Category Archives: History

No Shades of Gray

Posted on Friday 20 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump wants national parks to reflect only patriotic history; Trump thinks if you’re not on his side then you “hate America”; Yet another example: Beware “common sense”; Short items: Atheists in prison; Trump officials reverse ICE guidelines, again and again; … Continue reading →

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Feudalism, Suicide, Ignorance, Disease, Conservative DEI

Posted on Tuesday 3 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Quite a round of doom and gloom essays today. This is where we are. The drive toward privatization will lead to feudalism; Max Boot on the suicide of a superpower; Paul Krugman on how we’re no longer a serious country, … Continue reading →

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J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN

Posted on Saturday 10 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Little, Brown, 1973, 448pp, including 9pp (in tiny print) of bibliography and index) This is a substantial book that was popular in its time but is probably not really recommendable now, simply because it’s 50 years out of date in … Continue reading →

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Tribal Warpaint

Posted on Sunday 27 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How Trump doesn’t want to govern, and rejects the idea of American government as a collaboration; How the idea of consumer choice led to the idea of being gay; Trump and covid.gov rewrite the history, as authoritarians do; How Trump … Continue reading →

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Civic Uprising?

Posted on Sunday 20 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservative David Brooks calls for a civic uprising against the Trump administration; How Salon executive editor Andrew O’Hehir reacts to this; How psychopaths and financial services seem to go together; The extent to which JD Vance lies; Aid to foreign … Continue reading →

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Musk, History, Science, Education

Posted on Monday 14 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Grant on the wrong lesson to take from Elon Musk; David Remnick on the conservative urge to rewrite the past in simplistic terms; RFK Jr.’s contempt of science; And the conservative war against education. – – – Adam Grant … Continue reading →

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Largely Unnoticed?

Posted on Tuesday 25 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Two big topics today: how Trump is aligning with dictators, breaking 75 years of America as leader of the free world; With items from NYT’s Fred Kaplan, Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, and Robert Reich. Some reflections from two books I’ve just … Continue reading →

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Incompetence and Restlessness

Posted on Friday 21 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Wired on the incompetence of DOGE; Thoughts about why all this is happening now; Heather Cox Richardson quotes James Marriott of The Times about how the post-World War II liberal order has allowed the seeds of its own destruction to … Continue reading →

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How Soon Will This Madness End?

Posted on Tuesday 18 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

I keep thinking this has to implode, sooner rather than later. Trump and/or Musk will do something so egregious, so dangerous, that *someone* will step up to reign them in, even if very carefully, behind the scenes, so as not … Continue reading →

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People Are Saying… It’s a Coup

Posted on Sunday 2 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Another sleepy day with a cold, and it’s gloomy and drizzly outside today too. The latest on what’s going on, via Connie Willis and Heather Cox Richardson; LA Times on Trump’s idiotic order to empty two California reservoirs; An example … Continue reading →

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