Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2010-2013)
» Blogspot Views from Medina Road (2003-2010)-
Recent Posts
- The Plane. George Saunders. Lying. And AI spam.
- John Scalzi, WHEN THE MOON HITS YOUR EYE
- Current Politics as Reflections of Human Nature
- We’re Living in an Age of Regression
- Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1
- Palace in the Sky, For the One
- Disconnects from Reality, and a Couple Positive Notes
- How the US is retreating into tribalism
- J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN
- The US Is Becoming a Demon-Haunted World. Not Necessarily Again.
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Meta
Category Archives: conservatives
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Institutions, Tribes, and Faith
Paul Krugman’s last NYT column, in part about what has changed in the past 25 years, including the collapse of trust in the elites; Helen Lewis echoes Fareed Zakaria yesterday: the mainstream media is part of the “elite” system that … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Epistemology, Religion, Science, Social Progress
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People Would Rather Believe Than Know
How conservatives distrust science because it does not accommodate “moral and religious values”, thus missing the point of science; Mark Lilla on the allure of ignorance; Dinesh D’Souza admits 2000 Mules was flawed; Heather Cox Richardson on how government institutions … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology, Religion
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Wrecking Crews and Historical Cycles
Once again, considering current politics as the ways human nature plays out. Today’s topics: Efforts in several states to replace general education with Christian education; The reality of the “deep state,” and how they plan to survive Trump and MAGA; … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, History, Politics
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The Anticipation of Unintended Consequences
Many are predicting that the new administration’s plans, especially concerning deportations and tariffs, will backfire and wreck the economy, or at least raise prices in ways they apparently cannot anticipate. But one guesses that the Republicans will not admit it … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Economics, Human Nature, Psychology
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The Overton Window of Deviance
Amanda Marcotte on how Christians seem not bothered by the immorality of Trump or his Cabinet picks; Bret Stephens on defining deviancy down; Timothy Snyder on how Trump is actually a fascist — and how fascists use narratives; David French … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Lunacy, Politics
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