Category Archives: Politics

America’s Crackpots vs. Its Foundational Strength

Posted on Saturday 10 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today: 12m people support violence to keep Trump in office; Kari Lake threatens violence to keep Trump in office; Florida wants immigrants to stay and work, despite the state’s anti-immigrant policies; Families in Florida who feel unsafe are leaving … Continue reading →

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Law vs. Science, Climate Change vs. Insurance

Posted on Friday 9 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items about the Supreme Court’s redefinition of “wetlands,” despite the science of hydrology; Two items about the effects of climate change, including how some insurance companies are refusing new homeowner policies.

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The Lies that Bind

Posted on Wednesday 31 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How the Christian curriculum ACE lies about science; How some people are happy to submit to tyranny; Wondering if it matters children are lied to about reality, and concluding that it doesn’t, given certain purposes of life; And reflecting again … Continue reading →

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Today’s Fantasy vs. Reality Watch

Posted on Sunday 21 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today about How Americans feel so negative about the economy, despite actual statistics; How Christian Nationalism is working in Wyoming — the usual evocations of concerns that are not real; How to determine truth, with an aside about science-fictional … Continue reading →

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Lessons in Media Literacy

Posted on Saturday 20 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How stories about the border are designed to scare you, one way or the other; How right-wing sites promoted a false story about immigrants displacing veterans from New York City hotels; Heather Cox Richardson on the debt crisis and how … Continue reading →

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Today’s Authoritarianism Watch

Posted on Friday 19 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today: Heather Cox Richardson on the transformation of the Republican Party since Reagan, from a party of small government to one bent on enforcing Christian nationalism; How Republicans now argue that juries don’t count (when they lose); FDR’s four … Continue reading →

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Budgeting, Firearms, Walls, and Executing Trans People

Posted on Thursday 18 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Several items today. How family and government budgeting are more unalike than similar; How firearms training teaches you that you are in constant danger, and should shoot at once; Thomas L. Friedman on building bigger walls, but also allowing in … Continue reading →

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The Town Hall, and the Core Issue

Posted on Thursday 11 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The political news today is about the “Town Hall” on CNN last night that gave Donald Trump a full hour to spew his usual shtick of lies and insults, before an audience of his fans, and the commentary in the … Continue reading →

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A Slow American Civil War?

Posted on Tuesday 9 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today about The debt ceiling crisis and the deficit scolds This Modern World on teacher bots and the debt ceiling, among other things How the latest mass shooting suggests an American ‘slow civil war’

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Mental Illness, Gun Violence, and Lying

Posted on Monday 8 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s hard to get through a week without more incidents of gun violence in the US, and Republican claims that they’re all due to mental illness. So why is the US an extreme outlier in gun violence? Why would more … Continue reading →

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