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Driven by extensive Japanese primary sources, Gamble in the Coral Sea: Japan's Offensive, the Carrier Battle, and the Road to Midway (Naval Institute Press, 2025) offers an operational analysis of the first clash of aircraft carriers at the pivotal Battle of the Coral Sea from the Japanese perspective, including leadership, tactics, and errors that brought a numeric victory but a strategic loss for Japan that halted their bold advance into the South Pacific and ultimately set the stage for Midway. The opening salvos of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first large-scale carrier clash in history, were fired one month before Midway. Gamble in the Coral Sea recounts, for the first time in English, the story of this battle from the Japanese point of view. Based on extensive Japanese-language sources, author Michal A. Piegzik forcefully challenges established Western narratives surrounding this critical engagement in the Pacific War. Operation MO, the Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby, kicked off in early May 1942. By committing three carriers, including the famous Shōkaku and Zuikaku, the Nippon Kaigun's command risked a critical part of their fleet just before the envisaged decisive battle at Midway in the Central Pacific, scheduled for early July. The operation was considered a vital part of Japanese strategy. Victory would isolate Australia and New Zealand and extend access to vital resources crucial to Japan's war effort. Victory, however, would prove elusive after American codebreakers deciphered Japanese radio traffic that revealed their plans in the weeks leading up to the launch of Operation MO. Using this intelligence to their advantage, U.S forces located elements of the Japanese navy as they steamed through the Coral Sea. Soon after, history's first carrier battle began. Piegzik combines expertise in military history with mastery of the Japanese language to provide a rare perspective on the Imperial Japanese Navy's operational choices during the battle. His use of Japanese archival documents and personal testimonies from surviving Japanese crew members uncovers new dimensions to the battle. The clash proved to be a Pyrrhic victory for the Japanese, who sunk the Lexington and crippled the Yorktown but were forced to call off Operation MO due to the severe damage inflicted on Shōkaku and the heavy losses among their aircrews. Revealed here are the circumstances and actual reasons for the Japanese failure and the revised impact of the Battle of the Coral Sea on the Battle of Midway. Beyond tactical details, Piegzik offers insight into the broader consequences of the battle. He engages with sources previously underexplored and integrates them with Allied perspectives to ensure a well-rounded understanding of the events. A vital addition to any World War II collection, Gamble in the Coral Sea offers a nuanced and thorough exploration of a battle that significantly shaped the trajectory of the war in the Pacific. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Driven by extensive Japanese primary sources, Gamble in the Coral Sea: Japan's Offensive, the Carrier Battle, and the Road to Midway (Naval Institute Press, 2025) offers an operational analysis of the first clash of aircraft carriers at the pivotal Battle of the Coral Sea from the Japanese perspective, including leadership, tactics, and errors that brought a numeric victory but a strategic loss for Japan that halted their bold advance into the South Pacific and ultimately set the stage for Midway. The opening salvos of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first large-scale carrier clash in history, were fired one month before Midway. Gamble in the Coral Sea recounts, for the first time in English, the story of this battle from the Japanese point of view. Based on extensive Japanese-language sources, author Michal A. Piegzik forcefully challenges established Western narratives surrounding this critical engagement in the Pacific War. Operation MO, the Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby, kicked off in early May 1942. By committing three carriers, including the famous Shōkaku and Zuikaku, the Nippon Kaigun's command risked a critical part of their fleet just before the envisaged decisive battle at Midway in the Central Pacific, scheduled for early July. The operation was considered a vital part of Japanese strategy. Victory would isolate Australia and New Zealand and extend access to vital resources crucial to Japan's war effort. Victory, however, would prove elusive after American codebreakers deciphered Japanese radio traffic that revealed their plans in the weeks leading up to the launch of Operation MO. Using this intelligence to their advantage, U.S forces located elements of the Japanese navy as they steamed through the Coral Sea. Soon after, history's first carrier battle began. Piegzik combines expertise in military history with mastery of the Japanese language to provide a rare perspective on the Imperial Japanese Navy's operational choices during the battle. His use of Japanese archival documents and personal testimonies from surviving Japanese crew members uncovers new dimensions to the battle. The clash proved to be a Pyrrhic victory for the Japanese, who sunk the Lexington and crippled the Yorktown but were forced to call off Operation MO due to the severe damage inflicted on Shōkaku and the heavy losses among their aircrews. Revealed here are the circumstances and actual reasons for the Japanese failure and the revised impact of the Battle of the Coral Sea on the Battle of Midway. Beyond tactical details, Piegzik offers insight into the broader consequences of the battle. He engages with sources previously underexplored and integrates them with Allied perspectives to ensure a well-rounded understanding of the events. A vital addition to any World War II collection, Gamble in the Coral Sea offers a nuanced and thorough exploration of a battle that significantly shaped the trajectory of the war in the Pacific. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Driven by extensive Japanese primary sources, Gamble in the Coral Sea: Japan's Offensive, the Carrier Battle, and the Road to Midway (Naval Institute Press, 2025) offers an operational analysis of the first clash of aircraft carriers at the pivotal Battle of the Coral Sea from the Japanese perspective, including leadership, tactics, and errors that brought a numeric victory but a strategic loss for Japan that halted their bold advance into the South Pacific and ultimately set the stage for Midway. The opening salvos of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first large-scale carrier clash in history, were fired one month before Midway. Gamble in the Coral Sea recounts, for the first time in English, the story of this battle from the Japanese point of view. Based on extensive Japanese-language sources, author Michal A. Piegzik forcefully challenges established Western narratives surrounding this critical engagement in the Pacific War. Operation MO, the Japanese plan to seize Port Moresby, kicked off in early May 1942. By committing three carriers, including the famous Shōkaku and Zuikaku, the Nippon Kaigun's command risked a critical part of their fleet just before the envisaged decisive battle at Midway in the Central Pacific, scheduled for early July. The operation was considered a vital part of Japanese strategy. Victory would isolate Australia and New Zealand and extend access to vital resources crucial to Japan's war effort. Victory, however, would prove elusive after American codebreakers deciphered Japanese radio traffic that revealed their plans in the weeks leading up to the launch of Operation MO. Using this intelligence to their advantage, U.S forces located elements of the Japanese navy as they steamed through the Coral Sea. Soon after, history's first carrier battle began. Piegzik combines expertise in military history with mastery of the Japanese language to provide a rare perspective on the Imperial Japanese Navy's operational choices during the battle. His use of Japanese archival documents and personal testimonies from surviving Japanese crew members uncovers new dimensions to the battle. The clash proved to be a Pyrrhic victory for the Japanese, who sunk the Lexington and crippled the Yorktown but were forced to call off Operation MO due to the severe damage inflicted on Shōkaku and the heavy losses among their aircrews. Revealed here are the circumstances and actual reasons for the Japanese failure and the revised impact of the Battle of the Coral Sea on the Battle of Midway. Beyond tactical details, Piegzik offers insight into the broader consequences of the battle. He engages with sources previously underexplored and integrates them with Allied perspectives to ensure a well-rounded understanding of the events. A vital addition to any World War II collection, Gamble in the Coral Sea offers a nuanced and thorough exploration of a battle that significantly shaped the trajectory of the war in the Pacific. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history
Bengals' Heartbreaking Collapse: A 39-34 Snowy Thriller Loss to the BillsIn the swirling snow of Orchard Park on December 7, 2025, the Cincinnati Bengals experienced yet another gut-wrenching defeat, falling 39-34 to the Buffalo Bills in a Week 14 AFC showdown that felt like a playoff preview gone awry. For a Bengals team clinging to fading postseason hopes at 4-8, this loss wasn't just a tally in the standings—it was a microcosm of their season's frustrations: explosive offense undercut by untimely errors, a defense that bent but couldn't break, and the cruel poetry of two bizarre interceptions sealing their fate.The game kicked off under a blanket of white, with Mother Nature turning Highmark Stadium into a winter wonderland. Cincinnati won the coin toss and, defying convention, elected to receive. It paid immediate dividends. Joe Burrow, the Bengals' unflappable gunslinger, orchestrated a meticulous 14-play, 67-yard march that devoured 8:16 off the clock. He went 5-for-6, threading needles through the flurries to set up Chase Brown's gritty five-yard touchdown plunge—assisted by a shove from tackle Amarius Mims. Just like that, it was 7-0, and Bengals fans dared to dream of extending their streak of scoring first-drive touchdowns against Buffalo in four straight meetings.Buffalo, however, is no ordinary foe. Josh Allen, the dual-threat dynamo, answered with surgical precision. The Bills' offense, leaning on tight-end heavy sets to exploit Cincinnati's linebacker coverage, clawed back with a field goal, making it 7-3. Burrow wasn't done. In the second quarter, he carved up the secondary again, finding Tee Higgins for a one-handed, highlight-reel touchdown grab that pushed the lead to 14-3. By halftime, the Bengals held a precarious 21-11 edge, having converted 4-of-4 third downs on their opening possession. Ja'Marr Chase, battling through the weather, eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards for the season—his fifth such campaign—reminding everyone why Cincinnati's passing attack remains elite.The third quarter hinted at Bengals dominance. Burrow's hot streak continued, with Chase Brown adding another score to balloon the lead to 28-11. Burrow finished 22-of-31 for 218 yards and three touchdowns, his pocket presence a beacon in the blizzard. The Bengals' ground game chipped in 70 yards from Brown, who also hauled in a receiving score, showcasing the balanced attack that once made Cincy a Super Bowl contender.But football's cruel theater unfolded in the fourth. Trailing by 17, Buffalo's defense—led by cornerback Christian Benford—finally cracked the code. Midway through the frame, Benford snared Burrow's short right pass intended for Chase at the Buffalo 37, returning it 63 yards for a pick-six that ignited the comeback. The stadium erupted; the Bills trailed 28-18. Allen, electric as ever, responded with four total touchdowns—two passing, two rushing—capitalizing on the momentum. A late Bengals touchdown pulled them within 36-34, but their two-point conversion fizzled when Burrow fumbled the snap.Then, the dagger: Burrow's second inexplicable interception in as many attempts, this one a wobbling duck in the snow that gifted Buffalo prime field position. The Bills tacked on a field goal, then methodically ran out the clock after Cincinnati's onside kick failed. Allen's 21 fourth-quarter points underscored Buffalo's resilience, improving them to 9-4 and bolstering their AFC East grip.For Cincinnati, the what-ifs sting. Two "weirdest interceptions you'll ever see," as one analyst quipped, turned a potential statement win into another collapse. The defense, featuring Jordan Battle's three picks on the year, forced a turnover on downs but couldn't stop Allen's heroics. Injuries, like edge rusher Joseph Ossai's brief exit, added to the toll. This 39-34 heartbreaker drops the Bengals to 4-9, their playoff dreams buried deeper in the snow. Yet, with Burrow's wizardry (18-5 in December games lifetime), hope flickers. Next week, redemption calls against the Browns—but for now, Buffalo's blizzard of brilliance leaves Cincinnati chilled.(Word count: 412)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit chadcrouch.substack.comThe view from Morgan Lake looks more like Montana than Oregon to me. It's big sky country.Just 10 minutes up a gravel road from the eastern Oregon city of La Grande, Morgan Lake is mysteriously a world apart. From its shores you see only rolling prairie giving way to distant mountains. Situated on a ridge, Morgan and its sibling Twin Lake have an implacable mirage-like quality. The surrounding topography—the absence of enfolding contours—doesn't readily explain their presence. There is no incoming stream to feed them. Subterranean springs pump water from an active aquifer hidden below.I found myself on the lake shore on a breezy March Saturday. People were fishing nearby. The wind billowed through the Ponderosa Pine canopy. An osprey occasionally called out. Nuthatches passed through. Midway through White-throated Sparrows sing in the quiet, followed by a wayfaring Winter Wren.As I've shared in the past, I like to program my releases in batches. This is the last in a trilogy located in the Pacific Northwest, east of the Cascade Range. It's lodgepole and ponderosa pine country. Once again, the main character in this soundscape is the mesmerizing whisper of the wind in the pines. This particular day was dynamic; the breeze ebbed and flowed. Occasionally it howled. The arrangement is super sparse. Honestly it would likely fail as a piece of music without the wind. The ratio of solos to duets is about 50/50. Most of my arrangements are comprised of at least duets, most of the time. I think I was responding to the sense of loneliness I felt in the physical space. The chord progression is progressive. Each part adds another chord and more harmonic complexity. There is a touch of minor color, which sounds a little unsettling. Though it was recorded in early spring, it strikes me as a wintry listen. I hope you enjoy it.Morgan Lake is available under the artist name Listening Spot on all streaming platforms today Friday, December 5th, 2025.
Dining Editor for Chicago Magazine Amy Cavanaugh joins Bob Sirott to talk about some of her favorite places to eat at before a flight at O’Hare and Midway, including Tortas Frontera and Big Shoulders Coffee. She also shares details about a conversation she had with Chicago Magazine’s dining critic, John Kessler, about their favorite steak […]
The University of Minnesota Men's Gymnastics Club has a new 14,000 square foot facility in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood. The program was dropped by the University back in 2020, meaning they were out of the NCAA and had no monetary support from the school. Then in 2024, they got kicked out of their campus facility and were forced to commute up to 40 minutes to different gyms around the metro. Now, for the first time, they have their own home gym. Minnesota Now got the chance to tour it and learn how the team has been able to vault to new heights.
Midway is back with another game in the Domino-Man style! This time it's Wacko, and oh boy does this live up to the title! If you thought playing a normal arcade cabinet was fun, just wait until you play one that's on a 30 degree tilt! We also talk about Spike and Web Warp on the Vectrex and Champion Base Ball and Pro Bowling from the arcades in today's exciting episode!Website -https://historyofvideogamespodcast.comYoutube - https://www.youtube.com/@historyofvideogamespodcast1994Twitter - https://twitter.com/HistoryofVideo1Email - historyvgpodcast@gmail.comHosts - Ben & WesMusic - Arranged and recorded by Ben
How to Trade Stocks and Options Podcast by 10minutestocktrader.com
Are you looking to save time, make money, and start winning with less risk? Then head to https://www.ovtlyr.com.Ever heard someone say you can risk just $30 and potentially make hundreds on a single options trade? Yeah, that definitely grabs attention. In this episode, things go deep into one of the most misunderstood areas of options trading: gamma exposure. It sounds complex at first, but it is unpacked step by step in a way that actually makes it click. And once it does, you start seeing why expiration weeks behave the way they do. The session kicks off by breaking down delta and gamma in real, practical terms. Delta shows how much an option moves for every one dollar move in the stock. Gamma shows how fast that delta changes. When gamma is stacked across strikes and expirations, you get gamma exposure, which tells you whether market makers are likely to calm price down or push volatility even harder around certain levels.From there, things get really interesting. You see how positive gamma areas usually lead to choppy, range bound markets where price fades work better. On the flip side, negative gamma zones tend to produce fast, violent moves where momentum strategies shine. This single distinction can completely change how you view a trading week.Once those concepts are clear, the episode applies everything to real expiration levels. Using publicly available gamma data, key strikes are identified where large open interest and dealer positioning could influence price. From those levels, two butterfly trades are built. One risks about $30. The other risks about $80. In both cases, the upside can exceed $800 if price lands right on the target at expiration.Here is the real talk moment though. These trades look amazing on paper. The risk is tiny. The reward is massive. But the profit window is incredibly narrow. You only get paid if price lands inside a tiny range at a very specific moment on expiration day. Miss it by a little and the trade loses. That is why this style of trade is compared to buying a lottery ticket with really precise odds.Midway through the episode, several hard truths are laid out clearly:✅ Why positive gamma environments favor premium selling and fading moves✅ Why negative gamma environments create explosive directional action✅ How dealers influence price near heavy open interest levels✅ Why narrow butterflies can look incredible but are brutally preciseOVTLYR tools show up throughout the session, including the value zone framework, ATR rolling rules, and strict exit signals. You also see how a professional style routine actually looks day to day. Checking positions, confirming rules, and making decisions based on data instead of emotion.The big message here is simple and powerful. The goal is not to predict what big money will do next. The goal is to build a repeatable process that protects capital first and lets profits follow.If gamma exposure, expiration pinning, or asymmetric option trades have ever caught your attention, this episode gives you a grounded, honest look at both the upside and the limitations. No hype. Just real trading logic, real risk, and real expectations.Gain instant access to the AI-powered tools and behavioral insights top traders use to spot big moves before the crowd. Start trading smarter today
Dave Hendon presents a smorgasbord of snooker opinion as the UK Championship continues in York. Email us at snookerscenepodcast@mail.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Episode 196 – The Bad Part of Town Download standard podcast mp3 file – Episode 196 Follow the podcast audio down the page. The pictures and links are (or should be) in turn with the audio. 1941 World of Mirth girl show Find it on Amazon.com This picture really must be AI-generated, right? Want to … Continue reading »
Runways: Part 3 A Mountaintop Experience By m_storyman_x – listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories. "So where are we headed?" the supermodel asked as we walked across the grassy yard of the cabin towards the tree line. "Someplace special," was all I answered, as I aimed us for the small trail that looked like it led around the lake. The hike wasn't long, only about a half an hour, but it was up hill all the way. We finally broke free of the pines at the base of a barren rocky hillside. I held a hand out for her. "Let me help you here. I don't want you to fall." "Okay, but this hike is getting me too damned hot." she answered. She pulled her gauze white blouse over her head and tied it around her slender waist. Then taking my hand and letting me help her up the rock strewn hillside. I had a hard time not paying attention to the way her tits swung and bounced with each step, turning my cock once again rock hard before we had made it even a portion of the way up the hill, on my father’s mountaintop land. But we continued climbing, little trickles of sweat running down her naked top, down between and around her breasts as we climbed. She was clearly not used to this kind of effort, but I had to admit, for a change she made no complaint. "Here we are." I said as I let go of her hand and stood on the top of the rocky hill, able to look all the way around us. "This is the top of the mountain. Highest point around. Well except for those peaks over there. But they're way too steep to climb without special gear. This is the top of what the locals call baldy. "It's beautiful! You can see for miles," she said, moving slowly around me, looking in every direction at the land laid out far below us. "It's like being on an airplane without the airplane!" "Yeah. Sorta is, isn't it? Ready for some lunch?" "I am!" She said as she came over and sat down next to me on the rock. I dug in the bag and pulled out sandwiches and bottles of water. "That's yours," she said, pointing to the one made on rye. "I think I heard someplace you liked rye bread." "I do actually. Thank you!" I answered, smiling at her and taking the sandwich from her. "You know. I think this is the nicest you've been to me since I've known you." "Thank you. Self-preservation I guess. I don't want to get thrown in that damn lake again," she said with a giggle. "Well, I haven't seen any reason to do it again, so...mission accomplished." "Adam," she said quietly. "Yeah?" "I know you don't particularly like me. But I want to thank you for bringing me up here." "Aw hell. I don't dislike you. I just didn't expect you to be quite so..." "Bitchy?" She finished for me. "Yeah, bitchy." I agreed. "When you relax and try to be a normal person you can be quite... Not sure what word to use there." "Captivating... alluring... sexy...enticing?" She suggested, each time getting a shake of my head. "Pleasant." "Pleasant?" she asked curiously. "Uh huh. Pleasant.” I elaborated. “Pleasant to look at, pleasant to be around, pleasant to talk to. Pleasant." "Hmm, I would have thought your description would be more sexual than that. Most guys are." "I'll admit you're hot, but well, the idea of sex isn't exactly the first thing I'd say I think about when I see you." "That hardon you had while we were cleaning fish didn't say you weren't thinking about sex. And the hardon you have now doesn't say you aren't interested in sex." "Are you enticing, sexually? Of course you are. That's why you get paid what you do. Guys look at you and they wanna fuck you." I answered. "But you don't? Come on. With that hardon?" "Okay. I'll admit it. My body is interested in exploring your dark damp spaces. But to be honest, I'm actually just enjoying being able to share something like this view with you as a regular person, not a multi-million dollar super model." "If I was a regular person, would you want to fuck me?" "God what is it with you and fuck? Do you know any other way to say it?” I asked, looking into her eyes. “ Fucking is what you do with someone you don't care about." "So what do you want me to call it?" "Have sex, make love. Either work, if you care about a person. If not, I suppose fucking is as good a word as any to say it." Kim suddenly stood up and undid the front of her shorts. She pushed them down her legs and stepped out of them so she was naked except for her shoes. "What are you doing?" I asked as she leaned down and started undoing the front of my shorts. "Getting you naked," she said as if that were the most natural thing in the world to do at that moment. "Why?" I asked, reaching for her hand to stop her. "For the simple reason that you don't want to fuck me." "So, you want to get me naked why then?" She let go of my pants and stood over me, straightening up and looking around. "Actually, I thought you might want to just lay here in the sun naked with me. Because we can. We have the luxury of wonderful privacy, thanks to your family’s wonderful cabin and land. You don't have to though. I understand," she said, stepping across me and sitting on the rock again. She lay back and closed her eyes, letting her body soak in the sun on her front and heat from the rock on her back side. “This nudity is awesome! Now I think I understand the naturalists!” I looked at her for long seconds, trying to understand her. I stood up next to her and pushed my shorts off, freeing my rock hard cock to stick out in the sunshine. I skimmed off my t-shirt and dropped it next to my shorts and then lay down next to her in the sun. I lost track of how long we lay there, the sun baking the two of us. I started to think that maybe I'd get a good burn laying here too long and was about to suggest that we head back down when I felt her hand find mine. She stroked the back of my hand with her fingers, gently teasing her finger tips and nails on my skin. I lay there for long minutes as she stroked my hand before she wrapped her fingers around my hand and drew it up off the rock to her body, placing it gently on her hip, moving her fingers from around it back to the back of my hand again, stroking my hand as my palm and fingers lay on her bare skin. I really didn't know what she expected or wanted, and I really didn't want to ruin the surprisingly pleasant mood she had been in. She gently used her fingers to coax my hand more onto her body, working it closer to her bare mound until she had coaxed my finger to rest on the firm hump only inches from her pussy. "Would you like to touch me?" She asked softly. "Do you want me to?" "I wouldn't mind if you did," she said a little breathlessly, her hand leaving mine and reaching across to gently rest on me, her finger tips brushing my long since softened cock. "Kim. Are you horny?" I whispered. "Yes," she whispered back. "I really want to come but i want you to do it." "Why?" "Do I need a reason?" "No, but I do." I answered her. "What if I can't explain it?" "When you can, tell me." I whispered, starting to draw my hand away from her. "No! Please!" She practically begged, grabbing my hand with her other hand. She held my hand and pulled it down toward the juncture of her legs, spreading her legs and moving one across mine to give my hand access to her pussy. "Please," She whispered. I nodded, as much to myself as to her, and gently let my fingers stroke her surprisingly wet pussy lips. I felt her wetness as I dipped one finger between her lips, feeling her slick hot juices. She moaned softly, her fingers now stroking along my hardening cock, teasing along its length, concentrating on and around my head as my fingers gently stroked up and down her lips. I let my finger tease just into the entrance to her tunnel and then up to her clit, her hips trying to lift off the rocks toward my fingers with each stroke. "Do you like touching me?" She whispered breathlessly as her hand wrapped around my hard cock, giving it a gentle squeeze. "So you like me touching you?" "Uh huh." I answered honestly. "I'm glad. I like how you feel too," she said softly. I concentrated on her clit, still sliding my finger down to her tunnel entrance and back again, but spending longer and longer each trip circling and teasing her clit, her hips lifting and rocking, her body wiggling and writhing on the rocks as my fingers drove her body closer and closer to climax. "Oh gawd, Adam. You're going to make me come!" She moaned loudly. "You're going to make me come." While I was stroking her pussy she was busy stroking my cock, her hand moving slowly up and down my shaft, sliding all the way up to my head and over it, pushing my under used cock closer to shooting as well. "Shit. I'm going to come." I groaned, trying to hold back while I concentrated on her clit. "Do it!" She moaned loudly. "Let me make you come too! Oh shit I'm so close. So close." "Oh Fuck!" I grunted loudly as my orgasm hit, my hips bucking up off the rocks and shooting a stream of cum into the air, gravity taking hold and drawing it back down to land on my cock and her hand before another shot could lance up into the air. "Oh god. You're coming!" She cried softly as she felt my cock surging in her hand, her own climax deciding at that moment to unleash its chemical cocktail of hormones into her blood stream, making her whole body shake and tremble. "Fuck!" She groaned as she held my cock, her own body climaxing and leaking her juices between her legs onto the hot rocks. I lay there, still stroking her clit, not really able to pay all that much attention to what I was doing as my own climax surged through me, pumping shot after shot of cum out to collect on my chest, cock and her hand. She reached down to my hand and pressed hers over mine, stopping my motions but holding my fingers to her hot wet pussy. We lay there panting for long minutes before she let go of my cock and hand, pushing herself up onto one elbow to look at me. She leaned herself toward me, her tits pressing against my side and chest as she brought her face toward mine, her lips gently kissing my lips, her tongue teasing my lips softly. I kissed her back, letting her choose the pace and duration. She finally chose to break the long soft sensual kiss, holding her lips barely brushing against mine as she whispered a single short statement. "Thank you." Her eyes looking deeply into mine Thought she was done, but to my surprise she tilted her body over farther, her lips kissing my chest and then one of my nipples. She gently, slowly kissed her way down my body, finding the remains of my cum on my chest and gently licking it off of my skin before kissing lower. I couldn't help but get hard again at her attentions, my cock, growing in her hand as she kissed and licked closer and closer to it. The woman had a huge appetite for sensual pleasures. "You sure you want to do that?" I asked as she opened her mouth and closed it around my head, engulfing me with her hot lips. In response she swirled her tongue around my head, teasing me and gently moving her mouth up and down my shaft, teasing my again hard cock even harder as she stroked my shaft with her hand and lips. "Oh god." I groaned as she worked my cock slowly, teasingly. Her hot mouth teased my head and her tongue worked under and around my head, trying to find where I was most sensitive, and locating that spot with her tongue when I suddenly jerked in response to her touch. "Oh damn." Groaned, noticing a sound in the background, but not quite making the connection to anything more than another groan coming from my lips. "Oh god Kim." I groaned softly, my hips trying to lift toward her mouth as she worked my shaft. "So damn good." "Oh!" She cried suddenly, pulling her mouth from my cock. I didn't need to ask. I knew exactly what surprised her before I could ask. The cold drops started large and slow, the mixture of sun and ice cold rain drops a huge surprise. "Shit!" I grunted, sitting up and looking around. I could see it now. I'd heard the thunder and not connected the danger. Being on a mountain top weather wasn't what one expected. The sun was still shining from the west, but the clouds rolling up the mountain side from the north were just starting to top the mountain, the updraft carrying the first drops of rain up into the air to fall on us miles from the edge of the clouds. "We have to go!" I said abruptly, standing up and grabbing the backpack. I stuffed our clothes into the pack and grabbed her hand. "Now!" I said sternly. "I'm not afraid of a little rain. Slow down!" She said, pulling back at me. "Kim, you're not going to be in a gentle rain. And it's not going to be particularly warm." I said as I tried to pull her along. "You're at the top of a mountain. In a few minutes were going to be inside the clouds that are making this rain and what falls is going to feel like liquid ice. Think thawed blizzard." I said, pulling her without stopping. "Oh shit." Kim answered as the first wisps of cloud blew across the landscape in front of us. We were still a ways from the trees when the heavier fog rolled in over us, almost immediately chilling us with its clinging moisture. "Come on." I said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her to where I knew the trees had to be, even though we couldn't see them for the thick fog. I preferred the fog, knowing what was coming next. I'd been caught in one of these on the lake once, only a short fifteen minutes from the cabin, but it was a miserable fifteen minutes that took hours to feel like I had warmed up from. This time we were a lot farther away and a whole lot less dressed. "You know where the trail is?" Kim asked with concern. "Yeah," I lied, "Just watch your step and we'll be fine." At least I thought I knew where the trail was, I just wasn't positive we hadn't wandered off target towards the cliff or the other direction toward the long slope that would take us eventually down to the lodge a couple thousand feet lower. We'd never even see it in this fog and if we could we'd have hypothermia long before we got there. "Stupid. I should have watched closer." I muttered as we walked, a few small trees appearing in front of us. "You couldn't know it was coming." Kim said as larger trees started to appear though the fog. "My job to watch. You couldn’t know, but I’ve made this mistake before. It’s something you vow to never let happen again. That is, if you survive the first time." I answered, as I turned us a bit farther to my right, hoping to find the trail ahead of me. "I let myself get distracted. I hadn't planned on staying up there that long." "Well, for what it's worth, I'm not blaming you." "But I am." I said, angry at myself. She frowned at me and almost snapped at me. "Knock it off. I'm a big girl. I can make my own choices. You don't have to protect me. I didn't ask for you to protect me. I asked for you to share something with me. Something I wanted and something I enjoyed. So we get a little cold on the way home. Deal with it!" Kim’s Hypothermic Therapy "Keep that thought." I muttered as I finally found the gap in the trees that heralded the trail. Forty minutes later we walked out of the woods into clearing of the cabin, both of us shivering uncontrollably in the torrential downpour of icy drops. Kim had been stumbling for the last half mile, her legs losing their coordination, the first sign of serious hypothermia. I carried her the last 200 feet to the cabin. We stumbled into the cabin and I dropped her into one of the chairs and grabbed a towel from my bag and moved to her, rubbing her body all over and then grabbing the heavy wool quilt and wrapping it around her. Still shivering myself, I used the sticks in the firewood box next to the fireplace to build a small fire, my hands almost shaking too hard to get the match struck. The small flame grew in the sticks and I carefully fed larger sticks and then small pine logs onto the fire, allowing it to quickly grow so that I didn't have to huddle over it to feel its heat. With the flames growing larger I stripped off the wet clothing that was robbing my body’s heat. I stepped to the chair and scooped Kim from it, drawing her with me to the bearskin rug in front of the fire. I peeled the blanket from around her shivering body and pulled her to me, pressing her bare skin against mine. I sat on the thick fur rug, then reached a hand up to Kim, to come lay on my chest. Then I wrapped the wool quilt over the two of us and lay down across the front of the fire, letting the heat slowly warm the quilt and the two of us inside it. I closed my eyes, my arms wrapped around her, holding her chest against mine, our legs tangled together in the blanket as we shivered together. The shakes soon turned into drowsiness. Her kisses woke me. Soft, gentle, caring. Soft sweet tender kisses on my cheeks, my nose and my lips, each one slow and unhurried. As I became more awake I could feel that we had warmed, no longer feeling the cold of the rain but the heat of the fire still seeping through the blanket. She’d slid over to my side, with one of her naked legs slung over mine. I could also feel her hand between us, wrapped around my cock, gently, slowly, tenderly stroking me as she kissed me. "Kim." I started to say, as I rolled a bit to face her. "Shush," she whispered before planting another soft kiss on my lips to quiet me. I felt her push with one leg, gently returning me onto my back, leaving her partly on top of me. She continued her kisses, softly and seductively kissing my lips as she teased my cock harder by the moment, finally using her knees to lift her hips up from mine, her soft tits still pressed against my chest. I felt her slide herself up my body as she pushed my dick down between her legs, guiding my engorged head to her wet lips. I felt emotionally safe with her. She’d become a completely different person in less than 24 hours. "Kim." I whispered as she straddled over me, then pushed herself back, letting go of my shaft and sliding her arm up my body to rest on the furry rug next to my body. "Shush," she half whispered, half moaned as she pushed herself back down my body, lowering her mouth to mine and pressing her lips to mind as my cock was slowly enveloped by her hot cunt. "Yum" she moaned as she lifted her chest from mine, and worked her knees up next to my hips. "Oh damn." I moaned as she lifted her lips from mine, her hips slowly rocking up and down, sliding her pussy on and off my rigid dick, working me deeper and deeper into her tunnel. "That's it. Just enjoy. Let me do this, please," she whispered. She was making love to me. Not just desiring sex. She wanted to please me. I was beyond wanting to stop her. Between her attentions on the mountain top and her attentions now, my body was more than ready to let her have her way. I let my hands slide up her hips and sides, reaching for her breasts. She grinned down at me and one by one, reached for my hands and pulled them away from her breasts, moving them to next to my own head and holding them there, clasped with her own as she slowly rocked on me, her rock hard nipples grazing back and forth across my chest with each stroke. "Does it feel good Adam?" "Very!" I groaned back as she continued to stroke on and off of me, the heat from the fire and the heat from our bodies making us both sweat in our loose cocoon. I could feel her soft tunnel stroking my shaft, teasing my engorged head with her tight confines. On and off she slid, her big tits dripping sweat onto my chest and sliding around, her nipples rubbing against mine. "Oh god," she moaned as she rocked on and off of me. "Oh god," she moaned again, her hips rocking and trying to grind her clit against the base of my cock with each new stroke. "Oh god, Adam. Oh god I'm going to come!" She gasped over and over as she continued rocking on me, her legs trembling and making it harder for her to continue rocking. "Oh god, Adam," she cried softly, practically whimpering, but refusing to let my hands go to participate in any way. "Come for me Adam. Come for me!" She practically begged. "Oh yeah. Almost." I moaned back at her as the tingles radiated out from my cock through all the reaches of my body. Her spasming pussy, already so tight, seemed to try and grab and milk me like her hand had done, trying to draw me into her as she stroked on and off of my fat shaft. "Gonna come." I grunted, knowing that I couldn't hold back any longer, even if I wanted to. "Oh shit!" She cried as my body bucked, jamming my cock deep into her and pumping a huge gush of cum up into her pussy. "Oh, Fuck Yes" She cried loudly, dropping onto my jerking body, her hands pushing mine farther over my head. Her big soft tits smashed flat against my chest, her mouth lowering to mine, her lips trying to kiss mine between gasps and moans. My body continued to buck several more times under her, adding more cum to the load already poured into her from within me. Finally I stilled under her, only an occasional jerk still showing my fading climax, my cock twitching within her as it started to soften. She lay on me, her breathing easing, but her lips still erotically working against mine. "God that was incredible." I whispered between kisses. "You liked it?" "Very much." I whispered. “You made love with amazing insights into my soul.” "I'm glad," she said as she let go of my hands and slowly pushed herself up off of me. She tossed the blanket off of us and sat up on my hips, trapping my cock inside her as I softened. I reached for her hips and gently stroked my fingers up and down them before she reached for my hands and pulled them to her breasts, pressing my palms against her still hard nipples. "You know. I don't know what it is about your hands, but i want them on my body all the time for some reason." "Oh?" "Uh huh. Ever since you made me come, up there. I just want to be naked and have your hands all over me." "Not that I'm complaining, because I'm not. But why?" I asked. "If I knew, I'd tell you. Why did you do what you did up there?" "I don't know exactly. I just wanted to." I admitted "Me too," she answered with a smile, still sitting on me, her hands on mine, encouraging me to squeeze her breasts. "Thank you. For letting me do that." "Trust me, it was my pleasure." I answered with a smile. "I think we need something to eat though." "You don't want me sitting on you anymore?" "I'm not minding one bit." I chuckled. "But I do have a question." "Yeah? What's that?" she asked, leaning down against my hands sliding off her chest as she lowered her tits to my chest, her face inches from mine. "Why aren't you always like this?" "Like what?" "Soft, sweet, sexy, intimate, wonderful, caring, alluring, sensual, did I say incredible yet?" "No, you didn't." "Well. Incredible. Since I hadn't said it yet. I've never known you to be like this. What happened? What changed?" "You did the one thing that was required of any man who wanted me to be this way. You earned my respect and you treated me with respect. No one else deserved this side of me." "How did I earn your respect?" I asked a little confused. "Well, throwing me in the lake the first day was a start. You showed me that you set limits and that you weren't going to let me push you around. Second, you showed me skills. You showed me you believed in me. In my abilities that I hadn’t yet discovered. Not just how to get around town or do your job, but skills in many things. Not only could you do things, you weren't afraid to teach me how to do them as well. And the third thing, maybe the most important, you showed me compassion and respect when I clearly didn't deserve it. Those are the hallmarks of a man worth working to keep. Those are the things I've been looking for in a man for the last fifteen years." "I think you over estimate me." I answered. "And did I mention that you are an overly modest man?" She asked with a giggle. "Now, we only have one problem." "Yeah?" "Well, two actually." "Okay, what two problems?" "First, I know you like Amy. The question is can you treat her as well as you treat me, because we do come as a package deal. She's like a sister to me and we share absolutely everything." "Everything?" "EVERYTHING!" She answered emphatically, wrinkling her nose before she smiled. "What's the second problem?" "How do we call her and tell her to come out here and join us? There's a lot of the two weeks left to find out if we can make this work." Cryptic Messages In some ways it wasn't quite fair. I mean I've never been one to be deceitful, but in this case it seemed like the right thing to do. Kim was waiting back at the Rocky Mountain cabin and my job was to get Amy there without any argument. I stood by the plane as the car door opened. "Adam! What's' going on? Your phone call was more than a little bit cryptic," Amy asked as she practically ran across the tarmac at the Chicago DuPage County Airport, pulling the wheeled suitcase behind her. "Oh. Kim is having an absolute fit. She's demanding that you come at once and refusing to come home until you come get her," I said with a scowl. "You so owe me for screwing up my vacation!" I said pretending to be angry as I took the case from her and stuffed it into the hold under the cabin of my twin engine turbo prop. Truth be told I'd had a bit of a crush on Amy since I started flying her and Kim around the country. I'd of course told her about it, sorta, but been shut down cold every time I'd tried to entice her into anything personal. As Kim had told me, Amy was the perfect professional personal assistant. She was a whiz at keeping her schedule in order, able to handle a myriad of details without bothering Kim and in some cases, was as adept at running the lingerie business every bit as good as Kim. The only real difference was that Amy wasn't a super model. In her own right she was good looking. Five and a half feet, not skinny but not fat, modestly large chest, creamy white skin and short cut auburn hair. To me she looked damn sexy, no matter what she was wearing. Today, in a tight fitting, short skirted dress, she looked even more so. I followed her up the stairs to the plane, closing the stairway door just in time to watch her bend over and thread her way into the right hand co-pilots seat of the plane, her skirt pulling up far enough to show me that she had on pink lacy panties under the powder blue dress. "I'm so sorry. I know I pushed you to take her. I'll make it up to you somehow," she said as I stepped over the center console and settled into the left seat. I handed her a pair of bulky headphones with a microphone attached and then picked up my own somewhat slimmer designed headset and mic. I remained silent as I flipped through the startup procedure, spinning both turbines up before keying the microphone. "Dupage tower. X-ray Alpha Gulf Foxtrot Seven ready for departure." "Roger X-ray Alpha Gulf. You are cleared to taxiway W William to Runway 2 Left. Hold at the ramp." "Roger. Taxiway W William to 2 Left and hold," I answered as I throttled up, the only aircraft at the moment on the tarmac with an engine running. In moments we were bouncing along the narrow strip of pavement that would take us all the way south to the very end of the seventy-five hundred foot runway. It was well more than we'd need with the light load I had on board, but I wasn't going to complain. I stopped just before reaching the end of the runway and checked both engines and props, making sure everything was working properly before radioing the tower back. "Dupage tower. X-ray Alpha Gulf holding at two Left." "Roger X-ray Alpha Gulf, you are cleared onto the runway. Depart turning left and contact Chicago flight following at five thousand." "Roger that tower. X-ray Alpha Gulf rolling," I answered. Taking off from a smaller airport like this one was always more relaxing than trying to fight the big boys at someplace like O'Hare or Midway. I let off the brakes and rolled onto the end of the runway, turning the plane to line up down the center line before pushing the throttles full on. "So how long?" Amy asked over the headset as the plane launched itself up from the pavement and I snapped the landing gear handle into the stow position. "About four hours, sooner if the wind doesn’t fight us, and we can avoid any August storms." I answered, letting my voice soften, no longer having to maintain the fiction that I used to get her here and on the plane. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the envelope that Kim had for her, an envelope I wasn't supposed to give to her until we were in the air. "What's this?" "A note from Kim," I answered. "What's it say?" "I dunno. She told me not to read it," I answered with a shrug. "Chicago center, X-ray Alpha Gulf Foxtrot Seven climbing to fifteen thousand." "Roger X-ray Alpha Gulf Foxtrot Seven. Climbing to fifteen thousand." "And you didn't? Read it I mean?" she asked as she unfolded the paper. "Nope. I guessed it wasn't my business. I'm just following orders to get you on the plane and get you there anyway I can." Amy frowned and looked down at the note, reading it slowly. She flipped the paper over and back again, as if looking for more information. "And you have no idea what this is about?" "All I know is that I have specific orders from her highness to fetch you. She said everything else you needed to know was in the note." "But it doesn't tell me all that much." "Well, she was adamant. She wasn't coming home until you got there. I couldn't very well leave her there forever, could I?" "Well, no. But what triggered this? I mean did you do anything to her?" "Besides throw her ass in the lake the first day? Not really," I answered. "You really threw her in the lake?" "Yep. Picked her up, hauled her ass over my shoulder to the end of the pier and threw her right into the water. She was none too happy about it either." "I don't imagine she was," Amy answered quietly. To be continued. By m storyman x, for Literotica.
Dit is NFL op Woensdag. Jouw Nederlandstalige podcast in de NFL. De National Football League. NFL op Woensdag is een productie van het Groningse podcastconglomeraat KVM Media. Wie het weet mag het zeggen, maar de NFL is dit jaar Any Given Sunday. En dat maakt het ontzettend leuk, met nota bene aan kop van de NFC. Jawel. The Monsters of the Midway. The Pride of Illionois. Da Bears. Chicago Bears. Bear down.
Send us a textSnow that bites, winds that snap, and a cabin lit by a single candle—yet the room still fills with carols and the smell of plum pudding. We journey across the Old West to uncover how pioneers forged the Christmas we recognize today, transforming scarcity into ritual and distance into community. From homestead kitchens humming weeks in advance to stockings hung by a hard‑won fire, we explore the customs that stitched a shaken nation back together after the Civil War and blossomed into a national holiday by 1870.We share first‑hand accounts that feel close to the skin: a family pushing through storms to reach a new life in Oregon Territory, neighbors snowshoeing through four feet of powder for a frontier feast, and Dodge City's Christmas Eve council where civic ambition briefly overshadowed goodwill. These vignettes reveal the texture of the season on the prairie—homemade ornaments from evergreens and ribbon, popcorn garlands, cookie‑dough keepsakes, and gifts carved, knitted, and stitched over months. Each detail reminds us that meaning grows where hands work and hearts wait.Midway, we read Robert W. Service's “The Christmas Tree,” a moving tale of a discarded fir that becomes a beacon for a child in pain. The poem echoes the frontier ethic: rescue what the world overlooks, turn it into light, and let hope do the rest. By the close, we reflect on hospitality and charity as the enduring core of the holiday—values that carried pioneers through savage winters and still kindle warmth in ours. If these stories deepen your own traditions, share the episode with someone you love, leave a quick review, and subscribe so you never miss the next journey west.Support the showIf you'd like to buy one or more of our fully illustrated dime novel publications, you can click the link I've included.
After their victory at the Battle of Midway, Allied forces in the Pacific took the initiative in the South Pacific. However, the ensuing Guadalcanal campaign would prove to be challenging both on land and in nearby waters.Support the show My latest novel, "Califia's Crusade," is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Bookshop.org, and many other online platforms!
Do we got another great conversation for you here friends? Yes we do! In this episode, Shams and Fernando sit down with industry veteran Adam Boyes to explore his remarkable journey through the industry over the last decades. Adam shares stories from his early years, continuing to look at his time at Midway and Capcom, and his transition into business development and executive leadership. The conversation leads over to Adams experience with navigating Japanese corporate culture, digital distribution with titles like Bionic Commando Rearmed and an unexpected stint consulting for major non-gaming IPs like Kraft Foods(!). But what is a conversation with Adam Boyes without diving into his years at PlayStation during the PS4 generation, including the backstory behind one of the most iconic industry memes: the legendary “How to Share a Game on PlayStation” video.. But before we jump into the interview, Shams and Fernando also sheds some light on Sweden's outsized footprint in the global games industry, from its unusually strong export numbers to the cultural and economic aspects that have helped Swedish studios punch far above their weight for decades (and continue to do so). The "How to share your game on PlayStation"-meme VR in the parking lot Vivrato.com
U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL 14) joins John Williams to talk about what she found when she visited the Broadview ICE detention center. Rep. Underwood details the inhumane conditions at the facility and also tells John what she expects from Operation Midway Blitz in the months to come.
U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL 14) joins John Williams to talk about what she found when she visited the Broadview ICE detention center. Rep. Underwood details the inhumane conditions at the facility and also tells John what she expects from Operation Midway Blitz in the months to come.
U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL 14) joins John Williams to talk about what she found when she visited the Broadview ICE detention center. Rep. Underwood details the inhumane conditions at the facility and also tells John what she expects from Operation Midway Blitz in the months to come.
Hello everyone, a big thanks to all of you who joined the patreon and voted for this to be the next episode, you all are awesome. This is a part 2 about Hirohito's responsibility during the wars of 1931-1945, so if you have not heard part 1, perhaps go do so, or maybe you just don't care about 1931-1940 and just want to hear about the 1941-1945 period, hell by all means enjoy. So last time we kind of left it on a bit of a dramatic cliff hanger. I spoke about Emperor Hirohito's involvement in what was called at the time the “China Incident”. It was not an official declared war until December of 1941. We left off in 1940, Hirohito was struggling with a situation of juggling two things: 1) how the hell to finally end the China War 2) how to do it without receiving horrible ramifications from the international world. On July 22nd of 1940, Konoe was back and formed a second cabinet. Notably General Hideki Tojo went from vice to army Minister during this time. If you guys ever want a podcast on Hideki Tojo, let me know, he is one rather bizarre figure that's for sure. Konoe tackled his job by holding an imperial HQ government liaison conference. For 90 minutes everyone worked on a new national policy designed to exploit the international situation, IE: Germany bulldozing europe. The result was a document on national policy dated July 27th. It shifted focus to the “southern area” IE: southeast asia and the Pacific if the China war did not end quickly. Its basis was to exploit the foreign nations that had their hands full in europe, France, Britain and the Netherlands. It called for an invasion of French Indochina to establish bases to launch assaults against the Dutch East Indies for natural resources if diplomatic means failed. It acknowledged if the Dutch East Indies were seized through military means, Japan would also seek to fight Britain, but not the US, instead Japan would prepare for a possible war with the Americans. To all of this Hirohito approved. The army also kept pressuring its desire to ally with Germany. Throughout 1939-1940 Hirohito rejected this idea, not because of any ideological differences, it was because of Germans anti aggression pact with the USSR. If Japan were to ally to Germany, Hirohito wanted it to be mutually to fight the USSR. The Navy likewise opposed allying to Germany because they believed it would force Britain and the US to increase their aid to Chiang Kai-shek. However the Blitzkrieg changed everything. Everyone was shocked at how well Germany was doing. Prince Chichibu repeatedly argued with Hirohito to change his mind over the alliance idea. Then suddenly the Navy changed their mind and began favoring an alliance. This changed came about in June of 1940 when the France fell. The Navy changed their mind based on a few factors, a major component was the belief if Germany and the USSR were allied, than at least Japan would not have to worry about the USSR and could focus on the pacific. Both the IJA and the IJN believed Hitler would soon take Britain and thus there was a huge desire to join the new international order on the winning side. A third factor was a new clause in negotiations with Germany and Japan, that if they allied Japan would not automatically be drawn into a war with Britain against her will. Some in the navy also believed perhaps Germany could help their diplomatic situation with the Americans. So the army and navy were now both demanding an alliance with Germany, it was all up to hirohito. At an imperial briefing on June 19th of 1940, Hirohito asked chief of staff Prince Kan'in and the Army Minister Hata “At a time when peace will soon come in the European situation, will there be a deployment of troops to the Netherlands Indies and French Indochina?” Such as question revealed Hirohito's perception at the time that Germany was on the verge of victory and that he was gradually considering the deployment of troops in French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies as neither parent nation were in a position to defend their holdings. In regards to the China war, the Japanese sought to end leaks of materials getting into China from places like Hong Kong. Hirohito received reports indicated Britain would not accept closing the movement of materials into China via Hong Kong. The military acknowledged it would probably be required to invade Hong Kong and thus declare war on Britain. Upon hearing of this Hirohito remarked “Should that happen, I am sure America will use the method of an embargo, don't you agree?” To this his lord of the privy seal, Kido reassured him stating “the nation must be fully resolved to resist to proceed cautiously and not to be dragged into events precipitated by the overseas agencies”. Konoe's second cabinet resolved to end the China war, construct a new order in greater east asia and to complete war preparations as a national defense state. On July 27th at a liaison conference a document was adopted, affirming a course of advancing to the south and to ally with Germany. Japan would incorporate the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya and other resource rich areas of Southeast Asia into its new order while simultaneously bolstering its relationship with the Axis states. After hearing and reading everything, Hirohito sanctioned it all. Thus Hirohito had sanctioned the preliminary actions that would set Japan into a collision course with the US. In September Japan began sending troops into northern French Indochina after concluding its Tripartite alliance with Germany and Italy. Now Hirohito was briefed beforehand by Army Minister Tojo and other chiefs of staff about securing bases in northern French indochina. Hirohito agreed to this under the belief acquiring such bases would stop more leaked materials going into China and thus contribute to the fall of Chongqing. But Hirohito also sanctioned it under the full knowledge it was preparing the Nanshin-ron advance and that carried a risk of going to war with Britain and by proxy the US. Naturally he wanted to thwart any war breaking out with the US by it seems his officials had convinced him they could manage most of their plans without aggravating the US. On July 29th with the German offensive aimed at finishing off Britain, Hirohito summoned his chiefs and vice chiefs of staff to the imperial HQ. He began to question the prospects of war with the US. Prince Fushimi replied “[u]nless we complete our domestic preparations, particularly the preparation of our material resources, I do not think we should lightly start war even if there is a good opportunity to do so.” Hirohito then asked if “the Army were planning to occupy points in India, Australia, and New Zealand.” But overall Hirohito seemed to be the most concerned about the US, Germany and the USSR. “Could Japan, obtain a victory in a naval battle with the United States as we once did in the Battle of the Japan Sea? . . . I heard that the United States will ban exports of oil and scrap iron [to Japan]. We can probably obtain oil from other sources, but don't you think we will have a problem with scrap iron?” In regards to the USSR “If a Japan-Soviet nonaggression treaty is made and we advance to the south, the navy will become the main actor. Has the army given thought to reducing the size of its forces in that case? . . . How do you assess the future national power of Germany? . . . Both Germany and the Soviet Union are untrustworthy countries. Don't you think there will be a problem if one of them betrays us and takes advantage of our exhaustion fighting the United States?I]t seems as though you people are thinking of implementing this plan by force because there is a good opportunity at this moment for resolving the southern problem even though some dangers are involved. . . . What does a good opportunity mean? [To this question Sawada replied: “For example, if a German landing in England commences.”] In that case wouldn't the United States move to aid Britain? . . . Well, I've heard enough. I take it, in short, that you people are trying to resolve the southern problem by availing yourselves of today's good opportunities.” You can tell Hirohito understood the very real threat of an Anglo-American alliance and was very cautious. It seemed to Hirohito, that his officials were trying to take the limelight off the abysmal situation in China but emphasizing a southern advance. Well Americans response to the Japanese movement into northern French indochina was to see it as a direct threat. Something I have not paid much attention to was Hirohito's decision making being the direct result of trying to mediate between competing entities, ie: the IJA and IJN. At this point in time the IJA and IJN top officials had the power to simply stop governmental functions from occurring altogether whenever they were displeased with a decision. As you can imagine the IJA and IJN were also competing for resources and political power. Thus Hirohito spent a lot of time and effort trying to formulate decisions that at a minimum kept the governance going. In the end Hirohito sanctioned Imperial HQ army order number 458, ordering the area army to begin the entry into French Indochina. Thus once again Hirohito sanctioned aggression aboard. America began what it called a “moral embargo” on aircraft parts, scrap iron and aviation gasoline. This was one of many gradual steps America took to incrementally sanction Japan, while aiding China to keep it bogged down. Japan's direct response was joining the Axis with a clause “to assist one another with all political, economic and military means if attacked by a power at present not involved in the European War or in the Sino-Japanese conflict”. This clause was designed specifically to check Britain and the US. Hirohito knew this was a turning point carrying the possibility of war with the US. Later he would blame some officials and even his brothers Chichibu and Takamatsu, but not his own actions sanctioning the Axis pact. Speaking of his brothers, at this time Chichibu got severely ill with tuberculosis and as a result retired from active public life, now Prince Takamatsu stood as next regent. Thus Takamatsu would begin reading reports and advise Hirohito. Takamatsu like Chichibu approved the Tripartite Pact and found his brother Hirohito's performance lacking. Meanwhile Britain responded to the Tripartite pact by opening up the Burma road and America made a loan to Chiang Kai-shek. The Soviets came to Japan for a neutrality pact and sweetened the deal by offering Soviet coal and oil concessions in North Sakhalin. Hirohito ratified the treaty on April 25th of 1941. 5 weeks later on June 5th, the Japanese ambassador to Berlin, General Oshima Hiroshi reported to Hirohito and the high command that Hitler was about to invade the Soviets. The Army high command sprang into action drafting plans to open a war with the Soviets while simultaneously advancing south into French Indochina. But many in the military also sought to wait until the time was ripe, and a rift emerged. Operation barbarossa commenced and on June 23rd the IJN high command gave their opinion that Japan should seize all military bases and airfields in southern French Indochina even at the risk of war with Britain and America. Can you say boy that escalated quickly? There was obvious temptation to invade Siberia towards Lake Baikal, but at the same time the western powers were tightening sanctions on Japan, she needed resources. At this point Japan had been stuck in China for 4 years and 5 months, the army had expanded from 17 divisions totalling 250,000 men in july of 1937 to 51 divisions at 2.1 million men in December 8th of 1941. On July 2nd, 10 tens into Operation barbarossa, Konoe summoned an imperial conference to debate actions going forward. The consensus was that southern French Indochina needed to be taken and that it probably would not provoke the US going to war with Japan. Hirohito sanctioned it and on July 30th made a major operational intervention by advising General Sugiyama to build up forces in Manchukuo to prevent the Soviet Far Eastern Army. Japan negotiated with Vichy France to allow Japanese troops to occupy southern parts of French Indochina. What was to be originally just 40,000 IJA forces turned into 185,000 and in response America increased sanctions and began preparing the Philippines for war. Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the US on July 26th and by August the 1st a total embargo of oil and gasoline exports to Japan. Konoe's cabinet, the military high command, pretty much everyone was shocked by how harsh the economic sanctions were. Emperor Hirohito told Sugiyama to halt mobilizing forces in Manchukuo and the army basically dropped all plans of attacking the USSR. A month after the US oil embargo suddenly the army had changed its mind to go all in on the southern advance. Britain likewise began sanctions against Japan and both Britain and the US managed to convince the Dutch to follow suit by refusing to sell oil to Japan. The Dutch even took it a step further and followed Americans lead in freezing Japanese assets. Konoe was in full panic mode, be believed his ambassador to washington was a moron and sought to go in person to speak to Roosevelt. At 11:40am on August 4th Konoe spoke to Hirohito about the plan, but Washington kept making up excuses prolonging any meeting from taking place. Meanwhile Washington was building up its navy, and the IJN were stressing, in the words of Admiral Takagai “As time passes and this situation continues, our empire will either be totally defeated or forced to fight a hopeless war. Therefore we should pursue war and diplomacy together. If there is no prospect of securing our final line of national survival by diplomatic negotiations, we must be resolved to fight.” Hirohito understood the predicament full well, that each day Japan was wasting its oil reserves, if they were to strike it had to be quickly. On september 3rd at a liaison conference it was decided Japan was to prepare for a war against the US, UK and Netherlands while simultaneously pursuing diplomacy. If diplomacy failed by early October the decision for war would be made. Konoe presented everything to Hirohito on September 5th and requested an imperial conference on the matter. The most important decision of his life was about to be made. Now take a second to feel the moment. Germany's invasion of the USSR was in its 6th week and not producing a decisive victory; Britain was still in the fight and the Japanese ambassador to London reported back Britain would allow Japan to maintain its great power status and exert influence in asia if they stayed out of the European War and “re-examined their current policy”. An olive branch. Hirohito had options is what I am arguing. He could stale things, he could mobilize units into Manchukuo to simply threaten the Soviet border, he could simply stay out of new wars, even it the China war would get worse, but try to profit from the situation in Europe. He could stop the southern advance, lose the chance to seize the resource in southeast asia, but perhaps the US, UK and Netherlands would lift some sanctions. After speaking back and forth with Konoe while scolding Sugiyama here is a bit of their conversation: Emperor: In the event we must finally open hostilities, will our operations have a probability of victory? Sugiyama: Yes, they will. Emperor: At the time of the China Incident, the army told me that we could achieve peace immediately after dealing them one blow with three divisions. Sugiyama, you were army minister at that time. . . . Sugiyama: China is a vast area with many ways in and many ways out, and we met unexpectedly big difficulties. . . . [ellipses in original] Emperor: Didn't I caution you each time about those matters? Sugiyama, are you lying to me? Nagano: If Your Majesty will grant me permission, I would like to make a statement. Emperor: Go ahead. Nagano: There is no 100 percent probability of victory for the troops stationed there. . . . Sun Tzu says that in war between states of similar strength, it is very difficult to calculate victory. Assume, however, there is a sick person and we leave him alone; he will definitely die. But if the doctor's diagnosis offers a seventy percent chance of survival, provided the patient is operated on, then don't you think one must try surgery? And if, after the surgery, the patient dies, one must say that was meant to be. This indeed is the situation we face today. . . . If we waste time, let the days pass, and are forced to fight after it it is too late to fight, then we won't be able to do a thing about it. Emperor: All right, I understand. [He answered in a better mood.] Konoe: Shall I make changes in tomorrow's agenda? How would you like me to go about it? Emperor: There is no need to change anything. There is no need to change anything. Konoe grabbed Hirohito for a private audience afterwards and tried to get Hirohito to revise the outline, but Hirohito ignored this. Hirohito at that point could have stopped or at least slowed down the countdown to all out war. Hirohito instead did not want to displease the pro-war factions in his military, perhaps he saw them as a threat to his authority. Hirohito was not at all pleased with the policy plan. When he was shown in on september 5th, he looked extremely irritated and blew up on Sugiyama and the army high command as a whole. 20 minutes before the Imperial conference on September 6th, Hirohito spoke with his lord of the privy Kido and told him he was going to raise some questions at the meeting. Kido told him that it would be best to leave the questions at the very end, basically he was advising to allow for things to go through. Thus Hirohito sat through the meeting and sanction the preparations for war. Here is a conversation between Hirohito and the Chiefs of the general staff: Emperor: You may go ahead and mobilize. But if the Konoe-Roosevelt talks go well, you'll stop, won't you? Chief of the General Staff: Indeed, your majesty, we will. Emperor: I will ask you one more time: Is there any possibility that the north [that is, the Soviet Union] may move against us while we are engaged in the south [emphasis added]? Chief of the General Staff: I cannot say that will absolutely not occur. However, because of the season it is inconceivable that large forces will be able to attack us Meanwhile Konoe's deadline to reach a diplomatic resolution with the US was fast approaching. On October 13th Hirohito told Kido “In the present situation there seems to be little hope for the Japan–U.S. negotiations. If hostilities erupt this time, I think I may have to issue a declaration of war.” The next day Konoe held his last cabinet meeting and Army minister Tojo took the lionshare of talking: For the past six months, ever since April, the foreign minister has made painstaking efforts to adjust relations [with the United States.] Although I respect him for that, we remain deadlocked. . . . Our decision was “to start the war . . . if by early October we cannot thoroughly achieve our demands through negotiations.” Today is the fourteenth. . . . We are mobilizing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Others are being moved from China and Manchuria, and we have requisitioned two million tons of ships, causing difficulties for many people. As I speak ships are en route to their destinations. I would not mind stopping them, and indeed would have to stop them, if there was a way for a diplomatic breakthrough. . . . The heart of the matter is the [imposition on us of] withdrawal [from Indochina and China]. ...If we yield to America's demands, it will destroy the fruits of the China Incident. Manchukuo will be endangered and our control of Korea undermined And so Konoe resigned two days later, but before he did his last official action was to recommend Prince Higashikuni to succeed him, in fact he got Tojo to do the same. Prince Higashikuni was deemed capable of controlling both the Army and Navy. And what did Hirohito say to this? He said no, and appointed Hideki Tojo. Why? As going back to the beginning of this series, to protect the Kokutai. He did not want a member of the royal family to hold the seat as Prime Minister during a time when war might be declared, a war that Japan might lose, which would toss the responsibility onto the imperial house. It was a threat to the Kokutai. Hirohito chose Tojo because Tojo was 100% loyal subject to the emperor. Tojo was the perfect fall guy if one ever existed. Between November 8-15th, Hirohito received a full rundown of the Pearl Harbor surprise attack plan and sanctioned it. The deadline to reach a diplomatic solution with the US was set for midnight December 1st. Hirohito ever since the Mukden Incident had expressed fear that not taking warlike actions, not pumping up the kokutai or not suppressing dissent would jeopardize the imperial system of government and damage the imperial institution itself. For Hirohito domestic conflicts were more dangerous than external ones, because they carried the risk of eroding the monarchy. As the time approached for his finally decision on declaring war, Hirohito requested a last round of discussion. The carriers enroute to Pearl harbor departed on november 27th, while on December 1st, 19 leaders, the entire Tojo cabinet and Emperor met. Tojo pulled a rather cheeky maneuver, he reported the response from America, the famous Hull note by stating “the United States . . . has demanded that we withdraw troops from all of China [emphasis added],” but in fact, Hull had used only the word “China.” Hara asked “I would like to know,whether Manchukuo is included in the term ‘China'? Did our two ambassadors confirm this point?” Togo's reply to this was “However . . . the American proposal [early in the negotiations on] April 16 stated that they would recognize the state of Manchukuo, so Manchukuo would not be part of China. . . . On the other hand . . . there has been a change in their position . . . they look upon Chungking as the one and only legitimate regime, and . . . they want to destroy the Nanking regime, [so] they may retract what they have said previously” A nonsensical gibberish answer, intentionally done to make everyone think America did in fact include Manchukuo, thus forcing everyone to see the demands as impossible to comply with. Togo finished the meeting : “Once His Majesty decides to commence hostilities, we will all strive to meet our obligations to him, bring the government and the military ever closer together, resolve that the nation united will go on to victory, make an all-out effort to achieve our war aims, and set his majesty's mind at ease. I now adjourn the meeting.” Hirohito simply nodded. Sugiyama remarked that the emperor did not show the slightest sign of anxiety, in fact he looked like he was in a good mood. Hirohito's naval aid Jo Eiichiro wrote minutes on the first day of the pacific war, recording the emperors actions. 4 A.M. (Japan time): Japan issued a final ultimatum to the United States. 3:30 A.M.: the Hawaiian surprise attack was successful. 5:30 A.M.: Singapore bombed. Great results. Air attacks on Davao, Guam, Wake. 7:10 A.M.: All the above was reported to the emperor. The American gunboat Wake was captured on the Shanghai front. The British gunboat Petrel was sunk. From 7:15 to 7:30 the chief of the Navy General Staff reported on the war situation. At 7:30 the prime minister informally reported to the emperor on the imperial rescript declaring war. (Cabinet meeting from 7 A.M.). At 7:35 the chief of the Army General Staff reported on the war situation. At 10:45 the emperor attended an emergency meeting of the privy council. At 11:00 A.M. the imperial rescript declaring war was promulgated. 11:40 A.M. Hirohito conferred with Kido for about twenty minutes.] At 2:00 P.M. the emperor summoned the army and navy ministers and bestowed an imperial rescript on them. The army minister, representing both services, replied to the emperor. [At 3:05 P.M. the emperor had a second meeting with Kido, lasting for about twenty minutes.] At 4:30 P.M. the chiefs of staff formally reported on the draft of the Tripartite (Germany-Italy-Japan) Military Pact. At 8:30 P.M. the chief of the Navy General Staff reported on the achievements of the Hawaii air attack. . . . Throughout the day the emperor wore his naval uniform and seemed to be in a splendid mood. Hirohito believed Germany would win, thus if with their help he believed Japan could thwart off the US until a negotiated peace. Having made his choice, Hirohito devoted himself to presiding over and guiding the war to victory at all costs. He was a extremely cautious person, every single campaign he looked for what could go wrong, made worse case scenario predictions and was very suspicious of reports from his high officials. He was notably very harsh and critical on said high commanders. Although he did not visit the war theaters as did other commanders in chief, he exercised and controlled influence on theater operations, both in the planning and execution whenever he chose to do so. As was the same case with the China war before it, he issued the highest military orders of the Imperial HQ, performed audited conferences and led to decisions transmitted in his name. He received generals and admirals to the imperial palace who gave full reports of the battlefront. He visited bases, battleships, various army and naval headquarters. He inspected military schools, you know the full shebang. After 26 months of war, the naval air force had lost 26,006 aircraft, nearly a third of its total power, thousands of veteran pilots were dead. Hundreds of thousands of tons of warship was sunk, the merchant and transport fleet was crippled. Late 1943 saw the Americans turning the initiative of the war, Japan was on the defensive. Guadalcanal had been the major turning point. During the staled battle for the philippines, Hirohito pressed upon Army chief of staff Sugiyama to increase troop strength to knock out Bataan. The problem persisted, on February 9th and 26th Hirohito pressed Sugiyama again about getting more troops to take Bataan. Hirohito was confronted with the prisoner of war issue after the doolittle raid. When the pilots were caught, Togo initially opposed executions, but many in the IJA sought all 8 men executed. Hirohito chose to intervene and commuted the execution of 5 out of the 8. Why just 5, no one knows to this day, but its theorized it was to demonstrate his benevolence while simultaneously giving a bit of what the army wanted. The CBI theater took the lionshare of his attention in 1942, he continuously pressed up Sugiyama when a final blow would be delivered against Chongqing. When the Midway disaster occurred, Hirohito was given a full report of what happened, but he chose to hid the extent of the loss from the IJA. In fact in response to the Guadalcanal campaign he was heard once asking “I wonder if this is not the start of the AmericanBritish counteroffensive?” He urged his commanders to increase offensive activities and to toss all weapons possible at the enemy, because Japan needed more time to secure its reserves of vital oil, rubber and iron. When he heard the first report of the Ichiki detachment being wiped out, he simply stated “I am sure it [Guadalcanal] can be held.” With numerous reports pouring in about the men dying from tropical disease and starvation, Hirohito kept demanding greater efforts from them. Hirohito continuously applied pressure on his naval and land commanders to recapture the island. On September 15th, November 5th and November 11th he called for more IJA troops and aircraft to be allocated to it. Sugiyama was nervous about sending more IJA pilots as they were inexperienced in transoceanic combat and he sought to reinforce the north china army to hit Chongqing. Hirohito demanded it a second time and Sugiyama replied the IJA had deployed its air power instead to New Guinea and Rabaul. Hirohito continuously hammered the issue despite the high level commanders disagreeing with it. By late november it was clear guadalcanal was a lost cause. At an imperial HQ conference on December 31st of 1942, the chiefs of staff reported they would cancel the attempts to recapture guadalcanal. Hirohito sanctioned it but stated “It is unacceptable to just give up on capturing Guadalcanal. We must launch an offensive elsewhere.” Hirohito forced the issue and it was decided the new strategic points would be in the solomons north of New Georgia and the Stanley range on New Guinea. Hirohito in fact threatened not to authorize the withdrawal of men from Guadalcanal until such a plan was made. Hirohito would go on to oppose the withdrawal from the Munda airfield on New Georgia since it contradicted the new defensive line. As the defensive perimeter in the central and northern solomons was crumbling, Hirohito continued to demand the navy fight decisive battles to regain the initiative so ships could begin transports supplies to the countless soldiers trapped on islands without them. When Hirohito heard of the navy's failure to reinforce Lae on March 3rd he stated “Then why didn't you change plans immediately and land at Madan? This is a failure, but it can teach us a good lesson and become a source of future success. Do this for me so I can have peace of mind for awhile.” “Do this for me” would become his signature message. In August of 1943 as the fall of the solomons progressed, Hirohito lambasted “Isn't there someplace where we can strike the United States? . . . When and where on earth are you [people] ever going to put up a good fight? And when are you ever going to fight a decisive battle?Well, this time, after suffering all these defeats, why don't you study how not to let the Americans keep saying ‘We won! We won!'[emphasis added]”” Hirohito berated his chiefs of staff and in the face of mounting defeats he remained undismayed, rigidly self disciplined and aggressive as ever. When he received a report on September 21st of 1943 that the allies were heading for Finschhafen he replied “Being ready to defend isn't enough. We have to do the attacking.” When the Americans destroyed the main naval anchorage at Truk forcing the navy to evacuate it, leaving behind numerous tanks, the dream of fighting one great decisive naval battle in the central pacific was over. On February 21st of 1944, Hirohito took the unprecedented action to force Sugiyama to resign so Tojo could assume his position, alongside that of army minister and prime minister. He did this to end dissent. Hirohito and Tojo oversaw the haymaker attempts in 1944, like operation Ichi-go and the Imphal campaign fall into ruins. It looked like the Philippines, Taiwan, Okinawa, the Bonin islands and eventually the home islands would be invaded. When Saipan fell, the home islands had at last come into range of the dreaded B-29 Super flying fortresses. Hirohito had warned Tojo “If we ever lose Saipan, repeated air attacks on Tokyo will follow. No matter what it takes, we have to hold there.” For two days his chiefs of staff explained the dire situation on Saipan was hopeless, but Hirohito ignored their advice and ordered Admiral Shimada to recapture it, the first department of the navy general staff immediately poured themselves into the problem. Day and night they worked, until a draft plan was created on June 21st, 3 days later the combined fleet gave opposition. Tojo and Shimada formally reported to Hirohito the recapture plan needed to be canceled. Hirohito refused to accept the loss of Saipan and ordered his chief aide General Hasunuma to convene in his presence the board of field marshals and fleet admirals. They all met on the 25th, upon which they all unanimously stated the reports indicating Saipan was a lost cause were valid, Hirohito simply told them to put it in writing and he left the room. Hirohito finally decided to withdraw his support of Tojo, allowing Tojo's numerous enemies to take down his cabinet on July 18th 1944. But Hirohito was undaunted in determination to steal victory from the allies. Imperial HQ on October 18th ordered a decisive naval battle and the battle of Leyte Gulf was it. After the war Hirohito would go on the record stating “Contrary to the views of the Army and Navy General Staffs, I agreed to the showdown battle of Leyte thinking that if we attacked at Leyte and America flinched, then we would probably be able to find room to negotiate.” This statement shows the facts as they were, Hirohito and his chiefs of staff forced the field commander, General Tomoyuki Yamashita to engage the American invasion force in a place Yamashita did not want to fight nor prepared adequate defenses. It was a horrible loss. The Kamikaze attacks increased as Japan's desperation wore on. On new years day of 1945 Hirohito inspected the special last meal rations given to departing kamikaze units. Iwo Jima fell. Okinawa remained, and Hirohito lashed out “Is it because we failed to sink enemy transports that we've let the enemy get ashore? Isn't there any way to defend Okinawa from the landing enemy forces?” On the second day of Okinawa's invasion Hirohito ordered a counter landing by the 32nd army and urged the navy to counterattack in every way possible. It was a horrible failure, it cost the lives of up to 120,000 Japanese combatants, 170,000 noncombatants. The Americans lost 12,500 killed and 33,000 wounded. An absolute bloodbath. Konoe re-entered the stage writing to Hirohito pleading with him to order a surrender because from his perspective “The Soviet Union is Japan's biggest threat. Defeat was inevitable, but more to be feared than defeat was the destruction of the Kokutai. Sue quickly for peace, before a Communist revolution occurred that would make preservation of the kokutai impossible”. Hirohito was taken aback by this, as he shared his military's hope that the Soviets would help Japan reach a peace settlement. So he rejected the advice of Konoe. Hirohito remarked “If we hold out long enough in this war, we may be able to win, but what worries me is whether the nation will be able to endure it until then.” Then Japan's intelligence units reported the Soviets were going to break the neutrality pact and join the war once the Germans were done. Meanwhile Tokyo was turned to rubble on March 9th 1945 by 334 B-29's dropping firebombs, 40% of the capital was destroyed, up to 100,000 were dead. Hirohito remained undaunted. 60 Japanese cities were leveled by firebomb campaigns. Europe's war finished. Then the battle for Okinawa was lost, suddenly Hirohito began looking for ways to end the war. On June 22nd Hirohito personally informed the supreme war leadership council his desire to see diplomatic maneuvers to end the war. A special envoy was sent to Moscow, while Hirohito publicly issued an imperial rescript ordering the nation “to smash the inordinate ambitions of the enemy nations and achieve the goals of the war”. B-29's began dropping leaflets with joint declarations issued by the US, UK and China requesting the citizens of Japan demand their government surrender. Prefectural governors, police chiefs and officers began submitting home ministry reports on the rapid deterioration of the nations spirit. Germany signed the unconditional surrender documents on May 7th and 8th of 1945, Japan was alone. Newly installed President Truman declared on May 8th, Japan's surrender would not mean the extermination or enslavement of the Japanese people, but the unconditional surrender principles remained unaltered. The Japanese meanwhile were awaiting word from the Soviets. The Americans unleashed their first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th of 1945 killing up to 140,000 people. Then on August 8th the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and began an invasion of Manchuria. On August 9th the second atomic bomb hit Nagasaki killing around 40,000 people. Thus began the surrender clock as I like to say. After the first atomic bomb, Hirohito said and did nothing about the surrender terms. Hirohito then authorized Togo to notify the world on August 10th that Japan would accept the allied terms of surrender with one condition “that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler.” The next day, Secretary of State Byrnes replied by alluding to the subordination of the emperors authority to the supreme commander of the allied powers. It was ambiguous as hell. The Japanese leaders erupted into arguments, and on August 14th, Hirohito went before a microphone and recorded his capitulation announcement which aired on August 15th to all in Japan, they surrendered. Why did it take so long? The peace talks between the Japanese and Soviets went on through June, July and early August. Japan offered the Soviets limited territorial concessions and they refused to accept the envoy on July 22nd because the Japanese were being too ambiguous in their terms. There was continuous back and forth between the intelligence of Moscow and Japan trying to figure out the stance of the other, but then Stalin heard about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, he was shocked and ordered an invasion of Manchuria in response. In the meantime the Japanese were tossing all sorts of concessions at Moscow, they stated they would allow Japanese to be used as forced laborers in Siberia, a form of reparation as it were, that they would demobilize the military and so on. The response was the invasion of Manchuria. Hirohito knew prior to the bombing of Hiroshima that the cabinet was divided on accepting the Potsdam terms. Hirohito also knew he and he alone could unify governmental affairs and military command. Why then did he wait until the evening of August 9th to surrender? The reality of the matter is its complicated, numerous variables at play, but let me try to pick at it. The people of japan under the firebomb campaigns were becoming hostile towards the military, the government and many began to criticize the emperor. Hirohito was given reports from the Home Ministry from governors and police chiefs all over Japan revealing people were speaking of the emperor as an incompetent leader who was responsible for worsening the war situation. Does that sound like a threat to the Kokutai? People were starving en masse, the atomic bomb is flashy, but what really was killing the Japanese, it was starvation. The home islands were blockaded and the sea approaches mined as pertaining to the optimally named “operation starvation”. Hirohito knew full well how bad his people were suffering but he did not surrender for so long. After Hiroshima was bombed, Hirohito delayed for 2 days before telling Kido at 10am on August 9th “quickly control the situation, the Soviet Union has declared war and today began hostilities against us”. Now here is a piece of Hirohito's surrender proclamation to the citizens of Japan “Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to do damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers... The hardships and sufferings to which Our nation is to be subjected hereafter will be certainly great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all of you, Our subjects. However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable ”. Hirohito wanted to obfuscate the issue of accountability, to prevent expressions of strife and anger and to strengthen domestic unity around himself, to protect and raise the kokutai. Did you know there was a rescript of this proclamation that was made to the entire IJA and IJN? Yes Emperor Hirohito gave out two different proclamations for surrender, here is what the armed forces heard. “ Now that the Soviet Union has entered the war against us, to continue . . . under the present conditions at home and abroad would only recklessly incur even more damage to ourselves and result in endangering the very foundation of the empire's existence. Therefore, even though enormous fighting spirit still exists in the Imperial Navy and Army, I am going to make peace with the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, as well as with Chungking, in order to maintain our glorious national polity”. The proclamation does not speak of the atomic weapons, but emphasizes the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Hirohito was presented as a benevolent sage and an apolitical ruler that had ended the war. Hirohito sought to justify the surrender upon the bombs to the public, but did he believe so, did his armed forces believe so? People debate to this day why the surrender occurred, I love the fact there are two message offered because both are true. Hirohito's decision to surrender was based on numerous variables, the atomic bombs, the invasion of Manchuria by the soviets, but above all else, what really was important to the man, the emperor, the god? The kokutai. The Soviets were more of a threat to the kokutai, thus Hirohito jumped into the arms of the Americans. The language between the Americans and Japanese in the communications for unconditional surrender were ambiguous, but Hirohito and the high commanders knew there was zero chance of the kokutai surviving if the Soviets invaded Japan, perhaps the Americans would allow it to continue, which is just what they ended up doing. The entire purpose of this series would to emphasize how Hirohito definitely had a active role in the war of 1931-1945, he had numerous occasions where he could put the hammer down to stop the situation from escalating. But in the end when his back was against the wall, he did what he did to cling on to the Kokutai. I shall leave you with this. On August 12th, as Hirohito came to inform the imperial family of his decision to surrender, Prince Asaka asked him whether the war would continue if the Kokutai could not be preserved, what do you think he said? “Of Course”.
Mario was a 28-year-old crack and alcohol addict who was imprisoned for burglary. At his sentencing the judge said he was “a waste of a human life.” Mario sadly agreed. Midway through his jail time he saw an advertisement for a journalism contest. It piqued Mario’s interest, and he enrolled in a nearby university. He was hooked. Mario loved working on news stories, and after his release he finished his master’s degree in journalism and now writes for The New York Times. He’s a waste no more! The life of the demon-possessed man living in the tombs seemed a waste to anyone who knew him. His neighbors bound him with chains for their protection and his, but “he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet” (Mark 5:4). He ran back to the tombs where “night and day . . . he would cry out and cut himself with stones” (v. 5). Then he was changed forever. Jesus cast out the man’s demons and returned him to normal society. The town was amazed to find him “sitting there, dressed and in his right mind” (v. 15). The grateful man wanted to sail away with Christ, but He said no. “Go home to your own people,” said Jesus, “and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (v. 19). This man’s mission is our mission. Let’s tell others about Christ. Because of Him, no one’s life is a waste.
The immigration enforcement campaign in the Chicago area has gotten quieter, but not silent.
A lot happened today including two important written findings. Show Notes: U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes Judge Sarah Ellis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Illinois Commerce Commission this week approved rate hikes for the state's two major natural gas utilities, but not as much as the companies had asked. And federal court cases surrounding the Trump administration's "Operation Midway Blitz" in the Chicago area are continuing, even though the operation itself is reportedly winding down. Peter Hancock talks with CNI's Maggie Dougherty and Jerry Nowicki about the week's news.
Midway point of the Sunlit Man.
Col. Lawrence Wilkerson ret.
Florida's Americana ensemble Remedy Tree has achieved notable success, securing second place at the prestigious SPBGMA National Band Championship. They've sold out most of their summer tour and have hit ticket sales milestones. Following their signing with Mountain Fever Records in 2024, the band has performed internationally, showcasing their talents at Ireland's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, and they're headed to England later this year as well. Remedy Tree has shared the stage with legendary artists such as Peter Rowan, The Steeldrivers, Ricky Skaggs, Town Mountain, Rhonda Vincent, and Della Mae. As a selected 2023 IBMA Ramble Showcase band, they have demonstrated their prowess within the industry. Midway through 2025, with a new album and larger shows on the horizon, Remedy Tree is experiencing a breakout year.Remedy Tree, founded by Gabriel and Abigail Acevedo in 2015, had a strong indie-folk sound in its inception. As time progressed, Remedy Tree added a banjo player and was subsequently thrust into a bluegrass trajectory. Gabriel Acevedo was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and was raised in rural Umatilla, Florida. His Puerto Rican heritage and upbringing provide an outsider's approach to the genre. Abigail was raised in folk and old-time music circles and traveled with her family band throughout her teen years. The addition of Isaac Taylor and Nathan Beaumont, along with their deep roots in bluegrass tradition, elevates and bonds the music closer, further blossoming the Remedy Tree sound. An original music band at heart, Remedy Tree combines the love for bluegrass, an Appalachian old-time spirit, and the folk melodies that started it all, creating a truly unique Americana experience that provides a fresh perspective into where bluegrass is headed in the future."The future for this band will not look like anything you've seen to date because they are cutting their own path to success" .Orlando Weekly said "They are a string band that manage sweet, strolling folk songs and greased-lightning bluegrass burners with equal aplomb.
Welcome to Episode 118 of Tablesetters. The offseason opened with a major move, as Josh Naylor signed a five-year deal with the Seattle Mariners, immediately reshaping the first-base market. His return reinforces Seattle's lineup core and removes one of the most dependable bats from free agency. We break down why the deal came together quickly, why other teams never seriously entered the mix, and how his signing affects clubs still searching for first-base or middle-of-the-order help. Midway through the live show, the conversation shifted when news broke that the Orioles traded Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels for Taylor Ward. Rodriguez missed the entire 2025 season with arm injuries, but the Angels are betting on the upside he showed before the setbacks. Ward, under control through 2026, gives Baltimore a steady right-handed bat and immediate outfield stability. We break down how the trade fits each team's broader offseason plan and what it suggests about their priorities moving forward. The episode also covers one of the most unusual qualifying-offer cycles since the system's creation. Four players accepted the QO — Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres, Shota Imanaga, and Brandon Woodruff — marking the first time more than three players have taken it in the same offseason. Grisham's decision is the most surprising, coming off a breakout 34-homer season in a thin outfield market. His acceptance raises the Yankees' payroll above the third luxury-tax tier and signals a calculated one-year bet on himself. Torres returns to Detroit looking for a healthier 2026 after playing through a sports hernia. Imanaga chose a reset with Chicago after a late-season downturn, and Woodruff accepted as expected as he continues his recovery from shoulder surgery. On the other side, nine players rejected the QO — Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, Bo Bichette, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suárez, Edwin Díaz, Zac Gallen, and Michael King — a group largely expected to pursue multi-year deals despite draft-pick compensation. Their decisions, combined with Grisham coming off the board, further thin the center-field market and shift clubs toward potential trade options. This QO cycle reflects a winter shaped by uncertainty around future labor conditions, stricter tax penalties, and mixed performances from several major free agents. In San Diego, the Padres' ownership evaluation remains ongoing. The Seidler family is formally exploring a potential sale while working through internal disputes and long-term financial considerations. The front office maintains a “business as usual” stance, but the review introduces real questions about payroll strategy and organizational stability heading into 2026. Award season added another layer to a busy week. Shohei Ohtani earned another unanimous MVP, and Aaron Judge secured his third after a tightly contested race. On the pitching side, Tarik Skubal won his second straight AL Cy Young Award, and Paul Skenes captured the NL honor just a year after winning Rookie of the Year — a rare progression that underscores how quickly he has become one of the league's most impactful pitchers. In Washington, the Nationals introduced Drew Butera as their new manager, making him the youngest skipper in Major League Baseball in more than 50 years. His development-focused background aligns with the organization's larger reset under Paul Toboni. The 2026 Hall of Fame ballot was also released, featuring returning candidates such as Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones along with first-time names including Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun, and Matt Kemp.
Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Acceso anticipado para Fans - ** VIDEO EN NUESTRO CANAL DE YOUTUBE **** https://youtube.com/live/zPMRsTIts-4 +++++ Hazte con nuestras camisetas en https://www.bhmshop.app +++++ #historia #historiamilitar En este episodio de Bellumartis Historia Militar, analizamos gracias a José Antonio Mayo Davó, autor de "Ellos estuvieron allí" ** https://amzn.to/3Lma2bt **, la trascendental Batalla de Midway, el enfrentamiento naval que cambió el curso de la Guerra en el Pacífico. Tras el golpe en Pearl Harbor y la expansión japonesa en el Pacífico, el almirante Yamamoto planeó una trampa para destruir la flota estadounidense. Sin embargo, gracias a la inteligencia y al descifrado de códigos, la Marina de los EE.UU. logró anticipar el ataque y preparar una respuesta decisiva. Revive los momentos cruciales del combate: los ataques de los escuadrones de torpederos, la audaz ofensiva de los bombarderos en picado y la dramática destrucción de los portaaviones japoneses. Una batalla que selló el destino del Imperio Japonés y marcó el inicio de la contraofensiva aliada. OTROS EPISODIOS - “SOL NACIENTE” https://youtube.com/live/ZlVMDh9m4J0 SEGUNDO EPISODIO -"LA BLITZKRIEG JAPONESA" https://youtube.com/live/dUKLm0CBNgQ - "EL ATAQUE A PEARL HARBOR" https://youtube.com/live/0KLNGhMZfQk - "DE FILIPINAS AL MAR DEL CORAL" https://youtu.be/7C2X_5AuBvQ COMPRA EN AMAZON CON EL ENLACE DE BHM Y AYUDANOS ************** https://amzn.to/3ZXUGQl ************* Si queréis apoyar a Bellumartis Historia Militar e invitarnos a un café o u una cerveza virtual por nuestro trabajo, podéis visitar nuestro PATREON https://www.patreon.com/bellumartis o en PAYPALhttps://www.paypal.me/bellumartis o en BIZUM 656/778/825 Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de BELLUMARTIS PODCAST. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/618669
The title pretty much explains it all. Show Notes: Chicago Sun-Times: Judge says he'll order release of hundreds of people arrested under feds' deportation blitz Chicago Tribune: Only 2.6% on list of 614 ‘Operation Midway Blitz' arrestees had criminal histories, DOJ records show Chicago Tribune: Immigration agents have reportedly left Naval Station Great Lakes: ‘A sigh of relief' Cummings Order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There are always plenty of bad news stories given the lawlessness of the Trump administration. But there are times when the media seems to focus on the bad and give short shrift to the good news stories, the positive legal developments, the points of light. Here is one point of light regarding a federal judge in Chicago pushing back against the lawless aspects of the Trump Administration's abuses of immigrants AND US citizens during "Operation Midway Blitz" in Chicago. As The Guardian reported: "Judge orders release of hundreds arrested during Chicago immigration raids."Find Glenn on Substack: glennkirschner.substack.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
There are always plenty of bad news stories given the lawlessness of the Trump administration. But there are times when the media seems to focus on the bad and give short shrift to the good news stories, the positive legal developments, the points of light. Here is one point of light regarding a federal judge in Chicago pushing back against the lawless aspects of the Trump Administration's abuses of immigrants AND US citizens during "Operation Midway Blitz" in Chicago. As The Guardian reported: "Judge orders release of hundreds arrested during Chicago immigration raids."Find Glenn on Substack: glennkirschner.substack.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
A Dallas, Texas intersection turned into my holy ground! It was the Light cutting through fog, life breaking into death. In this episode, I share how a near-collision at Midway & Alpha became the moment God moved me from religion to relationship—and how your testimony can do the same in someone else's life. This Godcast moves from story to Scripture to Savior, showing testimony isn't self-spotlight, but God speaking through redeemed lives. Grace doesn't quiet us... it sends us. Not with tales of our Egypt, but with Exodus steps. Not eloquence, but “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” Not culture's noise and confusion... but with the living Word, sharp and tender. Now, GO! Testify where He placed your feet on dry ground; not the bondage you left behind, but the freedom He gave you to live in. Then invite someone to that same Deliverer. Today! God's Word: Key passages: John 9; Acts 9; 1 John 5:9–11; Revelation 12:11; plus, Genesis 1, Exodus 25, Psalm 118, Ezekiel 37, Ephesians 2 & 6, Hebrews 4 & 13, and more. You will be able to glean the rest of them from the transcript, amen?Email: walkingtheway3@gmail.com
**Spoilers thru Day 8** The GSB crew discusses the first week and how henkas are impacting the Yusho race. If you enjoy our content, want a shout out on the show, or maybe you just want to talk sumo with some die hard fans, consider signing up for our Patreon. If you'd like some GSB merch, check out our RedBubble Shop. Theme music by FreeMusicBox
Send us a textA silky oatmeal cream pie stout that surprises with balance. An 11% tiramisu coffee stout that seduces with cocoa and espresso but leans sweet. And a brewery road story that proves awards can't fix bad hospitality, while a friendly bar down the street can turn an average pint into a memorable night. That's the ride we take as we crack open Whole Hog's 8% Imperial Stout and Saunder's OTTO brewed with Script Coffee, weighing keepers versus one-and-dones and where each beer truly shines.We start with the Wisconsin-made oatmeal cream pie stout: a clean, drinkable imperial that leads with toasted oats, chocolate, and a whisper of maple-caramel. It's not sticky, not heavy, and the alcohol hides well, making it stout-season friendly for people who usually avoid dessert bombs. Then we shift gears to OTTO, the 11% coffee dessert sipper. Expect big espresso, cocoa powder tiramisu vibes, and a sweetness that asks for a small pour. It's impressive in craft and body, but best as a post-dinner treat rather than a go-to fridge stock.Midway, we unpack an Indianapolis brewery detour: wall-to-wall awards and a superb pumpkin ale bruised by a surly bartender. Moments later, a second spot greets us with warmth, helpful recs, and even a free beer for an Untappd check-in—proof that service can raise or sink your tasting memory as much as the beer. We also test a new studio feel by recording without headphones, slip into winter talk—first snow, leaf piles, holiday lights—and map out coming Christmas beer picks.If you're hunting winter stout recommendations, this one's for you: keep the Whole Hog Oatmeal Cream Pie on hand for smooth, balanced sipping; save the tiramisu coffee stout for dessert flights and small glasses. Hit play, rate your favorite pour, and tell us the next cold-weather stout we should try. Subscribe, share with a beer-loving friend, and drop a review to help more drinkers find the show. Cheers.Support the showwww.anotherreasontodrink.com
In today's pod we grade picks 17-32 from the 2025 NFL Draft! I hope you enjoy! Download PrizePicks here! https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/GFB CODE: GFB TWITTER: https://mobile.twitter.com/FBallAnalysisYT Welcome to the Football Analysis Podcast! Subscribe for all NFL related content! Please drop 5 star rating if you enjoyed the pod as all support is very much appreciated! Thanks for listening! #nfl #nflfootball #football #nfldraft Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Download PrizePicks here! https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/GFB CODE: GFB Arena Club: 20% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to https://arenaclub.com/GFB and use code GFB. Bear Mattress: Click here https://bearmattress.com/analysis and use analysis to get 40% off your mattress + 2 free pillows. Offers are subject to change. Gametime: Download the Gametime app (https://gametime.co/) and redeem code ANALYSIS for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply)
Send us a textStart here if you've ever wondered what to do with a “good day.” We open with gratitude and a simple challenge learned in a freezing boot camp line: when you're steady, scan for the person struggling more and lift them up. That mindset reframes pain, builds courage, and quietly rewires how communities heal. From there we root relationships in scripture, not trends, exploring Titus on temperate elders, reverent mentors, and homes shaped by love, self-control, and sound speech.We then walk through 1 John to connect belief, love, and obedience. The message lands with weight: God's children don't make a practice of sin. Falling is human; forming a habit is deadly. Assurance isn't vague comfort—it's knowing the Son and keeping His commands. We talk about prayer that aims at God's will, why answers often arrive in forms that stretch us, and how intercession restores rather than excuses. The call is to guard our hearts from idols and cling to Christ with a steady, repentant loyalty.Midway, we honor Specialist Michael R. Blanchfield, who threw himself on a grenade to save others—a story that cuts through noise and clarifies what real love costs. We also read Civil War Thanksgiving proclamations from Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, reflecting on gratitude, national sin, and the sobering work of repentance. The thread tying it all together is service: serve God first, serve your family with integrity, and serve neighbors by carrying their load when you can. If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your support keeps these stories and scriptures in the ears that need them most.Support the showThe American Soul Podcasthttps://www.buzzsprout.com/1791934/subscribe
Wake up, babe - a new AMT feature just dropped! Midway through the interminable month between new episodes, we'll be doing an Answer Us Back episode that's all bits of feedback you send in about episodes old and new. Today we hear from: Scott, on the lyrics of ‘Sweet Caroline', first discussed in AMT365 in 2018; Steve in San Diego, with some cool tiara trivia following our discussion of that headgear in AMT408; Elodia and Jess, both former medical students, illuminating us on what really goes on when they dissect human bodies during their training, which came up in AMT404. And Elodia previously wrote to us all the way back in 2011! If you've been storing thoughts about AMTs 1-411, send them to us for future episodes of Answer Us Back. And as always, send in your questions, in voicenote or written form to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com, for all new AMT412 which will be in your podfeed 27 November 2025. Also, join us for our fun Petty Problems live video on 16 November 2025 by signing up at patreon.com/answermethis; by doing so, you're also helping keep the whole podcast going, so congrats and thanks for that. Thanks to Naked Wines for sponsoring AMT, and for providing bottles straight from world-class winemakers, cutting out the middleman, delivered to your door. Head to nakedwines.co.uk/answer to get a £30 voucher on your first 6 pack, including free delivery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The unrelenting ferocity of the Pacific War was without a doubt the bloodiest and most savage of the two theaters of World War II. The memories of brutal battles like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Midway and Iwo Jima are forever seared into minds of the courageous men who fought there. The island of Guadalcanal represented one of the last chances for the Allies to turn back the Japanese advance in the Pacific. Marine veteran Victor Croizat experienced the "hell of earth" of the battle for Guadalcanal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tara breaks down the latest ICE operation in Florida, highlighting the dangers posed by criminal illegal immigrants and the challenges posed by activist judges releasing them. She then connects immigration policy to the skyrocketing U.S. housing crisis, showing how the influx of millions of legal and illegal immigrants has created a shortage of homes and driven up rent, pushing young Americans out of the market. Tara also examines proposed “solutions” like portable and 50-year mortgages and H-1B visa misuse, arguing that current policies dilute American jobs and threaten generational wealth. This episode is a deep dive into law, policy, and the economics of immigration, exposing how mismanagement affects safety, affordability, and the future of the American dream.
In today's pod we grade every head coach that was hired this offseason midway through the 2025 NFL season! I hope you enjoy! Download PrizePicks here! https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/GFB CODE: GFB TWITTER: https://mobile.twitter.com/FBallAnalysisYT Welcome to the Football Analysis Podcast! Subscribe for all NFL related content! Please drop 5 star rating if you enjoyed the pod as all support is very much appreciated! Thanks for listening! #nfl #nflfootball #football #nfldraft Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Arena Club: 20% off your first Slab Pack or card purchase by going to https://arenaclub.com/GFB and use code GFB. Bear Mattress: Click here https://bearmattress.com/analysis and use analysis to get 40% off your mattress + 2 free pillows. Offers are subject to change. Gametime: Download the Gametime app (https://gametime.co/) and redeem code ANALYSIS for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply)
Mayor Brandon Johnson joins Lisa Dent to discuss the end of Operation Midway Blitz, possible changes to his proposed corporate head tax, and Steve Bertrand’s retirement.
On this edition of The Blazers Balcony, presented by Spirt Mountain Casino, Brooke Olzendam and Casey Holdahl discuss...• Starting the five-game trip with two losses... but not feeling bad about it• Going cold down the stretch versus the Heat in Miami• Losing on a buzzer-beater to the Magic in Orlando• Upcoming games versus the Pelicans, Rockets (in the NBA Cup!) and Mavericks• Only one "bad" loss in the first 10 games• Deni Avdija continues to play at an All-Star level• Brooke gets hit in the head in Miami• Hitting Casey where it hurts (sandwiches)• The pool should be open• Who should get bylines for broadcast stories
One of New York's NFL teams has made a coaching change in the midst of another disappointing season. Correspondent Gethin Coolbaugh reports.
On the latest VOSD Podcast episode, our hosts get into the rise and fall of a Poway councilmember and how San Diego Unified has been unable to keep kids enrolled in their neighborhood school. Also, will the city of San Diego’s most ambitions development project in Midway rise?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Laurence and Spiegs grade Bears Quarterback Caleb Williams at the mid point of the 2025 season.
Cam Inman from the San Jose Mercury News joins Dirty Work to talk about the shape of the 49ers at the midway point of the season and the NFL trade deadline.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
State Rep. Kaohly Her made history early this morning by becoming the first Hmong American and first woman elected to lead the city of St. Paul. Her defeated incumbent mayor Melvin Carter after a second round of tabulation of ranked choice ballots. Her campaigned on revitalizing the downtown and Midway neighborhoods, and working to make the city more business-friendly and responsive.There was no winner declared in the race for Minneapolis mayor Wednesday morning. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, no candidate reached the threshold needed to be declared the winner after first choice ballots were tallied. Incumbent Jacob Frey received nearly 42 percent of first choice votes. That's about 10 percentage points ahead of his closest opponent state Sen. Omar Fateh. Tabulation resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday.Minnesota Democrats will maintain a narrow edge in the state Senate after the DFLer won a suburban special election and Republicans won a seat in Wright County. And a longtime St. Cloud nonprofit leader has won a special election for Stearns County commissioner. Voters in Duluth approved a ballot initiative that allows tenants to pay for minor repairs and then deduct the cost from their next month's rent. The initiative passed overwhelmingly with about 69 percent of people voting in favor of it. The measure is the first of its kind in Minnesota.Primary care nurse practitioners, doctors and physician assistants at Allina Health are on a one-day strike Wednesday. A St. Paul-based home health care company is shutting down and laying off about 400 employees. Dependable Home Healthcare has notified the state its client care services will end in January. Staff and clients were notified Tuesday. The company employs hundreds of personal care assistants and support staff who work with people with disabilities.Hormel Foods Corporation is reducing its workforce. The Austin-based company is cutting around 250 jobs as part of a restructuring. The reductions will come through layoffs, reducing open positions and buyouts.
The Chiefs have crossed the halfway point of their schedule, and if the season ended today they wouldn't be in the playoffs. It's a strange place to be for the team that's played in five of the last six Super Bowls. On SportsBeat KC, the sports podcast of The Kansas City Star and KCUR, Star columnist Sam McDowell shares his thoughts on where thing stand with the Chiefs, starting with Sunday's loss to the Buffalo Bills. The sequence at the end of the first half in which the Chiefs settled for a field goal from the 1, was critical in the outcome, according to McDowell. As the Chiefs head into a bye week, we look at the second half of the season and speculate what it's going to take to make the postseason for an 11th straight year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Strengthening the US-Japan Alliance and Rare Earth Supply Guest: Grant Newsham Grant Newsham analyzes the successful meeting between President Trump and Japan's newly appointed Prime Minister, Takayuki Sai. The two leaders agreed on rare earth supply cooperation, crucial for countering Chinese economic leverage and maintaining technological independence. Sai is focused on substantially increasing Japan's defense spending and addressing military recruitment shortfalls to strengthen regional capability. The United States values Japan's defensive posture as a critical bulwark against the People's Republic of China, making this alliance essential for Indo-Pacific stability. 1942 MIDWAY
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