One has to wonder how stopping the decline in the US population by
methods other than immigration will save it from declining further.
What if this increasing population is no more Christian than those
preceding it? When you hear talk of mandatory faith in Christianity,
you know how desperate the times are.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-endorsed-her-now-she-195809007.html
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U6fRypXIKV4&feature=youtu.be
A lengthy John Gray discussion on China, Russia, and the future.
He provides a smart & v Europe perspective, typical Gray...
Although the mainstream media won't tell you about him, there was actually a white George Floyd before the black George Floyd. His name was Tony Timpa. His case is, if anything, even more obscene and unjustified (he was a mentally ill schizophrenic rather than a thuggish criminal), yet because of the Woke, antiwhite bias, his case wasn't even a footnote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c-E_i8Q5G0
Glen Loury and John Mcwhorter have a good discussion about this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpTqmfrFlHk&t=202s
At any rate, if you are sick of the new Woke racism, Mcwhorter's book, "Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America"
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=john+mcwhorter+woke+racism&crid=3960QL6OFXX6U&sprefix=john+mcwhorter+%2Caps%2C98&ref=nb_sb_ss_retrain-deeppltr_6_15, is an excellent read. Along the same lines I also recommend Douglas Murray's "The War On the West". https://www.amazon.com/War-West-Douglas-Murray-ebook/dp/B09HSBM23P/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ISDRJ41W364D&keywords=douglas+murray+the+war+of+the+west&qid=1653103021&sprefix=douglas%2Caps%2C81&sr=8-1
"You were born into a world where most things were made by human consciousness. You may die in a world where nothing is made by human consciousness. An artless void."
https://erikhoel.substack.com/p/ai-art-isnt-art?s=w
"Behind the entire aesthetic of our civilization there will be a vast emptiness, a void communicating nothing."
Talk about collapse & decline! Fucking terrifying!
Here is evidence of biological weapons produced by America in Ukraine via Russian MOD.
https://thesaker.is/briefing-analysis-of-documents-related-to-the-military-biological-activities-of-the-united-states-on-the-territory-of-ukraine-may-11-2022/
Here is Victoria Nuland basically admitting this.
https://youtu.be/ydSf57SRtcQ
Unknown-
Sorry, I don't post Unknowns.
Piotr-
Dziękuję Ci! Frankly, any horror the US denies, is generally true. What is MOD?
Wheelhouse-
We're just abt there, really. Check out my essay on Pitirim Sorokin in AWTY.
Megan-
I don't think GF can really be characterized as a thug. As for McWhorter: one commonsense guy.
Rollo-
Her face resembles a parking meter.
Joe-
Americans enjoying themselves, I guess. Those 2 faces are perfect: demented douchebags. These are declinist jewels.
JC-
I provide similar data in the Twilight bk, but then things have clearly worsened since 2000. "The youth is our future" is a popular slogan. Ahem: what kind of future did you have in mind, bozo?
Jeff-
An even more famous candidate for the BL list:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdgm4/new-yorker-suspends-jeffrey-toobin-for-zoom-dick-incident
Note that he has a very high IQ.
Glans-
A pity he wasn't beating off.
mb
ps: Carrying the fight against douchebaggery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMBzfUj5zsg
YouTube continues to present yet another troublemaker dedicated to
disquieting faithful patriotic Americans about the UNfuture of the
whole stinkin' mess. He reminds us that money is God's present to
reward the rich for their skill at creating thieving monopolies to
rob and rule the masses. Just enter Michael Hudson into YouTube's
search box for more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQZkBkAIFfw
Dr. Berman,
Well, regardless of Floyd's past, it certainly doesn't justify anything that happened to him. But he certainly had a long rap sheet, including armed robbery with a deadly weapon in 2007.( I guess it is debated whether or not he put a gun to a pregnant woman's belly.) But that is why I was calling him a thug.
https://nypost.com/2020/06/02/george-floyd-had-violent-criminal-history-minneapolis-union-chief/
https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/06/12/george-floyd-criminal-record/
In any case, for someone who initially supported BLM, I have to say that I'm tired of the whole thing now, especially people like Ibram X kendi (Jordon Peterson, alas, is probably not the most overhyped public intellectual in the West.) and Robin Diangelo. Regarding the latter, here is a good take-down by Matt Taibbi:
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/on-white-fragility
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxDUNg5SUNc
Dr. B: Enjoyed the Doomer Optimisim interview, especially your point that the mere fact of living in America makes people crazy -- mass murders, suicides, addictions, cruelty, indifference. And the craziness is growing exponentially. Philip K. Dick called the phenomenon "contact lunacy"; Rene Girard called it "mimetic contagion." Same thing, I think. So thanks for the interview and the reminder: "America is a cult of death."
What are your thoughts on the ever growing movement around "ancient civilizations" or Atlantis as they call it. This has been going on for 150 years or so, but this seems to be more popular than ever with books, podcasts (see: Joe Rogan), websites, and tour companies. I think the whole thing is a scam, and it's just hustlers trying to take advantage of people.
Is this based on desperate people looking for some explanation or to feel better about our situation? Things like reincarnation, cycles of time, purgatory, and karma, are very appealing to hopeless masses who might fall into despair if none of that stuff is true.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxmw9eizOAo
atlantis-
1st, it's impt to understand that the American people are not very bright, are extremely gullible, and in general have their heads rammed up their rumps. This is also the most impt factor in our continuing decline. As for atlantis etc.: sure, a total scam. And yes, a way for Americans, who are miserable and desperate, to keep despair at bay. (Which will not work) The extraction of heads from rumps wd be wonderful, but the chances of that are roughly negative infinity.
Pete-
Glad you enjoyed it. So did I, it was fun. As for Dick et al.: check out Don DeLillo, "White Noise." He called it a "toxic event." This in 1985. Now, the entire country is a toxic event, and trying to hide from this w/Ukraine fever. We lurch from b.s. to b.s., while death stalks us, and our future. For America, there will be no wake-up moment; of that, you can be sure.
mb
Megan-
Gd essay by Taibbi, in any case. P.C. is basically soft fascism.
mb
Wafers-
Check this out. Compare to my discussion of the 'satori generation' in my Japan bk.
https://www.noemamag.com/chinas-defectors-from-western-modernization/
mb
ps: Oh, I'm so excited! This is where Americans need to put their attention:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/23/entertainment/chris-pratt-katherine-schwarzenegger-second-child-intl-scli/index.html
(As the country beats off, so does the MSM.)
"Declinists are an inevitable part of every generation’s commentariat, gloomily pronouncing that everything is bad and getting worse and that nobody else seems to notice or care. But unexamined assumptions make for poor analysis" https://quillette.com/2022/05/20/undiminished-by-decadence/
Dial-
Well, History tells us that all civilizations eventually decline, so declinists must be rt, at least some of the time. But other than that: pls be aware that this blog is a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. In the future, if you post a link, also post a bit of your own commentary or observations. Thank you.
mb
In regards to the Bill Maher clip,
I understand the phenomenon (Trans rights) as the increasingly histrionic turkey flailing of the professional liberal class, as the world that has spoiled them crumbles around them. They have their heads rammed up the NYT's anus so much it's all they can see and think of as radical. Forget about fixing an oligarchic system, a cruel competitive culture, or a parasitic healthcare bureaucracy, or etc.
Let’s focus on something real radical that’s gonna change our society… TRANS rights!
In my field (the psychotherapy profession), there is now a big push to require that therapists, in a politic fashion, bring up "white privilege" with their white clients ;along with that there also being a push to not explore the unconscious in those who have "gender dysphoria" since that is considered 'violence'.
If I said the above in public in professional circles I would get shunned/fired.
As a side note: In regards to the BLM thing, according to the Washington post's database, only about 140ish unarmed black people have been shot by police in the last 6 years.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/
Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers,
This essay by James Howard Kunstler about Western Civilization's, particularly the United States' circumstances and state of mind, caught my attention and is a good read. I don't agree with his assessment that an election victory by Trump was stolen by the powers that be, but even for me, election theft is not beyond the realm of possibility (as it has happened throughout US history), if not in 2020 than certainly in the future. I find JHK's view of our future with minimal fossil fuel availability likely but perhaps not in my lifetime.
https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/were-in-it-now-for-sure/
1) Let the military-industrial complex profits roll!
https://www.defensenews.com/congress/2022/05/19/here-are-the-high-end-weapons-zelenskyy-hopes-the-new-ukraine-aid-bill-will-provide/3
2) Do it, Joe!
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-taiwan-china-4fb0ad0567ed5bbe46c01dd758e6c62b
3) Hey China: After Joe does it, CALL IN THE DEBT!
Make our declinists’ dream come true!
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Senile Warmonger Dept.:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/23/politics/biden-china-taiwan-explainer/index.html
mb
Wafers-
Who needs Trump, really? Schmiden seems to be fucking everything up, both domestically and on the foreign front. Decline is decline, no matter who's at the helm. The clown moves in a fog of ignorance, consistently doing and saying all the wrong things. A perfect example:
https://cepr.net/joe-biden-has-botched-the-summit-of-the-americas/
mb
ps: Yet another example:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/23/politics/biden-taiwan-china-ukraine-russia/index.html
He's a doofus, and has no idea of what he's doing. Trumpi, if elected in 2024, will roll up his sleeves and deliberately dismantle the country. Schmiden, on the other hand, seems to be achieving the same effect thru senility. So the choice of the voters will be a Violent Boor versus a Senile Turkey. How far America has come!
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
I'm absolutely horrified at the staying power of antisemitism found w/in the US, and how dumb Americans actually are. Just how can it be that the Jews are now *responsible* for the demographic changes going on in the US and the world? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that a version of the current so-called white replacement theory was widely used by the Nazis in their propaganda leading up to their takeover of Europe and the systematic murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust. Or the fact that the spate of massacres we've witnessed here were virtually all motivated by antisemitic conspiracy theories
Take a look at this list:
* In 2000, Richard Baumhammers killed his next-door neighbor, an elderly Jewish woman, then set her house on fire. He then drove to two separate synagogues and open fired into the synagogues, resulting in the killing of a total of five people. Police found a manifesto in which he complained that European Americans were being outnumbered, and the Jews were behind it.
* In 2014, Frazier Miller, a former Klansman and neo-Nazi killed three at the Overland Park Jewish Community Center. During the trial, Miller, who was in poor health, took on his own defense, stating that he wanted to "kill as many Jews as possible" before he died. During his closing argument he wrote on an courtroom easel: "Diversity is code word for white genocide!"
* 2015, Dylann Roof killed nine black worshippers in SC. Roof claimed that black people were taking over the country, and that the Jews were "agitating the black race." In his online manifesto, Roof called for the destruction of Jewish Identity.
To be continued,
Miles
Note to japan-
1st, I don't host other blogs on this one, and in any case, citing a blog does not constitute evidence. And if u.r. going to make a controversial argument, evidence is what's needed. 2nd, it wd be helpful if you were to read my Japan bk, wh/argues that Japan is in a no-exit situation. Finally, you are confusing 2 groups: the hikikomori, who are as you describe, and the Satori Generation, who are very different. But both are very small %s of the general population. Note that yr post smacked of emotion, not intelligence.
Jeff-
And the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh (2018), etc. etc. Historically, if people are going thru difficult times economically, the Jews are the 1st to be blamed (exacerbated in modern times by Israeli treatment of the Palestinians). Anti-Semitism is a kind of eternal undercurrent; it simply never goes away. Check this out (Tucker Carlson was in on it as well):
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/21/trump-shares-cpac-hungary-platform-racist-antisemite
Anyway, keep posting, but pls watch length. Thanks.
mb
The event w/o an end:
https://edition.cnn.com/us/live-news/texas-elementary-school-shooting-05-24-22/index.html
One report I read said that Kamala has been briefed on the situation. Gosh, I'm so glad; she will do so much to fix things, set America back on course. (Altho having dog excrement in her head cd slow her down a bit.)
mb
Turkish President Erdogan saying that they are planning a military operation in Syria soon.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/24/erdogan-new-military-operation-syria-soon
The world certainly seems more chaotic and war-like. Markets are tumbling, cryptocurrencies are looking worse.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cryptocurrencies-being-savaged-davos-top-123512836.html
I cant imagine where all the refugees are going to go in the borderlands of East-West Europe and Asia. What regions of the world do Wafers expect to be peaceful in the years to come?
As the National Rifle Association continues to insist, "Guns don't
kill people, people kill people," leaving out that this is done in
Texas as a way of disagreeing with UNwhite skin being in the state,
which historically was what it had before it was stolen by the USA.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/uvalde-texas-elementary-school-shooting-live-updates-204254215.html
Rollo-
Texas schl shooting death toll now up to 21. This is just a guess on my part, but I honestly believe that if, during the next 6 mos., there was a daily shooting of 100 people, the gun laws wd stay exactly where they are now.
mb
My brother in law taught school in Uvalde before he passed from covid last year. I just finished attending a graduation in Katy. Everyone, including students are in their cell phones during the ceremony.
BH-
Not clear what yr trying to say. Perhaps say more?
mb
Charles Blow just wrote in the NYT, abt the BLM movement: “Passions flare and subside; power endures.” Americans are under the impression that venting emotion is the same thing as substantive social and political change, or as serious political organizing. Where is BLM now? They have accumulated $92 million, some of it in luxurious real estate; they got Amanda Gorman on the front cover of Vogue Magazine; they got language changed, and Confederate statues torn down; they got diversity appointments made by the government, and a moron as Vice President; and at the end of the day? Black people have no more political power than they did b4 George Floyd was killed; no greater share of the American Dream, or the economic pie; and white cops continue to gun them down in the street, like dogs.
This is not to target blacks as having no understanding of how power really works; almost *no* Americans possess any such understanding. What could be more useless, and more stupid, for example, than millions of women running around with pussy hats? The American concept of social and political change is window dressing, symbolic gestures. What did George Floyd finally die for?
mb
Kissinger says Ukraine must give up land to Russia, warns West not to seek to humiliate Putin with defeat
https://www.businessinsider.com/kissinger-ukraine-give-up-land-russia-not-humiliate-putin-2022-5
This guy just won't die, lol!
Berwick-
Hey, the ol' war criminal cd be rt! With the Ukraine situation stabilized, Schmiden, in his infinite wisdom, cd continue to try to provoke WW3 with China over Taiwan.
mb
The carnage continues, unabated. I knew when the US collectively shrugged about Columbine, VA Tech, Las Vegas, Newtown, and on and on...just as we will about this...that all was/is lost. We are truly a sick, distorted, horrific excuse for a civilized people. We continue to allow this to happen so we can get back to Netflix. Agree, MB, I don't think 100 people a day would move the needle on guns; we may actually be close to that now.
Of course, I pissed in the ocean by messaging my so-called senators and representative. Yeah, I'm sure they'll get right on it...This guy has more integrity than all of the SOBs in WADC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPvf5RgCU08
DTE
Another school shooting, unfortunately. It's the United States that has mass shootings several times a year. Other countries occasionally have mass shootings, but not like we do. Of course stronger would help, which we will probably never have. I think these mass shootings are a sign of a dysfunctional dying society.
Yet another US empire massacre. Ho hum. Cue: sad faces, sad musak, empty thoughts/prayers rhetoric- more of nothing.
https://nypost.com/2022/05/24/texas-school-shooting-live-updates/
https://news.sky.com/story/texas-shooting-14-children-and-one-teacher-killed-in-primary-school-shooting-12620763
Never will USians wake up and say, the US empire's way of 'life,' and its' populace are the root problem. Nah, keep spending billions on "freedom" in the Ukraine, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, Vietnam, Chile, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc..etc..etc..
Doctor & Wafers,
In preparation for Schmiden helping to “stop the spread of Communism in Taiwan” ( our probable excuse for going in there) check out this film I came across. It’s a relatively unknown one about our debacle in Vietnam. It shows what an outright callous murderous bully nation the United States really is and always has been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxGT4TY0mIQ
Of course I and my gullible generation of baby Boomers back then were brainwashed into thinking that Vietnam was to stop the spread of communism. After all, if you had Roman Catholicism drilled and brainwashed into you from an early age, you were convinced these godless, atheistic Commies were going to come and do away with religion here. So what will Biden call our newest adventure over in Asia? Operation Christianity? Operation Taiwanese Freedom? Will any or our “patriotic” Proud Boys or Oath Keepers volunteer? Not going up against some third world pushover for a change, it will be funny to see, as a military saying goes, “our butts kicked”. Of course all USAins, especially the media ( left or right) still go around saying this is the greatest military in the world. A powerful juggernaut. To that I have a good analogy: If our military is the greatest in the world, then Don Trump is a self-made billionaire 20 times over. LOL.
Roger, Olga, James-
There is a continuing problem of people not understanding how this blog works. A few guidelines:
1. We are not a bulletin board. We try to be a discussion forum. When you provide links, also provide some commentary on the subject.
2. Post only once every 24 hrs.
3. Provide links or refs for your posts.
Thank you.
Dr. Shit-
Not more of nothing; more beating off!
Dio-
So many beatings are necessary; so much urine!
THE FLAILING SCHMIDEN
It's kinda fun, watching Schmiden scanning the planet for a possible war candidate. As I've explained in various works, esp. QOV, America was founded in opposition, or negative identity; war is really all it knows. The reason for this is that it is empty; it stands for 0 beyond hustling, which is pretty thin gruel, spiritually speaking. War gives us a purpose--any war will do. So if the Ukraine thing doesn't work out, we can shift (arbitrarily) to Taiwan, and if that fails, perhaps Antarctica (fuckin' commie penguins). The reason Schmiden keeps making threat-gaffes is that beyond scanning for a potential enemy, he really doesn't know what he's doing. What neither he nor other Americans will do is see thru the charade, recognize that it's all shadow boxing. America will collapse w/o having a clue as to why it collapsed. We go to our deaths unconsciously.
mb
The correct headline for this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/25/international-reaction-texas-school-shooting
AMERICA BEATS OFF
Dear Dr. Berman,
Re: TX shooting: As everyone knows here there will be a lot of hand waving and virtue signaling on various fora for some weeks from all sides but nothing will be said about the cultural history and the social ecology that generates these tragedies. Below is a nice short clip on virtue signaling by comedian Anthony Jeselnik:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTmCxbcRXs4
Himanshu
One can well imagine someone hitting MB's target of 100 shot dead in
the next six months. There has to be some sort of contest in all thisto reach this 100 mark to get massive media coverage. One can see gun crazies getting a small airplane and machine guns to strafe a
sporting even or a crowded beach or turning a bulldozer into a tank by welding steel plates to protect the lunatics and their machine guns.
There was an estimate not too long ago that had about one hundred
thousand potential killers floating around the country. It could be
the slightest incidence that sets them off to implement "the plan"
of total revenge against all who have wronged them. Then again,let
us not forget THE record of 168 killed with a bomb in Oklahoma City.
Stay tuned to this blog for the latest developments and obits.
https://www.google.com/search?q=oklahoma+city+bombing&rlz=1CAHKDC_enCA922&oq=oklahoma+city+bombing&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i512j46i175i199i512j0i512l7.11377j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Rollo-
Actually, the fantasy I had was 100 deaths per day for 6 mos. Perhaps unlikely; but if it were to occur, I'm quite sure no new gun legislation wd be enacted as a result. Viewed from the outside, America is pretty much a nuthouse.
Himan-
Great clip, thanks. What we are gonna see in the coming days is a huge amt of beating off. Then there will be another massacre, followed by "thoughts and prayers," and more beating off. What we *won't* see is substantive chg.
mb
ps: There is a way for schl shootings to stop, and that's to close down the schls. What are our students learning, anyway? Bupkis, really. Some beatoff version of American history, and in any case, they spend all of their time staring into their cell fones. Time to draw down the curtain on 'education'.
The focus on guns is obvious. But what is missed by most Americans is the lack of respect for life that is ever-present at all levels of American life. It is the unsafe roads (road death toll in 2021 was up, and it is multiples higher than any OECD nation, even those with similar geographies) including hedonistic speeding, it is the disposability of persons you see in employment rights (lack thereof) and behavior of employers, it is the healthcare system, it is the education system (f* you if you happen to grow up outside of a 'good school district' with high property values), it is higher education (your life is over, drowned in debt if you choose the wrong university, the wrong major, the wrong economy to graduate in), it is the apathy people have to the daily violence which occurs all over the country. I had to leave and live elsewhere to see what a civilized society that respects people looks like, and realize that what I knew was wrong in the US was *not* normal and not everywhere!
Reading this blog helped me finally decide to leave the US in 2017, thank you Dr Berman, I am happier and more importantly my 3yr old girl is safer where we are now. The US is an uncivilized trashy place. The last few years have made it much more clear that Dr Berman was right - options are to leave or go monastic somewhere in the US. I advise anyone reading to do that sooner rather than later if you are able.
Shlomo-
Glad to hear I was instrumental in getting you out of the US. In future posts, I'd appreciate it if you cd provide links or refs for info such as you provide in yr 1st paragraph (not that I disagree w/any of it). So where r.u. now?
mb
ps:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/republicans-gun-control-uvalde/index.html
ps2: So apparently more than half of the American public is saying, We feel safe w/guns, plus we like to kill. These are yr neighbors. To sum up: America is abt death.
Matt S-
Sorry, cdn't run it, as you provided no links or refs.
mb
I think Wafers will appreciate this from Matt Taibbi:
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/on-white-fragility?s=r
And another that is food for thought in a bit of a different direction:
https://erikhoel.substack.com/p/why-we-stopped-making-einsteins?s=r
DTE
-- This comedian's name is Drew Michael, good stuff, and quite conscious. Here's a great clip. I sense that this young man will become a Wafer one day.
-- So while the massacre of the children in Texas was taking place, the cops just stood outside and refused to go in, despite the parents urging them for 40 minutes. There's a even a video of this (horribly depressing, anguished cries of the mothers while the massacre wast happening). Look what the cops ar doing: they seem to be bullying or even restraining the parents who were trying to protect their children. This is not merely cowardice anymore, this is just evil.
Dr. Berman—
If decay of the arts is an indicator of imperial decline we're rotting away like it's 4,476 AD. Every country the old empires colonized was culturally corrupted by the colonists and became a kitsch shadow of its former cultural self. Which brings us to Sotheby's and the beauty of American imperial corporate art today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/23/arts/design/art-auction-value-christies-phillips.html
Can it sink any lower? Does the Pope s__t in the woods, is the bear catholic...Does Disney have a theater on Broadway?
Oops-
Actually, the bear is Jewish. As for the scummification of culture, check out my essay on Pitirim Sorokin in AWTY. However, also check out WAF: the folks who came over from England were already corrupt.
mb
Dear Dr. Berman, please use this post. Thank you.
Thank goodness for US empire capitalism: Let's help support yet another massacre by selling t shirts.
By wearing a t shirt, it will show USians and the government that we're serious this time. To the 0.001%, it will show we're fucking morons.
https://mazeshirt.com/product/uvalde-texas-pray-for-uvalde-texas/
https://bestcheaptshirt.com/product/texas-school-shooting-good-bye-my-friends-uvalde-strong-classic-tshirt/
https://etsytees.com/product/uvalde-texas-gun-control-shirt/
Glans-
Capitalism can make a hustle out of anything. A better T-shirt wd be:
WE ARE A BUFFOON COUNTRY FILLED WITH BUFFOONS
That one, I wd proudly wear.
mb
Cherith-
What a crappy country America is.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/26/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-police-hesitated
mb
THE shithole "country" that never learns.
A vile history of police inaction, freezing, delaying, running away, hiding, being rehired elsewhere after being fired, etc... that's US empire school "protection." At least they have their pensions.
https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/nicole-russell/article261819415.html
“These aren’t the growing pains of a society making difficult advances toward an orderly peace. These are the morbid symptoms of a society coming undone, and they arise largely from policy choices made by interested parties with material motives.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/uvalde-texas-robb-elementary-school-culture-death/638435/
Yes it's goddamn crazy to give guns to kids, but I think much deeper forces (like how America has 3 times the # of serial killers per capita than any other country; and how we glorify violence) are much more at the heart of the matter...
One can hear Cruz saying to himself, "Goddam faggot commie limeys!"
It is always a bit difficult to excuse the absurdity and danger of
so many guns in the freest, wealthy, greatest nation in the history
of the Cosmos. The simplest way is to call such questions part of a
media conspiracy. Catch the short chitchat in this video.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ted-cruz-storms-british-interviewer-131216850.html
Stuffed-
Gd Atlantic article. Interesting, how this schl shooting event wakes the MSM up to what I was saying in 2000: America is finished. So now one can say it; it's mainstream. Duh!
Dr. Shit-
Hard to avoid the obvious: the US is pretty much a collection of human garbage. The elite are trash, the cops are trash, the politicians are trash; the institutions are trash; and the wo/man in the street has shit for brains. What is *not* trash?
One thing's for sure: in the aftermath of this event, abs. 0 will change. We'll just sit around waiting for the next massacre. (Trash is not exactly pro-active.)
mb
ps: And the Supreme Court is trash, and...
ps2: Buffoonage in Britain:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/27/britain-boycott-russian-culture-putin-war-ukraine
Polish women protested & brought business to a grinding halt for gun regulation. Then read the CNN article MB shared w us about America's thoughts on the subject. This country will do nothing about any of this.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%932021_women%27s_strike_protests_in_Poland
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/25/politics/republicans-gun-control-uvalde/index.html
Dr. & Wafers,
As I’ve previously stated, this is the REAL first law of economics here in the great U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!: “As the price goes up, the demand goes up!” Here’s the proof! LOL!
https://13wham.com/news/local/despite-record-high-gas-prices-more-americans-expected-to-travel-for-memorial-day-weekend
And for anyone here who will be on our “great, well-maintained” roads, check out these “friendly” USAin faces and how they’ll forgive you if you do something wrong while driving:
https://www.wdam.com/2022/05/26/road-rage-suspect-given-200000-bond/
https://www.fox4news.com/news/fort-worth-road-rage-man-punches-woman
https://www.wdam.com/2022/05/26/petal-woman-speaks-out-after-experiencing-road-rage-incident/
Pity and Terror Dept:
https://youtu.be/2BSc2dG5neY
From a macro- perspective, the “error of judgment” (hamartia) here, for real, is that no good person of conscience has yet to assume the 9-9-9 mantle and run with it. Isn’t that obvious? When the problem of human well-being in society (or community) wins out over economics (narrowly conceived as the pursuit of wealth), mass shootings are a fait accompli. Why else have we been floundering this past decade? The hubris of these fake news reporters! Not pointing out the obvious here, shows that the drive-by media’s intent is only to humiliate & degrade Republicans. RIP Herman Cain (December 13, 1945 – July 30, 2020). Oh yes, and by extension, those collaterally damaged souls at that elementary school. What state was that in again?
MB, there is no "solution" to things, but any healthy future civilization (which may not be possible with humans) would need to have some new standards: 1) there is no virtue in breeding or living in a biological family 2) don't base your life on curios dug out of the desert (e.g. museum pieces, paintings, history books, manuscripts, etc.) 3) blood ties & marriage are a tool of empire & kings 4) competitive sports or business is evil 5) all dualities need to be destroyed 6) all institutions & religions that have historically propped up the patriarchy are illegal (e.g. Christianity, Buddhism, etc.) 7) pieces of paper cannot control anyone (e.g. constitutions, laws, holy books, etc.)
Society & civilization are still not beyond this, despite decades of activism. I think the root causes of rot are far beyond America, and go deep into European history. The Catholic Church is still the greatest purveyor of evil in America & the entire world.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/archdiocese-milwaukee-says-gender-identity-195240507.html
Roland-
The loss of Herman Cain and the 999 plan is something we have not been able to recover from. Only Tulsi can save us now.
Joe-
Why punch when you can shoot? Are Americans getting soft?
mb
So here is Paul Krugman today blaming the American obsession with guns only on the Republicans, as if this has nothing to do with American cultural values in general. He even says that he thinks Americans are exceptionally nice people, apart from Republicans, I guess that would mean.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/opinion/republicans-guns-uvalde.html
According to everything he's been writing lately, everything bad that's happening is because of Republicans. And Putin, of course. Democrats must be angels in his worldview. That fact the Biden is pursuing two ways to ignite WW III is never mentioned by Krugman.
Here's a sample:
"And I guess I should say for the record that I personally don’t believe that Americans, as individuals, are worse than anyone else. If anything, what has always struck me when returning from trips abroad is that Americans are (or were) on average exceptionally nice and pleasant to interact with.What distinguishes us is that it’s so easy for people who aren’t nice to arm themselves to the teeth..."
Curious if Americans will request tax refunds from all those taxes paid for basically nothing...except endless wars and theatre-verbal masturbation.
https://madison.com/news/national/police-waited-45-minutes-in-school-before-pursuing-shooter/article_5e096f08-2df8-5beb-b148-b29a2a4a188d.html
ccg-
Krugman is one gigantic douche bag. I saw it yrs ago. He actually thinks capitalism has a future.
future-
You offer a lot of opinions as tho they were facts, and your one link doesn't substantiate these opinions. Pls understand that on this blog, we don't simply offer our opinions or view of the world; I mean, anyone can have opinions, it's no big deal. ('new standards' according to *you*? We are seriously unimpressed.) In the future, please familiarize yourself with how this blog works, and participate accordingly. Thank you.
mb
We'll have to wait to see whether American exceptionalism will be
enough to escape the general end of it all. It seems that Ma Nature,
as ably assisted by Satan, forgets nothing about the degradation made
by humans on the planet, and it is now time for Satan to get busy by
bring the consequences to center stage.
Think of the unpleasant surprise those wealthy voyagers to Mars will
encounter after the first day shows them that the optimistic
promises of viability of their new home were highly inaccurate. NO
refunds available.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMr0ew4cZd4
This short article kind of annoyed me:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/25/fifth-americans-think-mass-shootings-are-simply-unpreventable/
In it, the author makes the point that it is "nihilistic" that one fifth of Americans believe that mass shootings are unpreventable. Really? I would just call it a realistic view. Between the Woke, White Fragility-obsessed Left, and the Trumpian Republican party, as well as our incredibly conservative Supreme Court, the only certain thing is that nothing will change. I think it takes too much of a toll on the nerves to even follow these things, horrific though they are, knowing that nothing will be done. Beto rants and raves, Biden says "in God's name!" a few times, parents from previous school shootings fly out to comfort the newly bereaved, etc. That's about it. Rinse and repeat.
Though I don't like Hannity or this guest host, check out the story starting at 4:15. There is something to be said for your average "good old boy", especially when he shows this kind of courage--even if he is likely a "deplorable", you have to love him. (I'd rather have a beer with him than Kamala, Elizabeth Warren or AOC any day.) And I love how his barber just happened to have a shotgun ready to hand! (Texas!) In Seattle they probably would have just filmed it with their cell phones.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94ZirkbTiTg&t=288s
Megan-
Well, what will chg is that things will get worse; this, w/o a doubt. I think it's pretty telling that the cops stood outside and did 0. I guess the thinking was, Better the kids get killed than us. What are cops for, anyway? What cowardice. Anyway, anyone who can't see that the country is in its death throes is an idiot.
mb
Here is video of police restraining parents attempting to get into the school to save their kids (b/c the police would not):
https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-narrative-on-texas-school-shooting-in-question-as-new-details-emerge-132129728.html
More here:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/26/2100622/-Chicken-Chip-Copz-first-responders-came-in-second-in-Uvalde
Unconscionable. Utterly depraved. An abject failure of any shred of humanity.
More depravity that we are: 5 clicks of the mouse to order an assault rifle online in Texas:
https://qz.com/2170207/we-ordered-the-ar-15-rifle-used-in-uvalde-heres-how-easy-it-is/?utm_source=YPL
Finally, look who's advocating for gun control, a Wafer fave:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/kim-kardashian-calls-tighter-gun-control-texas-shooting-094335801.html
Words fail.
DTE
Cops could not enter the reinforced active shooter proof steel door. They had to wait for either keys or a hydraulic door spreader. Paradoxically the school safety measures protected the shooter.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/05/27/school-security-features-protected-shooter-slowed-texas-police-response/
Rufus-
So what kind of protocol was in place, that meant cops wd wait for nearly an hr after the shooter started shooting? None of this was even vaguely anticipated or planned for? Sorry, there is just no letting the cops off the hook here, as far as I can see. And the Gov. is certainly full of shit, Orwellian to the max. Also check out links provided by Diogenes, above.
How is this not cowardice, amigo?:
"Texas Police Lieutenant Says Cops Were Reluctant to Engage Gunman Because ‘They Could’ve Been Shot’"
mb
Taking us back to MB's first two books of his Consciousness Trilogy, asking the big questions: The more closely we observe the present moment, the more amorphous it becomes...
https://nautil.us/what-is-time-17483/
"What Is Time?", thought-provoking nautilus essay on the perception of physics. I sometimes suspect time is not only real, but much more fundamental than space & matter.
In case anyone should still think the cops did the right thing in Texas, well, even they have admitted that they screwed up:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/us/children-called-for-help-from-inside-classrooms-in-uvalde-the-police-waited.html
Here's another story from the Times on the tactics that should have been used:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/27/us/active-shooting-trainings.html
Mentioned in this article is the fact that some police departments are wary on whether officers should risk their lives in situations like this. I always thought that risking their lives was part of job. It's astonishing that that even needs to be debated, especially among people who otherwise like to think of themselves as heroes. Well, I guess we know where the cops in Uvalde came down on this issue.
ps: Rufus:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/28/uvalde-school-shooting-police-procedures-columbine
Wafers-
How is the US not the sickest place on earth?
mb
This article may be a week old or so, but seems relevant enough to discuss- “ The number of firearms recovered by law enforcement believed to be privately made increased 1,000% between 2016 and 2021, according to the report”. Statistics like these really help to visualize the ‘war of all against all’ as described by Dr. Berman and Lionel Schriver. How can anything be expected to change regarding gun restrictions when untraceable, privately-made firearms are so prolific? Perhaps there will soon be calls for elementary school kids to receive gun training and carry weapons on school grounds, seeing that cops will be of no assistance.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-firearm-production-imports-ramp-recent-decades-report/story?id=84843830
P.s.- Will there be another Wafer meeting anytime soon, Dr. B? Didn’t get to join last year but just wondering if there’s anything in the works.
Thomas-
Well, the stats are that Americans love their guns, and are basically armed to the teeth. As for the cops, looks like they are cowards, unless they are gunning down unarmed black men in the street, like dogs. The future looks bright.
Regarding the NY Wafer Summit: Ah, nuts. I was hoping to do it this Sept., but the truth is I can't afford it rt now. There is this popular image of me living the life of Riley, with $ coming outta my ears. Truth is, Mexico City ain't cheap, I have lots of expenses, and as for professional income: now there's a joke. No American institution will invite me to lecture (wh/I understand), and few Americans buy my bks. 99% of the country wants to stay drugged on the popular narrative, and what I offer is basically the opposite. Also, Americans are not interested in Japan, Italy, England, and short story collections, so I'm not far away from playing my guitar on a street corner, w/a cup.
Silver lining: I'll try to save my pesos, and maybe we can do a NY Wafer Summit a yr from now. Stay tuned.
mb
Don’t forget that in our wacky country our wacky ( including a few battlin’) Karens haven’t gone anywhere. Some of them sure are effing “pissers” too! LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgnUCDHTpYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLbBrM1ZwPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6qWM8mT6W8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGwGltsYD0A
Daily mass shootings. Violent road rages. Ballistic Karens. Fights on airplanes. Functional illiteracy. A dumbed down culture. People ( especially young women) glued to smartphones. The Bible Belt/Christian nationalism taking over. Paramilitarized police. The country on prescription drugs that are advertised everywhere on television. Johnny Depp or Kim Kardashian being the national headlines. Democrats poised to get demolished on Election Day. Don Trump in waiting. It doesn’t get any better!
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Ho Hum:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/29/us/chattanooga-tennessee-shooting/index.html
Wafers-
Here's an excellent example of ABO--Advanced Beating Off:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/29/texas-school-shooting-biden-visits-uvalde
Check it out:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/30/negative-views-of-russia-mainly-limited-to-western-liberal-democracies-poll-shows
At this point, why not allow any and all weapons of war to be procured by any individual who wants them? I mean, an armed society is a polite society, amirite? The 2nd amendment did not specify the right to bear just guns...No, no - the Founding Fathers clearly intended that we 'Mericans have access to all armaments of war! Tanks, F-15s, hand grenades, helicopters, nukes...If someone cuts you off in traffic - BOOM! Hellfire missile, jackhole! Bad call at a Little League game? Flamethrower yo' ass to a crisp, ump! Rival businesses cutting in on your action? Squash 'em with a tank!
Actually, that last one really happened back in 2004:
https://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/killdozer.htm
Apparently there are lots of right-wing lunatics who think that guy was a hero...
Ahh, the USA - elevating sociopathy to an art form AND a system of government.
DTE
Even the smart ones dept.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/female-researchers-avatar-sexually-assaulted-054939325.html
https://www.wionews.com/world/21-year-old-woman-virtually-raped-harassed-in-metaverse-report-483043
Can I abort a metaverse baby if I get pregnant because someone raped me in the metaverse?
It's hard to believe Schmiden did something intelligent:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/30/biden-will-not-supply-ukraine-with-long-range-rockets-that-can-hit-russia
mb
ps: I also wonder about Zelensky at this pt. Granted, Schmiden is a doofus, and he seems to be playing at war rather than actually warring (i.e., he is beating off); but at least he understands that if the US were to supply Zelensky with long-range rockets, and if they were fired into Russian territory, this cd be the opening salvo of WW3. So is it Zelensky's logic that the security of the Ukraine is more impt than threatening WW3? Not clear what's in the guy's head...
Kill, kill, and then ya know what? Kill!:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/30/mass-shootings-memorial-day-weekend-taft-chattanooga-uvalde/
On the other hand, here's what's impt:
https://twitter.com/john_sipher/status/1411067779181056006
And we need not be too concerned abt this:
https://msrc.fsu.edu/news/study-reveals-top-reason-behind-soldiers-suicides
Hola MB and Wafers,
Well, it certainly appears that Joe Biden is/was a one-shot deal for the US. He is nothing more than a tourniquet on a wound likely to require amputation in the end. Lets's look at what Biden has failed to address and alleviate:
1. Wealth inequality: The stats on wealth inequality are completely *insane*. Higher than the Roman Empire's, in fact.
2. Debt: Federal debt sits at 29 trillion and growing, while half of the nation finds itself close to bankruptcy.
3. Economic instability: Hyper-elites structure the economy, and Biden refuses to deliver on true, long-term economic stability for the majority.
4. Homeownership crisis: A homeless crisis never before witnessed in human history, and Biden says nothing at all about it.
5. Crony corporate politics: A corporate oligarchy ultimately owns Congress in toto. There's honestly no point in voting at all.
6. Environmental crisis: If you destroy the environment, it will eventually destroy you.
7. Zombie vampire capitalism: America never transcended its original identity as a brutal settler colony dedicated to extracting value from those lacking the power to resist. Now we are eating ourselves like a snake.
8. Mass hysteria: America is now filled w/antisemitic conspiracy theorists which will trigger a total breakdown in institutional and national unity.
9. Screen addicted: Smartphones are one of the most destructive devices ever invented.
10. Awash in guns: "If u live by the gun, u die by the gun." ~ MB
Have I left anything out?
Miles
A great mass shooting holiday weekend. Over a dozen of them. The hits just keep on coming. The batting average definitely went up. Good job, USAins, at making yourselves one big collective violent disgrace to humanity. Meanwhile on the roads:
If you can’t shoot them, stab them.
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/southeast-new-mexico/rpd-road-rage-leads-to-weekend-stabbing/
Or if you can’t stab them, moon them. LOL!
https://www.indy100.com/viral/road-rage-arizona-driver-tantrum
Only here in the great U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Jeff-
Failed to address Putin's persistent concerns re: Russian border safety; chose to resurrect the Cold War instead. A doofus, asleep at the wheel. Anyway, gd pts, but pls watch length in future, por fa.
mb
ps: If Schmiden has, up to now, accomplished next to 0, think of how it will be after the midterm election, when the Dems get creamed. Schmiden will then spend 2 yrs as a lame duck president, doing even less than b4.
Wafers-
Please join me in starting an American Beat Off Bulletin (ABOB). Here are 2 obvious items:
1. The cowardly police officers in Uvalde who figured it was better that the kids die than that they do their jobs: there will be no accounting. They will keep those jobs; any inquiries held will amt to 0.
2. The Jan. 6 Committee has no teeth, and cannot force anyone to testify. Their subpoenas are meaningless, and in any case, the Committee will be dissolved after the midterm elections, having accomplished 0.
mb
Dr. Berman—
The laundry list of disasters Joe Biden has delivered keeps piling up, but the delusion must go on. Here's Nancy Pelosi effusively proclaiming what a great president Biden is. Like you, she thinks he's the perfect president for these times, just for different reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzYbRZmAeNM
Rufus-
Cdn't run it, as you provided no evidence at all--not a single link or reference. Do you not understand how this blog works? As far as the cops in Uvalde goes: scroll back, read the refutations of your original post on the subject.
Oops-
The woman is a rancid bag of douche fluid. This is well-established.
mb
Deaths of despair are increasing in the US but not other industrial nations https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2788767
Values > 1 indicate an increased probability of dying compared to 16 "control" nations.
This isn't something you'd find in a thriving country w/ much of a future.
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Burger King Dept.
https://www.tampafp.com/florida-man-arrested-at-burger-king-for-not-getting-it-his-way/
Leslie Dion Cooke, 39, blew his top when he didn't get his Burger King order, "his way." Remember the old Burger King marketing campaign in the seventies about "Having it Your Way"? Personally, I'm in the mood for a Zim's burger.
Zim's... where else?
Miles
Jeff-
Look at Leslie's face, and tell me this is not the face of America. As for Zim's: when I lived in San Fran, it was at the corner of Larkin and Pacific. 2 blocks away, at Jackson and Polk, there was a Zim's. I don't think I ever went in, but I got a kick out of their special: a Zimdog. But what is Shaneka Torres up2 these days, anyway?
mb
A Growing Number of Young People Are Attempting Suicide by Self-Poisoning
https://time.com/6183226/suicide-poisoning-young-people/
"multiple factors contributing to youth suicide attempts, including widening disparities in access to affordable mental health care"
So they say access to mental healthcare is the cause of the rise in suicides. Well, what's causing the metal issues in the first place? Of course they never say, the answer is always just 800 numbers and "access to mental healthcare" as the answer.
Hello Dr. Berman,
I hope that you are well.
Breaking news. You will never guess.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tulsa-oklahoma-police-respond-active-shooter-hospital-2022-06-01/
Greenland is looking better and better every day.
Peace,
Vince
Vince-
O surely not...(this also applies to Self-Poisoning).
mb
I can see this as being solid evidence of a decline if the physical
health of the population is unaffordable given the national debt and
the unquestioned part of the budget going to the Pentagon. Socialized
medicine and gun control are unacceptable in the greatest country ever
known in all of history--best I can remember being told when I was in
grammar school in the late '40s and early '50s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tMIAMPkmxY
Wafers-
Schmiden is pretty much finished:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/02/politics/biden-powerless-inflation-gas-prices-guns/index.html
When I think of what's gonna happen to the Dems in Nov., I shudder. Best thing wd be for Schmiden to step aside, and make a speech along these lines:
"My fellow Americans. It shd be obvious by now that I am a supreme doofus. I can't fix anything, wh/means that you are basically fucked. I botched my presidency; I'm asleep at the wheel. Therefore, I am going to step aside, and let my VP take over. I recognize this is a problem, inasmuch as Kamala is a rather dim bulb. But it can't be helped. As Ed Murrow usta say, 'Good night and good luck'. Until the next massacre, I remain, yours truly, Doofus J. Schmiden."
"ps: Oh, I forgot to add: America is a shit pit."
And this just in, a special Fox News Alert:
https://www.jdjournal.com/2013/02/21/woman-arrested-for-having-sex-with-her-pit-bull-in-broad-daylight/
Go ahead and smirk, all of you moralistic eroto-canine-phobics! But if they love each other and they aren't hurting anyone, who are YOU to judge?
The triumph of finality over accuracy. An illogical, perverse, and tragic Supreme Court decision.. What instituting hasn't caught the rot in this country? None of them:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/01/arizona-death-row-supreme-court-shinn-innocence/
Unknown-
Sorry, I don't post Unknowns.
Megan-
Kinda sad, really.
mb
Europa-
Ronald Dworkin, and Paul Fussell, both made that very pt something like 20 yrs ago.
mb
Don’t miss it, Dr. & Wafers. There’s a magic show this evening. A rabbit will be pulled out of a hat. The Great Schmiden will explain how the gun violence will be magically stopped. And he won’t do it alone. The magic will be performed with Republican assistants. LOL.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/02/biden-weighing-primetime-address-on-guns-00036711
In the meantime, happy driving! And as our fellow evangelical Jesus freaks like to say here in this de facto Christian theocracy, “Love thy neighbor,” especially while on the roads. LOL!
https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/06/01/video-shows-driver-rear-ending-punching-other-driver-in-miami-road-rage-incident/
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/passenger-dies-in-beltway-8-road-rage-shooting-sheriff-says/285-7c2a39f1-4617-4c75-9fd7-249c7cc71f9e
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Sorry I'm Normal-
Hafta tell you, this is not a blog for just broadcasting opinions. Our m.o. is: state your argument, and then provide evidence for it in the form of links or reliable refs. Thank you.
mb
Get a load of this CNN story on how Biden's aides don't know what to do with him:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/02/politics/joe-biden-messaging-struggles/index.html
The headline for this is: "Beneath Biden’s struggle to break through is a deeper dysfunction among White House aides." Gee, I wonder why. Maybe it's because they don't have much to work with? It must be really hard to make this guy (who is practically a drooling idiot) look connected. And it isn't as if the haven't been at it for a year and a half. What are the chances that Biden is going to suddenly start looking better? I tried to warn people about Biden but....
Joe-
Schmiden's talk tonite on gun control will be a fine exercise in beating off, almost as fine as his fomenting the war in the Ukraine.
ccg-
The reason his aides are confused is that it's hard to know what to do when a president is constantly beating off.
That being said, it isn't really all Schmiden's fault. All of America is beating off, and has no idea as to what to do. We are drifting; we are lost; and Schmiden is more an effect of that than a cause.
mb
ps: Joe: What did I tell you?:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/02/politics/joe-biden-guns-speech/index.html
On a beatoff scale of 1 to 10, this is a 12.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/nyregion/deliveryman-shooting-queens-arrest.html
OK, maybe Mr. Hirsch overreacted a bit. But I too wd be pissed if I didn't get enuf duck sauce. Really, what's a gun for, anyway?
Whatever one thinks of "man's best friend", canine copulation appears to be a growing trend amongst America's desperate housewives, following closely upon the heels of "Fifty Shades of Gray" and "Eat, Pray, Love". Take this winsome and lovelorn free spirit, Lisa Snyder for example. She hanged her two children before having sex with the family pit bull:
https://knewz.com/mom-lawyer-pit-bull/
Or this delicate paragon of matronly femininity:
https://knewz.com/full-coverage/bestiality-child-porn-charges/
From Emma Bovary to Anna Karenina and Elizabeth Gilbert, a few plucky and stouthearted women have always been willing to thumb their pert and pretty noses at petit bourgeois morality, and follow their hearts with alacrity to whatever doom awaits them. I didn't read the follow up to Ms. Snyder's story, but I'm guessing that she is currently "in the doghouse" (i.e. in custody), and that "Spot" (Her unnamed, fur-footed paramour) is likely impounded, lonely and alone. But I'm a sucker with a soft spot for these tales of illicit passion. In my imagination I'd like to picture them both getting away somehow, maybe to a lush tropical island--in any case to some place where happy endings are real, and "love conquers all".
In fairness, however, it isn't just the randy American ladies who are going to the dogs:
https://www.jdjournal.com/2014/09/26/mans-best-friendwith-benefits/
Xair-
We aim to be more of a discussion forum than a bulletin board. If you wanna post a link, fine, but you wd also need to provide some extended commentary on it. Thank you.
mb
I'm reading Norman Mailer's "The Fight", about the Rumble in the Jungle, the legendary fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. I was struck by a detail I never expected, it just dropped my jaw at the sickness that American culture can generate. He is talking meeting a German photographer named Horst Fass, there to shoot the fight, who also took pictures from the Vietnam war (Norman refers to himself in the 3rd person here):
"So [Norman] Mailer and [George] Plimpton learned for the first time - be certain their mouths were open - that certain Americans in Nam had volunteered to be undertakers because they were connoisseurs of necrophilia and enjoyed making love to parts of a human body rather than the predictable dead whole. Fass told this with the expression of a man who has seen everything..."
What a cursed nation.
Wafers,
Another day, another massacre. And, because, ironically enough, we are governed by children, we have these kinds of displays:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/whatever-want-guns-gop-lawmaker-024619173.html
"I can do whatever I want with my guns."
Maybe that's what ought to be printed on our coinage?
DTE
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Here's a wonderful essay from a guy w/a working brain:
http://patricklawrence.us/patrick-lawrence-a-nation-of-geophobes/
How did the US wind up w/so many ding dongs in it?
Miles
Jeff-
Well...I certainly disagree w/him on Japan, and on Ruth Benedict. And the problem w/his arg. in general is that given enuf time, behavior does turn into national character, as if it were genetic. His last sentence is certainly an illusion. Sure, theoretically, America (whoever that is) is free to choose; but a clear and obvious rdg of the American national character tells us that it will make the wrong, and self-destructive, choices. Can any serious student of US history doubt this? We have the record of 400+ yrs as evidence. Churchill famously said that "America always makes the rt choice, after it has exhausted all the alternatives." But this is very wrong: America doesn't bother w/alternatives; it makes the wrong choice almost immediately, repeatedly, and in congruence w/its (very twisted) national character.
Ruth Benedict wasn't perfect, but she certainly got a lot of it rt.
mb
The philosopher who resisted despair
Albert Camus and the search for solace in a cruel age
https://www.vox.com/features/22989761/vox-conversations-albert-camus-the-philosophers
The wisdom extolled in Camus's work always reminds me of what MB is trying to remind us of here. A "peace" isn't found from w/out or from w/in but in between, one could say...
Thoughts, prayers, sad musak, pensive faces, bottom lip biting, senseless yammer, not who we are rhetoric (oh, YES that's exactly what USians are and were).
Another shooting in the US empire. Ho hum.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2022/06/03/ames-iowa-church-shooting-what-we-know-about-cornerstone-church-three-killed/7493989001/
New slogan: "Guns don't kill people; people kill people," to be
corrected, "People don't kill the 2nd Amendment; the 2nd Amendment
kills people." In the old days, one could call another being rude,
but today this is cause for gunfire and standing your own ground in
self-defense.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/gunman-aggressor-judge-rules-miami-100000215.html
Dr. Shit-
One wonders why the media even bother to report shootings anymore. After all, they don't report that bears shit in the woods.
Cosmo-
We're done, man; we're done. On both the micro and macro levels, the country is committing suicide. Which is how empires end, said Arnold Toynbee. "Exceptional" my ass; we're just following a script that is several millennia old.
mb
Here's a piece of American trash:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/us/politics/cia-gina-haspel-black-site.html
Here's another ("lean in" my ass):
https://www.itnews.com.au/digitalnation/news/opinion-sheryl-sanderg-left-a-terrible-legacy-good-riddance-and-goodbye-580814
How does America manage to spew forth this type of garbage?
mb
My Friends:
Is there really no end to beating off? No upper limit?
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/03/politics/white-house-orange-gun-violence-awareness/index.html
Shit, I've been saying this for years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMOfwUP0F0
Marble-
We try to be more of a discussion forum than a bulletin board. In future, perhaps you cd provide a bit of extended commentary w/yr link or reference. Thank you.
mb
The Democracy Walt Whitman Wanted
https://newrepublic.com/article/164146/democracy-walt-whitman-wanted-book-review
BOY would Walt be disappointed. I recall reading Leaves of Grass as a late teen visiting Europe and hoe homesick it made me... What a naivity youth can create! I still consider him one of our greatest poets though
Lurch-
This quote from the top of the link:
"A new book argues that Whitman’s celebration of fellow feeling could unite America today."
What fellow feeling does the author think Americans possess? This is not only beating off; it's delusional beating off.
mb
From the “Back the Blue” Department:
Yes! Hail those brave Arizona cops. They’re one upping the Daniel Shaver execution by their Mesa compatriots a little up north from them. In Tucson they shoot them in the back, even if they’re sitting in wheelchairs.
https://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-police-officer-who-shot-and-killed-man-in-a-wheelchair-has-been-fired/article_f41668b2-6e5a-11ec-8b1d-4799d02eacc4.html
In that great conservative state of Texas, have them sandwich that 13 year old in and blow him away. But “the cop’s life was in danger” while he was inside his heavy police cruiser.
https://news.yahoo.com/san-antonio-police-fatally-shoot-161106964.html
What’s this? Their sex crime unit turns up one of their own? LOL.
https://news.yahoo.com/elderly-sheriffs-deputy-accused-raping-200423362.html
https://apnews.com/article/politics-atlanta-georgia-police-crime-d46a5251927e343031621624d68205a3
All in a day’s work by the highly respected folks in “authority” here.
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Greetings MB and Wafers,
MB-
Point well taken on that Patrick Lawrence article I posted. Many thanks for pointing out how his general argument falls apart. In any case, I've been thinking that Biden should highlight America's delusional beating off w/a new campaign calling for all Americans to beat off whenever and wherever they want. Something like:
This Administration encourages all Americans to beat off like I'm beating off.
Beat off at school
Beat off at work
Beat off at church
Beat off at the gas station
Beat off at the mall
Beat off at the beach
Beat off at the restaurant
Beat off at the library
Beat off at the hospital
Beat off at the post office
Beat off at the dentist office
For God's sake, just beat off.
Miles
Jeff-
We might set your verses to Bob Dylan's song, "Everybody Must Get Stoned." E.g.:
"They'll beat you off while u.r. at school
They'll beat you off while u.r. at work...[etc.]
Everybody must get beaten off."
mb
I hope they aren’t seriously prosecuting this poor guy. What else was Brian supposed to do after a fight with his girlfriend? Breaking art from Ancient Greece makes sense. Maybe he was triggered by all the people taking instagram vacations to Greece right now. Wonder how many of those returning American tourists know the difference between Hellenic and Hellenistic?
https://www.fox4news.com/news/dallas-museum-of-art-break-in-art-damaged
It's not even news anymore, really:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/05/us/philadelphia-south-street-shooting/index.html
'News' wd be a day w/o a shooting.
Waferinos-
Some of you may have read my collection of essays, "Are We There Yet?", and if so, perhaps you remember my rather autobiographical essay, "My Russia." At one pt, I discuss the impact on me of Mussorgsky's fabulous collection of musical vignettes, "Pictures at an Exhibition," wh/I came across at around age 10. (If you are not familiar with this album, run out and buy it immediately.) Anyway, to learn more about the great Russian composer, I've been rdg a biography of him, in which the author discusses M's attraction to a novel by the philosopher Nikolai Chernyshevsky, "What Is To Be Done?" (from which Lenin got the title of his own book, years later). Chernyshevsky was opposed to the transcendental, or idealistic, outlook (what I have called in my own work the vertical ascent experience) in favor of a non-idealistic ethos (what I have called the horizontal experience). The author writes:
"A non-idealistic ethos...mandates that we experience life itself as a sort of dynamic aesthetic process. Mutual respect, domestic stability, productive work, a steady and reliable source of energy in our lives, a high degree of good sense brought to every task, and most of all happiness in love; these were the criteria for true humanness." This "thinking man's utopia," she goes on, "must have seemed to the hypersensitive Mussorgsky the clarion call of good health."
Rdg this, I cdn't help thinking of how far away the American value system and way of life is from it. Do Americans, by and large, enjoy any of these qualities? Do they have good sense, happiness, and all the rest? Not by a long shot. And as a result, what they have to live with is *rotten* health, on all levels of their existence. Mussorgsky, Chernyshevsky, were fierce opponents of buffoonery. Americans, on the other hand, seem to wallow in it.
mb
Dear Dr. Berman,
Lately I have been listening to a few talks by Alan Watts. Below is a very good talk that discusses Kali (the Hindu goddess image that exemplifies certain aspects of the Feminine and Death) and the extreme masculine orientation of Abrahamic religions along with their fear of death. I encourage Wafers to give it a listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA7Emm4mUUQ
Himanshu
Himan-
I love Watts. Read a lot of his stuff yrs ago. My fave: "The Wisdom of Insecurity."
mb
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/05/philadelphia-shooting-dead-wounded
Wafers: You tell me what Schmiden will do abt all this.
And here's a little more beating off:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/05/doj-decision-meadows-scavino-schiff
Dr. Berman,
Long time follower, first time poster. I'm just curious, which biography are you reading on Mussorgsky?
I enjoyed this talk by William Ophuls regarding politics in the age of ecology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VibrTfKay_A
I appreciate that he is realistic enough to admit we will not change our destructive ways of life until we have no choice. We are in for tough times ahead and there are no easy solutions. The level of denial here in America is surreal. When I listen to Biden, I feel as if I am listening to a priest preaching that the American dream is still alive in spite of the evidence to the contrary.
Victor-
Well, funny you shd ask. The one by Caryl Emerson. Bit of history there: Caryl and I went to high schl together, and then to college together. (I studied Russian as a 2nd language; Caryl made a successful career out of it, eventually became head of Slavic Studies at Princeton.) After that, I never heard from her, until we got together in NY 10 or 15 yrs ago. Once again, I never heard from her; I guess she's Emerita at Princeton by now. Anyway, I've been thinking of doing another cameo bk, in the style of "Genio" and EPV, on the Russians, and seemed to remember that when we met in NY, Caryl gave me several of her own bks. So I began digging thru the various piles of bks on the floor, that clutter my house, and found the Mussorgsky bio. I'm enjoying it, altho it feels strange to read the mature (and excellent) deliberations of someone I knew in high schl, as I keep seeing or hearing a teenage Caryl in my mind's eye, as I read it. Strange world, eh?
mb
Constantly we hear that word "freedom" to justify everything. It
appears that it simply means no one cares what you are doing; that if
you can get away with antisocial acts, you are free; and that if harm
comes your way, you just allowed someone else to exercise their freedom
at your expense.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/4-10-republicans-think-mass-180032135.html
Zig-
I'm surprised it was only 44%. Meanwhile, on mistaken ideas of freedom, check out the chapter on Isaiah Berlin in EPV.
Noura-
Ophuls contacted me after the publication of my Japan bk, to say I was rt, that cooperation and group activity was just not in the American DNA. We had a very meaningful correspondence, for a while; he is a heroic figure, imo. Less heroic is Schmiden. I don't think I've fully made clear what I think of him. First, he is a doofus, a buffoon, and a horse's ass. In 2+ yrs in office, he has done v. little for the American people, and fomented a dangerous war that cd have easily been avoided, if he had been willing to sit down w/Putin and respectfully consider Russia's concerns regarding border safety. And inasmuch as he doesn't know any better, once the Ukrainian war is passe, he'll switch his attention to Taiwan; and then another country, and then another. He's just a stupid turkey, in a land filled w/stupid turkeys. As George Carlin told us, our leaders don't come from Mars.
mb
Tim2 said
Perhaps along the same vain as William Ophuls a person should take a read
on the latest offering by Vaclav Smil entitled "How the World Really Works"
.
A Wiki peek reveals a highly published and well regarded scholar He pulls
no punches and offers no solutions, only very analytical observations which
some are hard to dispute. B. Gates loves the guy. Unfortunate for Vaclav.
Buckle up as it is a very sobering read and needs to be read in small
quantities.
Tim-
A link wd be helpful. I never heard of Smil, but wd be wary of anything Bill Gates likes (Pinker, e.g.), so what can I tell ya.
mb
ps: vein
And yet diversity and cosmetic change is apparently the best we can do (there's a sucker born every minute):
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/03/opinions/sheryl-sandberg-step-down-facebook-coo/index.html
Faux Social Change, aka "We beat off and think it's intercourse."
mb
Wafers-
America, and Americans, don't know shit from Shinola. Here are examples of Shinola: diversity appointments, tearing down statues, monitoring 'correct' speech, cultivating phony wars, going to outer space, increasing the GDP, always finding enemies, pursuing the American Dream, etc.
Now let's look at the Real Shit: relations of power, distribution of wealth, infrastructure, living conditions of much of the nation, the (toxic) American value system, the endless rape of the environment.
Recognizing that America is in serious trouble, the Biden admin (or that of Obama, Bush, etc. etc.) tries to solve our problems via Shinola. It pays almost no attention to the Real Shit, and in fact does much to promote it. Hence another way of conceptualizing all this is beating off vs. intercourse. One path leads nowhere; the other leads to the birth of alternatives.
We are going nowhere, kiddies.
As to the effects of wallowing in Shinola, and confusing it w/reality, check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRGiP8l6P8
Of course, as a therapist, Mate can only offer individual recuperation. He doesn't say how to change the entire society, wh/is the real cause of all this. However, macro-chg is not in the cards, unless one is talking about disintegration and massive collapse. *That*, my friends, is definitely in the cards.
mb
Dr Berman
Re Vaclav Smil
Thks for the vain correction. I was going too mention change in this post.
I know the rules..it was late. Sorry
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaclav_Smil
https://www.amazon.ca/How-World-Really-Works-Science/dp/0593297067/ref=asc_df_0593297067/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=531143915412&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6685339013207364764&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1001865&hvtargid=pla-1416429483010&psc=1
delete-
1st, post only once every 24 hrs.
2nd, to, not too.
3rd, thanks for link.
mb
I guess it's becoming a trend:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/06/arizona-man-drowns-officers-watch
At this point I am terrified. Things have a circling the drain feel to them that was not apparent even two weeks ago. It is hard to describe despite the beautiful summer that is emerging. Many of my coworkers (total nonWafers) are noticing due to the shootings and baby formula shortage that things are greatly amiss.
This is how those in power treat ordinary people: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-27/how-uber-and-lyft-gamify-the-gig-economy
Maybe it should not be a shock that people don’t respond well to that sort of treatment. But the National plan is double down on cruelty.
Flab-
Keep in mind that yr living in a country that is dying, and filled w/people who are angry, bitter, stupid, and self-destructive. Jus' sayin'...
mb
Looks like there're but two answers to another coming economic plight:
arm the citizens and borrow more money from overseas sources.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjKQXQdl5xw
Himan-
Do me a favor: re-send the link, but add a paragraph summarizing the argument. I'm trying to keep this blog more of a discussion forum than a bulletin board, and am having a bit of a struggle doing it. Thanks.
mb
Woodward and Bernstein thought Nixon defined corruption. Then came Trump.
Perspective by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
June 5, 2022
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/06/05/woodward-bernstein-nixon-trump/
I always said America didn't invent its own form of theater until Watergate, now we live jn a hyperreality, Trump is at the helm, and there is no going back!
Here are some fine USAins showing their love for one another in the “Heartland”. Go, Oklahoma!
Show the world the “heart” of USAins towards other drivers and toddlers:
https://kfor.com/news/local/edmond-police-search-for-road-rage-suspect-who-threw-rock-at-other-driver/
https://kfor.com/news/woman-dies-after-road-rage-incident-in-okc/
https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma-man-accused-in-toddlers-rape-murder-at-enid-hotel-appears-in-court/
And as always, wherever you are, “Back the Blue”!
https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma-police-chief-arrested-in-meth-investigation/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Greetings MB and Wafers,
McMad Dept.:
Did we miss this one? Tianis Jones, 22, was arrested for calling 911 over wrong McDonald's food order. Why didn't Tianis equip herself w/an AK-47 and shell the shit outta the place?:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-woman-mcdonalds-911-twerk
Miles
Jeff-
Tianis is pregnant. We need more mothers like her in the world. I'm still curious abt the fate of Shaneka. But agree w/u abt need for AK-47.
mb
More US empire theatre /acting and beating off:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/matthew-mcconaughey-gun-control-uvalde-white-house-briefing-room/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/07/politics/matthew-mcconaughey-white-house/index.html
Americans never (ever) learn, it's part of their charm (Vidal). Tears/emotions, thoughts/prayers, "strong" T-shirts....nothing will change in the world's massive mistake. Rinse, lather, repeat.
Dr. Shit-
Yes, so much more beating off. Have you ever given any thought to how much slapping it wd take to render the American population even semi-normal? T-shirt social change indeed.
mb
So it turns out that the whole “banality of evil” thing is a crock. They’ve unearthed recordings of Eichmann in Argentina bragging about what he had done. His performance at the trial was BS.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-05-23/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/eichmann-in-his-own-words-bring-in-the-idiots-and-throw-inside-hydrogen-cyanide/00000180-f6ca-d469-a5b4-f6fb96ff0000
There’s a new documentary out where they play the tapes. Does anyone have access to it or has anyone seen it on any platforms?
Hoz-
Yes, that's been known for some time. Hannah Arendt certainly got taken in, and Eichmann's performance at the trial was, in fact, quite brilliant. The general consensus today is that Arendt was not necessarily wrong; she just picked the wrong guy to paste that thesis onto. I suspect a lot of evil is banal, wh/is to say, mechanical and bureaucratic (Obama wd be a gd example). And a lot of it, no doubt, is demonic (cf. Nick Turse on Vietnam; or Gina Haspel).
Thanks for posting all this; yr a gd guy.
mb
Why not allow better educated and intelligent foreigners do the voting
in the US? What must someone owing thousands in student loans wonder
if the education was worth the money. What must taxpayers think of all
the money going to state run higher education? To ask what is one to
think of a country that put the likes of Trump into its highest office?
The number of WAFers who have infiltrated YouTube has to be growing
to judge from their recent videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMOfwUP0F0&t=15s
What a doofus Schmiden is; what an incredible doofus:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/07/politics/summit-of-the-americas-joe-biden/index.html
Rollo-
I posted it already. But know that the so-called 'deep state' is actually Wafers. Slowly but surely, we are taking over America. That being said, earlier this yr Bill Maher, Liz Warren and I sent out a clear message to the Dems:
STOP BEATING OFF!
What did they do in response? They beat off even more vigorously. Honestly, I can't wait till November.
mb
An article -published in the Washington Post no less- that describes what the post-pandemic US has become. Trump's presidency certainly sped up the decline, but it seems that COVID helped strip away the crumbling facade
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/06/bus-denver-pendemic-violence/
Pretty good, but overly long, article about beating-off (a.k.a. prog delusions) vs. reality on the street:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/06/how-san-francisco-became-failed-city/661199/
"They did it [vote former prog hero Chesa Boudin, out of office] because he didn’t seem to care that he was making the citizens of our city miserable in service of an ideology that made sense everywhere but in reality."
As MB said better than me this is a good example of "... Americans [who] don't know shit from Shinola. Here are examples of Shinola: diversity appointments, tearing down statues, monitoring 'correct' speech ...
Now let's look at the Real Shit: relations of power, distribution of wealth, infrastructure, living conditions of much of the nation, the (toxic) American value system, the endless rape of the environment."
Pastrami-
It's possible that the collapse of American 'civilization' will be exceptional, in the following sense: Arnold Toynbee tracked the decline of numerous civs, and in each case the root cause was that they committed suicide. This we are doing, for sure. But Toynbee never found a civ that was collapsing because it was little more than a joke, or that it was spending all of its time beating off. Wow! American exceptionalism!
mb
"Tony Blair’s new centrist project shows he and his acolytes have learnt nothing
The former prime minister and his fellow liberals offer only the defunct slogans of a previous age."
https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2022/05/tony-blairs-new-centrist-project-shows-he-and-his-acolytes-have-learned-nothing
"How Britain’s failure to reckon with global forces led to a cost-of-living crisis
At the end of the era of globalisation and market-led capitalism, there is no clear successor to this crumbling model."
https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/geopolitics/2022/05/how-britains-failure-to-reckon-with-global-forces-led-to-a-cost-of-living-crisis
Have you ever held dialogue w Gray, MB? You are both such talented writers w incredibly wide-ranging minds. I just started his book on atheism(s).
Mo-
This is not how this blog works. Follow the example of other Wafers, por favor. Do what they do.
Mordock-
Blair was nothing more than a slick con artist. Saddam Hussein called him 'Bush's poodle', and he was rt. As for Gray: can't applaud him enuf.
mb
What can a parent recommend to the children about how to find true
happiness in a society such as the USA? What do the children think
of their chances of finding it? What do you say to a 12-year-old who
already realizes that there is no worth future coming his way? Why
are so many people fearful about what retirement will mean? Here's
a ten-minute talk to make you wonder why so many are given bad cards
to use in the gambling that is American society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRGiP8l6P8
Zig-
Scroll back; I think I posted this talk by Mate a while ago. But never mind; it can't hurt to say it again. But as I said b4, Mate correctly pts out that all of this psychological damage is due to the nature of American society and way of life, but his (individual) solution is therapy--what we might expect from a therapist. The real solution wd hafta be sociological, i.e. deal w/American society as a whole; and gd luck w/that.
Yr rt that American life is basically a gamble. Americans believe that if they hustle hard enuf, and acquire more objects--houses, cars--they will be happy. So I guess it wd be more accurate to say that American life is a scam. It deprives you of the things that make for true happiness, and then offers you material substitutes as 'compensation'. But Americans are not, on the whole, v. bright; very few understand that it's all a con, and that they are little more than hamsters on a wheel. This is why, as Mate pts out, they are riddled w/psychosomatic illnesses, and live in a world of meds--the real result, and dark side, of the American Dream--.
mb
Here's some interesting stuff:
The Congolese student fighting with pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine | Russia | The Guardian
From the article:
“Several African leaders, most notably South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, have openly said they believe western efforts to expand Nato contributed to the war.”
“Many on the African continent now believe the conflict is driven by Nato expansion, by reckless western policies.”
Wafers-
Check out the faces on these parents:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/09/us/florida-restaurant-note-stepfather-conviction-child-abuse/index.html
Do yr neighbors look like this?
mb
Greetings Dr. Berman and Wafters,
Long time lurker here* and preemptive apologies for the length.
What do you all make of the following? I moved into a new apartment this week. (We moved from a troubled big city to a small town in a ruralish location last year and we love it.) Anyway, the cable guy was here installing the internet connection. He was not American so I asked, very politely and respectfully, if he would tell me why he moved to America. He said he was born here but lived most of his life in Russia and moved back after school. He was late 20s/early 30s. He said that in America, if you work hard you can make a lot of money. It made me wonder if his motivation was simply money, or was more bound up in an effort to avoid poverty and discomfort now, and in later years? I would have pressed him on it, but further questioning seemed rude.
America, to some, is still the land of opportunity. The key factor seems to be hard work, which many modern Americans are simply unwilling to do. Thoughts?
*I’d love to participate more often, but my off-work hours seem to be taken up with house chores, groceries, etc.
Best regards,
Ginger-
Thanks for yr post. In future:
1. Wafers, not Wafters, por favor
2. Send messages to most recent blog post; no one reads the old stuff.
Thank you.
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