Category Archives: History

J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN

(Little, Brown, 1973, 448pp, including 9pp (in tiny print) of bibliography and index) This is a substantial book that was popular in its time but is probably not really recommendable now, simply because it’s 50 years out of date in … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, History, Human Nature, Human Progress, Science | Leave a comment

Tribal Warpaint

How Trump doesn’t want to govern, and rejects the idea of American government as a collaboration; How the idea of consumer choice led to the idea of being gay; Trump and covid.gov rewrite the history, as authoritarians do; How Trump … Continue reading

Posted in authoritarianism, Culture, History, Lunacy, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Tribal Warpaint

Civic Uprising?

Conservative David Brooks calls for a civic uprising against the Trump administration; How Salon executive editor Andrew O’Hehir reacts to this; How psychopaths and financial services seem to go together; The extent to which JD Vance lies; Aid to foreign … Continue reading

Posted in conservatives, History, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Civic Uprising?

Musk, History, Science, Education

Adam Grant on the wrong lesson to take from Elon Musk; David Remnick on the conservative urge to rewrite the past in simplistic terms; RFK Jr.’s contempt of science; And the conservative war against education. – – – Adam Grant … Continue reading

Posted in conservatives, History, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Musk, History, Science, Education

Largely Unnoticed?

Two big topics today: how Trump is aligning with dictators, breaking 75 years of America as leader of the free world; With items from NYT’s Fred Kaplan, Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, and Robert Reich. Some reflections from two books I’ve just … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, History, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Largely Unnoticed?

Incompetence and Restlessness

Wired on the incompetence of DOGE; Thoughts about why all this is happening now; Heather Cox Richardson quotes James Marriott of The Times about how the post-World War II liberal order has allowed the seeds of its own destruction to … Continue reading

Posted in History, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on Incompetence and Restlessness

How Soon Will This Madness End?

I keep thinking this has to implode, sooner rather than later. Trump and/or Musk will do something so egregious, so dangerous, that *someone* will step up to reign them in, even if very carefully, behind the scenes, so as not … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, History, Human Progress, Politics | Comments Off on How Soon Will This Madness End?

People Are Saying… It’s a Coup

Another sleepy day with a cold, and it’s gloomy and drizzly outside today too. The latest on what’s going on, via Connie Willis and Heather Cox Richardson; LA Times on Trump’s idiotic order to empty two California reservoirs; An example … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, History, Politics | Comments Off on People Are Saying… It’s a Coup

Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 3

Summary thoughts about this book. Richardson tells the story of the past century, of the previous four years (before the book was published in 2019), and of the nation’s first century, in a matter-of-fact style that expresses not so much … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, History, Human Nature, Psychology | Comments Off on Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 3

Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 2

Continuing my fairly detailed summary notes of this book. The second part of this book is about the ascendance of Trump, finishing with the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen from him. The third part of the looks … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, History, Human Nature | Comments Off on Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 2