Monthly Archives: September 2025

Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT

Posted on Saturday 6 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life” (Norton, hardcover, 2011, 252pp, including 47pp notes, additional reading, and index.) (UK title The God Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life, also 2011) I … Continue reading →

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And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field

Posted on Friday 5 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman, with graphs, wonders why the right rejects progress; Robert Reich on why we don’t trust Donald Trump — because he disregards the truth; Hemant Mehta on how the “nones” aren’t exactly “godless”; How Trump is a Russian asset; … Continue reading →

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Conservative Logic, or Illogic

Posted on Thursday 4 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A note about my post about Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE; Florida ends vaccines mandates, because you shouldn’t be forced to follow laws, right?; How the GOP suddenly realizes some people should not be allowed guns; How Trump has learned to … Continue reading →

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Margaret Atwood: THE HANDMAID’S TALE

Posted on Thursday 4 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Houghton Mifflin, Feb. 1986, hardcover, 311pp) This is the US first edition hardcover, which I bought when it came out (it’s the first printing too), though the book was published in Canada the year before, in 1985. It’s 40 years … Continue reading →

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How history, and current events, become approved stories

Posted on Wednesday 3 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Humans live by stories: comparing the story of Jesus to the story of the stolen 2020 election; Short items about Cracker Barrel; RFK Jr the vax quack; how women are not people; erasing the existence of gay people from public … Continue reading →

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Are There Any “Good Republicans” Left?

Posted on Tuesday 2 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Why there seem to be no good Republican politicians; How happy Republicans are to cut benefits to the poor; How Texas is pushing Christianity on public schools; Scientists denounce the administration’s climate report, full of errors and cherry-picked data, that … Continue reading →

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LA Weekend Trip, and Certain Types of Principles

Posted on Monday 1 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

We drove from Oakland to LA (Santa Monica area) Friday, and returned home today, avoiding all the predicted holiday weekend traffic by leaving early each time, around 9am. We celebrated my birthday and my partner saw his new granddaughter for … Continue reading →

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