No one is willing to do the hard things to avert a crisis — The American west is careening towards a disaster of epic proportions. The impending crisis has a little bit to do with climate change and a lot to do with the historical climate of the region. The American west is dry — much drier than people initially realized. This poses an…

The economic currents working against the West — The economic sanctions imposed on Russia by a large number of nations in response to their invasion of Ukraine were supposed to cripple their economy and grind the war effort to a halt. Instead, Russia continues to weather the storm with surprising resiliency. At first, the sanctions looked like they…

USS Samuel B Roberts — The USS Samuel B. Roberts was a 1944 escort destroyer built to guard and support the growing American fleets in the Pacific. The ship was commissioned in April and sank six months later in one of the largest naval battles in history. …

Did pirates really fly the Jolly Roger? — The Jolly Roger has become a mainstream part of modern popular culture. The skull and crossbones have made appearances in movies, comics, and video games. But did pirates actually fly this iconic flag? It sounds like a bad idea to fly a flag that advertises you as a pirate to…

The policy that helped the US win the war — On June 20th, 1944, the United States launched a bold counterattack to track down fleeing enemy carriers after the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The US commanders knew that sending an aerial strike out so late in the day would require the pilots to return to the fleet after sunset…

Goodbye Voyager, thanks for the memories — The Voyager space probes have been hurtling through space for an unprecedented 44 years, 9 months, 20 days, 7 hours and 29 minutes. And counting. The Voyager mission has been a landmark success for NASA. The probes snapped some of the most stunning images of our solar system to date…

And they’ve probably always been drones — Remember when numerous US naval vessels were swarmed by drones off the coast of Los Angeles in 2019? The incidents prompted UFO believers to hoot and holler about aliens coming to investigate our military capabilities. Thanks to new information we can safely assume that these incidents were likely caused by…

An unfortunate end to a famous horse — On May 3, 1986, 123,000 people packed into the grandstands at Churchill Downs to watch the 112th run for the Kentucky Derby. The weather was nice, the track conditions were fast and everyone was eager to see a good race. One of the headline stories was a horse trained by…

Turkey continues to push the military envelope with Greece and Syria — Greece and Turkey have a rivalry dating back thousands of years. Greeks and Turks have been antagonistic neighbors ever since the Persians crossed the Agean Sea to threaten the Peloponnese. That fraught relationship has gone through various wars, eras, and figures. The Ottoman Turks ruled Greece for hundreds of years…