2018 – Page 9 – Vic Socotra

July 18, 2018 Vic Socotra

Notes From Beyond the Planet of the Apps: Early Days in the Outlands

Contented with the first morning’s discoveries, I came back to camp with goose in hand and fell to work to bring it to an edible state. Being a city boy, this took up a lot of that morning and afternoon. As I plucked and examined that day’s bounty, I knew what lay ahead of us […]

July 17, 2018 Vic Socotra

Rough Homecoming

Quite a week, wasn’t it? The American President is back on the ground here in The Swamp after a breathtaking turn on the NATO-UK-Russia relationship front. I watched most of the coverage and was mystified as it unfolded. The Strzock, Page and Mueller indictments last week all cascaded as the President excoriated Germany for fair […]

July 15, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: A Privilege Not A Right

A friend recently made an observation about a senior Navy officer who had a larger and nicer rental car than anyone else; it gave the appearance of special treatment. In the military even the appearance of special treatment must be avoided. Which dovetails with the hearings last week in Washington in which a senior FBI […]

July 11, 2018 Vic Socotra

Swamp Postcard #44

I know, I know. The chaos keeps coming, and it is hard to stay abreast of it all. This week’s account of the Swamp Follies includes the defenestration of Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator, the realization that the North Koreans are doing what they always do (lying), and the sad observation that the state of […]

July 9, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: American Myth

Friday’s jobs report was pretty darned good; the basic unemployment rate climbed to 4% (still exceptionally low), but the workforce participation rate climbed, meaning people are re-entering the workforce, confident they can find a job. And unemployment rates for blacks (6.5%) and Hispanics (4.6%) remain at all-time lows. Some downplayed these numbers, as well as […]

July 6, 2018 Vic Socotra

Notes From Beyond The Planet of the Apps 2028: The Man Who Predicted the Merger

After a month on the road to see family, here’s another installment. Back in the 1980s, he opined that computer scientists would succeed in developing intelligent machines that could do all things better than human beings could do them and that man might be eliminated by them or their controlling elites. What follows are his […]

July 2, 2018 Vic Socotra

Blanche Dubois for Congress

The Democratic Party seems to be moving further and further in the direction of endorsing government provided everything. Leading Democrats now support platforms that include: universal healthcare, free colleges, cancellation of all student debt (over $1 trillion), universal job guarantees with paid child care, housing as a right, and on and on. And, they – […]

June 30, 2018 Vic Socotra

Gnomes 2

Editor’s Note: Marlow put his fingers on something I think is profound in his response to yesterday’s fanciful piece on garden Gnomes. I went out this morning to ask Al about his thoughts as the resident house Gnome. He was phlegmatic: Re: Gnomes I had the same reaction to this latest in America’s unending crazytrain […]

June 29, 2018 Vic Socotra

Gnomes

Gentle Readers, I was almost compelled to do a Swamp Postcard update on the events that have transpired since I pecked out the note from yesterday. The surprise and polemics that followed the announcement of Associate Justice Kennedy’s retirement was revealed shortly after transmission of the weekly….and then was allowed in short order by the […]

June 27, 2018 Vic Socotra

Postcard from the Miasma

There really is no need to take down all the street signs identifying us as The Swamp, though it would better be described as a Miasma this week, the mists and mysteries are very deep. The Supreme Court still lives by the old rhythms of the sleepy southern town nestled to the muddy bosom of […]

Year: 2018