Category Archives: Politics

What We Learned from This Morning’s Newspaper

Posted on 5 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today concern the US military budget, the Chinese balloon, flooding in Houston, Richard Powers on a real battle for trees, and the passing of the 747. All items from today’s paper (the New York Times).

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Real News; Demagogues; Spirituality

Posted on 3 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three themes for today: How science is the only news, per Stuart Brand; Demagogues and ideologues on the right; and Ross Douthat’s warning about spiritual experiences that don’t align with his own. Glancing through that John Brockman book The Third … Continue reading →

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Suppression, Prejudice, and Misinformation

Posted on 2 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three political topics for today. How the Republicans seek to suppress history, concepts, books, even words; Two problems that could be solved simultaneously (were it not for Republicans); How anti-vaxxers and anti-abortionists are searching for new senses of meaning.

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Third Culture Books; Perceptions and Reality

Posted on 31 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s three topics: A new Michael Shermer book I missed when it came out last October; How magenta is a color that doesn’t exist on the spectrum; Public perceptions of the economy. There are authors I’ve followed for years, both … Continue reading →

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Rural Rage and Republican Shenanigans

Posted on 27 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman responds to Thomas Edsall about the roots of conservative rural resentment, and how their three key perceptions are in fact wrong. Also, the GOP’s 30% sales tax idea; how religion would control or cut off the world; and … Continue reading →

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More About the Evolution of a Political Party

Posted on 25 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s items follow up from yesterday’s, about the growing extremism and commitment to things that aren’t true by one particular American political party. As I still wonder, how did we get here? Specific items are about changes in the Republican … Continue reading →

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Optimism About America, and other recent items

Posted on 16 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

David Brooks on how America is on the right track; Ezra Klein on the fractured Republican Party; and items about gas stoves, red states and their blue cities, the partisan divide in COVID deaths, and how politics doesn’t do nuance.

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Cosmic Websites; Recent Headlines

Posted on 13 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s begin with an item from December, on a website called Topia: A World of Good, promoted on Facebook today by David Brin since it reproduces a list Brin compiled on his own blog some time ago. 21 COSMIC WEBSITES … Continue reading →

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Narrative as Denialism

Posted on 10 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s reading is yet another example of how narratives — stories that simplify the world and make it more understandable, even if they’re completely fictional — dominate so many people’s beliefs, especially in politics, that they amount to a denial … Continue reading →

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Consumerism, and Political History

Posted on 7 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items today.

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