Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

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 →

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, History, Human Nature | Comments Off

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 →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, History, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off

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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As Things Fall Apart

Posted on Thursday 23 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How Trump’s war against DEI isn’t actually about merit; How despite claims of merit, those executive orders were shoddily written; How Trump prioritizes white Christian patriarchy; Comments from Heather Cox Richardson, Paul Krugman, and Robert Reich; How conservative response to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy, Music, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off

What Our Time Will Be Remembered For

Posted on Wednesday 22 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Doing next to nothing, while the world burned. Our time will be remembered for nothing else than our inaction on climate change; David Wallace-Wells searches for a silver lining; A book I’m reading recalls similar conservative resistance to action on … Continue reading →

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Party of Hypocrites

Posted on Tuesday 21 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s pardons of the January 6th rioters was an act of contempt, and a violation of the Constitutional standards he claims to uphold; Trump and his minions show contempt for an Episcopal bishop at Washington’s National Cathedral who pled for … Continue reading →

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A New Cycle of Doom: Trump’s Second Inauguration

Posted on Monday 20 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

What I said about the inaugurations 4 and 8 years ago; About Trump’s inauguration this morning, a fact-check of his speech, and how he did not place his hand on the Bible; Paul Krugman on lies, David A. Graham on … Continue reading →

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For Certain Values of Great

Posted on Sunday 19 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

From Facebook, a few days ago. The science fiction writer Robert Charles Wilson attempts to summarize the current condition in a single sentence. Facebook, Robert Charles Wilson, 11 Jan 2025: via David Gerrold. The concentration of wealth is driving novel … Continue reading →

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Immigration, Economic Growth, and the Limits of the Planet

Posted on Saturday 18 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT has ideas about regulating immigration, given the assumption that America needs more people; Paul Krugman looks at economic growth (and Scott Bessent); But neither of them addresses the impact of continued economic growth, or expansion of the population, on … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Economics, Politics | Comments Off

Lakoff on “Privateering,” and the Consequences of Shrinking the Government

Posted on Friday 17 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More things are fitting together. Conservatives, be careful what you wish for. Chapter 7 of the Lakoff book, THE POLITICAL MIND, which I passed over in my review, is about what he calls “privateering.”