Author: Vic Socotra

High Anxiety

I had two separate conversations over the last few days that summed up a lot about what is going on and how people are reacting to it. I was working on the astonishing litany of events that have occurred over the last week for the Swamp Postcard feature I have fun with each Wednesday and […]

Postcard From The Swamp #15

The hits just keep on coming. The Eastern Seaboard breathed a sigh of relief as Hurricane Maria arced to the northeast, sparing us the wind and rain. Unfortunately, Maria has linked up with Hurricane Lee and is intensifying again. Great Britain may be directly in its path. The power of nature is a poignant reminder […]

The Interstate Wizard

Editor’s Note: The rhetoric flying around these days contains a lot of archaic terms- “White Supremacist” seems to be a favorite, which makes me remember when such despicable creatures actually existed, attacking children of color during integration times, and “KKK,” of whom there may be a few hundred sprinkled in a population of 320 million. […]

Life & Island Times: Stewpot Images of The Voodoo Two

Author’s Note: I wrote this over the weekend. I delayed sending it out this morning with the expectation that they would dial it back or at least pause. Oh well . . . . – Marlow Stewpot Images of The Voodoo Two It started during last year’s summer heat wave during the mirage of an […]

Five Reflections

Editor’s Note: Japan-Gazer has ended his government career, and this is the first of his retirement essays. He will stay on as an ExPat, and his observations are as keen as ever in our most important Allie in Asia: Japan. With rhetoric rising between the DPRK and DC, he will have a ringside seat for […]

Life & Island Times: Walking Over Miles of Bad Road

They are careless men with tired minds Can’t see the darkness in front of them, or the light that is just behind They insult one another while sipping fine champagne They both should pale when they stare into the other’s eyes Should we expect to wake up tomorrow under azure skies Or should we be […]

Arrias on Politics: A Little Leverage: Moving North Korea

“Give me a place to stand and I will move the earth” – Archimedes, Greek mathematician and physicist, on realizing the science behind the lever and fulcrum. The President lambasted North Korea in the UN. Finally, someone stood up in that assembly and said what needed to be said. In response, Kim Jong Un, North […]

We are all Ambassadors

Editor’s Note: It was a couple cycle of advertising slogans ago for the recruiters, but one of the ones that resonated with me long ago was “Join the Navy and see the world!” We did, in grand style. But we were also seen by the world we visited. CDR Gilmore has a thoughtful appreciation of […]

Life & Island Times: Flea Market Washington DC

For those of us who inhabit the American heartland of old Cadillacs, flatlands and flea markets, our national politicans conjure supposed real deals seasoned with a peculiar dash of our unique pop culture affinity for new frontiers and adventure. It has always been a marvel how lame their blandishments are. Openly small-timey about the country […]

Postcard From The Swamp #14

Swamp Postcard I swear, you could not make this stuff up. no one would believe it. The address by the President drowned out the 140 MPH winds slamming Puerto Rico, right across the old Navy base at Roosevelt Roads. Mom always said, don’t work on the other side of a bridge from where you live, […]