Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

How to Understand How the World Actually Works

Posted on Friday 26 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How pediatricians deal with Trump’s advice; How the shooters aren’t necessarily right-wing or left-wing, but simply internet trolls (and anyway, Trump is lying); While there are right-wingers vowing to take out “progressive leftism”; Headlines about Trump’s corruption, Hegseth’s warrior culture … Continue reading →

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What Astonishes Me

Posted on Thursday 25 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A UK journalist’s characterization of Trump, and America; Why voters keep shrugging off the corruption of Trump and his staff; Robert Reich’s characterization of the current occupant of the Oval Office; And how what astonishes me is how so many … Continue reading →

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Simplistic Takes About Autism and Everything Else

Posted on Wednesday 24 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Simplistic wrong thinking about autism; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s UN speech; And The Bulwark’s take on that speech; And of course the Rapture didn’t happen. – – – The autism issue is just another example of how conservatives flatten … Continue reading →

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The Imbecile

Posted on Tuesday 23 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump tells pregnant women to fight and not take Tylenol; The leucovorin-Dr. Oz connection; About Trump’s bonkers UN speech; Reactions from AlterNet, PolitiFact, NY Times; Still baffled why people like Trump. – – – Which is worse, Trump and RFK … Continue reading →

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Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology

Posted on Monday 22 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Three more core principles today, illustrated by an essay by a “former creationist” and how she found “following the science” clashed with her culture — and how this conflict is born of ancient biology; How universities would like to teach … Continue reading →

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A Core Theme: The Mismatch of Human Nature

Posted on Sunday 21 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

One of the emerging themes on this blog over the years is the idea that human nature evolved over millions of years to enable survival in an ancestral environment that most people no longer live in. In my own reading … Continue reading →

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More Cautionary Traits

Posted on Saturday 20 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How the right sees enemies everywhere; How Trump depicts immigrants as monsters; Remember what Charlie Kirk said about Simone Biles? Brief items; NYT’s Ross Douthat tries to explain the conservative principles behind the Kimmel suspension. – – –   Perhaps … Continue reading →

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How Transgenders Trigger Conservatives

Posted on Friday 19 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Two truths of Trumpists: nothing is ever their fault, their obsession with contamination; Heritage wants to designate trans people as terrorists; Republicans seem to have no principles except protecting the tribe: once they defended free speech, now, not so much; … Continue reading →

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And Now It’s Jimmy Kimmel

Posted on Thursday 18 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Jimmy Kimmel pulled off air for comments about Charlie Kirk; With comments by Adam Serwer and Zack Beauchamp; And how a huge business deal is behind this; NYT in 1939 describing how Joseph Goebbels did the same thing. – – … Continue reading →

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MAGA and the Charlie Kirk Cult

Posted on Wednesday 17 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Apparently “leftist” means not demonizing gays and transgender people, as Christians do; How Charlie Kirk’s discourse favored conflict, not informed debate; Some MAGA guy wants to perhaps kill 500,000 people in response to Charlie Kirk’s murder; And Karoline Leavitt thinks … Continue reading →

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