Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Meta
Category Archives: Religion
Intellectual Vacuity, False Christian History, and Stories
The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait, 9 Sept 2025: The Intellectual Vacuity of the National Conservatives, subtitled “The post-liberal American right set out to destroy the guardrails that restrained anti-Semitism, without giving any thought to what might happen next.” [gift link] This … Continue reading
Posted in Religion
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Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 1
Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) For this next book, I’m going to split summary and notes up into multiple posts. And include some general comments … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
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And the Moon Rose Over an Open Field
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
Posted in Human Nature, Music, Politics, progress, Religion
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Margaret Atwood: THE HANDMAID’S TALE
(Houghton Mifflin, Feb. 1986, hardcover, 311pp) This is the US first edition hardcover, which I bought when it came out (it’s the first printing too), though the book was published in Canada the year before, in 1985. It’s 40 years … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Morality, Religion, science fiction
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Working Definitions, and Examples
Reviewing basic definitions of evil, sin, morality, woke, and fake news, with examples: The Trump admin and MAGA would like to take over all the big cities; How the far-right agenda is entering the mainstream; Do Republicans actually believe in … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Religion
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Liberal and Conservative Goals
Why conservatives inculcate young thinkers, and liberals don’t (need to); Christian pastors in Kentucky want to shield children from LGBTQ books; why not shield them from the Bible? Which influence is worse? It depends on your goals, which are driven … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion
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The Fringe Is Becoming Mainstream
Trump threatens to attack Mexico, ho hum; South Koreans think electric fans are deadly; A GOP rep claims evidence of “interdimensional beings”; Hegseth’s pastor claims “gay marriage doesn’t exist” because he doesn’t like it; Lance Wallnau thinks his god wants … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Politics, Religion
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Nostalgia Bias, and Christian Intolerance and Hypocrisy
Trump’s worldview is stuck in 1989; Thinking the 1990s were better than today is nostalgia bias; D.C. is not the hellscape Trump claims it is (of course); More about that annoying busybody who opposes gay marriage and has nothing better … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion
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Trump the Bully Seems to Be What Many People Want
David Remnick of The New Yorker on Trump the Bully; Heather Cox Richardson on Trump promises not kept; Trump’s escalating racist attacks on Black Americans; How Fox News feeds anti-immigrant propaganda to its audience; Trump’s gold kitsch White House; More … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics, Religion
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Their Make-Believe World
Trump’s tantrum; His own version of reality; Assaulting reporting, statistics, and the historical record; Ordering an independent office to become as big a liar as he is; Every accusation is a confession; The “Russia Hoax” is whatever he says it … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Decline, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics, Religion
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