Category Archives: progress

Speculations on a New World Order

Posted on Monday 19 October 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Speculation on a new world order; Tom Nichols on how Trump has abandoned the Western order; Reconsidering what business schools promote; Fareed Zakaria’s essay; How Fox News peddles “fear porn”; How the Trump administration is discouraging even legal immigration. – … Continue reading →

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The Progress of Christian Nationalism

Posted on Thursday 1 October 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Items about Trump campaigning on the taxpayer’s dime, how Project 2025 is succeeding better than Trump himself, how Hegseth is instilling his personal religion into the military, and how Disney World solved a basic infrastructure problem. (Items from 1 Oct, … Continue reading →

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They Precede Us

Posted on Saturday 13 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Not aliens. Aspects of primal human nature. Equus. But perhaps Disclosure Day is more of the same. Several links about Spielberg’s new movie Disclosure Day, which I’ll wait to see for another week or two. Will revisit and comment about … Continue reading →

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Johan Norberg, PROGRESS

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future (UK: Oneworld, Oct 2016, 246pp, including 28pp notes, acknowledgements, and index) Rather as I did with Rutger Bregman a few days, here’s an author who has a new book out recently, … Continue reading →

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Wrecking Ball Politics. Wentithy.

Posted on Tuesday 10 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The most beautiful news of 2025, from Information is Beautiful, due mostly to science and technology; Items from JMG about MAGA and conservative outrage; Items about Trump administration’s wrecking ball politics: destroying climate regulations, the global international order, the government’s … Continue reading →

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Good News, Two Ways

Posted on Wednesday 24 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Progress, and Christmas songs. First, let’s note this. Vox, Bryan Walsh, 22 Dec 2025: 2025 felt like a disaster — but the numbers tell a very different story, subtitled “From a CRISPR baby to a closing ozone hole, 5 actually … Continue reading →

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Human Happiness, and Fonts

Posted on Wednesday 10 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Sean Illing and Brad DeLong wonder why, with all humanity’s progress, aren’t we happier? An eternal question; Paul Krugman on how Trump thinks people aren’t properly grateful for his perfect economy; Marco Rubio defeats a woke font; Heather Cox Richardson … Continue reading →

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And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field

Posted on Friday 5 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman, with graphs, wonders why the right rejects progress; Robert Reich on why we don’t trust Donald Trump — because he disregards the truth; Hemant Mehta on how the “nones” aren’t exactly “godless”; How Trump is a Russian asset; … Continue reading →

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No Necessary Nations

Posted on Saturday 12 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephan Marche on how there are no necessary nations, and no permanent global order; Judges, appointed both by Republicans and Democrats, speak out against the Trump administration; Heather Cox Richardson identifies one key failure in the Texas floods, the result … 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 →

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