Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
GOP/conservatives and the Rich; and the Countryside; and Star Wars
The GOP tax bill will hurt lowest earners and help the rich (of course!); NYT’s Jamelle Bouie on Republican hypocrisy and the countryside; Trek v. Wars, and how Wars reveals conservatives’ authoritarian fantasies. – – – NY Times, Tony Romm, … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, science fiction
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86 Hypocrisy, Our Puritan Legacy, and Belief in God
86 47, and 86 46; The GOP’s new anti-porn bill, and the US’s puritan legacy; Richard Dawkins on belief in god. – – – I almost thought this would be too trivial to mention, except that Heather leads last night’s … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Religion
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Supreme Court, Christian Nationalists, Afrikaners
Amanda Marcotte on how the Supreme Court has been captured by far-right conspiracy theories; How the simplest explanation for what’s going on, on several fronts, is basic white supremacy; About Russell Vought; Trump’s morality and his rationale for accepting Afrikaner … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Morality, Politics, Religion
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The Plane. George Saunders. Lying. And AI spam.
Will begin posting more about science fiction; see previous post; That Qatari plane is a white elephant they’ve been trying to dump for years; A piece by the novelist George Saunders about the firing of the head of the Library … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy, Politics
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John Scalzi, WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE
(Tor, March 2025, 323pp) John Scalzi is one of the most popular of current science fiction writers, even as he’s not regarded, I think, as a *serious* sf writer by the critics or even readers. He’s entertaining, often humorous or … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, science fiction
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Current Politics as Reflections of Human Nature
My daily routine; How Trump would be king and end the rule of law in America, and how this is understandable given base human nature; Paul Krugman on the existential threat of climate change, that conservatives deny or simply do … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Personal history, Politics
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We’re Living in an Age of Regression
In Trump’s America, it’s every parent and child out for themselves; Who decides who’s Christian? The government? Fox News says the Qatari bribe to Trump is fine because FDR gave three planes to the Saudis… 80 years ago; Robert Reich … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Culture, Decline, Evolution, Human Nature, Human Progress, Music
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Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1
(Wait But Why, 2024, 584pp, including 112pp of characters, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, and bio) I wrote about this book back in December, before deciding to buy it. Which I did despite some cautionary signs: it’s apparently self-published, it’s enormous, it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Culture, Human Nature, Human Progress
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Palace in the Sky, For the One
Several items today about the Trump administration’s acceptance from Qatar of a $400 million luxury 747, for Trump’s personal use; How Trump shrugs off intelligence briefings; he knows what he knows because he’s smart; How the story of a woman … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Culture, Decline, Politics
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Disconnects from Reality, and a Couple Positive Notes
On the one hand, A Truth+ movie about ‘Lizard People’; RFK Jr vows to stop chemtrails; Democrats have a ‘dictatorship mentality’? Texas Christians presume to spend a month celebrating God’s promises; Tom Nichols on a witch hunt at the State … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics
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