Category Archives: conservatives

Tear-Downs and Demons

Posted on Monday 1 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s cancellations, which I can’t keep up with; How Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will impact public schools; How UFOs are interpreted by the religious as demons; Preisner’s “Silence, Night & Dreams” – – – I’m not sure I’m keeping up … Continue reading →

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How Americans Don’t Realize How the World Views the US

Posted on Sunday 31 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Distracted from being able to write a blog post three times in the past week, a record perhaps. But gathering notes, compiling thoughts, as always. \\ Salon, Andrew O’Hehir, today: Do Americans really know how much the world hates us?, … Continue reading →

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Today’s Words of Wisdom

Posted on Friday 29 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Richard Dawkins defends being a “cultural Christian” and suggests being a cultural scientist, appreciating the grandeur of our “increasingly understood universe”; Bertrand Russell suggested that intelligent people are those who see the world as it is, not as they would … Continue reading →

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Sunday’s Post

Posted on Monday 25 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How smartphones are implicated in the decline of fertility; How the latest Star Wars film waters down its franchise, as happens with much popular culture; Crime in LA in the lowest in decades, but voters are still very concerned about … Continue reading →

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Five Years On; and, More About Morality, in a Way

Posted on Thursday 21 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Five years since my heart transplant; That IRS deal and presidential corruption; Paul Krugman describes this as “MAGA corruption reaches the point of no return”; Amanda Marcotte calls the White House ballroom “a symbol of Trump’s failure.” – – – … Continue reading →

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Superficial Christianity on Full Display

Posted on Monday 18 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Things said at last weekend’s prayer rally, and how they strike me as unhinged from reality; Heather Cox Richardson’s take: a turning away from “Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that … Continue reading →

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Categories, Scales, a Public Health Triumph, and How the So-Called Experts Have Been Right

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives like categories, especially binary ones: two examples. Including the claim that what makes a man gay is liberalism; NYT updates its Autocracy Index, 12 markers of democratic erosion; Conservative panic over falling reproduction rates seen instead as a public … Continue reading →

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Recalling American Life Before Vaccines, Including My Own

Posted on Monday 11 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A remembrance of America before vaccines; How the DOGE-ing of the Humanities is being reversed, fortunately; Briefly noted: Trump’s intuitive thinking is wrong about vaccines and autism; a Republican who thinks racial discrimination is a thing of the past, as … Continue reading →

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Cooperation Is the Key to Human Advancement

Posted on Sunday 10 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A counterpoint to zero-sum thinking from Japan, and cooperation; Tennessee shows how to rig an election; Short items on Trump, the Pope, and the Bible; now RFK Jr. is worried about jello; how a Christian conspiracy theorist now admits to … Continue reading →

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Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Krugman, Jesse Bering

Posted on Wednesday 6 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Neil deGrasse Tyson on aliens, and his new book; Paul Krugman explains how MAGA will kill many Americans; Jesse Bering on karma; And short items about Trump’s health, aliens, the ballroom, the upcoming cage match, and “low T”. – – … Continue reading →

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