Category Archives: conservatives

Reality is a Communist Plot, says MAGA

Posted on Thursday 30 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich lists items in MAGA’s totalitarian mindset; Short items on religious discrimination, Trumponomics, and new 60 Minutes correspondents, no experience required. – – – Robert Reich, today: Reality is a Communist Plot, subtitled “Of MAGA and the totalitarian mindset” … Continue reading →

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We’re Not Asking the Right Questions, Perhaps

Posted on Monday 20 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the deep questions in life may not be the right questions, and a long essay by Jim Palmer about the crucial function religion served in human evolution; Trump’s latest corruption: insider trading; World Cup: Trump makes it about himself … Continue reading →

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Better Today; Tearing Things Down; Ransacking; Hate

Posted on Sunday 19 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Another story about how the past was not better than today, in particular about teens in 1990s; Now Marco Rubio is trying to destroy the International Criminal Court; why would that be?; How it’s no longer so much fun to … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, conservatives | Comments Off on Better Today; Tearing Things Down; Ransacking; Hate

The Drive to Preserve an Idealistic Past, Which Will Inevitably Fail

Posted on Saturday 18 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

We probably don’t realize how often conservatives are successful at rewriting the past; How the military is resistant to change; Right-wing figures resist commonsense health advice about wildfire smoke; People of faith discover that AI tells them what they want … Continue reading →

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Losing. Casting. Hormones. Freedom.

Posted on Friday 17 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s latest speech, about voter fraud; Responses from Brian Tyler Cohen and Robert Reich; MAGA’s outrage over the casting in The Odyssey; Briefly noted: More about Hegseth and testosterone; Trump blames Canada for wildfire smoke; Lindsey Graham’s (unqualified) sister to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Tribalism | Comments Off on Losing. Casting. Hormones. Freedom.

Testosterone?

Posted on Thursday 16 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Pete Hegseth’s obsession with testosterone; Fallacies; My own experience with testosterone injections; The far right’s list of people they blame; How it’s selfish to think for yourself; Robert Reich’s ideas for making America affordable; Cliff Martinez’s score for George Clooney’s … Continue reading →

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Conservative Priorities

Posted on Wednesday 15 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservative principles: none. Priorities: power, and money; More about Lindsey Graham and those who are most against gay rights; The recurring nonsense about “Daylight Saving Time”; Brief items about how facts are stubborn things, and Hegseth’s ongoing campaign to enforce … Continue reading →

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Conservative Opportunism, and Being Careful About What We Want to Believe

Posted on Tuesday 14 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The death of Lindsey Graham, conservative opportunist, and perhaps closet gay; The only damage in the reflecting pool is from Trump’s limousine entourage; Item from Facebook about America and Finland; Another item about how America is opting out of the … Continue reading →

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Kurt Andersen: FANTASYLAND

Posted on Tuesday 14 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History (Random House, 2017, 462pp, including 22pp acknowledgements and index) Here is a book by a writer who doesn’t generally write this type of book. Andersen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Andersen) writes mostly novels and TV, and … Continue reading →

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Motivated Reasoning and Human Gullibility. UFOs!

Posted on Monday 13 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

UFO fans aren’t impressed by the latest government doc’s; More about supposed geo-engineering. – – – This is funny. And sad. NY Times, 11 Jul 2026 (though in today’s print paper): Non-Disclosure: In Roswell, New U.F.O. Docs Are a Declassified … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Motivated Reasoning and Human Gullibility. UFOs!