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 8:01 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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166 Comments:
Well, you've done it again Dr. B. You've created an irresistible little volume that will inspire others to go read the poets you selected. Your take on their works will make this another invaluable reference book, as it will sit on my bookshelf and be opened frequently. As soon as it arrives at my doorstep, I will read it voraciously, and then I will write a review.
The release of your newest is very timely. I just finished reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It is set in Appalachia where I grew up. The author lives in SW Virginia, so she has seen a lot and tells the story of the miners, opioid addiction and the young people trying to grow up in this capitalist mess. It's easy to see the Wafer themes in a book like this.
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Copperhead-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0063251922
I think it's time to recognize that, fundamentally, Bill Maher is trash:
https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/27/bill-maher-slams-israel-protesters/
Check this title
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/israel-rafah-met-gala-fashion-morning-rundown-rcna150984
Palestinians seem to be suffering as much from Israel as they do from their neighbors. Now, the only way they can go is Egypt, and Egypt is telling them no. In this is a vide you can see Egyptian soldiers beating a Palestinan who tried to escape to their side (the description of the video says so, I can't find any Independent source)
https://twitter.com/osgaweesh/status/1788391031672635858
Since the Egypt coup, there was an anti-palestinian propaganda campaign in Egypt, painting them as terrorists and barbarians. Many of the persecuted Egyptians (most of them got the death penalty) were accuses if helping Palestinians, primary among them was the former president
https://electronicintifada.net/content/why-are-egyptian-media-demonizing-palestinians/12632
ccg-
Despite Maher's attempts to be chic, and fashionably anti-establishment, the guy really is a lackey for that estab. and for the American Dream. (He makes $1m per show, and is worth abt $140m.) This hatred of the protesters is a case in pt; it is both misguided, inaccurate, and disgusting. Yes, the elite are trash.
Mike-
Many thanks for yr kudos. I'm sure you'll enjoy the bk. Ultimately, it's a pitch for people to be Wafers, not pawns in a death-oriented culture.
mb
'A little bold and gross’: Oil industry writes executive orders for Trump to sign - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/08/oil-industry-orders-trump-day-one-00156705
"Six energy industry lawyers and lobbyists interviewed by POLITICO described the effort to craft executive orders and other policy paperwork that they see as more effective than anything a second Trump administration could devise on its own. Those include a quick reversal of Biden’s pause on new natural gas export permits and preparations for wider and cheaper access to federal lands and waters for drilling."
^Even the people who want this guy to win think he's dumb as shit lol
I appreciate that Trump wants to go back and reenact the Teapot Dome scandal while he's nailing all the greatest hits
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome_scandal
Hopefully this isn't too tangential to the blog, but I really recommend this trilogy of books (planned to be six in total) for fans of collapsing societies and civilizations:
https://www.amazon.com/Roman-Revolution-Nick-Holmes-ebook/dp/B0B6QHWDZD/ref=sr_1_2?crid=32DH1N54MI0FH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._8RtnXMdrvFlL9othLHVG29-4Kc3RAO2RPcK8aa9BHJ1goUOWZ8odrQ7l_3HMSOFjo4ob9kjqQFq4uGYErjUX-l3PIx4YCCtY8unPhuO5Mgzs5RmcIu-Hkmnitfh-ZQKiDaOf3VbhIXOzm0bzgF058-TkrPARhsE8dJ0ZPmhgsIht2qnGlcvCsZqhN4SMjKKHhytxz5WfmWPvpRS_NQqj3Our1lkAlNyiyx_8YQ7iUQ.OGgFOd6ZA4BgfzX6hyMtOuao0KoZb4r1VLxaOOS_QBI&dib_tag=se&keywords=NICK+HOLMES&qid=1715507209&sprefix=nick+holmes%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-2
Nick Holmes integrates a lot of the latest scholarship (climate change, up-to-date archaeology, etc) into these books, and they are all incredibly readable and entertaining (and quite cheap on Kindle). You can finish each volume in just a few days. At any rate, the first volume concentrates on "The Crisis of the Third Century," a truly fascinating time, and it just picks up speed from there. Daily readers of this blog will have no difficulties in finding innumerable parallels between that time, and modern-day America.
Just your normal weekend here in the “greatest country in the world” whose main mission of its “Manifest Destiny” is to be a beacon for humanity and to beam it all over planet earth.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2024/05/12/3-dead-12-wounded-in-alabama-shooting/3421715536241/
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2024/05/12/tallahassee-police-multiple-people-shot-shooting-two-killed-apalachee-parkway-double-homicide/73662131007/
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/national/police-3-officers-wounded-in-atlanta-street-altercation-that-left-suspect-dead
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/3-shot-west-rankin-road/285-d4ce6224-59da-48cf-b11b-4141f05183e0
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/man-stabs-3-relatives-inside-queens-home-barricades-himself
And with Sunday being a day of rest—and church of course—the pedophile preachers still are doing their thing.
https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/the-woodlands-church-pastor-bruce-hollen-child-porn-charges/285-efe9da82-74af-4a34-8b29-ffe6e7cd0d3a
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
NOTICE TO ALL WAFERS-
This blog will be closed during May 15-18, during wh/time I'll be in Houston doing the gig I described below, conversation w/Vincent Valdez at the Museum of Fine Arts. Pls hold all posts until May 19. Thank you!
mb
In france, it's ok for neo-Nazis to march in the streets, pro-Palestine protestors however are treated like traitors
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1898621/neo-nazi-march-paris-may-9
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/french-police-crackdown-french-pro-palestinian-student-protesters#:~:text=FRENCH%20police%20removed%20dozens%20of,demonstrations%20across%20the%20United%20States.
In Germany too. It is true that a fascist march was met with a massive anti-fascist protest, but the police did nothing to the neo-Nazis, they marched in peace. On the other hand, the police used pro-Palestine demonstrations as a show of force.
https://novaramedia.com/2024/04/17/germanys-anti-palestine-crackdown-has-reached-a-new-low/
https://medium.com/peoples-world/in-germany-nazis-march-anti-fascists-stand-up-against-them-e650c5c51d1d
We've got the same case in the UK and Italy. When it is fascist, or far left or whathave you, it is freedom of speech, if it is a minority or palestine it becomes an act of treason. Europe, much like the US, is rotten
french-
Across the Western world, thousands of sick people are fighting to hang on to a sick way of life. But there's no stopping karma: that way of life is doomed.
mb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_2RGyUCYaU
It turns out that Israel has built concentration camps for Palestinians where they are tortured and murdered en masse. Some of the detainees are tortured by "doctors" who perform "surgeries" that are reminiscent of Dr. Mengele's crimes. It's clear that the Israelis are a bloodthirsty, sadistic people who often emulate the Nazis that butchered their ancestors. Obviously, any attempt to reason or bargain with Israel is a waste of time, just as it was with Nazi Germany. Israel has no conscience or self-restraint, so the international community must use deadly force to end this genocide.
Meanwhile, in the West, even the most anti-Israeli pundits and public figures demand nothing more severe than boycotting and protests, and refuse to consider the option of using military force to stop Israel. Apparently, Westerners think - often unconsciously - that white people should be allowed to do whatever they want to brown people.
David-
This is pretty ghastly. Netanyahu is psychotic, and Israeli sadism knows no bounds. Meanwhile, America funds this, and sends materiel; and all the talk about ceasefire or restraining Israel is just that--talk. This really makes me sick.
mb
Israel, the state, is starting its own brandi of concentration camps
https://youtu.be/w6xHUb9P_a8?si=Egkl-EtjhItYwd_U
And Israel, the people (or a brunch if them at least) don't think of their Arab counterparts as humans
https://youtu.be/3wfQtRgcZ_I?si=a06TiF1xxIeeXp6z
https://youtu.be/_0fLOPol9ao?si=FPTifoQahU4yhUOk
I have come to believe that peace in the middle east is impossible, and that the two states solution is impossible. Both because of Israel. A nation that considers much of it's population and all of its neighbors as subhumans, and that makes it a point to provoke the routinly, will never be at peace. My theory is that Israel fucked up the situation with the Nakba, and knowing that it is never going tonbe at peace, it chose hyper-violence as a strategy to intimidante, and maybe eliminate, its enemies. The enemies, of course, responses with violence, so Israel increases it's violence, which is met by violence etc, a vicious circle, or a symmetric schismogenesis (following Bateson). This violence cycle influences the national character of all its victimes, and we end up with situations such as now
french-
See link from David, above.
mb
MB,
I re-read this great interview of yours that The Atlantic published in 2013.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/how-americas-culture-of-hustling-is-dark-and-empty/278601/
Most interesting 2 me was the part about hiding from sadness. An example of this would be the sadness felt after the death of a close relative, friend, or beloved pet. I think humans in general tend to hide from this. And they have all sorts of smoke screens to shield themselves from it.
But if booze, tv & other things are ways to hide from sadness, how does one face it head-on?
Fly-
Check out my bk "Healing," maybe.
mb
Here is a video that covers the "highlights" of the last Sunday's morning news shows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8Er9DBoAaQ
What you see is a parade of psychopaths, one of the worst being Lindsey Graham, whose vitriol is ghoulish beyond measure. I found myself wanting to hurt the guy. He thinks mass murder by nuclear weapons in Japan was a great thing and that that justifies Israel committing mass murder in Gaza. Lovely.
Oh yeah, there's a clip of the disgusting Hillary Clinton bad-mouthing students protesting genocide in Gaza. No collection of clips featuring psychopaths is complete without Hillary Clinton.
ccg-
So many people need to be beaten severely and then thrown on a dung heap. I get exhausted just thinking about it.
Note that most Americans believe the nuking of Japan was necessary, and a feather in our cap.
mb
Red Lobster is in deep shit. It's closing 50+ restaurants all over Amerikkka & could possibly file 4 bankruptcy @ some pt.
https://www.businessinsider.com/red-lobster-closing-50-locations-california-new-york-florida-2024-5?op=1
The staff ain't happy about it, either...
https://www.businessinsider.com/red-lobster-staff-vent-online-furious-about-layoffs-restaurant-closures-2024-5
A popular restaurant chain going bust couldn't b a better metaphor 4 a failed nation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDOlPim1wc0
This video features American Zionists acting like the lunatic thugs they are. It seems to me that Zionism is a deep spiritual sickness - a limitless lust for power and violence. It surgically removes empathy and compassion from peoples' hearts and fills them with hatred.
https://www.nbcnews.com/jacksonville-shooting
Another day, another massacre in the great old US of A. These crimes are so common that Americans don't even bat an eyelash when they occur. They certainly won't do anything to prevent these massacres; they'll just offer "thoughts and prayers" (empty words). Any nation doesn't give a damn about the massacres that occur within its borders must be on its last legs.
Hi Dr. B,
I hope your trip to Houston was enjoyable.
I polished off Soul-Changers in a day. I then thought it might be fun to read about the lives of the poets you featured in the book. I discovered that our good friends at the NYT looked upon Robert Frost with disdain. That comes as no surprise. Below is a quote from Frost's Wikipedia page:
"In June 1922, the Vermont State League of Women's Clubs elected Frost as Poet Laureate of Vermont. When a New York Times editorial strongly criticized the decision of the Women's Clubs, Sarah Cleghorn and other women wrote to the newspaper defending Frost."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
While I could not find a good reference to explain why the NYT criticized Frost in 1922, I did find a NYTRB article published in 1974 about Frost, and it too was highly critical of the poet:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/frost-terror.html
It's a pity that the NYT can't appreciate that artists like Frost are very complex individuals who sometimes defy conventional categorizations. It's been that way since at least 1922.
Again, I greatly enjoyed reading your latest book, Soul-Changers. I look forward to Volume II!
Mike-
Glad u enjoyed it, amigo. If u wanna write a review, I won't stand in yr way. The NYT has shit for brains.
As for Houston: terrific success. 80 people showed up. 40 wept thru the program; 10 vomited; 5 went psychotic, and one guy took out a gun, screamed "I have nothing to live for," and blew his brains out. It was nice to see that I've still got the old magic. :-)
The show did get recorded, and the video guy told me he'd have a link for me in 6 wks. I'll post it at that time.
mb
This American Life:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/18/six-month-old-baby-shot-arizona-standoff
Meanwhile, as Russia advances on the Ukraine, America and NATO do what they do best: beat off. The whole failed caper turned into a beat-off fest. What self-defeating nonsense will we perpetrate next?
mb
Israelis: wonderful people!
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/opinion/israeli-palestine-psyche.html
Now here's a shock:
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-05-17/former-facebook-dei-head-gets-5-years-in-prison-for-fraud
Social media's far-right isn't disaffected hillbillies from the holler. It's mostly contrarian urbanites and aristocrats.
America’s dime-store Nietzscheans
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2024/05/americas-dime-store-nietzscheans
Glad to hear it was a great time, MB! Welcome back..
A road rager rams a vehicle. A woman stabs her boyfriend in the ass after a fight. An angry schmuck sets a family camper on fire. And another stupid road rager rams a pole with his vehicle. Check out these mugshots. Two of them are in their twenties. One is 31. They are this country’s rosy future! LOL!
https://winknews.com/2024/05/19/road-rage-domestic-violence-and-camper-fire/
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/man-arrested-after-allegedly-fleeing-from-n-austin-road-rage-crash-colliding-into-pole
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
New Caledonia, a French colony basically, is erupting, they want independence. What happened is that the French government has passed a law giving French residents of 10 years the right to vote. French residents (settlers really) are 60 precent of the population and the new law seems to go against a previous agreement between the indeginous people and the French.
To show you what that means, in a 2020 independence referendum, the provinces with a majority of French settlers eligible for voting voted for stayin with France, while the provinces that had a majority of indeginous people voted to leave. The vote also reflected the French majority. With the new law, the indegenous population woukdn't have any saying in any matter, all within a democratic process.
The indeginous population believe it to be a colonial act, the French go there and decide how things go. And France, like the good colonial it is, is doing everything other than acknowledging the problem; like accusing Azerbaijan, thousands of miles away. (Reminds me of the US picking a fight with Chad)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abg8ZoQ-CQw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_New_Caledonian_independence_referendum
That's why I believe that colonisers have should have no political rights whatsoever, else they can become colonisers democratically.
A trailer for Francis Ford Copola’s enigmatic new film Megalopolis opens with the following lines: “When does an empire die? Does it collapse in one terrible moment? No, no. But there comes a time when its people no longer believe in it. Is this society, is this way of living, the only one that’s available to us?”
Can a sign of imperial decline include its increasing presence in media and popular culture? A Guardian article by Tom Stevenson states that “In recent years, the idea that the United States is an empire in decline has gained considerable support, some of it from quarters that until very recently would have denied it was ever an empire at all. The New York Times, for instance, has run columns that describe a “remarkably benign” American empire that is “in retreat”, or even at risk of decline and fall”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/americas-undying-empire-why-the-decline-of-us-power-has-been-greatly-exaggerated
I was reading about a geomagnetic storm brought on by solar flares, that allowed the Northern Lights 2 b visible in uncommon places, and caused some disruptions to the electrical grid
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/10/1250515730/solar-storm-geomagnetic-g4
If the grid ever failed, then all this digital/electronic shit would be rendered useless. And Amerikkkans in particular will surely self destruct even faster than they're doing now
ZJ, thanks for the link. As someone who rubs shoulders with the "masculine Nietzscheans," the author actually got a lot right. Most hit pieces miss the mark by a mile.
Interestingly, there are a lot of former Libertarians in this crowd, and not an insignifcant number of former Leftists. I fall into latter category of someone who dabbled on the Left and then moved Far Right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5IoE8-1Zl4
Amazingly enough, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. It probably won't lead to anything, but this tells me the Global South is being taken more seriously than it used to be. Meanwhile, Israel is poised to invade southern Lebanon; it seems to be bent on invading ALL its neighbors even though this will trigger a regional war that will probably destroy the Zionist state once and for all. What can one say about a country that values genocide and mass torture more than its own survival? Even the word "psychotic" doesn't begin to describe this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIrF4xmJLSk
Billionaire Zionists paid the police to assault and arrest anti-Zionist protesters in NYC. This is wholly illegal, but nothing will be done to stop it. One has to wonder whether these Zionists are more loyal to Israel than they are to America, and how much influence Israel has over American policy. The corruption seems to run much deeper than most people would have suspected.
David-
Just by comparison, historians believe that the real war for Germany in WW2 was the war against the Jews. Hitler made many strategic mistakes, prioritizing the murder of the Jews over smarter military decisions in the field. It may have cost him the war. Bibi seems to be doing something similar, re: the Palestinians.
Tom-
I was saying it in 2000, and Gore Vidal b4 me.
Christian-
You remind me of Whittaker Chambers declaration to a friend, many yrs ago, when he switched from being a fervent communist to a fervent anti-communist. "You see how I've changed!" His friend replied, "Whittaker, you haven't changed; you've merely changed sides." Fervor is the crucial pt, eh? Talleyrand: "Above all, no zeal." Like yourself, Chambers seemed to lack self-transparency.
mb
ps: an oft-quoted line from CTOS: "An idea is something you have; an ideology is something that has you."
This is pretty shocking. Apparently, Samuel Alito is flying an upside-down American flag, in solidarity with Trump and the Jan 6 people. On the one hand, I figured he was a Trumpy guy, and in that sense I'm not surprised. But the fact that a Supreme Court justice is openly embracing the seditious Jan 6 movement, yes, that is a little bit shocking to me. The fact that he is doing it openly and shamelessly is what is so disturbing. In any case, it is yet one more striking indicator that we have gone well past the point of no return.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWeJrwNu2nw
Megan-
He's claiming that it was his wife's idea. This man needs a severe beating. Meanwhile, the Court is doing what it can to make sure Trumpi gets elected.
mb
Meg/MB:
It's exactly as MB says, they want Trumpi to win!
Quick reminder that a young Judge Sam Alito (who’d worked for Trump’s sister) delivered a young Donald Trump a landmark court victory letting Trump and other moguls fleece their own investors | IBTimes
https://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/how-donald-trump-used-fine-print-make-it-harder-sue-wall-street-fraud-2440890
A failed coup in the DR Congo, Americans involved.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/20/africa/americans-involved-in-drc-foiled-deadly-coup-intl/index.html
In every matter, small or big, all over the worl, America feels the need to implicate itself, often destructively, often for a false sense of urgency to maintain its hegemony. The empire is extending itself not only geographically, but "categorically" if I may say. In every thing, from military matters to culture to even how bread is made, the US feels the need to intervene. This need to be present, and to assert hegemony, in every category of human existence, everywhere in the world is the expansion.
french-
This behavior is a reflection of emptiness at the center. Which is also true of individual Americans. If there is one cause that is taking us down the drain, this is it.
mb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_FnTyAl3po
Behind closed doors, the Biden Administration threatened to starve many third world countries by preventing UN food programs from functioning if Palestine was granted statehood. The Biden Administration's just as psychotic as Netanyahu; if acted upon, these threats could instigate a nuclear war because countries like Pakistan and India depend on UN food programs and also have nuclear weapons. Even if they aren't acted upon, these threats will make the rest of the world hate America tenfold and strive even harder to create a multipolar world order. This is just another chapter in America's slow-motion suicide and imperial decline.
There's a congressional panel “debating” about who oughta pick up the tab for rebuilding that fallen Baltimore bridge
https://www.marylandmatters.org/2024/05/15/congressional-panel-debates-who-should-foot-the-bill-for-rebuilding-key-bridge/
It's quite amusing really; when it comes to domestic matters, there's always a “debate”. But they're on the same pg when it's time 2 find someplace to bomb.
Amerikkka has no real strategic vision or plan. This aimlessness is now doing it in
Norway, Ireland, Spain to recognise Palestinian state. My pessimist self sees in this a mere PR stunt that is meant for nothing. First, The EU countries could've recognised the Palestinian state since the Oslo agreement 30 years ago, but they didn't, this move now seems to me in response to the widespread criticism of the West and not out of their own (imaginary) benevolence. Second, the Palestinian state is recognised by 143 states already, the whole world minus the US and its western lackeys, and that didn't change shit, if a couple of western states believe that their position is going somehow to change a situation that 143 countires couldn't, then that's some twisted megalomania. Finally, I truly don't believe in the two states solution, it is impossible, and I've discussed that previously.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/22/norway-will-recognise-palestinian-state-pm-says
Dub-
Its 'plan' is to hang on to its fading hegemony. It won't succeed.
mb
Anon-
I guess yr new to this blog. I don't post Anons.
mb
Wafers-
The Fascist Train is coming down the track. There is no stopping it. Trumpi's chances of winning in Nov. are abt 96%. After wh/, he'll roll up his sleeves and polish the country off.
No surprise, really: America was born in hustling, has lived in hustling, has worshipped hustling, and will finally put its arch-hustler in the W.H. This is surely representative democracy!
O&D
ps: To paraphrase an old Toyota jingle: "You asked for it, you got it, Trumpola!"
ps2: Here's a real piece of dreck:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/22/nikki-haley-trump-endorsement-2024-election
ps3: The choice in Nov.: a genocidal warmongering doofus, vs. a fascistic narcissistic bulvan. God shed his grace on thee...
The former US Ambassador to the UN wants to attack Iran now, right After their prez died.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/20/iran-president-raisi-death-war-west-first-strike/
They accuse Iran of warmongering while being warmongers, in the same sentence. These people lack the very necessary condition of having a self (as I understand it), that of being able to reflect on one's own being.
french-
Smart! In every area of life, the US can be counted on to do the wrong thing.
mb
Owing to the rampant opioid deaths there, the Wake County School Board in N. Carolina just approved a Naloxone policy that requires up to 3 staff members in its schools to learn how to use Narcan, however…
“The new policy does not guarantee Naloxone at every school and it is also not required at activities held off school grounds”
https://www.wunc.org/news/2024-05-22/wake-county-school-board-approves-naloxone-policy-raises-meal-prices
But who forced addicts to use & subsequently OD on these drugs? It's obviously symptomatic of a deeper pathology in Amerikkka.
Buildings collapse due to fundamental structural flaws, and nations & societies do, too
A new tool for violence here in the Big Apple: pepper spray. In schools at teachers or/and students, on buses at bus drivers, or wherever.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/pepper-spray-incident-in-queens-school-injures-40
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/woman-pepper-sprays-bronx-mta-bus-driver
Of course a big ( but conveniently never mentioned) symptom of the fall of the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.! is the impending bankrupting of it. This especially is so concerning personal credit card debt. Again, this somehow never gets mentioned in the media.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/business/borrowers-especially-the-young-struggle-with-credit-card-debt-in-potentially-bad-sign-for-economy
Fly, Joe-
Just my 2 cents, but I think a lot of these problems cd be solved w/guns.
mb
Israel: such a great country:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/23/whistleblowers-allege-widespread-abuses-at-israeli-detention-camp-sde-teiman
Real humanitarians!
I'm disappointed to learn that Salman Rushdie is bashing the students who are protesting mass murder in Gaza:
https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/strange-that-progressive-students-support-hamas-salman-rushdie-on-free-palestine-movement-by-us-campus-protesters
He seems to buy into the Zionists propaganda that the students are supporting Hamas. I have yet to hear any students say that they support Hamas.
I kind of understand why Rushdie is saying this (being assaulted by a Muslim fanatic would likely do it), but it disappoints me greatly that he's not taking a longer view of this situation.
ccg-
How awful. I've said it many times on this blog: high-IQ individuals can be terribly stupid.
mb
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on this amazing blog, though I do check in once or twice a month for all the great content Dr Berman and the Wafers post.
I hope these articles bring a bit of laughter to Wafers. A total bitch fight in a congressional meeting featuring Greene, Luna, AOC and Crockett. I’m so glad to see we have a new generation of Kamalas just waiting in the wings. Almost makes me want to move back to the US for a front row seat. A fight over fake eyelashes and bleach blonde hair.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4669653-chaos-erupts-in-hearing-as-greene-ocasio-cortez-clash-over-fake-eyelashes-jibe-at-crockett/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
You can always count on Greene to provide quality American entertainment. Not to be outdone, Representative Crockett is a good American hustler (and total supporter of those freedom fighters in Ukraine, gag) who has filed to trademark the phrase “Beach blonde bad built body.” I’m glad she’s set a good example to fellow Americans by finding a way to earn some money out of this debacle.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/20/bleach-blonde-bad-built-butch-body-crockett-
trademark/73770813007/
Like you say, you really can’t make this up. At this point I think distinguishing between Democrats or Republicans is like choosing to call it trash or garbage. Does it matter? It’s the exact same filthy, rotting, putrid thing.
Jamie-
Welcome back! It's nice to have yr take on the spectacle of American Trash-Buffoons in action.
mb
In 1988, Rushdie was asked to write an article on Palestine for a special edition of a magazine for which the famous poet Darwish was the editor. Rushdie's answer was that he "didn't have time"
https://www.facebook.com/100002288643886/posts/7668226729930206/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
To be fair, I havent read a word by the man. I, however, have read and watched some interviews (mostly old ones), and I didn't like him one bit. He always seemed to me like a total western sell-out with an inflated sense of importance. He may have wrote some revolutionary stuff, but I don't like to spend my time on people I percieved as pricks.
And in the subject of high IQ idiots, check this Morin
https://x.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1793165699612831904
It’s another holiday weekend in the Land of Shit. As the GSWH has stated, it’s “chic” to do certain things here. One example of “being with the in-crowd” in this sorry ass nation is to fly. Check out the latest USAin failure in anger management on an airplane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrqinpEDRRg
Like the skies, the roads shall be packed. High airline and gasoline prices are no problem. Remember the first true law of USAin capitalist economics: “As the price goes up, the demand goes up”! Cars or motorcycles? No problem. The violent rages should be in full force.
https://apnews.com/article/memorial-day-weekend-travel-traffic-forecast-6d05ba4de79f1ae1ca7fd2c822b532f9
https://www.katu.com/news/local/young-mother-driving-children-home-menaced-by-road-rage-motorcyclist-beaverton-police-say
And we await the usual spate of holiday weekend mass shootings. For a preview, here’s a recurring theme: Another one of this country’s “disgruntled employees” decided to shoot up some of his coworkers.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/22/us/chester-pennsylvania-shooting/index.html
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
"Against Computers (infinite play)"
This essay is a sort of call for a holy war against the computer cult. Neo-luddites unite!
https://www.secretorum.life/p/against-computers-infinite-play
Q.C.-
Check out ch. 3 of WAF, and also the discussion of technology in "The Crisis of Our Time."
mb
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/24/icj-orders-israel-to-halt-rafah-offensive-new-ruling
Of course Israel will immediately do the humanitarian thing. And what will the US do? (Hint: 2 words, the 1st one is 'beat'.)
And then: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/24/lloyd-austin-hospital-treatment-bladder
But will they deal w/his douche bag condition (far more serious)?
mb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWglkyVNoJs
Zionist psychos in Congress just proposed a bill that would give money to Americans who serve in the Israeli army. It would prey on impoverished Americans and lure them into sacrificing their safety, not to protect America or innocent civilians, nor even to maintain America's hegemony, but to facilitate Israeli butchery. One could reasonably argue this is treasonous, and Biden will probably sign it into law if he gets the opportunity to do so. If he does, it will only waste more money on military misadventures and make other countries view America as Israel's lapdog. At this point, I have to wonder whether Zionism will be a huge part of America's undoing.
David-
You cd be rt. The deep sickness of America becomes more obvious every day.
mb
Regarding the Rushdie business: To me, the most bizarre aspect of his utterances about Gaza is his linking of Hamas and the Taliban as being essentially the same thing. Does he not know that Gaza once had Universities, all now destroyed by Israel? He should be appalled by this. Does he not know that women attended those universities?
I think he actually does know that, but finds it inconvenient to mention as he curries favor with the western establishment of which he became a cause celebre back in the 90's. Something just isn't right with this guy. I've always been skeptical of Rushdie, and I very much agree with French's assessment.
In other depressing news, Ilan Pappe was recently questioned for two hours by FBI agents at the Detroit airport:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZinFUbEboA
Hello Dr. MB,
I haven't posted in a while but I did find a couple of stories that are somewhat shocking:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/20/microplastics-human-testicles-study-sperm-counts
Microplastics found in every human testicle in study
Scientists say discovery may be linked to decades-long decline in sperm counts in men around the world
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/17/glyphosate-weedkiller-sperm
High levels of weedkiller found in more than half of sperm samples, study finds
Glyphosate found in samples from French infertility clinic raising questions about controversial chemical’s impact on fertility
Trout-
Welcome back, and thanks for the refs. Gregory Bateson once said, The organism that destroys the planet, destroys itself.
mb
Hello Dr. Berman and Wafers. Hope all is well. Dr. Berman, you mentioned Bateson. I remember skimming through his work when I was reading up on R. D. Laing and Schizoid theories. Bateson seemed big on cybernetics. But was his understanding of this more about creating mutual relationships as opposed to the unilateral power relations that are so prevalent in 20th century? I just hear cybernetics and I can't help but think in of the techno dystopia path we are already on.
btw how was Texas event? I wish I could have been there. Haven't seen a good art show in forever.
Falks, I found a true US partisan, a real role model with true American values. The most beautiful thing I've seen in a long time
https://www.instagram.com/middleeasteye/reel/C7V_-zWIjtg/
french-
I'm surprised that he got suspended. I wd have expected CUNY to give him a medal.
mauricio-
Links? Texas went well. Audience lost control, peed in their pants. I still have the old magic touch, apparently.
mb
Amerikkkans are paying a high price for their failed "dream"...and so are their kiddos. U not only get daily massacres, public freak-outs & other signs of civilizational decay, but incidents of this nature, too
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/mom-sentenced-to-25-years-for-murder-of-son-3-after-abuse-including-severely-burning-and-caning-him/ar-BB1n2LgB
I think this gr8 quote from Lewis Mumford perfectly describes where Amerikkka's hustling culture has led it. No wonder every1's losing their minds
"A society that gives to one class all the opportunities for leisure, and to another all the burdens of work, dooms both classes to spiritual sterility"
Sven-
kiddos? Note that this woman is British. Link for Mumford?
mb
Bluster and Bullshit: Here's Biden in Beatoff mode, trying to hang on to American hegemony--a futile endeavor:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/25/politics/video/biden-west-point-commencement-address-nrwd-digvid
He pounds his chest, but he's a doofus.
Hello Dr Berman. I’m very happy to be back. Is there any chance you’d ever host a Wafer meeting outside the US?
In a rare bit of good news, I think we can hail Lily Greenberg Call as a hero, the opposite of the douche baguettes in Congress I posted about recently. She resigned from her position in the Biden administration in protest of the ongoing war against Gaza. Ms Greenberg Call applied the beautiful ethics of Judaism to stand against the slaughter of Gaza.
“I reject the premise that one people’s salvation must come at the destruction of another’s destruction.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaXrUtSMWwI
Jamie-
I tried to hold one yrs ago in Mexico City. Everyone got excited; then no one showed up. So, no.
mb
California police psychologically tortured mentally ill man for 17 hours, coerced him into confessing to the murder of his alive-and-well father
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/24/california-fontana-payment-man-tortured-police
I've only heard of this stuff in dictatorships (say under Pinochet, Franco or Stalin), and only for political prisoners. The US is doing it for everybody, which is beautiful, and democratic!
Dr. Berman,
It looks like your prediction of America's complete collapse by 2030 may have been stunningly "optimistic." Nevertheless, props to you for not backing down on what looks to be a sure bet and making WAFERs know that we're not just paranoid about the whole thing. Just watched the following video by the historian Victor Davis Hanson and his analysis of the US's current state of affairs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faPNpovMeuU&list=TLPQMjYwNTIwMjRDs9nrowEiAw&index=4
Regarding your point about bluster and beatoff, Dr. Berman, I really do think Biden is stupid enough to believe in the mythology of America itself. I used to think he was just another creep politician using it as a sales pitch, but I now think he REALLY believes all this bullshit about exceptionalism.
When you watch that video of his commencement address, it’s clear he sees himself as some guarantor of American decency in the face of the Trump Threat.
He DOES NOT UNDERSTAND that the symptomology of Trump has its roots in Biden style policy and cultural decay. Onwards and Downwards!
Xen-
Yr rt. I'm sure he believes the American Dream propaganda line. Probably hard to get elected to office unless one does.
Sang-
Not sure what props are. Hanson wrote a blurb for my Twilight bk in 2000.
french-
These cops are not true Americans, imo. If they were true Americans, they wd have taken the guy out into the street and shot him, like a dog, w/no questions asked. And then received a medal.
mb
(I type this post on Sunday evening with Memorial Day itself still ready to happen.) Our violent USAins haven’t let us down. The holiday mass shootings are in full force!
https://abc7chicago.com/post/chicago-shootings-this-weekend-memorial-day-gun-violence-police/14874004/
https://www.courant.com/2024/05/26/ct-police-investigating-4-shootings-in-7-hours-3-in-same-neighborhood-over-memorial-day-weekend/
https://wtmj.com/news/2024/05/26/two-memorial-day-weekend-shootings-early-sunday-morning/
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/north-st-paul-shooting-leaves-4-injured/
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article288759795.html
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Check it out:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/september-11-attacks-saudi-arabia-lawsuit/678430/
It seems like everything the US does is wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOfhvkhOP5w
All these rulings by international courts telling Israel to halt its genocide are, as MB puts it, beating off. Israel doesn't care what the international community thinks. It will keep committing genocide until other nations use military force to stop it, although I have no idea how you'd go about attacking a lunatic nuclear power like Israel without triggering a nuclear war.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-19/israel-economy-slumps-from-war-with-far-worse-drop-than-forecast?embedded-checkout=true
Israel is being destroyed by its karma. Its economy is falling apart, and its citizens are sinking into poverty. Eventually, it will no longer be able to destroy neighboring countries. We can only hope this will be sooner rather than later.
David-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimon_Peres_Negev_Nuclear_Research_Center
mb
Dr. Berman, Sanguillen, I clicked on Victor Hanson video and he had some very thoughtful things to say about wokeness and tribalism. I don't necessarily believe it was initiated by Obama's speech; it's more complicated. One turning point was several video taped tortures and killings of unarmed blacks by police, launching Black Lives Matter, which snowballed.
Interesting to note that Hanson is an ultra extreme rightest. He calls student protesters Pro-Hamas, intentionally conflates and confuses University faculties' words, saying they were excited and enthralled by the atrocities committed by Hamas, and were cheering Hamas on...I could go on but won't. Although he is a declinist, be advised of his agenda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZotHFDHwwFU
Update on Trumpi:
Jury may report this week, and they cd find him guilty. And the judge may sentence him, if that's the case. The problem is that Trumpi can appeal the whole thing, and this cd take months to go thru the courts. In short, there will probably be no definitive conviction until after the election; the same applies to the charge for insurrection (Jan. 6), thanks to a very biased and dishonest Supreme Court. Meanwhile, he's leading in most swing states against Schmiden. To sum up: welcome to the renewed, and very scary, Trump presidency!
mb
On the subject of Israel committing a massacre yesterday in Rafah. I saw some videos on the app called telegram of the massacre, and it made me so angry that I couldn't sleep yesterday. I will not share the videos as they are very graphic, but I'll tell you what I saw: a headless baby, a young boy with a whole in his head with no brain inside, toddlers burnt black and many more. These are what Israel, and every one in America claim to be Hamas fighters. Biden repeated many times that the (imaginary) killing of the Israeli babies were war crimes, but when the babies are Palestinians, I guess they are not human enough for it to be war crimes.
I believe that Israelis are not lying when they say every one they've killed is Hamas, including women and children. They do believe that every Palestinian is a Hamas fighter that should be killed, even toddlers with diapers (check the list of informant wanted by Israel below). When westerners say that the Pro Palestine protests are Pro Hamas, they are not lying, they truly believe that every Palestinian should be killed.
https://x.com/OwenJones84/status/1792180925201109153
I am truly angry, like I've never been before in my life. Not sad, angry, alot!
Dr. Berman,
The "props" I referred to in my last post basically means "compliment". The following is from dictionary.com
[ props ]
Phonetic (Standard)
IPA
noun
, (usually used with a singular verb)
proper or due respect or recognition; credit:
I give him props for putting up with annoying customers.
Sang-
IPA = India Pale Ale?
mb
Dr. Berman,
According to the website, one can choose between: Phonetic (Standard) or IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). I could see no difference when choosing between the two.
Sang-
Beer, better.
mb
https://youtu.be/u4k9lWbRQMM?si=H3wUeojt4rIncftX
The left is in denial. Pure and simple.
I'm not sure what kind of last-minute change of heart they're expecting from the American people, but they're not going to get it. The polls for this upcoming election have consistently shown Trump in a comfortable lead.
The man is a pig, a scoundrel, an idiot, and a walking DSM-V Classification.
And the American public LOVES him. Not in spite of those character flaws, but because of them. America looks at this grotesque man and sees a reflection of itself.
Pen-
Not the entire American public, of course. Perhaps 50%, or 50+%. Trump will probably win (see stats for swing states), but it will be a close race, for sure.
However, he does, as the nation's consummate hustler, represent the essential values of America going back 400 yrs (see WAF). Almost all Americans think hustling is what life is all abt.
mb
https://www.spaywall.com/news/https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-05-27/israel-faces-new-condemnation-over-rafah-strikes-which-local-health-officials-say-killed-45
Netanyahu called the most recent butchery in Rafah a "tragic mistake." Yeah, and I'm selling the Brooklyn Bridge.
Dr. Berman,
I met another man yesterday at work who has heard of you and read some of your books. He agrees spot on the US is doomed. I told him about your blog and that you answer emails and that he ought to drop you a message of encouragement.
Another extended holiday weekend has ended in the world’s biggest land of shit. Here’s a recap, presented as a map, of the usual deadly shootings that occurred.
https://www.newsweek.com/memorial-day-us-shootings-map-1905080
Yeah. What better place to be than in: the “Land of Exceptionalism”; “the greatest country in the world”; the U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
BH-
Thanks. Be sure to tell him that my code word is Chopped Liver.
mb
Check it out:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/28/attacks-rafah-no-accident-idf-losing-strategy
Here's a couple of surprises:
-The US pier built off Gaza is broken
-IDF tanks are now in the center of Rafah
Israel has not been able to come up w/a post-Gaza plan because its actual goal is to exterminate the Pals; wh/it can't say out loud. So current strategy is genocide, while denying it's genocide.
Plus this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/spying-hacking-intimidation-israel-war-icc-exposed
Is there a scummier country on the planet?
The Amerikkkan travel industry is in BIG trouble, with it performing badly among those of the top tourist destinations
https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/1-2-trillion-us-travel-industry-is-plummeting-says-new-study
I even found a 2018 article from CNBC saying how Amerikkka was losing its tourism appeal. There's now a "Visit the US Coalition" to try combatting this.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/17/international-tourism-is-booming-but-not-to-the-us.html
Who the hell wants to visit a decaying nation of gun-toting xenophobes anyway?
For millennia, spiritual thinkers have helped people face life's challenges. But just as ancient doesn't always mean wise, neither does it always mean foolish. As noted in this essay, there is wisdom in many spiritual practices that science is now backing. Reminds me of the NMI (New Monastic Individual)
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/some-dominican-wisdom-we-can-all-use/678439/
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/28/politics/rafah-camp-attack-biden-israel-support/index.html
Schmiden = genocidal scumbag
What *wd* cross his red line? A nuclear attack on Rafah by the IDF? What he's actually doing is telling Netanyahu, "Do whatever you want."
Does the planet contain a more disgusting human being than Joe Biden?
mb
ps: Here's another piece of dreck:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/28/nikki-haley-finish-them-missile-israel
ps2: Nice to know:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/28/middleeast/gaza-us-munitions-rafah-strike-analysis-intl-hnk/index.html
With Memorial Day now out of the way, here is the newest annual gun violence venue here in the Land of Shit: high school graduations!
https://www.everytown.org/press/gun-violence-takes-center-stage-during-class-of-2024-graduation-season/
But it gets better. We don’t only need graduations. Our rising GOP star, a high school dropout, was the center of attention ( as he is everywhere he goes) in gun loving Texas’s GOP convention. People waited in line, some for an hour, to shake his hand. Ya gotta love it!
Please, Trumpi. Make him your chief of staff! Or some big cabinet position, perhaps secretary of homeland security. He then can lead the way for folks here to justifiably blow each other away! LOL!
https://www.reformaustin.org/san-antonio/kyle-rittenhouse-draws-enthusiastic-crowd-at-texas-gop-convention/
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
One thing I've never heard Mearsheimer comment on, is what he thinks of Trump's "I will end this conflict Ukraine conflict in one day." Presumably, he means that he will play "Peter the Third" (Catherine the Great's first husband) and "end" it simply the way that Peter ended the Russo-Prussian War. That is, by simply 100 percent capitulating in the hopes that Frederick the Great/Putin will REALLY like him! for doing this. In any case, though it is a mistake to have put our credibility on the line, Trump playing Peter to Putin's Frederick just seems to me potentially geopolitically disastrous. Not that we have any credibility left to destroy, but that would certainly be the final coffin nail in it.
On another subject, this is a really good series, "Shrinking Trump," and it is worth subscribing to. We should be more careful about calling Biden "senile" instead of Trump, as these two doctors explain and make a strong case for precisely this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyBJGWOejrs&list=PLR585i0a0Ql30mDoIyCrDDg65PEcMJMj1&index=2
Megan-
I do believe Schmiden is a senile doofus. This is not hyperbole on my part. However, my own feeling is that Trumpi is psychotic. By which I mean, clinically nuts. Again, no hyperbole.
mb
‘A dying empire led by bad people’: Poll finds young voters despairing over US politics
https://www.semafor.com/article/05/28/2024/a-dying-empire-led-by-bad-people-poll-finds-young-voters-despairing-over-us-politics
“Young voters do not look at our politics and see any good guys. They see a dying empire led by bad people.”
There ya have it!
This makes me think right back to MB’s mention of Manichaeism in US Politics.
Jill Biden: “And those polls are going to turn, I’m confident of it, because as time goes on, as people start to focus a little bit more about what’s at stake and start to become educated on the issues and the differences between them — the two men — I believe that Americans are going to choose good over evil.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/politics/jill-biden-urges-americans-to-choose-good-over-evil-in-the-election/index.html
Barb-
Gd news, altho I look in vain for the word 'buffoons', wh/is essential to an analysis of the US today.
mb
Dept. of Total Scumbags:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/29/international-criminal-court-israel-spying-intimidation
Dept. of Appearances, and Beating Off:
The pier the US built in Gaza has fallen apart.
mb
The US invented a new type of argument. Israel is not doing any war crimes because the US did before what Israel is doing now.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/john-kirby-press-conference
American exceptionalism meets a disfunctioning brain
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-state-department-official-resigns-says-us-report-gaza-inaccurate-2024-05-30/
State Dept. falsified a report on Israel in Gaza, to make Israel look gd, so it cd continue to supply Israel w/arms.
Whistleblower on this resigned. 2 disgusting countries was apparently too much for her.
mb
ps: Trumpi is now a convicted felon. Sentencing will be on July 11th. I'm thinking this might help him at the polls in Nov.
In other news: I just sent this review of Lionel Shriver's "Mania" in to Amazon:
I wish I could award this book ten stars; it may be the best novel I’ve read in the last five years, and I encourage everyone reading this review to purchase it immediately. It’s beyond spectacular; I devoured it in less than a day. "Mania" is about the inevitable collapse of the US, something I’ve been writing about for many years now. Shriver’s key factor in this process is pretty much the same as mine, namely that the American people are dumber than a bag of hammers. This was also the theme of the 2006 film "Idiocracy," and in the intervening years that hilarious, and scary, portrait of America has become increasingly accurate. In effect, "Mania" picks up where "Idiocracy" left off, although (spoiler alert) Shriver gives her story an unexpected optimistic twist at the end that I personally don’t see happening in real life. But that’s neither here nor there. It’s a great book and a terrific achievement. Thank you, Lionel, for writing it.
With the US announcing Ukraine may now use US long-range weaponry to hit targets inside Russia (see top story on antiwar.com), the slow cantor towards apocalypse has quickened to a trot, and it'd be a good bet this soon becomes a full gallop.
I was still young when the Cold War ended, but I remember how sober and serious seemed all talk around nuclear war. Diplomacy and arms treaties were the order of the day. People of that caliber seem to have all retired and/or died. Now we have moral midgets and hacks like Blinken and Biden cavalierly willing to gamble the species over who controls Kiev?
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/05/30/us-presidents-who-gamble-with-nuclear-armageddon/
https://www.theinteldrop.org/2024/05/29/blockbuster-russia-has-moved-11-nuclear-submarines-into-the-atlantic-ocean-in-response-to-us-attacks-on-strategic-radars/
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/05/30/the-war-is-widening-into-armageddon/
Budget-
Clearly, buffoons are running the show. I'm guessing most Americans wd agree w/this decision.
In other news, I just wrote Judge Merchan regarding the sentencing of Trumpi on July 11. What I said was that he cd create a first in American history by having someone pee on Trump's shoes while he stands on the W.H. lawn. No former president has had his shoes peed on in public, and this wd send a terrific message to Americans and the world at large.
Assuming Merchan heeds my advice, I'm proposing 3 possible candidates as pee-ers: Kamala Schmamala, Nikki Haley, and Gisele Bundchen. If Wafers wd like to nominate other possibilities, pls let me know, and I'll pass this info on to the judge.
mb
I propose as a nomination to resurrect Kim Kardashian out of retirement to preside over the great pee-in as a special televised reality show for the end times, sponsored by the Institute of Buffoonology at Evergreen College, with subliminal brief messages flashed every five seconds like "Decline is good", "Kim's behind," "2030", and "Buffoons are exceptional", with a post-pee interview of the GSWH on CNN.
This article was published last year, but Peter Thiel almost reads like a character created by Dr. Berman. A Thiel-style "society" would have a population of people who:
> feel little to no obligation to one another
> are obsessed with economic growth
> are obsessed with technological and scientific change
> but really have no end-game purpose in mind for the change or the growth except to live as supermen.
> and if the above doesn't happen fast enough or stalls, then the system is too concerned about others (i.e., too much safety, too much redistribution, too much democracy), etc. and thus, the system needs to be reformed or even destroyed.
Ultimately, he gets no satisfaction from any of this - the article basically describes him as almost permanently dissatisfied and pessimistic and he blames this on the slow rate of change, not his own world-view. He's at the height of U.S. society.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/11/peter-thiel-2024-election-politics-investing-life-views/675946/
Bud-
How many times have I said it? The elite are trash. But then, most Americans probably wanna be rich, like him, and already share his ideology.
mb
I had to share this link of a quite good interview of Jeffrey Sachs. He discusses the US foreign policy MO, especially interesting that the bombing of Kosovo was to establish a military base in our bid to control the world. All the while diplomats like Kennan were saying our MO was a mistake. Plus more interesting stuff (Neocons, Nordstream, and Covid: https://youtu.be/JS-3QssVPeg?si=1BEl8Ss3_vXB6lve
Baron/Jim
Baron-
Thank u4 yr reappearance. We welcome u w/open arms. Two things to keep in mind:
1. From I.F. Stone: "All governments lie."
2. In terms of foreign policy, the US is completely full of shit.
mb
Douche bag refuses to answer Blitzer's question:
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/31/politics/video/jd-vance-reacts-trump-us-fascist-state-sot-digvid
What % of Congress are scumbags?
Wafers-
When a country is already dead, like England, all it can offer in terms of leadership are people who are jokes. For 14 yrs now, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak--the nation accomplished nothing, and things are visibly worse. Now consider American leaders...dishonest, stupid, trashy people. Bozos, warmongers, and war criminals promoting genocide, rattling sabers at 2 large nuclear powers. With Trumpi's upcoming victory, we shall enter the final phase, the ultimate fascist horror show.
O&D
ps: of course, when I wrote the Twilight bk in 2000, wh/predicted that the US was finished, I never imagined a figure like Trumpola as an agent of our collapse. But in 1989, in CTOS, I did suggest that fascism was very likely in our future.
french-
Sorry, cdn't run it (too long).
mb
Bibi rejects ceasefire proposal. Gee, what a surprise.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/01/europe/netenyahu-ceasefire-hamas-contradiction-biden-intl/index.html
ps: Schmiden's talking to Netanyahu: what better example of the poor shmuck beating off? What a doofus!
Wafers-
I'd like to encourage all of you to buy several copies of my new book:
A Doofus Named Schmiden: How an American president promoted genocide, threatened two large nuclear powers, spent four years in office essentially beating off, and then lost the election to one of the sickest people on the planet.
Pls note that all royalties from sales of this bk will go to support the newly established Anti-Doofus Foundation (ADF), which is dedicated to the opposition of doofism in all its forms.
Note that we already have one Amazon review from Gisele Bundchen: "It was like, cosmic," and one from Kamala: "I think I'm going to have to kill myself."
mb
Houthis claim to have hit the USS Eisenhower. US then posted a video of a plane landing on it... from March
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240531-yemen-houthis-say-they-launched-attack-on-us-aircraft-carrier-eisenhower-in-red-sea/
Tweet posted by US on June 1st: https://x.com/ChowdahHill/status/1796893713400037749
Same video posted on Douyin on March 21: https://www.douyin.com/video/7348733717558431026
Idk if the US is using stupid propaganda, or if this is chinese propaganda. The Houthis may have hit the USS Eisenhower but with minimal damage. But, something is off with the US capability to wage War. The US raised hello in Vietnam and Iraq over false claims, but now can't go to a full War with a rogue organisation that actually is targeting US ships. On top of that Houthis have benne at war for a decade now with an Arab coalition, and there are plenty of US bases all over the place there.
Wafers,
AOBTS (all over but the shoutin')
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/reality-as-trump-supporters-see-it/
Very stupid people made more stupid by 40 years of Fox "News."
For the love of the gods, I sure hope this jackhole does not manage to get elected. Project 2025 will indeed make your 2030 prediction frighteningly true:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/12/2186747/-Republicans-actually-published-a-blueprint-for-dismantling-our-democracy-It-s-called-Project-2025
Two dear friends have already emigrated, never to return. For them, it was easy - enough $$$ and few family still here. For others of us, it's so much harder to get out. Have to keep cultivating everything NMI!!
DTE
“Still going. They go on and on and on and on……….”
Despising Madison avenue, I’m not one to paraphrase any of these old television commercials. But an exception has to be made here. These mass shootings go “on and on and on and on” as this effing violent disgrace of a country implodes into oblivion. The latest stop on the deadly violent runaway train to oblivion: Ohio.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/1-dead-25-injured-ohio-mass-shooting-rcna155080
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Denise-
Sorry, cdn't run it. We are a discussion forum, not a bulletin board. Pls re-send the link, but provide a paragraph of yr own commentary abt it. Thank you.
mb
The Financial Times has an essay called “What went wrong with capitalism”, written by someone named Ruchir Sharma.
https://www-ft-com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/content/7650d057-be19-45ce-9a4e-b5ac0418d5c4
The title is also the name of a bk by the same author
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/What-Went-Wrong-with-Capitalism/Ruchir-Sharma/9781668008263
What “went wrong”, I think, is the same thing that's happened 2 every other system humans have dreamed up; they rise, flourish & decline. I think u could interchange Capitalism w/ any others
I think it might be worthwhile to consider what liberal law professor has to say about the Trump trial and verdict:
https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/4697118-braggs-thrill-kill-in-manhattan-could-prove-short-lived-on-appeal/
A couple of lawyers, neither of them Trump supporters (Turley has said he'd never vote for Trump), have nevertheless given me much the same analysis as Turley.
Clearly the US is not a serious country if the choice is between a senile genocidal maniac
and the idiotic Trump. But Trump is not stoking what could amount to a nuclear war with Russia. Biden has told Ukraine it can go ahead an use American weapons inside of Russia. This is suicidal.
ccg-
Biden's actions duplicate the brinksmanship game that the US was playing w/the USSR during the Cold War. It was stupid then, and it is stupid now.
mb
Wafers-
Most of you have read Kafka's "Metamorphosis." 1st sentence: "Gregor Samsa awoke one morning to discover that he had become a large cockroach." I propose a competition: write a novella that begins: "Hillary Clinton awoke one morning to discover that she had become a large turd." The winner will be honored with a Special Plaque at the next Wafer Summit Meeting, which might take place in NY this Oct., or in May 2025.
Mexico news: apparently it's Claudia by a landslide. 1st woman, 1st Jew, to be president. I'm hoping she will require all restaurants in this country to have matzoh ball soup on the menu.
mb
Given Amerikkka's sorry state, it's amusing when someone does a vid speculating on whether it might win a war w/ China.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMVEjCXUms0
Never mind China GREATLY outnumbering Amerikkka. Or that more of Amerikkka's troops r becoming fatasses
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/10/13/nearly-70-of-active-service-members-are-overweight-report-finds/
P.S: Jimmy Dore has a radio show on the N.Y. non-commercial station WBAI:)
https://wbai.org/program.php?program=216
joker-
It's amusing, but not that surprising. So many Americans have dog poop in their heads.
mb
……...Still going. They keep going and going and going and going and going…………
https://wtop.com/prince-william-county/2024/06/15-year-old-dead-3-wounded-following-shooting-in-prince-william-co/
What’s that I said? Mass shootings? Or maybe I meant the now usual deadly unconscionable daily mass stabbings in this effing pathetic violent shithole country. The latest senseless victim: a 3 year old whose life was ended.
https://apnews.com/article/grocery-stabbing-3yearold-ohio-b3bd793290066f67b6f17db2f3b20342
Oh but we're a "Christian nation", the main motto of which is "Love the neighbor". Yeah right.
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
I just learned that Scott Ritter was pulled off a flight as he was on his way to Russia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNv05-lCqik
No dissenting opinions about our proxy way with are allowed, I guess.
I don't think we have to wait for Trump to bring fascism. It's pretty much already here.
ccg-
Did you mean to say "our proxy war with Russia"? Pls check yr texts b4 you send them.
The US gov't is really a criminal organization, eh? And then interrogating Ilan Pappe for 2 hrs a few days ago. Meanwhile, here's a real piece of dreck, aka Schmiden, trying to have it both ways:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/04/biden-netanyahu-ceasefire-israel-gaza-war
Yr rt: wd Trumpi really be worse? (vamos a ver)
mb
Check it out:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/04/internet-addiction-alters-brain-chemistry-in-young-people-study-finds
Also check out my discussion of young people rejecting this technology in "The Crisis of Our Time."
mb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEWA_gOLPHw
It looks like Trump's foreign policy might be even more hawkish than Biden's. He told his donors he'd bomb Russia and China if he wins, and given how obsessed with being macho he is, he might actually do it. He also told Israel to "finish the job" in regard to Palestine, and we all know what that means.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-declines-block-trump-asylum-restrictions-southern-border-n1033756
"Trump is fighting tooth & nail to deny those fleeing dangerous situations their right to seek asylum in our nation. We should uphold our moral responsibility & enforce our immigration laws with dignity—not turn away those fleeing violence, war, & poverty." Joe Biden 5yrs ago, compare this statement to what he's doing today. Completely full of it....
I read an op-ed piece in the Financial Times on "How to Fix America's Loneliness Crisis". It mentions Robert Putnam's bk "Bowling Alone". Here's a nugget of gold:
"There's frustration over the pace of technological change (particularly its effects on children) and exhaustion with a culture focused mainly on consumption."
https://www.ft.com/content/fd6f8a29-03cf-4a5f-9ffe-afdfdf359b52
The loneliness epidemic prompted an op-ed by Senator Chris Murphy:
https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-op-ed-in-the-new-republic-the-spiritual-unspooling-of-america-a-case-for-political-realignment
Sounds like Jimmy Carter was right all this time;)
Meanwhile, in Mexico: https://www.rsn.org/001/mexican-mayor-killed-hours-after-first-woman-elected-president.html
Political violence certainly seems tied to elections there. Probably what we can expect in November here....
Kev-
This was a horrible tragedy.
Fly-
The American people laughed at Jimmy. They voted for a bozo who helped ruin the country. Now the joke is on them.
mb
Outside of Kamala, is there anyone dumber in the US than Fani Willis? What a moron.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/05/politics/georgia-trump-fani-willis-trial-delay/index.html
In an Orwellian turn of events, Columbia Law Review’s website is shut down by board after publishing an article critical of Israel. The articles title "Towards Nakba as a legal concept"
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-law-review-israel-article-backlash-da2f924cddec4593b4f17b8baf500969
http://reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2F1dwyk0if0s4d1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1170%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D4889262563f07adb0388f60f9b172788d81223
Life is becoming a bad satire
french-
I'm guessing that an anti-Palestinian article wdn't face any censorship. Wonder why that is...
mb
‘Come for the Oedipus Complex. Stay for the later troubled musings on the fate of humanity’
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/10/what-does-freud-still-have-to-teach-us
This is am interesting article on our old Freud. Mark Solms has a new edition of his complete writings coming out soon too... Glad not everyone has given up on such a tremendously pioneering thinker.
https://rowman.com/sp/9781538175163/The-Revised-Standard-Edition-of-the-Complete-Psychological-Works-of-Sigmund-Freud-24-Volumes
Amazing and illuminating interview here with a former New York City university administrator on what he saw before finally quitting (he chose to remain anonymous though his credentials were verified). This is a stunning and eye-opening piece and explains how more or less the entirety of American society is corrupt, and why when students at Colombia make a seemingly reasonable demand like "divest from companies selling arms to Israel" they instead get their heads beaten in by the NYPD. Turns out, "asking Colombia to end those relationships is like asking McDonald's to stop selling hamburgers."
https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/bonus-inside-higher-ed
Stabbings, stabbings, and more stabbings here in the Big Apple.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/multiple-dead-or-injured-after-rash-of-stabbings-across-nyc
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/subway-rider-stabbed-in-the-neck-on-brooklyn-3-train
The newest criminal fad here: Drive by robberies on mopeds.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/victims-dragged-airpods-yanked-by-nyc-moped-riding-robbers
And don’t forget it isn’t only the men who commit all of the violent acts here in NYC, the founding epicenter metropolis for this pathetic country. The fairer sex also is doing her part.
https://www.audacy.com/1010wins/news/local/woman-beaten-with-scooter-in-vicious-bronx-robbery
But speaking of women, they are to have no leadership place in the main backward patriarchal religion here known as Christianity while the far right consummates making this wasteland a theocracy.
https://apnews.com/article/religion-southern-baptists-women-pastors-saddleback-3b40fd925377a9e3aa2ecb4a4072a4a6
U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!, U.S.A.!
Budget-
American society has been corrupt for some time now. When life is organized around hustling, nothing else is possible. But when the society finally enters its death phase, the corruption increases dramatically. Which means more nails in our collective coffin.
Wend-
As for Freud, ca. 1929 he declared that the US was "a gigantic mistake." Talk about prescient.
mb
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/04/health/internet-addiction-teen-brain-activity-wellness/index.html
But I thought technology = progress, no?
(Check out tech section in "The Crisis of Our Time", also ch.3 of WAF.)
This is nice (more nails in our coffin):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/06/pennsylvania-house-republicans-capitol-walkout/
I’m speechless after reading this article about a Pennsylvania couple creating children like some sort of mad science experiment. They’re apostles of mega douchebags like Elon Musk and Sam Altman and want to have children as part of “effective altruism.” As a millennial raised to revere tech, I appreciate how your work warns against a religious faith in technology. This couple is in desperate need of your books. Of course since Wafers realize that what’s bad is good, I wish Simone Collins luck in her gubernatorial campaign as a new Republican superstar.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins
This is not Quiverfull, the fundamentalist Christian belief that large families are a blessing from God. The Collinses are atheists; they believe in science and data, studies and research. Their pronatalism is born from the hyper-rational effective altruism movement – most recently made notorious by Sam Bankman-Fried – which uses utilitarian principles and cool-headed logic to determine what is best for life on Earth. This is a numbers game, focused on producing the maximum number of heirs – not to inherit assets, but genes, outlook and worldview. And it’s being advocated by some of the most successful names in tech.
Jamie-
That sort of outlook or schema has been tried b4; it is always destructive. Who said "Science without a conscience is hateful?" Also Goethe: "The world is not logical; it is *psycho*-logical."
mb
ps: If only Americans understood that they were living in degradation. But the truth is, there will be no wakeup call for our fellow citizens. They live in darkness, and they will die in darkness. The country will collapse in total buffoonage, wh/is not that far off.
Scumbags:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/07/united-nations-israel-children-rights-violation
Israel: the lowest of the low.
ps: Netanyahu will address Congress in July. What will Schmiden do? (nothing) So the US will officially embrace a psychotic, genocidal buffoon who murders children. Feather in our cap!
If Trumpi wins in Nov., reality will be inverted. E.g., the Jan. 6 rioters will be pardoned, and labeled 'heroes'. He will have officially 'won' in 2020. Support for Israeli genocide will become even stronger. Etc.
Meanwhile, check this out:
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=925f3ab5eecafe1d&hl=en&tbm=vid&q=bill+maher+latest+show&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjst4-D5MuGAxV_LUQIHWf3LnwQ8ccDegQIEhAF&biw=1358&bih=620&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:6c8bdbf6,vid:ByhEwybMtU0,st:0
The US is playing an active, non combatant role in the war on Gaza. Today the helped rescue four hostages in an operation that killed 200+ mostly women and children.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/08/middleeast/four-israeli-hostages-freed-gaza-intl/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-support-israeli-forces-rescue-hostages-gaza/
https://old.reddit.com/r/NewsWithJingjing/comments/1db181u/nsfw_the_israeli_bank_of_targets/?ref=share&ref_source=link
My hate for the US, Israel and everyone and every nation that supports this, or chooses to remain silent, is visceral. I can't watch beheaded kids anymore and then watch some fucktards in suits gaslighting the world and calling them terrorists.
french-
We have so much to be proud of.
mb
Meanwhile:
https://www.advocate.com/politics/lauren-boebert
Hello Wafers,
In taking a small break from this lovely War-Without-End scenario (Go USA! USA!) let's look at new developments in techno-consumer-fascism. I was at Whole Foods (Amazon) today getting a salad, and saw these new palm scanners that had been so considerately placed for my greater shopping convenience and pleasure, at check-out. I demurred and used a normal credit card scanner, but you just know they want to swap them out eventually. This is just warming up the frog in the water. As they say, What could possibly go wrong? https://www.bonappetit.com/story/whole-foods-amazon-handprint-scan
Michael-
Pls send messages to most recent post. No one reads the older stuff. Thank you.
mb
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