Editor’s Note: This just in from Arrias, who provides some simple guidelines for dining on the Eve of Christmas. His sage advice provides a means of guiding ourselves through the Holiday with merriment and joy! And there is some other joy, in tune with the season right here at Refuge Farm this afternoon. Merry Christmas! […]

It seems that something is brewing. And it probably isn’t going to be pretty. Putin wants more of Ukraine, Xi wants Taiwan, and the Mad Mullahs in Tehran want nuclear weapons. And has anyone heard from young Mr. Kim in Pyongyang lately? About 10 months ago I asked the question “Will he go?” of Emperor […]

There have been several recent articles in professional journals discussing the nature of the next war, whether the US is stuck in the past or is going in the right direction with regard to how we will fight. With due respect to the authors, who are all smart and experienced, I think they’ve missed something […]

Editor’s Note: It was eighty years ago this morning that the Japanese launched their aircraft to kill thousands of young sailors at the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. We did not know them as living citizens, but our pal RADM Donald “Mac” Showers reported aboard Station HYPO just two months after the attack. The […]

What is the Global Posture Review (GPR)? A global posture review is an opportunity to take a fresh look at what we’re doing and how we are doing it, to make adjustments that account for recent changes in the geopolitical environment. Given all the changes we’ve seen in the last year, a GPR represents an […]

From another land and another procession… Qadam qadam baṛhāye jā khushī ke gīt gāye jā ye zindagī hai qaum kī tū qaum pe lutāye jā Tū sher-e-hind āge baṛh marne se tū kabhī na dar uṛā ke dushmanon kā sar josh-e-watan baṛhāye jā Qadam qadam baṛhāye jā khushī ke gīt gāye jā ye zindagī hai […]

The only mountains in Ukraine are in the west (the border with Romania), the Carpathian Mountains. Most of the rest of Ukraine is either steppe – grassland – or woods. Much of the forest has long since been converted into farmland and it was across the farms of Ukraine that German tanks swept with great […]

If you dig around on the subject of Thanksgiving you will eventually find that the first one celebrated in what was to become the United States was celebrated in Virginia in 1608 when some Polish glass blowers, some British farmers and some Powhatan Indians (who were actually Algonquians) held a celebratory dinner after the harvest […]

A number of years ago I testified at a murder trial. As with the Rittenhouse trial, there was no question as to whether the defendant had committed the physical act, rather the issue was why, what was his mental state, etc. Without getting into specifics, the striking thing was the work-a-day nature of it all. […]

Editor’s Note: It is Fall in Virginia’s Piedmont, and Arrias has released his poetic muse to capture the magic of the season. Expect a complete volume of his verse. – Vic The Artist Speaks I have never seen the leaves so bright, I’ve never seen such a glorious fall, Reds and greens and gold, More […]