Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Simplicity and Idiocy

Tom Nichols, OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

Posted on Friday 7 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy” (Oxford, August 2021, xvii + 245pp, including 25pp notes and index) Here’s the last of several books about current issues that I read in December and January. I read this one because … Continue reading →

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Back and Forth, On and Off

Posted on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

CDC recalls fired workers; Tariffs are delayed again; Why would Trump want to destabilize the country? Texas would make identifying as transgender a felon; Trump blames the victims; TN names July a month of “fasting and prayer”; Miracles are happening … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Religion | Comments Off on Back and Forth, On and Off

Annalee Newitz, STORIES ARE WEAPONS

Posted on Thursday 6 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “Psychological Warfare and the American Mind” (Norton, June 2024, xxv + 246pp, including 42pp of acknowledgements, notes, and notes.) Here’s a book that offers a different spin on the ideas of misinformation, fake news, and narratives, than earlier books … Continue reading →

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Many Lies, No Coherent Plan

Posted on Wednesday 5 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Commentaries and fact-checks about Trump’s speech to Congress last night. Dana Milbank on how Trump has set the country back 100 years; Fred Kaplan on Trump’s unhinged plans for the rest of the world; And Heather Digby Parton and David … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Many Lies, No Coherent Plan

Stepping Outward, from Tariffs to Globalization

Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Rationales for tariffs against Canada and Mexico: perhaps Trump just hates Canadian decency, how his rationales keep changing, and in any case they’re foolish; With my thoughts about two possible motivations; How Trump is losing the 21st century: by alienating … Continue reading →

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Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach, THE KNOWLEDGE ILLUSION

Posted on Tuesday 4 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why We Never Think Alone” (Riverhead Books, March 2017, 296pp including 30pp acknowledgements, notes, and index.) This is a book that I’ve thought of as a companion to the O’Connor/Weatherall book I just reviewed ever since they’ve been sitting … Continue reading →

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Triage, and Kittens

Posted on Monday 3 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Busy weekend, so I’m behind and have three days of political links to catch up on. I’ll triage. Reactions to the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump/Vance/et al; Conservatives react by projecting; And links without comments about corruption, witchcraft, getting … Continue reading →

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Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, THE MISINFORMATION AGE

Posted on Sunday 2 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “How False Beliefs Spread”(Yale University Press, 2019, 266pp, including 80pp of notes, bibliography, acknowledgements, and index) This is an interesting enough book that wasn’t quite what I was expecting. It seems right up my alley: why do so many … Continue reading →

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