David Fedman
@dfeds.bsky.social
historian of japan/korea/the environment | words: davidfedman.org | digital archive: JapanAirRaids.org | film: https://papercityfilm.com/
Reposted by David Fedman
Reposted by David Fedman
the thing is, “differing political views” used to be about what percentage to tax high earners and not whether brown people are humans
Everyone has a list of so-called "red flags" when they're dating. And for some, especially younger Americans, different political views is a relationship deal breaker.
Majority of Gen Z swipe left on dating people with opposite political views
Everyone has a list of so-called "red flags" when they're dating. And for some, especially younger Americans, different political views is a relationship deal breaker.
n.pr
December 31, 2025 at 4:33 PM
the thing is, “differing political views” used to be about what percentage to tax high earners and not whether brown people are humans
sheeeeeiit RIP
An absolutely wonderful, versatile, powerful and powerfully funny actor who enlivened everything he was in, and a huge loss. I'm not going to say the word, but we're all thinking it in his honor. RIP Isiah Whitlock. deadline.com/2025/12/isia...
Isiah Whitlock Jr. Dies: ‘The Wire’ Actor & Frequent Spike Lee Collaborator Was 71
Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr., known for his roles in The Wire, Veep, Your Honor and The Residence and a number of Spike Lee movies, passed away Dec. 30.
deadline.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:10 AM
sheeeeeiit RIP
Reposted by David Fedman
This is why they want us talking about day care scams.
December 30, 2025 at 9:53 PM
This is why they want us talking about day care scams.
Reposted by David Fedman
This is functionally equivalent to - & equally illegitimate - as Russia invading Ukraine. As @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social notes: "the US wasn’t attacked by Venezuela, someone based in Venezuela, or anyone else. There’s no self-defense argument, and the US didn’t even try for UNSC authorization."
The US is at war with Venezuela.
No Congressional authorization, no public debate, no clearly stated goal, no casus belli, and a gradual ramp up rather than big opening, so many haven’t noticed (or deny it). But this attack removes the ambiguity.
US is at war with Venezuela. With no end in sight.
No Congressional authorization, no public debate, no clearly stated goal, no casus belli, and a gradual ramp up rather than big opening, so many haven’t noticed (or deny it). But this attack removes the ambiguity.
US is at war with Venezuela. With no end in sight.
Exclusive: CIA carried out drone strike on port facility on Venezuelan coast | CNN Politics
The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that...
www.cnn.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:09 AM
This is functionally equivalent to - & equally illegitimate - as Russia invading Ukraine. As @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social notes: "the US wasn’t attacked by Venezuela, someone based in Venezuela, or anyone else. There’s no self-defense argument, and the US didn’t even try for UNSC authorization."
Reposted by David Fedman
Speaking as someone who just wrote a book on the Manhattan Project, I can assure you that refugee immigrants were the *entire* reason the US mastered the atom first. The most chilling part of writing my book was reading about them fleeing fascism … abroad. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...
December 28, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Speaking as someone who just wrote a book on the Manhattan Project, I can assure you that refugee immigrants were the *entire* reason the US mastered the atom first. The most chilling part of writing my book was reading about them fleeing fascism … abroad. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/fleeing-on...
Reposted by David Fedman
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
December 28, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Our photographer Alex Kormann captured the exact moment the presses stopped for the last time in Minneapolis, ending a 158 history of locally printed newspapers.
Reposted by David Fedman
New, from me: The NYT reporter who specializes in profiles of beleaguered right-wingers on campus went to New College...and found out that things were going ok!
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
The NYT Recruiting Brochure for New College
A failing Ron DeSantis higher ed experiment gets a boost
donmoynihan.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 7:50 PM
New, from me: The NYT reporter who specializes in profiles of beleaguered right-wingers on campus went to New College...and found out that things were going ok!
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
So let me explain some pretty massive errors of omission: 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nyt-re...
Reposted by David Fedman
I’m only 3/4ths through this book, but I’m wrecked. Lots of people have correctly noted that it feels important, but (a) he’s a damn good storyteller, and (b) it’s hard to read this and not constantly see how the attempt to prop up the violence of western hegemony wrecks all our lives
December 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I’m only 3/4ths through this book, but I’m wrecked. Lots of people have correctly noted that it feels important, but (a) he’s a damn good storyteller, and (b) it’s hard to read this and not constantly see how the attempt to prop up the violence of western hegemony wrecks all our lives
Reposted by David Fedman
Yeah, this dum dum is talking about chicken pox.
Anyway, it's very cool and awesome that he has so much cultural and political influence.
Anyway, it's very cool and awesome that he has so much cultural and political influence.
December 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Yeah, this dum dum is talking about chicken pox.
Anyway, it's very cool and awesome that he has so much cultural and political influence.
Anyway, it's very cool and awesome that he has so much cultural and political influence.
Can't be repeated/underscored enough:
"We’ve seen rapid normalization of abuses we once associated with authoritarian regimes or the old Iron Curtain countries. It’s now routine for masked, unidentifiable government agents to sweep people off the street and whisk them away in unmarked vehicles."
"We’ve seen rapid normalization of abuses we once associated with authoritarian regimes or the old Iron Curtain countries. It’s now routine for masked, unidentifiable government agents to sweep people off the street and whisk them away in unmarked vehicles."
Masked agents dragged a teacher from her classroom. They pepper-sprayed a toddler. They shot a father of two, for the crime of trying to go to work.
This is Trump’s America—and we need your help to keep exposing it.
trib.al/Cm9AQRb
This is Trump’s America—and we need your help to keep exposing it.
trib.al/Cm9AQRb
Trump’s Immigration Nightmare: It Is Happening Here
With astonishing speed, the administration has toppled the most cherished pillars of a free society. And the experts agree: It’s all going to get much, much worse.
trib.al
December 28, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Can't be repeated/underscored enough:
"We’ve seen rapid normalization of abuses we once associated with authoritarian regimes or the old Iron Curtain countries. It’s now routine for masked, unidentifiable government agents to sweep people off the street and whisk them away in unmarked vehicles."
"We’ve seen rapid normalization of abuses we once associated with authoritarian regimes or the old Iron Curtain countries. It’s now routine for masked, unidentifiable government agents to sweep people off the street and whisk them away in unmarked vehicles."
Reposted by David Fedman
Approximately five years ago, I weighed in on an academic controversy. Chaos ensued. At the height of the insanity, very angry people kept on sending me a US military document from 1944. I wrote an article about the infamous document, its context, and its afterlife. academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...
Revisiting the “Comfort Girls” of Report 49: Race, Sex, and Information in Asia’s War for Empire
Abstract. In 1944, a Japanese American intelligence officer stationed in Ledo, India, unwittingly composed a famous historical document: “Japanese Prisoner
academic.oup.com
December 27, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Approximately five years ago, I weighed in on an academic controversy. Chaos ensued. At the height of the insanity, very angry people kept on sending me a US military document from 1944. I wrote an article about the infamous document, its context, and its afterlife. academic.oup.com/ahr/article-...
Reposted by David Fedman
No shortage of Japanese wartime (propaganda) periodicals available in English for students to explore as (challenging) primary sources:
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
archive.org/search?query...
Contemporary Japan 1941-5
froginawell.net/frog/sources...
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
archive.org/search?query...
Contemporary Japan 1941-5
froginawell.net/frog/sources...
December 28, 2025 at 5:29 AM
No shortage of Japanese wartime (propaganda) periodicals available in English for students to explore as (challenging) primary sources:
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
archive.org/search?query...
Contemporary Japan 1941-5
froginawell.net/frog/sources...
Tokyo Gazette 1937-42
archive.org/search?query...
Contemporary Japan 1941-5
froginawell.net/frog/sources...
Reposted by David Fedman
America sent 12 Tomahawks to pound the sands of northwestern Nigeria. So, you should know about their precarious production rates.
www.aei.org/op-eds/why-i...
www.aei.org/op-eds/why-i...
www.aei.org
December 27, 2025 at 1:04 AM
America sent 12 Tomahawks to pound the sands of northwestern Nigeria. So, you should know about their precarious production rates.
www.aei.org/op-eds/why-i...
www.aei.org/op-eds/why-i...
Reposted by David Fedman
Interesting mixed medium approach to this Asahi feature on opium and Japanese occupied Manchuria: www.asahi.com/special/manc...
Manchuria: a “utopia” created by opium [Premium A special] : The Asahi Shimbun
This is the dark history of Manchukuo based on fact. In Manchukuo, which was a puppet state of Japan, opium was rampant, and the sales of opium supported the national finances and were used as funding...
www.asahi.com
December 27, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Interesting mixed medium approach to this Asahi feature on opium and Japanese occupied Manchuria: www.asahi.com/special/manc...
Reposted by David Fedman
geotripper.blogspot.com/2025/12/revi... There are flood stories all across the west right now, but Wrightwood is of special interest. It has a history. #CAfloods
Revisiting the Wrightwood Mudflows of Ages Past: That Slope Won't Be a Problem Will It?
Like many others, I've been astonished by the storms of the last few days and the effects across all of California and the Pacific Northwest...
geotripper.blogspot.com
December 26, 2025 at 9:14 PM
geotripper.blogspot.com/2025/12/revi... There are flood stories all across the west right now, but Wrightwood is of special interest. It has a history. #CAfloods
The architectural evolution of the Japanese Diet building:
The first provisional Diet building (1890, destroyed by fire within a month)
The second provisional building (1891-1925)
The third, under construction (1925-1936)
The fourth (1936-present)
The first provisional Diet building (1890, destroyed by fire within a month)
The second provisional building (1891-1925)
The third, under construction (1925-1936)
The fourth (1936-present)
December 23, 2025 at 7:33 AM
The architectural evolution of the Japanese Diet building:
The first provisional Diet building (1890, destroyed by fire within a month)
The second provisional building (1891-1925)
The third, under construction (1925-1936)
The fourth (1936-present)
The first provisional Diet building (1890, destroyed by fire within a month)
The second provisional building (1891-1925)
The third, under construction (1925-1936)
The fourth (1936-present)
Reposted by David Fedman
So Bari Weiss’s first real editorial intervention at CBS is to repress coverage of American concentration camps.
December 22, 2025 at 3:05 AM
So Bari Weiss’s first real editorial intervention at CBS is to repress coverage of American concentration camps.
Reposted by David Fedman
Sharyn Alfonsi is an award-winning journalist who has worked for 60 Minutes for 20 years. Before that she reported for ABC, CBS & local news outlets. If Alfonsi says her story was spiked by Bari Weiss political reasons, that’s exactly what happened. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
December 22, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Sharyn Alfonsi is an award-winning journalist who has worked for 60 Minutes for 20 years. Before that she reported for ABC, CBS & local news outlets. If Alfonsi says her story was spiked by Bari Weiss political reasons, that’s exactly what happened. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...
Reposted by David Fedman
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Seems like it's worth posting this one again.
Why Do Historians Still Have To Go To Archives?
Why do historians go to archives? Hasn’t everything already been digitized?
contingentmagazine.org
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
When we say "no, everything hasn't been digitized," I need you to understand that we really mean is that virtually nothing has been digitized. This is because the realm of primary sources that historians use is incomprehensibly large.
Favorite recent history essays (let's say last five years or so) exploring the intersection of environment and empire? Any time period/place welcome. Please and thank you!
December 22, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Favorite recent history essays (let's say last five years or so) exploring the intersection of environment and empire? Any time period/place welcome. Please and thank you!
Reposted by David Fedman
The end goal is eugenicist. RFK and his ilk know that this will make vaccines more expensive and time-consuming — and therefore marginalized children are most likely to fall through the cracks.
This is about killing kids who aren't born to privilege.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
This is about killing kids who aren't born to privilege.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
U.S. plans to stop recommending most childhood vaccines, defer to doctors
The plan, which is not finalized, suggests children get fewer shots and shifts to a model telling parents to consult doctors to make their own vaccine choices.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The end goal is eugenicist. RFK and his ilk know that this will make vaccines more expensive and time-consuming — and therefore marginalized children are most likely to fall through the cracks.
This is about killing kids who aren't born to privilege.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
This is about killing kids who aren't born to privilege.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by David Fedman
From the right-wing Manhattan Institute's focus group of Gen Z conservatives -- just jaw-dropping stuff. We have a very sick society. www.city-journal.org/article/manh...
December 19, 2025 at 6:46 PM
From the right-wing Manhattan Institute's focus group of Gen Z conservatives -- just jaw-dropping stuff. We have a very sick society. www.city-journal.org/article/manh...
Reposted by David Fedman
