What really happened last week is this: Congress didn’t fail to pass a Continuing Resolution, Congress failed to pass a budget. The federal government’s fiscal year begins on October 1st. If the government is functioning properly, a total budget, with 12 separate budget bills, would have moved through the various committees of Congress, been passed […]

Editor’s note: This one is personal. – Vic The Watchman I used to keep a sign in my office, where the watch officers could see it, a line from the Old Testament: Ezekiel 33:6: “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword […]

Over the past week speculation has spanned the full spectrum as to what will happen in Iran: the Mullahs who’ve ruled Iran since 1979 are facing protests in a number of cities as many citizens call for greater freedoms and greater representation in their government. The catalyst for the riots was rising food prices. But […]

Editor’s Note: Arrias takes a last outing in bedraggled 2017. I join him in wishing you a happy and prosperous 2018! – Vic Under Qualified? I have some really smart friends who send me things to read. Last week one sent an article about the President’s plans for modernizing the nation’s transportation infrastructure – roads, […]

Everyone in the United Nations (UN) seemed very angry last week because the President announced that he’d move the US Embassy to Jerusalem – Israel’s capital. Since nations pretty much always put embassies in capitals, or at least that’s been the rule for the last 6,000 years, I frankly think this wailing, cursing and gnashing […]

Several days ago I read a comment that an entire generation of social programs were being destroyed by the Trump administration. It was suggested that President Trump plans to, through the vehicle of the next budget, reduce funding to a number of entitlement programs. The individual further commented that our defense spending was far too […]

At least our Ambassador will be, soon. Jerusalem sits at an historic crossroad: the northern terminus of an old caravan route that brought frankincense from the hills around modern day Aden, up to the major trade routes; if you then turn west, you entered Ancient Egypt, north led to Asia Minor, north-east and then east […]

Editor’s Note: Arrias continues some cogent analysis of developments in the North Korean weapons program. I too am alarmed. I have participated in the effort to cool the Pakistan-India nuclear confrontation. To say that the nuclear club of nations is a constant concern is a fact of life. The older members- the US, Russia, France, […]

We all like to think that we’re living in new times, thinking new thoughts, seeing things no one ever saw before. That is, at best, a dangerous naiveté, and leads to ignoring history; and the lessons of history are ignored with great peril. One of the more important lessons is that power corrupts. Give anyone […]

I had some correspondence with some friends over the past week wondering – particularly in light of apparent Chinese involvement – whether the US should do anything about the situation in Zimbabwe. You can probably be excused for not following the activity in Zimbabwe last week. The short version is that the Zimbabwean army forced […]