Patrick Hattman comments

I'm a Steelers fan but I don't see them getting by the Patriots in NE.

I think it will be a Pack/Pats Super Bowl.

I prefer the Japanese constitution with Article 9 renouncing war.

Yes, gokai_wo_maneku, your U.S.-written constitution and the presence of the U.S. military to deter neighbors like China and the Soviet Union from aggression has helped make Japan a peaceful, prosperous nation for the past seven decades, with hopefully many more to come.

While I am a U.S. citizen by birth, I have no great respect for what the U.S. has done in war. Dropping atomic bombs on civilians is not my idea of a civilized nations idea of warfare....even if the other side started it. (two wrongs do not make a right)

mt9334: By ending the war so quickly in August 1945, the U.S. kept the Soviet Union out of mainland Japan.

What would Japan be like today if the Soviets had been able to take more than the Kuriles which they still possess?

Do you have any ancestors that were part of the U.S. forces that were going to take part in Operation Downfall, the mainland invasion of Japan?

How many of the millions of American, British, Canadian, Aussie, NZ and French servicemen would've died?

And how many Japanese would've died between the military and the millions of conscripts being readied in 1945?

Probably many more than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

Harry Truman made the right decision, especially after what happened on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

"His decision to come back, apparently to conclude his career with the Hiroshima Carp,...."

Kuroda had stated his intention to finish his career in NPB long before he signed with the Carp for 2015. It was not a surprise at all.

And while he signed for the equivalent of $3.3 million for 2015, he was paid nearly $5 million this year, the highest in NPB for 2016. MLB and NPB are vastly different in terms of overall revenue generated each year, so of course many big leaguers get paid better.

Kuroda has a combined 203 wins and 2457 strikeouts between MLB and NPB, which qualifies him for the Meikyukai and will probably get him in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame down the road.

He's had a great career and I hope he leads the Carp to victory in the Japan Series.

The use of force by police against African-Americans in cities such as Baltimore, New York, and Ferguson, Missouri,....

In Baltimore, the six officers charged in Freddie Gray's death, three of whom are black, have all been acquitted/charges dropped. In Ferguson, Mo., Michael Brown was a multiple felon the day he died. His actions resulted in his death. In NYC, Eric Garner refused to obey officers and then resisted arrest before he died from cardiac problems connected to his obesity.

There is no war on black men in the U.S. being conducted by the police. The slaughter of black men, particularly in Chicago, is being carried out with sickening frequency by other black men.

There was no change at all between 2007 and 2015 in the percentage of black, hispanic, Asian or other races/ethnicities in top films.

More specifically, the study says 12.2% of the actors were black, which essentially equals their percentage of the overall population. If we're going to play the numbers game, Asian and Hispanic actors are the ones who are underrepresented in front of the cameras.

A Hiroshima win and a Yomiuri loss = a very good day!

Congratulations, Team USA! 46 golds and 121 medals overall to easily outpace the rest of the field once again. I look forward to another first-place showing from the U.S. in 2020.

Congratulations, Japan on a brilliant performance. Your hard work and teamwork are to be applauded. You earned the silver medal and your country is proud of you.

And a big thumbs down to the American squad once again. Maybe you guys should start watching video of the Japanese to see how it's supposed to be done.

No, Russia should not be banned because many other countries are doing the same thing.

I'm more concerned about potential terrorist attacks in Rio.

No surprises here, up $2 billion just for this part of the construction:

"the cost of building seven temporary venues for the Olympics has surged to an estimated $2.6 billion, up from an initial estimate of $690 million"

And does anyone really believe this?

"Tokyo organizers say they have saved more than $2 billion by working with the Tokyo government to cut costs by moving some events to existing facilities"

So we're running $2 billion over estimates in one area but we've saved the taxpayers $2 billion in another so don't worry about it.

Hanshin with a shutout win in an otherwise disappointing season. My hope now is that Hiroshima takes the CL title.

It's not a coincidence that the Closing Ceremony for the 2020 Games in Tokyo will be on August 9, the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The old guard in Japan is not interested in conducting the Games during a more reasonable time for the weather.

They have other motives in mind, including the promotion of Japan as a leading nation for peace in the world and against nuclear weapons, as well as to garner sympathy for Japan as a nuclear holocaust victim in 1945.

Another loss for the Giants makes it a good day.

The 2020 Olympics represent the last chance for the old boys to try to rekindle "the spirit of 1964," and to bring some closure to WWII to their advantage, with the Closing Ceremony for the Tokyo Games in four years to be on August 9, the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

My guess is that most Japanese will be disappointed with the results from the competition as well as the discussion about history. And the colossal waste of money and resources will be felt in the 2020s and perhaps beyond.

"Trump’s likely opponent in the general election, Democrat Hillary Clinton, was Obama’s secretary of state and a key architect of the effort."

Hillary Clinton will likely be indicted soon for mishandling classified information, among other crimes, so Trump will probably compete against one of Bernie or Biden in November.

"The data had raised expectations that the Bank of Japan might tweak its stimulus efforts to prop up the recovery of the world’s third-largest economy."

I've been hearing about stimulus programs by the BOJ for 20 years as the cure for Japan's economic ills, but the end result always seems to be an ever-increasing mountain of debt.

The decision by Truman to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war in the Pacific to an abrupt end and made a full-scale invasion of the Japanese mainland unnecessary.

Many lives on both sides were saved, I believe, and far in excess of the death tolls in those cities from the A-bombs.

Also, the Soviet Union was prevented from taking over some part of mainland Japan in the process, and only has some of the Kurile Islands at present.

The resulting occupation of Japan, and the return of sovereignty to the Japanese people in 1952, was largely controlled by the U.S. and has been mostly beneficial for the Japanese over the years.

So if Obama wants to visit Hiroshima and make any sort of statement about what happened on August 6, 1945, he should do it after he leaves the presidency.

Giants over the Tigers = a bad day.

This is good news. I'm looking forward to seeing him pitch again.

Of the total budget requests, debt-servicing costs accounted for a record 26.0543 trillion yen, due to ballooning public debt,....

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's second term will be best known for adding mountains of debt with his wildly off-target economic policy arrows.

"the president sought to show solidarity with Alaska Natives and rural Alaskans whose immense challenges are rarely in the national spotlight."

I don't agree with this at all. A number of the most popular TV programs in the U.S. this decade, like "Mountain Men," "Yukon Men," and "Life Below Zero," bring the struggles of Alaskans with climate change to millions of average Joes on a regular basis.

Also, the major TV news outlets do not ignore the issue, regardless of which side of the political spectrum they fall on. It's just getting a bit more attention this week since Obama is there.

"After an accelerated boot camp that lasted just 14 days,...."

They needed to rush men to the fleet but just two weeks in boot camp wasn't enough time to prepare them adequately for service. It's a testament to the courage and work ethic of so many sailors during WWII that our Navy ultimately crushed the Japanese in the Pacific theater.

Los Angeles will have the winning bid next year for the 2024 Summer Olympics and join London as the only cities to host the Games three times.

Hanshin with another win and sitting atop the CL standings. A good day.

This picture brings back good memories.

USA! USA! USA!

A 5-2 rout by the Americans against an overmatched Japan side.

Three-time World Cup champions!

Hanshin is now in first place and Yomiuri is second with a losing record. I hope the Tigers keep it going and win the CL title, and the Giants fall back in the standings and miss out on the postseason.

Hanshin is still muddling along in third place in the CL standings. It's time to put together a winning streak and take the top spot away from Yomiuri.

Jeb Bush will be the 45th President of the United States of America.

Hillary's multitude of scandals like the destruction of official e-mails, lies about Benghazi, corruption in the Clinton Foundation etc. will seriously damage her run for the presidency.

She is the same uninspiring candidate that she was eight years ago, just an older version with more baggage to lug around. And the tired inevitability of her candidacy will turn off some voters in 2016, too.

So mark it down now: President Jeb Bush!