Author: Vic Socotra

Arrias: Existential Threats

In a recent article, former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster commented that: The longer the United States operates under the delusion that restraint will appease authoritarian regimes that have made their hostile intentions abundantly clear, Russia and China will become bolder and the risk of a catastrophic war—which Ukraine was the prelude for—will only grow. […]

Life & Island Times: As I see it

Editor’s Note: We are running a twin spin on current events this morning, featuring both existential threats and an appreciation of the natural world this morning. The Writer’s Section at Refuge Farm is unified in support of the approaches taken by our Shipmates Arrias and Marlow. The situation confronting us will take some honest, serious […]

The Pre-Holiday Edition!

We are almost free for a little while. The 4th of July is coming up on Monday, and Washington is clearing out to get back to crucial District events and fireworks more limited in scope than in the Swamp to our north. There was one here in town before the break. We checked with our […]

A Magical Morning

He was back this magical morning. We don’t know about the precise identity of our avian friend, the large graceful shape with dark body plumage and the elegant white trailing feathers on the broad, strong wings. It seems bigger than the hawks we see, stronger and more martial in appearance than our baleful buzzards who […]

Life & Island Times: Goodbye, Good Times

Author’s Note: ​We were hosting dinner earlier this week for two bright, lovely, hardworking millennials, when one asked about the possibility of a recession. We told them we were in one already. That stopped them short, so we stayed silent on the recent things observed and measured locally — long term, non-volatile rolling average price […]

The Summer to Come

So, this is the Friday morning to try to close out another breathtaking week. Well, if it were actually before noon and you were breathing when it started. Anyway, that is the context for why Splash grunted as he sat down under the brilliant blue skies that seemed to have an unexpected density. The air […]

Absentee in Person

There is a lot of discussion about elections these days. Some of it happens around the Fire Ring at Refuge Farm, and none of it is approved for release because it could be used for partisan purposes. Some aspects of the issues do appear reasonable fr discussion. Our regular participant Loma used to live in […]

Life & Island Times: We, They, Us, Them

We call out and they claim to be the answer We are the wishers, and they our fulfilment We are the night, and they the day What else? It is perfect enough It is perfectly complete Us and them What more . . . Strange, how we suffer in spite of this But they don’t […]

Weather Report: Changing People’s Lives!

So, it was the Weekly Forecast meeting at the Fire Ring. It was a delicate one, since we are committed to good order and a certain amount of discipline while under the watchful eye of our attorney. Her role is keeping us out of trouble. Our commitment is to avoid all the partisan fury swirling […]

Amending Prohibition

There is a fair amount of confused excitement out here in the Country. In fact, there is enough of it that Amanda, our watch-Attorney, was moved to get on the Chairman’s calendar to seek some relief. Apparently some of his Writer’s Section, attempting to bridge the wide gap in coverage, have been getting information from […]