Category Archives: Human Nature

David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

One item today. A long piece from David Brooks, trying to understand how we got here, given history. The Atlantic, David Books, 8 Jul 2025: Why Do So Many People Think That Trump Is Good?, subtitled “The work of the moral … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Human Nature, Politics, progress | Comments Off on David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

What Is America Thinking?

Will scientific advances by the US continue? Do most Americans care? My take on the big picture of the cultural change in the US, and other societies; Heather Cox Richardson, and Nitish Pahwa at Slate, summarize what’s to blame for … Continue reading

Posted in Astronomy, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Lunacy, Science | Comments Off on What Is America Thinking?

True Colors

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

So Many People to Hate!

ICE now has a budget bigger than all but 15 countries’ military budgets; Why has funding for ICE has ballooned, compared to previous presidents?; Trump says he wants to deport bad people born in the US, too; Trump wants to … Continue reading

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Politics, science fiction | Comments Off on So Many People to Hate!

Now It’s Concentration Camps

Concentration Camps, and Republican salivation to send 65 million immigrants to the alligators; Trump thinks brain scans measure IQ; American science’s brain drain; How societies maintain national myths to survive. – – – What’s next? Dungeons and shackles? Do Trump … Continue reading

Posted in authoritarianism, conservatives, Human Nature | Comments Off on Now It’s Concentration Camps

Implications

Do justices not foresee consequences? Heather Cox Richardson on the big beautiful bill; How JD Vance reveals the administration’s true motivations; cruelty is the thing; Jonathan Chait on Republicans’ “incomprehensibly reckless plan”; Robert Reich on conservatives’ animosity to empathy (never … Continue reading

Posted in authoritarianism, Human Nature, Music, Politics | Comments Off on Implications

Paleolithic Emotions, Medieval Institutions, and Godlike Technology

EO Wilson on the real problem of humanity; Conservatives think you can command things into existence, despite the evidence of the real world; re: Trump’s tariffs on aluminum; With my comments about modern technology and globalism; How the Minnesota killer … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Human Progress, Politics, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Paleolithic Emotions, Medieval Institutions, and Godlike Technology

Knowing vs. Believing

RFK “retires” his vaccine advisory committee (because he knows better); Robert Reich on how the MAGA Inquisition will destroy American science, and Reich tries to understand why; Robert Reich on Trump’s war against California, and the central struggle of civilization; … Continue reading

Posted in Human Nature, Lunacy, Music, Politics | Comments Off on Knowing vs. Believing

Feudalism, Suicide, Ignorance, Disease, Conservative DEI

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

Posted in History, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on Feudalism, Suicide, Ignorance, Disease, Conservative DEI

MAGA and human nature; How Trump thinks everything is about loyalty to him

Reconsidering the definition of MAGA, and how it relates to base human nature; Recalling the David Brooks essay from yesterday; Trump thinks an honest economic forecast is “unpatriotic”; A Christian boy band preaches to public school students, and denies it; … Continue reading

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on MAGA and human nature; How Trump thinks everything is about loyalty to him