From the Foreign Desk: Sir John A. MacDonald

 ALBERTA SEPARATION?

Historically speaking, Canadian governments don’t like referendums. The 1992 Canadian referendum to bring Quebec formally into the Constitution (they did not sign it when Pierre Trudeau had a new one written) was defeated and that led directly to the 1995 Quebec referendum. Which was defeated so narrowly (less than 50.5% voted no) that Quebec separatists to this day claim that the vote was stolen.

So, why would Danielle Smith (Alberta Premier) decide to hold one on October 19? First, there is a law in Alberta that if a certain number of signatures are reached on a petition, the province will hold a referendum. That is how the question of holding a referendum on the question of holding a referendum to separate from Canada was started, right? Not quite. First of all, as the earlier sentence said, it was not a vote on separating from Canada. It was a vote to, sometime in the future, hold a vote to separate from Canada. Something that, personally, I don’t think was ever going to happen even if the question of holding a separation vote was successful. Everyone who was anyone in Canadian politics was on record saying that separation was a bad idea and that they were opposed to it. Both Conservatives and Liberals were united in this. Indigenous chiefs were on record saying that Alberta could not leave Canada without their approval (not sure where the legal basis for that comes from, but there you have it). Courts had, at one point, completely blocked the province from even asking the question, but was reversed on appeal.

But the vote failed. 75% of Albertans voted to not hold a vote on separation, and Danielle Smith has said that this ends the question. Personally, I think the fact that 25% of Alberta voting to possibly separate is extremely significant. That would be the end of the whole issue, right? Vote failed, no further votes to be held in the immediate future, the question is now settled.

There’s just one problem that pretty much all the media in both Canada and around the world have missed. You see, this wasn’t a referendum with just one question on it. It was a referendum with ten questions on it. And the results from the other nine questions are…a bit more interesting than anyone really wants to discuss.

You see, the referendum was only going to have nine questions on it, and the separation vote was added only a few months ago. The other nine were questions regarding immigration, voting, health care and Alberta’s relationship with Ottawa. And only one of those questions has (barely) been rejected.

Question one (separation was question ten) asked if Alberta should take more control over immigration. 55% voted yes. Question two (provincially funded programs restricted to Canadian citizens and permanent residents) 52% support. Question three (12 months residency before immigrants are eligible for social supports such as welfare) 53% support. Question four (charge fees for new immigrants to access health care) 52% support. Question six (Province should pick judges) 52% support. Question seven (Abolish the unelected senate – which is similar to the British House of Lords) 51% support. Question nine (provincial law takes precedence over federal law when federal law conflicts with provincial responsibility) 50.5% support.

Did you notice we missed two? Question eight was whether the province should opt out of federal health care programs but still receive funding with 48% support. That one pretty clearly fails. And the big one. A voter must show proof of Canadian citizenship to vote in provincial elections – 62% support.

Why these questions? Danielle Smith has said that she needs public support to implement these measures as Ottawa (specifically, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney) is VERY opposed to these ideas. Don’t think for a second the problems that the US is having with uncontrolled immigration and voter fraud have not been noticed in Canada. They have. It’s just that the Conservative government of Danielle Smith in Alberta is the only one willing to actually do something about it. The voters of Alberta have given her a clear mandate to go forward on these ideas.

Will things change? To a certain extent. But on others, not a chance. The West has wanted the Senate abolished since the 1990s, if not earlier. They have been ignored. The idea that Ottawa would allow the provinces to choose judges? Will never, ever be allowed. Ottawa guards that prerogative jealously. Putting provincial law above or on par with federal law? Far too dangerous a precedent for Ottawa to even consider.

But the questions on health care? Limiting immigration access to welfare? Requiring proof of Canadian citizenship to vote in provincial elections. Yes, they can go forward, though I am sure that in Alberta, just as in the US, there will be constant judicial challenges. But it leads to anyone paying attention to start asking the question. Why are these common sense ideas so dangerous to the federal Liberal government in Ottawa. Hopefully, leading to questions and doubts in voters minds about whether the Liberals really have Canada’s best interests at heart. (spoiler alert: they don’t).

There’s one more thought that’s been buzzing around in my head for the last couple of days. There was a huge push to defeat the separation question, but the others were largely ignored. I’m wondering if Danielle Smith took a page from Donald Trump’s playbook and had the separation question added as a bit of misdirection. Get Carney focused on the separation issue while the program she really wants goes through. It’s a possibility. Canadian politicians learn from Trump too, they just don’t like to admit it.  

Will Gets the Boot

Baaaah...! The podiatrist gave us one of them fancy boots to wear and made a follow up appointment for two weeks. Baaah...! Actually we prefer the boot to the soft cast. One can remove the boot. 

At least the boot looks kinda cool. We're going to tell people we blew out our Achillies on an Arctic fishing expedition, or something. 'She's an eight-footer alright. But you should see the one that got away. Damn, polar bears.'

Gout, plantar, Achillies tendon...have we ever mentioned we're sick of our foot issues?

Political note, national: the polls are fake. They are part of an info op, ground prep for the coming Color Revolution. 

Political note, Israeli. Most polls show Gadi Eisenkot winning the most seats, but the oppo bloc failing to achieve a majority. Our guess is that President Herzog will give Eisenkot first crack at forming a government. There will follow six weeks of political rigmarole. If Eisenkot fails, there will follow another six weeks of political rigmarole. The Oppo bloc has some options here (hello Arab parties, which might actually be a good thing for Israeli society) but they're really in Bibi's wheelhouse. 

Do note, Channel-14 usually has Netanyahu and the right bloc winning 61 + seats. Channel - 14 is Israel's Fox News*, meaning they're incredibly biased for Bibi. But what if their guys found something the other guys missed? Why not? in 2026, most pollsters are guessing. 

[What do you think?-Ed]. Our best guess is a hung Knesset. Which means if you're sick of this crap, sorry. The politicking will go on, and on and on.

DOGE report.

We went over the grognard's notes, which we will do again today, and read through another story. 

We dunno. We think it's done, except for...

You know, it's been a while since we just sat at a coffee shop and stared off into the middle distance-thinking of story ideas [Weirdo -Ed]. Maybe that's what we need to do. 

Let's settle on a title, eh?

Soon it will be time to begin the first of two short story submissions. 

*We'll catch a few segments of Gutfeld. If nothing else, this blog appreciates self deprecating humor. But otherwise we don't watch Fox, or any other cable news. 

Grogged

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders, and happy Wednesday [What's a weekender?-Ed].

Up and down last night but we got in enough sleep. Them pills that is supposed to put us to sleep, among other things, just ain't gettin' the job done. We are annoyed.

The ankle has some residual soreness. We see the foot doctor in a couple of hours. 

Elections...can we get them over with already? Brazil, Israel, the US. We'd hate to break it to enthusiasts and pols, but the midterms here won't have much effect on policy or outcomes either way. Sorry folks, we've seen one house of congress change hands, both houses change hands, even both houses remain in White House hands. When the dust settles, the president (Clinton, W, Barry Soetoro, even Trump) goes on about his business. Reminder, this blog believes the Dems take the House, the GOP holds the senate. 

Hot Air has a couple of stories about Americans moving to Europe because of Trump, or MAGA hats or whatever...and then finding out Europe ain't so great. Big surprise. The Euro's idea of big correlates with the American idea of mid-sized. And no, idiot, Euro healthcare ain't free, and it's not as good as ours. Don't you people remember last summer when Euros came to America for the World Cup and marveled at things like Walmart and....air conditioning? Europe sucks and everyone on the Continent knows it. Exit question, what is the least-worst European country?

Related...we were speaking yesterday with a European friend from a country known for its art and cuisine (who's going to read the above later), and noted that the Fami de Stroock had been toying with the idea of a summer trip to France. Needless to say, after the riots and anti-Jewish pogroms we've called off the trip. Our friend pointed out that crime rates in say, Rome, are not worse than crime rates in NYC. We replied that we're not worried about being mugged. We're worried more about a street or restaurant confrontation that begins, 'What are you doing here, Yankee? And this that a Star of David around your daughter's neck'.

Also...Ynet tells us, 'Former U.S. President Barack Obama has come under fire from conservative and pro-Israel commentators over remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in which he said Jews who sought refuge from persecution "took land off people" and "were excessive."' Whatever. This blog has long maintained that Barry Soetoro is not a smart man. And what he does know, he knows at the surface 'I read a magazine article about it' level. Also, Barry hates Jews.

DOGE report.

Fuck it, we said yesterday and sent the nuke novel MS to the grognard. Being the autistic weirdo that he is, the grognard returned the MS to us in like, three hours with notes. We've yet to read the notes but the grognard said he was pleased. [How come you never care if I'm pleased?-Ed]. Shut up, Ed. Go get me a cup of coffee, and take your time about walking away [Ok!-Ed].

Other than that, we read three more stories, they're fine. 

We worked on story order and think we've got the final chapter titles. 

We spent a lot of time thinking of another story, even a prologue. Nothing. Maybe we should think about a postscript. 

Or we may just call it at 55,000 words. 

Excuse us while we go look at the grognard's notes. 

Elections News, Views and Jews

Aye, Stroock's Books enthusiasts. 

We'll have another fine day of Mid-Atlantic autumn weather. 

The foot is stiff but okay. We slept decently last night. 

FB tells us that 14 years ago we noted, '10 years ago we got our first substitute teaching gig', that is 2002. So, 24 years ago. Mrs. Guyton's special ed class. We still remember a few of those kids. We'd forgotten the date. Thanks FB!

Tell us about it, 'Online antisemitism has reached record levels three years after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, with none of the major social media platforms monitored returning to their prewar baselines, according to a new report by an Australian research institute..' The Arab online Juden hass we get is just dumb. Big surprise there. We haven't gotten much Juden hass from the left lately. The Juden Hass from the right comes from Tucker Carlson fan bois, or really religious types. 

Never try to engage these people. Our response is usually something like, 'What, you're pissed off 'cuz your step-dad's getting more pussy than you?'* Or we just say they're gay and retarded. 

Related...Israeli internet warrior Uri Kurlianchik writes, 'What I learned in Three Years of Being a Keyboard Warrior'. Do click over. Uri makes the same point we've often made, 'The goal of a debate is not to change the opinion of the other guy. It’s to change the opinion of your audience.'

A lot of the groyper types are just on line troll hobbyists. But we've had a couple of scarry incidents too. 

Also...less than a decade ago Benny Gantz's Blue and Whites won 33 seats in the Knesset, today they can't break the 3.25% threshold and have withdrawn from the race. In 2021 Gantz made a unity government deal with Bibi. Never make a deal with Bibi - you fool. Gantz's withdrawl should help Yadi Eisenkot and the Opposition, a little. 

This blog renews its call for a Netanyahu/Eisenkot unity government with Bibi stepping down after 18 month. Bibi, we can't miss you if you won't go away. Think of the war memoir you could write. It's time for President Herzog to push the deal across the finish line, with a blanket pardon for Bibi. 

[Hey, how come you don't talk about the US election much?-Ed]. Mostly we just don't want to be wrong. We don't trust the polls...at all. But for what it's worth this blog believes the Dems will take the house [Bold-Ed], and the GOP will hold the senate. GOP loses NC and AK, but that's it. Picks up MI...maybe NH. 

Northern version, you Canadian bastards still smarting from the Olympic loss...the Alberta referendum tells us there's a core of 20-25 percent of Albertans that want to secede. Beyond that we've no insights. Exit question: how would a Quebec secession vote go?

DOGE report.

Nothing. The Grognard is struggling mightily to get us new ideas. But the cylinders just aren't firing [Do you even have cylinders?]-Ed. 

However, we did read through four short stories yesterday and they're looking pretty good.  And we just knocked off another. Also, pretty good. Of course one can always nitpick. We will not, repeat, not, make the perfect the enemy of the good. 

We've sent Last Salyut to one of our Sovietski comrades.

We are in a good place. 

Huh, what about a prologue story?

*Thank you, Axl Rose. 

Will's Not Going to Take it Anymore

Aye a faire autumn morn to all you Stroock's Books reader(s) out there. Twas a glorious autumn afternoon here in Northern New Jersey. We indulged in a bottle and an Arturo Fuente, our first in six weeks and 18th of the year. 

After Friday and Saturday night disasters, we finally got some decent sleep last night and arose a bit later than normal for us. 

Last night the plastic slip we put over our soft ankle cast failed in the shower and the entire edifice was soaked. We cut the cast off. The ankle and Achillies are a little stiff but feel ok. We're still taking things easy. Our follow up is Wednesday. 

We've not been to the gym in nearly a week. As we've noted before we felt our body needed a gym break. So we're getting the break. 

The JJ McCarthy era in New York has begun. Why not? Jameis Winston looked horrible. At least the Cowboys lost last night. We don't know who needs to hear this, but here we go: Dak Prescott is a fantasy stat quarterback. The Redskins suck. The Eagles are tanking. A friend remarked this morning that the NFC east is trash. This could be the Giants' year.

Alberta's weird should we/should we not hold a referendum to determine if we should hold a referendum is today. Our fellow North American predicts the referendum fails. Who can say? For those who get down about the outcome, there's always MAID, which just had its 100,000th victim, er customer. Congratulations. 

Oh, big surprise, Trump has endorsed Netanyahu. This blog has no idea if Trump will make a difference in Israel's election. We found a couple of polls this year that put Trump's approval rating in Israel at over 70 percent. Current election Polls remain 'mixed'. This blog stands by its hung Knesset prediction. 

What Will's Watching, Network (1976). You know the one where Peter Finch shouts, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!' We'd never seen it. Network is about a literal 4th rate television Network whose nightly news anchor snaps on air and announces he's going to kill himself. Of course, the evening news does boffo ratings after that, and the network creative types get ideas about new, sensationalist programming. One up an coming producer played by Faye Dunaway wants to build a weekly TV show around a black/Marxist terrorist. The suits, led by Roberet Duvall, caring for nothing but ratings potential, buy in. 

These revelations about rock-bottom TV seem obvious now, and anyone under 40 or so is probably baffled by what we're about to say next, but in 1976 TV was supposed to be respectable. Remember, in the 1950s Lucy and Ricky slept in different beds, and the network didn't want to show Lucy pregnant. About most the most controversial thing on TV in 1976 was All in Family, which made history by having a toilet flush off screen, 'Archie!' Fluuuuushhhhh'. For reasons that still baffle scientists, it's funny. That year Charlie's Angels will debut. A splash, a controversy at the time. Charlie's Angels seems tame today. And then there was Wonder Woman... [Knobhead-Ed]. Still, TV was a long way from 90's era daytime trash TV. 

DOGE report.

We got another writing gig. Just a cultural piece. Due in December. 

Frankly, we've no idea what we're doing this morning. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/18/26: Supplemental

Got in about four midmorning hours there. Good, not great.  

The fifth nuke novel has 11 short stories and comes to 55,000 words, which is just a hair too short. We had three ideas.

First, pad the stories. No thank you. That gets us into a word count battle. Never get into a word count battle.

Second, insert short vignettes between the stories, sort of like we did with the first books in The Great Nuclear War of 1975 series. This idea has potential. A thousand words here, a thousand words there. Maybe we can show people climbing out of the rubble, choking back radioactive dust, and whatnot. But...we really just want this to be a short story com like War Night. 

And D, that last story. We think this is the strongest idea [But you don't have the idea-Ed]. Just because we don't have an idea doesn't mean the idea doesn't exist. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/18/26

Well, it's 4:38 in the morning and we ain't slept a wink. So we figured we'd stop lying around doing nothing and do something useful. We'll let the readership, such as it is, know if the sun starts rising or anything. 

We're a bit offput. Miffed even. 

Needless to say, Sunday is probably shot to hell.

Yesterday we read through and fixed up the sub story. It's looking pretty good to us, man.

Will's Good Idea for the week of 10/18/26...

It's just about time to start working on the first of two short story submission due early next year. This will be For Want of an Arrow, Harold wins at Hastings. 

The second story will be some kind of alternate World War Two story. We've no idea what, yet. 

We note these projects because we're sick of thinking about another nuke novel short story. 

Since REDACTED doesn't even acknowledge our article queries, we'll hit up another magazine syndicate next week, one with whom we've never published. 

Also, we're going to look up Aussie military history mags. They love The Great War and would probably be interested in some Pershing stuff, right? Right? 

Saturday Updates

Baah! Another rough night. Woke up after an hour and couldn't get back to sleep. We are annoyed and frustrated. We may do something stupid today like crack open a bottle and light an Arturo Fuente, our first in over a month [That would be self defeating-Ed]. 

No gym time. We hate that. We love the gym. We do love it so. We've blogged about this before, but Shane Gillis is right. Madam, we don't need to wear skin-tight butt-pucker leggings to the gym and neither do you. 

The Things.

We didn't look at Thatcher's War at all this week, by design. It's done, we think (said in an uptalked voice). We sigh forlornly. We are sick of Ireland, the Irish, the Troubles, the IRA, the Originals, the Provos, the UDA, the UVF, the IFF, the RUC, the UDR...you fucking people with your paramilitary groups that need their own paramilitary groups...Charles Haughey, Ian Paisley, Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness....Fuck all. 

We read the BAOR story twice yesterday. Is it perfect? No. No story is perfect and we'll not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But it's good enough. 

Beta readers have read several stories and came away pleased. Any other takers? Confederates? 

The novel still needs one more story to kick it up 60,000 words. We've no idea. Here are the story themes: The Canadian DEW Line, a Soviet sub pulls up on an American town, a child left home alone, a young couple and their daughter dying, the BAOR, A man caring for his dying father, Soviet Salyut station, a Michigan Mom and her boys and ANG pilot husband, an Egyptian army officer, a hippy commune in the Berkshires, the return of Kenny and Aoife.  

The 5th nuke novel (how did we get away from the title?) is 55,000 words. 

No Tree, No Down, No How

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

The Achillies is healing...it's healing. 

But we can't hit the gym till at least Wednesday, leaving us bored in the late afternoon. Every day we don't go to the gym we get weaker while our enemies grow stronger. 

So we wanted to have a few trees taken down up at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. We've worried one may fall across the canal and the other may fall on the house. This being Massachusetts we had to go through local Conservation Commission for permission. Paperwork included a map, geolocations, reasons for wanting to take the trees down, etc etc. 

At the zoom meeting yesterday commission members twice asked what was wrong with the trees, said the trees looked fine to them, and determined we needed to get a written report from a licensed arborist. Oh, and we must plant replacement trees. An arborist's written report, what's that gonna cost? and the new trees? After consultations with the Loyal Opposition and the King, we've decided to table the project.* It's just gonna be a whole can of warms, costly, costly warms.

Over at Hot Air, John Sexton writes with disdain, disgust, choose your adjective, 'People have embraced the belief that we should all be allowed to follow our whims without paying any price, and that others owe it to them to make that happen, even at the cost of their lives, if necessary.' Sexton goes on to talk about the widespread acceptance and celebration abortion and euthanasia. Click over to read of the horrors. The Pro-Life movement has utterly failed...

,,,Especially in Canada where their MAID program has euthanized 100,000 people in the last decade. Thems ain't no rookie numbers, not hardly. Think of the savings, this blog is sure Ottawa is terribly pleased. Congrats Canuks. 

Political note, national. PJM's Matt Vespa notes fake polls and bad polls. We agree. We also agree with Kurt Schlichter, who is always right, when he asks if Dems peaked too soon. The race comes down to a lot of bad candidate choices for the Dems, Texas, Michigan, Maine. And it's going to cost them. They'll still take the House though. So get reader for Speaker Temu Obama. 

Political note, local. A long write up on the NJ07 congressional race with a note that a couple of outside groups have pulled funding for incumbent GOP Tom Kean. We can report that Kean is still fighting mad on the internet and on TV, including buying ads during sporting events. He was well funded from the get-go. The last poll, a month old now, showed challenger Rebecca Bennet beating Kean 47-42. As noted in the Matt Vespa post, if polls are off just a little...Still, we'd much rather be Bennett. She's a great candidate. 

DOGE report.

The sub story really came along yesterday. Is it there? Almost. 

Still nothing on new nuke story ideas. Maybe there just isn't another idea in there [Preposterous!-Ed]. We'll keep thinking. As Qui Gon once said, a solution will present itself. 

We sent an article proposal to REDACTED about the US army in 1917. 

*For the record, we'd been working on the project for weeks. During all that time commission personnel were available and helpful. During the zoom meeting they were easy going and personable. Bottom line, they just didn't think there was anything wrong with the trees. If the tree experts aren't worried, why should we worry?