Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

An Optimistic Big View

Posted on Wednesday 15 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Peter Leyden on how the arc of human history is toward cooperation; Once again, evidence shows that same-sex marriage is a “win for children and society”, and I suggest why this may be so; While Stephen Miller resorts to bigotry … Continue reading →

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MAGA is for OT, not NT

Posted on Tuesday 14 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

John Pavlovitz on how MAGA hates the Pope’s Jesus; The Pope denounces the US “delusion of omnipotence”; William Saletan on the GOP acting like bigots; Tom Nichols on Trump’s latest meltdown; Sean Hannity knows better than the Pope; More about … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker, WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS THAT EVERYONE KNOWS…

Posted on Tuesday 14 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life (Scribner, 2025, xv + 364pp, including 64pp of notes, references, and index.) This latest Pinker book, which follows ENLIGHTENMENT NOW and RATIONALITY, seems at first glance a bit … Continue reading →

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The Slow Motion American Train Wreck

Posted on Monday 13 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Rebecca Solnit on how the US is destroying itself; The significance of Victor Orbán’s loss; How Trump thinks religion is about power, not morality; Trump’s grotesque AI image depicting himself as a Jesus figure. – – – I’ve gradually become … Continue reading →

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Are All Weddings the Same?

Posted on Sunday 12 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

We attended a wedding yesterday, in Alameda, between my partner’s older son’s wife’s sister, and a man from a non-Catholic family, who had converted, and gotten baptized a year ago, in order to marry into my partner’s older son’s wife’s … Continue reading →

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Skiffy Flix: The War of the Worlds

Posted on Friday 10 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

This is about the 1953 movie, surely one of the best known and highly-regarded SF movies of the ’50s, along with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, FORBIDDEN PLANET, and perhaps INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. I wrote about the … Continue reading →

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Those Who Do, Those Who Can’t

Posted on Friday 10 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How some of us reach for the stars, while others are mired in oppressive religious fantasies; How both sides think God is on their side, and wondering what religions are trying to accomplish; Rebecca Boyle on what we’re seeing new … Continue reading →

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Our Demented Administration

Posted on Thursday 9 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A majority of Americans favor impeachment; Now the Trump administration is threatening the Vatican; Yet more evidence that they’re white supremacists; Revisiting the question if Trump is suffering dementia; Long piece about how Trump is stuck in the era of … Continue reading →

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Another Nothing-burger Trump Deal

Posted on Wednesday 8 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s ‘deal’ with Iran seems to have accomplished none of his objectives, and is worse than the Obama deal that Trump cancelled; Comments from Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Media Matters; Which spills over in the contrast between Artemis II and … Continue reading →

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TACO and Cognitive Surrender

Posted on Tuesday 7 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The world worries about presidential insanity and nuclear war until Trump backs down, yet again; AI and “cognitive surrender”; With some perspective about electronic calculators and other forms of new technology over the millennia; And how the surrender of critical … Continue reading →

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