Category Archives: Politics

Conservatives and Empathy

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives against empathy: excuses for selfishness; Another piece about boarding houses, once banned, perhaps now more appropriate than ever; Recalling a 50-year-old thesis about how human stupidity drags societies down; Quotes from Thomas L. Friedman and Paul Krugman about Donald … Continue reading →

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There Is Only So Much Land

Posted on Friday 25 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A similar broad theme today. This goes along with the item two days ago about J.D. Vance’s notion of “Heritage Americans” who, in his fascist, hierarchical mindset, are more deserving to run America than others. Jerry Coyne, yesterday: The two-state … Continue reading →

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Abdication

Posted on Thursday 24 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

History runs in cycles, sorta. The US has gone through isolationist periods before. Though this time it may be part of general reaction against modernity and complexity. Salon, Heather Digby Parton, today: Donald Trump abdicates as leader of the free … Continue reading →

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What Is It Conservatives Want to Conserve?

Posted on Wednesday 23 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The worst of the past? The protocols of primitive human nature? That’s what it seems like. Are they aware of this? Trump wants to make America 1988 again; Trump got played on the Greenland deal; The superficiality of Fox news … Continue reading →

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Hiking is a Modern Invention

Posted on Sunday 13 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The idea of hiking was not a thing until relatively recently; How Trump is stifling free speech; Brief items about hurricanes and methane; Nice Bruckner 6 performance by Myung-Whun Chung. – – – First, a think piece. About how the … Continue reading →

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Tribalists, Bribes, 9/11 and Tyranny, Fear, and Cheating

Posted on Friday 11 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Reading David Pakman, and considering Republican history since Reagan; Trumps is now trying to bribe voters; How the Patriot Act, passed after 9/11 and never repealed, have given Trump the tools to become a tyrant; How Republicans use fear to … Continue reading →

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Rejecting Reality, and Truth

Posted on Thursday 10 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

More about the new UN map of the world; MAGA preferred the previous, less accurate one; Trump is now bribing American voters; Republicans defend lying; Robert Reich calls Trump completely bonkers; Heather Cox Richardson expands on Trump’s lies; Trumps talks … Continue reading →

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The Battle

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the erosion of the 20th century’s “liberal consensus” began to crumble under Ronald Reagan; Conservatives lying with fake photos, photoshops, bogus census reports, and more. – – – Heather Cox Richardson has told this story. (See my review.) NY … Continue reading →

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Is America Literally Being Sabotaged? From Within?

Posted on Thursday 3 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Is America being sabotaged from within? Robert Reich asks his readers what gives them hope, with four options; Headlines about Haitians, Satan, a terror attack, the end of free meals for children, hiding statistics, how conservatives are realizing Dolly Parton … Continue reading →

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Self-Destruction and Magical Thinking

Posted on Wednesday 26 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Self-destruction: Of the US military, of the Kennedy Center; How MAGA’s religious freedom doesn’t apply to Muslims; Dimwits: Darline Graham, advocates for “conservative-based” science; a GOP nominee who thinks humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time; Liars, vanity projects … Continue reading →

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