Category Archives: Psychology

How All This Is Reflected in Science Fiction

Posted on Sunday 12 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The three themes of my essay; Items about the Pope, Trump firing black officials, MAGA’s presumption of carrying out the “Lord’s work,” how the Trump administration has quietly reinstated many of the CDC staffers it recently fire, how Trump thinks … Continue reading →

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How This Is All About Science Fiction

Posted on Friday 10 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

This blog isn’t about conservatives and the religious; it’s about people believing things that aren’t true, about tribalism and hypocrisy, and how human nature reduces everything into binaries. With numerous examples; And about how Trump didn’t win the Nobel Peace … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, science fiction | Comments Off on How This Is All About Science Fiction

How Tribal Loyalty Overrides Evidence of Incompetence

Posted on Tuesday 7 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How MAGA will never accept “I told you so”: Robert Reich on why Trump keeps dismantling agencies; Short items about overthrowing the government, primitive morality, yet another prediction of the rapture, Biblical morality to justify the killing of black men, … Continue reading →

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Shades of Autism

Posted on Sunday 5 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew O’Hehir at Salon describes Trump’s war on reality, concerning Venezuela; Bits from JMG about Democrats, the Pope, a debate trophy named for Charlie Kirk; how Trump lies about Portland burning to the ground; and how the GOP doesn’t want … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Psychology, reality, Thinking | Comments Off on Shades of Autism

Tearing Down

Posted on Saturday 4 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How the current administration loves to fire people; Trump’s license to kill, from a man who wants the Nobel Peace Prize; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump’s hate, and Russell Vought; A Trump memo that casts atheists as terrorists; how other … Continue reading →

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More on why what’s going on is going on

Posted on Friday 3 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman on the decline of American democracy, since Nixon; Francis Fukuyama blames social media and the internet as the prime cause, over eight others, for the global populist wave; Adam Frank on why young men are losing faith in … Continue reading →

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Medbed Fantasies and Trump’s Dementia

Posted on Monday 29 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate, Heather Cox Richardson, and Robert Reich on Trump’s AI video about “medbeds”; Reich explicitly links it to Trump’s dementia; Short items about the Michigan mass shooter, government enforcement of Turning Point Clubs; tariffs on foreign-made movies; and banning the … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres

Posted on Sunday 28 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Steven Pinker’s new book, and how he applies its ideas to understand the Charlie Kirk matter; Right-wing The Daily Caller explicitly calls for violence; Trump seems to believe in “medbeds,” a science-fictional idea born of MAGA fantasies; And rumors about … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Steven Pinker, Right-Wing Threats of Violence, and Ligeti’s Atmospheres

What Astonishes Me

Posted on Thursday 25 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

A UK journalist’s characterization of Trump, and America; Why voters keep shrugging off the corruption of Trump and his staff; Robert Reich’s characterization of the current occupant of the Oval Office; And how what astonishes me is how so many … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on What Astonishes Me

Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology

Posted on Monday 22 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Three more core principles today, illustrated by an essay by a “former creationist” and how she found “following the science” clashed with her culture — and how this conflict is born of ancient biology; How universities would like to teach … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology