Conservative v. Progressive Projects, the Arc of History, and Autism

Posted on Tuesday 20 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Recent thoughts.

Inchoate conclusions. Provisional ideas. Things that have occurred to me. Promoting further explorations. Taking a day off from the news. No pics.

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About human nature and the arc of history.

First, broadly, the conservative project is to maintain the status quo; each generation should produce another as much like its as possible. And to expand. Have lots of babies, and thus prohibit abortion and homosexuality and any “lifestyle” that would inhibit having children and expanding the population. So that the next generation will be just like the current one, and the previous one, forever.

The progressive project Continue reading →

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The Latest About Mad King Donald

Posted on Monday 19 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Trump’s letter to Norway, about threatening a hostile takeover of Greenland because he didn’t win a Nobel Prize, written as if by a petulant 12-year-old child;
  • With big picture comments by Tom Nichols;
  • While Trump voters think he’s doing a great job! And my take on this;
  • How Christian fundamentalists are salivating about the end of the world;
  • MLK and civil rights and how conservatives would ‘cancel’ them, and how young Americans are turning against gay people;
  • And how every mark of social progress throughout history has been opposed by conservatives.
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Lots of discussion today about this.

CNN, 19 Jan 2026: Trump ties efforts to acquire Greenland to failure to win Nobel Peace Prize

Continue reading →

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Trying to Understand How Modern Life Makes Sense in Larger Contexts

Posted on Sunday 18 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

I like to think that this blog isn’t about politics, per se, but about following current events and trying to make sense of them in larger contexts, especially the broad contexts both of history and of what science fiction explores. Though again today, I am cramped for time, so let’s note these items relatively quickly. And obviously I don’t have any final answers.

Update 20jan26:

  • How Trump is fighting half of America;
  • How for Trump justice means vengeance;
  • How Trump is trashing America.
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AlterNet, Alex Henderson, 18 Jan 2026: Inside Trump’s ‘retribution’ against ‘half of America’

AlterNet is essentially a consolidation site (as JMG is), and this item is based on an MS Now (formerly MSNBC) piece by Paul Waldman (formerly of Washington Post).

MS Now, Paul Waldman, 18 Jan 2026: The president of the United States is at war with his own country, subtitled “The Trump administration is engaged in a comprehensive war, and its enemy is half of America.”

Is this not obvious or do I need to quote? OK I’ll quote.

Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on Trying to Understand How Modern Life Makes Sense in Larger Contexts

Trek and Woke, Perception and Reality, Art and Truth

Posted on Saturday 17 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Stephen Miller accuses the new Trek series of being woke, with my comments on how the original Trek series was extremely woke, especially for its era;
  • An interview with Anil Seth about deep reality and whether it’s built by human perception, coincidentally reflecting the themes of books I’m currently reading;
  • Jerry Coyne about whether art is truth;
  • Brahms’ 4th.
– – –

More evidence of the cluelessness of the folks in the Trump administration. This concerns the debut of a new Trek series called “Starfleet Academy,” which I haven’t seen.

(Image from Facebook.)

HuffPost, 16 Jan 2026: Stephen Miller Mocked For Begging William Shatner To Save ‘Star Trek’ From Wokeness, subtitled Many people interpreted Miller’s X post as a variation of “show me you don’t understand the point of ‘Star Trek’ without saying you don’t understand the point of ‘Star Trek.'”

The Independent, 16 Jan 2026: Stephen Miller ridiculed over his next target – saving ‘woke’ Star Trek, subtitled “White House adviser says the popular science fiction franchise should boldly go back to 94 year-old William Shatner”

Because ‘woke,’ to the modern conservative, means acknowledging the existence of anyone who is not (human), white, straight, Christian, and male.

Continue reading →

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Friday the 16th

Posted on Friday 16 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Candace Owens thinks Charlie Kirk was a time traveler, or Charlie Kirk thought that, or both;
  • Christian nationalist pastor Jack Hibbs doesn’t want any contact with Democrats;
  • How the world is adjusting to an unreliable United States;
  • A reporter who applied for ICE calls out the Trump administration’s lies about her
  • And a reflection about “ordinary Germans” during the Nazi era and “ordinary Americans” now.
– – –

The Jerusalem Post, 16 Jan 2026 (via JMG): Candace Owens pushes theory Charlie Kirk was ‘time traveller’ who went to ‘X-Men school’, subtitled “In a recent episode of her podcast, Candace Owens said Charlie Kirk told her he was a ‘time traveler’ who was sent to ‘X-Men school,’ and alleged he was monitored since childhood.”

Controversial US political commentator Candace Owens claimed in a recent episode of her podcast that the late activist Charlie Kirk told her that he was a “time traveler,” and knew that he would die young.

“It is an absolute fact that Charlie Kirk thought that he was a time traveler. He told me he was a time traveler. Repeatedly,” she claimed.

So this is saying that Charlie Kirk thought he was a time-traveler? Is it also saying that Candace Owens believed him? Either way this is lunacy of course, another example of conservative disconnect from reality, presumably because they live in some kind of fantasy world derived from religion and pop culture.

Continue reading →

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Daily Outrages. Tyrant.

Posted on Thursday 15 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

It is too tiring to keep up on the daily outrages. I have things to do. But we can’t become complacent. So headlines today, with minimal comment.

  • Items about gaslighting, Bari Weiss, Trump not as fascist but as tyrant, winking at white nationalists, giving a pass to a red state’s welfare fraud, Trump’s Greenland delusion, the reversal in cutting funds to mental health and addiction services, more gaslighting, RFK Jr.’s plan to bankrupt vaccine manufacturers;
  • Re: Heated Rivalry: how Russia treats gays the way MAGA treats the left; and how the world keeps warming while conservatives are apparently unable to understand this.
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Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Daily Outrages. Tyrant.

Further Evidence

Posted on Wednesday 14 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Another busy day; no time for a big think piece. Short pieces then. Every day there’s more evidence of my running themes.

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ICE are the terrorists.

The Telegraph, 14 Jan 2026: Moment ICE agents drag ‘disabled woman’ from car in Minneapolis, subtitled “Officers filmed smashing window and cutting driver’s seat belt to remove her from vehicle”

Another woman turning onto a street filled with ICE agents. And therefore doomed.

Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Philosophy, Politics | Comments Off on Further Evidence

The Political Divide

Posted on Tuesday 13 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Eric Levitz at Vox on the “fiction” of the Left/Right divide, and how core principles nevertheless do divide the parties;
  • Brief items about ICE recruiting and the right presuming the worst about everyone;
  • Noting the death of Erich von Däniken, and what Carl Sagan said about him.
– – –

Long piece I saw yesterday.

Vox, Eric Levitz, 12 Jan 2026: The fiction at the heart of America’s political divide, subtitled “The uncomfortable truth about ‘the left’ and ‘the right.'”

I’ll quote some of this piece’s thesis…

America’s most impassioned Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on much. Ask the inhabitants of Bluesky and Truth Social whether a fetus is a person, or undocumented immigrants are a scourge, or trans women are women, or climate change is a crisis, or Covid vaccines are toxic, or taxes are too high, or welfare spending is too low, or AR-15s should be banned, or the federal bureaucracy should be gutted, or the police discriminate against Black people, or universities discriminate against white men, or Donald Trump is a fascist, or Joe Biden is the reanimated corpse of a man who died in 2020, and each group is liable to provide warring answers.

If staunch Democrats and Republicans agree on anything, however, it’s that their myriad policy disputes all follow from a deeper philosophical conflict — the centuries-long clash between progressive and conservative conceptions of political justice, truth, and human nature.

But some political scientists, social psychologists, and philosophers say this is, to use a technical term, “bullshit.”
Continue reading →

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Their Core Priority: Make Money

Posted on Monday 12 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Busy day so a quick post for now and no time to dress up yesterday’s post. Today I have a couple long items that will have to wait until tomorrow.

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There may be a tie in all this to the so-called masculinity crisis. As a couple commentators have mentioned, nothing upsets a macho MAGA guy more than thinking a woman is laughing at him, or not taking him seriously. And if that guy has a gun…

Salon, Andi Zeisler, 12 Jan 2026: In Renee Good’s killing, ICE’s misogyny isn’t a side note — it’s the point, subtitled “The words of the man who shot Renee Good speak to the Trump administration’s fixation on masculinity”
Continue reading →

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Our Era of 21st Century Villains

Posted on Sunday 11 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Just the headline will do here.

Washington Post, Letters to the Editor, 11 Jan 2026: MAGA justice: Shoot first, don’t even ask questions later

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NY Times, 10 Jan 2026: F.B.I.’s Inquiry Into ICE Shooting Faces Doubts After White House’s Remarks

First para:

The Trump administration blocked Minnesota officials from investigating the death of the woman shot on Wednesday by a federal agent, then quietly offered this explanation: Local investigators simply could not be trusted to conduct a fair inquiry.

This is, of course, exactly upside down. It is the Trump administration that cannot be trusted to conduct a fair inquiry, because it’s already passed judgment about the victim as some kind of left-wing agitator who deserved what she got, within a mere couple hours after the incident, and before exculpatory videos came in.
Continue reading →

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