Category Archives: conservatives

Motivated Reasoning, Supreme Court Edition

Posted on Sunday 17 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one short, but provocative, item today. This is the opening piece in the “Talk of the Town” section in the March 18th issue of The New Yorker. It cuts to the core of Supreme Court, and conservative, thinking. The … Continue reading →

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Emotional Intelligence and Con Men

Posted on Thursday 14 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich on Trump’s stupidity — except for his emotional intelligence, which manifests as his being a con man; Peter Wehner on “Fifth Avenue Republicans”; Tom Nichols about why Trump shouldn’t be given security briefings; Music: Neil Finn’s “Into the … Continue reading →

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More Dispatches from Alternative Realities

Posted on Wednesday 13 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How Katie Britt, like other clueless Republicans, claims victimhood, and pleads for cash; Robert Wright on how the Trump-Biden choice won’t solve anything; Short items about Trump’s obsession with Hitler; how violent crime is down but you wouldn’t know it … Continue reading →

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One More Batch

Posted on Wednesday 28 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

More every day. All of these items are posts today. I’ll move on tomorrow. An essay by a mother about “Republicans’ Absurdist Reproductive Policies”; A MAGA congressman (from Tennessee) floats a Democratic conspiracy theory about the border, dadgummit; Ruben Bolling’s … Continue reading →

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Agents of Chaos

Posted on Saturday 24 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A piece in The Atlantic about people who embrace chaos and nihilism — and spread conspiracy theories just to alleviate boredom, or burn it all down; And an example of this: Washington Post on Libs of Tik Tok; And recalling … Continue reading →

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More on the IVF Brouhaha

Posted on Friday 23 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Vox summarizes the issue; Republicans are walking the issue back; they know it won’t win them votes; Amanda Marcotte on how this is about Christians controlling women; Robert Reich on the emerging Republican theocracy; A link to Connie Willis’ latest … Continue reading →

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In her soft wind I will whisper

Posted on Wednesday 21 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman on how people see what they believe, despite evidence, regarding Tucker Carlson and his visit to Russia; Robert Reich on how Trump, and Putin, are not leaders; they’re thugs; About selective memory among conservatives about the economy under … Continue reading →

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More Behaving Badly

Posted on Sunday 18 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich on Trump, ever the con artist; David French on the warping of American life by MAGA threats of violence; Trump doesn’t realize he’s the cause of US demise; The informant who inspired the Republican Biden investigation has been … Continue reading →

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A Big Picture vs. Daily Trivia

Posted on Thursday 15 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

An overview of 75 years of American history, by Robert Reich; Fringe items about Republican racism, who’s the traitor, the Taylor Swift conspiracy theory, assertions without evidence, the nanny state, moral certitude, and Fox News. I think many of us … Continue reading →

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From Looking Glass to Scary

Posted on Friday 9 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

My “looking glass” take two days ago was a cute way to avoid discussing the “tribalists” or the “cult” but perhaps things are actually getting too serious to dismiss those items as merely bizarre, upside-down-thinking about the world. If it … Continue reading →

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