Violence as a Public Health Issue, and Media Bias

Posted on Sunday 27 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Two New Yorker pieces today.

I mentioned an article a couple weeks ago about whether violence is a disease (or actually, whether MAGA is a disease like violence is taken to be). Here’s another perspective.

The New Yorker, Michael Luo, 17 Oct 2024: Should Political Violence Be Addressed Like a Threat to Public Health?, subtitled “Treating political violence as a contagion could help safeguard the future of American democracy.”

The essay begins by recalling the filth in mid-19th century New York City streets, and the rash of deaths in car crashes in the 1950s. Both were treated as matters of public health and largely fixed.

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Capitulating: Obeying in Advance

Posted on Saturday 26 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Reactions to the withheld endorsements for president by LAT and WaPo from Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson, and John Scalzi;
  • John Kelly’s definition of fascism;
  • How the working class is so concerned about inflation, focusing only on their own personal circumstances;
  • And how this reflects the flaw in human nature that focuses on the local and personal with lack of concern about the big picture.
– – –

 

Robert Reich considers the significance of the withheld presidential endorsements by two big papers.

Robert Reich, 25 Oct 2024: Cowardice and intimidation at The Washington Post and L.A. Times, subtitled “Their billionaire owners are Trump enablers”

He outlines the situation, and ends with the resignation of Mariel Garza, editorials editor of the Washington Post.

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Latest Shenanigans, and Others

Posted on Friday 25 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Trump: the media are “enemies of the people”;
  • Billionaire owners of LA Times and WaPo refuse to allow their papers to endorse Harris;
  • Trump spells out his facist intentions; NYT says, believe him;
  • Trump offered to pay for a soldier’s funeral, and didn’t; Musk’s and Fox News’ latest lies; Christian Nationalists’ poor education; Republicans no longer support the military; Yes Russia is spreading disinformation; How democracy is threatened by a global crisis in masculinity.

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Car Hits Power Pole

Posted on Thursday 24 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Short post today, since as I was sitting down to write it, an hour and a half ago now, the power went out. This was around 4:20pm. I sat and read a book. Power back about 5:40. Car hit power pole, the message from PG&E said. It’s Y’s turn fixing dinner tonight, so let’s see what I can get done before it’s ready. Topics today:

  • Blame the billionaires;
  • Differences between MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans;
  • Another way to challenge Trump: societal mobilization.
– – –

Slate, Steven Greenhouse, 23 Oct 2024: If Trump Wins, Blame the Billionaires, subtitled “Without them, this presidential race wouldn’t be close at all.”

This supports the by-now-truism that the wealthy support Republicans because Republicans given them tax breaks. (While Republicans gather votes by pretending to be concerned about conservative moral issues. Some of them are.)

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Notes About the Real World

Posted on Wednesday 23 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s look at some non-political items today.

  • Three critical thinking tools used by Daniel Dennett;
  • Eight principles of lifelong learning from an astrophysicist;
  • Adam Lee on our solarpunk future — technology that exists now, but isn’t widely distributed;
  • Scientific American on commonalities in the world’s music;
  • And Elizabeth Kolbert on the threat of Greenland’s ice melting.
– – –

 

Big Think, Kevin Dickinson, 23 Oct 2024: 3 brilliant critical thinking tools used by Daniel Dennett, subtitled “The late philosopher suggested adding a couple of “Occam’s heuristics” to your critical thinking toolbox.”

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It Has to Make Sense, Somehow

Posted on Tuesday 22 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Robert Reich wonders how this race can still be tied, and reflects on bullies;
  • With relevant items about Charlie Kirk, and Russian operatives, and a scamvangelist;
  • An extensive guide to Trump’s lifetime of scandals;
  • A video about the actual integrity of the voting system;
  • Paul Krugman on Trump’s take on the Civil War, rich people, and wokeism.
– – –

Robert Reich, 22 Oct 2024: How the hell can the race be tied?, subtitled “Two weeks before an election in which America should be sending Trump home (and then to jail), he and Harris are in a statistical tie in the battleground states.”

Reich writes about dealing with bullies all his life (in part because he’s short), including (as an adult) Republicans.

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How Plagues Are Caused by the Tolerance of Left-Handed People

Posted on Monday 21 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Why are Gen Z men going back to church, and women leaving? It’s always about the search for meaning;
  • About friends and family who’ve been lost to MAGA madness;
  • Hurricanes are caused by being left-handed — er, by porn in schools;
  • How Republicans *want* to be able to spread misinformation;
  • Faking a former Walz student;
  • How Trump’s win would return the US to the world of the 1930s.

So hard to keep up. I think for today I’ll pass over Trump’s stunt at a McDonald’s, and his obsession with Arnold Palmer’s anatomy. You can Google them.

– – –

Why would this be?

Slate, 11 Oct 2024, Jill Filipovic: Gen Z Men Are Going Back to Church. Why?, subtitled “Young men are increasingly more religious. Young women are leaving the church in droves. Their motivations might not be so different.”

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Factory Settings

Posted on Sunday 20 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • The idea of “factory settings” as describing base human nature, and how some people can transcend them;
  • A woman wonders if religion is the only way to instill her child with “scaffolding for spirituality and morality” (answer: no);
  • Richard Dawkins reflects on the American electoral college system, and Jordan Peterson.
– – –

 

I was struck by something in this op-ed today. (In today’s paper, it was posted a couple days ago.)

NY Times, Jamelle Bouie, 18 Oct 2024: There Is No Precedent for Something Like This in American History

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Good Questions, Interesting Answers

Posted on Friday 18 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • David Brooks wonders, Why isn’t she running away with this?
  • Adam Gopnik wonders why even his opponents don’t recognize the extent of Trump’s villainy;
  • Jill Filipovic wonders why NYT softens headlines about Trump;
  • David French wonders if Trump’s policies make any more sense than his tweets;
  • And items about Trump’s profanity-laden talk to the Catholics, MAGA’s bond, Trump’s dehumanizing language, and Musk misrepresenting Harris’s policies.

NY Times, David Brooks, 17 Oct 2024: Why the Heck Isn’t She Running Away With This?”

He wonders why the race is so tied, the polls immobile. And he wonders:

Why has politics been 50-50 for over a decade? We’ve had big shifts in the electorate, college-educated voters going left and non-college-educated voters going right. But still, the two parties are almost exactly evenly matched.

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What It Means to be Fascist

Posted on Thursday 17 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Robert Reich’s take in five points;
  • AlterNet’s John Stoer’s take;
  • How Trump can claim anything — now he’s the “father of IVF” — and his fans will believe him.

Robert Reich, 17 Oct 2024: Trump’s closing argument: full-throated fascism

Recalling Trump’s recent remarks about illegal aliens and the “enemy within” and how his political opponents are “evil,” Reich states:

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