Tuesday Post Without Title

Good morning Stroock's Books reader(s), you brave few. 

War of the ants...we saw a few live ants yesterday and spotted several carcasses this morning. We've passed the tipping point, we're sure. It's time to address Congress, and assure that august body that victory is near.

Let's recap the political things, shall we? The US Supreme Court struck down race based congressional districts. The Virginia Supreme Court voided the state's gerrymander referendum. Various red states are furiously gerrymandering their congressional maps. And Dems are acting with the grace and circumspection which we've come to expect from the party of Jefferson Davis. It's been a great week or ten days for the GOP. Enjoy it. This blog warns reader(s) against Victory Disease.* 

What Will's watching...Borat. Saw it on Netflix last night. We have to admit, the Jewish jokes aren't as funny as they were in 2006, when they seemed so ridiculous they were farcical. 

Meanwhile terrorists carried out an anti-Jewish pogrom in Brooklyn last night and the New York Times' Nick Kristoff is blood-libeling the Jews. 

Times have changed and the eye twitches. 

DOGE report.

We read through and greatly improved the Contra/FDN prep chapter in which the reader is introduced to several Contra Comandantes in scenes where Contra commandos are marching over the mountains into the Jalapa River Valley and such. Readers meet US air liaisons. One was born in Nicaragua and is returning home. Another is a Spanish fluent Texan wearing a tan vest, mustache, and aviator sunglasses. Gen-X readers may recognize this action figure. 

In reading through the Contra/FDN prep chapter we added a few scenes. 

Honestly this is scutwork, and it will be several more readthroughs before we are truly happy. 

*Year on year inflation 3.8 percent. As we were saying...

Various for Monday

A cloudy good morning to Stroock's Books reader(s) in the United States, Commonwealth, and across the globe. 

We ourselves awake with a touch of plantar fasciitis, which is better than waking up with a touch of gout. 

Oldest Daughter is home from college after a very successful first year. 

War of the ants...we saw one ant yesterday. We are moving inexorably toward victory. 

PJM reports: 'Bombshell Evidence About the 2020 Election Is Coming'. We remain skeptical. Which is to say, remaining unaccountable for one's misdeeds is a Democrat specialty. Which is not to say that Trump didn't win. Trump won. Upon this hill we will fight. Oh, you think the election was fair? Got any evidence for that, or na? Do you also believe in the tooth fairy? Reminder, believing the 2020 election was fair is the conspiracy theory here. 

We remain paralyzed, unable and unwilling to write American Revolutionary War articles. No idea why.  Organizing our boxed up library would be a way to stoke our own interest. Back in the day, by which we mean 2021, our American Revolution books took up an entire bookcase, about a hundred books in all. 

One American Revolution thought. Historians sometimes portray Washington as an 18th century Fabius avoiding pitched battle with the British Army. The men of the American Revolution (like their British counterparts) were raised on Plutarch and other Roman historians. They looked to Roman examples to define Washington's character.

Note, Plutarch was not a historian in the way we think of historians*. He was a moralist, using historical examples to define good morals and character. For example, Alexander was an overambitious glutton who couldn't stop conquering. Ceaser was of bad character so the senate assassinated him. This style of history is why we have stories about George Washington in the cherry tree. Washington was of good character and won the war and was a good president because of that character.

The first modern history is Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon was in many ways a moralist too. The Roman Empire fell because it became large and gluttonous. Gibbon's not wrong, is he? But unlike a lot of moralists, Gibbon looked at the primary sources (think of those Penguin Classic histories at the book store) and used them to interpret what had happened. 

DOGE Report.

We worked on the Contra intro chapter yesterday and are diligently trying to make this chapter make sense. These are important character introductions. We shall continue doing so today. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/10/26

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and Happy Mother's Day. Mrs. Stroock doesn't care much about Mother's Day, she's far too practical, and is more interested in her 76rs tonight than Mother's Day. Mrs. Stroock's been without her mother for 24 years. Ours has been gone for eight years now [Well that's a hell of a downer. Is today Thursday or something?-Ed]. 

We awake tired and groggy. Also, we're sore from three days in a row at the gym.

[You're just a good time this morning, aren't you?-Ed].

We are...we are. 

A report in the WSJ claims the Israelis established a secret base in the Iraqi desert to support airstrikes in Iran. Cool. The Israelis totally imitated Israel Strikes. Otherwise Israel Strikes has been totally overtaken by events. Baah! Still a good novel, though. 

Let's get right to it...Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/10/26.

We've been watching some videos and reading some articles on book sales, rankings etc. We're really not learning much and a lot of these tips and ideas seem dubious. 

We have not committed to writing World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap. 

To restate something we stated a few months ago...we've got two half finished World War 1990 novels. We know for sure we're doing Esercito Italiano, Saddam's War, and Election '92. We'd kind of like to get things wrapped up by 2028. Right? 

DOGE report.

We spent a good chunk of yesterday cleaning up a couple of Managua chapters. We'll spend today cleaning up the Contra prep chapter.

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders. 

We got in a Judaism last night. Our first in a while, actually. Changes in the works. 

Happy Victory Day, Comrades.

Even without the flag and tie we manage to look so Soviet in that pic, or Ruski, anyway. 

We remain baffled as to how our Triglyceride levels spiked from 204 to 692 in ten months. Glucose is up, slightly. We eat no differently than we did last July. Stress? We dunno. Devotees will recall last summer's AC Wars. Those were so stressful that Mrs. Stroock took the phone from us because she thought we were about to stroke-out. 

We are up about ten pounds. But this is muscle. We know this because last summer we benched 230 and now we bench 300. And our pants fit us the same and we're wearing belts we have to punch a whole into, so they're tight enough, not loose enough. 

So, alert reader(s) will have noticed we've been going to the doctor a lot lately.  We'll be going to the doctor a lot more for examinations and tests. Two more are in the works. One Thursday, one at the end of the month. This blog will deliver health updates as events warrant. 

War of the ants...very little ant activity yesterday and we've yet to see one this morning. The little bastards are probably regrouping. They're clever. 

Well, Labour lost 1,416 seats in Britain's local elections, the Tories lost 659 and Reform picked up over 1,500. The Greens and 'Muslim Independent Parties' also gained seats. As Mark Steyn says, the future is showing up. Labour's shellacking is nice to see, but we doubt it will amount to much in the long run. Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he won't step down. Honestly, those of us who loath the man should encourage him to remain in Number Ten for further torturing. Things will only get worse. 

The Things.

We are bored with Substack and sorely tempted to return to Twitter and do on Twitter what we do on Substack. We dunno. 

Okay, we had a great week with World War 1990: The Managua Campaign. Both Task Force Bolivar and the FDN have broken through and are proceeding south toward Managua. We're still not sure what happens next. Maybe we have both groups arrive on the outskirts of Managua and then...standoff. 

World War 1990: The Managua Campaign is 48,000 words.

Friday Fuck it all

Good afternoon, Stroock's Books reader(s) and shabbat shalom. 

Hahahahah....ahhhhhhahahahaha! Lose fifty pounds, the doctor said. You want to go on a GLP-1 he asked? No, we replied. Okay, we said we'd think about it. Well, we thought about it, and we're still a no. That's a hard no. No to the fullest effect. No with extreme prejudice.

Even better...devotees will recall last summer's bloodwork revealed our triglycerides had dropped all the way down to 205. Get ready to laugh more because yesterday they were 692. We're eating more or less the same way we did last July. 

Lose 50 pounds, what the actual ef?

As reader(s) might imagine, we're pretty fucked off about this. Times like this we wish we were Canadian so we could access their MAID service. Doctors suck. 

As we write this Labor and to a lesser extent the Tories are getting wiped out in Britain's council elections. Good [claps hands] good.

And the Virginia Supreme Court has struck down the Dem's gerrymandered map. Meanwhile red states proceed with their constitutionally protected gerrymanders. FAFO, guys. FAFO. 

War of the ants...we have not yet seen an ant today. 

DOGE report.

Plenty of good work yesterday on World War 1990: The Managua Campaign. We've got ideas and articulation and are tweaking the Pan- American/FDN plan. We'll get a start on that interlude chapter. Should hit a milestone today. 

Getting to See

Aye....a cloudy and wet morning here in Northern New Jersey. 

We've had four days in a row at the gym. Time to rest, right? 

We have a physical today. Wish us luck. 

What do we got?

Negotiations between the US and Iran continue apace. MAGA accounts are triumphant. We are more skeptical and circumspect, as is our wont. Our own sense is that some sort of deal will be reached. At this point we're not sure what renewing the military campaign can accomplish. Lots of US military aircraft are landing in the ME right now. We shall see.

Meanwhile, Israel blows up Hezbollah's stuff in south Lebanon.

Elections in Britain today. Labour is supposed to be wiped out. Supposed to be. We shall also see. 

War of the Ants... Yesterday we stomped 21 ants. So far we have not seen a carpenter ant this morning (oh, never mind. There's one). But the little ones have appeared in the master bathroom shower. We found their colony though and terminated it with extreme prejudice. We sprayed the exterior of the house with a soap/vinegar solution. The ants' tipping point is nearing. We shall see once more. 

DOGE report.

Task Force Bolivar is ready to break out of the Choluteca Gap. FDN forces (half a dozen task forces backed by US air power) are breaking out of Nueva Segovia and driving south.

After that, we really have no idea what happens. 

We probably need an interlude chapter between the above and the final drive on Managua. 

Art of the Deal?

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy midweek. 

Baaah...a rough night. No idea why. 

At least we don't have to drive anyone anywhere today. 

The other day when working on the lawn we noticed that the tiny little Japanese maple we planted in 2006 had died. It never grew much but every year the maple had gorgeous leaves. Oh well. At least we got to break out the chain saw. 

Pointless nostalgia...2006 was our first full spring here in casa-de-Stroock, and we endeavored to be one of those lawn guys. You know, the kind that spends a couple of ours on Saturdays mowing the lawn, pruning the bushes, planting some new flowers, etc etc. We are no longer one of those lawn guys. 

Iran talks...the terms discussed seem so ludicrously favorable to Iran that they have to be wrong or part of some greater misinformation effort, right? Maybe Trump's making a maximalist offer so he can say, 'See, I tried', right? Maybe. Perhaps Trump's just trying to gin the oil markets*. Right? Right? Otherwise, what the actual ef?

A lot of MAGA accounts are chalking these terms up as a great deal. We don't see it, for now. 

Indiana...five of six called state senate races were one by Trump backed candidates against incumbents who refused Governor Braun's redistricting efforts. MAGA is the GOP. The GOP is MAGA. Note, we are a lot less hostile to Mike Pence than some on the right. What exactly was he supposed to do in 2020? Nevertheless...[Nevertheless, what?-Ed]. Just nevertheless.

Ohio...Vivek Ramaswamy easily won the GOP nomination for governor. Slick politicians are often compared to used car salesmen. But Ramaswamy reminds us of a game show host. We've no idea what his odds are in November. 

DOGE Report.

Mostly editing and rewriting yesterday, cleaning up the invasion chapters, getting everything shipshape and Bristol fashion. 

We've been writing a narrative battle scene from out East German Oberst advisor's POV rather than our typical back and forth between A and B. So far, so good, we guess. 

*Oil's down, like 12 percent this morning. We're going to wish cast that it's the oil thing.