Author: Vic Socotra

SARS and SARS Jr.

So, in the course of an accidental career, I was briefly attached to the staff of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. It was an odd thing for a career intelligence guy, and quite interesting. Secretary Thompson was interested in what the well-manicured briefer from the three-letter-agency had to tell him […]

Accidentally Confronting Public Health

(Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson). We have shared an interesting year, haven’t we? There is more to it than what we are told, of course, and there are several large moving components to the madness. One of the latest new wrinkles is an old one, and brings back memories. You might be interested in a […]

Arrias: Mob Rule

Editor’s Note: Arrias helps the Socotra House Staff limp from the sadness of the loss of a good friend and back to the surreal world in which we (temporarily) reside. There are large things in motion in the wide world. Royal squabbles on Oprah is one for the morning. The COVID extravaganza, of course, and […]

Point Loma: Flag at Half Staff

At Refuge Farm there was the usual grudging acceptance of the return of the sun to the gently rolling hills of Virginia’s Piedmont. It is still cold, though they say the tenuous clouds will burn off later. Other things won’t. I was filled with unease. ‘Jiffy’ sent the warning yesterday. Hospital care was not up […]

Who Brings the Donuts on Monday?

The dawn was brilliant, the only way to describe it. Our intense blue sky was populated with puffy white wisps of the alternative. They tell us the brisk chill air is from that renegade jet steam which will be with us for a week, a cousin to the one that paralyzed us last month. But […]

Editorial Notes & Island TImes: “Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life”

Letter to the Editor: So, in your shallow attempt at compliance with Government edicts, you have ignored the growing hard of ‘renewable’ energy problems. You are deliberately ignoring the tyranny of Chinese rare-earth extraction using children and virtual slaves in Uighar minority areas. Then, the destruction of worn-out windmill blades and solar panels that cannot […]

Swamp Postcard: Mostly Peaceful Staff Meeting

The Staff Meeting at Socotra House Publications was mostly peaceful this morning. It was a matter of great relief and a demonstration of solidarity among virtually all the editorial personnel. We recognize and applaud the signs displayed by some members of the formerly indigent members of the newly expanded Compliance Department. Given social fluidity, we […]

Marlow’s Socotra House Author Standards Pt. 2

Editor’s Note: As this astonishing year continues to roll out, renowned contributor Marlow has formulated guidance for our Scribbling Stable of author’s to be acceptable to the new order. Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss and mathematics are out of favor. We have removed all “classical” tomes from the Socotra library in light of changing standards that deem […]

Arrias: Will He Go?

Editor’s Note: Frabjous day! Calloo, Calay! That snarly little month of February has been placed behind us now, and the depths of winter here in the Piedmont have passed! Of course, the chill rain has been falling since yesterday, washing us in a sea of country gray of ambivalence. A former President appeared somewhere late […]

Dis-Pos-A Phantom

Dark and drear in the Piedmont this morning- not as cold as during the big storm last week, but the skies are gray and a chill rain is pouring. My joints are all complaining, knees throbbing, shoulders aching. Spring is coming, though. The Lady in Red on the flatscreen assures us that the warmth is […]