James Fallows

This firefighter arrived in the US at age 4, has been here for 19 years, was on track to legal status, and was on a crew trying to contain a major blaze (in Washington state, vs Oregon, fwiw.) h/t @joshuajfriedman.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Let's say it again: 1) Harvard said "No," and Trump has backed off. 2) Chicago (and Illinois) said "No," and Trump has backed off. It's day by day. But those who said "OK, sure," have gained nothing at all. Except shame.

Common theme of people I've interviewed recently. At universities, in research centers, in diplomacy, in the legal system, dealing with refugees or immigrants: The reality inside is much worse than you would think from the outside.

'Unconditional surrender': - Surviving Nazi leaders to Allies, 1945. - Japan to Allies, 1945, with "condition" of emperor staying on throne. - Saddam Hussein to Schwarzkopf, 1991, with some conditions. Zero resemblance to anything she is talking about.

In a crowded field that includes Miller, Kash, Hegseth, Marco, RFKJr, Bondi, Vance, Bessent, and until recently Kristi/Corey, etc .... KL deserves a place in the pantheon all her own.

Who else remembers or has heard of prize-winning late 1960s novel 'An Operational Necessity,' by Gwyn Grffin? It's about law-of-war consequences for WWII German U-boat crew that kills, rather than rescuing, crew members of a French boat it has torpedoed and sunk. Worth reading again at the moment.

Photo for history accounts of Noem era: Swanning around, in Mar-a-Lago "hot girl" attire, in front of caged, head-shaved, half-naked deportees in foreign prison, many of them taken illegally or by mistake, all of them in humiliating role as props in dominance/submission ritual.

When she was governor (and we were traveling all around her state).

Completely agree, on both counts. Fun fact: For six years, the estimable Tim Walz in MN, and the pre-Trump/pre-makeover Kristi Noem, in SD, were governors at the same time of bordering states.

Maybe you can go home again. (Watertown SD.)

Context, as dreaded Boomer-era person: -I can name hospitals my father and mother were born in. One PA, one NJ. -I know that one of my *great* grandfathers was an immigrant from Germany, to Philly. -The man who can start wars at his whim seems confused about which country his *father* was born in

Calling diplo/military historians: Have attached summary of what seems to be Rubio's rationale [sic] for why US had to attack *now.* What's the closest comparison in US or other history of a major power following the logic Rubio claims prevailed here? Actual question—looking for compare/contrast.

Getting the US into avoidable disaster in Iraq took months and months and months. In Vietnam, it took years and years and years. We are just three days into this totally unnecessary, one-man's-whim fiasco.