Category Archives: authoritarianism

Fractured Reality

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Different takes on Trump’s new war. The Critics: Trump’s plan (to subdue Iran by strikes from the air, without any ‘boots on the ground’) has no apparent precedent. PolitiFact, Louis Jacobson, 2 Mar 2026: Chris Murphy, stated on March 1, … Continue reading →

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Peace President Trump’s New War

Posted on Saturday 28 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

So now Trump, the would-be-Nobel-Peace-Prize-winner, has started a war with Iran. All by himself, without congressional overview or approval. As someone on Facebook said, this isn’t how democracies start wars; it’s how dictators do. I’m going to try not to … Continue reading →

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The War on Truth; and Religion

Posted on Wednesday 4 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Minneapolis and the war on truth; Jerry Coyne on prayer, triggering off Savannah Guthrie news; How Jeff Bezos is destroying The Washington Post just as Trump has done with America; Short takes. – – – It’s only getting worse. We’re … Continue reading →

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“I Love the Poorly Educated”

Posted on Friday 30 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Now the administration is arresting journalists for covering news it doesn’t like; A right-wing response, anxious for public executions; Every accusation is a confession; How the withdrawn Philip Glass symphony is in a way about Trump; How Trump is making … Continue reading →

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Streets of Minneapolis

Posted on Wednesday 28 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A new song by Bruce Springsteen about Minneapolis; Why GOP voters love ICE — because their support for the Bible and the Constitution is only totemic, which is to say, hypocritical; Ruben Bolling on the MAGAs: Trump is always right, … Continue reading →

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The Conservative Resistance to Changing One’s Mind

Posted on Tuesday 27 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Why can conservatives not admit they might have been wrong? Trump never admits to being wrong; he never apologizes; And yet the administration is softening its accusations against the people killed by ICE in Minneapolis; Trump contradicts the 2nd amendment; … Continue reading →

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Pulling Bolts Out of the Ferris Wheel

Posted on Monday 26 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Train Dreams Republicans on the need to carry guns; How the truth in Minneapolis is whatever Trump says it is; And how the administration altered images and made false posts; Heather Cox Richardson on KQED Forum this morning; Brief items … Continue reading →

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The Latest ICE Killing

Posted on Sunday 25 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Captured on cellphone video, a man on the ground shot in the back ten times, like an execution; his crime: helping a woman who’d been pushed down by ICE thugs; Takes by Heather Cox Richardson, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, John … Continue reading →

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Disintegration

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Another killing by ICE in Minneapolis; Trump cedes leadership of the global economy to China; Now they want to make the polio vaccine optional; Trump’s EPA now places the value of a human life at zero dollars; Trump’s National Park … Continue reading →

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Is There a Coming Crackup? Can We Recover?

Posted on Friday 23 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Maybe. And maybe. Jonathan Chait wonders why conservatives defend ICE; How the administration lies and alters evidence; Anne Applebaum on the administration’s attacks on science, medicine, culture, and education; Adam Lee offers some perspective on recovering from autocracy; David Brooks … Continue reading →

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