http://freebeacon.com/national-security/navy-intel-officer-warns-of-future-china-conflict/

It is 65 and sunny in Pass Christian, MS, at the moment. Beef-On-Weak Night at Willow seems like a dream. Normally held on the last Friday of the month, this one slid to the fist Friday of February due to Restaurant Week and the looming of Lent. Tracy sold out two steamer rounds of the locally-raised, hormone-free, humanely slaughtered, slow-cooked and thinly-sliced beef on Kate Jansen’s home-made kemmelweck rolls (sea salt and fennel crusted) by seven last night.

Which was a propitious time, since I was up early this morning to take flight to recover the Panzer in a southern state, no story, and flawless air connections.

Life is grand, no kidding.

To close out the saga in the lovely islands, the Gertz political piece about the retirement is at the link above. I do not endorse it or condemn it. Like all news, the closer to the story you are, the less bearing objective truth has with things. I offer it because someone traveled to the mid-Pacific to write it.

Kim’s retirement speech is attached. Sorry for the delay- unexpectedly busy Thursday and Friday.

As part of travel and strange in-flight entertainment dysfunction, I just finished the physical book version of “American Sniper.”

It is powerful and emotional stuff. And that is on top of the emotions of the Islands. I just got an account of my older son’s birth in the islands back in 1983, and a copy of a letter I wrote to some Fleet buddies in 1981. You might see those one of these mornings.

Vic