Monthly Archives: March 2026

Certainty is the Enemy

Posted on Tuesday 10 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

And Trump is certain about his own moral authority; And how the long-anticipated End Times have yet to appear; Paul Krugman on how Pete Hegseth is being deliberately dumb; Short items about Erika Kirk, Hegseth’s Bible reading, money spent on … Continue reading →

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Malcolm Gladwell, THE TIPPING POINT

Posted on Tuesday 10 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” (Little, Brown, March 2000, 279pp, including 20pp endnotes, acknowledgements, and index) This was a popular and well-received book when published back in 2000, and launched Gladwell‘s book career. Most of his books … Continue reading →

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Gullicism and Literacy

Posted on Monday 9 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Serwer on our “gullible, cynical” America, a condition he dubs “gullicism”; And how this is an absence of “literacy” about how the world actually works; Why everyone thinking “God is on our side” is a problem; John Pavlovitz answers … Continue reading →

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Leaving the US, Shalom, Worrying the Mind-Body Problem, the Latest Drake Equation analysis

Posted on Sunday 8 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

About Trump’s misguided “Christian” war, as more and more people are literally leaving the US; Peter Wehner on a word for our trouble times: shalom; Alan Lightman wonders, rhetorically, if our minds transcend the corporeal form (an issue long-since settled); … Continue reading →

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Morality, War, Science, Persecution

Posted on Saturday 7 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich on the moral basis of civilization, and how Trump is destroying it; And Reich on how Trump is paying for the war, and giving the rich a huge tax cut; More about the undermining of America’s scientific expertise; … Continue reading →

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Everything Will Be Better in Two Weeks

Posted on Friday 6 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Ten rationales for Trump’s war on Iran; While some insist it’s not a “war”; Promoting the war with movie clips and video games; Cuba is next, they’re now saying, as predicted; Who is Hegseth to declare the US as a … Continue reading →

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Heated Rivalry, Autism, and Conceptual Breakthrough

Posted on Thursday 5 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve only alluded to this show before — note the photo at the top of my January 10th post — but perhaps I have some things to say about the TV series “Heated Rivalry.” On the occasion of this longish … Continue reading →

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You Can Fool Some of the People All of the Time

Posted on Wednesday 4 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump can’t stop telling on himself; Christian media sees the Iran war as signalling the second coming, or the End Times; And some of them want mass deportation of American Muslims; How ICE ‘loses’ property yet finds it when challenged; … Continue reading →

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Fractured Reality

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How an air campaign alone has never resulted in regime change; Robert Reich: Trump doesn’t have a clue; John Pavlovitz: He’s not worth this; Heather Cox Richardson: Trump is workshopping reasons for his war with journalists; JD Vance says the … Continue reading →

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Johan Norberg, PROGRESS

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future (UK: Oneworld, Oct 2016, 246pp, including 28pp notes, acknowledgements, and index) Rather as I did with Rutger Bregman a few days, here’s an author who has a new book out recently, … Continue reading →

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