Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Incompetence, Greed, or Sabotage?

Posted on Thursday 17 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in Music, Personal history, Politics, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

Is the universe friendly, or hostile?

Posted on Wednesday 16 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in History, Human Nature, Philosophy, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

History and Change

Posted on Tuesday 15 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in conservatives, History, Human Nature, Politics, science fiction | Leave a comment

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

Posted on Monday 14 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Politics | Leave a comment

Responsibility, Certainty, and Doubt

Posted on Sunday 13 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in conservatives, Psychology, Science | Leave a comment

No Necessary Nations

Posted on Saturday 12 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in History, Human Progress, Lunacy, Morality, Politics, progress | Leave a comment

Two Takes on the Problem with Men

Posted on Friday 11 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

As I’ve Been Saying…

Posted on Thursday 10 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics | Leave a comment

Darkest Days

Posted on Wednesday 9 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Music, Politics | Comments Off on Darkest Days

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

Posted on Tuesday 8 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in Education, Human Nature, Politics, progress | Comments Off on David Brooks on Alasdair MacIntyre and How We Got to Where We Are