Category Archives: Politics

Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres

Steven Pinker’s new book, and how he applies its ideas to understand the Charlie Kirk matter; Right-wing The Daily Caller explicitly calls for violence; Trump seems to believe in “medbeds,” a science-fictional idea born of MAGA fantasies; And rumors about … Continue reading

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The Crisis in War-Ravaged Portland, Oregon

Trump thinks Portland OR is ravaged by war, and presumably some of his followers believe him; Another example of threatened violence from the right; Trump is out for revenge, obviously; How Trump simply defines people who don’t like MAGA policies … Continue reading

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How to Understand How the World Actually Works

How pediatricians deal with Trump’s advice; How the shooters aren’t necessarily right-wing or left-wing, but simply internet trolls (and anyway, Trump is lying); While there are right-wingers vowing to take out “progressive leftism”; Headlines about Trump’s corruption, Hegseth’s warrior culture … Continue reading

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What Astonishes Me

A UK journalist’s characterization of Trump, and America; Why voters keep shrugging off the corruption of Trump and his staff; Robert Reich’s characterization of the current occupant of the Oval Office; And how what astonishes me is how so many … Continue reading

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Simplistic Takes About Autism and Everything Else

Simplistic wrong thinking about autism; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s UN speech; And The Bulwark’s take on that speech; And of course the Rapture didn’t happen. – – – The autism issue is just another example of how conservatives flatten … Continue reading

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The Imbecile

Trump tells pregnant women to fight and not take Tylenol; The leucovorin-Dr. Oz connection; About Trump’s bonkers UN speech; Reactions from AlterNet, PolitiFact, NY Times; Still baffled why people like Trump. – – – Which is worse, Trump and RFK … Continue reading

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A Core Theme: The Mismatch of Human Nature

One of the emerging themes on this blog over the years is the idea that human nature evolved over millions of years to enable survival in an ancestral environment that most people no longer live in. In my own reading … Continue reading

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More Cautionary Traits

How the right sees enemies everywhere; How Trump depicts immigrants as monsters; Remember what Charlie Kirk said about Simone Biles? Brief items; NYT’s Ross Douthat tries to explain the conservative principles behind the Kimmel suspension. – – –   Perhaps … Continue reading

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How Transgenders Trigger Conservatives

Two truths of Trumpists: nothing is ever their fault, their obsession with contamination; Heritage wants to designate trans people as terrorists; Republicans seem to have no principles except protecting the tribe: once they defended free speech, now, not so much; … Continue reading

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And Now It’s Jimmy Kimmel

Jimmy Kimmel pulled off air for comments about Charlie Kirk; With comments by Adam Serwer and Zack Beauchamp; And how a huge business deal is behind this; NYT in 1939 describing how Joseph Goebbels did the same thing. – – … Continue reading

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