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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Meta
Category Archives: Politics
Fear vs. Hope
An essay about “contrasting views of reality” by the American right and the left; Short items about MAGA and pets; Republicans and raunch; Laura Loomer; Buttigieg explains Trump; Lance Wallnau blames witchcraft; and Trump’s new big lie about crime; And … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Fear vs. Hope
The Debate, Politics, and Science
How Kamala Harris defended fracking and did not properly address climate change; How nothing about science came up in the debate; Short items: How MAGA will fall for anything; how Trumps confessed he’s unprepared; how the GOP has become the … Continue reading
Easily Baited
Last night’s debate between Trump and Harris was certainly more entertaining than the debate a couple months ago between Trump and Biden. NY Times, Opinion, 11 Sep 2024: ‘Trump Brought Darkness; Harris Brought Light’: 14 Writers on Who Won the … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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Lies Absurd, and Telling
The latest absurd Republican lie is about cat-eating Haitians, and they don’t care whether it’s true or not, they know it will rile up their base; A Republican suggests that the Great Depression was planned; An article that quotes Republican … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Morality, Politics
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How Beliefs Prevail over Evidence and Reality
Democrats have fixed the economy, but many people don’t “believe” it; CBS News’ Ted Koppel visits a Wisconsin State Fair; The crowd cheers Trump’s latest word salad; How conservatives actually hate American values; And how the mainstream press in America … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Meaning, Morality, Politics
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Cheating and Lying
To me, all of these undermine the Conservative project as a legitimate intellectual discourse. How new local news sources are not what they appear to be; Epoch Times; my rule of thumb about reliable news sources; How the Heritage Foundation … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics
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Alternative Political Realities
I continue to find examples like these fascinating. I know they are extreme examples, and not representative of conservatives in general. But that these claims and attitudes still exist, and are widely circulated, suggests to me that, in the big … Continue reading
Robert Reich, THE COMMON GOOD
Here’s another shortish book I read recently, not a memoir but a book at the intersection of politics, morality, and human nature, which is itself another theme of my reading the past two or three years. It’s by Robert Reich, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Education, Morality, Politics
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Human Nature, Morality, Politics
I think the title here is the name for the broad category of my interests. They all blend together. They connect. For today: Would conservatives ever allow a revision of the US Constitution? No matter how dysfunctional it’s become, no … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Morality, Politics
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Political Truths and Lies
A subject which never ends. My fascination with this, yet again, isn’t about politics per se, so much as trying to understand why people believe what they do, and how humanity struggles with the balance of survival vs understanding. How … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Epistemology, Politics
Comments Off on Political Truths and Lies
