Category Archives: conservatives

Stories and Reality

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Are more Americans seeing the truth behind the GOP lies?; Evidence that disputes Trump’s promises, in 11 charts; Robert Reich tells Scott Bessent who’s wrong and who’s right; Paul Krugman wonders why Trump likes North Korea, the worst government on … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Music, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Stories and Reality

Fantasy Lands

Posted on Sunday 16 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew O’Hehir on how few people understand the differences between socialism, capitalism, and all those other isms, as even MAGA embraces socialist ideas; Mark Joseph Stern on the origin of originalist ideas about the US Constitution; Jamelle Boudie on how … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Culture, Politics | Comments Off on Fantasy Lands

David Brin’s Phases of the American Civil War

Posted on Saturday 15 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Still under the weather, for a week now. I’m behind updating sfadb. I spent some time this afternoon refining yesterday’s post. For now, not entirely irrelevant: Brin has long portrayed American history as the same kind of transition between modes … Continue reading →

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MAGA Art Slop; Ignoring the Data

Posted on Wednesday 12 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

MAGA taste in art, and a new exhibit in Washington DC; More Republican destruction: the US Census, and monitoring the Arctic; Maybe they don’t believe they’re lying, they just don’t know the difference between lies and truth; Robert Reich on … Continue reading →

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Understanding vs. Blaming, Bad-Faith Arguments, Religion as Rank Tribalism, and Short-term vs Long-Term Thinking

Posted on Saturday 8 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives attacking Fauci aren’t interested in learning; Paul Krugman on how a bad-faith government is also an incompetent government; MAGA prophet is sure God is going to start killing people he doesn’t like; Democratic policy goals are hard sells against … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Understanding vs. Blaming, Bad-Faith Arguments, Religion as Rank Tribalism, and Short-term vs Long-Term Thinking

Zeus’ Law

Posted on Sunday 2 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The Odyssey and Zeus’ Law; Trump doubles down on reflecting pool vandals; Christian sky evangelist kicked off plane; Headlines from JMG about AI slop, Burgum also doubles down, bullying, executing women who get abortions, criminally charging librarians, permitting ex-gay torture, … Continue reading →

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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 →

Posted in conservatives, Philosophy, Religion, Science | Comments Off on We’re Not Asking the Right Questions, Perhaps

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 →

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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 →

Posted in conservatives, History, Music | Comments Off on The Drive to Preserve an Idealistic Past, Which Will Inevitably Fail