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Vic Socotra

Author: Vic Socotra

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October 9, 2016 Vic Socotra

A Matter of Honor: Special Agents and the VA

As you may have seen last week, former Director of Naval intelligence Tom Brooks came to me with a heartbreaking story of a man who gave all for his country, and for whom his country has done exactly nothing. It is baffling to me that the system could treat a hero this way. I asked […]

October 8, 2016 Vic Socotra

Tacitus Speaks: Of Propaganda and Prudence

Yesterday I mentioned that the goddess Gaia – she of global warming and climate change – was a part of the new official pantheon. Well, she’s been in the news of late. As I write this on Friday afternoon Hurricane Matthew is brushing the east coast of Florida, causing a great deal of excitement. Or, […]

October 8, 2016 Vic Socotra

Matthew Passing

Editor’s Note: We have a full basket of authors this morning, including Tacitus o politics, Marlow and his Coastal Empire saga in the crosshairs of massive storm, and Vic’s perspective on the end of the weather event. We hope Arias will be joining us later on the site. – Vic (Hurricane Matthew in all his […]

October 8, 2016 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Matthew Arrives

By mid-Wednesday, no one had done much to prepare for the slowly approaching freight train named Matthew. The sole places with protective window coverings on Tybee Island were City Hall and the town library. Savannah had done nothing. Matthew’s hurricane watch for the Georgia coast (i.e., hurricane force conditions within 48 hours) was declared Wednesday […]

October 8, 2016 Vic Socotra

Welfare Safety Net Fail

85 years old, alone in my Place, with nothing at all, But me, no friends still Alive who might call, No one left to lift me Up when I finally fall… How it came to this, Bad luck, poor timing, Karma’s sweet cruel kiss, I can’t really understand, What the hell did I miss? copyright […]

October 7, 2016 Vic Socotra

Tactictus on Tacitus

About the Analogy As you know, I find historical analogies valuable. Most germane to our current times are the old Soviet Union, 16th and 17th century England, and – probably most telling – Rome in late republican and early imperial times. Maureen Mullarkey of the Federalist has addressed this subject. Here’s her going-in squib: We […]

October 6, 2016 Vic Socotra

Gail Harris is Gale Force!

Gentle Readers, As we prepare for the landfall of Hurricane Matthew down in Florida, there is another force of nature at work. NIP’s own retired Captain Gail Harris is renowned as an author (“A Woman’s War”), motivational speaker and columnist for the new Military-themed news network Lima Charlie, a leading source of news impacting the […]

October 6, 2016 Vic Socotra

Tacitus Speaks: Showing How It’s Done

The Trump campaign received a much-needed boost Tuesday night. Here’s a report from the American Spectator: “Did you work on that a long time?” That Reaganesque rejoinder from Mike Pence – one of many – effectively put Tim Kaine in his place during a debate that exposed the depths of the Hillary campaign’s demagogic cheapness. […]

October 6, 2016 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: To Be Continued

To be continued (TBC) is a phrase your scribe uses to conclude a daily piece when he has a multi part set of loosely connected things he wants to say. Given his advancing years, it’s a bit presumptuous. These TBC pieces should probably conclude with “The End?” given his advanced years. At his age, he […]

October 5, 2016 Vic Socotra

Big Pink Meeting Minutes

Ludmilla had to make me swear, double pinky, not to go to happy hour at The Front Page and show up at the Finance Committee meeting last night. I have been trying to quit my appointment for several months now. There had been a coup de main on the panel, orchestrated by Joy, the spouse […]