Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Meta
Category Archives: Politics
Arguing to Win, Not to Be Right
Two books about how to argue; more on the “national divorce”; and items about the right-wing battle for the next century, train deregulation, a new target list of enemies, and buying your way onto bestseller lists. Here’s a review in … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology
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Red and Blue and Diversity
About a fringe notion to split the US into separate nations of red and blue states; and about the range of human nature and the value of diversity. Haven’t run this item yet; it seemed so fringe, a couple days … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Morality, Politics, Psychology
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The Gaps Between Beliefs and Reality
Items today about how Americans treat Presidents’ Day and other holidays; about more Republicans lying on their resumes; why Fox News viewers don’t care the network is lying to them; and why Putin’s fabulations about his war in Ukraine appeal … Continue reading
Posted in Lunacy, Narrative, Philosophy, Politics
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Political News, Ratings Forward
How Fox News prioritizes ratings above truth or principles of journalism; How Florida is seeking to replace SAT with “Christian” testing; How and why to shame Republican judges; How the far-right is ascendant on college campuses. NY Times, Michelle Goldberg, … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics
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Stickiness of Nonbelief
How nonbelief is stickier than belief. Plus: Fox News lied! Who would have thought? And: how UFOs and CRT go together; the number of respectable Republicans. \ OnlySky, Andrew Fiala, 15 Feb 2023: What the stickiness of nonbelief says about … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Religion
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The Myth of the Perfect Past
When life was simple and everything you were supposed to know was contained in a single book. Also: why The Lord of the Rings is so appealing to the right; media libel laws; policing; and a lagniappe about a real … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Philosophy, Politics
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Hypocrisy and Indoctrination
I’ve noted before how conservatives denounce “indoctrination” except when they’re the ones doing the indoctrinating. Examples include DeSantis imposing conservative values on a Florida college long known as a bastion of “free thinkers”. And examples of people believing things that … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics
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Readings by John Scalzi and Paul Krugman; Book Notes; Morality
John Scalzi on writing about politics; Republican performance art; Paul Krugman on Republican intentions over decades against Medicare and Society Security; and notes about books about American myths past and present.
SOTU Address and Other Current Events
Some things never change… NY Times, Round Table, 8 Feb 2023: Times Columnists Respond to the State Of the Union I’ll just list the contributors and their headlines. Frank Bruni: Biden showed himself to be a happy warrior. Nicholas Kristof: … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion
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What We Learned from This Morning’s Newspaper
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).
