(The bizarrely colored former CIA training facility prior to commencement demolition. The Ballston neighborhood was Spook Central- the Original NIS/NCIS HQ was across the street and the Original NSA and DIA was about a half mile away. Photo CoStar). It is a tough time to have opinions about anything these days, and as you know, […]

This is the day when a person has to be extra alert to detect pranks and other tomfoolery. I was expecting the announcement to come on the Iranian Nuclear Deal, but I think any revelations will have to come on a less emotionally fraught day, maybe tomorrow, and before Passover. People are playing jokes on […]

Things appear to be spinning out of control here in the National Capitol Region. Can it be the extended visit of this hard, cold winter? Has it driven people mad? The number of recent odd and violent events is startling . A pal was assaulted at a popular local night spot in the Clarendon Neighborhood […]

( Authorities investigate the scene of an accident near a gate to Fort Meade, MD this morning. WJLA-TV/AP Photo ) This bizarre headline stands on its own merits. I am quoting from the latest report by a man named Justin Fishel who works for ABC news. I think he is a guy, anyway, not being […]

(From the Ashleigh Buyer article in Catholic Herald this morning.) Don’t worry, I am not going to go all ecclesiastical on you, but I respect people of faith, and appreciate the Judeo-Christian traditions of the West in a secular manner. But I also keep track of the holidays, even if every day is starting to […]

(Jon-Without with his parents, visiting from Upstate New York. Photo TLB). I drove the P-71 Crown Vic Police Car to Willow at the usual time. There were a lot of Arlington Cops out, and I got eye contact twice and one wave, a professional courtesy, I assume, because they knew what I was driving and […]

(Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Painting by John Trumbel, 1789.) I was talking to my best pal this morning. I said it appeared the world had gone mad, and was marveling at the developments in the deliberate crash of the Germanwings jet. Apparently Interpol detectives found a series of notes- ripped up- that would […]

(Mass murderer Andreas Lubitz in a lighter moment in San Francisco. Image cropped from a larger image in the Daily Mail). I was going to talk to you this morning about the horrifying events in France, when an apparently fully capable Airbus A320 jet flew into rugged terrain, killing all 150 souls on board. It […]

(Captain Phil McKnight, USN-Ret. A Great American. RIP). We lost another Great American yesterday. I suppose it is inevitable, but I am getting tired of it. Our pal Joe summed up our collective memory of Phil McKnight nicely this morning- he was on travel yesterday and didn’t get the word that Phil had left us […]

I hate it when things like this happen. I took a trip to East Davis Street last weekend to check out Clarke’s Hardware Store, a one-of-a-kind relic of the older and slower days in the Country. I was going to stop and get a drink at the Hazel River Inn, which is just across the […]