Monthly Archives: May 2022

LQCs: KSR; Conservative History

Posted on 11 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT, Alexandra Alter, 11 May 2022: A Sci-Fi Writer Returns to Earth: ‘The Real Story is the One Facing Us.’, subtitled: “Kim Stanley Robinson, one of the most acclaimed living science fiction writers, is done with deep space narratives. His … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Religion, science fiction | Leave a comment

LQCs: The Arc of Historical Progress vs. Religious Oppression in the US

Posted on 10 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

First, my favorite print magazine The Week, for May 13th, in its “Viewpoint” box on the “Best Columns US” page, quotes Francis Fukuyama in The Wall Street Journal (a newspaper I don’t read). But unlike the similarly found David French … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Progress, Morality, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

LQCs: Wise Women and Men, How the Law Is Flimsy against Political Tides, and Why Conservatives Are So Anxious to Oppress Others

Posted on 9 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Several Fb friends have quoted this passage by the great Ursula K. Le Guin, originally posted at Reading Is Therapy, from her 1989 book Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places.

Posted in Culture, Links & Comments, Politics | Leave a comment

Endless Polarization, Ideology, and What MAGA Means

Posted on 8 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

David French on polarization; the inevitability of endless political arguments; how MAGA is about white Christian men.

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

LQCs: Whose Religious Freedom?

Posted on 7 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s San Francisco Chronicle has this opinion piece about religious freedom. San Francisco Chronicle, Daniel Bogard and Tana Senn, 6 May 2022: Supreme Court’s Roe ruling would trample the religious freedom of every Jewish American

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

LQCs: On Abortion: Magical Thinking v. Reality

Posted on 6 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m not going to belabor the current abortion issue; it’s been going on for decades (and I’ve written about abortion before here), and the arguments haven’t changed. But before I comment or quote from any more links, let me summarize … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

LQCs: The New Era of Reducing Civil Rights, via Religious Reactionaries

Posted on 5 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

So we are now in an era when the Supreme Court — driven by religious reactionaries — is *taking away* rights rather than ensuring they apply to all people. What’s next? as many are asking. Right to marry? To segregate? … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Science | Leave a comment

Daniel C. Dennett, BREAKING THE SPELL, post 3

Posted on 5 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

A few more notes, and quotes.

Posted in Book Notes, Science | Leave a comment

LQCs: Bad Map Projections; Worldle; Banned Books

Posted on 4 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve commented a few times about map projections, and how projections of the entire globe are invariably misleading in one way or another, because there’s no accurate way to map a spherical surface onto a flat map. Inevitably there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Cosmology, Films, Movies | Leave a comment

LQCs: Making Prohibitions vs. Solving Problems

Posted on 3 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Big news today is that a draft of a Supreme Court decision about abortion was leaked, by someone, and the draft indicates an intention to completely overturn Roe v. Wade. As everyone’s been expecting for some time now. The shock … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality, Science | Leave a comment