Category Archives: conservatives

The Fringe Is Becoming Mainstream

Posted on Friday 15 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump threatens to attack Mexico, ho hum; South Koreans think electric fans are deadly; A GOP rep claims evidence of “interdimensional beings”; Hegseth’s pastor claims “gay marriage doesn’t exist” because he doesn’t like it; Lance Wallnau thinks his god wants … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

Why Totalitarians Prefer Crackpots and Fools, as We Are Seeing Under Trump

Posted on Thursday 14 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Lesson for today, from Paul Krugman, from Hannah Arendt: “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Economics, Human Nature, Politics | Leave a comment

Short-Term Thinking As the Problem, As I’ve Been Saying

Posted on Monday 11 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Ben Rhodes at NYT on the perils of short-term thinking; A Facebook comment about intellectual loneliness; And how Trump is lying about crime in DC in order to, what? distract from the Epstein crisis? Or show random totalitarian power? – … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

No Policies, No Principles, Just “Deals”

Posted on Friday 8 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

And Threats. And Extortion. And Lies. A quote from Bertrand Russell; Trump wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize, while making wars worse and threatening countries around the world; Heather Cox Richardson on the motives behind the idea of changing … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, conservatives, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on No Policies, No Principles, Just “Deals”

The Real Government Plots Against Reality

Posted on Thursday 7 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Government plots to suppress vaccines, and the effects of climate change; With my speculation about conservative motivations; Heather Cox Richardson on how, despite concerns for the budget, conservatives are willing to spend millions and millions to deport people they don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Science | Comments Off on The Real Government Plots Against Reality

Their Make-Believe World

Posted on Wednesday 6 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s tantrum; His own version of reality; Assaulting reporting, statistics, and the historical record; Ordering an independent office to become as big a liar as he is; Every accusation is a confession; The “Russia Hoax” is whatever he says it … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Decline, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Their Make-Believe World

TV, Juan Crow, Facts and Nonexistent Things, Alfred Schnittke

Posted on Wednesday 30 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump trusts only TV; Heather Cox Richardson on how Republicans are digging into positions that are contradicted by facts; How the Trump administration’s “Juan Crow” echoes “John Crow”; More nonexistent things that can be banned; Short items about disabling hurricane … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Music, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on TV, Juan Crow, Facts and Nonexistent Things, Alfred Schnittke

More Items from the Authoritarian Playbook

Posted on Sunday 27 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

About the conservative agenda concerning colleges, and education; Charlie Kirk thinks you don’t need college; just watch YouTube videos, especially his own online courses; Education Secretary Linda McMahon admits her political motivations for dismantling her department; Brief items about a … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Education, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on More Items from the Authoritarian Playbook

Conservative Thinking Means Whitewashing the Past

Posted on Saturday 26 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A take-down of David Brooks, as an example of a conservative white-washing and distorting American history; How National Park gift shops are removing books about that same history for the same reasons; A religious rant bout Obama and Russia, and … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Conservative Thinking Means Whitewashing the Past

It’s Always About the Gap Between Ideology and Religion, and Reality

Posted on Tuesday 22 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

And whether humanity can “grow up” and thrive by living in reality and not fantasy. Infrastructure note about More tags; Paul Krugman on why the right would see AI as “communist” — because it’s reality-based; (Aside: another arc of history … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on It’s Always About the Gap Between Ideology and Religion, and Reality