Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. One of my all-time favorite movies is “Witness” (1985) with Harrison Ford. It’s set within the Amish community in Pennsylvania. One quiet scene has stayed with me. A small boy, Samuel, talks to his grandfather...
The Pentagon has failed seven audits in a row. It hasn’t won a major war since 1945. Money and assets that are missing or otherwise unaccounted for measure in the trillions of dollars. This year’s Pentagon budget is roughly another trillion dollars. The cost of new...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. File this under “You can’t make this stuff up”: The Trump administration has rebranded the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, complete with the president’s name installed...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Again, this is big picture, and I’m not a lawyer. Laws only mean something – they only have real authority – when powerful entities are held to account. If only the weak are subject to laws, whereas (for...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. American exceptionalism and megalomania, combined with threat inflation, creates a toxic brew that drives trillion-dollar war budgets and global violence. I was reminded of this as I reread a review I wrote in...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Recently, I was asked to comment on the Russia-Ukraine War – its current status on the battlefield and which side had the upper hand. And my response was that I simply didn’t know. I’ve heard the narrative...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Just when you thought the assault on the English language couldn’t be more severe, I came across a new abomination in a recent memo (11/3/25) signed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF). The CSAF...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Tomorrow is Veterans Day, though of course November 11th was originally Armistice Day to mark the end of World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day in 1918. Back then, it was hoped that the World War would...
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. Lately, there’s a “Talking Heads” lyric that’s been popping up in my brain: Our president’s crazy/Did you hear what he said? A few days ago, President Trump threatened war against Nigeria. He vowed that U.S....
Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author’s permission. War and rumors of war dominate the headlines. Venezuela. Nigeria. Iran. Somalia. A “new Cold War” involving Russia and China. What are we to believe? The events of the 62 years of my short life (Vietnam,...
