Firelight flickered across Napoleon's face, his horse frozen in time, rearing up as the Emperor pointed to the pathway over the Alps with his head turned back looking towards his unseen army. From my leather chair I took in the image in its totality. Not just Napoleon, but the gilded frame around the painting, the...
Winter air pours through the expansive openings of the tropically decorated bar. It is April in Southern California, but remnants of winter still claw to the shattered promise of a wet season. It was mild in Orange County this year, mild when it came to the weather, if not mild in the passions that have...
Welcome to 2021… Well, this will prove to be an “interesting” year. You can read that and let you mind wander around the full totality of the word. The most predictable thing going forward is our lack of predictability. But there are some constants… and some serious places where we can place our hope. A year and...
It is the day after Christmas. I have come into Artemis early to clean up some administrative things that were neglected during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It seems like a fine opportunity to reflect upon the year 2020 before a stake is formally driven into the heart of this withering beast. This has been a...
Well, the Cadet is home for Christmas. Her last official act at West Point was cheering on the Army football team’s rout of Navy during the Army-Navy football game. With Carolyn firmly ensconced in our Artemis European headquarters (a safe house in London), and the United States Army once again violating my Third Amendment rights by...
Parody? Perhaps… Perhaps not… Delaware: Multiple news outlets have reported that President-Elect Biden would be making a major announcement this week on what is being called “Day One” Executive Actions on gun control. So it came as a surprise when he took the podium yesterday and announced a series of proposed executive actions targeting the First...
For quite some time now I have been studying Stoicism. Well… Classical Stoicism as compared to Modern Stoicism. While Modern Stoicism definitely takes many of its evolving tenants from Classical Stoicism, pontificators of the modern version tend to orient their version towards a specific objective. Take Robert Greene who has written a modern-day version of...
Changes… This last week I was reading an article in Foreign Affairs called Defense in Depth; it was coauthored by former Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. It called for a fundamental rebuke of the Trump foreign policy agenda, specifically outlining how military operations need to be multinational affairs and taking advantage of “in-theater” country assistance both...
The Major and I were sitting, once again, by the fire smoking our cigars, nursing our whiskeys, and reliving past campaigns. We rejoiced in the brilliance of our past strategies, found others to blame for our shortcomings, and pontificated on how other lesser mortals could have arranged their battles to match our own acumen. “Captain, what...
What Happens Next? I am writing this blog on Friday, November 6th. The election remains in turmoil, and while all signs seem to point towards a Biden win, it is not a foregone conclusion. As I am sure things will change before you read this blog, I felt it was important to understand when it was written. Regardless...
