Category Archives: Religion

Who’s Happiest and Why?

Posted on Monday 28 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Phil Zuckerman on that World Happiness Report; A NYT article about alternatives to religion; Recalling mythos and logos; Richard Dawkins on how reality is so much more interesting than religion, And Vox on social trends that may affect religious affiliations. … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

Tribal Warpaint

Posted on Sunday 27 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How Trump doesn’t want to govern, and rejects the idea of American government as a collaboration; How the idea of consumer choice led to the idea of being gay; Trump and covid.gov rewrite the history, as authoritarians do; How Trump … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Culture, History, Lunacy, Politics, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

The Latest Cultural War Conservatives are Losing

Posted on Wednesday 23 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How Conservatives keep badgering the law even as they lose the culture war; Specifically, the Supreme Court case about banning books that Christians are uncomfortable with; Related: HHS is proposing defunding the LGBTQ+ suicide hotline; and Sam Alito misreads a … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

Perhaps Humanity Has Hit a Conceptual Ceiling

Posted on Sunday 13 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Alternate title: America was supposed to be better than this. Perhaps MAGA is about making America *simpler* again; perhaps what we’re seeing is a rejection of the complexity of the modern world; Why is it Americans love watching crime shows? … Continue reading →

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We’re Becoming an Authoritarian, Theocratic, Police State

Posted on Friday 11 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Anne Applebaum on why dictatorships fail; David Brooks on how Americans can’t think anymore; Amanda Marcotte on Elon Musk’s and MAGA’s misogyny, via their war on empathy; Morons: A GOP Rep about how climate change is a sham because God … Continue reading →

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How Trump and MAGA illustrate Fundamental Principles

Posted on Monday 7 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How my posts about current politics, including Trump and Musk, are about illustrating fundamental principles; Trump simply doesn’t understand trade; David Brooks on how conservatives have changed; A Christian law-maker who thinks “critical thinking” includes teaching about God; Short items … Continue reading →

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I read the news today, oh boy.

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How mold is taken as a miracle, another example in an endless series throughout history; Short items about Trump, tariffs, and auto prices; lying about American history; how “make America healthy again” means the opposite; how a vaccine expert has … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on I read the news today, oh boy.

Security Breach; Socialism vs. Capitalism

Posted on Monday 24 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s big news is about the security breach by Pete Hegseth, and whether he or anyone else will face consequences; Heather Cox Richardson on the 15th anniversary of Obamacare; And my reflections on the motivations behind the debates between capitalism … Continue reading →

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Tribalistic Politics

Posted on Saturday 22 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Frank Bruni on why Trump keeps attacking Biden; Paul Krugman, via Adam Tooze, on how Trump has prejudices rather than ideas; Heather Cox Richardson recalls how Republicans have tried to create their own reality; Why MAGA voters want their opponents … Continue reading →

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How MAGA folks don’t actually believe in traditional American values

Posted on Tuesday 18 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Rather, they embody the essence of primitive tribalism. A Ben Shapiro host renounces the Statue of Liberty and its “stupid” poem; The disappearance of Navajo Code Talkers on government websites suggests again that MAGA is a white supremacy movement; Shameless … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Human Nature, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on How MAGA folks don’t actually believe in traditional American values