Editor’s Note: Japan-Gazer provides this particularly relevant analysis, since the President is on a whirlwind trip that passed through Japan and the Republic of Korea before arriving in Beijing. With the continuing crisis with North Korea, the alignment of Japanese domestic politics is a great aid in understanding our biggest regional ally. -Vic What Are […]

There have been discussions for seven decades about how we got clobbered at Pearl Harbor. Mac did not arrive there until February of 1943, so he could not comment authoritatively on what was true or not about the claim that Washington short-sheeted the Pacific Fleet Commander on decrypted Japanese messages tracking the mooring locations of […]

(The Usual Suspects at the Amen Corner of the Willow Bar. Mac took the picture). This is about mysteries- and personal Crusades. Mac had one- getting Joe Rochefort the Distinguished Service Medal. For VADM Earl Frank “Rex” Rectanus, it was to get justice for our only MIA intelligence officer from the Indo-china conflict. Mac had […]

Editor’s Note: This popped out from some place it had been hiding, and I will drop it into it’s appropriate place in the time line. It describes the time that the new and energetic Chief of Naval Operations, Bud Zumwalt, was on a tear to clean house on the list of Navy Admirals. There was […]

I had the privilege of attended the wedding of colleague’s lovely daughter yesterday- it was a delightful afternoon, and the skies did not darken nor the rain fell until the ceremony was done and the wedding party pictures were safely digitized. Then we were all safe by the bar. It was a dark, dank black […]

Just when we thought we had got the last of of the 2016 election scraped off our shoes, some other craziness comes up. Latest is the excerpt from former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile’s new book that looks a lot like someone is being thrown under the wheels of the Scoopy […]

By now, most reliable readers of the Daily Socotra have become acquainted with the writings of some other authors who write about things that matter. My small effort to ensure they are seen beyond their normal circles was prompted by a digital crisis experienced by Marlow a few years ago. He was attacked in cyber […]

(Senator Sam Nunn, D-GA) As you may have gathered, things are a little bit nuts here today. While dealing with the aftermath of a particularly savage terror attack in Manhattan’s Lower West Side, the GOP is going to roll out their tax reform program that will only add $1.5 Trillion to the national debt. No […]

It has been a lovely few days here in the Swamp. Late Friday we got word from unbiased CNN that Special Prosecutor Bob Mueller was going to roll out some indictments against someone he has been investigating. No specific name, of course, since the anonymous leaker didn’t want to do something inappropriate. I thought it […]

It was a great weekend for sports- if you ignored the kneeling thing, and Major League Baseball provided some amazing class in the Dodgers-Astors World Series. I didn’t pay much attention to football it was pelting chill rain here- except the poor bedraggled Deadskins- since I decided to get serious about completing a project I […]