Category Archives: Culture

Twilight of the Gods?

Posted on Tuesday 28 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Pondering how to live in a era without religious assumptions; A related theme in Arthur C. Clarke’s The Songs of Distant Earth; Timothy Snyder on superpower suicide; distrust of the current administration; confused thoughts about racism from the right; And … Continue reading →

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Change For the Better, vs. Sunk Cost

Posted on Friday 24 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

John McWhorter: Don’t pronounce the T in ‘often’; How an American living abroad realizes the problems with America; Why we’re stuck with a religious calendar. – – – My favorite pet peeve. NY Times, John McWhorter, yesterday: What’s Better Left … Continue reading →

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What Western Civilization is Actually About

Posted on Saturday 14 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Francis Fukuyama, responding to Marco Rubio, on how Western Civilization is more about the Enlightenment than religious faith; And Boston Globe via Steven Pinker on that Tennessee congressman’s anti-Muslim screed; Briefly noted items about Trump’s shoe tests and their Soviet … Continue reading →

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Does Western Civilization Depend on Christian Monotheism?

Posted on Thursday 19 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Challenging David Brooks, the retiring NYT columnist, and his idea of building a humanist culture, from Bruce Ledewitz and Robert Reich; Brooks’ problem, claims Ledewitz, is that Brooks can’t let go of religion; “the past collapsed for a reason”; And … Continue reading →

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Shermer, Zakaria, Clinton, Bruckner

Posted on Saturday 31 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer on UFOs; Fareed Zakaria on civilizational erasure; Hillary Rodman Clinton on MAGA’s war on empathy; And Bruckner 4. – – – Michael Shermer has a new book out called TRUTH, which re-visits topics and themes from his earlier … Continue reading →

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Our Outlaw Nation

Posted on Wednesday 7 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

This popped up on Facebook, but I don’t subscribe to the magazine and can only see this much of the article. It’s about the new book by Johan Norberg, which came out in September. It’s on my TBR shelf. The … Continue reading →

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A Return to the Original Mission: Impossible Presumption

Posted on Monday 5 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives want to see media — now CBS — that tells them what they already believe; How Trump has made fools out of his populist supporters; How the “Donroe Doctrine” is now in effect; And how all of this reflects … Continue reading →

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Is Reading a Vice? No.

Posted on Friday 2 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Kirsch at The Atlantic suggests that reading is a vice; Paul Krugman on the Heritage Foundation; Robert Reich on the Trump administration’s policy of hate; Short items about everyone laughing at Trump; a measles outbreak at the Noah’s Ark … Continue reading →

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Where We Are, Here at the End of 2025

Posted on Wednesday 31 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How Trump has made the government smaller, but not more efficient or dependable; Example of shutting down NASA’s library; Example of cuts to science research; How Trump prefers “vibes” to data; New Yorker’s Susan B. Glasser wonders how people let … Continue reading →

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Defending the Indefensible; and Reading

Posted on Tuesday 16 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump about Rob Reiner and the few who defend him and the many more who do not; How many people don’t finish most books, and how high school students barely read any. – – – Once again, we’re dealing with … Continue reading →

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