Monthly Archives: August 2026

The Transition

Posted on Friday 21 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Fareed Zakaria responds to Ezra Klein about The Odyssey; Briefly: Trump running out of people to blame; How liberal families look pretty much like conservatives ones; The vacuousness of Darline Graham; Wojciech Kilar’s score for The Portrait of a Lady. … Continue reading →

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Ideology and Fertility

Posted on Thursday 20 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The complex reasons behind the drop in fertility; Mike Johnson is literally illiterate; Texas Christians are trying to define Muslims out of existence; Trump is trying crush California’s environmental policies, of course; Robert Reich explores who’s benefiting from the explosion … Continue reading →

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Wiping out databases; sycophants; misogyny; revenge; Waymo

Posted on Wednesday 19 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

What authoritarian regimes do: suppress inconvenient evidence; Much concern about Trump sycophant Natalie Harp; More about Trump’s misogyny; Trump is all about revenge; How Democrats are resisting Waymo, a promising new technology. This is not a surprise. This is what … Continue reading →

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Stories and Reality

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Are more Americans seeing the truth behind the GOP lies?; Evidence that disputes Trump’s promises, in 11 charts; Robert Reich tells Scott Bessent who’s wrong and who’s right; Paul Krugman wonders why Trump likes North Korea, the worst government on … Continue reading →

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How the American Experiment May Not Be Working

Posted on Monday 17 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Lee suggests abolishing the US Senate (as others have before him) America has always considered itself an experiment, on the world stage, and in fact it has developed into the most powerful nation on Earth. But has the experiment … Continue reading →

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Caro Claire Burke, YESTERYEAR

Posted on Monday 17 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

(Knopf, April 2026, 391pp) I read the bestselling novel YESTERYEAR, by Caro Claire Burke, three weekends ago, on a trip to LA to spend time with family on the occasion of a 1st birthday and a new house, and it … Continue reading →

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Fantasy Lands

Posted on Sunday 16 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew O’Hehir on how few people understand the differences between socialism, capitalism, and all those other isms, as even MAGA embraces socialist ideas; Mark Joseph Stern on the origin of originalist ideas about the US Constitution; Jamelle Boudie on how … Continue reading →

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David Brin’s Phases of the American Civil War

Posted on Saturday 15 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Still under the weather, for a week now. I’m behind updating sfadb. I spent some time this afternoon refining yesterday’s post. For now, not entirely irrelevant: Brin has long portrayed American history as the same kind of transition between modes … Continue reading →

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The Expansion of Human Morality, the Relativity of Good and Evil

Posted on Friday 14 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Further thoughts on the evolutionary forces behind the expansion of human morality; Thought while reading Stephen King’s THE STAND; And further thoughts about human morality, and how conservative and progressive stances have been appropriate at different times; Heather Digby Parton … Continue reading →

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The Deep History Key to the American Political Divide

Posted on Thursday 13 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Kurt Andersen on America’s soft breakup; How the divide goes back ultimately to the Agricultural Revolution. – – – First up, a NYT Op-ed NY Times, Kurt Andersen, 9 Aug 2026: Has America Already Undergone a Soft Breakup?

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