Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Distracted by Politics, Again

Posted on Sunday 17 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Eventually I’ll get to more serious subjects. Though arguably politics is the most serious subject, because politics is about psychology and that involves how humans perceive and believe everything else. But there is a reality beneath politics, and even psychology, … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

AI Is Telling People What They Want to Hear?

Posted on Saturday 16 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Tom Tomorrow on “defunding the police”; The unreliability of AI, with an example of John Scalzi; An essay about how the future will be mundane; Several links on Trump’s meeting with Putin in Alaska; Slate’s handy summary of people in … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Politics, Technology | Leave a comment

The Fringe Is Becoming Mainstream

Posted on Friday 15 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump threatens to attack Mexico, ho hum; South Koreans think electric fans are deadly; A GOP rep claims evidence of “interdimensional beings”; Hegseth’s pastor claims “gay marriage doesn’t exist” because he doesn’t like it; Lance Wallnau thinks his god wants … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

Why Totalitarians Prefer Crackpots and Fools, as We Are Seeing Under Trump

Posted on Thursday 14 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Lesson for today, from Paul Krugman, from Hannah Arendt: “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Economics, Human Nature, Politics | Leave a comment

Nostalgia Bias, and Christian Intolerance and Hypocrisy

Posted on Wednesday 13 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s worldview is stuck in 1989; Thinking the 1990s were better than today is nostalgia bias; D.C. is not the hellscape Trump claims it is (of course); More about that annoying busybody who opposes gay marriage and has nothing better … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion | Leave a comment

Music as Language

Posted on Tuesday 12 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

John McWhorter on Bruce Springsteen, and my own takes; About modern music. I mentioned that I had a couple thoughts about music recently. The first is inspired by this piece: NY Times, John McWhorter, 7 Aug 2025: Springsteen Isn’t Who … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Personal history | Leave a comment

Short-Term Thinking As the Problem, As I’ve Been Saying

Posted on Monday 11 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Ben Rhodes at NYT on the perils of short-term thinking; A Facebook comment about intellectual loneliness; And how Trump is lying about crime in DC in order to, what? distract from the Epstein crisis? Or show random totalitarian power? – … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

Nevil Shute: ON THE BEACH

Posted on Monday 11 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(First published 1957. Edition here: Vintage International, trade paperback, February 2010, 312pp) And here’s the next in a group of apocalyptic novels I read in June, following Butler’s PARABLE OF THE SOWER and Frank’s ALAS, BABYLON (review review here.) This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, science fiction | Leave a comment

MAGA and Cultural Stagnation

Posted on Sunday 10 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Long piece by Mike Lofgren at Salon about how we got from the 1960s to here; how we’re in an era of stagnation; My brief thoughts about how this might apply to science fiction; Tim Callahan at Skeptic spells out … Continue reading →

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

Trump the Bully Seems to Be What Many People Want

Posted on Saturday 9 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

David Remnick of The New Yorker on Trump the Bully; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump promises not kept; Trump’s escalating racist attacks on Black Americans; How Fox News feeds anti-immigrant propaganda to its audience; Trump’s gold kitsch White House; More … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Trump the Bully Seems to Be What Many People Want