Author: Vic Socotra

The Master Chief’s Cajun Corner: Who Dat Nation

The Master Chief’s Cajun Corner: Who Dat Nation Ed. Note:Yesterday’s Arrias piece dealt with the real threat of rising totalitarianism, as political opponents are “bothered” and scapegoats must be found. It produced a lot of correspondence, since I think a lot of people are concerned, and not just at Refuge Farm in lovely Culpeper, where […]

Arrias: The Drift to Totalitarianism

Sometimes you need fiction to fully grasp what is happening in the real world. This occurred to me the other day when I read a politician’s glaringly anti-Semitic remarks. A scene from Herman Wouk’s novel “Winds of War” came to mind, where the Nazi banker calmly comments to the US Naval Attache to Berlin, telling […]

Life & Island Times: Marlow & Boats on Mardi Gras

Marlow & Boats on Mardi Gras Editor’s Note: I got two updates on the rites of Spring this week and felt they were worth sharing with those friends who, in the famous words of Key West Conch Republic crooner Michael McCloud, who are still “freezing their asses Up North.” Screen Shot 2019-03-09 at 13.47.25.png (This […]

The Conversation Chair

Speramus meliora. Resurget cineribus. – “We hope for better things. It will rise from the ashes.”Motto of the City of Detroit (circa 1805) Is it kidnapping when someone drives off with you, a knife in your ribs, and then lets you go in exchange for your wallet and keys? The whole event is still a […]

Postcard From The Swamp: Good Night, Chairman Kim!

It is sunny and quiet in the Virginia countryside. I am drinking early to get ready for St. Patrick’s day, while attempting to follow the goings-on in The Swamp from the middle distance. It appears someone is throwing Enfant terrible AOC under the bus- not respectful enough, and too bold and self-confident. That little matter […]

Life & Island Times: Paris in Brief

We strongly recommend dining at Le Coupe Chou Paris is . . . a great, if not the greatest, idea of man the best place to visit, if not reside an unending feast for the mind, heart and soul mankind’s hometown where the good are sent on judgement day history, beauty and life itself elegance […]

Arrias: Still Lost at Sea

In the Pentagon, fascinated as it is with “joint” warfare, few people seem to understand questions of naval policy or naval theory, but we are a maritime nation. That has a host of implications, but the most immediate is that it means our true first line of security is our navy. We need a great […]

Swamp Postcard: Good Morning Vietnam!

So, I have been reeling with images of Hanoi a long time ago, working on the details of finally clearing up some of the vestiges of war. The president of Vietnam was very kind, but concerned with some boilerplate on the Defense Mapping Service aerial charts of his nation. The caption mentioned something about an […]

À bientôt, Paris!

I never had a perfect moment during my many motorcycle road trips. It just wasn’t very important for me to have one of them. Maybe because one would have told me that it was time to go home . . . Plus it was so much effort to plan and map out such a movie […]

Snow Day

I am not going into what happens here in Northern Virginia, the District and Maryland when the snow comes. There is a rush to the liquor store before it arrives, of course, and then toggling back and forth on the laptop between the National Weather Service predictions and Doppler Radar pages. Then apprehension about keeping […]