Monthly Archives: February 2025

Sea Change: Living in History, and Most People Not Noticing

Posted on Thursday 20 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

By supporting Putin and demonizing Ukraine, the US is withdrawing from the post-World War II world that it created and has supported for 80 years; With comments from Heather Cox Richardson, Nicholas Kristoff, Slate’s Emily Tamkin, and NYT’s Peter Baker; … Continue reading →

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A Continual Stream of Lies and Gaslighting

Posted on Wednesday 19 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump claims Ukraine started the war; Zelensky accuses him of living in “disinformation space”; Musk, corrected about the lie that 150-year-old people are still receiving Social Security, keeps spreading that lie; Tom Nichols on Trump and Musk and Hannity, who … Continue reading →

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How Soon Will This Madness End?

Posted on Tuesday 18 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Mark Lilla, IGNORANCE AND BLISS

Posted on Monday 17 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “On Wanting Not to Know” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Dec. 2024, 239p, including 12p notes and acknowledgments) This is a little book published just a couple months ago that appealed for a couple reasons. First, I read the author’s … Continue reading →

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Today’s Political Readings from Facebook and Substack

Posted on Saturday 15 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Musk’s boys don’t know Cobol; Robert Reich accuses MSM of being wishy-washy about the coup; Paul Krugman on the Trump administration suppressing health information; Connie Willis on Trump’s “massacre” of attorneys who resigned rather than drop charges against Eric Adams. … Continue reading →

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What They Mean By Traditional

Posted on Saturday 15 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Family arriving today for the weekend, so just a few quick items for now. DOGE is about putting “traditional” Americans back in charge; Where Nazi flags are fine, and Pride flags are banned; Musk is about purging federal workers to … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins: THE MAGIC OF REALITY

Posted on Friday 14 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: How We Know What’s Really True Illustrated by Dave McKean (Free Press, Oct. 2011, 271pp, including 6p of index and acknowledgements) When I was organizing my nonfiction books notes and posts last December, I was surprised that I had … Continue reading →

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And They’re Doing It All In Plain Sight

Posted on Thursday 13 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman about Elon Musk, fraudster; Brian Tyler Cohen on how Musk’s search for fraud is only to advance his personal interests; How if Musk were trying to find fraudulent spending, he would have gone in with accountants, not computer … Continue reading →

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Diversity is Out, Racism is In

Posted on Wednesday 12 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Military veterans say the trans ban is logistical nonsense; How Musk and Vance stood up for a self-avowed racist; How Trump and his administration are intentionally on the wrong side of history, favoring “competent white men”; How philosopher Richard Rorty … Continue reading →

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Not-a-Surprises

Posted on Tuesday 11 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

I see TV commercials about health insurance that complain about “bills” and “not-a-bills”. I get plenty of both too. Not-a-surprise: Trump and Musk are really after tax cuts for the wealthy. Trump doesn’t grasp the point of foreign aid; Conservatives … Continue reading →

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