Well, first of all, this is the wrong question. I’ve seen this question cropping up all over social media with various claims made in both directions. “Government doesn’t have the power to lock us down,” often answered with “government can do whatever it wants in an emergency.” Neither of these…

As the pages of the internet explode with the rhetoric of a new social distancing culture war, Americans find themselves arguing over whether the unfolding lockdown is a necessary measure to preserve life … or a case of economy-crushing overkill. Meanwhile, the man who fed one side of the debate…

A long cold spell grips a proud culture. When will spring arrive? I spent my childhood in a place called Marion, Ohio. …

It was nearly three years ago that I wrote the words below and posted them to a blog which promptly went viral. It was a fiction at the time. A wish in narrative form. At the time, the Air Force had just come through one of the worst periods in…

Starting in March of 2013, the day after my retirement from active duty, I wrote a blog primarily focused on instigating debate within the ranks of the United States Air Force — first using my own name and later under the pseudonym John Q. Public (more about that later). The…

Something I’ve said countless times over the years … to kids, partner, colleagues, superiors, subordinates, friends … oft-repeated because I truly believe it: as long as people are communicating with one another, anything is possible. When they stop communicating (or communicate non-meaningfully), anything is impossible. It’s really the case. Conflict…

I regret accepting what I should have fought. Not shouting when they shouted. Not raising a fist when they yelled. Not demanding reason as dust settled on disaster. Wish I’d stiffened sooner, dropped in two cents before it was twenty. Refused to drink the water offered the thirsty. Refused to pump a…

Up there. Above the clouds. Why wait for the sun when you can meet in the sky? Out there. Away from the world. A place where normal rules don’t apply. The ultimate control. Inputs and moves. Terra Firma beneath an untouchable soar. The high of not being in control. Life dancing on…

Old enough to know, young enough to care. Too old to be cool, too young for wisdom. It crouches, smirking in the shade of the blind spot, Leaping into view after the fall; to ridicule. Even wisdom likes to mock and wag its finger. But what purpose would wisdom have without…