The Psy of Life

CalicoJack explains Life & Everything using Snark & Psychology

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 6 minutes When Heather Cox Richardson speaks, I listen. Recently, she observed that US democracy has always beaten back the authoritarians among us. The question is has the dynamic of the nation changed so much as to make that impossible now?

Heather Cox Richardson on How We Got Here and What History Tells Us About Saving Our Democracy

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 4 minutes Trump had four audiences for his Big Lie election speech on Thursday and YOU weren't in one of them. He needs to prime his folks for November.

The Four Audiences for Trump's Big Lie Speech

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes Our politics is broken! Voting by party affiliation and electing the other party when the economy is bad no longer works! We just might have to THINK for ourselves. We're angry and we're voting DSA and pragmatists!

Our Electorate is Angry so We're Electing Democratic Socialists and Pragmatists!

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 4 minutes Are the incessant lies about McConnell's health a cynical ploy to keep his seat in Republican hands or manipulation of the prediction markets or both? Why not both? Let the evidence of you eyes and ears decide!

Schrödinger's McConnell Proves We're Living In "1984"

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 6 minutes Is Trump a tyrant? Are the American people right in seeking to dissolve our political association with him as it says in our Declaration of Independence? Evaluate Trump using five of those grievances and let us know what you think.

Celebrating the Fourth: Let the Declaration of Independence Decide if Trump is a Tyrant

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes It's been 165 years since the start of the Civil War, and the South is still pushing for its same goals: white supremacy, misogyny, evangelicalism, oligarchy, and authoritarianism. They've exchanged battle fields for courts and rifles for lawyers.

The Confederacy Captured the Courts: The Struggle for A More Perfect Union Continues

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes Trump lies like the little boy who cried wolf, but his credibility isn't damaged with MAGA. The secret ingredient is illusory explanation -- it stops credulous from thinking any more about it. The reflecting pool debacle is the perfect illustration of how it works.

The Little President Who Cried Winning: The Reflecting Pool Lies and Those Who Believe Them

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes Musk being a trillionaire is a symptom of the wide open wealth pump shifting middle class wealth upward. Since FDR, we've known what a widening wealth gap does & how to fix it. Republicans are fighting us the whole way.

Peter Turchin Predicts: One Last Chance to Avoid End Times Political Disintegration

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 4 minutes When life brings the perfect storm, you blog about it. This week four psychology studies were reported upon that supported some aspect of the liberal political perspective. Together they suggest conservatives are fighting human nature.

Four Psy Studies that Suggest Conservative Beliefs are Fighting Human Nature and Liberal-Progressive Policies are Right

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 2 minutes By selecting Ken Paxton to be their Senate candidates, Texas Republicans are signaling their preference for corruption and authoritarianism. Whether they stayed home or actually voted for him, Texas Republicans think that Paxton is their man.

Comment on This: Support for Ken Paxton shows MAGA's Support for Corruption and Authoritarianism

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes The YOLO Caucus has nothing to fear from Trump so why'd they vote for the reconciliation bill? There's a lot of anti-Trump Republicans, so why are they still in the party? Why not start a new party? Oh, it's the grift...

The Disingenuousness of Never Trumpers and the YOLO Caucus -- Grifting off of the Anti-Trump Vibe same as the Pro-Trumpers

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes Trump has frequently said that we shouldn't worry about his war crimes in Iran because it will all work out. Work out for who? The status quo bias of the conservatives in the country is destroying the foundations of our country.

Status Quo Bias: The Assumption that is Destroying the Foundation of All of Our Futures

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes From the quagmire of Trump's excursion into war crimes in Iran to the desperation of trying to elect Graham Platner in Maine, the US finds itself in dire straights. There is only one common element to this mess, Donald Trump.

The Hottest of Takes: What Happens When the Biggest Fuck Up in the History of the World is elected to the Most Powerful Office in the World?

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 5 minutes How do you make the inexplicable explicable? You apply recent psychological findings. Even the one third of the electorate who still supports Trump can be explained with this one weird trick. And you won't believe what the fourth one is.

The Identity Characteristics that Define Trump Support in 2024 and Now

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 4 minutes Democrats should fight like Republicans, but they shouldn't lie, cheat, or steal. They should simplify their message and repeat it at every opportunity. They should connect the misery we're all feeling to specific office holders and policies they supported.

Solving Democratic Messaging Issues by Connecting the Dots between Voting, Office Holders, and Policies

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 6 minutes I'm sure everyone has had this experience: you commit a faux pas so bad you can never show your face to that group of people again. It happens to autistic people pretty often. Here's what helps.

You Can Stay, But Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Autistic Experience of Joining Groups

[calicojack1718]

Reading time: 4 minutes John Roberts has fulfilled his lifelong mission to gut the Voting Rights Act and return us to the Jim Crow era. Here we trace the lineage of Roberts' racist beliefs and acts and link it all to the Confederacy.

John Roberts Continues the Civil War