Monthly Archives: January 2025

The Corrosion of America

Posted on Friday 31 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

So let’s see if I’m caught up. Trump has invited virtually everyone in the Federal government (including air traffic controllers) to resign, in a kind of buyout, or risk being fired if they don’t agree to Trump’s New Order. The … Continue reading →

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The Usual Villains

Posted on Thursday 30 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Last night an American Airlines jet with 64 people aboard, including a number of ice skaters and their coaches, collided with a US Army helicopter over the Potomac River in Washington D.C., moments before the plane was due to land … Continue reading →

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The Latest Chaos

Posted on Wednesday 29 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s see if I can keep up. Today the Trump administration reversed the directive from two days ago to freeze federal grants until they could be scrubbed of improper thoughts. RFK Jr testified. And Trump announced he’ll build a detention … Continue reading →

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The Enemies Within

Posted on Tuesday 28 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Are those who are actively seeking to dismantle the government and turn the US into a selfish, xenophobic, insular, backward nation. Trump and his minions. And their fans. Trump thinks there’s a big water faucet in California that the military … Continue reading →

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RIP Wordpad

Posted on Monday 27 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Windows has deprecated WordPad, which makes my life more difficult; David French on a German thinker, Carl Schmitt, and the friend-enemy distinction, and how it informs current American politics; Latest thoughts from Heather Cox Richardson, about the cancellation of foreign … Continue reading →

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Fury and Chaos

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

An off-hand summary of what Trump’s done in his first week, apparently working to install an authoritarian police state in America; How those who think the president should solve egg prices don’t understand capitalism, and Vance admits grocery prices aren’t … Continue reading →

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Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 3

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 2

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Heather Cox Richardson, DEMOCRACY AWAKENING, post 1

Posted on Sunday 26 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Notes on the State of America” (Viking, Sep 2023, xvii + 286pp, including 30p of notes and index) Heather Cox Richardson is a historian who has become well-known, in addition to several earlier books, for her newsletter called Letters … Continue reading →

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The Price of Eggs

Posted on Friday 24 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Tech-bros don’t care about the price of eggs; David Brooks on why Trump will fail; Dan Milbank on his astounding ignorance; Evangelicals have abandoned Jesus for Trump; Get ‘em while they’re young, said Hitler, says the Church. – – – … Continue reading →

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