Category Archives: Politics

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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This Week’s Political and Cultural Items

Posted on Friday 5 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Why Republicans can no longer be called the party of “family values” How Republicans are obsessed by the woke mind virus More reasons why the US needs more immigrants, not fewer Benjamin Wallace-Wells on Tucker Carlson Jerry Coyne on another … Continue reading →

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Our New Hillside, and the usual political matters

Posted on Friday 21 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

First of all, tree trimmers have been near us for two days, trimming and potentially cutting down the eucalyptus trees on the hillside next to our house. This is welcome news because eucalyptus trees are fire-prone, and because a couple … Continue reading →

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Making the Story Go Away

Posted on Tuesday 18 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The big news today: Fox News has settled the case brought by Dominion Voting Systems. (Fox News had repeatedly implied that the 2020 election was somehow stolen via manipulation of the voting machines built by Dominion. Without an ounce of … Continue reading →

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Drag, the Abortion Pill, Blue Cities in Red States

Posted on Monday 17 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Why conservatives are so upset by drag; The Comstock Law, an antiquated precedent conservatives use to justify things they don’t like, like the abortion pill; And how people are fleeing blue states for red states — but into blue cities.

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Arguing Styles, Debates, and Winning vs. Being Right

Posted on Friday 14 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve mentioned the book RESPONDING TO THE RIGHT by Nathan J. Robinson a couple times before, and today I want to summarize the gist of the book.

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