Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

As I’ve Been Saying…

Posted on Thursday 10 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Is there any point in noting these same issues again and again? Yes. Because they are evidence of the decline of the US, which most Americans are not noticing, and I think this is important, not so much as this … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on As I’ve Been Saying…

Darkest Days

Posted on Wednesday 9 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Shorter items today. The Supreme Court and “emergencies”; How Trump reflexively blames Biden; And how Trump takes credit for what Biden actually did; The confusion over Epstein conspiracy theories; Trump wants more factories, but is expelling the workers who might … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Music, Politics | Comments Off on Darkest Days

David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

Posted on Tuesday 8 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

One item today. A long piece from David Brooks, trying to understand how we got here, given history. The Atlantic, David Books, 8 Jul 2025: Why Do So Many People Think That Trump Is Good?, subtitled “The work of the moral … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Human Nature, Politics, progress | Comments Off on David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

Robert A. Heinlein: THE DOOR INTO SUMMER

Posted on Tuesday 8 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(First published 1957. Edition here: Orion/Gollancz/SF Masterworks 2003, 178pp, with an introduction by Stephen Baxter) I’m no expert on Robert A. Heinlein — I still haven’t read Farah Mendlesohn’s book about him — but I have read *almost* all his … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Heinlein, science fiction | Comments Off on Robert A. Heinlein: THE DOOR INTO SUMMER

What Is America Thinking?

Posted on Monday 7 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Will scientific advances by the US continue? Do most Americans care? My take on the big picture of the cultural change in the US, and other societies; Heather Cox Richardson, and Nitish Pahwa at Slate, summarize what’s to blame for … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Lunacy, Science | Comments Off on What Is America Thinking?

How Doing Your Own Research Actually Works, and the Texas Floods

Posted on Sunday 6 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam-Troy Castro on people who “do their own research”; And how RFK Jr. is ignoring decades of research into autism that have already answered his questions; Debates about whether Trump/MAGA’s cuts to weather agencies had a role to play in … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, History | Comments Off on How Doing Your Own Research Actually Works, and the Texas Floods

True Colors

Posted on Saturday 5 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More conservative racism: Everyone is *not* welcome; Laura Loomer would boycott brands that don’t use white actors in their TV commercials; MTG thinks evildoers are using weather control to create the deadly floods in Texas; Meanwhile, people who know real … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Culture, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on True Colors

So Many People to Hate!

Posted on Friday 4 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

ICE now has a budget bigger than all but 15 countries’ military budgets; Why has funding for ICE has ballooned, compared to previous presidents?; Trump says he wants to deport bad people born in the US, too; Trump wants to … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Politics, science fiction | Comments Off on So Many People to Hate!

How It Works. How They Work.

Posted on Thursday 3 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How it works: Republican megadonors get megacontracts to run ICE concentration camps; How they work: Republicans are even less pluralistic than they’ve ever been; Robert Reich on the familiar reasons authoritarians suppress education, and what “conservative ideas” might possibly be; … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics | Comments Off on How It Works. How They Work.

Now It’s Concentration Camps

Posted on Wednesday 2 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Concentration Camps, and Republican salivation to send 65 million immigrants to the alligators; Trump thinks brain scans measure IQ; American science’s brain drain; How societies maintain national myths to survive. – – – What’s next? Dungeons and shackles? Do Trump … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, conservatives, Human Nature | Comments Off on Now It’s Concentration Camps