On July 4th Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s autocrat, watched his engineers launch a missile into the Sea of Japan. Shot in a ‘high loft trajectory,” the rocket flew about 600 down range but rose more than 1700 miles. This trajectory, if flattened out (like a baseball player hitting a “pop-up” versus hitting a shallower […]

The media spends a great deal of time these days in what can comfortably be described as howling at President Trump. At the same time they’ll tell you it’s their responsibility to serve and defend the national interest, “humbly” reminding us it’s their “duty to seek the truth” and “to speak truth to power.” So, […]

Since 2015 Senators McCain and Graham have called for more US troops in Syria. First they called for 10,000 troops, then 20,000 and then 50,000. Now, the numbers have climbed to 150,000. To be clear, this isn’t about the additional troops Secretary Mattis sent into Iraq and Syria (or into Afghanistan); Secretary Mattis has clear, […]

I saw a sign the other day that said something along the lines of: “I don’t know where you came from, but I’m glad you’re my neighbor.” ‘Glad’ means happy, delighted. It is more than simply neutral, it’s a positive thing; in this case it would be that: “it’s good (for me) that you’re my […]

Once again: 7 dead, 50 injured as I write this, though those numbers will change. Around the world, Islamic terrorists have conducted a series of terrorist attacks that have left at least 149 dead in the first week of Ramadan – the Islamic month of fasting. As President Sisi of Egypt pointed out, the long-term […]

Editor’s Note: No one has summed up the spirit of this day more eloquently than Arrias. I am not going to bother trying to pen something. I am going to post his thoughts and drive over to Arlington and give your greetings to Mac, Dan, Vince, Rick and Scotty. It is a privilege to be […]

The historian Will Durant commented that the Reformation “…(left) the Church purified… into an organization politically weaker but morally stronger than before.” In short, the Reformation didn’t change what the Church really believed, but it did serve to change how those in the Church thought about political power and the various nations-states of Europe, and […]

Editor’s Note: Arrias takes on the bureaucracy this morning. – Vic McGuffey and the Federal Reserve Without looking it up: what are the differences between Alexander Hamilton’s and Thomas Jefferson’s perspective on the role of the federal government? Pundits often question the efficacy of Pentagon strategies, whether it’s Vietnam, tanker escort operations in the Persian […]

Ypres, April 22nd 1915: the Germans launch a gas attack on the Western Front. Germany had twice attempted to use gas (October 1914 and January 1915), but both efforts failed to produce the desired results. At Ypres results were consistent with German hopes; along the 4-mile front where chlorine gas was used effects were so […]

Editor’s Note: Seventy-five years ago, the analysis of what had happened in the Coral Sea in the first carrier-vs.-carrier encounter of the Pacific War. Nearly half the survivors of the oiler Neosho were still adrift, Lady Lexington was on the bottom and Yorktown was gravely wounded. Against that stark backdrop, Australia had been spared the […]