"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
You may have noticed a trend here toward fewer topical posts. More and more, I write about life, books, and aviation. Two windows are always open on my desktop monitor: one is this blog, the other the draft of the memoir I plug away at. The personal rides shotgun these days; politics and current events ride […]
It’s time for a Paul’s Thing break—the memoir will still be there when I’m done. Progress to date? I roughed out a longish chapter about joining the US Air Force in 1973 and my experiences in officer and flight training, sent it to a couple of friends for feedback and criticism, and am now outlining other chapters […]
North Korea really is an impossible problem, isn’t it? I’m as opposed to war as anyone, but as a military man I’m not afraid of exercising the military option when it’s the only option available. Can we allow North Korea to have nuclear-tipped ICBMs? I don’t think any sane person would say yes. How can we […]
You’ve played battleship, right? Aircraft carriers are today’s battleships, and we’re all in the game, trying to guess where they are. Earlier this month—the 5th of April, a day before we struck Syria—I questioned reports saying an American aircraft carrier was on its way to strike North Korea. People were getting worked up: some were saying the […]
This article started making the rounds yesterday. One paragraph catches my eye: If you want to understand intra-GOP warfare, the decision-making process of our president, the implosion of the Republican healthcare plan, and the rest of the politics of the Trump era, you don’t need to know about Russian espionage tactics, the state of the white working class, […]
For the second time in two months, my debit card’s been compromised. Donna picked it up right away: four small charges from Angeles City in the Philippines. I always examine card readers on gas pumps and ATMs and am pretty sure I haven’t fallen victim to a skimmer. Well, who knows? This time I had to make […]
If you know me, you know I obsess over North Korea and the Kim regime. Probably because I spent some time in neighboring South Korea, sitting air defense alert at Osan Air Base and running trail near the DMZ with the Seoul Hash House Harriers. The closer you get to the 38th Parallel, the spookier […]
“However, despicable human scum Jang, who was worse than a dog, perpetrated thrice-cursed acts of treachery in betrayal of such profound trust and warmest paternal love shown by the party and the leader for him.”