Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

Clearly, We’re Seeing an Infestation of Alien Mind Parasites

This infestation is growing. The symptoms include paranoia, megalomania, delusions, and the perception of demons and/or global conspirators around every corner. The interpretation of extraordinary events (that have rational causes that they do not believe in), but rather see as … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Clearly, We’re Seeing an Infestation of Alien Mind Parasites

Bill Adair, BEYOND THE BIG LIE

Subtitled “The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy” (Atria, Oct 2024, xxiii + 273pp, including 55pp of acknowledgements, sources, notes, and index.) This is a recent book, just published … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Politics | Comments Off on Bill Adair, BEYOND THE BIG LIE

Conservative Reactions to the Los Angeles Fires

The past few days have been fodder for examples of (conservative) lies, evasions, and misrepresentations, as they react to the fires in Southern California. Conservatives blame the LA fires on the vast world-wide conspiracy theories they are obsessed with; Two … Continue reading

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Conservative Reactions to the Los Angeles Fires

So Predictable

Trumps lies, or evades, or misrepresents; Conservatives blame everyone they don’t like for the California wildfires; Anita Bryant dies; she was an outlier in her time, but now typical of MAGA; Heather Cox Richardson on the California fires; How Jimmy … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on So Predictable

A New Jack Smith Rule

The southern California wildfires, and Will Rogers Ranch; How conservatives blame people they don’t like for everything; Perhaps I should create a new “Jack Smith” rule to dismiss claims by conservatives, since they always seem to be wrong; Lagniappes about … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Culture, Psychology | Comments Off on A New Jack Smith Rule

Conservative Reality, and Reality

The state of the American economy, vs. conservative dystopian fantasies; How conservatives whitewash the events of January 6th, 2021; How Meta is obeying in advance by removing fact-checkers, and wondering why conservatives object to fact-checkers (where the answer is obvious); … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Narrative, Politics | Comments Off on Conservative Reality, and Reality

George Lakoff, THE POLITICAL MIND

Subtitled “Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain” (Viking, June 2008, 292pp, including 20pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index.) Note that the paperback edition from 2009 changed the subtitle to “A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, Evolution, Human Nature, MInd, Politics | Comments Off on George Lakoff, THE POLITICAL MIND

Faith, Consolation, Reality

A couple weeks ago I noted, without any kind of deep analysis, a David Brooks essay about his experience of faith, and how it involved random emotional feelings of transcendence and nothing about perceiving the actual nature of reality. OnlySky, … Continue reading

Posted in Evolution, Religion | Comments Off on Faith, Consolation, Reality

Knee-Jerk Conservative Reactions

Conservatives react to the incidents this past week in New Orleans and Las Vegas by blaming their favorite bogeymen. Immigrants! Diversity initiatives! Without evidence, or rationale. As conservatives reject reality, reality-based scientists are rejecting the coming conservative administration, by moving … Continue reading

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on Knee-Jerk Conservative Reactions

What Conservatives Want to Conserve

Another passage from Lakoff, with my interpolations. From page 68: In its moral basis and its content, conservatism is centered on the politics of authority, obedience, and discipline. This content is profoundly antidemocratic, whereas our country was founded on opposition … Continue reading

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives | Comments Off on What Conservatives Want to Conserve