This is the Blog for MORRIS BERMAN, the author of "Dark Ages America". It includes current publications and random thoughts about U.S. Foreign Policy, including letters and reactions to publications from others. A cultural historian and social critic, MORRIS BERMAN is the author of "Wandering God" and "The Twilight of American Culture". Since 2003 he has been a visiting professor in sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Feel free to write and participate.
posted by Morris Berman at 7:33 AM
Morris Berman is well known as an innovative cultural historian and social critic. He has taught at a number of universities in Europe and North America, and has held visiting endowed chairs at Incarnate Word College (San Antonio), the University of New Mexico, and Weber State University. During 1982-88 he was the Lansdowne Professor in the History of Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. Berman won the Governor’s Writers Award for Washington State in 1990, the Rollo May Center Grant for Humanistic Studies in 1992, and the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity (from the Media Ecology Association) in 2013. He is the author of a trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness–-The Reenchantment of the World (1981), Coming to Our Senses (1989), and Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality (2000)–and in 2000 his Twilight of American Culture was named a “Notable Book” by the New York Times Book Review. Dr. Berman relocated to Mexico in 2006, and during 2008-9 was a Visiting Professor at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City.
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189 Comments:
USians were not obsessed with no universal health care, war mongering imperialistic military, student loans, employment at will doctrines, FATCA-double taxation, inflation, etc.etc..but they were obsessed with hoarding duck sauce! Excellent priorities in my opinion.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10895095/Queens-duck-sauce-killer-OBSESSED-Chinese-food-condiment.html
https://nypost.com/2022/06/07/accused-nyc-duck-sauce-killer-glenn-hirsch-hoarded-condiment/
Glans-
Or with Kim's buttocks, altho that's a bit passe rt now. And of course, there's always Shaneka Torres.
mb
Written by a former British diplomat, this article details how the neoliberal cosmopolitan economic order, upon which globalization was constructed, is being swept away and the role that the war in Ukraine is playing in it. The West's interest and involvement in Ukraine isn't really about Ukraine, any more than WWII was about Poland.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/06/06/the-world-doesnt-work-that-way-anymore/
Chris-
I got 'page denied'.
mb
Well they *are* Americans, after all:
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/us-tourists-spanish-steps-damage-rome/index.html
(Speaking of doofuses)
More on a real piece of trash:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/09/economy/lean-in-sandberg-meta/index.html
US empire tax dollars at "work"...
https://apnews.com/article/san-diego-california-159621021f821e964da8b26272a539d0
The war mongers were doing routine live-fire training over their gunnery range... Simply put, more beating off.
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Re: What is the female of doofus?
A doobus, dingus, or ditz.
Miles
Jeff-
Not clear why we don't waterboard her and then send her to some rural community in SW Bulgaria (if they are dumb enuf to take her). Also buffoonette.
mb
ps: Jesus, the garbage America spews out!
door-
Cdn't run it; you didn't provide any links.
Hans-
Cdn't run it. We try to be a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Next time, perhaps provide a para of commentary?
mb
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-january-6-committee-hearing
And once this toothless committee is done presenting its evidence, what then? The absence of any plan is speaking volumes about what a farce this is.
Trump may have been the worst president in our country’s history, but there can be no doubt that he was the most American.
Back the Blue!
https://www.fox5vegas.com/2022/06/09/las-vegas-cop-reportedly-wore-police-vest-drew-gun-citizen-during-road-rage-incident/
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/09/1103989565/a-michigan-police-officer-is-charged-with-murder-in-patrick-lyoya-shooting
https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
They have our best interest at heart.
What is it exactly that makes Kamala Harris so unlikable? Besides her awful speeches, her constant cackling, the way she talks down to people--or talks to them like they are four-year-olds--is the fact that she just plain oozes inauthenticity. Even though she would be incapable of it, just an occasional self-deprecating remark ("I never noticed how abrasive my cackle is until journalists started pointing it out. I'm considering working with a hypnotherapist to help me overcome this.") would certainly help her popularity a tad. But I think more than anything it is her meanness that really puts people off. She has lost something like 22 people who worked for her, for the simple reason that they can't stand her. One of her former employees called her "a soul-destroying bully". At any rate, even CNN can't ignore how bad she is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSxLfb2ADOE
Also, I didn't know about this, but apparently sports stadiums across the country are spontaneously breaking out in "Fuck Joe Biden" chants (It goes without saying that this is typical boorish American behavior. Imagine all the young kids there.):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77JOGi7U0qw&t=7s
Megan-
That, plus she's a rancid bag of douche fluid. There is literally 0 to her.
Louis-
'Toothless' is the word, all rt. This is all theater, i.e., beating off. It will amt to 0, and Trumpi will get off scot free.
mb
Life expectancy in Cuba and Costa Rica higher than in "the wealthiest nation in world history."
Costa Rica beats the USA with 80% less GDP/cap, thanks to its universal healthcare program. Cuba beats the USA with 87% less.
https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/
Wish I could move to Costa Rica and feel reasonably ethical about it; it's being overrun by crypto bros and new agers:
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/crypto-rica-a11a16473f1f
BH-
We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Here's how to do it:
1. Present an argument regarding the collapse of the American empire.
2. Defend yr argument with empirical evidence, in the form of links or reliable references.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, post 'hit and run' opinions. Abs. no one is impressed by this.
Thank you.
mb
Wafers-
It all comes down to Tulsi. Only she can save us. But we have rejected Tulsism, and therefore are finished.
mb
Gonzalo LIra did a video talk titled 'What Russia has to do after Russia wins'at the Saker blog.One of the points he makes in it is that when the English empire and Soviet Union were no more it was relatively bloodless but that is the exception.He thinks that with the US going down the drain it will be a very dangerous period.Also he did a video at the Saker blog entitled'The great ukraine blame game has begun' the end is very poignant. The video brought to mind The Quiet American by Graham Greene and Masters of War by Bob Dylan. https//thesaker.is./gonzalo-lira-what-russia-has-to-do-after-russia-wins/ https//thesaker.is./gonzalo-lira-the-great-ukraine-blame-game-has-begun/
A country's youth is its future:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HusMMz1-8sg
ps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8rca6kw07Q
Food for thought:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/10/donald-trump-storming-capitol-democracy-6-january
ps: Just some reflection on the Guardian article, and the links showing brain-dead Kamala and brain-dead American youth (who can't name the countries in North America, for example): the current Jan. 6 hearings, wh/are quite dramatic (so far), and wh/make Trumpi's criminal activities quite clear, will come and go w/nothing done. They will also have no impact on the Nov. midterm elections. It comes down to the crucial pt I have been repeatedly making: Americans are just not v. bright. Thus most of them don't give a whit abt the dissolution of democracy; hell, they don't even know what democracy is. Their focus, for example, is on gas prices. Well, inflation is real, and the loss of buying power for food and fuel is certainly legit; but where is the concern for the loss of democracy? Restricted to a v. small % of the American public, I suspect. If yr intelligent, yr concerned abt it; if yr not v. bright, you aren't. Well, do the math.
It's for sure that thanks to inflation, among other things (e.g., a doofus in the W.H. who has no idea what to do, short of making diversity appointments, and war), the Dems will get their asses handed to them on a platter come November. (Not that they, and the wokes, will then reassess what they've done wrong; that, you can forget.) The Jan. 6 committee will get dissolved, and Sleepy Joe, who hasn't been able to do much beyond pushing us toward WW3, will become a complete lame duck. This then sets the stage for Nov. of 2024, when Trumpi, or a Trumpite, is likely to get elected president. Which means that the Big Lie about 2020 will become the Official Truth, and the stormers of the Capitol on Jan. 6 will be officially regarded as "freedom fighters." It also means that we will have entered a completely Orwellian world, where up is down, and black is white. And that will be the end not only of American democracy, but also of normality, of sanity, and the role of empirical evidence in ascertaining reality. (In any case, I'm guessing that right now, w/o Trumpi in the W.H., not 5% of the American public can say what the phrase "empirical evidence" signifies.)
In terms of the collapse of America, wh/I regard as ultimately unavoidable, I've suggested that there are a # of ways that the nation can finally disintegrate: fascism, secession, total international irrelevance, Chinese hegemony, and so on. But living in non-Reality, in cloud-cuckoo-land, is apparently, and quite seriously, on the agenda. It's a strange way for us to go, and for many declinists, it wd not be the favored path (mine is secession). But it is, my friends, staring us in the face; and as non-Reality hovers over us (like the death instinct), it lends a kind of eerie feel to what is happening, and to daily life in America. I've called the place a joke, wh/I believe it is; but this is an eerie type of joke, n'est-ce pas? We seem to be entering a world of utter meaninglessness. Our epitaph:
"-They believed all the wrong things
-They did all the wrong things
-They disappeared in a fog of incomprehension
-Karma"
mb
Do they believe that it is only worth knowing facts if money can be
made by knowing them? What will such early emptied brains do to save
America from impeding doom? I can see them passing through school and
promptly forgetting yearly all the useless junk they heard. I recall
someone in their twenties saying that everyone they know can only go
back in history to 1990; whatever might have happened before that year simply does not count. View this four-minute piece of evidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HusMMz1-8sg
Rock-
I think this link was already posted, but it's always nice to see morons at play. I've tried to find a reason why these meatheads shdn't be beaten to w/in an inch of their lives and then thrown on a dung heap, but I failed.
mb
Rock, et. al. Be careful whom you cherry pick. Although, it's quite funny. AR-15 > nuke, ha! Same producer as above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5QpU6R9dSo
Mo-
Sorry, amigo, you really do need links or reliable refs. I'm afraid "common knowledge" won't fly.
mb
Wafers-
Very impt article; pls take time to read:
https://fair.org/home/calling-russias-attack-unprovoked-lets-us-off-the-hook/
Vince-
As for the Fair article, yr welcome. However, pls note that I'm trying to make this blog a discussion forum rather than just a bulletin board. So por favor, send us a paragraph regarding your thinking as to how America will drift into WW3. (Stupidity wd probably be #1 on yr hit parade.)
mb
This is a clown show on all sides, the cops, the idiots in the U-Haul, the pride marchers, and all the Christian counter protestors. Everybody involved in this on whatever side is an idiot.
https://apnews.com/article/coeur-dalene-idaho-government-and-politics-arrests-01fd15f6d3b3bcab9404106c85f673c3
Dr. B and Wafers: RE the persistence of stupidity, Paul Street, writing in Counterpunch, begins with a quote from Bertrand Russell's "The Triumph of Stupidity" (1933).
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/10/against-outrageous-stupidity-from-wmd-to-woman-erasing-wokeness/
Clown-
Well, your link doesn't support the claim that everyone involved is an idiot, but I hafta confess, I don't think too many Wafers wd disagree w/that assessment. Or that most Americans are idiots, who sit around beating off. Suggestion for a Wafer T-shirt:
AMERICA: A COLLECTION OF IDIOTS GOING NOWHERE FAST
Feel free to market this and keep all the profits. Gd luck.
mb
Pete-
We're struggling to be more of a discussion forum than a bulletin board, so next time you post, perhaps you cd add a paragraph of commentary of your own. Thank you.
mb
I rarely post anymore because it seems so obvious that America is finished I feel I really have nothing to add to the discussion. I did read with interest the recently linked Atlantic article about how American culture kills its children and has no future.
Related in a sickening way the link below is a new permutation about parents abandoning children to play at a casino. Killing them more slowly though neglect while losing the rent and grocery money
https://www.mcall.com/business/mc-biz-wind-creek-unattended-children-mitigation-plan-20220608-gv7fh6gghjcvpbv267hkaodh7q-story.html
Downward indeed!
Anjin-
Gd pt, of course; altho as I've said b4, there is something very funny abt all of this--the sheer stupidity and self-destructiveness involved. Dumbass country, dumbass people. Sad, of course, but also silly, somehow. Plus, it can also lead to speculation on what a decent nation wd look like. Check out story #2 in 'The Heart of the Matter', e.g.
mb
ps: Things like this are what I'm referring to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeJFJ-Jge_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPgLU8IDNTI
Wafers-
Here's a beat-off history of what the world has done regarding climate change. These lofty declarations are so effective!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/11/cop-climate-change-conference-30-years-highlights-lowlights
Dear Dr. Berman, please use this post. Thank you Sir.
A USian needed a cell phone really, really bad...so he beat the shit of out the worker.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/06/09/phoenix-cricket-beating-crime-arrest/
https://ktar.com/story/5096315/community-tips-help-phoenix-police-nab-suspect-in-brutal-beating-of-phone-store-worker/
Such passion, such focus, such rage! Mr. Hedges and Dr. Chomsky et al., please take note. Mr. Cook appears to have what it takes to help lead that "revolution" and "rising up" against those US corporate masters.
Dr. Shit-
An advanced form of hustling, perhaps. Americans know what they want, and they go for it.
mb
Schlomo-
Cdn't run it. You didn't provide any links or reliable references. This is not a blog for broadcasting opinions; we need evidence for yr arguments. Anyone can have an opinion, after all. Substantiation--very impt.
mb
Hi Dr. Berman and Wafers:
Indi.ca, a Sri Lankan living, I believe, in Canada makes a very strong case for Trump (or a Trumpite) returning to the presidency in 2024. We may get our wish for the ultimate breakup of the USA or certainly the end of the American Empire. Heck! If Trump is on the ballot in 2024, I will probably vote for him (never did I'd even think that was possible!).
https://indica.medium.com/why-trump-deserves-to-come-back-1631a3b02b63
Here's another sober voice telling us how harmful to children are the decisions regarding delaying puberty.
https://unherd.com/2022/06/are-the-kids-alright/?tl_inbound=1&tl_groups[0]=18743&tl_period_type=3&mc_cid=053eefef22
Ho hum dept.:
7 year old killed by a stray bullet. Another life snuffed out.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/year-boy-shot-dead-home-gunfire-sheriff-outraged/story?id=85362206
I tried an interesting exercise the other day- I took a little edible and sat in my backyard just watching the trees flow in the wind and the birds. This calm scene was interrupted unfortunately because my thoughts went to the amount of rectally inserted chicken sandwiches it would take to wake the American public up to the disaster they are headed for unless they can change their socio-political situation and better their lives. When I also realized that there will never be enough Wafers to administer the chicken sandwich suppositories I got so dizzy I had to lie down.
Krak-
Amen, bro.
mb
The Pet Turkey of the Imbecile Cantor in the Town Full of Imbeciles
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“So, we’ve been asked if we would talk a little about Yiddish culture and Yiddish language. You know, you can learn a lot about any culture by picking apart the vocabulary of the related language.”
“For example, in northern Japan there are a lot of words for snow, French is full of words for romance, Russian is full of words for alcoholic, and so on.”
“So, what is Yiddish full of words for?”
“What is Yiddish full of words for?”
Develop your Wafer vocabulary with this helpful three‑minute video from the Forverts.
k-
Too much left out, I think. I did not hear putz, schwanz, schlemiel, schlemozzle, chaleria, vey iz mir, ken ayn hore, kush mir in tuchus, zol zein, or Far a narr, zeigt mir nisht ein halbe arbit (to a fool, you don't show a job half-done).
mb
Months after Biden demanded accountability for border agents who chased Haitian migrants at the border in Del Rio, some officers have instead embraced the incident, circulating a challenge coin that memorializes its most searing image.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article262498842.html
It's funny how these things are celebrated in this country. Anywhere else there would be a copping of denial or a retelling of events. We don't hide who we are, we are proud..
Check this out. Oh what USAins will do for attention. LOL.
https://kfor.com/news/local/police-following-man-scaling-the-devon-tower-in-downtown-oklahoma-city/
Back down below on the streets the anger is in full swing. Check out the mugshots too.
https://www.13abc.com/2022/06/13/toledo-woman-arrested-an-attack-during-fit-road-rage/
https://local12.com/news/nation-world/8-year-old-boy-shot-head-during-road-rage-incident-police-say-amarillo-texas-eric-frausto-frankie-lee-haigood
https://abc7ny.com/newburgh-racist-rant-arrest-hate-speech/11959137/
Just another “civilized” day here in the great U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Azer-
Actually, we do hide who we are, and Americans are stupid enuf to buy the gov't b.s. Ukraine is a perfect example.
mb
Two of the best subversives on YouTube are Michael Hudson and Robert
Reich. Here's a talk by the latter, who had correct analysis of the
USA after WWII and the unprecedented real growth of the US economy in
an era when everyone was doing a little bit better year by year. This
is truly the source of Trump's making America great again, an impossible fable. As Reich saw it, the big money and the government had to admit that the US was the last country standing after the War
and its population went through 15 years of misery and low
consumption.
They had to admit that it was time to share some of this boundless wealth during the countries worldwide economic hegemony. This just added to their share of the nations wealth while doing good deeds for
the masses. After the world finally caught up with the US, its ability to be generous ended and will never return.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bgkBrFoOOo
Greetings MB and Wafers,
Well, it was a good night for Trumpi as pro-Trump Republicans won in Texas, South Carolina, and Nevada. Most impressive is Mayra Flores who prevailed in Texas. Is it me, or does Flores seem like a right-wing AOC?:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mayra-flores-texas-congress-qanon-1368616/
Meanwhile, from everything we know, and especially from the evidence put on in the two January 6th hearings so far, the Justice Department appears to have the goods to indict Trump. Like MB, I believe the Justice Department will *not* indict him. I also think that even if they did, it wouldn't matter very much because upwards of 65% of Republicans still believe Trump's Big Lie, and believe in all that is Trump. The marquee issue is that it's the American people who need to repudiate the Big Lie, not just Trump. Good luck w/that one...
Miles
Jeff-
He can't be stopped! Onward to Nov. 2022 and 2024! I am willing to serve in his cabinet as Director of National Disintegration (DND).
mb
Greetings Wafers everywhere,
Two articles caught my Cascadian eye this morning. First, posted on Yahoo News are the results of a poll indicating a bipartisan half of Americans now believe the U.S. to be “likely” to “cease being a democracy in the future.” Meanwhile, only 24% said they watched the current sideshow known as the House January 6 hearings. Wafers, however, should be cautious in assuming any change in the BOI (Beat Off Index), since the poll did not ask about belief that chicken sandwiches with free condiments might cease to exist someday.
https://yahoo.com/news/poll-half-of-americans-predict-us-may-cease-to-be-a-democracy-someday
Meanwhile, even though a walk-back on standing with Ukraine might be occurring as Blinken and the DC Blobsters now are saying territorial concessions in Ukraine are totally the decision of the Ukraine government in Kiev, Larry Johnson’s latest commentary makes the case for why Ukraine has been an attractive target for looting over the past 20 years:
https://sonar21.com/why-the-west-lusts-after-ukraine
Reality check in Olympia WA today: Filling the gas tank cost $5.51 per gallon for medium octane.
Jack-
We thank you for the Cascadian update, and look forward to Tulsi's commencement address at Evergreen, officially dissolving the institution once and for all.
As for the Jan. 6 Committee, there are plans afoot to change its name to the Advanced Offbeat Committee (AOC). Their uselessness is a wonder to behold.
mb
Biden to send another $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/15/biden-to-send-another-1-billion-in-military-aid-to-ukraine-.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Main&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1655311235
Quoting the article, this is the "12th U.S. military assistance installment for Ukraine since the start of the war."
Unbelievable that this is happening while we are in the middle of an economic meltdown with the inflation crisis! At this point, it's quite obvious that America is using the Ukraine conflict as a distraction from dealing with the problems at home. I've been hearing on some financial podcasts that America will go on for 50 or 100 more years before it collapses. At this rate, I can't imagine how we would be able to last that much longer. I can't help but wonder what kind of data they are looking at or maybe I am being too pessimistic.
NEW: Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers whine about her losing friends to "cancel cultrue" and R Kelly and Keith Raniere getting better treatment behind bars and drop lots of famous names while asking for a 5-year sentence rather than the recommended 25. https://www.thedailybeast.com/ghislaine-maxwells-lawyers-ask-for-light-sentence-after-alleged-murder-threat-and-past-on-ira-hit-list?ref=home
Apparently word on the beat is this is real; late stage plutocratic shit right here.
Woody-
I personally am not able to think of a single reason why she shdn't be beaten to within an inch of her life and thrown on a dung heap. Keep in mind at all times that the elite are trash.
mb
You can take the USian out of the shithole, but cannot remove the shithole from the USian!
Vacationing USian inflates amount of stolen watch. Even when they were on holiday, they were hu$tlers. Per the reports, Mr. Bernstein also 'settled' with the DoJ after being accused of misappropriating a $1million PPP loan.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10924165/American-tourist-mugged-Barcelona-denies-lying-cops-value-stolen-watch.html
https://nypost.com/2022/06/15/spanish-judge-may-decide-if-american-lied-about-stolen-watch-value/
Sang-
What article?
Dr. Shit-
Sounds like a typical American, but where was his gun?
mb
Bk rec: "The Free World," by Louis Menand.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mike-pence-could-have-and-should-have-invoked-the-25th-amendment-on-jan-6?ref=home&utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark
I’m astonished that the American left thinks any of this is going to matter in November.
Americans will happily piss on their own shoes in the off chance that a drop might splash on an immigrant’s.
Happy Bloomsday MB and Wafers. Hope all is well in the DF and other Wafer refuges. Things suck up here in disintegrating amerikkka. Hot, people are crazy, food's expensive, at least 50% of tghe people I know have quit their job in the past year, chicken sandwich suppositories nowhere to be found... Yet, the new Barbie movie is in the headlines, as does Kim K's ass in Monroe's dress and (yet) (more) Jan 6th nonsense.
Bernie kinda gets it, but is still trying to fix the system from within the system - good luck.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/15/democrats-risk-a-crushing-defeat-this-year-they-must-change-course-now
"Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past." (not Bernie)
Knish-
Re: Bernie: nice sentiments, but living in unreality, I fear. The delusion is staggering. And in any case: why save the US? Bill Maher actually agrees w/me, that we are talking abt a collection of buffoons.
Louis-
The Jan. 6 Committee has entered a phase of beating off so vigorously, that it is a bit terrifying. The notion that they cd make a difference for anything doesn't just border on dementia; it *is* dementia. And what will the wokes do, after they are crushed in Nov.? Something new, something different? Ha!
mb
Dio-
Sorry, cdn't run it (half pg max rule).
mb
Wafers-
I always enjoy links provided by Joe, showing Americans being stupid, shooting each other, and etc. Why? Gore Vidal said, "Stupidity excites me," and I feel the same way. In addition, if yr a declinist and you see Americans acting in character--wh/is to say, like buffoons--it does drive home the pt that we are in a state of ongoing disintegration, w/no possibility of escaping our fate. After all, can a country consisting of buffoons get it together to rescue itself? How likely does that seem, really? And this is why I love a gd buffoon, and enjoy seeing them in action. So, we need a new Wafer T-shirt:
GO FOR IT YOU STUPID MORONS
This wd be a great conversation starter, esp. if you wanna get punched out.
To buffoons: May they flourish!
mb
Dan-
Sorry, cdn't run it. I guess you are not familiar w/how this blog works. Broadcasting opinions w/o any substantiating links or references is not esp. welcome. Opinions are like assholes: everyone has one. We don't find them particularly enlightening.
If you want to participate in this discussion, here's the basic formula:
1. You state your specific argument about the collapse of the American empire.
2. You provide links or reliable references to support that argument.
I hope that clears it up 4u. We are all looking forward to yr next post, wh/conforms to this basic formula.
mb
Drive by shootings. Road rage. A Dash Door driver upset about a chicken sandwich. A thug attacks women. Move over, Chicago. Philly rocks!
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/video-man-attacks-3-women-in-south-philly/3273697/
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/delivery-driver-who-allegedly-shot-chick-fil-a-worker-identified/3271806/
https://www.fox29.com/news/more-than-30-shots-fired-in-drive-by-shooting-that-killed-1-man-injured-another-in-fairhill-police-say
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/gunman-shoots-and-kills-man-in-center-city/3272507/
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/the-lineup/video-examined-in-mass-shooting-investigation-the-lineup/3262168/
p.s. Thank you for the kind compliment above, Doctor. But I regard myself only as a cog in the huge Wafer wheel here. The USA is such a violent pathetic society one can only laugh at it and provide examples as it implodes.
The stupid! It burns!!! In so many ways...
https://www.yahoo.com/news/poll-biden-disapproval-hits-new-high-as-more-americans-say-they-would-vote-for-trump-090021657.html
The BOI is strong with this one:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-dem-senate-bargainers-divided-214836099.html
while the massacres continue:
https://apnews.com/article/alabama-birmingham-shootings-religion-1c773c7332c344e5ac30a1101cedeeef
Is this a great country, or what?
DTE
The US isn't the only country saturated with buffoons, it seems. Apparently, the UK has it's share. Here, Glenn Greenwald discusses the UK's decision to extradite Julian Assange to the US:
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-uks-decision-to-extradite-assange?utm_source=email
Isn't it interesting that those afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome never (as far as I am aware) criticized the Trump administration for the persecution of Julian Assange? Is it surprising in the least to hear the deafening silence that greets the Biden administration for pursuing the same policy? I think not.
ccg-
Gd essay by Glenn, spot-on.
mb
Essay
The Theft of the Commons
Across centuries, land that was collectively worked by the landless was claimed by the landed, and the age of private property was born.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/essay/the-theft-of-the-commons
Nice essay in this issue of the NYer, reminds me of this fantastic book I read last year:
Simon Winchester
Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50357461-land
Dr. Berman,
My apologies for sending you a bad link or none at all in the last missive. For the most part, I agree with your assessment on the U.S. and its citizenry as in decline and quickly becoming a country that will start seeing martial law on a regular basis. The issue I want to present is the following article on Conversion Therapy as being introduced in the American public school system. I'm simply curious to know the opinions of yourself and other bloggers about it. Personally, I think it's lousy.
https://news.yahoo.com/biden-issues-executive-order-cracking-202156245.html
Sang-
I agree it's pretty awful, but I do think we need a v. different kind of Conversion Therapy, wh/wd take yr average American, who is a dope, and making him or her semi-normal (normal being defined as the people of practically every other non-Anglo country). I wd like Wafers to suggest what this therapy might consist of. Personally, I favor beating with a rubber hose for 20 minutes, followed by urine on shoes. But this cd be too mild, I dunno.
mb
https://kyivindependent.com/national/putin-claims-western-sanctions-failed-says-us-fading-world-power
In a 73-minute speech on June 17 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin lashed out at the West, claiming the U.S. is a “fading world power” doomed to meet its imminent demise because of its “unipolar” policy.
Heyyyy when he's right he's right!
Yes, the electorate continues to behave as Walter Lippmann said way
back in the 1920: they are stricken with ignorance, irrationality, and
confusion. This poll confirms how they would select a rich bunko
artist over a doddering dunce. Note that the coming end of it all
for America is masked by the belief that a Leader can cure the
disease by relying on the usual nostrums about freedom, praising the
rich, and borrowing even more money to palliate the masses.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/poll-biden-disapproval-hits-new-high-as-more-americans-say-they-would-vote-for-trump-090021657.html
Grace-
He's probably been reading my bks! And he's hardly the only world leader who knows the US is finished. But he failed to mention that from Kamala down, the country is filled with buffoons.
mb
Matt-
Check this out:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/17/joe-biden-americans-really-down-ap-interview
He's rt, Americans are down; but why didn't he add that most of them have shit for brains? That they are poopy-heads? In any case, I am increasingly excited abt the Nov. elections.
mb
And here I thought the pussy-hat movement was cutting edge social chg. Was I wrong?
https://www.articledesk.net/the-future-isnt-female-anymore/
This clip of Bill Maher is pretty funny:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tu9JGK_yHo&t=14s
I hadn't heard about The Washington Post twitter tantrum until this. But my goodness, how insufferable these people like Felicia are! I hate the way everyone just caves into these bullies. But Twitter and social media aren't going anywhere, so it is completely safe to say that this stuff will get continually worse, with no end in sight.
Megan-
Thanks for this great clip. 1st, let me say that these people (Felicia et al.) need to be beaten w/in an inch of their lives, and then thrown on a dung heap. 2nd, declinists can enjoy this sort of thing, not only because it's stupid, but because it advances the collapse of the nation. As you say, it's going to get worse. To which we wd hafta add: Bad Is Good.
mb
His take on the US wd seem to ring true:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/17/europe/russia-president-vladimir-putin-speech-spief-intl/index.html
Thank you Dr. Berman for the link regarding President Putin's West remarks--spot on regarding the US empire's interests and its' running dog EU vassals.
The London and Atlanta-based writers of this piece state: "Speaking about his war on Ukraine on Friday, Putin went straight to his propaganda playbook, claiming Russia was "forced" into the conflict."
What 'propaganda' are they talking about? This does not appear to be an op-ed, nor commentary; hence, it appears more bias from the West's "news" "reporters"-they simply cannot help themselves, nor see themselves for who they are and what they represent.
If China or whomever decided to form an alliance with Canada and Mexico, and put nuclear weapons/military on their borders, we all know how the US empire would respond. Would that "news" outlet label the US' actions as going 'straight to the propaganda playbook'--or would they be justified to stage another coup, force sanctions, fake incubator babies-style myths, false flags, invasions, bombings, etc.? In fact, the first day of the Ukrainian-Russian war, the US was bombing Somalia again-crickets from the US "news."
Given the predictable statement: 'straight to the propaganda playbook'--maybe the writers of this statement can discuss Edward Bernays, Operation Paperclip, MK Ultra, etc. and examine how pervasive and effective US empire propaganda-brainwashing is and was.
Only americans seem to be unaware of their decline. China for example knows that it doesn't need to do much, America is doing the job of destroying itself .
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/06/04/china-ukraine-decline-russia/
I remember a few days ago watching a youtube video where some maga type americans were coming to accepte the decline (I'll share it if I find it), but you don't have to take my word for it, the next decade is the decade of the triumph of Waferism.
So I am sure that this is no surprise to most of you that this happens all the time:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-05-30/top-gun-maverick-memorial-day-tom-cruise-pentagon-propaganda?_amp=true
However, I was shocked that it made it into a major newspaper. Things really are fluctuating.
Flab-
Impt article. Of course, across the US, the buffoons will sit in movie theaters and lap it up. One also wonders if Scientology was involved in any way.
Orca-
Gd essay. The Chinese are smart; we are not. As for Waferism: it is the Stealth Force, seeking to take over the country. Post by post, it will achieve its goal.
Glans-
Yes, unlike the Americans, Putin is no fool. Who can't see what the US is up to, has been up to for decades? The buffoons, of course. As for the US/NATO attempt to put missiles on Russia's borders, JFK didn't tolerate it for Cuba in 1962, and neither will Putin today. Meanwhile, Americans run around waving Ukrainian flags, universities cancel courses in Dostoevsky, Russian restaurants in the US offer "Beef Zelensky," and the MSM continues to fan the flames of the American propaganda machine. What horses' asses we are!
mb
Wafers-
Read this in conjunction w/the chapter on Marinetti in my bk on Italy, "Genio":
https://www.noemamag.com/the-perils-of-smashing-the-past/
mb
Fascinating article about just how deluded people can be in the age of social media.
It is endlessly fascinating to see what goes on in the minds of people. Life was so boring before when you just had to wonder how nutty could people be.
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-ivanka-trump-biden-voting-elections-1ccfd89df6868911d934529b9e47d6c8
But it did raise one potentially disturbing red flag in my mind. Is it possible that you Dr. Berman are just CGI too?
Hola MB and Wafers,
I'm still intrigued by the possibility of American rejuvenation by way of Tulsi's workout tape and the late Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan. Both are 'master strokes' for a jerk-off society.
Miles
Talk of LaMDA being sentient is just another instance of Silicon Valley technotheology and technobuffoonery
"Ignore the Silicon Valley messiahs. They only expose how little most of us know about the technology and its ethics."
The dangerous fallacy of sentient AI
https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2022/06/dangerous-fallacy-sentient-ai
REPORT: BlackRock & Vanguard taking over centralized food production technologies & will lead to near-total control over U.S. food supply | Climate Depot https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/06/17/report-blackrock-vanguard-taking-over-centralized-food-production-technologies-will-lead-to-near-total-control-over-u-s-food-supply/
Oh nothing to see here guys! Listen to MB when he says you don't want to be living in this country in ten years.. This is just gross..
Tired-
Or in 1 yr!
Ricky-
Check out WAF ch. 3 on the "technological sublime."
Jeff-
I hafta confess, I miss Herman terribly.
Anjin-
Ya got me. I'm just a sentient android.
mb
Tell me this isn't symbolic:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/18/joe-biden-falls-off-bike-video
Anonymous The Tired One
Are you aware that the "Climate Depot" site you linked to is an industry funded anti science and climate change denail website? One of the very worst. For example, on their front page they are running a story about the current heatwave in France and framing it as oppression & freedom stealing-N-stuff because the PTB have banned outdoor events until the heatwave passes. Nowhere in their article do they mention that in 2003 Europe had a brutal heatwave that killed 72,000 people & 15,000 were in France. I guess they just forgot to mention that minor detail. - https://www.climatedepot.com/2022/06/17/heatwave-lockdowns-have-arrived-region-in-france-bans-outdoor-gatherings-concerts-until-officials-declare-heatwave-over/
2003 European heat wave - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Climate_Depot
USA hustling and grifting has absolutely no unconscionable limit to its ingenuity.
https://www.fox29.com/news/police-thousands-stolen-from-elderly-victims-in-delaware-phone-scam
The “ladies” here are angry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFj0W4uwSPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvrebpp7oWQ
Here’s an ingenious way for the youth to do themselves in while having fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ-raGo6xuQ
And here’s a quick way to get rubbed out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i1vieF3E74
All here in “the greatest country in the world”! U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Same old...
https://www.fox29.com/news/overnight-shootings-in-philadelphia-leave-7-shot-2-killed-police-say
Dear MB:
I think the Ukrainian debacle is America's "Suez Moment" and it is unfolding right now. The MSM has suppressed the real situation: 1)the Russians are clearly winning with overwhelming military strength (which they hold in reserve); 2) they have not been hurt but rather strengthened by Western sanctions, the Ruble is much stronger now, and Russia has immense natural resources; 3) the "G8" (BRICS, et al.) are not condemning the invasion but ready to form a parallel economic union to the US-led G7; 4) even Latin American countries are snubbing the US (https://thehill.com/latino/3513026-mexican-president-confirms-summit-of-the-americas-snub/ires are West); 5) the EU lapdogs will pay dearly (gas, fertilizer, etc) for supporting the US policy of not negotiating in good faith with the Russians.
Here is an excellent article from the American Conservative (!!):
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/when-the-lies-come-home/
Quercus
Querc-
Thanks for impt article. Yr probably rt, this is America's Suez Moment that we've been predicting here for several yrs now; the only thing I wd add, and did not mention earlier, is that given the fact that America is not a v. intelligent nation, it runs around *looking* for a Suez Moment. Face it: if Biden hadn't fastened on the Ukraine, he wd have maintained his focus/zeal on China, over Taiwan. Once that fizzled, as the Ukraine caper is fizzling now, he wd have scanned the world looking for another potential Suez. To a stupid people and a stupid gov't, war is the 'solution' to everything. This is classic declinist theory in spades: empires commit suicide, wh/includes imperial overstretch. Biden has driven the country into an economic ditch, to boot. And the author is rt abt attention span: Americans don't have any. What's the Ukraine compared to quite serious inflation? Biden, Schmiden. Ukraine, Schmukraine. Zelensky, Schmelensky. I wd say it's all theater, w/this exception, elaborated on in QOV: psychologically speaking, American needs an enemy. It can't really function w/o one. This is also why Trump getting elected in 2024 is not that big a deal. You want self-destruction? Schmiden is delivering it in spades. Meanwhile, the American people are drifting in meaninglessness; they don't know their ass from their elbow.
mb
More potential Suez moments:
US empire police waited over 77 minutes during the school slaughter, yet not to worry. There's hope for "moving on"... roses, honorary "all-stars," symbolic hand gestures, and moments of silence. Perhaps, a 77 minutes moment of silence is required for the little league team instead of 21 seconds.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/police-didnt-try-to-open-doors-to-uvalde-classrooms-with-shooter-inside-source/ar-AAYDzZh
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Uvalde-Little-League-school-shooting-17252345.php
Police did shit. The country did shit. The people were shit. The only real movement was the bowel movement.
Dr. Shit-
Well, that was an internal moment. The true internal Suez Moment was the election of Trumpi in 2016. But we were all still waiting for an external Suez Moment, and I think Querc is rt: with the Ukrainian debacle, we now have it. Schmiden brought our stupidity to the breaking pt, hurting us badly and alienating many nations. Our decline is getting increasingly serious, and obvious. We tried to cheat karma, and we failed.
mb
US prison workers produce $11B worth of goods and services for ‘little to no pay at all’
https://thehill.com/blogs/3525313-us-prison-workers-produce-11b-worth-of-goods-and-services-for-little-to-no-pay-at-all/amp/
So... slavery?
Collapse Won’t Reset Society
To some, civilization’s collapse promises a social and economic reset. But historical disasters show us that society is surprisingly resilient.
https://palladiummag.com/2022/04/11/collapse-wont-reset-society/
For the collapsitarians of the message board..
Bybel-
This is not a message board; it's a discussion forum. Next time, it wd be nice if you cd provide us with some discussion, not just a link. Thank you.
mb
Dr. Berman,
A quick note to mention I finished your 'Eminent Post-Victorians'.
Thank you for your offering. Very illuminating.
Much appreciated.
EPV-
Many thanks. What part of it did you particularly like, and why?
mb
Remember George Sodini? The misogynist creep who shot a group of innocent women at a gym in Pennsylvania?
Here he is learning 'The Right Attitude' at a workshop for men learning to pick up women.
https://youtu.be/9VDvZYcrq0o
This verbal diarrhea (from a man with 3 failed marriages) can only seem like good advice in the context of a totally degenerated culture.
Looks like the nightly news will have an endless source of slaughter
in the schools. Imagine the numbers of youngsters who correctly
sense that they have little future at obtaining all the lovely objects
available in the consumer frenzy. Think of how they see the slim
chances at finding a movie star as a wife or of obtaining fashionable
friends who applaud the losers' charm and wit. Thanks to little gun
control, their serious toys are available to implement "the plan."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOXyFcGhrf0
Doctor and Wafers,
Check this out. One perhaps can call it “Weekend Mass Shootings Wrap Up”. It seems to be now a weekly occurrence in the media at the start of each new week. Like watching, enjoying, and getting a good chuckle at “Weekend Update” on SNL, we can do the same on Mondays as this pathetic shithole further implodes in deadly armed violence. Who needs sports headlines and highlights? We have the mass shootings highlights! LOL.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-42-injured-weekend-mass-shootings-us/story?id=85506154
Dr. Berman,
What did I like about it? I enjoyed the entry point into a wealth of information that I previously would not have known about, with any depth. It served as an entry point into further reading on wiki and the www - away from the endless barrage of news and violence.
I have found, that with your writing, seeds are planted for further understanding. It's not something you find, always. You always state your sources, what intrigues you, further information, etc. I really enjoy that aspect of your writing. I also enjoy that you deliver information with a sense of sly humour. I always laugh - makes ya feel less alone. :)
It's a tough one, when you break it down - did I enjoy 'Inside-out' or 'Semen?!' better?
Cheers
As the country sinks and living standards tank, Wall Street uses the crisis to engineer the market and hustle some big bucks. Last week, hedge funds tracked by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. doubled down on bearish wagers, with the dollar amount of short sales hitting the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. Similar trends were on display at prime broker units of Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co., where bearish positions increased among clients.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-rally-follows-biggest-hedge-163000373.html
Dear Dr.Berman,
The Ukraine debacle does seem to be US Suez moment (which I suggested on this blog back in Feb/March). Please check out economist Mike Hudson's recent column: "The Fed’s Austerity Program to Reduce Wages": https://thesaker.is/the-feds-austerity-program-to-reduce-wages/
Towards the end Hudson quotes from a column by a former Indian diplomat:M.K. Bhadrakumar, “West at inflection point in Ukraine war,” Indian Punchline, June 19, 2022: https://www.indianpunchline.com/west-at-inflection-point-in-ukraine-war/
“Fundamentally, the Western economies are facing a systemic crisis. The complacency that the reserve-currency-based US economy is impervious to ballooning debt; that the petrodollar system compels the entire world to purchase dollars to finance their needs; that the flood of cheap Chinese consumer goods and cheap energy from Russia and Gulf States would keep inflation at bay; that interest rate hikes will cure structural inflation; and, above all, that the consequences of taking a trade-war hammer to a complex network system in the world economy can be managed — these notions stand exposed.” It seems except for the collective West(especially the US and its population) the rest of the world sees what is happening.
Himanshu
EPV-
OK, sounds gd. If the spirit moves you, maybe you cd post a review on Amazon. But no obligation; only if you feel so inclined.
mb
Dr. Berman,
Of course:) I left a review for you. I also was happy to see that 'Coming to Our Senses' had been made available, again. So, I have acquired that. I do wish that 'Wandering God' and 'Re-enchantment' were available, tho. ://
Looking forward to whatever I can read. Thanks again,
EPV
https://www.newsweek.com/karl-marx-study-room-name-changed-due-ukraine-russia-war-officials-say-1690072
Sorry, I've been gone too long. Marx's name was removed because of the Ukraine-Russia war. You ask can it get even dumber?
It might be even dumber if they removed him as a dead white man and a racist, all of which he demonstrably happens to be. But at least that dumbness would be consistent with the so-called reasoning behind George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, and even Abraham Lincoln, among dozens of other famous names, being 'cancelled'. What is dumber, to include Marx in that growing pantheon of iniquity as indicated by the facts, or (as Douglas Murray notes) to single him out for tacit exclusion?
Alogon-
The students who demanded Marx's removal were not aware that he was German, not Russian. The youth: our future. This country is so fucked.
EPV-
Here you go:
https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Morris-Berman/dp/0791444422/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=morris+berman&qid=1655926490&s=books&sprefix=morri%2Cstripbooks&sr=1-8
https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Morris-Berman/dp/0801492254/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=morris+berman&qid=1655926576&s=books&sprefix=morri%2Cstripbooks&sr=1-4
All my bks are available on Amazon. You just hafta dig around a bit.
mb
“An empowered left in one of the world’s most influential countries would have ripple effects abroad” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/16/opinion/france-elections-melenchon-macron.html?referringSource=articleShare
"the new alliance’s energy may stem, in part, from fear of the far right and its standard-bearers, like the presidential candidate Éric Zemmour" https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2022/06/18/generation-melanchon-nupes/
I do wonder wonder why this sort of thing doesn't really happen here in the USA. I think there is just ZERO appetite (or heart) fot it..
Tbh though I think from what I've been reading Macron is just going to embrace more of the right-wing, and this will blow up in everyone's face....
Radin-
Thanks for yr post. Re: why Americans are not interested in left-wing politics, or democratic socialism, here are the observations of 4 sages:
1. Freud: America is "a gigantic mistake."
2. Mother Teresa: "I never saw such spiritual poverty as I did when I visited the US."
3. P.T. Barnum: "There's a sucker born every minute."
4. John Steinbeck: "Americans think of themselves not as poor, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."
Cd these 4 sages be wrong? Americans run around yelling "We're No. 1!" Is it possible that they are deluded?
Amigo, once you realize that our fellow-countrymen and women are just plain stupid, w/no heart, and are little more than buffoons, you begin to understand why we are going down the drain."
mb
Wow, quoting Mother Teresa on “spiritual poverty”!?!? The pot calling the kettle black….
https://www.amazon.com/Unquenchable-Thirst-Memoir-Mary-Johnson/dp/0385527489/ref=sr_1_1?crid=P1KXACNP87TW&keywords=unquenchable+thirst&qid=1655945793&s=books&sprefix=Unquench%2Cstripbooks%2C91&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/Missionary-Position-Mother-Teresa-Practice/dp/1455523003/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PQPAU86C7USR&keywords=the+missionary+position+mother+teresa+in+theory+and+practice&qid=1655945830&s=books&sprefix=The+missionar%2Cstripbooks%2C68&sr=1-1
ps: Speaking of #s 1 and 2 above:
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/22/uvalde-pete-arredondo-leave/
I'm sure this is paid leave. But what puzzles me: this is America. Why wasn't he given a special award for putting cops before kids? For here is an example not just of a coward, but of a True American Buffoon (TAB). We are downing in TABs.
Kev-
Not sure why you cited the 1st item; doesn't seem all that relevant. As for Hitchens: his lifelong career was based on opposition, altho that doesn't mean he's wrong. The problem I had w/yr post was: so what? Mother T. cd have been a horrible human being, but to my mind, her observations of America were quite on target, nonetheless. Bad people (and I doubt she was one of them) can, amazingly enuf, occasionally speak the truth.
mb
Ging on Kamala as product of postmodern American education:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuyLeZwBQCU
ps: Kev: Here is an example of a bad person speaking the truth.
As for the American 'educational' system: the kids emerge from it (including college) knowing nothing at all.
But as a declinist, I admit I'm sad that Kamala won't be running for pres in 2024. She is a true buffoonette, and wd have much to contribute to our decline.
mb
Think twice before founding that free-market utopia
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2022/06/think-twice-founding-free-market-utopia
"Exit Projects: History of Libertarian Utopias"
https://pmpress.org/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1242
Interview with the author of a new book on exit projects: the history of Libertarian Utopias. Seasteading, Decolonization, Nation Founding, etc. Looks interesting. What is that old saying about roads paved w good intentions?I
Wafers-
This is so much a part of my family history, I just had to share it w/u:
https://www.tikkun.org/what-if-putin-laughed/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=2360d6ff-3dd9-401a-bffb-278eeab1e6c9
mb
Lithuanian president: “Russia cannot be stopped by persuasion, cooperation, appeasement or concessions.” These small European countries fail to realize the world doesn’t revolve around them. If the plan is unlimited American commitment, they’re in trouble. And,l more importantly: WE are enabling a disaster to happen !!
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda: Now is the time to make NATO even stronger
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/23/lithuanian-president-gitanas-nauseda-strengthen-nato-russia-war-ukraine/
Shiro-
Actually, the guy sounds nuts.
mb
Re: Uvalde school massacre
“In every country in the world, they probably have the same level and same severity of mental health issues that we have here in America. The only difference is that we have easy access to high-powered firearms,” Rogelio Muñoz, a former Uvalde city council member, said at the meeting." https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uvaldes-fury-builds-one-month-school-massacre-probe-reveals-numerous-f-rcna35045
No, not at all Mr. Munoz. The US empire has a vastly disproportionate share of mental illness than in almost every country in the world. Geez, wonder why that is...
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-09-14/the-10-most-depressed-
countries
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2021/depression-rates-tripled-when-pandemic-first-hit/
https://bigthink.com/articles/america-the-land-of-the-anxious-and-the-home-of-the-stressed/
I believe Dr. Berman may have stated that though the US empire represents ~4.5% of the world's population, they consume ~80% of the world's anti-psychotic/psychiatric meds. (Sorry if I am misquoting).
Dr. Shit-
It's something like 10 yrs since I read the stats on US prescription psychoactive drug consumption, but I think it was anti-depressants, and the figure of consumption was 67%. However, that is in terms of dollar sales, wh/blurries the data a bit. I'm sure you can find it all via Google; I'm just feeling a bit too lazy rt now to research it once again. But in terms of depression, anxiety, and overall emotional/mental disorders, I don't doubt that America leads the pack. In general, I'm guessing that most Americans--who are bitter and angry about their lives--are about 2 mm away from blowing their fuses. Hence the road rage, the massacres, the Karens outta control, customer attacks at McDonald's or Wal-Mart or younameit, and people going full-blast loco over trivia. Barely repressed violence, in a word.
mb
So what’s another $450 million to Ukraine? As Ralph Kramden liked to say, “a mere bag of shells.”
Oops. I said “shells.” No military-industrial complex pun intended.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/biden-administration-ukraine-military-assistance/index.html
Meanwhile, our taxpayers who fund it are as angry and crazy as ever.
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/plymouth-county/plymouth-man-allegedly-smashes-teens-head-off-steering-wheel-road-rage-incident/7RPZ3W7LPBDQ3NHFNJBIPEVAJQ/
https://www.winknews.com/2022/06/23/cape-coral-man-arrested-accused-of-i-75-road-rage-shooting/
https://www.mynbc5.com/article/man-stabbed-multiple-times-road-rage-bolton-vermont/40397359
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Well, fellow WAFers, tomorrow the Supreme Court probably hands down the most consequential decision of the past 50 years.
While a 'Hot' Civil War would be entertaining, I see the repeal of Roe v. Wade as the catalyst for a fairly boring balkanization process.
My money is on California being 'ground-zero':
https://twitter.com/YesCalifornia/status/1540021775727153152?cxt=HHwWgMCqianpoN8qAAAA
27 years of corporate dedication, never absent etc., and the USian gets a "goodie bag" consisting of cheap candy, mug, and cinema ticket.
https://www.narcity.com/burger-king-employee-27-year-anniversary-gift-internet-horrified
But no need to worry USians. In the world's massive mistake, you can count on your 'fellow man' to help you; hence, absolving the company of any responsibility.
https://www.thetealmango.com/latest/burger-king-employee-receives-huge-donations-after-his-trending-goodie-bag-stor
Glans-
Once again: the elite are trash. I can't say it enuf.
mb
Well, there went Roe. I'm not sure how to feel. I do feel bad for my sisters out there in red state amerikkka. But I also want to yell, you fools! You think wearing a pussy hat and comments on the internet actually did anything? As MB has said they think expressing their emotions once or twice is the same as political action. Yet for 30 years at least the right has been going for the school board, state office, governors, judges, etc.
Anyway, here's a link: https://newrepublic.com/article/166871/democrats-roe-repeal-abortion-rights
The author is correct overall, yet thinks the left can now start on the same path as the right, ain't gonna happen.
"Abortion opponents have invested heavily in their cause for decades, making inroads into the judiciary and state legislatures. Democrats, and by extension abortion rights supporters, can now turn their attention to those new battlefields."
Cel-Ray-
The interesting thing is that the millions of women marching around in pussy hats *do* think that that is political action; that this will amount to real social change. What are they, but little more than buffoonettes? Certainly they, as well as the buffoons, deserve to be vigorously punished; but repealing Roe is obviously over the top. Yet look how carefully and efficiently the right made that happen. Unlike the pussy hatters, they have no time for wokism or virtue-signaling or beating off. As for the Dems, they will continue to do these things, because that's what they think politics is all abt. One can only look forward to the Nov. elections w/a certain grim relish.
Meanwhile, this looks pretty gd:
https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Richard-Kreitner/dp/0316510602/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38JNO3U4UG&keywords=break+it+up+richard+kreitner&qid=1656111148&s=books&sprefix=break+it+up%2Cstripbooks%2C225&sr=1-1
Onward, into the Abyss!
mb
Yes, into the Abyss. Remember the feckless Democrats. As horrific as the Republican, religious zealotry party is (and it is), mainstream Democrats have a kind of Stockholm Syndrome in relation to them. Why can Dems not have any kind of spine whatsoever? These religious, fascist nutjobs are playing pure power politics, and the Dems act like the abused spouse who keeps thinking their abuser will change. More marches and letters to the editor. Who cares? It's reprehensible. No wonder we are ruled by sociopaths. Here's the prophet of the progs himself weighing in:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/24/2106125/-Midterms-go-to-the-party-out-of-power-but-as-Roe-decision-shows-Democrats-aren-t-actually-in-power
DTE
Dio-
I have felt for a long time now that we need to give the Dems a vigorous slapping, plus pee on their shoes. Of course, this will happen metaphorically on Nov. 8; in reply to which, the Dems will increase the speed and intensity of their beating off. Thus I find myself with the desire to slap them, and pee on them, literally, not just metaphorically. It wd be a watershed event, abt which, of course, the NYT wd have many things to say. Where wd we be without an impotent press?
mb
ps: 'and darkness fell across the land...'
Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe the destruction of everything free, decent, and meaningful is what History is calling for rt now, at least as it applies to the US. Don' tell me things won't get worse, muchachos. Paso a paso, we are marching toward our doom.
MB said, "ps: 'and darkness fell across the land...'
Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe the destruction of everything free, decent, and meaningful is what History is calling for rt now, at least as it applies to the US. Don' tell me things won't get worse, muchachos. Paso a paso, we are marching toward our doom."
Alas for us stuck against our will in the US. It is rough. Another postmortem pointing towards the imbalance in the US senate.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/24/how-americans-lost-federal-abortion-rights
I worry for my 12 year old niece now...
Knish-
You remember a while back we discussed the Nomi Prins Paradigm. She retracted her earlier prediction of a massive economic crash, and instead predicted a slow, relentless grinding of the American population into the dirt, financially speaking. The model might be one of a noose getting tighter, or the walls slowly closing in.
This process of steady constriction--we might call it the Python Method--assuming Prins is correct--is certainly going on in the economic sphere, but I think it's fairly evident that it is going on in other spheres as well. The overturning of Roe is a dramatic demonstration of it happening in politics; on the social level, Americans ignore each other, attack each other, or even massacre each other. Culturally, many books are prohibited (libraries, schls), and most Americans don't read bks in any case. As the Python gains momentum, less and less breathing space is available. The huge rates of opioid addiction, alcoholism, suicide, cell fone addiction and so on show us that not only is the Python killing us, it is also killing any reason to stay alive, in the US. Which is to say, it is rendering life meaningless here. According to Oswald Spengler ("Decline of the West"), that's when things are truly over.
mb
Here's Bill:
(5) New Rule: I Want My Lawyer! | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) - YouTube
Here's an impt essay: "King Josh," New Yorker, June 13. Gd evidence that the country is run by, and for, destructive buffoons. In the 50s, Arthur Koestler wrote that the modern era was characterized by advanced scientific knowledge, while at the same time moral insight lagged sorely behind, and that this gap was creating enormous problems. Here is a line from the New Yorker essay: "We live in an era that has been profoundly warped by the headstrong impulses of men who are technically sophisticated but emotionally immature." (Musk, Zuckershmuck, the clowns at the CIA, etc.)
mb
From Theodore Bikel's Oral History (August 26, 2011) — “Today, with the electronic world that we have, I find this song that had been lost that nobody knew still existed. Somebody puts it on the internet, and the next moment, practically, thousands of people learn it, sing it – if not learning it, listen to it. So, I think the process has been compromised by the fact that we have tools with which our psyche does not know how to cope.”
“Tools are meant to be servants of what we do. The danger is they become our masters. And there’s a new class of high priests: the only people who understand how to work those tools, how to control those tools, how to improve them and how to apply them and to make them workable. And only they know how to create them and how to fix them when they go wrong. So, we have a new class of people, of technocrats, who have become – I mean, the machines are now our masters, and the technocrats are their high priests. And there’s a great danger in that, I feel, because – what do I tell a techno-geek about Yiddish poetry? What do I tell him about where to find a tear, where to find a laughter, where to find a soul that’s hidden in that – in those lines of poetry?”
“Whatever you say is too little, and sometimes you say too much.” (Bikel)
Make no mistake about it. My heart is broken just thinking about the pain that women in the U.S. will experience as a result of Roe being nuked.
However, my heart also fills with contempt when I go back and look at the pussyhat protests of 2017. These dimwits really thought that wheeling Madonna out on a stage, having her give a profanity laden 'speech' with a 4th grade vocabulary, then having her break into two pop songs that had ZERO relevance to the issue at hand was going to effect 'change'.
Total fucking narcissism on display here. It was just another 'concert' for her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC5QTU-IqU8
Doctor & Wafers,
Just another normal angry day on the roads here.
https://www.abc57.com/news/man-accused-of-pointing-gun-at-woman-during-road-rage-incident
Maybe not. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any wackier, an angry USAin punches an ambulette.
https://abc7ny.com/11990909/
But anyone not driving here can calmly and nonchalantly smoke a cigarette and shoot someone.
https://www.fox29.com/news/source-arrest-warrant-issued-for-woman-who-shot-man-at-close-range-in-kensington-as-she-smoked-cigarette
Or, as sometimes is the case, blow someone away at a workplace.
https://abc7chicago.com/bolingbrook-il-weathertech-shooting-news/11994896/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
USian attacks cops with an excavator who were arresting his son. Such exceptionalism, resisting, and passion. Although, where's the pussy hat and chanting?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jdRcys4R1w
Dr. Shit-
Kinda fun, all this. Powerful Women understand that an excavator is nothing compared to a pussy hat. Had the kid's mother been wearing a p.h., it wd have been all over for the cops.
mb
One can see defensive magical thinking in the minds of the justices on the Supreme Court with their willingness to deny what WAFers have been saying for years, namely, that the America of myth and legends is gone.
To make America great again can only be done in the fantasy of returning it to what it was imagined to have been: white, normal, loyal, coherent, hard working, decent, safe, and ideal for raising
healthy children. Law can be the means to do this by allowing guns for everyone, the de facto return of slavery, and putting women back in their place.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/decision-destroying-roe-threatens-legal-024006588.html
Dear Dr. Berman,
Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson recently at the 25th SPIEF spoke in some detail (and eloquently I think) about western Cancel Culture (CC):
https://thesaker.is/maria-zakharova-on-the-deep-meaning-of-the-cancel-culture/
Among other things she says that CC is essentially anti-creativity and is actually violence against reality and ourselves. As I was watching her speak (in Russian) and reading the English subtitles I saw that she is really an intelligent woman. Is there a single American leader today who can think and speak like her?
Himanshu
Himan-
Kamala? Well, probably not...
mb
Way to shoot yrself in the foot, bozos:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/26/business/russia-oil-sanctions-g7/index.html
Here's a gd summary of current American politics:
Steve King, while still a congressman from Iowa, tweeted an image of red and blue America at war, with the line: “Folks keep talking about another civil war. One side has about 8tn bullets, while the other side doesn’t know which bathroom to use.”
Whose Nightmare Are We Living In: Orwell’s or Huxley’s?Andrew Keen Investigates Dual Literary Visions of Society’s Collapse
https://lithub.com/whose-nightmare-are-we-living-in-orwells-or-huxleys/
I suppose we live in Huxley's vision more or less, but maaaaan Orwell is coming down the pike. Esp if Trumpi gets back in or someone even more ghoulish follows him..
This is the strongest hatred for mayo I've seen.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/atlanta-subway-shooting-worker-shot-145055692.html
death-
Well, excessive mayo is surely one of the great crimes of our time. If America can't get a handle on this criminal use of mayo, it really doesn't have much of a future.
mb
A question, Doctor. Do you have any upcoming attractions in your mind about what will happen when this all-important lake in the USA southwest completely dries up in the decades to come? Will there be mass shootings and murders daily in Las Vegas and Arizona over this most important necessity for life? Or will USAins, the great Christian “love thy neighbor” people they are, be sharing water out of the kindness of their capitalistic hearts, just as the Japanese workers shared a cup of ramen at Fukushima? Will this event contribute handily to this pathetic country’s demise? Will Lake Mead perhaps even dry up before your magical date of 2030? Oh to be alive to see this spectacle! LOL!
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/06/24/Lake-Mead-drought/6111656113793/
Christian Fascism is in full swing with the theocrats just getting warmed up...
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kristi-noem-answer-pregnant-rape-185851163.html
Watch --- she will be VP nominee with Pence as POTUS nominee; Dems have nothing and no one to counter. Then, there will be actual Christo-fascists in those positions, not the half-baked, lazy grifter who lives in Florida. Where I am, we are one seat in the state Senate away from the RWNJs being in charge. "...the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity..."
We are, irrevocably and unabashedly, doomed (to paraphrase C3PO).
DTE
In my opinion, our slip into fascism seems to be a done deal.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/06/red-and-blue-state-divide-is-growing-michael-podhorzer-newsletter/661377/
I thought the interesting parallel at the end is a little haunting."The Trump model, in other words, is more the South in 1850 than the South in 1950,"
That this country continues to commit suicide is now starting to sound mainstream.
If they were asked which planet recently took over the Earth, they
would either not know or say it was Pluto. "If you're so smart, why
aren't you rich?" Certainly these kids know of rich persons who are
as dumb as they are.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYTEkPjJOW0
Wafers-
For months now, we have been predicting that the Dems wd get clobbered in the election this Nov. All polls and signs pointed to it. But suddenly, w/the Supreme Court decision on Roe, maybe it's not a done deal. Check this out:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/27/politics/americans-disapprove-supreme-court-abortion-poll/index.html
It's at least possible that the climate of opinion will turn against the GOP; that many American voters won't care abt inflation, or the ineptitude of Schmiden, and will vote Democratic. What do y'all think?
mb
One million americans switching to the GOP, maybe a signe for the upcoming loss of the Dems.
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-covid-health-presidential-e50db07385831e67f866ec45402be8b9?utm_campaign=mb&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=morning_brew
I don't think the decision of supreme court or the reaction of many people would have a big impact on the political scene. Many people are demonstrating, but many more are just fine with SCOTUS decision.
Dr, Berman—
Regarding the overturn of Roe vs. Wade, I don't think it will have the lasting effect that the price at the pump and the austerity measures of the Fed will. High gas prices seem to be a long term fixture:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gas-prices-arent-falling-to-450-anytime-soon-analyst-174238907.html
High gas prices mean higher cost of supply delivery and more inflation. Economics 101: Biden's gas tax elimination will be transferred to the current price of gas, since suppliers already know consumers will pay that amount they'll raise the price to cover the amount of gas + tax. —The tax break becomes a tax on consumers.
Then there's the move by the Fed to raise rates, which will raise unemployment. Not a winner for any incumbent. Michael Hudson describes the Fed's rate hikes as classic class war to reduce wages:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/22/the-feds-austerity-program-to-reduce-wages/
Note to EPV-
Nice of you to write a review. Only 1 problem: it never appeared.
mb
Another article where a person makes compelling arguments about why it makes sense to leave America but in the end he urges people to stay and not give up.
https://religionnews.com/2022/06/28/roe-v-wade-abortion-rights-jews/
How can he see so clearly and yet be so blind in the end? Another American sleepwalking I guess.
Dr. Berman,
I have seen your message. It seems there'll be an opportunity for more reviews.
I have received a hardcopy of 'Coming to Our Senses' and, still, i have 'A Question of Values' ahead of me, too. And, then... there's... and...
So, in my sleuthing of online barriers and such, because such things actually piss me off, it would seem as though my review remains a Canadian review (I have logged on and seen it). It is posted, on Amazon's CDN site for your book. It seems as though Amazon separates reviews per country's entry point.
I find it more frustrating that they separate available product offerings of knowledge, though - as I had to go to Amazon Mexico (in Spanish) to find your other books (not available in Canada).
Really annoying, considering it's 'knowledge'.
Onwards,
EPV-
I found it on amazon.ca. Many thanks. I do wish Amazon knew what they were doing; their confusion hardly helps authors or prospective customers.
mb
The US empire's infrastructure was certainly "exceptional"...another catastrophe. Even after 'authorities' were warned...sounds like the Florida condo collapse-after many warnings, etc., it fell on USian ears, which means, beating off.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article262936653.html
The 'problem' is there were no oncoming train warning lights in rural Missouri bc it's too expensive. Maybe the US empire can get $ from the war mongering industries, or the 800+ overseas war bases--that the US certainly has money for.
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article262969743.html
Not clear why she shdn't be baked in a casserole dish:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/28/us/ghislaine-maxwell-sentencing/index.html
Never forget it: the elite are trash.
mb
Liberian women organized a sex strike to end their civil war in the early Aughts. It takes a lot of planning and work to keep people safe, but it’s powerful when pulled off. What sort of "civil disobedience" can we expect jn this country? Pussy hats and tantrums, I imagine...
Good academic article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/greece-and-rome/article/aristophanes-lysistrata-the-liberian-sex-strike-and-the-politics-of-reception/4D1F9C68D0C500C9993D5D5BDF109618
I'm just finishing up a really great book that I would recommend to everyone here. It's called "At The Hands of Persons Unknown, by Philip Dray. https://www.amazon.com/At-Hands-Persons-Lynching-America/dp/0375754458/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZDCMVB7CPK0R&keywords=at+the+hands+of+persons+unknown&qid=1656478899&sprefix=at+the+hands+of+p%2Caps%2C632&sr=8-1
This is definitely the best non-fiction book I've read in ages. It is a real page turner, gruesome but compelling. Dray goes into so much detail about how lynch mobs functioned. (Up until the 1940s.) Yet virtually the whole of Southern society that took part in some form. There is no greater indictment of America than this book. All the cruelty, sadism, ignorance, etc. which we discuss here daily, is on glaring display in the excellent book. Some of the accounts simply boggle the mind. For example, one black man was accused of assaulting someone's wife. So literally thousands of people flocked to see it. The newspapers announced the lynching days in advance. Parents wrote notes so that their kids could be excused from school to attend. Many churches let out early so that the people could get there on time (In one case, parishioners literally left church and dashed for a place on the overcrowded train, some having to stand on the outboards.) At the actual lynching, they cut off the guy's ears, castrated him, then burned him alive (Burning alive was a common method.) All while men women and children laughed and cheered. Here is one example that most have probably never heard of. At least I hadn't. The book deals with 30 or so cases of this nature:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdm1LukEN7w&t=111s
Megan-
In Spike Lee's film "BlacKkKlansman," Spike has Harry Belafonte describe a lynching in terms hard to believe, with members of the crowd wanting to obtain burnt body parts as souvenirs. The most gruesome cruelty served as entertainment for Southern whites. We really have never recovered from this history.
In general, it raises the question of the nature of human nature. After all, the Nazis also found barbaric treatment of the Jews amusing, even hilarious. What could be the origin of this behavior?
Hillel, 1st century BC: "That which is hateful to you, do not do it to others."
mb
The cult of Stalin the intellectual
A valuable study of the dictator’s reading habits is absurdly revisionist about his capacity for cruelty.
By John Gray
https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2022/03/the-cult-of-stalin-the-intellectual
Love studies of historical figures like this. I suppose most of the historical documentation America's cruelty is equally revisionist if not fully made erasure.
This is a big surprise (to the New York Times).
Breaking: Water Is Wet!
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/world/americas/a-truth-commission-publishes-the-most-comprehensive-account-yet-of-colombias-war.html
American scumbags:
https://www.tikkun.org/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=aad56c14-e4e5-40c2-8962-eaf42faed792
American scumbags:
The Neocons aren't really American. They are scumbags though, and they are doubling down.
"Joe Biden, speaking at a NATO summit in Madrid today, announced the creation of a new base for the US Fifth Army Corps in Poland – the first permanent American base in the country – along with 3,000 extra soldiers to be sent to Romania and ‘enhanced’ troop rotations for the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
It comes after alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg yesterday announced NATO’s high-alert force – troops which are not deployed but can be quickly sent into battle in the event of war – is being increased from 40,000 to 300,000."
And they want to expand NATO to the Pacific as well.
https://www.rt.com/news/558051-china-blasts-asian-nato/
Christian-
Of course they are American. Consider Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, Paul Bremer, and Norman Podhoretz, for starters.
mb
https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/a-short-essay-on-the-differences?r=16uxt&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
A short essay on the differences between Marx and KeynesAs stimulated by Joan Robinson's "Essay on Marxian Economics"
"Marx was the first student of fundamental historical features of capitalism, Keynes, the last cameralist. Marx was a historian who believed that economics shapes history, Keynes, the smartest adviser to power. In Capital, we have a Bible of capitalism, in General Theory, we have The Prince for economic management of capitalism. "
Good read, quickly written. Imho, the left-wing Keynesian went to Marx b/c of the search for the long-run.
https://i.redd.it/vd7tr2afrxh71.jpg
Forgive me for referencing an 'art' piece, but as a Gen-Xer, I grew up adoring artists who weren't afraid to pierce the veil of American hypocrisy.
With regard to our 'Suez Moment', I'm firmly in the camp of 9/11. While I think there were moments in our history where we *might* have overcome our historical demons, I can safely say that NOTHING good has come from America since that day. It was the proper accelerant for our collapse.
Back to the linked image. Some stores rushed to pull this album from shelves when it was released.
I have a promo copy of it with the 9/11 date framed in my studio. It's a reminder that art sees what politics and religion try to hide.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/2-men-shot-dead-during-south-philly-home-invasion/3283379/%3famp
Holy shit this was scary... Such a violent place, the USA:
VIOLENCE IS A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE
Publication Details
Gary Slutkin, M.D.
The University of Illinois at Chicago
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207245/
^^I think we've been caught in a social contagion feedback-loop of violence for almost 350 years!
Just found out about this program that essentially allows you to buy a visa and later gain citizenship (have to learn language) in Portugal.
https://getgoldenvisa.com/portugal-golden-visa-program
IF you have $300K to spend ... which I don't :( but it could be an option for a few Wafers?
What's your take on the revelations exposing abuse in American institutions since 2018? The Catholic Church had the McCarrick thing & now the Boy Scouts with their 80k+ victims and $2.7 billion settlement. There are many angry defenders of both of these institutions, when I bring it up locally (small town America), people become extremely angry & defensive, as if you're attacking them personally.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-91-due-court-sex-assault-case-n1278450
https://www.hulu.com/movie/leave-no-trace-be701905-7c59-4283-9ea4-01d3abbed00f
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/part-one-robert-baden-powell-founder-of-88746625/
SCOTUS at it again
https://www.wionews.com/world/scotus-strikes-again-limits-us-government-powers-to-curb-greenhouse-emissions-493343
Krugman said in a tweet that this supreme court is on the side of civilizational collapse. But hey, we know that already. This supreme court, the ones before, and the ones to come, they are all fueled by the death drive. While Krugman and co. try to blame this and that (GOP, Dems, Liberals etc.) we know it just USian DNA. We're here to waych the Waferisation of the nation (and it's upcoming commercialisation). My only concern is America pulling the world with it as it goes down.
Look at what reality and theater gives us every day
https://news.yahoo.com/justice-thomas-cites-debunked-claim-165843355.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9uZXdzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD9m3tNinukFxfpcOuAYKT6DJ_uw03l1IAcCZUOduqzjRUjQN6yO5Y8DHQXtlDFmNX8dxuWOdVM5Gc5NIZ68QG1VcWO_-xR-86ePKTsm6FPtcyBaKcgviqZ96fO0tUAWvK1HOkDaHuzTJunQR7Czn3nUlmW3PTCG-tyr6Zq82OLY
Will Americans wake up and recognize the poo poo in their heads? Unlikely when a Supreme court justice is just as much a dummy as the average Usaean.
Let the revolution commence!
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/30/poll-americans-guns-against-government
Krak-
Thomas was always a jackass, and the American people will never wake up from anything. How many times have I said the country is a joke?
mb
Trump reminds me of nuclear war horror films of the 50s and 60s. Just
imagine his brain being able to set off the missiles and no one able
to contradict his order. If he gets his second leading role as
occupant of the White House, what WAFerism predicts could happen in
a few fiery moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EySfcMPxZs
Rollo-
It's a few yrs back, but the top military brass said they wd not carry out any nuclear attack orders issued by Trump. I remember that quite vividly. There was also an incident in wh/a top general contacted his Chinese counterpart, after some threat Trump made, to reassure the man that there wd be no attack on China.
mb
Yes. This capitalist country certainly is exceptional. USAin hustling is creative and knows no bounds. Here’s the newest way to make a buck. And the eponymous trademark name for it is promoted by none other than the dumb, functionally illiterate, AR15 toting/shooting, high school dropout jackass poster boy for youthful conservatism himself.
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/kyle-rittenhouse-keeping-himself-in-the-public-eye-launching-anti-fake-news-game/article_8e3459b2-f598-11ec-8d6a-5f00aae30c56.html
Joe-
Clearly, one of the great douche bags of our time.
mb
“The offer Orbán is making to global conservatives is: I alone can save you from the ravages of Islamization and totalitarian progressivism—and, in the face of all that, who has time for checks and balances and rules?”
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/04/does-hungary-offer-a-glimpse-of-our-authoritarian-future
Tucker certainly has his sights on an Orbanian future... he produced a laudatory documentary film about his rule
Jinx-
Link for Tucker?
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Just went back to LA for the first time in 20 years. Homeless people on every block. Fox news wasn’t lying. Even Santa Monica seemed run down and dilapidated. Pier closed at 9 pm. Boring. Saw Europeans in my hotel. Wondered what they thought…My 14 year old son asks me why American big cities are so bad. Where do I start? If you are in doubt about America’s decline, then just visit any American big city. Very rich and many poor. Like a 3rd world city. Awful! expensive I will never visit a big city in America again if I can help it. It was sad for me to show my kids Disneyland too. All the tatooed, pierced, obese people. There is no pride in ones appearance or class anymore. Yuck!! How can they dare bring the olympics to CA. Next trips Canada or Europe only. I want my kids to see healthy and functioning societies.
Is there no end to the genius of D. J. Trump! Only he could conceive
of a domestic SS who would be given immunity. Is Oliver Stone taking
notes for his next movie? Pay attention to the first two minutes of
this both hilarious and frightening report.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrN7RzSD_jI
John-
Talk to yr son abt neoliberalism; wh/is the reason behind the Ukraine war as well:
https://www.tikkun.org/ukraine-is-the-latest-neocon-disaster/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=aad56c14-e4e5-40c2-8962-eaf42faed792
Matt-
Ecpyrosis, amigo; only a matter of time.
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