Monthly Archives: September 2026

The Conservative Denial of Existential Threats

Posted on Monday 14 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump thinks concerns about AI are a hoax; Paul Krugman relates AI to climate change: the MAGA plot(s) to destroy humanity. – – – Trump thinks concern about AI is a hoax. CNN, today: Trump dismisses AI alarms as a … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature | Leave a comment

Hiking is a Modern Invention

Posted on Sunday 13 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The idea of hiking was not a thing until relatively recently; How Trump is stifling free speech; Brief items about hurricanes and methane; Nice Bruckner 6 performance by Myung-Whun Chung. – – – First, a think piece. About how the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Nature, Music, Politics | Leave a comment

How the Terrorists Won, in a Sense

Posted on Saturday 12 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Passing through airport security is an example of how the terrorists won, and maybe what led to MAGA and Trump; Jonathan V. Last on how terrorism sometimes works; (And how terrorists are motivated by religion); The reflecting pool contractor admits … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Human Progress, Movies, Music, Religion | Comments Off on How the Terrorists Won, in a Sense

Tribalists, Bribes, 9/11 and Tyranny, Fear, and Cheating

Posted on Friday 11 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Reading David Pakman, and considering Republican history since Reagan; Trumps is now trying to bribe voters; How the Patriot Act, passed after 9/11 and never repealed, have given Trump the tools to become a tyrant; How Republicans use fear to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Politics | Comments Off on Tribalists, Bribes, 9/11 and Tyranny, Fear, and Cheating

Jamie Whyte: CRIMES AGAINST LOGIC

Posted on Friday 11 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders (UK 2003 as Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking; US edition here McGraw-Hill, 2005, xi + 157pp; no index) Here’s a small book from the mid-2000s … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Philosophy, Psychology | Comments Off on Jamie Whyte: CRIMES AGAINST LOGIC

Rejecting Reality, and Truth

Posted on Thursday 10 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

More about the new UN map of the world; MAGA preferred the previous, less accurate one; Trump is now bribing American voters; Republicans defend lying; Robert Reich calls Trump completely bonkers; Heather Cox Richardson expands on Trump’s lies; Trumps talks … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, reality | Comments Off on Rejecting Reality, and Truth

Neil deGrasse Tyson with James Trefil: COSMIC QUERIES

Posted on Thursday 10 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going (National Geographic, 2021, 311pp, including 22pp acknowledgements, further reading, illustrations credits, index, and about the authors.) Like Tyson’s one-year later book, TO INFINITY AND BEYOND … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Book Notes, Cosmology, Science | Comments Off on Neil deGrasse Tyson with James Trefil: COSMIC QUERIES

The Battle

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the erosion of the 20th century’s “liberal consensus” began to crumble under Ronald Reagan; Conservatives lying with fake photos, photoshops, bogus census reports, and more. – – – Heather Cox Richardson has told this story. (See my review.) NY … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on The Battle

Adam Kirsch: THE REVOLT AGAINST HUMANITY

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Imagining a Future Without Us (Columbia Global Reports, 2023, 100pp, including 2pp of further reading.) Here’s a small book with some provocative ideas I didn’t anticipate from the title. It’s from a publishing imprint of Columbia University called Columbia … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Human Progress, Meaning | Comments Off on Adam Kirsch: THE REVOLT AGAINST HUMANITY

Star Trek at 60

Posted on Tuesday 8 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The 60th anniversary of Star Trek, and some personal recollections; Items about AI solving a math problem; how Trump doesn’t understand what trade means; how Trump claims more and more countries, and also the moon; Trump objecting to Canadian Bombardier … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Star Trek | Comments Off on Star Trek at 60