This is how these things happen

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • NYT’s M. Gessen on how the police state has arrived;
  • A WaPo reporter goes looking for the “corrosive ideology” Trump thinks is in the Smithsonian;
  • The next Project 2025 goal is to restore the ideal heterosexual family, and diminish everyone else;
  • CDC is ordered *not* to release a measles report; Josh Hawley too is obsessed by “spiritual oppression”; what Trump’s “liberation” actually means; how our era echoes McCarthyism; and how moving fast and breaking things is about knowing their time is limited.
– – –

Even if most people don’t notice in their daily lives.

NY Times, M. Gessen, 2 Apr 2025: Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived. [gift link]
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Posted in Art, authoritarianism, Economics, Politics | Comments Off on This is how these things happen

A Post-Pandemic Malaise?

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Thoughts about whether the pandemic has led to autocracy around the world;
  • How that, and inequality, have left Americans in a sour economic mood;
  • A graphic illustrating how those who want to privatize everything think everything is about making money;
  • The administration’s latest “administrative error” sends an innocent man to a Salvadoran prison;
  • How Karoline Leavitt is obsessed by spiritual warfare;
  • An economics professor explains why Trump’s ideas about tariffs make no sense.
– – –

Similar idea encountered twice today.

First,on KQED’s Forum radio interview program.

This morning hosted Alexis Madrigal, with guests Anne Applebaum and Steven Levitsky.

KQED Forum, 1 Apr 2025: How Countries Fall Into Autocracy

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Posted in Economics, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on A Post-Pandemic Malaise?

What Is the Venn Diagram Between Whitewashing and White Supremacy?

Posted on Monday 31 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Signalgate and white mediocrity;
  • How we are seeing tribal impulses eroding the high ideals designed to overcome them;
  • How the Trump administration is indifferent to refugees… except for whites from South Africa;
  • Jill Lawrence at The Bulwark about Trump’s bid to whitewash American history;
  • Short items about RFK, National Review, and Paul Krugman about how MAGA is bad for business.
– – –

I’m mentioned white supremacy a couple times. It’s seemed to me that the goal of DOGE is to reinstate white supremacy, that DEI is bad because it treats the entire nation’s population as worthy of consideration, while Trump and MAGA care only about whites, and everyone else should be disappeared.

Here’s one result.

Salon, Rann Miller, 31 Mar 2025: Signalgate is a consequence of anti-DEI hysteria, subtitled “White mediocrity has become a national security risk”

Beginning with a prominent example, which most people have probably forgotten about.
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Posted in conservatives, Morality, Politics | Comments Off on What Is the Venn Diagram Between Whitewashing and White Supremacy?

I read the news today, oh boy.

Posted on Sunday 30 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How mold is taken as a miracle, another example in an endless series throughout history;
  • Short items about Trump, tariffs, and auto prices; lying about American history; how “make America healthy again” means the opposite; how a vaccine expert has been fired from the FDA; and how DOGE wants to privatize everything.

And in the news today, more lies, more reversals, from the Trump administration. He’s changed his mind. He doesn’t remember what he said. “Witch hunt” is one of his favorite terms, from his limited vocabulary, to dismiss any accusation against his band of incompetents. I suspect he was no idea what the actual witch hunts were about. It’s exhausting to try to keep up. We’re living in an upside-down, Alice in Wonderland world. And yet still he has fans.

Let me post this. It’s more significant that it might seem at first glance.

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Posted in Human Nature, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on I read the news today, oh boy.

Adolescence of Boys, and of the Species

Posted on Saturday 29 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

For once we happened to watch a much-discussed current show only a week after it debuted (instead of months later or years later). This is the Netflix show Adolescence (Wikipedia link).

It’s four hour-long episodes, about a 13-year-old boy in an English village who is accused of killing, with a knife, a girl classmate. Each episode is shot in one continuous take, and the episodes are sequential but not continuous. Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Human Nature, Psychology | Comments Off on Adolescence of Boys, and of the Species

The Reality of the World Will Fight Back

Posted on Friday 28 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How the current administration deals in “alternative facts”;
  • With a reminder of some central themes of this blog;
  • Now the Smithsonian Institution is targeted for “improper ideology,” which seems to mean that the prejudices and stereotypes of decades ago are to be restored;
  • Heather Cox Richardson on the administration’s definition of “the Left”;
  • Hillary Clinton on the current administration’s hijinks: “It’s not the hypocrisy; it’s the stupidity”;
  • Short items on even WSJ being accused to fake news; whether Trump believes in the fee market or not (as he orders car companies not to raise prices in response to his tariffs); ending laws against child labor; now they’re abducting people in broad daylight; business leaders compare Trump to a mob boss; Christians are now plotting to overturn Obergefell (as predicted); how Pam Bondi thinks judges have no authority to overrule the president.
– – –

First, a reminder of the current situation.

The Bulwark, Mona Charen, 28 Mar 2025: What Happens When the Government Starts Reporting ‘Alternative Facts’?, subtitled “The truth is the last weapon of the opposition.”

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on The Reality of the World Will Fight Back

Of Course We Knew, or Should Have Known, This Was Coming

Posted on Thursday 27 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Frank Bruni on the fiasco of Trump’s cabinet;
  • The Guardian’s Emma Brockes calls them “a bunch of pathetic sleazebags”;
  • And the stunning hypocrisy of this scandal compared to Hillary Clinton’s emails;
  • Short items on the new Lavender Scare, how a GOP rep thinks NPR and PBS “hate our Lord” (dadgum!); and how scientists mull leaving the US.
    – – –

    Frank Bruni nails it.

    NY Times, Frank Bruni, 27 Mar 2025: Trump’s Crackerjack Cabinet Is a Fiasco Foretold [gift link]

    It’s been pointed out time and again that Trump’s choices for his cabinet were among the least qualified people to hold those positions, ever.

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Posted in conservatives, Politics | Comments Off on Of Course We Knew, or Should Have Known, This Was Coming

Fewer and Fewer Are Mincing Words

Posted on Wednesday 26 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Tom Nichols on the recent crisis;
  • Paul Krugman concludes Trump’s people are both incompetent and evil;
  • Even Fox News blames incompetence;
  • Europe reacts to insults;
  • Children with measles are getting sick from overdoses of Vitamin D, per JFK Jr.’s advice;
  • The Trump administration is cancelling medical research;
  • And MTG identifies migrants with rapists.
– – –

On the major story this week, let’s look at Tom Nichols’ take.

The Atlantic, Tom Nichols, 26 Mar 2025: The Trump Team’s Denials Are Laughable, subtitled “The president’s officials must know that what they did in the Signal group chat was wrong—and dangerous.”

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Politics | Comments Off on Fewer and Fewer Are Mincing Words

OK For Me But Not For Thee

Posted on Tuesday 25 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • 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 to tear down.
– – –

Following up on yesterday’s story. They’re minimizing or even denying that the incident happened, and it’s triggered Trump’s reflex to insult anyone who impugns him or his administration in any way. (Yet again, he’s always concerned about ratings and accuses publications he doesn’t like of “failing.”)

AlterNet, Alex Henderson, 25 Mar 2025: ‘Hire clowns, expect a circus’: Leaked chat exposes ‘stupidity and recklessness’

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Posted in Morality, Politics, Social Progress | Comments Off on OK For Me But Not For Thee

Security Breach; Socialism vs. Capitalism

Posted on Monday 24 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Today’s big news is about the security breach by Pete Hegseth, and whether he or anyone else will face consequences;
  • Heather Cox Richardson on the 15th anniversary of Obamacare;
  • And my reflections on the motivations behind the debates between capitalism and socialism, and why some conservatives think government workers are useless scum;
  • And how in the 21st century there’s a White House Faith Advisor scamming people for $1000.

Can you imagine what Republicans would have said if Biden or one of his officials had done this?

The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg, 24 Mar 2025: The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans, subtitled “U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.”

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