Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Incompetence, Greed, or Sabotage?

Elizabeth Kolbert on the Texas floods and the administration’s undermining of climate research; How the Trump administration wants to discourage wind and solar projects; Recalling the Scopes trial, 100 years ago this month, and American’s continued antipathy toward science, and … Continue reading

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Is the universe friendly, or hostile?

David Wallace-Wells on the Epstein scandal, with items by Zack Beauchamp and Shawn McCreesh; How simple-minded Trump characterizes his adversaries as “evil”; How Trump’s economic agenda is driven by simple-minded lies and misunderstandings; How the question “Is the world a … Continue reading

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History and Change

Trump keeps a trophy for himself; Paul Krugman on why the Trump administration is killing science; How MAGA needs stories in which they are the heroes; Why Trump fans aren’t forgiving Trump about Epstein; Heather Cox Richardson about Trump’s “mandate” … Continue reading

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The problem with the world is not evil. It’s ignorance, and delusion.

Two thoughts from Yuval Noah Harari today; Ramez Naam on how AI models converge on “moderately left-libertarian political viewpoints”; Another piece about how people should be held accountable for tragedies; Heather Cox Richardson summaries the Epstein fiasco; WaPo’s Philip Bump … Continue reading

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Responsibility, Certainty, and Doubt

Defunding weather science and disaster response to save money is like cancelling all your insurance policies to manage your household budget; LAT: Robin Abcarian on the implausibilities of expecting Medicaid recipients to replace deported farmworkers; NYT: Peter Baker on how … Continue reading

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No Necessary Nations

Stephan Marche on how there are no necessary nations, and no permanent global order; Judges, appointed both by Republicans and Democrats, speak out against the Trump administration; Heather Cox Richardson identifies one key failure in the Texas floods, the result … Continue reading

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Two Takes on the Problem with Men

David French and Jordan Peterson and competing theories about the problem with men; About cuts to science research; do Republicans not understand investments in the future?; A report about Lara Trump’s show on Fox News; An essay by Tom Nichols … Continue reading

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As I’ve Been Saying…

Is there any point in noting these same issues again and again? Yes. Because they are evidence of the decline of the US, which most Americans are not noticing, and I think this is important, not so much as this … Continue reading

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Darkest Days

Shorter items today. The Supreme Court and “emergencies”; How Trump reflexively blames Biden; And how Trump takes credit for what Biden actually did; The confusion over Epstein conspiracy theories; Trump wants more factories, but is expelling the workers who might … Continue reading

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David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are

One item today. A long piece from David Brooks, trying to understand how we got here, given history. The Atlantic, David Books, 8 Jul 2025: Why Do So Many People Think That Trump Is Good?, subtitled “The work of the moral … Continue reading

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