Category Archives: Politics

George Lakoff, THE POLITICAL MIND

Posted on Monday 6 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain” (Viking, June 2008, 292pp, including 20pp of acknowledgements, notes, and index.) Note that the paperback edition from 2009 changed the subtitle to “A Cognitive Scientist’s Guide to Your … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Evolution, Human Nature, MInd, Politics | Comments Off on George Lakoff, THE POLITICAL MIND

Knee-Jerk Conservative Reactions

Posted on Friday 3 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives react to the incidents this past week in New Orleans and Las Vegas by blaming their favorite bogeymen. Immigrants! Diversity initiatives! Without evidence, or rationale. As conservatives reject reality, reality-based scientists are rejecting the coming conservative administration, by moving … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on Knee-Jerk Conservative Reactions

Remembering Y2k; a Political Commentator admits he was wrong; Fallibilism; Reading Lakoff

Posted on Thursday 2 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Back to interesting ideas. Heather Cox Richardson recalls Y2K, 25 years ago on January 1st, and how since the problem was fixed (by the scientists and tech guys) some people felt the problem had never been real. As always, she … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Politics, Technology | Comments Off on Remembering Y2k; a Political Commentator admits he was wrong; Fallibilism; Reading Lakoff

End of Year Summaries

Posted on Sunday 29 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

David Brooks’ favorite essays include one about how Trump’s people have no clue about how to fix complex problems, and one about why people believe *true* things; Two pieces from The Atlantic about 77 facts from 2024, and important breakthroughs … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Science, Social Progress, Technology | Comments Off on End of Year Summaries

Children, Adults Who Think Like Children, and Adults Who Don’t

Posted on Saturday 21 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump doesn’t need to keep his promises because he’ll just claim that he has, and blame his enemies when it’s obvious he has not; How the threat of government shutdown reveals the Republicans as the party of “no”, recalling William … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Children, Adults Who Think Like Children, and Adults Who Don’t

So Are We to Live in an Authoritarian Oligarchy?

Posted on Friday 20 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

The un-elected Elon Musk seems to be running the country this week; How the Drone Panic reveals a need to believe, in *something*. So not only is our incipient administration authoritarian, it’s authoritarian and being run by an oligarch! NY … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Supernatural | Comments Off on So Are We to Live in an Authoritarian Oligarchy?

Psychological Underpinnings

Posted on Thursday 19 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

The drone panic is about human psychology; So is the fear of vaccines. – – –   Once again, the drone panic is not about drones. NY Times, Zeynep Tufekci, 19 Dec 2024: How to Make the Drone Panic So … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Psychological Underpinnings

The Drones! The Drones!

Posted on Monday 16 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

First let’s finish the second Robert Reich item we began yesterday. Then the drones. Robert Reich, 13 Dec 2024: America’s four stories (Part 2)

Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on The Drones! The Drones!

Fear, Outrage, and Paranoia

Posted on Sunday 15 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been curious, but have never been sufficiently tempted, to watch or listen to right-wing media for any period of time. These two pieces confirm my impression that most of its content is about fear and outrage. Fear of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, History, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Fear, Outrage, and Paranoia

American Narratives

Posted on Saturday 14 December 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Infrastructure note; Robert Reich on America’s four stories; Heather Cox Richardson on how Trump has no apparent plan for governance. Infrastructure note. I’ve installed an initial set of theme pages under the “NF Reviews” menu item above, which appear as … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Politics, Website Issues | Comments Off on American Narratives