David A. Conrad, Ph.D.

When he doesn't get the nomination he'll declare himself an independent. Take that to the prediction market!

I have been saying this. It was a very harmful phrase in the summer of the 1945, a phrase that made surrender harder to achieve, with disastrous consequences.

I'd certainly be willing to be on the list of historians ready and able to refute it!

A thing that doesn't matter but that I wonder about: these days schools - all schools, apparently - have celebrations for things like the 100th or, inexplicably, the 120th day of school. Sometimes these celebrations involve kids dressing up.

This was not part of life in the 90s. What is this?

In many cases their text is AI. I saw one circulating a rather famous photo of an Australian POW facing beheading, which is real enough, but the accompanying text was the now-typical artificial drivel.

It seemed to be a point worth making, since you seemed to be suggesting the opposite was the case. There is D opposition (and some R opposition), but it is - clearly - insufficient.

A single so far - the House votes today. I think it shows I was correct that there were enough D votes to authorize the conflict, which is what I came to the thread to emphasize, yes.

I'm just circling back in the wake of the war powers resolution in the Senate failing, with a predicted Dem defection, and in advance of today's House vote failing, with predicted Dem defections. We all knew this would happen, of course - we just quibbled about quibbles while we waited for it.

Many known racists and xenophobes have wives or family members who are immigrants and non-white, and that includes the historic German Nazis themselves vis a vis Jews. Does that influence your internal monologue here?

One grandma was a secretary in Parkland Hospital for ages, including on the day JFK died. She was one of the first to know, and she appears in the Warren Commission.

Other grandma worked behind-the-counter jobs in farm country. As classic a grocery store on as classic a main street as you'll find.

I'll say Pittsburgh!

Yep, it's good for this to end tonight with a winner. Talarico isn't my kind of pol, but I hope he coasts drama-free through the next few weeks while Cornyn and Paxton continue to devolve.

I STEAL

I used to devour books on modern Chinese history as a kid, opened my book with a Henry Luce quote, and I can't tell you how depressing it is to have the Secretary of State totally whiff a Chiang Kai-shek reference and have no idea what he's talking about. A government of the unqualified.

Called it.

Marco Rubio isn't educated enough for that reference - it must have somehow survived within the Republican Party (always the pro-China party from the days when Jiang was still on the mainland) and been passed down to him from the older folks.

It's a new "definition of insanity" case study. Just doing this terrible, unpopular thing over and over expecting it will somehow help you.

Describe your politics with one gif

I guess I'd like to start by asking where the Democrats are. Presumably Schumer is trying to wrangle votes he won't get - but that can't be where it ends. He has to take action *even if that action fails*. I want to demand that he and his party show proof of life.

youtu.be/BsB4Bekhkm4?...

I still think this a month after the protests: bsky.app/profile/davi...

Dubai could nationalize whatever they can't take with them. "Agile regulations" come home to roost.

Excellent flick, one I always enjoy putting on for the kids.

I did a dissertation on a specific aspect of occupation policy and its parallels in other places where the US exercised influence. It's a glimpse into a long-ago time when we had such things as "plans." repositories.lib.utexas.edu/items/7e7bf7...

Inside GHQ : the Allied occupation of Japan and its legacy : Takemae, Eiji, 1930-2015 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Includes bibliographical references (pages 675-713) and index

If you want to dive deep, this is the best book on the bureaucracy of occupied Japan, IMO: archive.org/details/insi...

That process was not without its drastic pivots, contradictions, hypocrisies, and shortcomings. But it shows that if you want a certain outcome, you have to put in a certain effort.

Hundreds of economists, agronomists, sociologists, cultural scholars, diplomats worked for years BEFORE Japan's surrender in 1945 to define their goals for the postwar period, then worked for years AFTER the surrender to implement those goals, resulting in a stable and US-allied government. But OK.

My comment is not about his comment.

If it happens, we'll find out.

Well, it certainly is a quibble when, from what we can tell, there would be enough D votes to authorize the attack if such authorization were solicited.