I’m on the way to Tblisi, Georgia in the Caucasus and stopped in Istanbul for three days mostly because as a Turkish Airlines passenger the stopover was free. The flight from Dulles was smooth (I flew business class on an A-330) and took about ten hours. Istanbul has a brand-spanking new airport located about 45 […]

Stephanie writes: Serious question Eric, what year did you retire? I’m asking because I think that the men and women have done an amazing- truly amazing job of protecting the memory and reputation of Miss Mittendorf. If my memory serves me correctly you retired before this occurred. Had you been on the job, or spent […]

Bide’n Time International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) president-for-life Harold Schaitberger made a faint ripple of news this week when he urged former Democratic vice-president Joe Biden to run for president in 2020. Biden is fondly recalled for being Barack Obama’s “wingman” and less fondly for never shutting up. Schaitberger’s ardor for Uncle Joe approaches that […]

A Christmas Journey Last week, on the 22nd, I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit my family, many of whom live south of the Altoona area, the former railroad mecca. As is often the case, the weather in D.C. was sunny and mild and the farther north and west I drove, the grayer and chillier […]

A Racialist Token This week, Huff Post, the National Enquirer of the left, “outed” Alex J. McNabb, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in rural Virginia, as an aspiring Blanco Supremo. Like that was hard to do. McNabb has a foot in every major social media camp including twitter, YouTube, Facebook, podcasts and at least one […]

Like many parts of the nation, we have had our share of rain (and more) the past few weeks. There was a nine-day stretch where the sun seemed on vacation from the skies. We can echo that from the standpoint of rain it’s been one of the wettest ever. Because the Potomac River bisects the […]

The Ad You Will Love or Hate Nike is betting most will love it and there’s the story. Colin Kaepernick is nothing if not polarizing. He is the center of the controversial universe. In many ways he is the last person to choose to represent a product or brand. Unless. Nike has done their homework. […]

Many people have a “defining moment” and John McCain’s was when he refused an early repatriation offer while confined as a prisoner during the Vietnam war. He was a prisoner of the North Vietnamese for seven years, enduring torture and deprivation. That refusal, when most would have given in, showed an uncommon commitment to a […]

First, the weather report. At two in the afternoon it’s 113 in the shade. I rolled out at 5AM this morning to see the city at the verge of dawn and to escape the heat. No surprise, it was still and cool with only the sounds of doves cooing. People were walking or biking to […]

Central Asia Ten hours to Istanbul and another four put me in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, yesterday in the middle of a sultry night. The plan is to see some of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and go trekking for ten days in Tajikistan before returning. These places are the crossroads of the world, famous and ancient trading routes […]