(Nats Stadium at dusk with rain coming in. Photo Socotra.) I was at the desk, looking over some financials. There were many balls in the air; more than I knew possible. The skies were ominous to the west; we were supposed to go to a Nationals game with Joe, since his hometown Cards were in […]

My pal The Lawyer had returned to San Diego fast, and he called me up, furious. I was at the desk, looking out on a day in the Ballston neighborhood that was exquisite in its simple beauty. The heat was gone, and the women seemed to dress up for it. I wanted to go out […]

(Abraham Zapruder 8MM Camera And Film, 1963. Photo Bell & Howell.) “I’m here to make sure you don’t screw Richard Nixon.” – James Schlesinger’s first words upon becoming DCI in 1973 I mentioned yesterday that I looked at a film clip and got agitated. You can see it for yourself: it is not hard to […]

(Then-AEC Chairman Schlesinger with Pat and Dick Nixon, 1970) “Covering this upcoming election is like covering a competition between two Soviet refrigerator companies, cold-war relics offering products that never change.” –       David Brooks, NY Times token Hamiltonian pundit, today. (Loyal readers, there have been recent and unsettling allegations out there in the world-wide web. We […]

(Bath Iron Works’s fourth FLIGHT IIA Arleigh Burke Class AEGIS Destroyer USS McCamble proudly bears the name of Captain David S. McCampbell, the Navy’s all-time leading ace with 34 aerial victories during World War II. Photo US Navy.) The South China Sea might be the pivot on which the new century is going to turn. […]

My pal The Good Doctor probably smiled this morning with the news that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, architect of the East Africa Embassy bombings, was shot dead at a checkpoint in Mogadishu. It was local gendarmerie who settled his hash. Apparently the mastermind got lost, and this had nothing whatsoever with the CIA or JTF-Horn of […]

(The Lovely Aimee and Annook’s Revenge. Photo Socotra of Socotra.) I had lost one cuff link and the black tie by the time I got to Willow. I have no idea about either. I do not think I wrecked the Hubrismobile- I assume it is in the garage and there were no public safety personnel […]

(Villa of Mon Repose Palace, Corfu, Greece. Photo Wikipedia.) The Duke of Edinburough and I don’t have a great deal in common. He is tall guy, for a Greek, and looks more Scandinavian, though some might say German, if that didn’t have so much negative baggage over the ninety years the Prince Consort has been […]

(Jill St. John, Leonid Brezhnev and Dick Nixon.) I was sitting and talking to Old Jim at the end of the Willow Bar. It was fiercely and oppressively hot outside, and people in Arlington were acting out. Pedestrians were walking out in the crosswalks against the light, motorists were honking wildly and I saw more […]

(The new Willow Waif coasters at the bar. What are writers supposed to take notes on? Photo Socotra.) Everyone was bracing for what is going to come at the end of the week. Mother Nature is going to open up a can of humidity and warmth- the heat index is supposed to spike up over […]