MAGA Doesn’t Understand What Makes America Great

Posted on Saturday 15 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Nicholas Kristof on the three fundamental ingredients of America’s greatness that Trump and MAGA are undoing.
  • Short items about Elon Musk, D&D, and racism; Christian presumption about church and state; how easily Nick Fuentes has been endorsed by many Republicans; Trump’s bribes; and how Trump is wrong about fentanyl.
– – –

It’s been studied — what makes some societies great, and others failures. Which is why the slogan MAGA is so ironic.

NY Times, Nicholas Kristof, 15 Nov 2025: America’s Formula for Greatness Is Under Threat [gift link]
Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, History, Politics | Comments Off on MAGA Doesn’t Understand What Makes America Great

Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 3

Posted on Saturday 15 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Houghton Mifflin, Oct. 2006, 406pp, including 26pp of appendix, books cited, notes, and index)

(Post 1; Post 2)

One chapter for today. This is about where religion came from and what use it is.

*

Ch 5, The Roots of Religion, p161

There are various ideas about the usefulness of religion, but this chapter focuses on the Darwinian imperative—if something exists, it must be ‘good for something’. What is religion ‘good for’? It might be good directly; it might involve group selection; it might involve the ‘extended phenotype’ (e.g. a parasite directing an organism to do something); it might involve memes.

Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Book Notes, Human Nature, Religion | Comments Off on Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 3

Conservative Principles vs. Reality

Posted on Friday 14 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Paul Krugman on the decline and fall of the conservative Heritage Foundation, and how it’s always been a fraud;
  • Heather Cox Richardson on how the ideology of MAGA is smashing against reality;
  • Short items about Republicans destroying the safety net, Trump dropping tariffs on countries who give him gifts, how religious groups are safe havens for sexual predators, and conservative predictions that Mamdani will starve NYC;
  • James Greenberg on Facebook expresses salient truths about how modern civilization knows about the ways it’s being undone, but denies them, i.e. about climate change denial.
– – –

How principled conservatism has morphed into “conspiracy-mongering and blatant bigotry.”

Paul Krugman, 14 Nov 2025: The Decline and Fall of the Heritage Foundation, subtitled “Its descent into conspiracy-mongering and blatant bigotry was utterly predictable”
Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Social Progress | Comments Off on Conservative Principles vs. Reality

Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 2

Posted on Friday 14 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Houghton Mifflin, Oct. 2006, 406pp, including 26pp of appendix, books cited, notes, and index)

(Post 1)

Here are the first four chapters (out of ten), which deal with the arguments for and against the existence of God, summarized in 3700 words. Note that Dawkins refers to many other authors and their books, and frequently quotes. I’ll only allude them in passing.

*

1, A Deeply Religious Non-Believer, p9

Einstein quote.

Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Morality, Religion | Comments Off on Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 2

Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 1

Posted on Friday 14 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Houghton Mifflin, Oct. 2006, 406pp, including 26pp of appendix, books cited, notes, and index)

Of the four books published in the mid-2000s by the so-called “new atheists,” this one by Richard Dawkins was the most blunt and least conciliatory; it was frank, straightforward, and matter of fact. It covers all the basics, such as the arguments for God’s existence and why they are weak or implausible, and the reasons why it’s very unlikely that any god exists; then looks at the history of religion, the source of morality, how the moral zeitgeist has changed over the millennia, and the problems with religion and religious belief.

Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Religion | Comments Off on Richard Dawkins, THE GOD DELUSION, post 1

Intentional Ignorance

Posted on Thursday 13 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Paul Krugman on Republican lies and misrepresentations about health care;
  • Short items about a drop in US religiosity; Trump lying about falling gas prices; David French on how Trump keeps pardoning criminals as long as they’re loyal to him.
– – –

Paul Krugman, 13 Nov 2025: The Republican Brain Doesn’t Want To Understand Health Care, subtitled “For 15 years we have heard the same lies and misrepresentations”
Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Religion | Comments Off on Intentional Ignorance

Discipline, Lies, Ignorance, and Consensus Truth

Posted on Wednesday 12 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Robert Reich on undisciplined Democrats and regimented Republicans;
  • Squaring that with Mike Johnson’s comments a year and a half ago;
  • Paul Krugman on how Trump successively lies, over and over;
  • How Trump doesn’t understand mortgages or health insurance;
  • Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, and the right-wing attacks on consensus truth.
– – –

More catching up, with some longer pieces worth quoting from.

Robert Reich, 12 Nov 2025: Why are Democrats so undisciplined and Republicans so regimented?, subtitled “The asymmetry explained”
Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Discipline, Lies, Ignorance, and Consensus Truth

Cruelty, Nonsense, and Reality-Checks

Posted on Wednesday 12 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Paul Krugman says Trump knew full well how his Great Gatsby-themed party looked just as millions of Americans were about to lose federal food assistance — the cruelty is the point;
  • Short items about church/state separation; how “God’s authority” is not a legal defense; Mar-A-Lago Face requests; firing investigators targeting your friends; what “great red cities”?; Trump pranked; Obergefell; Trump doesn’t know what a magnet is; Trump thinks people quit their jobs to get SNAP; Trump thinks Mamdani is a communist, with a helpful chart to distinguish various “isms”; Tucker Carlson thinks chemtrails are real, with a helpful response detailing the logistics needed for that to be true; and how Trump thinks talent in the US is lacking.
– – –

Catching up on items in the news from the past week. This sets the tone.

Paul Krugman, 4 Nov 2025: The Big Smirk, subtitled “The cruelty is the point, party edition”
Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Cruelty, Nonsense, and Reality-Checks

Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 5 (conclusion)

Posted on Tuesday 11 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom”
With second subtitle “Why the Meaningful Life is Closer than You Think”

(Basic Books, 2006, xiii + 297pp, including 54pp acknowledgements, notes, references, and index. Hardcover with no dust jacket.)

(Post 1, Post 2, post 3, post 4)

\

Now, a final review and some thumbnail summaries. What was this book about again? Happiness? Ancient wisdom? The meaning of life? All of the above? The themes and structure of the book are not crisp enough for me to boil them down without reading through my notes one more time… That’s what I’m doing today, to distill the book down as much as I can.

Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Meaning, Morality, Philosophy, Psychology | Comments Off on Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 5 (conclusion)

Busy Weekend: Quick Summary

Posted on Monday 10 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Friday I had a PCP (primary healthcare physician) appointment; an annual checkup, though they don’t use that word anymore. Insurance difficulties. Just a 10-minute chat. D Frey had already seen all my blood work. No problems.

On Saturday we did a quick drive from Oakland down to LA, on the I5, to visit Y’s younger son Michael and his wife’s new daughter, Leila, for her 100-day party. A Chinese tradition.

And Sunday morning we drove home, up the I5.

Sunday afternoon we visited the Silverbergs, for a visit and take-out dinner. He had fallen and hurt his hip, and was house-bound. I had never been to their house before. This was a … thrill.

On Saturday, while we were in LA, my contributor copy of the Gary Westfahl anthology with an essay of mine arrived. I posted about this on Facebook, since my own essay is fully visible via Amazon’s “Read Sample” feature.

Posted in Personal history | Comments Off on Busy Weekend: Quick Summary