Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Dispatches from Reality

Posted on Saturday 15 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Taking a day off from political posts, for posts about reality. Or at least, the exploration of reality. Mathematicians solve a 125-year-old problem, perhaps; OnlySky’s Dale McGowan about the evolutionary mismatch between the world we evolved in, and the modern … Continue reading →

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Pi Day Rationalizations

Posted on Friday 14 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How MAGA rationalizes downturns in the economy; How scam artists prey on gullible old religious people; How the Family Research Council is anxious to replace education with religious indoctrination; How repeating a lie (“tariffs are tax cuts!”) often enough will … Continue reading →

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Here We Are: Stupid America

Posted on Thursday 13 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Frank Bruni on the Trump administration’s undercutting of America’s superpower; How the current secretary of defense thinks climate change is “crap”; Facts about the 19 programs dismissed as “waste”; Blast from the past: how Indiana tried to redefine Pi, to … Continue reading →

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MAGA and “Waste”

Posted on Wednesday 12 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Brian Klaas at The Atlantic on Elon Musk’s flawed view of “waste,” i.e. any kind of preventative measures to spend money now to avoid spending much more money later; And simpleton measures about measles from RFK Jr. Paul Krugman on … Continue reading →

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So Much for Free Speech

Posted on Tuesday 11 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Now the Trump team is arresting people simply for expressing opinions the administration doesn’t like, from Robert Reich and Adam Serwer; That list of forbidden words; Egg prices are because Easter?!; Fox blames stock market plunge on Biden; Heather Cox … Continue reading →

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An Actual Reason to be Against Education

Posted on Monday 10 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich warns that universities will be the next target; Amanda Marcotte wonders why Pete Hegseth’s paranoia would ban “Enola Gay”. Robert Reich’s first post today echoes my topic yesterday. But let’s ask again: is this only about federal control … Continue reading →

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Why Are Conservatives Against Education?

Posted on Sunday 9 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Two pieces about the Department of Education; Trump’s contradictions are a feature, not a bug? Musk doesn’t understand government (it’s not a business); Trump doesn’t criticize Putin because he’s planning his own invasion? Tom Nichols on the Pentagon’s DEI panic; … Continue reading →

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A MAGA Feed, and DST

Posted on Saturday 8 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A MAGA feed; A solution to the Daylight Saving Time debate. – – – For today, I want to examine this piece closely. The polarization of American society may mean that the two sides disagree, but perhaps also that they … Continue reading →

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Tyson & Walker, TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

Posted on Saturday 8 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lindsey Nyx Walker Subtitled “A Journey of Cosmic Discovery” (National Geographic, Sep. 2023, 319pp, including 16pp acknowledgements, further reading, illustrations credits, and index.) This is literally a heavier-than-usual book that is nevertheless a light-weight read (even … Continue reading →

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Simplicity and Idiocy

Posted on Friday 7 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

American idiocy; War images flagged for removal in Pentagon DEI purge; Why are conservatives obsessed with the debunked link between vaccines and autism? Trump and Musk are ungoverning; I admit that I follow a Facebook group called America’s Cultural Decline … Continue reading →

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