Category Archives: Politics

As I’ve Been Saying…

Posted on Thursday 10 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Is there any point in noting these same issues again and again? Yes. Because they are evidence of the decline of the US, which most Americans are not noticing, and I think this is important, not so much as this … Continue reading →

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Darkest Days

Posted on Wednesday 9 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Shorter items today. The Supreme Court and “emergencies”; How Trump reflexively blames Biden; And how Trump takes credit for what Biden actually did; The confusion over Epstein conspiracy theories; Trump wants more factories, but is expelling the workers who might … Continue reading →

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

Posted on Tuesday 8 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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

True Colors

Posted on Saturday 5 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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So Many People to Hate!

Posted on Friday 4 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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!

How It Works. How They Work.

Posted on Thursday 3 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How it works: Republican megadonors get megacontracts to run ICE concentration camps; How they work: Republicans are even less pluralistic than they’ve ever been; Robert Reich on the familiar reasons authoritarians suppress education, and what “conservative ideas” might possibly be; … Continue reading →

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Implications

Posted on Tuesday 1 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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

Stories, Archetypes, Morality

Posted on Monday 30 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Does anyone take Jung or Freud seriously any more? OnlySky’s Bruce Ledewitz on the contemporary idea of “evil”; Robert Reich on “the worst bill in history” and fact-checking claims about tax cuts; How local communities fight back against ICE; Republicans … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Stories, Archetypes, Morality

Can You Hear Me?

Posted on Sunday 29 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich reminds us of the three branches of American government, and how, in plain site, Trump is attacking two of them; How Donald Trump doesn’t align with William McKinley so much as William Jennings Bryan. Bruce Springsteen’s “Outlaw Pete”. … Continue reading →

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Morality Is Relative; Reality Is Not

Posted on Saturday 28 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

An undistorted map of the world; Jesse Being on “commonsense”; How morality is circumstantial, e.g. in Margaret Atwood’s THE HANDMAID’S TALE, which I just reread this week; Website matters involving drop-down menu bars, here and on sfadb.com; Short items about … Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Politics, Psychology, reality, Website Issues | Comments Off on Morality Is Relative; Reality Is Not