Two weeks ago President Trump announced the US will withdraw from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty (INF) – pursuant to Article XV, para 2 of the treaty. While the media paid little attention, this is a significant and important action. The INF, signed by President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev in December 1987, was […]

Let me see if I have this right: the bulk of the media, and many of our politicians, tell me that: The US is not exceptional and in fact has much to answer for, But The US should spend more time and effort abroad because the global community is more important – rather than getting […]

Several economists, opining on the 2019 federal budget, lambasted the President for spending too much. They concluded that Trump must be stopped, and that, in particular spending on national security needs to be reined in. If not, we’ll be overtaken by the deficit and face economic ruin. Their solution appeared to be to vote for […]

Years ago I bought a two-seat convertible – it was a great car, and a ton of fun to drive. But after I’d had it about a year it started turning off – just out of the blue. After making certain it was mechanically as close to perfect as it could be, I focused on […]

What a week: we had a chance to see our elected officials performing their assigned tasks. More broadly, we had a chance to see not only how certain Senators performed – whether or not they asked meaningful questions and sought to establish some measure of merit as to Judge Kavanaugh’s potential as a member of […]

The previous few weeks raise some interesting questions; among them being what is likely to transpire when the next conservative judge is nominated to the court? The precedent set here is a derivative of what happened to Judges Bork and Thomas during their nomination hearing. It’s worth remembering that at no time did the Republicans […]

It’s said nature abhors a vacuum. Strictly speaking, I’m not sure that’s true; the universe is essentially empty, only a tiny percentage of the universe has anything in it. But in politics and society it is true, if you remove one set of rules or order from a social structure, it’ll be replaced by another. […]

Maurice Rindskopf commanded USS Drum during WWII, later rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. Commissioned in 1938, 3 years before Pearl Harbor, Rindskopf was the youngest man to command a submarine during WWII. During WWII, when communications and information technology was far less sophisticated, and commanders required large staffs to support these processes, staffs […]

Watching the news over the last week was like watching a Marx Brothers movie: zany, madcap, and detached from reality. After a while I was reminded of Groucho’s great line: “Who ya’ gonna’ believe, me or your lyin’ eyes?” It seems everyone is up in arms about the President and his seeming support of Tsar […]

A friend recently made an observation about a senior Navy officer who had a larger and nicer rental car than anyone else; it gave the appearance of special treatment. In the military even the appearance of special treatment must be avoided. Which dovetails with the hearings last week in Washington in which a senior FBI […]