Bibi Blue, Oppo Blew It

Happy Thursday, people of Stroock's Books. 

By midday yesterday our other foot was bothering us something fierce. We are annoyed. 

In Israel, 95 percent of the votes are in. Coalition 53, Opposition 48, Arabs 19. Ben Shapiro breaks down the election and explains why Netanyahu is in fantastic shape.

And lookie here, we have a scandal in which it seems Qatari money helped drive Arabs to the polls. See the great Amit Segal. We're not going to touch that one. But it don't look good. This story means there is no chance the Opposition bloc will try to form a government with one or more of the Arab parties. Well played, Bibi. Well played indeed. 

A unity government of Bibi, Eisenkot, Bennett, and Liberman, four leaders who are of like mind on security issues, gets you 67 seats. Bibi serves for two years and is kicked up to the ceremonial presidency. Eisenkot becomes PM. During this time they can finish off Iran, do some minor supreme court reforms, and pass a Haredi draft bill. Do it guys. Do it!

What do Israeli election results mean for America? Conservatives are almost certainly being under-polled. 

Related...Hot Air says Iowa is fine. As it happens we have a man on the ground there who is in a position to know. He agrees with Hot Air's assessment. We asked him if Iowa is fine, then Kansas and Nebraska are also fine, no? Then we apologized for our East Coast bias, lumping three rural states together like that. Our man on the ground in Iowa agreed with our assessment.  

Then there's the Alaskan Decoy Dan business. This story breaking so close to election day tells us the Trump people and GOP are really on their A game. We shall see. 

And Powerline thinks Minnesota Dems are scared.

Lord we're sick of thinking about politics and elections. Lords of Kobol, here our prayer. Make us follow something other than politics. 

A friend of ours is reading overwrought news headlines about Armageddon and has begun doomsday prepping in their suburban New Jersey condo. We shrug. In the case of nuclear Armageddon, everyone in New Jersey is dead within a week. 

DOGE Report.

Two more Thatcher's War chapter down.

We've written the opening to the Hastings story. It's about a thousand words; shows the scene, introduces the characters, and whatnot. We're trying to keep dialogue simple. That is, we're trying to avoid French descended words and sticking with Germanic descendent words. 

We think we got our alternate history WWII story idea. 

A New Netanyahu Negotiates

Baaah...our right Achillies is fine, our left foot is still bugging us. 

We went to an Israeli election forum at our synagogue last night. Actually, it was more of a lecture by the Rabbi. We're glad we went all the same. It's nice to get out. Normally we're on dance taxi duty after dinner. 

[What about the election?-Ed]

Oh! Right! Well, here you go. Those numbers are going to shift around a bit, as they haven't counted the double (absentee) envelopes yet. But that's just about what the next Knesset will look like. 

In other words, Israeli politics are still a mess. 

The outstanding Amit Segal writes, 'Bibi Hasn't Won but the Opposition has lost'. Segal sounds a bit bummed, which is fine for a centrist. He ain't no lefty. 

This blog once again calls for a unity government between Netanyahu, Eisenkot and Bennett. Bibi leads for 18 months and then....they kick him up to the ceremonial presidency [Good grief-Ed]. I know, right? 

Also, it seems Trump is negotiating behind the scenes and is pressing for just such a government. 

Related...Powerline reports, 'The current McLaughlin survey finds that Jewish voters prefer Republicans over Democrats on the generic Congressional ballot by two to one.' Whoa. Blue Wave my butt. Not with them numbers, bubbe.*

DOGE report.

We read through two chapters of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Once again, so far, so good. Overall we're about a third of the way through. 

We worked on the Hastings story. A little rough yesterday but the first thousand words are coming along just fine. 

And...

After the Last Bomb: Stories of the Great Nuclear War of 1975

The bombs have stopped. The war is over. But the struggle for survival has just begun.

- In Nebraska a young couple suffering from radiation sickness makes a hard choice

- Aboard Salyut Station, Soviet cosmonauts survey the damage to the USSR and realize they’re what’s left of the State

- In Washington State, townspeople take the war into their own hands

- In Pennsylvania, a five-year-old boy is left home alone with nothing but his imagination

- On the Suez Canal, an Egyptian officer ponders the world without the United States’ restraining hand

And much more....

William Stroock is the author of more than 20 novels. The Last Bomb is the 5th novel in the Great Nuclear War of 1975 series.

*Dems will still almost certainly take the House. Oh well. 

Israel Votes

Good morning Stroock's Books kibbutzim. 

It's election day in Israel. Finally. Of course the election today will probably solve nothing and we're in for weeks of horse trading and deal making. That's our prediction*. The reader(s) guess is as good as ours. 

Here's your final polling aggregate. Here the great Hugh Hewitt interviews former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren about the election and his predictions. 

As of 9:53 AM, the Times of Israel reports turnout is unprecedented. Good. 

It will come to know surprise to long time reader(s), alert reader(s) and devotees that this blog endorses Benjamin Netanyahu. We considered a coalition led by Yadi Eisenkot or even Naftali Bennett. We agree with them on Haredi draft and welfare issues. The future will need new leadership. 

Benjamin Netanyahu may not be the man of the future, but he is the man for right now. No one else in Israel could have smashed Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, parried the backstabs of the Biden Regency, and resisted the Euros. No one. Vote Likud. Finish the job. A vote for Netanyahu is a vote for Victory. 

And besides, a Netanyahu victory would piss off all the right people. 

Polls close at four PM Eastern Standard Time. Exit polls (for what they're worth) follow. Here's a summation of what happens next. Reminder, President Herzog picks an MK to form a government. And away we go. 

We'll be attending a post-election forum/discussion at our synagogue tonight. 

Exit question: will the Israeli supreme court pull a Brazilian style fast one and tilt the scales for the opposition block? Reminder: Bolsonaro won. 

Baaaaah! Our left foot is bothering us now as we've been favoring it. Baaaaah! We swipe at the air and drink our grog, or coffee anyway. 

What Will's Reading. The Anglo Saxons, by Marc Morris. We love a good history book about England's ethereal, mist shrouded past. But first, what was Roman Britain like and why did it fall?

DOGE report. 

We have not heard back from Military History Matters about our article query. We move on. Next!?

We worked on the Hastings story yesterday. So far. So good. So what? Mr. Mustaine would add. 

We read through two World War 1990: Ireland chapters. We're read through a few more today. Also so far. so good. 

*Heh. A hung Knesset. During the negotiations Netanyahu and the US renew the war on Iran and topple the Mullahs. Bibi then negotiates a new government. He's clever, that one. Never, ever underestimate Bibi. 

Monday Big Blue and the Blues for Green and Yellow

Hahahah...our other foot is bothering us. 

Also...hahahahaha, Hot Air reports, 'The Fix Is In: Judge Who Was Lula's Personal Lawyer Extends Brazil's Voting for Two More Hours WELP'.  Actually, for a while we were watching returns and thinking, 'This isn't so bad, Flavio is extending his lead', as we were mistaking the red bar for the rightwing candidate [Knobhead-Ed]. Anywho, we know of no case world-wide where the right has been able to Stop the Steal. Congratulations, Lula on your come from behind 'win'.

Oh well, on to nicer things. 

All right, Big Blue. We haven't cheered like that for the Giants in...years. When Skataboo broke that long run in overtime, and Singletary followed it up with a TD, we actually cheered. 'Go! Go! Yes!' Like we said. It's been a long time. New QB JJ McCarthy looked pretty good too. Overall, an impressive overtime road win. Are the Giants great? No. Are they good? Maybe. They're certainly well coached for the first time since Tom Coughlin. 

The Giants have a lot of tough games ahead and will have to improve greatly. Teams like San Francisco and Seattle will punch them right in the mouth. But at least the Giants are no longer pushovers and can punch back. And it seems the Giants have a knack for winning close games. 

The Giants have a bye week and for now, we're just going to enjoy the win. 

Speaking of blue....and whites, Israeli elections tomorrow. Your guess is as good as ours. Hung Knesset if one believes the polls. Or Channel 14 could be right and the right bloc is ahead. Or the Supreme Court may pull some Brazilian style shenanigans. We shrug and get another cup of coffee. Amit Segal* presents four possibilities. Have fun sorting that out, people. 

We've got a couple of nice medieval history books on the way. One about The Dark Ages, the other about Anglo-Saxon England. we'll post a pic tomorrow or whenever the books get here. Heh, we just looked and they're just a few miles away. Aye, we haven't done any serious medieval reading since the 2000s. 

Related, so in 2004 we began work on this: 

That was a fun piece to do. And difficult. As we recall we had to put the project down for a month while we tried to get some other projects sorted out first. We used a lot of medieval sources, such as they are, including the Bayeaux Tapestry itself. The sources more or less agree on events. Several Norman charges, followed by English pursuit leading to heavy casualties. Then a sustained Norman archer barrage and a final charge. Somewhere at the end King Harold was killed. Whether he was killed in the final charge or before hand is a matter of debate. We believe he was killed by an arrow through the eye. 

We reread the article yesterday. It is essentially our notes for the Hastings story. The piece holds up surprisingly well. The article can be read in short our book, Great Medieval Captains. 

DOGE report. 

We began the Hastings story yesterday. We are pleased. 

We need to write the back cover text for After the Last Bomb. 

*Best journo in Israel right now. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/25/26

Good morning, Christian reader(s), and happy Sunday. Don't skimp on the post-Church lunch buffet. You've earned it. 

As we write this the womenfolk are getting ready for Mrs. Stroock's planned family photo. Wish us luck. 

We sent our last article query to Military History Matters, for whom we've written before. If they don't want to respond, hell with 'em. Still haven't heard back from REDACTED. What are we, black balled are something? Whatevs, yo. We already have one gig. We'll focus on that one...for now.

Elections in Brazil today. Our best guess is Bolsonaro wins. The last two polls we saw each had him ahead by two points. Given that previous polls underestimated Bolsonaro's numbers by 7 points, he ought to win right? Right? 

Related, the NDP premier of British Columbia called a snap election and just got his head handed to him by the Cons? Whoa, what a wipeout!

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/25/26.

The nuke novel MS is in. If this novel does well, and we have our doubts, we'll write a sixth nuke novel. This allows us to sit around thinking about new nuke ideas. It's good for the brain, for the creative flow, for the ju-ju.

We still need a title. How about, 'After the Last Bomb: Stories of the Great Nuclear War of 1975'. Yes, yes we think that's it. 

We begin what we think will be our final read through of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Should take a week or ten days. We'll take our time.

The leader of this blog's Confederate Contingent is struggling mightily to give us ideas. We are grateful for the effort.

We'll start work on out Hastings story this week. Reminder, the Hastings battlefield we have walked. In truth, there's not much to it. It's a field. 

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders, and happy Saturday. 

We got in a Judaism last night. 

Huh, Lindsey Graham was gay? Who knew? Anyway...

So, Trump's DOJ has indicted Ilhan Omar, two FBI agents, and Virginia state senator Virginia Lucas. We see two things. First, Trump is trying to create a Dem corruption narrative. Second, Trump is telling the base, 'See? Remember when I said that I am your vengeance? Here's the vengeance'. 

The Things. 

We called it. We sent the fifth nuke novel to our people for editing and formatting. This is it. This is the novel. 

We feel like a burden has been lifted.

We've been researching the latest short story project, reading some delightful articles and books, about which we'll talk more about next week.

Also. We might feel the spark for one of those patented Stroock reading projects.  

We've still got to think of a WWII alt hist short story. 

The deck is cleared to begin what should (should!) be the final reading of World War 1990: Thatcher's War.

Will Goes the full Talmud - and on a Friday Too

Shabbat Shalom, Stroock's Books Kibbutzim, and happy Friday. 

We're walking around wearing our boot like Pirate Clark selling discount ottomans in a bad furniture TV commercial. Yes, we saw Back Rooms. Maybe we'll do a triple W about it next week.

A friend from a European country known for its art and cuisine (and does not have an NFL team named for its ancestors), after reading our Euro-AC post, sent us a video extolling the virtues of his home's proper REDACTED brick walls, 'So it's better. It's a better wall'.

On Substack we've attracted another Christian alt-right type who wants to bash Israel and tell us what's in the Talmud. We've no idea what's in the Talmud. Never cracked its spine. Oh well. As is standard, we just asked for the name of the pretty little Jewish girl that broke his heart in 8th grade, or if he's pissed that his Jewish step-dad's getting more pussy than him - to paraphrase Duff McKagan [Mature-Ed]. Huh, he (she) just called us a 'Talmudist'. Never heard that one before. 

Political note, national: Hot Air reports, 'M-SNOW Host: I'm Getting Skeptical About Talarico Polling After ...' Ed Morrisey goes on to argue that the polls are crap and we should ignore them. We agree. Maybe it's wish casting. But we don't think it is. We already know at least two polling outfits were putting out fake info. Polls are one thing. Your eyes are another. And you've got commonsense on the gripping hand. We'll know in a couple of weeks. 

DOGE report.

Another story read through. 

We think we're going to call it. 

At some point, you have to step back and say, 'There. Now it belongs to the ages'. Or as George once said, 'You don't finish art you abandon it.'

This novel needs a title, something like, After the Bombs. Something that doesn't sound like it's trying too hard. When the Bombs stopped feels like it's trying too hard, trying to sound important. Right now, the word doc is just titled Missile Stop. 

We began researching our Hastings/King Harold alternate history short story. We admit it was a little hard wrenching (wretching?) our mind away from nuclear war to medieval war. But we do feel refreshed, mentally speaking.