Monthly Archives: July 2026

Science Fiction and Horror: New Thoughts

Posted on Friday 31 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

There is an overlap between science fiction and horror I just realized today; On its 250th anniversary, America looks backward and forward; Brief items about Head Start, Trump the Mafia Boss, Anthony Fauci’s mortal sin (challenging Trump), the new pro-teen … Continue reading →

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Reality is a Communist Plot, says MAGA

Posted on Thursday 30 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich lists items in MAGA’s totalitarian mindset; Short items on religious discrimination, Trumponomics, and new 60 Minutes correspondents, no experience required. – – – Robert Reich, today: Reality is a Communist Plot, subtitled “Of MAGA and the totalitarian mindset” … Continue reading →

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Thinking for yourself; Suicidal empathy

Posted on Wednesday 29 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conditions for stupidity: outsourcing your thinking to an authority, willful ignorance, and conformity; No, ‘suicidal empathy’ is not destroying the West; Short items on Bari Weiss, windmills, blaming Canada, how Trump pled the fifth too, how Christians preach to captive … Continue reading →

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Religion, Mythology, Reality

Posted on Tuesday 28 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Sure, teach the Bible in school, alongside Greek mythology; How Anthony Fauci was an early MAGA success at tearing things down; Heather Cox Richardson on how the Trump administration is trying to rewrite American history; Jim Palmer on religious ideas … Continue reading →

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Nothing Is Evenly Distributed, Ever

Posted on Monday 27 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The great science fiction writer William Gibson famously said: “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.” Thought for today: The same could be said of the Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution. Not only do many people … Continue reading →

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Growing Pains

Posted on Wednesday 22 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Perspective on humanity’s growth into a global civilization; Perhaps religion is a kind of story-telling crucial to human evolution; How Christian support of Trump is making GenZers less like to attend church; Bernstein: Mahler 5. – – – Big picture. … Continue reading →

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Uni-context and Flattening

Posted on Tuesday 21 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Derek Thompson on philospher Agnes Callard’s idea of “uni-context,” which matches my notion that human thinking “flattens” different levels of understanding into a single, human-centric context; How conservatives hate “The Odyssey,” quoting Al Franken; Briefly noted: To get a Trump … Continue reading →

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Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson: ABUNDANCE

Posted on Tuesday 21 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

(Avid Reader Press, March 2025, 288pp, including 66pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index.) This book takes the optimistic stance that we are capable of building what we need, and that we can solve many of the problems we perceive today. … Continue reading →

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We’re Not Asking the Right Questions, Perhaps

Posted on Monday 20 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the deep questions in life may not be the right questions, and a long essay by Jim Palmer about the crucial function religion served in human evolution; Trump’s latest corruption: insider trading; World Cup: Trump makes it about himself … Continue reading →

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Better Today; Tearing Things Down; Ransacking; Hate

Posted on Sunday 19 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Another story about how the past was not better than today, in particular about teens in 1990s; Now Marco Rubio is trying to destroy the International Criminal Court; why would that be?; How it’s no longer so much fun to … Continue reading →

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