Category Archives: Politics

Take Another Trip Around the Sun

Posted on Thursday 11 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s try to drill through accumulated links, if only briefly, and then move on to other things. Among many items, these themes: Republicans and “God gave us Trump” and America’s “collective pathology”; Adam Lee on the idea that conspiracy theorists … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Take Another Trip Around the Sun

A Dream of Oceans, and Sunken Cities

Posted on Wednesday 10 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Still enamored by R.E.M., which is why I’ve chosen another of their lyrics for today’s post title. Today: more items about trying to understand the modern world. How false information might be the top global risk in 2024; An example … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Music, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on A Dream of Oceans, and Sunken Cities

Philosophy of Government, and other matters

Posted on Monday 8 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How that DeSantis/Newsom debate revealed “the space between red and blue states”; Short items about folding paper to reach the Moon (the answer is 42), and Christian ideas about good and evil, beating up gay children, and Trump as God’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Philosophy of Government, and other matters

Phone Calls, Denials, and Reading Philosophy

Posted on Saturday 6 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Phone call etiquette; Denial of the Jan. 6 Insurrection, despite receipts; How denial of evolution resembles current efforts to deny democracy; And some thoughts about reading philosophy. Still under the weather; perhaps by Monday I’ll have the energy to get … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Personal history, Philosophy, Politics, The Book | Comments Off on Phone Calls, Denials, and Reading Philosophy

Basic Principles of Politics, Economics, and Zealotry

Posted on Friday 5 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Three items today. How the Republican strategy has changed; Zero-sum thinking (by conservatives) vs. division of labor and our modern complex society; And fringe items about God-believers and how God made Trump. There’s a commonly understood explanation for the long-time … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Basic Principles of Politics, Economics, and Zealotry

Watching Movies in Theaters; UBI; Reality; Why Everyone Thinks They’re Losing; and Epistemology

Posted on Thursday 4 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today: How watching movies in certain theaters (AMC) is a bloated experience; Why UBI studies are not making traction into political policy; A New Yorker graphic essay about how reality might exist only because we’re observing it; E.J. Dionne … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Movies, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Watching Movies in Theaters; UBI; Reality; Why Everyone Thinks They’re Losing; and Epistemology

Slavery and Abortion; Prophets and Psychics

Posted on Wednesday 3 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Under the weather for a couple days now; I finally caught the cold that Y caught end of last week just as we finished in Las Vegas. (Congestion, sniffling, sneezing, some coughing — like the colds I’ve had a couple … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Slavery and Abortion; Prophets and Psychics

Leaving Off with 2023

Posted on Monday 1 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s 2024! Let’s see where 2023 left off, based on links I collected over the past week while traveling. Twenty-two items below, including these topics: Thom Hartmann on GOP scams; Roger Rosenblatt on New Year’s Resolutions; Mike Johnson’s alliance with … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Leaving Off with 2023

Progress in 2023

Posted on Sunday 31 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

For this last post of the year, I’ll link several year-end pieces about progress in the world, where most people see only continued doom. (I’ll do a separate post, about progress against my goals in my own life, soon.) NY … Continue reading →

Posted in Meaning, Politics, progress, Religion | Tagged | Comments Off on Progress in 2023

Before Holiday Break

Posted on Friday 22 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Quick post, likely the last one for several days, perhaps a week. Topics: RFK’s lies; Big Think’s “Explain It Like I’m Smart” series; How the humanities have become more political; the most mystifying open questions in science; why a university … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Before Holiday Break