Category Archives: Tribalism

Losing. Casting. Hormones. Freedom.

Posted on Friday 17 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump made some kind of speech last night. In prime time. The networks didn’t broadcast it. The messages of these three items are in the titles or subtitles; I don’t need to quote from the pieces themselves. Slate, Ian Prasad … Continue reading →

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The Dystopian Portrait of America Is Not True

Posted on Sunday 12 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

An essay on American loneliness denies the dystopian view of the nation; Gay marriage opponents revive a discredited 14-year-old junk science study; Brief items: a “Christian values” candidate with dicey behavior; restricting the public expressions of Muslims; Pete Hegseth’s pastor … Continue reading →

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The Law vs. Tribal Priorities

Posted on Thursday 30 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The Supremes eviscerate the Voting Rights Act, and the partisan flexibility of the law; King Charles visits while Trump claims America is not an idea but an inherited Anglo-Saxon culture; Heather Cox Richardson on the same point; Brief items about … Continue reading →

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An Optimistic Big View

Posted on Wednesday 15 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Peter Leyden on how the arc of human history is toward cooperation; Once again, evidence shows that same-sex marriage is a “win for children and society”, and I suggest why this may be so; While Stephen Miller resorts to bigotry … Continue reading →

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Reading and Introspection

Posted on Friday 27 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Assessing American literacy, and the claim that being able to read a New York Times article puts you into the “hyper-literate educated elite”; How Trump doesn’t read, at all. How powerful tech oligarchs think introspection is dumb; The new homophobia … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Music, Politics, Psychology, Tribalism | Comments Off on Reading and Introspection

Our Outlaw Nation

Posted on Wednesday 7 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

This popped up on Facebook, but I don’t subscribe to the magazine and can only see this much of the article. It’s about the new book by Johan Norberg, which came out in September. It’s on my TBR shelf. The … Continue reading →

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Trump and MAGA’s War on California

Posted on Saturday 14 June 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

News today: Trump’s parade, No Kings demonstrations, and a dress-up cop shoots Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota; Charlie Warzel on the surfeit of information and how the right can invent via AI narratives to its advantage; Similar gaslighting about Alex Padilla; … Continue reading →

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Outdoing Themselves Every Day

Posted on Saturday 22 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Musk lays off government workers overseeing his car company; Musk asks federal employees to justify their jobs or be fired; Trump issues an EO stating that only he can interpret the meanings of law; Adam Serwer on how MAGA is … Continue reading →

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Shocked, Just Shocked

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

The broad trend, perhaps, is the discomfort of tribal human beings living in multicultural liberal democracies. How some people (who weren’t paying attention) are shocked that Trump is actually setting out to do what he promised to do; How Trump … Continue reading →

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The Christian Authoritarian Agenda

Posted on Thursday 10 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Long before Project 2025, Christian conservatives have had an agenda to impose their values on everyone; How some conservatives will call any evidence about the good economy fake news; How MAGA disinformation can be deadly, but Trump’s followers would rather … Continue reading →

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