*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on February 26, 2022. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here. How far will Vladimir Putin go with his “special military operation” in Ukraine? What’s his plan past taking…
*Note: This essay was originally published on the Modern War Institute’s Commentary & Analysis site. Real estate’s expensive these days. It doesn’t matter where you are. But if you happen to be in one of the thirty-eight countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, home prices surged nearly 7 percent from 2019 to 2020. It was the fastest year-over-year…
*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on October 17, 2021. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here and PDF of the print version can be found here. I had fired every bullet and it wasn’t enough. On a black…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on October 6, 2021. The text of the essay is below. I took my family to the inaugural game at Ed Robson Arena at Colorado College on Saturday night. We watched the Air Force Falcons win 2-1 over the home team Colorado College Tigers in an exhibition. Once, I…
*Note: This audio essay first aired on KRCC (Colorado Springs’ NPR affiliate, 91.5 FM) on September 23, 2021. The link to the program is here; the audio file and the text from the essay are below. Size isn’t everything, even with Fourteeners. One of the most iconic of the gigantic peaks may well be the Mount of the…
*Note: This audio essay first aired on KRCC (Colorado Springs’ NPR affiliate, 91.5 FM) on September 16, 2021. The link to the program is here; the audio file and the text from the essay are below. There’s at a peak northwest of Salida, that some say, in the springtime, after the snow starts to melt, has an angel gracing…
*Note: This audio essay first aired on KRCC (Colorado Springs’ NPR affiliate, 91.5 FM) on September 9, 2021. The link to the program is here; the audio file and the text from the essay are below. “Elbert” is just a guy. Just some guy, who happens to be the namesake of Colorado’s highest Fourteener, all 14,440 feet of…
*Note: This essay was originally published on the Modern War Institute’s Commentary & Analysis site. Deterrence smells like tank exhaust and feels like an earthquake. Hundreds of armored vehicles rumbled over streets, thousands of troops marched in formation, and dozens of planes flew overhead as Ukrainians cheered during their Independence Day parade on August 24. Kyiv’s main boulevard—Khreshchatyk—filled to…
*Note: This audio essay first aired on KRCC (Colorado Springs’ NPR affiliate, 91.5 FM) on September 2, 2021. The link to the program is here; the audio file and the text from the essay are below. “Fourteeners” is a weird word. If you think about it, 14 is just one of those numbers that doesn’t get a lot…
*Note: This audio essay first aired on KRCC (Colorado Springs’ NPR affiliate, 91.5 FM) on August 26, 2021. The link to the program is here; the audio file is below. The text below does not match the audio; the text is meant to describe the context for the audio file. When I lined up this past Saturday for…