There are several old pithy sayings about danger from the elected branch of our government. Right now, the ones that apply would have been Twain’s:”The citizen is only safe when Congress is not in session.” That theoretically happened last Friday, when Members were permitted to return to their Districts and raise money to support their […]

You may have noticed that the summer of this strange year has reached a peak. We are about to cast aside the warmth of July and trade it for the Dog Days of August. Congress is going on break, and the dearth of news that is actually new has left us to swelter with endless […]

As faithful readers well know, we are careful here in the Writer’s Section to attune ourselves to the fickle winds of social change. It is a challenging world out there these days, and all participants must be protected. Accordingly, we ran this brief announcement through the Socotra House Legal Section to ensure our rigorous compliance […]

The Chief of Something Or Other at the United Nations told us to get ready for something really scary from the skies: “It is,” he said in precise but heavily accented English, “Global Boiling.” Apparently the report that alarmed him indicated the triple-digit temperatures we have experienced lately is the warmest in history. He was […]

This is going to be a short edition of The Daily that started out about one thing and wound up being about something else altogether. We were going to comment on an article by a fellow named Joshua Emery that appeared in the Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine. It was about career development for technical specialists […]

We were startled this morning with some good news. As you know, we inflict the weekly Weather Report on the gentle readership to nudge us forward in a changing world. It is an intent to capture the swirling global events in a non-partisan fashion so we are aware not so much of what is happening […]

We struggled to find something a little up-and-offbeat this morning, and Mick Jagger’s 80th hit the mood and the message. The reality is something a bit different. Or at least a little more convoluted. We all have ridden the shifting tides of our national interest. Most of us are now a generation out from those […]

If you skimmed the morning traffic yesterday with the semi-lethargy that accompanies most Mondays, you may have confused one of the agendas of change with another. It is a regular occurrence these days. Everyone on The Patio wishes success to the newly nominated Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Franchetti. There is some controversy about her […]

President Biden has nominated Adm. Lisa Franchetti, current Vice Chief of Naval Operations, to be the next Chief. If it happens, she will be the first woman to serve in that role, along with the seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. That is supposed to set up a conflict in the Senate about confirmation, […]

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, left, meets with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, right, in Beijing, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. China is willing to work with Washington on reducing global warming as long as its political demands are met, the country's vice president told […]