Wafers-
Truth be told, I'm running out of things to say. How many events, facts, and bits of evidence of our degradation/disintegration/debasement/collapse can we point to, on a daily basis? The sheer self-destruction of the country is right there, before our very eyes; every day, we sink deeper and deeper into it. Everything we do, every action, is an abysmal error. Years ago, I predicted 2030 as the endpoint of the nation, but I'm wondering if I should move the date up. Our slogan, "Onward and Downward," may have to be revised: "Onward and Rapidly Downward." The whole country amounts to nothing more than baloney. The government is baloney; the MSM is baloney; and the American public is baloney. The Yiddish word for this is schmegegge. Look it up on Google (it's sort of like putz squared). America is a schmegegge, a hopeless, pathetic collection of hot air.
-mb
Kamala Harris has only one line.
ReplyDeleteShe keeps inserting this line into nearly every possible occasion: "What Can Be, Unburdened By What Has Been". I guess it sounds so smart to her that she can't afford NOT to use it 24/7 (she said it a couple of days ago too).
The most incompetent, least necessary, dumbest VP in history. How the hell is this cackling moron the vice president of an empire? I should get used to it but I keep getting awed by her. And her boss is a corrupt senile fool who literally needs help finding his way around simple settings and keeps falling in front of the snickering world. The empire's leadership sure turned to crap in its final days.
Just finished reading Healing and it's quite meaningful to me, thank you.
Doctor,
ReplyDeleteWell, you perhaps may be running out of things to say. But as part of the famous “Yankee can do mentality”, USAins with their creativity always invent new ways to make themselves look like the mean, cruel, callous horse’s asses they are to the rest of the world. Here are a few new ones:
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/snowdrop-cancer-charity-theft/285-9b30e4d5-160d-4558-928a-8f6729e55920
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/houston-sweetheart-scam/285-0f9f6e89-8690-4017-92f7-cb522f639877?ref=exit-recirc
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/nj-man-arrested-for-antisemitic-graffiti-arson-spree
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteHorror Show Dept.:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/09/january-6-trump-political-violence-survey
Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have."
~ James Baldwin
Jeff
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteSounds a lot like Ernest Becker.
Cherith-
There's a fair chance that she will be pres sometime after 2024. Glad "Healing" was of some help 2u.
mb
I'm posting an excellent video with Glenn Greenwald and Jeffrey Sachs (one of my very remaining academic heroes) discussing the war in Ukraine:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU7UzrJeX6E
Sachs does not pull any punches and doesn't hesitate to call stupid people stupid. But I can easily imagine how my generally brainwashed academic colleagues would receive the message Sachs delivers.
What I especially like in this video is that Sachs goes through the history of what led to this war, a history about which most people I know are clueless. They can't even imagine that there could even BE anything to know and that they don't know it. And from personal experience I know that it's impossible to tell them anything. They don't want to hear it. Smart people with Ph.Ds.! Buffoons all. Jesus.
ccg-
ReplyDeleteSachs says this war was avoidable. Theoretically, perhaps. But he obviously never read my essays in QOV and elsewhere about America's Manichaean 'DNA', or how it has been driven for centuries by the phenomenon of negative identity. In other words, psychologically speaking, it was *not* avoidable, because war and opposition is all America knows. And this 'engine' is what is driving us into the grave.
The one thing always missing from analyses of America, even from folks as smart as Sachs, is that the key to our downfall is buffoonery. I'm quite serious abt this. Buffoons cannot recognize their buffoonery any more than narcissists can recognize their narcissism, or psychotics can recognize the fact that they are complete nutjobs. We have no self-transparency at all. We have spent our entire history ignoring alternative voices, and this is Why America Failed. Historically, folks like Sachs have been marginalized, ignored, or branded as traitors (or thrown out of office: Jimmy Carter). Which means, as Gore Vidal once said, that we learn nothing from experience. You can bet that once we fail in the Ukraine, our radar will start scanning the globe for another 'enemy'. China? Chad? The penguins in Antarctica? The target doesn't matter; all that is important to American buffoons (the gov't or the man in the street) is that there be a target. (Cf. Roman Empire and imperial overstretch) Jimmy usta quote from the bible, the line abt Worry abt the log in your own eye instead of the mote in the eye of the other. Well, hell's bells, buffoons are not remotely interested in that, and Christian America has no interest in genuine Christianity. Buffoonery is a one-way street: i.e., down.
No amt of slapping, and no amt of urine, will wake up yr colleagues, or indeed, the entire country.
mb
More stupid callousness in the “land of freedom”, the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U,S.A.! An upcoming novel that takes place in the USSR in the 1950’s is condemned! So the author is pulling it from publication. SMH.
ReplyDeletehttps://fox59.com/news/national-world/eat-pray-love-author-elizabeth-gilbert-pulling-latest-book-over-enormous-pushback-to-russian-setting/
Yes, Doctor. You are correct. We soon won’t be seeing any books by Tolstoy or Dostoevsky on the shelves. We also won’t be able to listen to the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy come Christmastime! What a pathetic joke our USAin society is.
Joe-
ReplyDeleteIn less than 2 mos. my bk on Russia will be posted on Amazon. I do not intend to pull it. But I can imagine that royalties earned from it in 2023 will be abt 50 cents.
mb
When ppl talk about making Amerikkka "gr8" again, I hafta wonder 2 myself if it ever WAS gr8
ReplyDeleteDo gr8 nations attack & bomb other nations that did squat to them?
Do gr8 nations blow most of its $ on military expenditures instead of investing more in2 the needs of its ppl?
Do gr8 nations hafta constantly boast/brag about being gr8?
Do gr8 nations have a stupid, apathetic, gun-obsesssed populace that doesn't read, & isn't the least bit curious about other nations?
Fly-
ReplyDeleteStats, links, por favor.
mb
I'm actually excited about things. America may be fulla schmegegges, but the rest of the world is seeing new light possible as 'murica beats itself with a flat board, shoots itself in the foot, and throws itself down the stairs via the epic asshattery of the Ukrainian debacle.
ReplyDeleteFeel good headline of the day - "Pakistan paid in Chinese currency for discounted Russian oil."
Is that heart-warming or what?
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/pakistans-russian-crude-shipment-paid-chinese-currency-minister-2023-06-12/
comrade-
ReplyDeleteAnother sign of our decline, 2b sure. The only thing I keep waiting for is for our *allies* to declare America's war on Russia via the Ukraine a terrible mistake.
mb
Hey MB!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to drop a line in wishing you well (as well as good health) in your apparent "chugging along" by way of your continuous (most) valuable insights via books and moreover this very platform - the waffer satiation resource. Just picked up yer book - loved it as well the invaluable many more that remain near my night stand. Well since I'm here, I kinda wanna know if you can share your thoughts (hopefully here) in terms of "pressing" or more specifically ominous signs progressively looming over Mexico? Also, and perhaps in connection, can you provide any insights, experiences or gut/intuitive feelings with regard to your stay in Mexico from the time you planted your flag to the present? Much appreciated! By the way, I think for I speak for the many of us out there - you are loved and very valuable to us. Thank you for stepping out in ongoing effort in declaring your non support vis-a-vis degenerative forces, top-down or bottom-up promotion of apathy, consensus of willfull ignorance in a more than accessible age of information, vapid/dangerous trends, consciously cynical/dilatory/sociopathic/blatant contradiction laden western power structures who are, and have always been pretty unsightly in action and stupefying in arrogance. Oh yeah, thanks for speaking out against Chris Hedges - he's indeed "all talk". Thank you professor Berman!!!
Kaz-
ReplyDeleteYr welcome. I am indeed wonderful. Who cd disagree? However, yr failure to mention chopped liver in yr encomium depressed me. Note also that Wafer is spelled Wafer. Is Hedges still around? The airwaves have been blissfully devoid of his clarion calls for revolution.
mb
Dr Berman,
ReplyDeleteI came across a film critic named Ray Carney who seems to have as low an opinion of American culture as you. You might enjoy this:
https://people.bu.edu/rcarney/carncult/emotions.shtml
Karl-
ReplyDeleteThanks for info. In future, pls add a para of yr own commentary to yr link. We try to be a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Thank you.
mb
Imagine being an entitled fatass demanding other flyers pick up the tab for u taking up 2 seats. There was even a petition 4 this bs. Land of the sheep, home of the buffoons
ReplyDeletehttps://nypost.com/2023/06/13/plus-size-influencer-jae-lynn-chaney-slams-airline-seat-policies/
Kaz-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't run it (24-hr rule).
Fly-
Well, it's a complicated issue. There's a lot of evidence to suggest that obesity is genetic. In addition, diets don't work. The recidivism rate is 97%.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteThe Ukraine is not only full of Nazis, it's also soaking in corruption (w/Zelensky implicated), and full of shit:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/06/14/ukraine-corruption-rebuilding-reforms/
mb
Nothing to say, it's just businsess as usual. More tension, more antagonism, more poverty, more crime etc. Not a coincidence when a schmuck like this is considered an intellectual and that many lawmakers worship her
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/qL3ukTMo-0o
french-
ReplyDeleteShe was truly an awful human being. Her works are the bible for millions of Americans. No surprise there.
mb
Mr. Berman, I am a cashier at a Safeway in Oregon. I have observed a direct correlation between HFCS and refined flour/ processed "food" and the width to height ratio of shoppers. The hovercraft people's carts are fulla 2 liter coke bottles, chip, cookies, and bakery treats galore but never a fresh green item. I used to work as the green grocer in produce and the hovercrafts never came through my section. Always in the beverage and bakery aisles.
ReplyDeleteConsider two superheavyweights seated across from each other in aisle seats on a trans atlantic flight. Eight hours in the air and no cervesa 'cuz the stewerdesses can't get the beverage cart through the fat rolls lapping over into the aisle! The horror! In an emergency passengers might not be able to surmount Flesh Mountain to reach the exits doors before the plane went under!
I dropped 28 pounds in three months when I said no to another pants purchase by doing nothing more than eliminating sugars/sweeteners and refined flour products from my diet. Anecdotal, yes, but it's one helluva data point for me.
Americans are not just buffoons, but mostly fat slovenly buffoons. Percent of adults aged 20 and over with obesity: 41.9% (2017-March 2020) https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm
comrade-
ReplyDeleteYes, it's all true re: there has been a dramatic chg in the American diet over the last few decades. But if you do a little research, you'll find that obesity is a rather complex issue, not monocausal.
mb
MB
ReplyDeleteMB
Gotcha with Mexico - interesting tidbit. In weighing in as far as Nazi saturation throughout Ukraine, I really really really enjoy still taking-in the same western media that once (conveniently) shed light on this Nazi reality now scrub and back-paddle from its no longer convenient coverage. Priceless! For anyone paying attention, they know this stark/poignant/shit reality began way before two decades into the 21st. century. Adding, these same people (attention payers) typically know there's a Nazi problem throughout the world. I'm sure western powers are storing (awaiting activation, perhaps cryogenically freezing) paramilitary Nazi's for future campaigns of plunder and booty....
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/why-are-jews-so-afraid-of-stepan-bandera
I literally sent this article to a friend - highlighting how such an article today (and for some time) would essentially be erased from a mainstream purview. This 2014 article also takes a shot (and grazes) Timothy Snyder - barely exposing his comfy high-towered bias.
comrade-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't run it (24-hr rule).
mb
A good man has left us
ReplyDeletehttps://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/16/daniel-ellsberg-vietnam-pentagon-papers-obit-033499
Ellsberg might have been a Wafer, or a proto-Wafer. He for sure saw the rot behind the flashy façade of american society. He did an interview about a week ago, you can see that he was one of the few sane.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/06/04/daniel-ellsberg-final-advice-00099639
Meanwhile, Trump is under fire. But for a nation that is brain dead, I trult belive that he will be made a folk hero. 2024 or not, it is Trump era.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/14/politics/donald-trump-indictment-2024-campaign/index.html
We’re off to a normal weekend here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! That being said, here are a couple of mugshots. The first is of the latest mass shooter who blew away three of his children.
ReplyDeletehttps://abcnews.go.com/US/father-killing-3-young-brothers-shot-killed-mother/story?id=100135263
The second is of a creep who beat his roommate to death in a living facility.
https://www.wral.com/story/resident-at-nc-assisted-living-facility-charged-with-murder-accused-of-killing-roommate/20911446/
The third is of a guy giving Trumpi a hard time. And an added bonus are the goofballs who showed up in Miami for Don’s arraignment. The comedy show rolls on! LOL!
https://www.wral.com/man-who-jumped-in-front-of-trump-caravan-speaks-out/20911302/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
french-
ReplyDeleteA great man indeed. He understood that the US was full of hot prunes. Ellsberg was profoundly un-American, much to his credit.
mb
And what, now, is America about?
ReplyDelete-Widespread usage and deaths from fentanyl and other drugs; rampant alcoholism
-Daily massacres, Americans gunning each other down like dogs
-A phony, self-destructive foreign policy
-National debt thru the roof ($32 trillion)
-Suicide rate also thru the roof, esp. among the young, who have no real future to speak of
-Widespread ignorance and stupidity that beggars the imagination
-A press that is little more than a propaganda sheet
-Daily stories of political corruption (including the Supreme Court)
-A nation teetering on the edge of fascism
2030 is coming up on us fast, amigos.
mb
Mo-
ReplyDeleteI thought you knew how this blog works; let me refresh yr memory.
1. Present a specific argument regarding the collapse of the American empire.
2. Substantiate your argument with data, in the form of reliable references and/or links.
Thank you.
mb
So I guess A&E Networks is getting it's hustle on over the social collapse of America. With shows like Customer Wars, Neighborhood Wars, Road Wars, who can be mistaken? The average American, that's who. Think of what kind of country this is where you can find this kind of video material to make shows like this on a weekly basis. Nothing but a nation of angry hustlers.
ReplyDeleteNihilist-
ReplyDeleteWe need links, references, to these shows. Thank you.
mb
Another typical ho hum “mass shooting weekend” here in our self-proclaimed “greatest country in the world”.
ReplyDeletehttps://apnews.com/article/mass-shootings-us-weekend-3c8cc1562a78abb0ce5f302afa600ea2
But here’s something new in the callous corporate thievery department: a restaurant was using that good old fashioned “Catholic guilt” to screw employees. As the saying goes, “You can’t make this stuff up.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-13/priest-taqueria-garibaldi-worker-confessions-wage-theft-settlement
Only here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
An excellent article on our proxy war with Russia via Ukraine has appeared in Harper's Magazine:
ReplyDeletehttps://harpers.org/archive/2023/06/why-are-we-in-ukraine/
It's interesting that the article begins by being critical of former defense secretary Robert Gates (and former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice) who have acknowledged approvingly that we are in a proxy war with Russia. What's interesting about this to me is that one of the authors of the article, Christopher Layne, holds the position of the Robert M. Gates Chair of National Security at Texas A&M University. I'm impressed that he would stick his neck out like this and go against the grain. That would never happen with most of the academics I know, even if they accepted the points made in the article, which they wouldn't. They don't get too far way from: Putin, bad! Russia, bad! Trump, bad!
ccg-
ReplyDeleteThis is a remarkable article, not because of its content, but because it got published by Harper's, a mainstay of the MSM. Up to now, analyses of this sort by Mearsheimer, Ritter, Pilger, Greenwald et al. have been marginalized and ignored. This indictment of US foreign policy--a global indictment, revealing America's SOP for many decades--is abs. correct, revealing how hypocritical and full of shit the country is. I'm hoping the repercussions will be huge (which they have not been from similar analyses by Mearsheimer et al.). In its global reach, the essay repeats things I have said in QOV and elsewhere (America's Manichaenism, the desire to rule the world, etc.). It shows us to be a pretty sick society, whose self-transparency is nonexistent. (Too bad the authors speak of the blindness of every post-War president; Jimmy Carter was a dramatic exception, and of course voted out of office as a result.)
Pulling the cover off of the false story of the Cuban Missile Crisis is long overdue.
As for yr colleagues: I have repeatedly stated that in America, even the smart people are stupid. I recently read an article by Francine Prose, one of America's smartest people, in wh/she referred to the 'terrible Russian aggression'. 99.99% of America consists of dummies, regardless of IQ.
mb
ps:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/How-West-Brought-Ukraine-Understanding/dp/0991076702/ref=sr_1_1?crid=KJPB6886L13Q&keywords=abelow&qid=1687214823&s=books&sprefix=abelow%2Cstripbooks%2C340&sr=1-1
ps2: Time to update your post-it:
DYING EMPIRES DON'T WAKE UP
A recent bill in Cali seeks 2 ban several items that contain artificial food colorings, including skittles & M&Ms. This article mentions a case where some1 sued the maker of M&Ms cuz of the titanium dioxide in 'em. If Amerikkkan "food" didn't have so much junk in it, these kinds of fiascos may not happen.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/22/california-skittles-ban-legislation-explained/11523314002/
I use to be a regular reader of Harper's Magazine, but gave up on it after the election of Trump. It's editors seemed to have come down with severe cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome. So I was shocked when I find that article on the news stand the other day. And I, too, found it revealing for it what it said about the Cuban Missile Crises, that Kennedy even admitted at the time that Russian missiles in Cuba really didn't change anything.
ReplyDeleteWell here's another development to consider. Putin in a speech has revealed a peace agreement that was almost reached in April of 2022, but fell through after Boris Johnson was dispatched to Ukraine to order Zelensky to pull out of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLrlmhAgc4Y
ccg-
ReplyDeleteThe American gov't and the MSM feed the people crap, and as they have no critical abilities, they just get on the bandwagon. Above all, they have no ability to see a conflict from the opposition's pt of view.
mb
Sven-
ReplyDeleteSorry, cdn't post it (24-hr rule).
mb
Here’s yet another first in this land of callousness. Added to the book Looting 101, an EMT steals a dead man’s credit card during a 911 emergency and goes on a buying spree.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/fdny-firefighter-indicted-for-stealing-money-from-corpse
The newest in our many daily road rages: An angry USAin holds a baby while going berserk at someone.
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/road-rage-yucaipa-gas-station-video/3173861/
Also, skateboarders be careful.
https://abc7ny.com/queens-shooting-sunnyside-crime/13409473/
USAins: An angry and callous people.
Dr. Berman—
ReplyDeleteRegarding the dying of spiritual life and the need for meaning, Eric Weinstein speaks about it in a very moving way in this interview short:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJzBMKnxhkg
A commenter below the video remarked: “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society” -J Krishnamurti
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteI remember MB once remarked, after Obama purchased his Hyde Park mansion or upon discovering his immense liquid net worth, and I paraphrase: "Where did he get this kind of cash?" Well, I stumbled across this essay that certainly opened my eyes. It's hard to say if it's all just conspiracy theory, but it's intriguing to say the least:
https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/10/01/a-company-family-the-untold-history-of-obama-and-the-cia/
The author argues that Obama's mother Ann Dunham may have been CIA agent in Indonesia, and worked for the Indonesia-American Friendship Institute in Jakarta, which was a suspected CIA front during US-backed Suharto dictatorship. A dictatorship she fully supported. Duhham married (possibly an arranged marriage) Indonesian Lt. Col. Lolo Soetoro when Obama was four. Soetoro was also a supporter of the murderous Suharto government. Obama always maintained that his mother was a 1960s rebel and beatnik who did not know about the countless US sponsored atrocities that were committed under the Suharto government. The author also points out that Obama was not really a community organizer in the truest definition of the term, but actually worked for a large corporate foundation. In terms of his money, Obama was deeply connected to the Crown and Pritzger families who profited handsomely during his presidency. These people are billionaires w/major defense and banking connections. In any case, too much to discuss here. Obama is a fraud, a liar, and a war criminal. That, I believe, we can all agree on.
Jeff
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteLet me repeat an offer I made yrs ago: If I could get to bang Obama's head against Hillary's for 20 uninterrupted minutes on nationwide TV, I will believe in God.
Oops-
Check out "Healing," amigo.
mb
Dr. B,
ReplyDeleteThe comment above about empires never waking up had been ringing true lately. My guess is that the last two presidents were suffering from mild (trump) to moderate (Biden) dementia.
How else can saying this be explained?
https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-calls-chinese-president-xi-dictator-2023-06-21/#:~:text=Biden%20as%20president%20has%20previously,some%20of%20his%20most%20direct.
McConnell, Pelosi, and all the other political leaders are mentally lost, so those behind the scenes (staffers, lobbyists, etc) are making all the decisions.
VHP
Flab-
ReplyDeleteTrump = a child who never grew up
Biden = a fuddy-duddy who is following the very old script of Manichaean opposition (Cold War version)
mb
Dr Berman, nothing much to add about Biden except that he's got jelly for brains and that he thinks he lives in colonial Virginia. Check this gem
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/qfZEDtRc7so
I thought only Trump was entertainment. I was dead wrong.
Hello Wafers,
ReplyDeleteWriting in after a long time. This is a gentle poke to those who are in the hallowed land of the USofA. The Indian PM Modi is on a state visit, and the Biden admin is bending over backwards to accommodate him. The deal? India will purchase armed drones from the US. With the Iran-Saudi relations thawing, the dickhead hawks in DC seem to wetting their pants. They desperately want India as a leverage against China. Result, a person who is presiding over a systematic dismantling of a republic, keeps mum on persecution of minorities, on many other issues of national importance is given special honors by the self-styled guardian of the free world. Do not miss the spectacle, amigos. Some links below.
Armed drone: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/modi-meets-biden-purchase-of-armed-drones-nasa-isro-joint-mission-semiconductor-boost-8680596/
Decline of democracy: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/22/india-democracy-index-flawed-preserve-reputation-narendra-modi
75 US lawmakers urge Biden to raise issues of human rights with Modi:
https://thewire.in/world/us-lawmakers-biden-human-rights-modi
Only in America Dept.:
ReplyDeletehttps://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/22/us/norwalk-ohio-two-year-old-shot-pregnant-mother-dead/index.html
There is an unprecedented (at least in my lifetime) degree of stupid in the ruling circles of the US. The recklessness from vaccines—which are normally given at least 10 years of testing—being injected into relatively unthreatened young children (whose undeveloped brains are also being drugged more and more for ADHD, etc.); the pushing and prodding of Russia to war and disregard for all safety from nuclear conflagration... One could go on. But now the dinner bell is ringing— lab chicken for everyone!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/lab-grown-chicken-meat-us-approval-2-california-companies
Oh, it's safe. You just know they've been very careful...
Attention all Wafers and Waferettes!
ReplyDeleteMy bk on Russia, hardcover edn, will be appearing on Amazon within the next few days. pb edn will be available 2 wks later, I believe. Details to follow.
mb
A former Marine was indicted 4 killing a guy w/ a fatal chokehold on NYC subway train. The decedent was said 2 have mental illness, & became somewhat belligerent on the train. C what happens once the Empire no longer has a use 4 these army assholes?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailypress.com/2023/06/14/grand-jury-indicts-daniel-penny-in-chokehold-death-of-new-york-city-subway-rider-jordan-neely/
Satch-
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by the depth of the hatred and violence that is buried deep w/in the American soul.
mb
A coup in Russia?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66006860
Prigozhine claims he's not after Putin, but who knows. I am not surprised that such a things happens in a heavily bureacratic dictatorship, especially when the ones that are revolting are from the bottom of the barrel. What I'm waiting for is the American response. More chaos to come I believes. I feel like all we need now is a Gavrilo Princip moment and a WWIII will start.
In regard to Prigozhin's attempted mutiny in Russia, Scott Ritter posted a commentary today in which he speculates that the usual suspects (aka "Western interests") tried to take advantage of the ambitious Prigozhin to try to leverage regime change in Moscow. However, checking various independent news sources this morning, I could find no evidence that Prigozhin's drama has gathered visible support among the political elite, regular military, or mass population. However, this might continue to be the year of living dangerously as the neocons continue to pursue their dream of a coup in Russia via proxy conflicts. What desperate moves are next?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.scottritterextra.com/p/prigozhins-gambittreason-by-any-other?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
“The chicken or the egg” expression now has morphed into “the eggs or pancakes” when it applies to USAin insanity. A family brawl erupts over eggs and pancakes. LOL!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fox35orlando.com/news/family-brawl-breaks-out-at-florida-home-over-breakfast-preference-pancakes-or-eggs
The latest road rage involving the typical USAin “bigger is better” truck smashed up a house.
https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/truck-driver-pummels-into-melbourne-home-during-road-rage-incident-police-say
And today’s mugshot involves an angry creep who took out his frustrations driving through the windows of a convenience store.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12224563/Shocking-moment-Kia-crashes-Florida-convenience-store-pins-man-against-wall.html
So where did these two occurrences happen? The increasingly dysfunctional state of Florida—otherwise known as Texas Lite—that is led by that “pious”, “family values” uber conservative Roman Catholic presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Robert Kennedy jr wants to be the president in 2024. His presedential pitch, he works out.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/PbzNoSxo4Xs
This actually appels to many Americans, after all it's the US that invented Rambo and the Marlboro man. Or as one chap on social media said " I think a not insignificant number of Americans are increasingly falling back to a literal Neanderthal attitude."
https://twitter.com/Votto007/status/1672849574048743430?t=3kDwUpO7SbPBFtOdeefI-g&s=19
My only take is, do not offend the neanderthals, they cared for each other.
Wafers may enjoy Frank Herbert’s Dune series. His science fiction world has things to say about religion, government, philosophy, and being human. It seems the artists can see the faults of a culture and speak the truth. From Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 6) :
ReplyDeleteLucilla, from a cage, to Dama, her enemy, “Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats… A top-heavy bureaucracy the electorate cannot touch always expands to the system’s limits of energy. Steal from the aged, from the retired, from anyone. Especially from those we once called middle class because that’s where most of the energy originates… I presume you have some form of civil service for the ‘lower orders?’ ”
Dama, “We take care of our own!”
Lucilla, “Democracy is demagogue-prone. That’s a disease to which electoral systems are vulnerable. Yet demagogues are easy to identify. They gesture a lot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervor and god-fearing sincerity.”
DeSantis Says He Prayed A Hurricane Away
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-case-against-travel
ReplyDeleteI have traveled allot, and I would have to agree with allot of what they said. It didn't really change me, and without putting roots to some degree in said place you are just an observer inflicting change on the "authentic" place you want to observe.
A Wafer take, this.
Cd it be that Meghan is a buffoonette?:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jun/26/meghan-markle-untalented-zimmer-spotify-podcast-deal
Meanwhile, who cd give a shit abt Prince Harry anymore?
And what's up with Gisele Bundchen these days? America cries out for information.
mb
I am not sure if this Youtube channel has been posted here before (Joey B vs the World) but this comedian is straight Wafer. He makes the point, which MB has continuously illuminated over his career, about the exceptional nature of American stupidity. I am constantly amazed that when I think I am finally immune to the exceptional nature of American stupidity something comes along and rouses me from my complacency. The people in this video don't seem real.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P7QyJ7cUfs
Thoreau-
ReplyDeleteOver and over again I have pted out that not a single social or political analysis indicates the real cause of our decline: Americans. Of course, it's politically incorrect to say such a thing, but I have great predecessors: Mencken, Gore Vidal, Geo Carlin--who are basically ignored. Even the film "Idiocracy" just came and went, and the same will be true of these clips by Joey B. He gives us the bottom line, in pictures: the American people are garbage.
mb
The newest violent fad in Manhattan: Drive by scooter robberies and other atrocities while riding on mopeds. Or callously stealing them from folks that use them for their jobs.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-grabs-girl-by-neck-in-robbery-near-manhattan-college
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-sought-in-suspected-anti-jewish-hate-crime-in-brooklyn
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/duo-beat-rob-bx-delivery-worker-of-electric-scooter-phone
p.s. I know it’s against the rules. But with your permission, Doctor, may I give a little editorial? Some food for thought: The 1940’s. 1950’s. 1960’s. Etc. Parents repeatedly here in the so called “greatest country in the world”, decade after decade, have wanted their kids to be more successful than they were; or in other words, to have a better life. Often it involved donating their hard earned money to that racket known as college. Were these parents over the various generations here in the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, after being sold that bill of goods known as that great “American Dream”, ever aware they were being had?
Joe-
ReplyDeleteNot against rules. As for moped stuff (etc.): guns are more efficient, and more American.
mb
Dr. B, Do U remember your bk "Spinning Straw into Gold"? I'm asking cuz I just read a collection of folktales by the brothers Grimm. One of these tales was Rumpelstiltskin; the tale of a dwarf who spun straw into gold 2 free an imprisoned girl, in exchange 4 her 1stborn kid. Was the title of your bk inspired by the folktale by any chance?
ReplyDeleteSatch-
ReplyDeleteActually, I quote the dwarf towards the end in the original German. ("Wie gut es ist...")
mb
I looked for happiness in the world’s most contented nation – and learned the importance of pessimism | Lucy Pearson | The Guardian
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/28/world-happiest-nation-finland-nature-saunas
Onnellisuus on se paikka puuttuvaisuuden ja yltäkylläisyyden välillä, which means “happiness is a place between too little and too much”. Meanwhile we live in a world [USA] where paradoxically there is *only* too little and too much....
Do the arts stand a chance in a nation of unsophisticated morons? I recall seeing this goofy tv ad about keeping the arts alive thru one's offspring. It featured a guy playing the composer Johannes Brahms. He crashes thru the kitchen wall on a piano. Only in Amerikkka would something this cheesy b aired, I suppose
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rft6IZjOaOA
Biden showed his prowess as ruler of buffoons yesterday in another exciting display when he spoke to reporters about Prigozhin's aborted mutiny in Russia and asserted "It's hard to tell, but [Putin is] clearly losing the war in Iraq, and he's losing the war at home." Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, it's all the same cognition if you asked any U.S. buffoon on the street not packing heat. It's a clown world out there!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-mocked-over-gaffe-about-putins-war-in-iraq/ar-AA1dayzs
Jack-
ReplyDeleteFreudian slip, 2b sure. Because in US foreign policy, the enemy is fungible. Meanwhile, History is punishing America for its endless attempt to rule the world. Which makes sense to a population that has its head wedged in its buttocks. War criminal Henry Kissinger had it rt: he said that if you set yrself up as hegemon, other nations will try to knock you down. What buffoons we are.
mb
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteYrs ago, I gave u the key to Brexit, enabling u2 forget abt it: Brexit, Schmexit. Now, I'd like to help u w/the 'candidacy' of Mike Pence: Pence, Schmence. As for the war in the Ukraine: Ukraine, Schmukraine. Honestly, this is all u need to know.
mb
Since you're running out of things to say. Here is what I want to say.
ReplyDeleteIn the immortal words of Bill S. Preston Esquire, and Ted Theodore Logan:
“Be Excellent To One Another” and "Party On Dudes!"
And...
Why don't you write about a WAFerian society that is built 100s of years from now and show what it would look like. Maybe something similar to the book by H.G. Wells called The Shape of Things to Come.
cube-
ReplyDeleteThis really ain't the place for the mere broadcasting of opinions. Try this: state your specific argument regarding the decline of the US. Then provide us with links and refs, supporting that argument. Thank you.
mb
Buffoons on Parade:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2oMv93EUpY
Joey B Toonz on the Decline of Today's Society - YouTube
Me, I love a gd buffoon!
Wafers-
ReplyDeleteIf yr a declinist, you watch the accelerating decline w/amused and horrified fascination. Literally everything the gov't does is self-destructive. Every day, it seems, yr fellow-citizens are trashier, dumber, more violent, more vulgar, and more depressed. No behavior is too corrupt, or too venal. One party is intent on killing democracy; the other party actually believes that politically correct language is the same as political power. It's like watching a grotesque train wreck or a 35-car smashup on the Interstate, with mutilated bodies and blood gushing everywhere. And you say to yrself: Well, what did they expect?
mb
Greetings MB and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteMB-
Truer words were never spoken regarding your comments on the tawdry and witless nature of the US.
MB, Wafers-
Something like this is unlikely to occur anywhere in the world except the US:
https://www.mystateline.com/news/national/minnesota-man-arrested-for-skittles-attack/
Tristan Stetina, 19, arrested for assaulting restaurant staff and patrons w/Skittles. Why didn't Tristan use an AR-15 and shell the shit outta the place?
Jeff
Signs of crapification, corruption and ongoing decline on the eve of another Fourth of July holiday in U-S-A! U-S-A!: In San Francisco, both shoppers and grocery store workers are complaining about the decision of some grocery and pharmacy chains to enclose groceries, housewares, and other goods in locked pods to forestall shoplifting, resulting in a 3-minute wait to summon a clerk for a tube of toothpaste. Meanwhile, a commentator in Sri Lanka describes living through collapse of the country and says Mericans are next. And finally, who wouldn’t want to pay $500,000 to have a painting by Hunter Biden to hang in their living room? Hunter offers to parlay a few of his paintings as part of a child support court settlement, but there still will be enough paintings to ensure an ongoing cash flow for Hunter, with maybe a cut for the Big Guy. Stay safe, Wafers, and watch out for official and unofficial fireworks!
ReplyDeletehttps://sfstandard.com/business/locked-up-san-francisco-shelves-irritating-workers-and-shoppers-at-target-walgreens-safeway/
https://gen.medium.com/i-lived-through-collapse-america-is-already-there-ba1e4b54c5fc
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/hunter-biden-to-fork-over-some-of-his-paintings-in-finalized-child-support-settlement/ar-AA1de9PD
Jeff-
ReplyDeleteThis is not a true American. Where is Shaneka these days, to give him a bit of coaching?
Jack-
I'm thinking only Tulsi can save us. Once again, let's start w/her keynote address to the planet at the Evergreen International Collapse Symposium, followed by a few remarks by Kamala. Next, public waterboarding of the entire Evergreen faculty and admin, and then the West Point Choir giving a stirring rendition of "We're Deep In Shit" (original score by Anton von Webern and Meghan Markle).
mb
Hi Wafer Friends,
ReplyDeleteLong time no post. Here are true USians in action:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/29/2178388/-Florida-cop-couple-punishes-their-three-year-old-for-toilet-training-mishaps-by-jailing-him
I mean, how is the kid going to learn if he doesn't do hard time?!?
And here is your regular mass shooting update for today:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/02/us/baltimore-shooting-sunday/index.html
Indeed, another day that ends in -y in the good ole US of A. Is this a great country or what???
DTE
Amerikkka celebrates it "independence" day 2moro. A nation w/ the highest incarceration rate, yet is about 4 or 5% of the world population. Where said prisoners still get stigmatized even after doing their sentence & getting out, according to this op-ed. Quite a few get imprisoned for victimless things like being in possession of & smoking a plant. So much for a "clean slate". Amerikkka is a joke
ReplyDeletehttps://www.expressnews.com/opinion/commentary/article/commentary-former-inmates-still-punished-after-18173056.php
Satch-
ReplyDeletePls update yr post-it:
NO AMOUNT OF SLAPPING
NO AMOUNT OF URINE
mb
"No to Zelensky No to War" in NYC
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/SpriterTeam/status/1675984518409248769?t=OntBdYx_R6PS1tRqytuCmQ&s=19
The war on Ukraine is becoming out of fashion. Guess what in fashion, it's slapping
https://youtube.com/@powerslap
I may have shared this one before. But this is surreal. This is a first step, next a sport where people piss on each other while singin Kanye songs in MAGA hats.
french-
ReplyDeleteCdn't get link to work. BTW, the Ukrainian dative of Zelensky is Zelenskomu. So when Biden gives him billions in military aid, we hafta say "He gives it to Zelenskomu." On the other hand, if someone were to slap Zelensky, this would be the accusative case: Zelensky, maybe, or Zelenskin(?). Not sure.
That Americans would slap and pee on each other en masse is of course a gd thing, but in terms of national collapse, I still think guns wd be more efficient. Or why not baseball bats, w/instructions to clobber anyone you see?
mb
Dr. B and Wafers,
ReplyDeleteWe welcome Independence Day with multiple shootings already: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/04/pennsylvania-texas-fourth-of-july-shootings
Key quote: "The nation was braced on Tuesday to see what the Fourth of July holiday itself would bring."
What kind of country has to brace itself on a holiday for mass violence, its independence day no less?
-- Torreblanca
Torre-
ReplyDeleteImagine what July 4th, 2030 will be like.
mb
I want to suggest that people should not hesitate to cut off friends & family who are anti-intellectual, evangelicals, Trump supporters, or are otherwise a negative influence on you. We only have so much energy & time, and you shouldn't waste any of it on the wrong people just because you have some social obligation to be around them. I only wish I'd gotten away from my neglectful, ignorant, and fundamentalist family much sooner than I did.
ReplyDeleteThis is the America to avoid entirely. If you were born into this, cut them off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yoffm4OIn-4
Here are another couple of cases of “you can’t make this stuff up”. A trooper stops to help a motorist who tries to blow him away. And a woman just going for groceries gets shot at.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article276995263.html
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/woman-injured-alief-shooting-houston/285-477e9485-1234-4fad-a49e-cbf610ed85a7
Of course drive by shootings still are in vogue.
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/crime/drive-by-shootings-caldwell-freeport-street-gang-related-caldwell-police-seeking-suspects/277-a8fc8e97-1e05-45d6-8634-b86b0a207a5c
And even someone as young as 5 may get shot.
https://www.audacy.com/wcbs880/news/local/2-gunmen-sought-in-shooting-of-5-year-old-bronx-girl-nypd
That being said, THIS, not the Star Spangled banner, should be the national anthem of the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! LOL!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ecuj2g9vM
Why the US 'does not get to assume that it lasts forever' | CNN Politics
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/2023/07/04/politics/american-political-divisions-july-fourth/index.html
CNN —
As the United States marks its 247th birthday Tuesday, questions about how many more the nation will celebrate in its current form have become ominously relevant.
Even the MSM is pulling this stuff out. Never would I have expected CNN to acknowledge the impermanence of empire!
Somebody must be reading Ozymandias by Shelly over there
Mo-
ReplyDeleteSurely, its days are numbered. This July 4th celebration is the hollowest yet. Shelley, BTW.
Preachers-
While I agree that these folks need a hefty dose of urine, keep in mind that while Biden is a warmonger, Trumpi is not. Also, check out the woke crowd: also pretty disgusting, and worthy of a vigorous slapping.
Wafers-
Check out article in NYRB of June 22, about Irving Kaufman, the judge who insisted that the Rosenbergs be murdered in the electric chair in 1951. What an awful human being. Subsequent research revealed:
1. Ethel was innocent. See
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-Untold-Greenglass-Rosenberg-Electric/dp/0375500138/ref=sr_1_1?crid=375MVEDJDN28L&keywords=the+brother+greenglass&qid=1688513180&s=books&sprefix=the+brother+greenglass%2Cstripbooks%2C492&sr=1-1
2. Julius apparently had passed industrial secrets rather than atomic ones. This pt not entirely clear, but (a) spy Klaus Fuchs had already passed the crucial atomic info on to the Russians, and (b) Julius was active during the (war)time that Russia was our ally. By 1951, the execution was a Cold War killing.
3. The trial procedure was corrupt and compromised in a # of ways. This is detailed in the article.
4. https://www.amazon.com/Vixen-Novel-Francine-Prose/dp/0063012146/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FPGXC6C65CIJ&keywords=the+vixen+prose&qid=1688513500&s=books&sprefix=the+vixen+prose%2Cstripbooks%2C388&sr=1-1
5. Also works by Robt Meeropol.
mb
ps: This just rolled off the press:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/War-Made-Invisible-America-Military/dp/1620977915/ref=sr_1_1?crid=82IG8E5CY4O1&keywords=norman+solomon&qid=1688513883&s=books&sprefix=norman+solomon%2Cstripbooks%2C228&sr=1-1
America is so full of shit it makes one dizzy.
ps2: This also:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Life-Not-Useful-Ailton-Krenak/dp/150955405X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2Z4NJHIDFGVGH&keywords=life+is+not+useful&qid=1688514293&s=books&sprefix=life+is+not+useful%2Cstripbooks%2C267&sr=1-1
ps3: The June 22 NYRB also contains an essay on how the US cd have saved huge #s of Jews from the Holocaust, and refused to do it.
ReplyDelete