Joe McReynolds

I've lived a lucky life. Occasional hard spots, but overall? Just fantastically lucky. And yet a half decade ago, moving to Tokyo with a vague dream of studying the megacity, I never imagined luck like this. Grateful beyond words to everyone who's decided to give our book a read!

Joint statement on Gaza from @AFP, @AP, @BBCWorld and @Reuters

The occam’s razor explanation of the 2024 election is that there was no big ideological realignment, and instead Gen Z and Hispanic Americans just voted their pocket books, thinking Trump would make prices look like they did when he was president.

This is so incomprehensible to me. Congress has repeatedly told the White House that they want to continue support for PEPFAR. It's a conservative initiative. It's shockingly cost-effective. Who is the constituency for this???

Israeli settlers set fire to St. George Greek Orthodox Monastery and the Christian cemetery in the Christian village of Taybeh, West Bank. This is the place Christ sought refuge in John 11:54 before His passion and death called Ephraim.

ACs are typically more energy efficient than heaters and yet no one ever insists everyone freeze in the winter

CBS NEWS POLL: Trump's approval trends among ages 18-29 Early February 🟢 Approve: 55% (+10) 🟤 Disapprove: 45% JULY 🟢 Approve: 28% (-44) 🟤 Disapprove: 72% Net 54 point negative swing

leaving out the years that he worked at AMD and LSI is a great eg of how a lionizing narrative works. it creates the impression of superhuman genius, which confers a valuable aura that has material impact on morale, negotiations, etc. Similar to “Singapore was a fishing village”

Israel is shooting starving Palestinians who show up at its food distribution sites in Gaza and not even bothering to offer an explanation. washingtonpost.com/world/2025/07/…

There’s a good movie about the phenomenon of inventing something you think is super destructive and feeling really bad about it and your spiraling self-loathing not accomplishing anything

With all the votes counted in Japan's Upper House election, it looks like the LDP'S defeat was not quite as bad as some exit polls expected. The ruling coalition did lose their majority, but only by a few seats. This leaves open the chance to pass legislation with the cooperation…

Zoomers don't know how to have fun & I think that's their biggest problem. They are too afraid of being perceived.

CDP leader Noda criticizes Sanseito's "Japanese First" slogan, saying, “Isn’t this just another form of nationalism? Just like ‘America First’? Is it okay to say ‘Japanese first, foreigners second or third’? Can a country function like that?” He argued that foreign workers are…

URGENT BREAKING: Fired Epstein and Maxwell Prosecutor, Maurene Comey, just issued this following statement: "Yesterday was unexpectedly my last day in the Office. I was summarily fired via memo from Main Justice that did not give a reason for my termination. Every person lucky…

The ironic thing, I'll add: even in '03/'04, all of my afterschool jobs were tutoring, no McJobs, and not by my choice - but because not a single mall store out of 100+ would hire me 😂 In a more efficient labor market than the 50s-80s, they preferred reliable adults, not teens.

Looking likely that Israel tries to permanently ethnically cleanse the Palestinians during Trump's second term -- not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank.

Obama weighs in on Abundance:

Here is a picture of the Palestinian home I grew up in. You can see the green gate where a traditional metal key belonging to a Palestinian family is probably kept somewhere. After talking to two researchers, they have told me this house appears in several Nakba databases, like…

Fateh was born and has lived his entire life in the U.S., and if you listen to him he sounds like any other millennial. There is no sense in which he is not an American.

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All is not well in Asia. Japan’s PM called the trade talks “a battle” and urged reduced US dependence. Seeking more from allies is fine, even appropriate. But how one does it matters because allies have domestic politics, face, agency — and yes, choices.