Author: Vic Socotra

Disclaimer(s)

Out on the Patio, the Writer’s Section was taking a Sunday approach to original works of creative energy. There were a couple lingering issues first brought up by Amanda, the intern in the Socotra House Legal Section. She had a Millennial approach to things, and is familiar on how LawFare works in America at this […]

Headlines

Morning Headlines, 27 January 2024: “On the Staggering $83.3 Million Carroll II Verdict against Trump” “Trump ordered to pay $83M, vows to appeal” Andrew McCarthy of the National Review On Line helped us wake up this morning. Andrew is a columnist for the National Review, a right-wing digital publication originally founded by one of our […]

Flight Ops at Bethesda

(Bethesda Naval Hospital before base consolidation with Walter Reed). We talked about the insurrection of the Navy’s flag officers the other day. It was part of something larger, of course, and simultaneously smaller in contrast to the struggle of the war. Like you, the writers on the Patio have been thrilled since we realized that […]

Arrias and His Muse: Trenches

Author’s Note: Reading lots of reports and blogs, trying to understand it all, then dreams of poor bastards in the trenches… – Arrias Two years of war in the cold and mud, Two years, no end in sight. Two years and more they’ve fought and died, Sometimes it’s not clear who’s wrong, who’s right. Mostly […]

On the Brink of WW III?

As you might expect, talk about the current hotspots of conflict have led to discussion of where this ball of crisis is going. Some of us think it is like President Xi’s Belt-and-Road Initiative. With luck, we will be able to avoid an atomic exchange between the various Nuclear Powers or almost Powers in mass […]

First in Defense

(President Harry Truman Appoints SECNAV James V. Forrestall as first Secretary of Defense. Photo AP). In 1947, President Harry Truman appointed James V. Forrestal as the first Secretary of Defense. Forrestal had three or four areas of controversy with the Administration. First was the amount of money the new unified Department would spend to clean […]

The Revolt of the Admirals

We nearly had a revolt of our own out on The Patio. Not that there were any Flag or General Officers involved. It was mmore of a vigorous debate about what was happening in our Navy today. you know, the one that commissions a whole class of ships and retires them nearly as fast as […]

How We Got Where We Are

(President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 on board this aircraft, a VC-54C Presidential transport, the first aircraft used in the role of Air Fore ONE). We have wrestled with telling the story of how the Department of War and the Navy were disestablished and re-invented in 1947 alongside a brand new Department […]

Portcall Haifa, 1989

Present Day: We have snow lingering through the weekend. The meteorologists claim it will be 60 degrees by the end of the week. We have a third war breaking out in the Red Sea, an unexpected development that is going to shift all sort of resources all over the world. We thought you might enjoy […]

Trump on Trial

(E. Jean Carroll is cross examined on Thursday, January 18. Courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg/Reuters). Good morning, Gentle Readers! We rolled out a strategy for staggering through the next ten months to the General Election on 05 November 2024. To do so, we examined the agendas for the two major parties and the events scheduled […]