Needless Deaths, Groceries, and Trump vs. Jesus

Posted on Thursday 10 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • David Wallace-Wells: why do Americans suffer so many “needless deaths” than other nations?;
  • Why groceries are expensive is not an American issue;
  • How some Trump-loving congregants deride Jesus’ teachings as “weak”.
  • And Hans Zimmer’s “Journey to the Line,” from THE THIN RED LINE, perhaps my favorite movie score of all time.

NY Times, David Wallace-Wells (subscriber-only newsletter), 9 Aug 2023: Why Is America Such a Deadly Place?

On the continuing theme of how the US is not the greatest nation on Earth, as the MAGA folks believe, on most measures of societal health.

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The Rule of Law, Degrees of Conspiracy Theorists, and Martin Gardner

Posted on Wednesday 9 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • If Trump’s trial is on TV, will Americans, even his supporters, accept the outcome?;
  • How traditional conspiracy theorists are alarmed by modern conspiracy theorists;
  • Recalling Martin Gardner’s Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science;
  • And just noting a few other substantial articles.

NY Times, guest essay by Steven Brill, 5 Aug 2023: Americans Will Believe the Trump Verdict Only if They Can See It

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Climate Change, Culture, the Economy, and Real Americans

Posted on Tuesday 8 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Paul Krugman on climate change as a culture war issue;
  • Florida censors come after Shakespeare, and educators flee the state;
  • Robert Reich is confidant that Biden will get credit for an economy “that’s better off than it’s been in decades”;
  • Conservatives responses to the loss of the US women’s soccer team, because they were too “woke” (thus not real Americans);
  • Brian Eno’s “Another Day on Earth.”

Paul Krugman on climate change as culture war. Is this really new? Haven’t conservatives always had a knee-jerk rejection of science and expertise?

Paul Krugman, NY Times, 7 Aug 2023: Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Climate Change, Culture, the Economy, and Real Americans

More About Who’s to Blame for Trump

Posted on Monday 7 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • A Slate writer responds to NYT’s David Brooks about how the “elites” are to blame for Trump culture;
  • A David Brin post;
  • Some quick links with comments…
  • Phil Plait on seeing the Milky Way;
  • And George Michael’s “You Have Been Loved”

Here’s another response to the David Brooks NYT piece blaming “elites” for the rise of Trump, as discussed, along with a rejoinder by Vox writer Zack Beauchamp, three days ago. My reaction to Brooks’ thesis was “Professional positions are occupied by people with educations, and the uneducated feel resentful?” and “Whats the alternative?”

Slate, Christina Cauterucci, 7 Aug 2023: Enough With the False Narrative About Trump’s Rise, subtitled “What exactly does David Brooks want ‘anti-Trumpers’ to do?”

The essay is roughly 8 screens long, and Christina Cauterucci is “a Slate senior writer.”

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America’s Dominance and Decline

Posted on Sunday 6 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one substantial item today, compared to the several posted yesterday. If America is so great by some economic and military standards, why is our quality of life, compared to so many other countries around the world, so poor?

Concluding with Radiohead’s “Let Down”.

[Caption to the photo: “The parking lot is nearly deserted at Forest Plaza on March 24, 2020 in Rockford, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)”]

Salon, Mike Lofgren, 5 Aug 2023: Why America is going backward: Being the richest nation in history isn’t enough, subtitled “America is the greatest economic and military power in world history — and our quality of life is garbage. But why?”

As in some previous posts, I’m reading this only as I sit down post about it. Before beginning to read, I’ll note the observation that, despite what the MAGA folks believe, in terms of quality of life the US is far from the greatest nation in the world.

And then I’ll begin by asking a question of the article before I read it: to what extent is this the result of partisan politics, or is it something peculiarly American that lies beyond politics? (Spoiler: the answer turns out to be: both.)

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Saturday Updates

Posted on Saturday 5 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • More from NY Times on Republican plans to let climate change wreck the planet;
  • Updates on stories about DeSantis slitting throats and A.P. Psychology in Florida;
  • Another story about a Republican claiming credit for a Biden initiative that he fought;
  • How “Sound of Freedom” has the hallmarks of the modern right-wing worldview;
  • How Trumps lawyers keep quitting, and the latest ones are dumb and dumber.

NY Times, 4 Aug 2023: A Republican 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy, subtitled “Project 2025, a conservative ‘battle plan’ for the next Republican president, would stop attempts to cut the pollution that is heating the planet and encourage more emissions.”

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Figuring Out Trump Voters

Posted on Friday 4 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two views to explain the loyalty of Trump voters.

There was a long NYT op-ed by David Brooks posted a couple days ago and printed in today’s paper, offering an irresistible counter-intuitive thesis. And a response today by a writer for Vox. And my perspective given the Sagan/Druyan book I just read, and my own recent understanding.

NY Times, David Brooks, 2 Aug 2023: What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?

Brooks wonders, as do many of us, why so many people still support Trump, despite… everything.

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Sagan & Druyan: Propensities and Predispositions

Posted on Friday 4 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple hours ago I finished that Carl Sagan/Ann Druyan book I mentioned a couple days ago, and it’s remarkable how its conclusions resemble my own recent observations about how certain forms of human morality align to conservative politics, and Trump worship.

Here are passages from the last three pages. Keep in mind the book is about the history of life on Earth and how the study of all life, but in particular the lives of other primates, illuminates our understanding of ourselves. Also keep in mind that the book was published in 1992. Yet from the middle of the third paragraph below, it could be about today.

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More on the Latest Indictment

Posted on Thursday 3 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Goofy Republican responses to the latest indictment, about Federal employees, and to the teaching of psychology;
  • The spectacle goes on and on, as the US experiences what some are saying is the most important legal indictment in its history:
  • John Scalzi’s take, in particular about con men;
  • A meaty piece at Politico about how people who support authoritarian con men, like Trump and Putin and Orbán, are also susceptible to conspiracy theories.
  • And some thoughts about disruptive events and the sunken-cost fallacy.

These first three are from a site that obviously tracks such items.

Joe.My.God, 3 Aug 2023: Jordan: “Hillbillies Are So Sick Of Attacks On Trump”

The relevance of this item to my discussions in recent days about conservative morality is left as an exercise for the reader.

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Conservative Morality

Posted on Wednesday 2 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today respond to the latest indictment of a certain former president, how his supporters respond, and me trying to wrap my mind around what his supporters think morality and law and order actually is. But I have an idea about that, based on my recent reading about… chimps.

  • With citations of Tom Nichols, Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan, Jonah Goldberg

Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, 1 Aug 2023: This Is the Case, subtitled “Special Counsel Jack Smith has sounded the call, but voters must answer it if they wish to preserve American democracy.”

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