Category Archives: conservatives

MAGA and human nature; How Trump thinks everything is about loyalty to him

Reconsidering the definition of MAGA, and how it relates to base human nature; Recalling the David Brooks essay from yesterday; Trump thinks an honest economic forecast is “unpatriotic”; A Christian boy band preaches to public school students, and denies it; … Continue reading

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Self-destruction, Mafia Politics, TACO, What Aligns the Right, Bread and Circuses

Paul Krugman on the economic damage of America’s withdrawal from the world; You can get away with anything if you donate enough to Trump; TACO: Trump Always Chickens Out; Zack Beauchamp on how the right isn’t driven by materialism, but … Continue reading

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Education, Religion, Policies that Don’t Work, the Revolt Against Expertise

Heather Cox Richard on the history of government suppression of education, especially as inspired by religion; The GOP keeps promoting policies that history has shown don’t work; The revolt against expertise, yet again. – – – Heather Cox Richardson reviews … Continue reading

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Crime, Hypocrisy, Fraud & Abuse, Doing Your Own Research, Cafeteria Religion, and Christian Presumption

Crime rates are falling; crime is not a national emergency; Why do people think otherwise? Republicans criticize Democrats for what they are doing now; Why do Republicans think there is so much fraud and abuse everywhere? Why “doing your own … Continue reading

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Taxes and Benefits, Empathy, Genocide

Republicans, predictably, cut taxes for the rich and benefits for the poor. Because the poor deserve their station, apparently (and the rich fund Republicans); Now among Christians empathy is a sin! (Do they actually read their Bibles?); Trump is obsessed … Continue reading

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GOP/conservatives and the Rich; and the Countryside; and Star Wars

The GOP tax bill will hurt lowest earners and help the rich (of course!); NYT’s Jamelle Bouie on Republican hypocrisy and the countryside; Trek v. Wars, and how Wars reveals conservatives’ authoritarian fantasies. – – – NY Times, Tony Romm, … Continue reading

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Supreme Court, Christian Nationalists, Afrikaners

Amanda Marcotte on how the Supreme Court has been captured by far-right conspiracy theories; How the simplest explanation for what’s going on, on several fronts, is basic white supremacy; About Russell Vought; Trump’s morality and his rationale for accepting Afrikaner … Continue reading

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The Plane. George Saunders. Lying. And AI spam.

Will begin posting more about science fiction; see previous post; That Qatari plane is a white elephant they’ve been trying to dump for years; A piece by the novelist George Saunders about the firing of the head of the Library … Continue reading

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Current Politics as Reflections of Human Nature

My daily routine; How Trump would be king and end the rule of law in America, and how this is understandable given base human nature; Paul Krugman on the existential threat of climate change, that conservatives deny or simply do … Continue reading

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Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1

(Wait But Why, 2024, 584pp, including 112pp of characters, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, and bio) I wrote about this book back in December, before deciding to buy it. Which I did despite some cautionary signs: it’s apparently self-published, it’s enormous, it’s … Continue reading

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