Author: Vic Socotra

Fall Back

Afghanistan is falling to the Afghans, or some Afghans, this morning. The images of hundreds of young people squashed against US Air Force transport aircraft trying to board surpass the old standard established on the Embassy roof in Saigon. This is a new graphic summation of bad decisions. It includes reports of stowaways on the […]

Plus ça Change

In the Piedmont of Virginia the dawn mimicked dream nicely. It mingled with the warmth of decent coffee. Low gray skies, dark things flitting across the limited view from under the dark green awning of canvas surrounded by the rich green of pasture grass. The birds in the bright dark colors of night echoed the […]

…And Education

Author’s Note: There was one spark of good news in the mail today. Some good people may have helped get an Afghan translator and family out of th disaster that has a lot of Veterans pensive about the collapse of a nation. And Education…this is not a polemic, just an attempt to describe a system […]

Coastal Empire

Editor’s Note: Marlow is on a similar bandwidth this morning. Second Republic got me going. Marlow’s E-USA sums it up nicely. -Vic Author’s Note: Your Second Republic phrase caused this harried pecking and blathering. John’s obit notice turbo’d it. -Marlow Dear Vic, Let’s go internet surfin’ now Everybody’s signing up now Come on and internet […]

John Allison: Rally Points and Fleet Landings

The Styx River passes through our lives, carrying away family and dreams, lovers and comrades in its slow but inexorable and mighty flow. We watch the vast eddies in the immense course of the mighty current that separates our existence from one reality of human joy and pain to the endless wonders of eternity. We […]

Le Deuxième République

(Morning! Sad day yesterday- the passing of an old friend, the end of something long and hard in a place far away where many had served. Emotional. I was going to run portraits of Messrs Sunstein and Ayres to go along with this piece. They are architects of the new ruling class, and to recognize […]

Whistling Dixie

It is a muggy morning here in the Piedmont. A few puffy clouds are evident under the rising sun, but there is that warm moist blanket of air that is predicted to send us over a hundred degrees by noon. I forgot to check if that is “actual” or “heat effect” temperatures, but that does […]

Weather Report: Senate Dumpster Fire!

Well, as taxpayers, we can be proud that the United States Senate was hard at work last night, finally clearing their busy calendar a couple minutes before 0500 this morning. I don’t know how they do it. I am not sure that our elected members actually stayed awake and in session for the whole night, […]

Marlow’s Coastal Empire: Old-Splaining

Editor’s Note: A splendid morning on The Farm and down on Marlow’s Coastal Empire. There is a lot going on, since our Congress needs to take a break while confronting the assorted emergencies they were elected to solve. Marlow takes a moment to help explain it to those of us who are a little confused […]