Chao Italia!

Unknown Reader expresses his thanks for Italian forces showing up in Polish Storm.

Thank you, sir.

Just wait for The Final Storm, there will be plenty of Regia Marina.

Anyway, Unknown Reader echoes a sentiment of ours. NATO is more than just Yanks, Krauts and Brits. Henceforth all the Cannucks in Polish Storm. When we get around to doing Before the Weser, there will be a Belgian short story, a Dutch short story, etc, etc.

By the way, Unknown Reader, why not look us up on FB?

Stroockism

Stroock: Apple-pair crisp? Wow, I picked the right sister.
Mrs. Stroock: What?

In Which I Kavanaugh Myself

After the Dem's deep dive on Brett Kavanaugh's yearbook we were curious about what is in our own. However we do not have a copy. Fortunately Kirsten Equality Anderson Robbins, who long time reader(s) will recall is our first girlfriend and by the way, editor of a couple of our books, does have a copy. She kindly scanned my entry and sent it along.

First, an explanation. Our middle name is Thompson and as a child we were called 'Tom'.

That's 1992. Honestly the pic could be a lot worse. Nice smile, and there's really nothing wrong with the hair. If one looks closely one will find a dangly peace symbol earing. I dunno, we shrug.

We recalled most of the quips but had a ton of trouble recalling who the initials are.We are friends with many of them on FB. The casual 'Hi scum' we had forgotten and we find it kind of amusing.

We did not remember thanking Mrs. Delaney.

We thought there'd be a little more there there but almost everything is pretty stupid. We had hoped for more from ourselves, even at that age. 

Now, look closely. Really blow the pic up. In there is the sentence, 'No means yes. Yes means maybe. Maybe means no.'

What is it? The saying started out as 'no means yes' and it meant what you think it means.  But it didn't mean we were rapists. It meant we were moron 18 year olds. Eventually the saying morphed into a kind of circular logic that always lands on no, leaving the boy confused and confounded. Which changes the meaning entirely, doesn't it.

But it doesn't really matter. There goes our chances for public office.

Order This

Longtime reader(s) will recall our indecision about which book to write when and our regret that Castro's Folly and ANZACs came out before Polish Storm.

An unknown reader asked which order the books should be read in and it occurred to us that in the long run, all that indecision never really mattered. 

For the record at this point we'd go Arctic Storm, Eastern Storm, Polish Storm, ANZACs and Castro's Folly.

Best for last.

Saturday Updates

Sick, angry, cynical...

Anyway:

We are 2/3rds through Pershing in Command and are quite happy. Happier than we thought we'd be, in fact. Text is smooth, picks and maps look good. We're getting it to our proofer today.

We'll probably start some editing of Battles of the AEF.

We are about halfway through the Palmerston's War short story.

We have finished the Blooms rough draft. We think one more read through then off to Debbie!

Friday Flag

The Hill to Fight on

Pershing in Command

One-hundred-and-eighty-five pages.

Years of work have amounted to one-hundred-and-eighty-five-pages.

If you think we're frustrated by that, you're right.

Looks good though.

Today in Telemarketing

Credit card number? Yes. Hold on.....ok....zero...two-two-seven...eight-six-seven-five-three-oh-nine...nine...oh...two...oh

W Stands for Whip

Right now, George W. Bush is whipping votes for Kavanaugh.

And you people wonder why I still defend the man.

Brett, Mad as Hell

Years ago Mark Steyn won the Monk Debate on immigration by getting angry. Reviewer Barbara Kay wrote:

Steyn slowly rose and riposted, in a tone of withering contempt, “I wasn’t going to do funny stuff. I was going to be deadly serious. (But) I’m slightly amazed at Simon’s ability to get big laughs on gang rape.” Vigorous applause. He went on, “Mme Arbour scoffs at the ‘newfound feminists.’ I’m not much of a feminist, but I draw the line at a three year old … and a seven year old getting raped.” Vigorous applause.

That's what happened with Judge Kavanaugh's stemwinder yesterday. It humanized him, millions of American women got teary. 

Does anyone really think Judge Kavanaugh did those things?

Democratic Senators are Farts and Fucks

Farts and fucks. That's what the Senate Dems wanted to talk about yesterday.

It is literally impossible to look worse than the Dems did.

We watched the questioning of Judge Kavanaugh. The Dems were very interested in his yearbook postings from 1982. 

At one point Senator Patrick Leahy (D Lake Champlain)*stated that he'd been on the committee for 43 years, as if that's a good thing.

Judge Kavanaugh was angry and annoyed. We liked how he asked the senators questions, and even interrupted. 'Na, I'm going to finish,' he told one who wouldn't let him answer.

What a farce. 

And the millions watching saw that it was a farce.

*He once tried to have Champlain declared the sixth Great Lake.

Right, Fierce and Terrible

We've never seen anything like Lindsey Graham yesterday.

Remember, this is a man who for decades has been trying to preserve the tradition of the senate. 'My friends' he would say.

Tell Sotomayor and Kagan Lindsey said hello. They were qualified, so he voted for them.

We've always been less hostile to him than a lot of other Trump guys. The man has always had integrity. He first drew our notice when he was one of the House Impeachment managers 20 years ago.

'I hope you never get it...'

Right Fierce and Terrible indeed.

Pershing in Command and Physical

Pershing in Command is coming soon:

There's the printed proof with samples of the pics and maps.

We're giving the MS its very last read through and we will this week mail it to the proofer.

Then we're done and on to making Battles of the AEF, which ironically will be longer.

Today in Telemarketing

Yes, I'll go get the card and give you the number. But just to warn you, it might be awkward when you pull up the billing statement becuase it will show the porn sites your mom operates. I'm a big fan.

Blame Canada!

MacGregor you nitpicker you!

Glad you liked the Canadian part, though.

And thanks again for the tip.

This....is CNN

Offered without comment or encouragement.

Palmerston's War

So we've been doing some very interesting research on Civil War era fortifications on the East Coast. Even as far north as Portland they built forts. Many of these went back to the War of 1812. But authorities were clearly concerned about Confederate raiders, or dare we say, British intervention.

Here's Fort Prebble at the entrance to Portland Harbor. This was supported by Fort Scammel, located about 1500 yards off the harbor entrance.

Now imagine a line of four state-of-the-art British Iron-Clads steaming in line past Fort Prebble....thre you go.

Of course Grant forced his way past the Vicksburg defenses and lost several ships. But those weren't Iron-Clads.

Stroockism

Earlier, at music store...
Oldest Daughter: Daddy, what's Progstock?
Stroock: Oh it's a music festival for Progressive Rock.
Oldest Daughter: Progressive Rock?
Stroock: We'll listen to Rush in the car.
Oldest Daughter: Ok.....
Stroock: Yeah! Ohhhhhh...Yeah!

Young Mr. Kavanaugh

We've watched the man closer than we would have liked to, and are fascinated by the 80's version of himself. 

He was a big man on campus, an over achiever and a jock.  He liked to party. He's got that early 80's hair. Anyone else reminded of Joel Goodson in Risky Business? We admit to being surprised by the virginity thing. Surprised but not stunned.

As it turns out we grew up with a kid like Kavanaugh. Private school, later Ivy League. Overachieving, charismatic, cute. The girls loved him. I mean he came walking down the street once, and the girls we were hanging out with all turned their heads and focused on him like lionesses spotting a zebra on the Serengeti. 

Funny thing was, he knew nothing about sex, he just wasn't that interested yet. Weird, we know, but those types do exist. We're not in touch but found him and today he manages a massive hedge fund.  

Meuse-Argonne, 100 Years on

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the Meuse Argonne Battle.

Nine under or barely trained American divisions attacked German defenses centered on the hilltop citadel of Montfaucon.

The initial attack was a disaster and held off by just a few thousand German troops. After four days the Germans retreated of their own will, leaving tens of thousands American casualties in their wake. General von Gallwitz's defense of the sector was brilliant, using flexible tactics to draw the Americans in, sap their strength, and then drive them back.

Had the Meuse-Argonne offensive ended on 10 October, which Pershing said was the end of the second phase of the battle, Meuse-Argonne would be remembered as a horrible defeat like Camden, Chancellorsville or Kasserine Pass.

Request for Comment

Having heard nothing from Senator Booker about his groping teenage girls, we thought we'd try Tom Malinowski, Dem candidate in our own NJ 7 District:

My name is William Stroock.

I am an author and blogger living in Bridgewater.

I've been writing about Brett Kavanaugh and the response of New Jersey politicians to the affair.

To that end, has Tom Malinowski ever committed any acts similar to those alleged by Judge Kavanaugh's accusers?

Thank you for your time.

Palmerston's War

In case of war with the United States, Admiral Alexander Milne, Commander of the RN's North American Station, planned to divide his 54 or so ships into five or six squadrons. 

One of those squadrons was to be a group of Ironclads meant to deal with American ports. 

So we've put together that squadron. As it happens by the spring of 1862 the RN had four Warrior Class Ironclads. We're putting them all in that squadron, plus the two decker wooden steamer Trafalgar and the three decker Duke of Wellington.

That's some serious firepower, people. Portland, Boston, New York....beware.

Ye to Mr. Grassley

Senator Chuck Grassley, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has come in for a lot of grief from conservatives circles over his handling of the Kavanaugh situation.

Get on with the vote already, many say. 

We disagree. We think Grassley has handled this affair brilliantly. At every turn he has called the Dem's bluff. 'Great! Let's have her testify! She has preconditions? Sure, we can do most of those? More time? No problem!'

With Grassley's patience the Dem's case grows worse. Dr. Ford has no case. Another alleged accuser, this Ramirez woman, was dug up by Democrat dumpster divers and really can't be sure it was Kavanaugh. All named witnesses stand with Kavanaugh.

Then there's Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti who seems to have been victimized by a 4Chan hoax. You never want to be victimized by 4Chan. 

For what' it's worth, we don't think Dr. Ford will testify tomorrow. Perjury is a serious crime.

A Sad Note...

In this era of #metoo, when wild sexual allegations and mere innuendo can destroy a man, I'm afraid I've had to part ways with my imaginary female British editor.

My imaginary female British editor and I worked together on this blog for a long time, but I just can't risk an offhand comment, phrase or gesture being misinterpreted and used by some screeching feminist harpie to ruin me.

Comics

It's National Comic Book Day.

Who knew?

As a kid we read Sgt. Rock (why have they never gotten this movie made?) and GI-Joe. Later we got into Elf Quest. Thank you Wendy and Richard.

For anyone interested in some modern comics, we suggest Vox Day's Arkhaven imprint.

Kavanaughed (self inflicted)

The Democrat Party has made a terrible miscalculation.

First came Dr. Ford's accusation against Kavanaugh. Be it known that four other people have to be lying for Dr. Ford to be telling the truth. 

Then they gave us Ms. Ramirez and her coached/massaged memory brought out of repression.

Up steps Creepy Porn Lawyer Michael Avenatti with his circus freak show.

I'm no PR expert, but it sure doesn't look good.

Gravity Lifts GOP

Gallup reports the GOP favorability rating is the highest in seven years.

Rasmussen reports the president's approval is 49%.

Breitbart reports that the GOP leads among middleclass voters.

The Democrat Party is fucking nuts and people are seeing that.

Is Senator Booker a serial Groper?

We have called and emailed Senator Booker's office (press@booker.senate.gov) and received  no response to our questions about his possible youthful indiscretions:

My name is William Stroock. I am an author and blogger living in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

Corey Booker has already admitted to groping a friend when he was 15. To the best of his knowledge has the senator groped anyone else?

This is my second request for comment.

Thank you for your time.

William Stroock

Monday Metal

Late Edition

As noted we don't have much left to say about metal and are shifting to nice bits and observations and such. 

Here's a wonderful little guitar solo (1:50) by Angus on 2008's Anything Goes:

Very Chuck Barry, by a man of whom it can be said, 'Very Angus'.

We saw them three times on this tour, including the opener. We were on the floor, center, perhaps 15 rows back. Our first time seeing AC/DC in concert and an amazing night. 

Operation Polish Storm: Meet the Generals

General Ron Griffith, Commander, 1st Armored Division:

Palmerston's War The Royal Navy

In 1862 Britannia indeed ruled the waves.

The Royal Navy numbered over 300 ships.

In North American the navy had three important stations, an Halifax, Bermuda and Barbados. As war fears mounted, by 1862 54 ships were on the North American Station under the command of Admiral Alexander Milne. Halifax was well defended and had coal stores well provision by Canadian mines. Milne had carefully built up Bermuda stores.

In case of war Milne intended to keep 25 ships or so in the West Indies. Milne intended to break the Union blockade and then sweep down the east coast attacking ports. He had a detached squadron of Iron Clads for this purpose. If possible he would attack Washington, though this was unrealistic in 1862. From there Milne wanted to blockade the east coast at Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Sandy hook and Long Island Sound.

Aside from attacking Washington, there is no reason to think Milne and the North American Squadron could not have accomplished all he set out to do. 

Kavanaughed II

At this point it's trench warfare. We urge concerned citizens to read the latest from the New Yorker. 

We are also told that creepy porn lawyer, Michael Avenatti, is coming forward with yet more allegations.

Today we will be placing some phone calls. One will be to our local GOP committee to volunteer. The others will be to our elected Democrat representatives and asking them if they can live up to the standard they have set for Brett Kavanaugh.

Never try to out crazy Will Stroock.

World War 1990: Polish Storm Meet the Generals II

General John Tilelli, commander, 1st Cavalry Division:

Kavanaughed

Do readers really need a detailed explanation of what we think about the Dr. Christine Blasey-Ford affair?

We will say two things.

First: after a while fights like this are important in of themselves. That is, it's no longer about the man, but the fight itself and it's important to win on those terms alone.

Second: Dems to Men: Drop Dead. That's the issue here guys. These are the Democrats. 

This slacker, Gen-Xer is so pissed that's he's actually motivated to contact the local GOP apparatus and volunteer. 

You're goddamn right we're mad.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 9-23-18

Since we're doing a short story about a war between Britain and the US in 1862, just go ahead and write the damn novel next year.

Palmerston's War: 1862

As noted previously, we've been asked to contribute to an alt-history short story anthology. We've decided to do a Palmerston's War short story.

The idea is that the Trent Affair, in which the USN boarded a British ship and removed two Confederate diplomats, leads to war. This was a real possibility. Cooler heads prevailed, though.

In our estimation such a war would have been about vulnerabilities. Of course the United States could have walked into Canada anytime it wanted. Conversely, the East Coast was wide open to British naval action. 

So the matter comes down to who can do what first.

Saturday Updates

Polish Storm is out.

We are awaiting the Polish Storm paperback proof so we can approve it.

We have finished the Blooms rough draft.

We are reading the Pershing proof.

We are working on the Palmerston's War short story.

We are writing an article about the military capabilities of Great Britain vis a vis the United States in 1862. How's that for convergence?

Bloomin

One problem with Blooms, we just don't know why they would have a daughter named Gwendolyn and a son names Stevie. We're thinking maybe Patricia names their first born after some German woman. Some goddess? We dunno.

Wither Kurt Schlichter

Kurt Schlichter is right, fierce and terrible when he rises to the defense of the hamburger:

Let’s clarify something else. Hamburgers are the King of American Casual Food. You can eat it in a bar, you can eat it in a car. Just don’t eat it in some trendy coastal eatery because they’ll screw it all up and you’ll end up dreaming of a Big Mac.

However he says:

Mandatory condiments are ketchup and more ketchup. One of a hamburger’s key roles is to serve as a ketchup delivery system.

Surely not Heinze Ketchup, the ketchup of heiress and horizontal dowager Theresa Heinze, sugar mama of John Kerry (S-Tehran)?

As it is I'm sure it was only an oversite on the good colonel's part.

The Media is Decadent and Depraved.

ABC News's Lauren Pearle needs info:

Being an ace reporter ourselves, we called Lauren. She's not picking up and as it happens her mailbox is full. Funny that.

So then we emailed Lauren and told her we had information on Brett Kavanaugh, which is true as we know all kinds of things about him, and are prepared to tell her that information in exchange for a list of all the guys she dated in high school.

Hopefully, the truth will emerge.

Name This with Update!

Ed Whelan is a lawyer, former Scalia law clerk and head of a legal foundation. Here argues that Dr. Ford's accusation against Judge Kavanaugh is a case of mistaken identity. Whelan even names names. There is some very interesting detective work here.  

The above seems,  I dunno, sketchy isn't the right word, maybe speculative? It also seems very actionable from a slander perspective*.

Still, Whelan is a lawyer, former law clerk, and head of a legal foundation. Its probably not a good idea to file suit against him.

We suspect more is coming.

Update: Whelan says naming names was wrong, but does not actually recant.

*What, you think a writer doesn't know a thing or two about libel law?

World War 1990: An Assesment

As noted, Polish Storm is out.

This is the fifth installment in a series meant to be a one off novel. We've been at this since 2014. The project has been difficult, it's been a learning experience, sometimes fun, and sometimes excruciating. It has also been a time sink, preventing us from working on projects upon which we'd rather be working. World War: 1990 has been grueling.

Upon finishing Polish Storm we're a much better writer then when we began Arctic Storm.

In our opinion Castro's Folly is the series' best novel. For some reason everything just worked out, especially the Battle of Guanajay Ridge. There's lots of interesting things happening there and we still like our Cubans. You'll be seeing Flavio again and when we eventually do some short story compilations, we'll tell the story of the Contra offensive to liberate Managua.

Sometimes things just work out good.

And sometimes things work out not so good.

We've had magazine articles turnout differently than we hoped, but never a story and that's what Happened with ANZACs. For whatever reason ANZACs just didn't work. The Aussies hate it, by the way. No matter. ANZACs was marketing genius, and gave us a readership down there.

The Final Storm is left to finish. It's at 60,000 words and probably needs to go to 70,000. It's still messy but its coming together. We're thinking January.

World War 1990: Polish Meet the Generals I

In Polish Storm US VII Corps leads the drive into Poland.

In Desert Storm VII Corps was the Allied left hook. We wrote about all the real generals.

Here's General Fred Franks, commander US VII Corps:

World War 1990: Polish Storm

World War 1990: Polish Storm....is available for Kindle:

The Thomas-Kavannaugh Difference

Younger reader(s) should know that the whole Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas imbroglio consumed the nation for a few weeks.

Did he? Didn't he? Clinton ally, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, even cranked out an emergency episode of Designing Women* on the hearings.

For some reason, furrow browed journalists kept pronouncing sexual harassment as harrisment. This of course led to an epidemic of idiot 18 year olds...

[You mean you?-Ed]

...walking around talking about sexual harrisment and saying things like, 'I'm being sexually harrised.'

Anyway, we bring this up becuase we don't see a lot of our friends on FB talking about Ford-Kavanaugh. Here and there someone posts something, but it's not consuming the newsfeed the way the Clarence Thomas hearings consumed the news in 1991.

People have better things to do? Is the whole thing just to ridiculous? I dunno.

*This was a show about four harpies in Atlanta running an ad agency and wondering why they couldn't hold down a man.

W and the Crisis Ten Years On

Longtime reader(s) know that despite our MAGAness and general deplorability we remain stubbornly supportive of W and his presidency.

Bush 43 was a good president, here's one of the main reasons why:

The day after Lehman Brothers failed, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke went to President George W. Bush with bad news. Insurer American International Group Inc. needed $85 billion or it, too, would collapse.

Though unhappy and frustrated, Mr. Bush approved the loan, saying, “If we suffer political damage, so be it,” Mr. Paulson later wrote.

Scholars of the crisis rightly focus on the decisions that the three crisis managers—Mr. Paulson, Mr. Bernanke and New York Fed President Tim Geithner—made to rescue the financial system. Though unpopular at the time and still second-guessed, their actions were vital in avoiding a second Great Depression. Yet most would have been impossible without the president’s support, which Mr. Bush gave unreservedly from start to finish.

That's leadership. That's making the tough call. That's staving off the next depression.

Recall that TARP was 100 percent paid back.

One day people will tell their grandchildren they voted for W.

Stroockisms

Principal: I'm sorry, Mr. Stroock, but the rules clearly state children may not make toy weapons with their fingers.
Stroock: But it was a phaser set to stun.

Pershing in Command

And the formatting wars continue.

Actually, we made an editorial decision to include a lot of pics to go with the maps. We think they'll really add something to book.

All that remains is to figure out how we want the chapter headings to look.

From there we order a proof and read. One. Last. Time.

Taint This

Our own sense is that Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose driver of 20 years was a Chinese spy, was using the Blasey-Ford accusation to taint Kavanaugh, not actually derail the nomination.

Even Senator Feinstein doubts the veracity of some of the professor's claims.

In response Judge Kavanaugh said, 'Sure. I'll testify under oath. Let's do it.'

We are reminded of John O'Neill, president of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,  'If Senator Kerry think's I've slandered him he should build a case and sue me,' said the trial lawyer with 30 years experience.

Being a prof, Maybe Blasey-Ford thought she could #Metoo Kavanaugh through a Title-9 style kangaroo court.

In any event we agree with the analysis at Hotair, that this entire event is about to blowup.

Format This !@#$

We've been formatting Pershing in Command all afternoon. 

Decorum prevents us from saying how things went and how we feel about the process. 

Just imagine a string of curses and us sitting on the couch wondering if we're having a heart attack.

Jesus H Christ, all those years of work and the goddamn thing is only 185 pages long

That said we are quite pleased with the cover and the maps have scanned well.

Map Example:

This book should look pretty good.

Bravo Nike (Un-ironic)

Nike's Kaepernick Campaign is a huge success.

Sales are up, the stock price is up.

We've learned a lot about marketing out of necessity, and all we can say is well done.

We've often wondered how we can controversialize ourselves and reap the benefit.

Anyone got any ideas?

Kavanaugh gets Thomased

If anyone wonders why we've come to loath the Democrat Party, the party of slavery, the party of secession, the party of the Klan and Jim Crow, the party of the civil rights filibuster, the party that lost the Vietnam War, the party that wanted to lose the Iraq Campaign, the party that gave us the  modern inner-city ghetto, the party of high crime and high taxes, the party of the BLM rioter and the illegal Mexican....

[Oh my-Ed]

...the last few sordid days are the reason why.

We state without hesitation that Professor Christine Blasey-Ford, well let's just say she has a problem with reality. This is all to convenient, too pat. 

We've been to this rodeo. Younger reader(s) this is what the Dems pulled during their attempted lynching of Judge Thomas.

We don't believe her. And even if we did, so what?

Anyone else wanna be judged by the actions of their 17 year old self?

So here's the battle next Monday.

I'm glad.

Dad, Why is this Scene Funny?

With the coming release of Bohemian Rhapsody we can expect the actual song to be on the air more or less permanently this fall.

Younger reader(s) should understand something about Bohemian Rhapsody. The song benefited from absolutely perfect timing. Freddy Mercury died in the fall of 1991 and Wayne's World came out the winter of 1992. You want to talk about convergence? Well there it is. 

The rest is music history.

Behold:

Younger reader(s) are probably thinking, 'Ok, Wayne and Garth are driving and listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.'

Yes, but there is so much more to this scene.

Now, we were 18 in 1992 and we liked Queen. But we liked the Queen of Iron Eagle and Highlander, the 1980's hard rock Queen. 70's era Queen might as well have been another century. We had heard Bohemian Rhapsody but the song was not yet a 'thing' as it is today.  It was niche, even obscure, and that is what makes the above scene so funny. To put it another way, if one were making a Queen biopic in 1992, one would not have called it Bohemian Rhapsody.

In 1992 one watched this scene and thought, 'Why are these metal nerds driving around, in a Pacer no less, listening to Bohemian Rhapsody? Is that opera?....and the head banging.'

In 1992 the scene was ridiculous. That's why it was funny.

Israel's Syrian Campaign

For years Iran has been aiding the Assad regime. As such the Islamic Republic has built a considerable military infrastructure in Syria, much to the alarm of the Israelis.

Here's a very interesting article on Israeli operations in Syria these last few years:

Jerusalem (AFP) - An Israeli military official said Tuesday the army had carried out some 200 strikes in Syria over the past 18 months against mainly Iranian targets, a rare confirmation of such action.

A total of 202 strikes were carried out in neighbouring Syria, the official said, all of which involved "military targets, most of them belonging to the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards."

Around 800 missiles and bombs were used in the strikes, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm the details first reported in various Israeli media.

The Israelis seem to strike with impunity. Last week a large ammunition dump at an airstrip near Damascus just exploded. If there's a mysterious explosion in Syria, it was the Jews. 

Israel has a vast intelligence organization in Syria via the Kurds and Druze, two people with whim the Jews get along. Mossad: It's never an accident.

The unnamed official quoted in the article is delivering a message to Assad and Iran: the Imams are right, the Jew is clever.

Israel has fought these undeclared wars before. Between the Six Day War and the War of Atonement the Israelis waged the War of Attrition against Egypt in which they bombed airstrips, vaporized oil refineries and even raided the coast of Africa and stole a new Soviet radar.

Looks like we'll need to ad another chapter.

Will's Good Idae for the week of 9-17-18

We've been asked to contribute to an alternate history compilation.

We think we'll do Palmerston's War..

2543-China

An interesting article about the state religious persecution of Muslims in China:

Reports of mass detentions of ethnic Uighurs and other ethnic Muslims in China’s far western region have sparked a growing international outcry, prompting the Trump administration to consider sanctions against officials and companies linked to allegations of human rights abuses.

Mass detention, public humiliation, re-education, it's a real Maoist spectacle.

In China one does not mess with the state.

We like the idea of China, much later in this century, facing a huge insurrection in the west and delaing with it by going to war with Islam in general.

Of course China does so without the PC filter.

2543-Mars

So we spent all day at Hershey Park.

As we are want to do when we come out for these things, we thought....about Mars.

[Yeah sure, you were on MILF patrol-Ed]

Were we ever. There was this one blonde woman, high cheek bones, big brown eyes,  body a of a swimmer, tank top, shiny tights...

[Oh  my god...Ed]

Anyway, we thought about Mars in 2543.

A planet of 200 million. Mars is not terra-formed. 

There are only a few major cities on Mars and the population is scattered throughout. Most people live in small dome communities of a few thousand people, or isolated family homesteads - also under domes. There are large mining communes. 

Great aqueducts bring water from the poles.

After four centuries of immigration, ethnically Martians are completely polyglot and more or less bronze colored.  They like to say Mars' red soil made them so. Snide Earthers call them Bronzies. Don't ever call a Martian a Bronzie. They look down at the more ethnically homogenous Earthers, 'inbred' they like to call them.

Religion does not play a huge role in Martian life. They're sort of like 20th century American Protestants.

Martians, or Marsmen are hyper-nationalists. 

Aesthetically they're neo-Spartan. They build a lot of big amphitheaters, stadiums and such, with lots of granite. See the work of Albert Speer.

Military service is compulsory. A middle-aged Martian is called a 5 and 10: five years active duty, ten years reserve. Mars has a small army as they could never match Earth in a war of attrition. Everything goes into the navy to keep Earth off the planet. They don't trust large armies anyway.

Mars is a Federal Republic with a bicameral legislature composed of an upper and lower house. The executive is run by a president elected to a single 6 year term. There are three political parties, one that hates Earth (the urban Nationals), one that really hates Earth (the rural Marsland Party), and one that is isolationist (the Conservatives).

Flip This, Tony

So Paul Manafort, whom we once predicted would never serve a day in jail, has flipped....on Obama-Clinton lawyer Greg Craig and Tony 'two guns' Podesta.

Who is Tony Podesta? A Chicago mob boss, Tony Podesta earned the sobriquet 'two guns' for bragging, 'Always pack two guns, Joey. One for your enemies, one for your friends.'

He is also the head of the Podesta Group, a lobbying/influence organization, and the brother of John 'The Bull' Podesta, Clinton consiglieri and chair of Hillary!'s campaign.

John Nolte is right, as he is right about everything, when he says:

For his part, Mueller has to justify the fact he has allowed a cloud to hang over the presidency for 18 months. What if his only way to do that is to bring down powerful Democrats? What if the only way for Mueller to fold-up his witch hunt with any dignity is with the head of a Podesta on that platter?

Oh that gumshoe Mueller. That sleuth. That man of justice. The investigation needs to run it's course. Let Mueller do his job.

 *It's possible this statement and the nicknames 'Two Guns' and 'The Bull' aren't entirely true.

Saturday Updates

Friday Flag

Stars and Stripes over Midway

Influence Ten!

We were recently nominated in one of those stupid FB memes to name ten movies that influenced us.

We can't think ten movies that influenced us.

But here are ten things and people that influenced us.

-Dropping out of college
-PJ O'Rourke (Give War a Chance)
-Being out of work for eight months
-The Empire Strikes Back
-Star Trek (The Borg)
-Rush Limbaugh
-Robotech (Battle Cry)
-Red Storm Rising
-The Iron Tower Trilogy
-Earning two degrees on-line

Star Trek: Galaxy

Captain Picard is back!

CBS is producing a new series involving legendary Captain Jean Luc Picard.

Over at Red Letter Media a very interesting discussion on the project, and Mike Stoklasa's proposal for the series:

We watched half an episode of Discovery and came away unimpressed. The last movie we saw was First Contact. 

[You're just cynical and jaded-Ed]

True enough.

Star Trek is a huge franchise of course and it has a lot of influence. There are thousands of people in NASA, the navy, JPL, and university physics departments becuase of Kirk and Picard. In a hundred years people who will never hear of Tom Cruise will know Spock. For 25 years if you liked sci-fi Star Trek was all there was.

But we think Star Trek's time has passed.

Stroockisms

Time for Will's semi-annual binge-watch of Arrested Development.

Readers are invited to post their favorite quotes in the comments.

Purple Polls

Legal Insurrection has rundown of the latest senate polls. Long story short, it's all purple. That is everyone is tied, no one is at 50, etc.  We'd like to point out that's a terrible place for two Democrat incumbents to be.We see the same in the FL gov race, though the Dem is ahead by 4.

Readers have probably notices we've been using the Tennessee senate race as a barometer, and the latest has GOP Blackburn up by 3 and 'winning' two of the last three polls.

Our thesis states that things are all tied up, Republican ideas are better than Democrat ideas. Also, the Democrats are freaking nuts. These factors will see Republicans through in November. Right? Right, guys?

Or are we wish casting? What do you people think?

Pershing in Command

Alright!

We have scanned a dozen maps from the American Battlefield and Monuments Commission guide for use in Pershing in Command.

Here's an example: