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)
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- More Ticks Off the Dictator Playbook List
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Meta
Category Archives: Politics
OK For Me But Not For Thee
Reactions to yesterday’s story; A comment about how perhaps Americans are actually not very good people; Robert Reich recalls the four pillars of civil society: universities, science, the media, and the law; all the ones the current administration is trying … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Politics, Social Progress
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Security Breach; Socialism vs. Capitalism
Today’s big news is about the security breach by Pete Hegseth, and if he or anyone will face consequences; Heather Cox Richardson on the 15th anniversary of Obamacare; And my reflections on the motivations behind the debates between capitalism and … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Religion
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Today’s Doom Watch
A beautiful weekend here in the Bay Area. We’re witnessing the downfall of the United States as an idealistic nation that for many decades has led the world on enlightenment principles and scientific achievements. At the same time, most people … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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“The Wholesale Destruction of the United States Government”
Heather Cox Richardson on the dismantling of the US government, on libraries and museums, and on the rule of law; WaPo’s Dana Milbank on Musk’s ignorance of the government he’s dismembering, on what judges do, and on the administration’s bows … Continue reading
The Devolution of the United States
America is 24th in a ranking of the happiest countries in the world. Don’t Americans wonder why so many other countries are happier? I suspect they do not. [Update: this is a fairly superficial measure. Even so.] Trump and his … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Politics
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Is Science Partisan? How Could It Not Be?
The astronauts have returned, and Trump and Musk lie about what actually happened; The idea of blaming Mexico for the overdose epidemic is wrong, and will not work; Short items about eating less, globalism, cutting aid to the poor to … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Science
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How MAGA folks don’t actually believe in traditional American values
Rather, they embody the essence of primitive tribalism. A Ben Shapiro host renounces the Statue of Liberty and its “stupid” poem; The disappearance of Navajo Code Talkers on government websites suggests again that MAGA is a white supremacy movement; Shameless … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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More Ticks Off the Dictator Playbook List
There will be no calm still point. Trump defying the Court; a Constitutional crisis, perhaps; The next phase of Trump’s dictatorship era; Following the dictator playbook; Concern about discrimination against whites, and how MAGA is about white supremacy; How narratives … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Narrative, Politics, Psychology
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Pi Day Rationalizations
How MAGA rationalizes downturns in the economy; How scam artists prey on gullible old religious people; How the Family Research Council is anxious to replace education with religious indoctrination; How repeating a lie (“tariffs are tax cuts!”) often enough will … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics
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Here We Are: Stupid America
Frank Bruni on the Trump administration’s undercutting of America’s superpower; How the current secretary of defense thinks climate change is “crap”; Facts about the 19 programs dismissed as “waste”; Blast from the past: how Indiana tried to redefine Pi, to … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics
Comments Off on Here We Are: Stupid America