Author: Vic Socotra

Snowy Swamp Postcard

The Swamp is bracing for a possible repeat of Snowmageddon, the one that buried us for days. a couple years back We also could get freezing rain, which would enable us to glide effortlessly across the surface. That would be a change. Andrew “just call me Andy” McCabe has had a marvellous week promoting his […]

Arrias: Build A Wall

Last week Congress passed an omnibus spending bill and the President signed it. It funded the wall – in part. Then there was some more yelling by nearly everyone about what it said or didn’t say. Here’s what I saw: Another omnibus spending bill. A $1,300,000,000,000 (that’s 1.3 trillion) omnibus bill, a demonstration that Congress […]

Swamp Postcard: Virginia On My Mind

I am getting bored with trotting out the hyperbole each week- you know, the customary opening of “it can’t get stranger than this.” Then, of course, it does. We are the momentary epicentre of looniness here in the Old Dominion. Our Governor is under intense scrutiny for inappropriate behaviour thirty or forty years ago, for […]

Swamp Postcard: Turning Inward

Well, I suppose this is a welcome time of introspection after the American colossus has crashed through the Middle East. I tried to watch the State of the Union address, and managed to see the Speaker of the House carefully reviewing her notes about something or another while the President spoke. Here in Virginia, we […]

Arrias: Another Modest Proposal

Jonathan Swift, where are you when we need you? Roughly 300 million people have died in all the wars ever fought. Slightly less, between 250 million and 300 million have been killed by their own governments (perhaps a quarter of them by Chairman Mao). Maybe 600 million in 6,000 years. Worldwide, since 1973 nearly 1.5 […]

The Big Chill

So, it has been cold lately. Bitter freaking cold. They call the phenomenon the “Polar Vortex,” most severe such blast of arctic air since the mid 1980s, when they were telling us to panic about the coming of the next Ice Age, which apparently was caused by prehistoric SUV use by my Neolithic ancestors. The […]

Swamp Postcard: Putting the Fun in Dysfunctional!

Putting the Fun in Dysfunctional! I am pinned down at the farm by the Polar Vortex and icy roads. The Piedmont of Virginia is never quite ready for these things, and we have it far better than Chicago or Detroit where there are weather emergencies in progress and temperatures dozens of degrees below zero (F). […]

Life & Island Times: Motorcycle Boy Blues

Youth is gone A tear in your eye All alone with your toys You wonder why What is this thing Happenin to you Motorcycle boy blues Motorcycle boy blues Had things so together Now they’re fallin apart Rode the winds With all your heart If it just don’t work It’s not because of you Motorcycle […]

Arrias: Socialism and Motherhood

There’s been a lot of talk about Socialism and Socialists of late, with several being elected to Congress. All this even as Venezuela – a land blessed with natural resources – unravels under socialist rule. When challenged that socialism has never worked, the Socialists respond that true Socialism has never been tried and that if […]

Last Cruise of the Battleship Nagato

This series of stories is dedicated to the memory of Edward Smith Gilfillen, whose recollections should have been told long ago, and for all the Atomic Veterans whose lives were cut short due to exposure to radiation at Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll and the Nevada Test Site, among other places. Last Cruise of the […]