Author: Vic Socotra

Gazing Fore and Aft

The Chief of Something Or Other at the United Nations told us to get ready for something really scary from the skies: “It is,” he said in precise but heavily accented English, “Global Boiling.” Apparently the report that alarmed him indicated the triple-digit temperatures we have experienced lately is the warmest in history. He was […]

Arrias and His Muse: Dismal Swamp Summer

Author’s Note: My Muse reminds me, amidst all the frenetic handwringing – it’s summer in the Dismal Swamp, which means it’s hot and wet… – Arrias Dismal Swamp Summer The air is warm, thick and wet, In a soggy blanket all is cloaked, Just a minute outside the door And my shirt is completely soaked. […]

Slowly, Then All At Once

This is going to be a short edition of The Daily that started out about one thing and wound up being about something else altogether. We were going to comment on an article by a fellow named Joshua Emery that appeared in the Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine. It was about career development for technical specialists […]

Symphony For Whom?

We were startled this morning with some good news. As you know, we inflict the weekly Weather Report on the gentle readership to nudge us forward in a changing world. It is an intent to capture the swirling global events in a non-partisan fashion so we are aware not so much of what is happening […]

A Morning of Portents

We struggled to find something a little up-and-offbeat this morning, and Mick Jagger’s 80th hit the mood and the message. The reality is something a bit different. Or at least a little more convoluted. We all have ridden the shifting tides of our national interest. Most of us are now a generation out from those […]

Heck No!

If you skimmed the morning traffic yesterday with the semi-lethargy that accompanies most Mondays, you may have confused one of the agendas of change with another. It is a regular occurrence these days. Everyone on The Patio wishes success to the newly nominated Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Franchetti. There is some controversy about her […]

Smoking Hot

President Biden has nominated Adm. Lisa Franchetti, current Vice Chief of Naval Operations, to be the next Chief. If it happens, she will be the first woman to serve in that role, along with the seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That is supposed to set up a conflict in the Senate about confirmation, […]

Marlow’s Meatballs: From Little Italy

Morning, Gentle Readers! This is a note from a deferred tradition. It goes back a ways through several contributors, though with a stringent eligibility criterion. They can no longer be strictly of this world. The project began with the Cook-Book we started with Jinny Martin. There has been a curious periodic eruption of old Spook […]

Old Friends Meet: Nothing Happens in Beijing

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, left, meets with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, right, in Beijing, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. China is willing to work with Washington on reducing global warming as long as its political demands are met, the country's vice president told […]

Making Progress

A writer named Monica Showalter had a strange piece on the American Thinker website this morning. She wrote it last week, but the appearance this morning was sort of startling. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth is concerned about recruiting numbers and is taking action to rectify the situation. She is drafting- or rather, having […]