"The Trump Administration is blowing up boats in international waters, committing apparent war crimes with reckless abandon as the world looks on in horror. There is an international trade war destabilizing the global economy. Wary middle-power countries balancing between the West and China are being pushed in Beijing’s direction in the service of stability. Vladimir Putin continues his imperialist march westward to conquer Ukraine—a violent death throe of a declining ancient empire, pathologically obsessed with the extent of its borders."
Have you ever been to an incredible restaurant where every bite of every dish was so wonderful that you could not but eat until you thought you might bust. Well, take the opposite of that and wonder how much more of this shit-hole presidency can I take, or you take or the country take? I was ready to leave after the shocking difference in my sense of well-being during my trip to Spain. I felt ten years younger. I am willing to leave at age 83, but my wife isn't. She has put up with me for 35 years, so guess who has the last say so?
But it's not only so horrible, defeating, disgusting, shameful ad nauseum to hear the babble out of the mouth of Trump and Ass. (stands for assholes), but to see, for the most part, at the weak and disjointed inputs from those opposed to Trump.
Take the murder on the high seas, for example.
1. It's over 3 months since the Sept 2 Hellfire missile murdered the boat in the Caribbean.
▶︎ How big was the boat? It looks to my eyes about the same size as the sailboat I lived on and voyaged on: 45 feet.
▶︎ Where was it located? How far off the coast of Venezuela and exactly where in the Caribbean? I have sailed the Caribbean from one end to the other. It's minor seamanship to know your coordinates. So, where the fuck was this boat and can it be determined from which port it left and where it was heading?
▶︎ How many people were on board before it was blasted to smithereens? It looks like about 6 give or take 2. Who are these people? Did asshole Pete or anyone know any of this? Why haven't all those bright Senators and Congressman been asked this?
▶︎ Was the use of a Hellfire missile overkill, ya think? Answer: $100K to $150K.
▶︎ What is the daily operational cost to move an aircraft carrier like the Gerald Ford? Answer: $6 to $8 million PER DAY.
▶︎ When I was sailing up the coast of Southern California, I happened to stray into Naval testing territory. Within minutes, a helicopter with guns pointed was overhead. Another 5 minutes had a gunboat like that used in Vietnam heading right at me. A fucking sailboat. Do you think I was intimidated? Damn right. My heart was beating out of my chest. I had the first panic attack of my life. Welcome back to the USA. So do you think a friggin aircraft carrier and Hellfire missiles are a reasonable choice to use against a presumed 45 foot boat, also presumed to be carrying we don't know? I am not a Senator or a Congressman, but I am one pissed off former US Army physician and native born American that says get these morons out of office.
The story with Ukraine is even more eggregious. A sovereign Democracy is invaded and people murdered, children (20,000 of them) kidnapped by Putin. Cities razed to the ground. The Earth further fucked up by weaponry. Trump tried to extort Zelensky with his perfect phone call. Trump held back aid to Ukraine at that time and cost many Ukrainians their lives. Trump could have placed more severe sanctions on Putin. We have the same story with Hitler and the Sudetenland and also with Putin's invasion of Chechnya, Georgia, Kosovo, and Crimea, and now Trump holds aid (financial and military to Ukraine) when they were winning. I say that Trump is a functional agent for Putin. Trump and Ass. use the Russian playbook (narrative) as does Fox News. It is a carry over of the Big Lie from Hitler:
“The great masses of the people… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one,” Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf 1925
"Many of the tactics Hitler employed to seize and consolidate power, Mussolini had adopted previously: the reliance on violent gangs, the intimidation of parliament, the strengthening and subsequent abuse of authority, the subjugation of the civil service, the affinity for spectacle, and the insistence that the leader, whether Der Führer or Il Duce, could do no wrong." Albright, Madeleine. Fascism: A Warning (pp. 44-45). Harper Perennial. Kindle Edition.
Trump is without question the American Hitler. Why are not those in Washington calling him out on this?
Why doesn't the press service walk out on Trump en masse when Tubby tells a reporter "shut up, piggy."
Why are we putting up with this shit, waiting to see what loss of life and freedoms can be "achieved" by this fucking madman in the White House? I, speaking for myself, would be glad to meet Trump on Fifth Avenue at high noon, and I am 4 years older than that fat slob.
Americans, my supposed fellow citizens, it's time you stopped focusing on the "woke" and instead focus on "woken." Right now you are for sure asleep.
I would add a note of caution here. I agree that Mamdani speaks passionately and sounds good. But know a man or woman by their deeds. I really do not know why we don't have those running for or elected to a political office put in writing what they will accomplish in their first 6 months in office. I do not know why we do not have votes of confidence based on performance. I was prepared to make a decent donation to the campaign of Aftyn Behn, but an internet search failed to show what legislation she proposed or how she voted as a House representative. In the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire, "Show me the money!" (famously yelled by Cruise's character, Jerry, played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) meant a demand for concrete proof and results, not just promises. Before I get excited about Mamdani, I want evidence of efficacy.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating." — Proverb
I agree with a plan or strategy but i also agree to the need to show results.
I confess to hoping that Mamdani does good things. I have had my fill of those who talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. But I am somewhat exhausted by political rhetoric. I think we all would love to have some stimulation followed by gratification.
This right here, exactly—“The world is on fire. The Trump Administration is blowing up boats in international waters, committing apparent war crimes with reckless abandon as the world looks on in horror. There is an international trade war destabilizing the global economy. Wary middle-power countries balancing between the West and China are being pushed in Beijing’s direction in the service of stability. Vladimir Putin continues his imperialist march westward to conquer Ukraine—a violent death throe of a declining ancient empire, pathologically obsessed with the extent of its borders.
I am in communion with Antonio Gramsci in this place. “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born,” he wrote while sitting in prison, a political prisoner of Mussolini’s fascist regime. “Now is a time of monsters,” he added.
Abroad, dictators update their power calculations as America’s security posture collapses inward from its defense of the liberal order. At home, men whom Roosevelt would recognize as economic royalists and Progressive-era reformers would recognize as robber barons—this time with iPhones and Wi-Fi—are selling off the American people’s inheritance for scrap, paid in crypto, and funneled into the private jet, yacht, and real-estate empires of a politically entrepreneurial oligarch class.”
It’s all extremely overwhelming—I think most of us are traumatized or in shock.
I missed your poignant and beautifully stated comment. How sad, how tragic to have to say that we live now, and leave our children to a time of monsters. My heart breaks thinking of how good my middle class life was. My public school education of great teachers from the 1950s like Mrs. Elder in Math and Ann Ritt in English. How lucky was I to get a scholarship that enabled me to go to the U of Rochester and then similarly to the U of Chicago. How blessed was my life to become the first physician in my family, and give outstanding care to thousands of patients only to see my profession's virtue crumble away to the greed of "colleagues." And now to see Ukraine fall into the hands of a tyrant like Putin, is so tragic. And the band played on. I was not familiar with Antonio Gramsci. I will learn about him. Thank you very much,
All the credit goes to Mike—I quoted the part of his essay that ripped my heart open. That Gramsci quote is devastating. But here we are. You were so fortunate in life. My heart breaks for those who come after us.
Stephen—when I read the quote from Gramsci in Mike’s essay (which I re-quoted as I found the words so powerful & reflective of where we are now), I was not aware Gramsci was a Marxist. I am not remotely Marxist or even socialist, rather am a liberal with a small “L”, a moderate, a supporter of Democracy, who finds the authoritarian abuses of ‘dear leader’ & his minions horrifying. I do find Gramsci’s words in this particular quote powerfully reflect the nightmare we are living through. Our govt is on the verge of starting a war we the people do not support, has turned against our allies in NATO, aligning with Putin & right wing authoritarians, is damaging the economy, is pulling people off the street & out of their homes (frankly racist), is gutting health care & scientific research into cancer & other diseases, as well as turning people away from life saving vaccines—to name only a few horrors—our govt appears to be heading towards authoritarianism & away from Democracy.
We have the billionaire tech oligarchs—specifically, Thiel, Yarvin, & their cohorts, claiming Democracy is over & advocating a monarchy run by corporations—this too is monstrous, as is Musk deriding the quality of empathy—while empathy & compassion are the qualities of the heart & spirit that bind humans together to create community.
To be clear—my use of Gramsci’s language in a requote describing the monsters we face today does not equate with or expouse Marxism or socialism. The words stand, never mind the political orientation of their speaker decades ago, which is IMO not relevant in the context where it was used.
It troubles me, in this time of our govt applying false labels to those who question their actions & then threatening draconian punishments, that I even felt the need to explain myself. But here we are. My brain hurts, my heart is broken.
People are being murdered in the Caribbean by the United States under orders of the sadist president and his equally vile defense secretary. These murders are designed to enthrall and entertain the masses and prepare them for the violent overthrow of the government of Venezuela and takeover of its oil reserves. Trump and Co. are ignorant fascist thugs with the corporate class in obedience on their knees. This could not have happened without the support of millions of Americans. Shameful!
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” — Thomas Jefferson
"Property monopolized, or in the Possession of a Few is a Curse to Mankind. We should preserve not an Absolute Equality – this is unnecessary, but preserve all from extreme Poverty, and all others from extravagant Riches." — John Adams
"A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people." — James Madison, personal notes from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, June 29, 1787
The maggots have truly come out of the woodwork. Ben Shapiro justifies using his “intelligence” to invalidate liberal democracy. SCOTUS uses their judicial “intelligence” to ensure that liberal democracy never again gains power.
Ben Shapiro is a Gish galloper. (Arguably the late Charlie Kirk was as well.) He just talks and talks really fast and claims victory when not all of his points are rebutted, because he made so many that nobody could rebut them all.
Also, he melted down when being interviewed by Andrew Neil on the BBC and accused him of being a lefty for asking about his own quotes (keep in mind, Andrew Neil was a cheerleader for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, regularly hosted climate-change deniers, and approved articles questioning the scientific consensus on HIV/AIDS when at The Sunday Times): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
Well noted. So many on the Vocal Right follow Bannon’s “flood the zone” with pre-scripted lines approach. When someone blocks their sewage pipe flow discourse they cannot cope.
Mike, thank you for another great piece. I don’t know much about Ben Shapiro but I do know it makes me nuts when people demonize the campus left in order to justify supporting this criminal and corrupt regime (and their place in the fascistic hierarchy the regime reifies). My dear stepson is studying law, and inspired by the Central Park five, he’s hoping to become a public defender. He cares deeply about Palestine and social justice. He’s who these people are railing against, and the idea you can compare the ideals of kids like this, even when these ideals verge into pieties, with the excesses and rapacities on the right is unbelievably dishonest, but this is what the right wing does—it demonizes the left in the most luridly phantasmic ways. For example, it claims we’re obsessed with taking Christmas away from them, we want to take their guns. We want to turn all their kids gay or trans, if we object to killing unarmed people in the Caribbean, well then, we want to bring drugs and drug dealers into the country, if we want women to be able to get reproductive care well then we want to give them abortions at nine months . If we want to teach accurate history in school, well actually, according to them, we want make their kids terribly ashamed to be white Americans . These people need imaginary enemies, because they have no desire to make the world a better place.
All woke means is being aware!! All it means is being aware that there are structural issues in our society that make it harder for certain groups to succeed. It’s a simple fact! What’s wrong with diversity equity and inclusion? It’s amazing to me that the right has succeeded in discrediting these ideas. Yes maybe they went too far, in some instances, but there are ideals at the heart of these ideas that are worth defending. Is there a single ideal animating the right today?
Mike, you are a great philosopher of this particular iteration of what Philip Roth called the American berserk. Thank you for your curiosity and your moral clarity. Thank you for thinking about things so deeply and nimbly synthesizing so many intellectual and philosophical strains for your devoted readers. Thank you for taking on this existential fight and calling out the bad faith and dealing with the inevitable backlash to the truths you tell. It must be awful to be deluged with all that hate but think of that great line of FDR’s. “I welcome their hatred.”
My shit detector went off the first time I heard him speak. I can smell the disingenuousness from here. I can guess, but would imagine that this sort of dishonesty is an early buy-in to wherever the money flows -- unless he's born to this freakdom. "Gish gallop"? "Meretricious twaddle"? Wow. Sets my early warning flags up.
I was born in Queens, in Trump's neighborhood. Trump is filth from the gutter. He is the con man trained by his father, another con man. Both were committing fraud long before Trump was elected by an ignorant and/or apathetic US electorate. Your shit detector was spot on. What is amazing is how many people have no shit detectors, even when it means violating every principle of their "religion" or set of "virtues."
Yeah. That is strange. I'm proud to say, I have never listened to Mr. Shapiro for 30 seconds at one time. Or maybe ashamed to admit it. But the cognitive load of sorting through all that is just too debilitating.
"From my vantage point, he’s chosen to make his brain a weapon—serving the interests of Republican Party power...."
Because first and foremost he's for sale and has sold his gift to the highest bidder. He like all the rest of the glib RW think tank and journo apologists that aren't true believers (and even most of those people) want to partake of the centenary smash and grab, getting all that they can for themselves before the public trough dries up as it will inevitably, doing incredible damage in the process.
How he manages to justify his actions to himself? That I don't know.
Outstanding breakdown of howsurveillance shifts from protecting citizens to controlling them. The piece captures how Shapiro's rhetoric taps into apopulace fear of being watched, even when the actual threatisnt the state apparatus itself but the weaponization of social consensus. What's striking is the flexability with which these arguments morph depending on who holds power.
"Ben Shapiro. As an admirer of the intellectual arts, I cannot understand the corruption that must be present in the soul of a man blessed with such cognitive gifts, that he would have wasted them by setting his brain on: “Support Republican candidate no matter what, and then continuously generate the most persuasive apologetics for convincing people to support them too, against their interests and values.”"
Short answer: faith as a virtue, and the belief that the ends justify the means
I’m not a conventionally religious person, but I would say that he, along with many, have made the devil’s bargain. Is that so surprising in a culture in which everything has been monetized? In which you are not a person anymore but your own “brand”? Where did Nietzsche’s Madman first go to proclaim his gospel of the death of God? To the marketplace. We have come to the cul-de-sac of the marketplace, and the devil was waiting for us there.
"The Trump Administration is blowing up boats in international waters, committing apparent war crimes with reckless abandon as the world looks on in horror. There is an international trade war destabilizing the global economy. Wary middle-power countries balancing between the West and China are being pushed in Beijing’s direction in the service of stability. Vladimir Putin continues his imperialist march westward to conquer Ukraine—a violent death throe of a declining ancient empire, pathologically obsessed with the extent of its borders."
Have you ever been to an incredible restaurant where every bite of every dish was so wonderful that you could not but eat until you thought you might bust. Well, take the opposite of that and wonder how much more of this shit-hole presidency can I take, or you take or the country take? I was ready to leave after the shocking difference in my sense of well-being during my trip to Spain. I felt ten years younger. I am willing to leave at age 83, but my wife isn't. She has put up with me for 35 years, so guess who has the last say so?
But it's not only so horrible, defeating, disgusting, shameful ad nauseum to hear the babble out of the mouth of Trump and Ass. (stands for assholes), but to see, for the most part, at the weak and disjointed inputs from those opposed to Trump.
Take the murder on the high seas, for example.
1. It's over 3 months since the Sept 2 Hellfire missile murdered the boat in the Caribbean.
▶︎ How big was the boat? It looks to my eyes about the same size as the sailboat I lived on and voyaged on: 45 feet.
▶︎ Where was it located? How far off the coast of Venezuela and exactly where in the Caribbean? I have sailed the Caribbean from one end to the other. It's minor seamanship to know your coordinates. So, where the fuck was this boat and can it be determined from which port it left and where it was heading?
▶︎ How many people were on board before it was blasted to smithereens? It looks like about 6 give or take 2. Who are these people? Did asshole Pete or anyone know any of this? Why haven't all those bright Senators and Congressman been asked this?
▶︎ Was the use of a Hellfire missile overkill, ya think? Answer: $100K to $150K.
▶︎ What is the daily operational cost to move an aircraft carrier like the Gerald Ford? Answer: $6 to $8 million PER DAY.
▶︎ When I was sailing up the coast of Southern California, I happened to stray into Naval testing territory. Within minutes, a helicopter with guns pointed was overhead. Another 5 minutes had a gunboat like that used in Vietnam heading right at me. A fucking sailboat. Do you think I was intimidated? Damn right. My heart was beating out of my chest. I had the first panic attack of my life. Welcome back to the USA. So do you think a friggin aircraft carrier and Hellfire missiles are a reasonable choice to use against a presumed 45 foot boat, also presumed to be carrying we don't know? I am not a Senator or a Congressman, but I am one pissed off former US Army physician and native born American that says get these morons out of office.
The story with Ukraine is even more eggregious. A sovereign Democracy is invaded and people murdered, children (20,000 of them) kidnapped by Putin. Cities razed to the ground. The Earth further fucked up by weaponry. Trump tried to extort Zelensky with his perfect phone call. Trump held back aid to Ukraine at that time and cost many Ukrainians their lives. Trump could have placed more severe sanctions on Putin. We have the same story with Hitler and the Sudetenland and also with Putin's invasion of Chechnya, Georgia, Kosovo, and Crimea, and now Trump holds aid (financial and military to Ukraine) when they were winning. I say that Trump is a functional agent for Putin. Trump and Ass. use the Russian playbook (narrative) as does Fox News. It is a carry over of the Big Lie from Hitler:
“The great masses of the people… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one,” Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf 1925
"Many of the tactics Hitler employed to seize and consolidate power, Mussolini had adopted previously: the reliance on violent gangs, the intimidation of parliament, the strengthening and subsequent abuse of authority, the subjugation of the civil service, the affinity for spectacle, and the insistence that the leader, whether Der Führer or Il Duce, could do no wrong." Albright, Madeleine. Fascism: A Warning (pp. 44-45). Harper Perennial. Kindle Edition.
Trump is without question the American Hitler. Why are not those in Washington calling him out on this?
Why doesn't the press service walk out on Trump en masse when Tubby tells a reporter "shut up, piggy."
Why are we putting up with this shit, waiting to see what loss of life and freedoms can be "achieved" by this fucking madman in the White House? I, speaking for myself, would be glad to meet Trump on Fifth Avenue at high noon, and I am 4 years older than that fat slob.
Americans, my supposed fellow citizens, it's time you stopped focusing on the "woke" and instead focus on "woken." Right now you are for sure asleep.
I agree with you 💯 %!
We need ONE more person against Trump, like Zorhan Mamdani!
We need someone with charisma, a message and integrity! He/she would have millions of followers!
We mostly suffer posers and cowards! Politicians spouting platitudes or looking for the camera!!
Even our decent politicians only talk, no ACTION! Leaders should TAKE us forward with a plan of action!
I would add a note of caution here. I agree that Mamdani speaks passionately and sounds good. But know a man or woman by their deeds. I really do not know why we don't have those running for or elected to a political office put in writing what they will accomplish in their first 6 months in office. I do not know why we do not have votes of confidence based on performance. I was prepared to make a decent donation to the campaign of Aftyn Behn, but an internet search failed to show what legislation she proposed or how she voted as a House representative. In the Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire, "Show me the money!" (famously yelled by Cruise's character, Jerry, played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) meant a demand for concrete proof and results, not just promises. Before I get excited about Mamdani, I want evidence of efficacy.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating." — Proverb
I agree with a plan or strategy but i also agree to the need to show results.
You’re absolutely right, Stephen!
Charisma only goes so far!
To get results one must step out of the shadows, push forward, perhaps even “give a little “to “get a little
I confess to hoping that Mamdani does good things. I have had my fill of those who talk the talk, but do not walk the walk. But I am somewhat exhausted by political rhetoric. I think we all would love to have some stimulation followed by gratification.
I've rarely listened to Ben Shapiro, so I might be off base with this one, but he sounds like a Snake Oil salesman.
Side note. You spoke of Kant and Hume. I didn't know who they were. Thank you for teaching me something new! :)
We're always learning at Notes form the Circus!
Ben Shapiro strikes me as someone who's smart enough to know better but is contractually required to pretend otherwise.
Pithily put. Shapiro and Influencer class to which he belongs do not come as not free thinkers but
Oops fat finger. I meant to say Shapiro is not so much a free thinking Influencer as an already Pre-Influenced mouthpiece.
This right here, exactly—“The world is on fire. The Trump Administration is blowing up boats in international waters, committing apparent war crimes with reckless abandon as the world looks on in horror. There is an international trade war destabilizing the global economy. Wary middle-power countries balancing between the West and China are being pushed in Beijing’s direction in the service of stability. Vladimir Putin continues his imperialist march westward to conquer Ukraine—a violent death throe of a declining ancient empire, pathologically obsessed with the extent of its borders.
I am in communion with Antonio Gramsci in this place. “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born,” he wrote while sitting in prison, a political prisoner of Mussolini’s fascist regime. “Now is a time of monsters,” he added.
Abroad, dictators update their power calculations as America’s security posture collapses inward from its defense of the liberal order. At home, men whom Roosevelt would recognize as economic royalists and Progressive-era reformers would recognize as robber barons—this time with iPhones and Wi-Fi—are selling off the American people’s inheritance for scrap, paid in crypto, and funneled into the private jet, yacht, and real-estate empires of a politically entrepreneurial oligarch class.”
It’s all extremely overwhelming—I think most of us are traumatized or in shock.
I missed your poignant and beautifully stated comment. How sad, how tragic to have to say that we live now, and leave our children to a time of monsters. My heart breaks thinking of how good my middle class life was. My public school education of great teachers from the 1950s like Mrs. Elder in Math and Ann Ritt in English. How lucky was I to get a scholarship that enabled me to go to the U of Rochester and then similarly to the U of Chicago. How blessed was my life to become the first physician in my family, and give outstanding care to thousands of patients only to see my profession's virtue crumble away to the greed of "colleagues." And now to see Ukraine fall into the hands of a tyrant like Putin, is so tragic. And the band played on. I was not familiar with Antonio Gramsci. I will learn about him. Thank you very much,
Stephen Strum
All the credit goes to Mike—I quoted the part of his essay that ripped my heart open. That Gramsci quote is devastating. But here we are. You were so fortunate in life. My heart breaks for those who come after us.
Mary & Others,
I have done an AI query using Gemini Pro to learn a little about Gramsci. I share with you a file composed of two query-reply interactions using a Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ry0mw4ez42bbhhyyw97g0/AFUdAJ5D_G9TbBHRrdkG790?rlkey=ss3bpbph80pyt3jvp9oxodp7c&dl=0
Stephen—when I read the quote from Gramsci in Mike’s essay (which I re-quoted as I found the words so powerful & reflective of where we are now), I was not aware Gramsci was a Marxist. I am not remotely Marxist or even socialist, rather am a liberal with a small “L”, a moderate, a supporter of Democracy, who finds the authoritarian abuses of ‘dear leader’ & his minions horrifying. I do find Gramsci’s words in this particular quote powerfully reflect the nightmare we are living through. Our govt is on the verge of starting a war we the people do not support, has turned against our allies in NATO, aligning with Putin & right wing authoritarians, is damaging the economy, is pulling people off the street & out of their homes (frankly racist), is gutting health care & scientific research into cancer & other diseases, as well as turning people away from life saving vaccines—to name only a few horrors—our govt appears to be heading towards authoritarianism & away from Democracy.
We have the billionaire tech oligarchs—specifically, Thiel, Yarvin, & their cohorts, claiming Democracy is over & advocating a monarchy run by corporations—this too is monstrous, as is Musk deriding the quality of empathy—while empathy & compassion are the qualities of the heart & spirit that bind humans together to create community.
To be clear—my use of Gramsci’s language in a requote describing the monsters we face today does not equate with or expouse Marxism or socialism. The words stand, never mind the political orientation of their speaker decades ago, which is IMO not relevant in the context where it was used.
It troubles me, in this time of our govt applying false labels to those who question their actions & then threatening draconian punishments, that I even felt the need to explain myself. But here we are. My brain hurts, my heart is broken.
People are being murdered in the Caribbean by the United States under orders of the sadist president and his equally vile defense secretary. These murders are designed to enthrall and entertain the masses and prepare them for the violent overthrow of the government of Venezuela and takeover of its oil reserves. Trump and Co. are ignorant fascist thugs with the corporate class in obedience on their knees. This could not have happened without the support of millions of Americans. Shameful!
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” — Thomas Jefferson
"Property monopolized, or in the Possession of a Few is a Curse to Mankind. We should preserve not an Absolute Equality – this is unnecessary, but preserve all from extreme Poverty, and all others from extravagant Riches." — John Adams
"A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people." — James Madison, personal notes from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, June 29, 1787
The maggots have truly come out of the woodwork. Ben Shapiro justifies using his “intelligence” to invalidate liberal democracy. SCOTUS uses their judicial “intelligence” to ensure that liberal democracy never again gains power.
Ben Shapiro is a Gish galloper. (Arguably the late Charlie Kirk was as well.) He just talks and talks really fast and claims victory when not all of his points are rebutted, because he made so many that nobody could rebut them all.
Also, he melted down when being interviewed by Andrew Neil on the BBC and accused him of being a lefty for asking about his own quotes (keep in mind, Andrew Neil was a cheerleader for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, regularly hosted climate-change deniers, and approved articles questioning the scientific consensus on HIV/AIDS when at The Sunday Times): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
Well noted. So many on the Vocal Right follow Bannon’s “flood the zone” with pre-scripted lines approach. When someone blocks their sewage pipe flow discourse they cannot cope.
This *exactly*. His entire schtick is meretricious twaddle and absurdly wrong, but just-so, premises.
https://youtu.be/aDMjgOYOcDw?si=Qjz7zDnxs0cdU5zN
Mike, thank you for another great piece. I don’t know much about Ben Shapiro but I do know it makes me nuts when people demonize the campus left in order to justify supporting this criminal and corrupt regime (and their place in the fascistic hierarchy the regime reifies). My dear stepson is studying law, and inspired by the Central Park five, he’s hoping to become a public defender. He cares deeply about Palestine and social justice. He’s who these people are railing against, and the idea you can compare the ideals of kids like this, even when these ideals verge into pieties, with the excesses and rapacities on the right is unbelievably dishonest, but this is what the right wing does—it demonizes the left in the most luridly phantasmic ways. For example, it claims we’re obsessed with taking Christmas away from them, we want to take their guns. We want to turn all their kids gay or trans, if we object to killing unarmed people in the Caribbean, well then, we want to bring drugs and drug dealers into the country, if we want women to be able to get reproductive care well then we want to give them abortions at nine months . If we want to teach accurate history in school, well actually, according to them, we want make their kids terribly ashamed to be white Americans . These people need imaginary enemies, because they have no desire to make the world a better place.
All woke means is being aware!! All it means is being aware that there are structural issues in our society that make it harder for certain groups to succeed. It’s a simple fact! What’s wrong with diversity equity and inclusion? It’s amazing to me that the right has succeeded in discrediting these ideas. Yes maybe they went too far, in some instances, but there are ideals at the heart of these ideas that are worth defending. Is there a single ideal animating the right today?
Mike, you are a great philosopher of this particular iteration of what Philip Roth called the American berserk. Thank you for your curiosity and your moral clarity. Thank you for thinking about things so deeply and nimbly synthesizing so many intellectual and philosophical strains for your devoted readers. Thank you for taking on this existential fight and calling out the bad faith and dealing with the inevitable backlash to the truths you tell. It must be awful to be deluged with all that hate but think of that great line of FDR’s. “I welcome their hatred.”
My shit detector went off the first time I heard him speak. I can smell the disingenuousness from here. I can guess, but would imagine that this sort of dishonesty is an early buy-in to wherever the money flows -- unless he's born to this freakdom. "Gish gallop"? "Meretricious twaddle"? Wow. Sets my early warning flags up.
I was born in Queens, in Trump's neighborhood. Trump is filth from the gutter. He is the con man trained by his father, another con man. Both were committing fraud long before Trump was elected by an ignorant and/or apathetic US electorate. Your shit detector was spot on. What is amazing is how many people have no shit detectors, even when it means violating every principle of their "religion" or set of "virtues."
Same.
Yeah. That is strange. I'm proud to say, I have never listened to Mr. Shapiro for 30 seconds at one time. Or maybe ashamed to admit it. But the cognitive load of sorting through all that is just too debilitating.
"From my vantage point, he’s chosen to make his brain a weapon—serving the interests of Republican Party power...."
Because first and foremost he's for sale and has sold his gift to the highest bidder. He like all the rest of the glib RW think tank and journo apologists that aren't true believers (and even most of those people) want to partake of the centenary smash and grab, getting all that they can for themselves before the public trough dries up as it will inevitably, doing incredible damage in the process.
How he manages to justify his actions to himself? That I don't know.
Shapiro shows that a person may be talented/smart in many ways and still be morally corrupt. Mind you, his best skill is related to verbal diarrhea
Outstanding breakdown of howsurveillance shifts from protecting citizens to controlling them. The piece captures how Shapiro's rhetoric taps into apopulace fear of being watched, even when the actual threatisnt the state apparatus itself but the weaponization of social consensus. What's striking is the flexability with which these arguments morph depending on who holds power.
"Ben Shapiro. As an admirer of the intellectual arts, I cannot understand the corruption that must be present in the soul of a man blessed with such cognitive gifts, that he would have wasted them by setting his brain on: “Support Republican candidate no matter what, and then continuously generate the most persuasive apologetics for convincing people to support them too, against their interests and values.”"
Short answer: faith as a virtue, and the belief that the ends justify the means
The Bruce Springsteen reference should have been a red flag…
I’m not a conventionally religious person, but I would say that he, along with many, have made the devil’s bargain. Is that so surprising in a culture in which everything has been monetized? In which you are not a person anymore but your own “brand”? Where did Nietzsche’s Madman first go to proclaim his gospel of the death of God? To the marketplace. We have come to the cul-de-sac of the marketplace, and the devil was waiting for us there.