WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2025
Two days later, this: We're going to start today's report with rare words of self-endorsement.
We revealed the framework for this week's rumination when we posted Monday morning's report. The one-word framework was this:
MADMEN
We said the commander isn't a madman. We said you could feel sure about that because there's no such clinical term.
We said the same thing about the commander's first lieutenant. Allegedly, he's the world's richest person. Employing a version of the king's English, he's also a visible nutcase.
He may be a visible nutcase, but he plainly isn't insane. We know that this visible nutcase isn't insane because no such diagnostic term exists in the DSM.
To our credit, we chose that one-word framework—MADMEN—and posted it Monday morning. Two days later, the commander has proposed that we the people send our nation's military overseas to make Gaza the 54th state, but also the world's largest golf course.
Before the commander made that proposal, the lieutenant added to his array of characterizations concerning USAID. In Monday afternoon's report, we linked you to four of his more thoughtful tweets about that federal agency.
As of yesterday, he had added a fifth. Please pardon this first lieutenant's French:
The first lieutenant's tweets
"USAID was a viper's nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America."
"USAID is evil."
“USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
"USAID is a criminal organization."
"We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could [have] gone to some great parties. Did that instead."
To see that latest tweet, click here. That said, this fellow in question isn't a madman and he isn't insane or nuts, for the reason already stated.
On this morning's Morning Joe, Joe was unhelpfully AWOL Lucky for us, Anand Giridharadas was there.
In our view, Giridharadas is one of the clearest voices currently found within our failing nation's failing attempt at a discourse. Perhaps because he has too much hair, he hasn't attained his rightful place at the top of that (imitation of) discourse.
He comes to us by way of Shaker Heights and then Sidwell Friends. For more on his background, you can simply click this, or you might decide to click here.
This morning, Giridharadas said that our major newspapers have had a hard time finding the language to describe what Musk is doing as what it is—"a coup." In our view, a similar situation exists with respect to the language being explored this week right here at this site.
We went with MADMEN on Monday morning. Two days later, this!
We'll close today with a key point concerning the role of "aha moments" within our imperfect human discourse. First, though, we'll tell you this:
As we noted on Monday, there's no such lingo as madman or insane within the clinical discourse. As we noted, the very term "mental illness" is fairly widely eschewed, or so says the leading authority in this particular treatise:
Classification of mental disorders
The classification of mental disorders, also known as psychiatric nosology or psychiatric taxonomy, is central to the practice of psychiatry and other mental health professions.
[...]
Most international clinical documents avoid the term "mental illness," preferring the term "mental disorder." However, some use "mental illness" as the main overarching term to encompass mental disorders. Some consumer/survivor movement organizations oppose use of the term "mental illness" on the grounds that it supports the dominance of a medical model. The term "serious mental impairment" (SMI) is sometimes used to refer to more severe and long-lasting disorders while "mental health problems" may be used as a broader term, or to refer only to milder or more transient issues. Confusion often surrounds the ways and contexts in which these terms are used.
Confusion surrounds the contexts and ways! But around the world, most clinical documents don't even like to use the term "mental illness," or so says the leading authority.
For reasons which are spelled out elsewhere, clinical specialists tend to avoid that familiar term. They prefer the term "mental disorder."
For today, though, let it be said—possibly adding to the confusion, there seem to be (literally) hundreds of ways in which a person can fall victim to, or be in the grip of, some diagnosable "mental disorder." We'll start you off with the material offered below.
This material is drawn from the authority's lengthy treatise on "Mental disorder." We've done a bit of editing to keep the word count down:
Mental disorder
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is also characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior, often in a social context. Such disturbances may occur as single episodes, may be persistent, or may be relapsing–remitting. There are many different types of mental disorders, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. A mental disorder is one aspect of mental health.
The causes of mental disorders are often unclear. Theories incorporate findings from a range of fields...
[...]
Disorders
There are many different categories of mental disorder, and many different facets of human behavior and personality that can become disordered.
Anxiety disorders...
Mood disorders...
Psychotic disorders...
Personality disorders...
Neurodevelopmental disorders...
Eating disorders...
Sleep disorders...
Sexuality related...
Other...
[Seven are listed, plus this:]
There are a number of uncommon psychiatric syndromes, which are often named after the person who first described them, such as Capgras syndrome, De Clerambault syndrome, Othello syndrome, Ganser syndrome, Cotard delusion, and Ekbom syndrome, and additional disorders such as the Couvade syndrome and Geschwind syndrome.
And so on from there. "Mental disorders are common," the treatise eventually states—and if you believe in this branch of medical science, you're almost forced to agree with some such assessment as that.
Forget about the percentage of people subject to some form of mental disorder at some given point in time. How many different disorders are there?
How many mental disorders are there? In that other treatise at the authority's site, we find ourselves told this:
Classification of mental disorders
The classification of mental disorders, also known as psychiatric nosology or psychiatric taxonomy, is central to the practice of psychiatry and other mental health professions.
The two most widely used psychiatric classification systems are chapter V of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10), produced by the World Health Organization (WHO); and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
[...]
DSM IV:
The DSM-IV was originally published in 1994 and listed more than 250 mental disorders...
The DSM-IV-TR (Text Revision, 2000) consisted of five axes (domains) on which disorder could be assessed...The axis classification system was removed in the DSM-5 and is now mostly of historical significance. The main categories of disorder in the [current] DSM-5 are:
[DSM-5]
Disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood or adolescence. *Disorders such as ADHD and epilepsy have also been referred to as developmental disorders and developmental disabilities.
Delirium, dementia, and amnesia and other cognitive disorders...
Mental disorders due to a general medical condition...
Substance-related disorders...
Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders...
Mood disorders...
Anxiety disorders...
Somatoform disorders...
Factitious disorders ...
Dissociative disorders...
Sexual and gender dysphoria...
Eating disorders...
Sleep disorders...
Adjustment disorders...
Personality disorders...
Other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention...
Again, we've done some editing there. But you're getting the general idea.
In short, there are currently many ways in which a person can not be a madman—can not be "mentally ill." Concerning the decision by our major news orgs to avoid this branch of medical science, we'll close today by offering this:
For years, we've been saying that the refusal to enter this realm is a marker of the immaturity of our journalistic and academic discourse. (We've also persistently said that it may be a good or a bad idea that our big news orgs have insisted on avoiding this dangerous realm.)
Having said that, also this:
Giridharadas has said that our major orgs have been avoiding the scary but accurate term, "coup." According to us, they've also avoided all suggestion that something may be clinically "wrong" with the commander and with the collection of apparently broken toys with whom he's been filling his playroom.
Those orgs have stayed away from even the most humanely couched suggestion that something might be clinically "wrong" with the commander or with his collection of toys. For today, we'll leave you with a suggestion:
On its face, this latest proposal by the commander is transparently crazy. Voters might be able to see that fact more clearly—might have experienced Merriam-Webster's "Aha moment" with respect to this commander's suit of clothes—if the guardians of our discourse had been able to find humane ways to suggest that possibility all along.
The sitting commander isn't a madman. On the other hand, this! Make way for the 54th state!
Tomorrow: Concerning the 1994 film, The Madness of King George
The United States of America is only 6 gun owners shy of having a half dozen gun owners who will use their 2nd Amendment rights to fight the tyranny of the government.
ReplyDeleteC'mon gun owners. We can do it!
America's gun owners are too busy selling guns to criminals on the black market, to be arsed to fight government tyranny.
ReplyDeleteSpeculation about whether Trump is a “Madman” are pointless. We have neither the training nor the knowledge to decide. Anyway what does matter to us is the effect of his actions. And that’s something we can evaluate. E.g., If his actions produce lasting peace in Gaza, that would be great. If Trump’s actions produce a wider war in the Middle East, that will be terrible.
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about taking over Gaza is that it won’t cost American taxpayers money. That plus it has always worked well for the US to get more involved in the conflict there, further angering Islamic terrorists. They probably haven’t noticed that we are dismantling our intelligence agencies.
DeleteOur invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq worked out well. Syria is doing great. The takeover of Gaza and expulsion of the Palestinians is a guaranteed success.
DeleteNobody could understand why he put a traitor like Tulsi as DNI until this morning when I heard that they going to purge the CIA. DOJ and FBI are done.
DeletePresident Putin is thrilled.
“We have neither the training nor the knowledge to decide.” Absolutely right. When 22 Nobel laureate economists publicly panned Trump’s economic plan MAGA chose to ignore that. Now hedge fund managers are bailing on stocks. But but but but we don’t know the future so let’s not judge. Fucking moron.
DeleteGabbard was once a rising star in the Democratic Party and served as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee.
DeleteLike a good traitor she jumped shop and went where the money is. She was never a rising star.
DeleteGabbard was a rising star because her grift drifted in that direction, but it did not stick because it quickly became evident she is a lunatic right winger with ties to fascists like Modi and Putin.
DeleteGabbard was not a rising star among Democrats. She was a third-party spoiler funded by Russia to draw votes away from Hillary in 2016.
DeleteSpeaking of good results: “The army had its best recruiting results in 12 years in December 2024, the first full month after Trump was re-elected. That was followed by the best recruiting numbers in 15 years as of January 2025, the month Trump officially took office.”
ReplyDeleteThey see the writing on the wall. Having a government job, even if it doesn't pay well, is the best option when the economy goes to shit.
DeleteLink, fascist dickhead please.
DeleteHow can you fucking credit anything this dictatorship has done?
The Defense Department's armed services branches recruited 12.5% more people in fiscal year 2024 than in the year prior despite a challenging and disinterested recruiting market.
DeleteWhile speaking at a multiservice panel on 2025 recruiting issues at the Pentagon earlier this week, Director of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland said that the services increased the number of recruits from 200,000 in FY 2023 to 225,000 in FY 2024, which ended September 30.
Additionally, she said, the services had a 35% increase in written contracts, and the active components' delayed entry program started FY 2025 with a 10% larger pool.
"[The Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the services will continue to build off the momentum that we've gained in 2024," Helland said.
"Nevertheless," she continued, "we need to remain cautiously optimistic about the future recruiting operations as we continue to recruit in a market that has low youth propensity to serve, limited familiarity with military opportunities, a competitive labor market and a declining eligibility among young adults."
Helland elaborated on those challenges by explaining that, for the first time since the metric has been tracked, most young people have never considered the option of serving in the military.
The reasons behind that are multifold, Helland said. Young Americans have fewer ties to friends or family members who have served in the military. There is a declining presence of veterans in our society. Approximately 77% of people between the ages of 17 and 24 require some type of waiver to serve due to any number of disqualifications.
To counter such challenges, Helland said the military has implemented a medical pilot program that allows recruits to join the military without a waiver for numerous health conditions — provided they meet certain requirements. Additionally, there are service member prep courses that prepare recruits to meet the strenuous requirements of military service. Moreover, DOD is seeking to reconnect with youth and their influencers by showing them the value of serving.
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3953052/recruitment-rises-125-despite-ongoing-challenges/
More military recruiting is a bad result.
DeleteIn 2023, only 23% potential armed services candidates were qualified after excluding obesity, drug use, other health diagnoses, mental health issues, criminal records etc. 44% of the disqualifications were with multiple disqualifying criteria.
DeleteNobody here was speaking of good results, you flaming fascist cunt. We were speaking of mentally insane criminal you cheer for every minute of the day.
DeleteRecruitment increased under Biden, but Republicans want to take credit. Typical Repub nonsense.
DeleteMAGA cultists like DiC detest facts.
DeleteRecruitment declined 77% in 2020 under Trump, during a pandemic he mismanaged so poorly that his presidency was responsible for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths.
DeleteSomerby is way late to the table with his stupid catalog of mental disorders. If he were to produce such a list for physical disorders, it would be much longer. Somerby has ignored psychology throughout the years he has been writing this blog. People do go to college to learn about normal mental functioning, much less abnormalities.
ReplyDeleteDoes Somerby really think there should be one category of mental dysfunction, called madness? He is lucky, the whole category of mental abnormality used to be subsumed by demon possession, in the bad old days when everything was explained using religion.
I have no patience with a man who ignored everything about psychology for decades and now wants to use his own terms to describe a complex subject, without reference to the way experts talk about it. He can go back to talking about Trump as a lost boy, for all he has to contribute to any discussion of why Trump is so fucked up.
Sane countries do not elect obviously disordered people to leadership positions. The real question is what is wrong with the Republicans, that they have done this to us all?
Trump has been talking about developing the coastline of Gaza as a resort, a new gold coast or Riviera. He sees the development possibilities, with free land. This isn't rocket science.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/just-a-couple-of-dudes-planning-war
DeleteIt's called an "opportunityz zone", is partly funded with taxpayer money, and Jared will know what to do there. Let's wait and see what happens, because you never know until it does. DiC and the MAGA cultists are very optimistic about this.
Delete"For years, we've been saying that the refusal to enter this realm is a marker of the immaturity of our journalistic and academic discourse. (We've also persistently said that it may be a good or a bad idea that our big news orgs have insisted on avoiding this dangerous realm.)"
ReplyDeleteSomerby also wanted to remove Biden by calling him too old to do the job as president, which he has now manifestly shown that he was NOT incompetent to perform, especially compared to Trump's first two weeks in office. Now Somerby mocks the complexities of the human brain by listing a bunch of terms for disorders without the slightest clue why such names are needed or what conditions they refer to. As if slapping such a label on Trump would change a single thing about the problems we are now facing.
Biden was too old. Never mind that he was doing a good job as president. Trump is too crazy, and yes, it does matter what is wrong with him, because you can't just shove someone like Trump aside when he has so many opportunists, grifters, criminals and assholes clinging to his coattails. Rallying everyone in America behind some psychiatric label applied to Trump is just not going to happen. Too much power and money is at stake.
Meanwhile, Somerby sounds like an idiot himself. He sounds insincere (at best) and a traitor at worst. He has no clue what to do about Trump and won't even join the resistance mobilizing on the left.
Somerby seems to be complaining that there are so many terms for psychiatric disorders and yet no one will let him call Trump a madman! As if the right label might change everything -- when we need to be stopping the criminal in the presidency, not worrying about what to name him.
No one cares what is wrong with Somerby, but something is clearly wrong with the guy. Fortunately, he has his bi-weekly medical visits to disagnose and treat his problems. With some luck, he will shift his attention back to his own life and leave the rest of us free to find other blogs and substacks where actual lefties are saying things that make sense. At that point, only the trolls will remain.
King George had porphyria, an organic condition that affected his mind and behavior. They didn't know that at the time, but they knew enough to remove him from the throne during one of his periodic attacks. Why can't we do the same with our addled leader? The Republicans need to step up and protect our nation from what is happening. The longer they wait, the worse things will be.
I never understood why Biden was the most unpopular president of our lifetimes and so deeply disliked.
DeleteBut can you understand that Trump is deeply psychologically disturbed, 11:15?
DeleteWhat Somerby finds so difficult to say, due to his right wing disposition, is that Trump, Musk, and all are a gang of corrupt criminals.
DeleteThe crap about "madmen" and mental disorders is a distraction, an attempt to keep people ignorant and compliant.
Some of these psychiatric classifications come from the World Health Organization, which China controls.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally they also control Elon musk.
DeleteOh so China dictates psychiatric classifications now. So rummage through them and see which ones apply to you.
DeleteChina's power comes from Republicans bending the knee to corporations, letting them ruin our country while laughing all the way to the bank.
DeleteMusk Youth:
ReplyDeleteMarko Elez
Akash Bobba
Edward Coristine
Luke Farritor
Gautier Cole Killian
Gavin Kliger
Ethan Shaotran
These are the Musk boy toys that facilitated Musk's breach of our files in the Treasury and are impounding tax dollars appropriated by Congress; all illegal actions that constitute a coup.
These people need to be rounded up and put in detention immediately in order to restore the normalcy our country and its businesses need to function effectively and efficiently.