Far East Cynic

And so, once again we are standing at the abyss……..

I wrote this post 4 years ago on the eve of the election. It’s truly frightening that we are here again. Nothing has really changed- and it’s worth re-reading. That’s where the land of my birth is today. Remember this scene from the end of the movie, Wall Street? That’s

Continue reading

Into the home stretch, or into the abyss. The answer is TBD.

I have not had a “normal” Presidential election since 2000, where coming into November, I did not feel anxiety and fear in the lead up to election day. Especially since 2012, when it became apparent that some 42% of Americans were truly committed to wanton cruelty. 2016 was just sheer

Continue reading

She still has the ring. It still does not mean a thing.

So. It’s 2020 and another election cycle. That means it’s time once again to comment on yet another Nancy Mace political campaign. It’s now been ten years that she has been either running for office or scheming to run for office, and she still has placed herself on the side

Continue reading

There can be no redemption for this.

A worthless man, you know very little about, achieved his long-stated goal of destroying the United States tonight. That man is Leonard Leo, former head of the Federalist Society: Leonard Leo is on the brink of achieving the goal he has been working toward for decades: a lasting conservative supermajority on the

Continue reading

October 25th comes to us again

As was my early custom, I am reposting this post that I first wrote in 2005. Given the current state of events in both the US and the current administration’s stated willingness to sacrifice American lives for their own vanity – it’s a very appropriate commentary on 2020. Background: “The

Continue reading

Follow up

A follow up to my post from yesterday on the Navy’s incredibly hellish OPTEMPO. An article appeared on the US Naval Institute Web site by a LTJG who is currently “living the dream” that is the Navy’s nightmare deployment schedule. I know a person who knows him and describes him

Continue reading

Nothing short of a crime.

Amidst all of the recent political news in the United States, a few Navy related headlines from defense trade papers may have escaped your attention. However, you really should pay attention to them. Your Navy, MY Navy, for which I gave decades of service, is being ground into the dirt.

Continue reading

It’s broken all right – they don’t even try to pretend anymore.

Hopefully, you had a chance to read my latest post before this one about how the major machinery of our US government is broken. If you have not, please go here first, then come back and read this post. I’ll wait. Today in the sham that is passing for Senatorial

Continue reading

The major machinery is broken

It’s been a hell of a month for the land of my birth. Not in a good way, either, what with the death of RBG, Trump’s disastrous debate performance, the utter hypocrisy of the GOP’s stand on a Supreme Court nominee – coupled with the nomination of an unqualified religious

Continue reading

Devastating news

I personally have not been so devastated as I was when I read this news: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at age 87. I was in the doctor’s office today when I read it – I literally started crying in my chair. I had to work to compose

Continue reading