Recently a very thoughtful colleague in an online discussion group concerning national security challenged us to draft a paper on what politicians should know about employing the US military. Such would be a tutorial of sorts with historical vignettes, lessons learned, and perhaps an assessment of how other selected nations think Read more…
In recent years, our nation has been beset with many problems. I’ve written about a few. But I am struck by how consistent we have been, particularly in insisting on notions, ideas, and theories that are at best silly and at worst deceitful. Some of those consistencies are remarkable. Take for example Read more…
Today is a typical wintery day in Virginia. It’s chilly, wet, and cloudy. There’s nothing romantic about that. Dismal weather wins out today. Such a day reflects how many in America see the state of our nation. There is so much to worry about that it’s hard not to sink into dreariness about our Read more…
Following New Year’s Day, two legislatures convened. On 11 January, the Virginia General Assembly went into session in Richmond, Virginia. Ninety miles north—following a rather raucous beginning in the House of Representatives—the US Congress convened in Washington, DC. There’s much to be learned concerning both. In Richmond, the Virginia General Assembly is Read more…
Some months ago, a fellow veteran and colleague recommended that I read William Manchester’s The Arms of Krupp: The Rise and Fall of the Industrial Dynasty That Armed Germany at War. It’s especially delightful when an author has researched the topic in detail, but also writes with riveting clarity, richly describing the Read more…
Recently I learned that the fast food chain McDonald’s will be further automating their ordering system. Now they will need fewer people. I don’t patron fast-food restaurants much anymore as I have committed to a diet and managed to lose 20 pounds since August. That’s a New Year’s resolution from last year that Read more…
This week a restaurant in Richmond, Virginia decided to refuse service to a faith-based organization that holds constitutionally permissible beliefs that servers in that restaurant found objectionable. It was blatant viewpoint discrimination. The Virginia Family Foundation, founded decades ago to advocate for conservative faith-based policies in Virginia, sought to have a Read more…
Have you thought lately about all the different forms of government that a people can subject themselves to or to which they are subjugated? The one we are most familiar with is, of course, democracy. Most of us know what that means, but a sizable portion of our citizens think that is Read more…
The United States men’s soccer team defeated Iran this week in a much-watched match in Doha, Qatar. I am not a huge fan of soccer –or what sports fans outside of the United States refer to as football. But I watched this match because it interested me. Aside from being an artilleryman in Read more…
When I initiated these weekly updates, I began using the postscript, scribendo cogito, or “I think by writing.” That is part of a Latin phrase preceded by docendo disco, “I learn by teaching.” For me, teaching and writing go together like writing and coffee. I love both. But I am not a teacher per se. That’s for sturdier Read more…