Well, it is a Sunday morning in Virginia. We have a new Governor here, the first woman to serve in that office. Abigale Spanberger is that remarkable woman, and her inauguration was impressive and steeped in history. We thought her moment in the spotlight might be eclipsed by one of the other simmering News Breaks from around the world.

Those would make a comprehensive list if we could remember them, so we will start with just two: Foreign and Domestic. We could go clockwise to complete the list or go the other way around, but there is something going in both directions. So, we will just point West and see where we wind up. It should not just be a matter of urgency in the news, but the spread of potential trouble regardless of timing. We thought you might want to know everything that is bubbling in the soup-stock in the kitchen.

So, from a kinetic standpoint, the President ordered another strike in Syria to kill an ISIS senior military commander. It is the only violence that occurred overnight, so we will lead with that. It would be simpler then to just go around the lines of latitude, but we had done a little research to be prepared for this morning. It could have been the outbreak of global war. Thankfully, it did not happen. We have no idea about what is happening with Iran, and thought you should know we have no clue as to what the Israelis or the Americans are going to do about it, but the important thing to remember that there is some urgency, and the matter is rising.

Nothing happened in Minneapolis, or rather we don’t know if anything is still on the Police blotter from closing time in the bars of the City of Flour and Sawdust. We don’t hear that nickname much these days, so we thought you should know about the Mississippi and the roll of the Big River south carrying ground grain and the blizzard of wood chips that built the great Mid-West from the backs of the barges.

We know the questions on your lips. Is the President going to federalize the Guard under the terms of the Insurrection Act? We think neither of us knows, though Governor Walz apparently has called out his state’s troops to manage traffic. Or something. We don’t know, but the Feds are investigating both him and that irritating mayor who seems to want to call out the population to thwart the will of Washington.

Which is something the people of Greenland, world’s largest island (WLI), are attempting to figure out today. There are about 57,000 residents of the WLI, so if we just offered them a fair price, everyone could potentially be happy. If we gave all the people in WLI a million bucks, it would be less that the Somali Fraud networks in Minnesota cost. We think it would be $5.7 billion, and an amount so relatively modest that the taxpayers of the World’s Richest Nation (WRN) would never notice.

We think. Several of us have had NATO codeword access in previous assignments, so one thing we never thought we would know is that we may be at war with our own alliance. Which is that we may very well impose a 25% tariff on our most favored allies before going to war with them. If you know anything about that, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

There is much more we all need to know, and we pride ourselves on knowing most of it. Iran? Sure. Something is going to happen, and it might be teetering on the Budget Crisis we have not talked about in a few days, but which will appear Monday morning as a matter that must be solved by this coming Friday or the Government will shut down again. We think you already know how this one is going to crash out. The last shut-down lasted 43 days, so we think they may be tired of this on The Hill.

Down below the fold on the glowing tablets, Melissa saw that the House passed a major appropriations package last Wednesday to fund Treasury and State. There was some confusion about the Department of Homeland Security, since the shooting of in Minneapolis. That matter will undoubtedly be included in the last of the twelve Appropriations bills that will hit the floor next week, the last working week before the shut-down which will occur on 31 January based on existing law.

But you already knew that. The margin for passage on last week’s bills was a lopsided 341-79 tally in favor. It suggests a massive bipartisan majority doesn’t want to fight in the last few days the Continuing Resolution is in effect.

There is some other stuff, of course. The Homeland Security budget will probably occupy a day or two next week, with the emphasis on an assortment of atrocities you already know about. Like Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba, Taiwan and the dissolution of the NATO alliance.

We will catch you up tomorrow on what is happening today as it unfolds. There are already a lot of irons in that fire. But of course you already knew that, and what you do not know yet will be available right here at Socotra House. But we think you may have already figured that out!

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com