Author: Vic Socotra

A Holiday, a Holiday

(The late great Sandy Denny of the folk-rock band Fairport Convention). There is plenty to yammer on about this morning and we are not going to do it. This is a time of transformation, and we could raise our voices about matters like “Section-702!” or attorney-privilege. You’re lucky to be where you are, safe from […]

Friday Frolic

Thanks for letting us join you this splendid morning. The mid-Atlantic Coast of America is attempting to get a bit warmer as near the lunch hour. There is the list of Holiday things remaining to be done atop the old cabinet from the family general store that closed a few dozen crises ago. So, Holiday […]

Weather Report: Down By the River

We could probably distill the Weather Report to just a few words. You know them. All the stuff jumbled up in the graphic above are happening, against all reason. Overnight, with all that there is more to put late sparkle into the day. Congress senses the national and Constitutional crises in progress and will adjourn […]

Back to the Front

It was refreshing to rise at home rather than the slightly softened authoritarian confines of the hospital! The image above contains the view from the bed in vertical wing of Virginia Hospital’s new SIX BEE where the future meets the past in the complexity and of our current adventures. The imposing towers mark the general […]

Tumble Inn

It is one of those days. Better said, yesterday was one, and today another one. They are predicting one tomorrow as well! The Doctor’s appointment did not go according to the routine. We normally arrive at his office over on South Carlin Springs about a half hour before the scheduled time and have the office […]

Arrias and his Muse: In the Fog

Author’s Note: He was just sitting up there in the tree this morning – 2nd morning appearance this week. But before I went out he was hooting quite a bit – I looked it up – definitely a Great Horned Owl’s call…ArriasInline image Early morning, a dense, warm fog, The sky still black as pitch, […]

Arrias and His Muse: Bulldogs, Soccer, and Foreign Policy

Author’s Note: It just seems to me we could get so much more done if we had folks who paid attention… – Arrias One of the marvelous scenes in the movie Man For All Seasons has Thomas More talking to his friend the Duke of Norfolk, about More’s refusal to endorse the King’s divorce of […]

Tower of Babel

What with the budget cuts and all, it is not easy to deal with the State government, and a weekday seemed like the best bet, still with three weeks to Christmas. I found the DMV on a service drive in back of some auto-body places in an industrial park. I parked the car that is […]

On the QT: PRIZE CREW Takes Back the Night

The restoration of order was what was at stake in the Mekong Delta long ago, and the answer was a major change in the naval strategy supporting the land war in Indochina. A new and aggressive posture was adopted which called for naval personnel and operational units to be placed in critical lines of interior […]

Section 702: What Do We Do?

A key provision of the law governing foreign-intelligence collection is up for reauthorization, and the stakes are high. In fact, there are people serving in our Government today for whom there could be real legal consequences for the next General Election. Here is the gist: “Section 702 extensively protects the privacy of Americans who are […]