Speramus meliora. Resurget cineribus. – “We hope for better things. It will rise from the ashes.”Motto of the City of Detroit (circa 1805) Is it kidnapping when someone drives off with you, a knife in your ribs, and then lets you go in exchange for your wallet and keys? The whole event is still a […]

It is sunny and quiet in the Virginia countryside. I am drinking early to get ready for St. Patrick’s day, while attempting to follow the goings-on in The Swamp from the middle distance. It appears someone is throwing Enfant terrible AOC under the bus- not respectful enough, and too bold and self-confident. That little matter […]

So, I have been reeling with images of Hanoi a long time ago, working on the details of finally clearing up some of the vestiges of war. The president of Vietnam was very kind, but concerned with some boilerplate on the Defense Mapping Service aerial charts of his nation. The caption mentioned something about an […]

I am not going into what happens here in Northern Virginia, the District and Maryland when the snow comes. There is a rush to the liquor store before it arrives, of course, and then toggling back and forth on the laptop between the National Weather Service predictions and Doppler Radar pages. Then apprehension about keeping […]

The Swamp is bracing for a possible repeat of Snowmageddon, the one that buried us for days. a couple years back We also could get freezing rain, which would enable us to glide effortlessly across the surface. That would be a change. Andrew “just call me Andy” McCabe has had a marvellous week promoting his […]

I am getting bored with trotting out the hyperbole each week- you know, the customary opening of “it can’t get stranger than this.” Then, of course, it does. We are the momentary epicentre of looniness here in the Old Dominion. Our Governor is under intense scrutiny for inappropriate behaviour thirty or forty years ago, for […]

Well, I suppose this is a welcome time of introspection after the American colossus has crashed through the Middle East. I tried to watch the State of the Union address, and managed to see the Speaker of the House carefully reviewing her notes about something or another while the President spoke. Here in Virginia, we […]

So, it has been cold lately. Bitter freaking cold. They call the phenomenon the “Polar Vortex,” most severe such blast of arctic air since the mid 1980s, when they were telling us to panic about the coming of the next Ice Age, which apparently was caused by prehistoric SUV use by my Neolithic ancestors. The […]

Putting the Fun in Dysfunctional! I am pinned down at the farm by the Polar Vortex and icy roads. The Piedmont of Virginia is never quite ready for these things, and we have it far better than Chicago or Detroit where there are weather emergencies in progress and temperatures dozens of degrees below zero (F). […]

This series of stories is dedicated to the memory of Edward Smith Gilfillen, whose recollections should have been told long ago, and for all the Atomic Veterans whose lives were cut short due to exposure to radiation at Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll and the Nevada Test Site, among other places. Last Cruise of the […]