As I drove across East Texas I found myself in need of a change of pace and turned on the radio and listened to a talk “show.” The discussion pinged around on several different subjects but kept circling back to the rift between the major political factions and what must be done to bring them […]

Some – amazing – friends of mine and I were in the small town of Mesilla, New Mexico last week killing a few hours; in one little store a young woman told us about the pottery they were selling, all of which had been made by Navajo Indians from around the state. As she talked […]

You know the story, or part of it: born amid poverty and violence in a third world nation, shuffled to a refugee camp in another country, then emigration to the United States, a home for the family, school, college education, elected office, then elected to Congress and national prominence. Then, there’s this: Born in third […]

In all the furor about the 2020 census some fundamentals seems to get covered up with a lot of noise. But there are some basic questions that would seem to suggest what the right answer should be. (I say “should” because there’s the additional problem of laws – which don’t need to be logical, laws […]

Well, we’ve had the first round of debates among those who wish to run against the incumbent president. As is normal, much time was spent discussing what specific programs each would institute to the benefit of various groups in society. Students are offered loan forgiveness, everyone is offered health care, some talk about a guaranteed […]

Some early thoughts from Arrias on July 4th…and the REAL Old Navy. If you are ever find yourself riding along Route 6A in West Barnstable (the “north side” of Cape Cod), drop by one of the old cemeteries and find the grave of Captain John “Mad Jack” Percival. Jack Percival was one of those characters […]

So, President Trump didn’t strike Iran. (Although reporting now suggests that he did attack Iran – cyber attacks on both the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and on their air defense systems.) In any case, this isn’t the first time a President has recalled a strike, nor will it be the last. We all may have viscerally […]

Hong Kong: an amazing blend of east and west, with shades of both London and Shanghai, an incredible, bustling city full of energy. And freedom. That started changing in 1997, when the British ceded Hong Kong back to the People’s Republic of China. Beijing promised Hong Kong would remain, well, Hong Kong, that there would […]

Imagine “Son of Sam” David Berkowitz has been paroled and is moving into your neighborhood. Can you forgive and forget? Should you? June 4th marked the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, the Chinese government’s violent suppression of student demonstrators calling for reform; they killed several thousand students. Since then policy “sages” have insisted we […]

“Thrice armed is he who has a quarrel just, But four times is he who gets his blow in fust” So went a little piece of doggerel in the early days of World War I (actually from an American several decades earlier) as the Royal Navy and the German Navy squared off against each other. […]