Recently started reading "From Colony to Superpower" by George Herring, and I must say that I don't think most Americans realize the amount of European meddling in US politics in the 1790s - including bribing congressmen and threatening war if Jefferson wasn't elected. #booksky

Sunset in Riverside, California. I took this the evening of 10/31/2020. #BlueSkyArtShow

Recently finished "President McKinley: Architect of the American Century." For a different perspective on McKinley's willingness to go to war with Spain, see "The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898" by Evan Thomas. #booksky

Today in history, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848, ending the Mexican-American War. Mexico ceded 55% of its territory to the US in exchange for $15 million; below is the map that was used during the negotiations.

While reviewing my past reading, I came across a quote I had jotted down describing America as a nation "...always deliriously teetering on the brink of self-awareness. Or self-annihilation," and thought it was interesting enough to share here. It's from "American Eve" by Paula Uruburu. #booksky

NATO has done far more for the US than this lunatic ever has or ever will. So has Denmark. This shouldn't be allowed to go any further.

Recently began "President McKinley: Architect of the American Century" by Robert W. Merry. #booksky

Recently finished "Our Man in Charleston," which shed more light on Anglo-American relations during the US Civil War, and I would recommend it. If you're interested in this topic, I would also recommend "A World on Fire" by Amanda Foreman and "The Cousins' Wars" by Kevin Phillips. #booksky

Today I learned that English not only says that "flammable" and "inflammable" are synonyms but also that "candescent" and "incandescent" are synonyms. I wonder if there are any more of these pairs.

We already have complete access to Greenland, including unfettered freedom of navigation into the Arctic. We have a military base. We have early warning radar systems in place that will integrate with the “dome.” And we have allies to help defend it. We don’t need Greenland.

Recently finished "A Magnificent Obsession" and found it very interesting. I'm currently working on "Our Man in Charleston: Britain's Secret Agent in the Civil War South" by Christopher Dickey. #booksky

JUST IN: The heads of the central banks in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, the Eurozone, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom have issued a rare statement of support for the Federal Reserve and Chair Jerome Powell!

Just finished my second book of the year. So far, I have completed "The Making of Biblical Womanhood" by Beth Allison Barr and "Vicksburg" by Donold L. Miller. The next book I have planned is "A Magnificent Obsession" by Helen Rappaport. 📚💙 #booksky

Marmalade enjoys going out on his harness, unlike my previous cat.

It's true that the US has been interested in purchasing Greenland at least since the 1860s, when Secretary of State Seward - the same one who negotiated the Alaska purchase - wanted to buy Greenland and Iceland from Denmark. The US also expressed interest several times during the 20th century. (1/3)

We are coming up on the 109th anniversary of the ratification of the treaty to purchase the Danish West Indies. Seems like a good time to point out that one of the conditions of that agreement was the US making a declaration that it had no claims on Greenland. (1/3)

What's especially damning about the US stat is that around 75% of this number started out with health insurance and then ran into things like restrictions linked to pre-existing conditions and lifetime payment caps.

Starting off my 2026 reading by continuing with a book I started late last year, "Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign that Broke the Confederacy." 📚💙 #booksky

I traditionally read "Ring Out, Wild Bells" every New Year. It seems especially resonant now.

Happy New Year! My resolutions include getting to B1 in Spanish, A2 in Italian, and reading at least 25 books.

The last book I finished during 2025 was an interesting discussion of how Christmas was celebrated during 1942 📚💙 or #booksky

There is a long tradition of vagueness in recipes and even published cookbooks. This 1772 cookbook included instructions for boiling pigeons and what to serve them with. It mentions a "proper quantity" of bacon. In another place, it says to cook a sauce until it is "of a good thickness."

Recently finished two books: "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language," which started out interesting but then became a slog through every bit of relevant archaeology, and "Servants of the Damned," which I think should be required reading for law students. Working on "Darkest Christmas" now 📚💙 #booksky

I traditionally host a special dinner the day after Christmas. Every year, I make a Bavarian feast: smoked trout dip, sauerbraten, potato pancakes, red cabbage, and either Black Forest Cake or (as shown here) Bavarian cream cake.

Concluding an abbreviated Operation Christmas Candy with penuche, magic bars, and my signature candied peanuts.

Back when battleships were considered capital ships, Congress mandated that they be named for states. When submarines effectively joined that category, they also started being named for states. I prefer that tradition.

Last holiday bread project completed! This is California bread, so named because its ingredients include avocados, orange juice, and walnuts, all of which are grown in California. This year, the orange juice came from my parents' orange trees in Riverside, California.

Operation Christmas Candy continues! These are festive potato chip clusters and coconut nests.

With Christmas baking nearly complete but time running low, it's time for the opening stages of a slightly scaled down Operation Christmas Candy! These are butterscotch haystacks.

My most elaborate cheeseboard to date, made for my annual holiday hors d'oeuvres party, which I hosted last night.

My pinecone cheeseball.

I'd consider it an unconstitutional delegation of power as well, given that it is a specifically enumerated power of *Congress* under the Constitution. It's in Article 1, section 11, in tbe same section that enumerates Congress's power to declare war. If that's not delegable, neither is this.

Just finished decorating these holiday cakes. The white one has a red and green inside that will become apparent when sliced. The little Christmas trees were made out of leftover green cake batter, then frosted green and decorated with red frosting ribbons and small red candies.

The only way this logic would work is if ExxonMobil et al. were literally sovereign assets held by the US. He's talking like the US nationalized them in the 1970s, not Venezuela.

This is because in modern US law, the truth is an absolute defense to a libel or other defamation suit. The basic reasoning is that if it's true, as a matter of justice you should be defamed, and no damages are due. Damages are thus only due for unjust defamation.

Gingerbread cake - the other dessert for my hors d'oeuvres party. I plan on serving it with a lemon sauce.

Some more holiday baking, this time some desserts for my traditional holiday hors d'oeuvres party. The little trees are from a pan I just got this year. The other picture shows the layers for my red and green Christmas cake.

After a hiatus for Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating, I have resumed my holiday baking. This is lemon-poppyseed bread topped with a lemon glaze.

One reason the US won at Appomattox was a Confederate logistics error that resulted in a train full of ammunition arriving instead of one filled with the food needed to feed hungry soldiers. But if that was included in a movie, it would probably be dismissed as "unrealistic."

Makes sense, although I would combine this policy with one that disincentivized moving overseas as well.

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, and the Wong Kim Ark case was decided in 1898. So the ratification of the 14th was within living memory at the time, as was the intent of its framers and the understanding of its ratifiers. This should be relevant to originalists, but probably won't be.

Marmalade after a busy day yesterday.

Interesting, given that the US didn't become a world power until a few decades after the Civil War, and not a superpower until even later. I wonder if the same people would also be happy with the US being as economically and militarily irrelevant to the world as it was before the 1860s.

The argument appears to be that non-citizens temporarily in the US aren't under its jurisdiction. I don't think anyone making this argument has thought it through.

Before I watched the Great British Baking Show's Back to School episode, I had no idea about British flapjacks. In American English, a "flapjack" is another word for "pancake," not "granola bar." The US and UK, separated by a common language yet again.

Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961) has been described as "the greatest justice never to sit on the Supreme Court," partly because of his disinterest in the politicking required to get there. His take on liberty and the Constitution seems as relevant now as it was in 1944, when he gave this speech.

Somehow Duo didn't get this quite right. I'm now at Level 34 in Spanish, Level 16 in Italian, and Level 10 in Ukrainian (my pronunciation is atrocious but I am trying).

Meet Marmalade Moosey Noel Parker, a new friend who came home from the shelter last week. He is approximately three years old and has a wonderful disposition.

History repeats itself because no one listens the first time; this is from the late 1930s but seems like it could be a lot more recent.

I like "Happy VC Day" even though I know it's nowhere near the actual date of Appomattox. But the "signal victories" mentioned in the 1863 proclamation included Vicksburg and Gettysburg, which turned the tide of the war, and helped make Appomattox possible.