Dictatorship Promises; What America Actually Is; and Visions from God

Posted on Friday 8 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • A Republican critic of journalist Robert Kagan, who wrote about how a Trump dictatorship (see previous posts) would harass journalists, make Kagan’s point by threatening to harass Kagan;
  • Maybe Trump and his followers *are* what America is;
  • More about Mike Johnson’s and Donald Trump’s visions from God;
  • And three items — about migrant debit cards and the actual strength of the economy — about which conservatives believe things that are not true.

Washington Post, Philip Bump, 8 Dec 2023: J.D. Vance tried to troll Trump critics. He helped make their point.

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Trump, Fascism, and Mike Johnson’s Visions from God

Posted on Thursday 7 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Robert Kagan sequelizes his editorial from a week ago with ideas about how to stop a Trump dictatorship;
  • Robert Reich looks at the GOP’s death cycle, its descent into fascism;
  • A former Prime Minister of the UK foresees what will happen if Trump wins again;
  • Short items about Vivek Ramaswamy’s far-right conspiracy theories; how Nikki Haley “won” last night’s Republican debate; how Fox News, lying again, touted as a “Democrat voter” someone who hates Democrats; and several items about House Leader Mike Johnson’s visions from God.

More from Robert Kagan. Let’s see what he has to say. This time he attempts to offer a solution to the problem he described last week.

Washington Post, Robert Kagan, 7 Dec 2023: Opinion | The Trump dictatorship: How to stop it

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In Plain Sight

Posted on Wednesday 6 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • More on Trump’s dictatorship plans– “only on day one” — and how his fascist plans are out there in plain sight;
  • How “pro-life” has different meanings to different people;
  • How Russia’s crack-down on gays as “extremists” echoes values of the MAGA folks;
  • Jerry Coyne on intercessionary prayer and the so-called “purity spiral”.

Oh, only for a day, then.

Salon, Igor Derysh, 6 Dec 2023: Trump tells Fox News he won’t be a “dictator” — “except on day one”, subtitled “Host Sean Hannity asked Trump to vow that he won’t ‘abuse power as retribution.’ It didn’t go well”

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Latest from the Impending Dictatorship Watch

Posted on Tuesday 5 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Recalling the “Good Germans” who didn’t pay attention to Hitler’s rise;
  • Salon’s Chauncey DeVega on how Americans are sleepwalking into a Trump dictatorship;
  • The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg on the danger of a second Trump term;
  • Steve Bannon’s promise to prosecute and imprison people in government and journalists;
  • And examples of how people besotted by ignorance and superstition have firm opinions about the gays.

It’s been said that there were many “Good Germans” in the 1930s who did not pay close attention to politics and so were complacent about the rise of Hitler and Nazism. Thus Hitler was *elected*; he didn’t take over in some kind of coup, as in so many military dictatorships that happen around the world. He appealed to the same kind of conservative resentments as Trump has done in the US. With this thought in mind…

We might wonder why there is not more attention and outrage to the rise of MAGA and Trump’s stated plan to become, essentially, a dictator– to wipe out the “deep state” and indict on any grounds whatsoever anyone who opposes him. There is attention, but only in the highbrow press, as documented here. Even the main-stream media (MSM) are afraid to acknowledge the issue, for fear of being accused of being partisan. Though Liz Cheney on 60 Minutes the other night, and on the Today Show this week, were positive steps.

Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 5 Dec 2023: Americans are sleepwalking into a Trump dictatorship, subtitled “Everyone but MAGA is blind to the truth. They know the evil that they do and are doing it with their eyes wide open”

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Conservative Disregard for Science; Projections and Untruth; That Famous British Take-down of Trump

Posted on Monday 4 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Update to my Projects page;
  • The Supreme Court’s disregard for science;
  • Anti-vaccine conservatives’ disregard for science;
  • More about Trump’s and the GOP’s projecting about which party is trying to destroy democracy;
  • How even Fox News is now fact-checking Trump’s “untruths”;
  • And recalling that famous take-down of Trump by a British Writer: “he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace”

First of all today, I updated my Projects page, in the drop-down menu under “About” at the top of every page. First update since June 2021. Making progress.

Second for today, I have another round of takes on the current political scene. Which is all about psychology and human nature, over and over again.

Slate, Steve Kennedy, 4 Dec 2023: The Supreme Court’s Utter Disregard for Science Is Somehow About to Get Worse

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Choice, Binary Matters, and Projection

Posted on Sunday 3 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Another cool, mostly overcast, party sunny day. This is winter in the Bay Area: lows in the 40s, highs in the 50s. We walked the Montclair Railroad Trail, and checked various shops in the village for Christmas lights. One of the strings of lights we put out on our balcony has failed. But no one in the village — not Lucky (the supermarket), not CVS or Rite-Aid — sells such lights. Well, maybe a trip to a hardware store tomorrow.

  • Politics and philosophy: NYT essay about how transgender matters inform our ideas about personal choice and how living a genuine life requires the possibility of regrets;
  • Politics and psychology: Fox News’ go-to themes for how to hook viewers on envy and fear;
  • More: How GOP politicians trust Walmart customers about the economy over evidence and statistics, to justify their charges against Biden;
  • More: And a brief item about how Fox thinks *Democrats* are destroying democracy. Projection.

NY Times, Opinion, Lydia Polgreen, 1 Dec 2023: Born This Way? Born Which Way?

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Choice, Binary Matters, and Projection

Personal Jesus and Other Fantasies

Posted on Saturday 2 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How Russia is cracking down on the Gay Rights Movement, just as American evangelicals would like to do;
  • A laughable debate about whether the Earth is flat or round, based on Biblical theology;
  • A take on the economy that suggests that people forget what ‘normal’ looks like;
  • How George Santos got away with it: voters care more about politicians’ demeanor than what they say;
  • What to tell kids about Santa Claus, from two developmental psychologists, who don’t extend their ideas into adulthood;
  • Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”.

NY Times, news article, 30 Nov 2023 (printed in yesterday’s paper, 1 Dec): Russia Declares Gay Rights Movement as ‘Extremist’, subtitled “Activists said the designation could put L.G.B.T.Q. people and their organizations under threat of criminal prosecution for something as simple as displaying the rainbow flag.”

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Newsom, DeSantis, Santos, and the Threat of a Trump Dictatorship

Posted on Friday 1 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Political and religious/political items today.

  • The Newsom/DeSantis debate;
  • The expulsion of George Santos;
  • How ‘moderates’ like Nikki Haley would also eviscerate the government (i.e. what “draining the swamp” means to Republicans);
  • Short items about DeSantis’ Bible; how inflation is fault of people who complain about it buying so much stuff; Christian Nationalism falsehoods; two about the impending Trump dictatorship; Michael Johnson and Kirk Cameron and Scholastic Book Fairs; and Dr. Fauci’s concern about the extreme anti-LGBTQ+ movement.

Salon, Heather Digby Parton, 1 Dec 2023: Newsom humiliates DeSantis on Fox News, subtitled “California Gov. Gavin Newsom not only stood up for his state but made a great case for Joe Biden on Fox News”

I didn’t watch it. Continue reading →

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Con Men and Bespoke Realities

Posted on Thursday 30 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

End of November. The sun sets early; the house is chillier. We have our thermostat set to 68. And I think I’m approaching the finishing of one of my long-term projects. And still working on another.

  • Adam Frank on learning skepticism by growing up in New Jersey in the 1970s, and learning about con men;
  • David French on bespoke realities.

Big Think, Adam Frank, 30 Nov 2023: The most important lesson about being a scientist I learned in New Jersey, subtitled “I grew up in New Jersey in the 1970s and that experience gave me everything I needed to become a skeptic.”

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Bathing, Evidence, Control, Dating, Social Security

Posted on Wednesday 29 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Why daily bathing (just like trying to kill every germ in sight) may not be healthy;
  • Items about Republican admissions they don’t have evidence for their claims; how they take credit for what they voted against; how the party of limited government wants to control the every move of women seeking abortions; how Republican voters don’t seem to care about Trump’s plan to subvert democracy;
  • Amanda Marcotte on how guys who support Trump have difficulty on the dating market;
  • Robert Reich on Nikki Haley’s plan to gut Social Security.

Here’s one of those stories I find interesting for its counter-intuitive claim.

Big Think, Derek Beres, Oct 2020, updated Nov 2023: A physician didn’t shower for 5 years. Here’s what he found out, subtitled “‘Less is better’ is not a catchy marketing slogan, but one doctor who didn’t shower for five years thinks there’s a lot of truth to it.”

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Posted in conservatives, Culture, Evolution, Politics | Comments Off on Bathing, Evidence, Control, Dating, Social Security