Category Archives: Culture

The Real Americans?

Posted on Thursday 11 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

We live in a bizarre world in which many, perhaps most, Americans deify people who are against basic American values. (Because what really drives conservatives is not the Constitution, but the OT.) So many news posts and Facebook posts about … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Politics | Comments Off on The Real Americans?

How About a Nobel Prize for Belligerence?

Posted on Sunday 7 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More about Trump’s actions vs his aspirations. You’d think Trump were running to win a Nobel Prize not for peace, but for belligerence. NY Times, David French, 7 Sept 2025: It Doesn’t Seem Wise to Let Trump Decide What War … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on How About a Nobel Prize for Belligerence?

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

We’re Living in a World of Mad Hatters

Posted on Monday 4 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

David Brin on the red state/blue state divide; The authors of a report about the 2016 election set the record straight, to correct Tulsi Gabbard, and all the Fox News coverage of her; Tom Nichols on the latest Trump distraction … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Politics | Comments Off on We’re Living in a World of Mad Hatters

True Colors

Posted on Saturday 5 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More conservative racism: Everyone is *not* welcome; Laura Loomer would boycott brands that don’t use white actors in their TV commercials; MTG thinks evildoers are using weather control to create the deadly floods in Texas; Meanwhile, people who know real … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Culture, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on True Colors

Self-destruction, Mafia Politics, TACO, What Aligns the Right, Bread and Circuses

Posted on Wednesday 28 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman on the economic damage of America’s withdrawal from the world; You can get away with anything if you donate enough to Trump; TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out; Zack Beauchamp on how the right isn’t driven by materialism, but … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Culture, Economics, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Self-destruction, Mafia Politics, TACO, What Aligns the Right, Bread and Circuses

GOP/conservatives and the Rich; and the Countryside; and Star Wars

Posted on Sunday 18 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The GOP tax bill will hurt lowest earners and help the rich (of course!); NYT’s Jamelle Bouie on Republican hypocrisy and the countryside; Trek v. Wars, and how Wars reveals conservatives’ authoritarian fantasies. – – – NY Times, Tony Romm, … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Culture, science fiction | Comments Off on GOP/conservatives and the Rich; and the Countryside; and Star Wars

We’re Living in an Age of Regression

Posted on Tuesday 13 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

In Trump’s America, it’s every parent and child out for themselves; Who decides who’s Christian? The government? Fox News says the Qatari bribe to Trump is fine because FDR gave three planes to the Saudis… 80 years ago; Robert Reich … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Culture, Decline, Evolution, Human Nature, Human Progress, Music | Comments Off on We’re Living in an Age of Regression

Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1

Posted on Tuesday 13 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Wait But Why, 2024, 584pp, including 112pp of characters, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, and bio) I wrote about this book back in December, before deciding to buy it. Which I did despite some cautionary signs: it’s apparently self-published, it’s enormous, it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Culture, Human Nature, Human Progress | Comments Off on Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1

Palace in the Sky, For the One

Posted on Monday 12 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Several items today about the Trump administration’s acceptance from Qatar of a $400 million luxury 747, for Trump’s personal use; How Trump shrugs off intelligence briefings; he knows what he knows because he’s smart; How the story of a woman … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Culture, Decline, Politics | Comments Off on Palace in the Sky, For the One