Author: Vic Socotra

Arrias: St. Teresa, FDR, And President Biden

Franklin Roosevelt, when Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Wilson cabinet, remarked to a friend that: “it would be wonderful to be a war President.” That thought has probably crossed the mind of many a politician who sees himself as a great leader. The war in Ukraine has been grinding on now for almost […]

Our Next Adventure

The Cardio Doctor was firm. He was of the opinion that I ought to be dragging the larger portion of my body each week to a medical specialist who specializes in perfectly ordinary things. In this case, those are known as “feet.” The medical specialist is known by the area in which he operates. The […]

The Weekend News Dump

Considering there is nothing going on in these passing gray days in the National Capital Region there is an awful lot going on, you know? It is both personal and national, of course. The Legal Section added to the various impositions on their Intern, who has been muttering things like “Back to school coming soon, […]

Arrias and His Muse: August

Author’s Note: 64 here and rain – looks like rain and thunder all day… My Muse is laughing at the weather guessers… – Arrias August Treetops rustle in the dark, A light rain begins to fall, A hint of cool in the air, Doesn’t feel like summer at all. It’s still early August, But the […]

Good Government

This is August, the month in which the rich steamy temperatures are supposed to cloak us in moisture here north of the Tidewater of Virginia. Just last week were informed this is the warmest it has been in a couple hundred thousand years and there is something really troubling coming down the pike. This morning […]

Third Time’s the Charm

At least it is with four new counts of fraud and obstruction. We don’t recall if it was this emotional when Truman spent years castigating Eisenhower, dragging him in front of a local court and attempted to have the General of the Army cast into the Federal correctional system. In handcuffs. We know, a better […]

August Branding

There are several old pithy sayings about danger from the elected branch of our government. Right now, the ones that apply would have been Twain’s:”The citizen is only safe when Congress is not in session.” That theoretically happened last Friday, when Members were permitted to return to their Districts and raise money to support their […]

Arrias: As Long As It Takes

15 years or so ago Robert Redford made a movie – Lions for Lambs – which attempted to ask some hard questions about the War onTerror. It received mixed reviews, wasn’t seen by a lot of folks, and arguably missed the mark – the difficult mark – of entertaining while getting people to think about […]

When the Front Comes Though

You may have noticed that the summer of this strange year has reached a peak. We are about to cast aside the warmth of July and trade it for the Dog Days of August. Congress is going on break, and the dearth of news that is actually new has left us to swelter with endless […]

It’s a Girl!

As faithful readers well know, we are careful here in the Writer’s Section to attune ourselves to the fickle winds of social change. It is a challenging world out there these days, and all participants must be protected. Accordingly, we ran this brief announcement through the Socotra House Legal Section to ensure our rigorous compliance […]