The race isn’t always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong… but that’s the way to bet. – Hugh Keough (and Damon Runyon) The attempted assassination of former President Trump has now had a chance to settle in just a bit, and in capitals around the world I would suspect that there are […]

Author’s Note: Very gray very humid (Weather Underground says it 93% humidity… – Arrias Another Storm The wood is still, not a breath of air, Thick clouds, dark gray on gray, Dawn is still an hour off When the first raindrop falls today. One lone songbird greets first light, In the distance a dog barks, […]

Author’s Note: I wrote this after reading some accounts from Ukrainians who are getting ground down – they want their independence but they also fear their country is being destroyed, literally and politically, and there seems to be no way to, in practical terms, split the difference. The public face is very patriotic but there […]

Editor’s Note: NATO comes to our town as France is in turmoil over an election lurch left and wit a campaign in turmoil. That is being played out before a media that has been willfully blind. Arrias takes on that issue this morning! – Vic To the Main Stream Media: Thank You! I’ll begin by […]

Paul Revere Patriot, Horseman and Industrialist I started writing this in early April but somehow was sidetracked. But as this fellow was a key player at the beginning, he is worth remembering on our nation’s birthday. Years ago we had a neighbor, Mr. Charles Bradford. He was a direct descendant of Governor Bradford, of Mayflower […]

I spend a good deal of time trying to make sense of the war in Ukraine. Over the course of the last 28 months the war has changed, expanded, and is slowly but surely escalating as more and more ideas are creeping into planning cells: leaders in France, Poland and the Baltic states have suggested […]

We are 120 weeks into the war in Ukraine, a peace conference begins in a week in Switzerland (at which only one side is represented), and the war continues to evolve. But there are some lessons we can draw from the war, and perhaps some hints of what the future may hold. None of these […]

In Herman Wouk’s masterpiece “The Caine Mutiny,” the clever, intelligent but execrable LT Keefer manages to maneuver and manipulate his shipmates into committing a de facto mutiny, removing Captain Queeg from command of his ship. In the court martial that follows, the lawyer turned Navy pilot, (again a lawyer as he recovers from being shot […]

Author’s Note: Keeping current on the war… My Muse had some thoughts… – Arrias Blue Sky Blue sky, green grass, the smoke a dirty brown, Can’t hear a drone, can’t see a drone but a Round incoming, better keep your head down; Another piece of battlefield arcana. War grinds on, young men die, this will […]

Author’s Note: This was another struggle… the more I pick at it, the worse It think the situation is – I’m not sure we can get out of this mess… – Arrias Strategic Bombing and Gentle War Much of the modern way of war springs from the writings of 4 men from the 1920s: Gen. […]