Years ago I bought a two-seat convertible – it was a great car, and a ton of fun to drive. But after I’d had it about a year it started turning off – just out of the blue. After making certain it was mechanically as close to perfect as it could be, I focused on […]

What a week: we had a chance to see our elected officials performing their assigned tasks. More broadly, we had a chance to see not only how certain Senators performed – whether or not they asked meaningful questions and sought to establish some measure of merit as to Judge Kavanaugh’s potential as a member of […]

The previous few weeks raise some interesting questions; among them being what is likely to transpire when the next conservative judge is nominated to the court? The precedent set here is a derivative of what happened to Judges Bork and Thomas during their nomination hearing. It’s worth remembering that at no time did the Republicans […]

It’s said nature abhors a vacuum. Strictly speaking, I’m not sure that’s true; the universe is essentially empty, only a tiny percentage of the universe has anything in it. But in politics and society it is true, if you remove one set of rules or order from a social structure, it’ll be replaced by another. […]

Maurice Rindskopf commanded USS Drum during WWII, later rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. Commissioned in 1938, 3 years before Pearl Harbor, Rindskopf was the youngest man to command a submarine during WWII. During WWII, when communications and information technology was far less sophisticated, and commanders required large staffs to support these processes, staffs […]

Watching the news over the last week was like watching a Marx Brothers movie: zany, madcap, and detached from reality. After a while I was reminded of Groucho’s great line: “Who ya’ gonna’ believe, me or your lyin’ eyes?” It seems everyone is up in arms about the President and his seeming support of Tsar […]

A friend recently made an observation about a senior Navy officer who had a larger and nicer rental car than anyone else; it gave the appearance of special treatment. In the military even the appearance of special treatment must be avoided. Which dovetails with the hearings last week in Washington in which a senior FBI […]

Friday’s jobs report was pretty darned good; the basic unemployment rate climbed to 4% (still exceptionally low), but the workforce participation rate climbed, meaning people are re-entering the workforce, confident they can find a job. And unemployment rates for blacks (6.5%) and Hispanics (4.6%) remain at all-time lows. Some downplayed these numbers, as well as […]

The Democratic Party seems to be moving further and further in the direction of endorsing government provided everything. Leading Democrats now support platforms that include: universal healthcare, free colleges, cancellation of all student debt (over $1 trillion), universal job guarantees with paid child care, housing as a right, and on and on. And, they – […]

In my bureau is a jersey emblazoned with the words “Dengue Fever World Tour.” A wise-guy I was working with had them made after what felt like the 100th straight “rat” hole we’d “visited” during some series of operations. Every place we went seemed to be preceded by a medical warnings brief longer than all […]