Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

An Election About Elections

We won’t know today. David A. Graham at The Atlantic about how this election is a test; Evidence about how European nations would vote in today’s US presidential election; More about the Republican backlash to the idea that women can … Continue reading

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Of Course This Won’t Be All Over Tomorrow

Trump’s Wild Claims, Conspiracies and Falsehoods Redefine Presidential Bounds; Trump says rallies are full while a cameraman pans over an empty arena; CNN fact-checks Trump’s final day of his campaign; When called out, Trump says never mind, I was kidding; … Continue reading

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César Hidalgo, WHY INFORMATION GROWS

Subtitled “The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies” (Basic Books, 2015, xxi + 232 pp, including 51pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index) A few weeks ago I sat down to read the new Yuval Noah Harari book, NEXUS, and … Continue reading

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How Much Is There Left to Say?

David French: There will always be a Trump; David Frum: No one has an alibi; Facts, if anyone cares, about the economy under Biden and Trump (On 17 points: Biden advantage 11, Trump advantage 5, and 1 unclear); How Musk’s … Continue reading

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Ramping Up

It’s happening right before our eyes. How Trump’s 2020 Playbook is being put into action; Trump simulates oral sex in public; Jonathan M. Katz on what Trump’s team will do following the election; Robert Reich reminds us of 101 terrible … Continue reading

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Prothero: WHY LIBERALS WIN THE CULTURE WARS…

(EVEN WHEN THEY LOSE ELECTIONS), subtitled “The Battles That Define America from Jefferson’s Heresies to Gay Marriage” (HarperOne, Oct 2016, 326pp, including 62p acknowledgements, notes, and index.) I’ve mentioned this book a few times, the first time even before it … Continue reading

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Another Trumpy Day

Trump imagines Liz Cheney before a firing squad; A history of Trump’s violent remarks; And his “enemies list”; Trumpists’ playbook for trying to overturn the election — check back next week; How Trump appeals to America’s xenophobic history; When leopards … Continue reading

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And Now We’re Talking about Garbage

How the mighty have fallen. What does Trump being a narcissistic sociopath say about us? I have some ideas; How another confrontation by a child to her Trump-voting father does not go well; More about Trump’s, and Biden’s, garbage comments; … Continue reading

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And So Here We Are

Trump’s closing argument is vulgarity; How Trump is unable to produce evidence of voter fraud; Similarly, how a far-right social media personality is unable to substantiate his calumny against James Carville; Shorter items: How Trump pardons only those loyal to … Continue reading

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Appropriate Terminology

Several good items published today. We’re stuck in the Trump Loop because we can’t accept that sociopaths exist; Steven Pinker with data that says the country is *not* ‘dying’; Another piece about psychological “blind spots” and how to counter them; … Continue reading

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