Category Archives: Social Progress

Stories, and Change

Posted on 9 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Miscellaneous items today, including a few from a couple weeks ago. Oklahoma, insisting the Bible be taught as an historical document, seems intent on mis-educating its children and ill-preparing them for life in the 21st century; How conservative attacks against … Continue reading →

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On This July 4th

Posted on 4 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s worth paying attention from time to time what conservatives really want, and more importantly, their rationales. NY Times, Ruth Graham, 4 Jul 2024: Why a New Conservative Brain Trust Is Resettling Across America, subtitled “Pro-Trump professionals aren’t just talking … Continue reading →

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It Can Happen Here

Posted on 2 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m not the first to make this observation. Trump’s rise echoes a famous 1935 novel called (ironically) It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis. Wikipedia: The novel describes the rise of Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President … Continue reading →

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Change Control

Posted on 15 June 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How even modest measures to ameliorate problems in NYC face resistance; How religious certitudes from Alito and others will not end well. Still under the weather, but let’s try a couple items from today’s NYT, about perhaps the broadest issue … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Morality, Social Progress | Comments Off on Change Control

Motivated Reasoning, Supreme Court Edition

Posted on 17 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one short, but provocative, item today. This is the opening piece in the “Talk of the Town” section in the March 18th issue of The New Yorker. It cuts to the core of Supreme Court, and conservative, thinking. The … Continue reading →

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Homosexuality Among Mammals, and Human Families

Posted on 15 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Several pieces about a recent study that suggests homosexuality evolved among mammalian species to reduce conflict “intrasexual violence”; A review of a book about the nuclear family, which the reviewer suggests doesn’t take alternatives into account. – – –   … Continue reading →

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Fixing the Budget; Civics Education and Constitutions

Posted on 30 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How to fix the national budget: more tax revenue (not necessarily raising tax rates); Civics education and various ideas for rewriting constitutions. Apropos of this weekend’s events in Washington DC. In some cases there are smart solutions to our problems … Continue reading →

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Murdoch, Azarian, Reich, and Scientists

Posted on 22 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today: The retirement of Rupert Murdoch, who became wealthy by degrading American politics and appealing to many Americans’ worst instincts; Republican hypocrisy example: John Fetterman vs. Lauren Boebert; with a classic definition: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to … Continue reading →

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This Week’s Sciency Bits

Posted on 20 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

False Memories and the Narrative Bias; Another piece with Lee McIntyre about misinformation vs. disinformation; And how the world’s population will likely peak by the end of this century, and then drop; And my thoughts on what the consequences would … Continue reading →

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Flickering and Shining: Adam Lee on Red and Blue America

Posted on 17 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Nothing has caught my eye this weekend in the papers or on the websites to blog about. So let’s look at a couple recent essays by Adam Lee, who’s blogged for years and self-published one book collecting some of his … Continue reading →

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