Strike This (Thoughts and Prayers)

This blog is experiencing a traffic surge. We've no idea why and think nothing of it.

The lawn dried up enough for us to mow 90 percent of the area. We had to do it, as the grass was getting tall and we're going to get rain for the next few days. But the southwestern corner of the back yard is still a total morass. 

There's some kind of Writer's Guild strike, which Zerohedge made us aware of (of which Zerohedge made us aware?) I dunno. We don't care. We're not in the Writer's Guild, or any other guild. All we can say is thoughts and prayers, guys. Thoughts and prayers. 

A small spike in sales of World War 1990: Operation Arctic Storm after yesterday's paroxysm of celebratory May Day tweeting? Maybe. 

Okay...so we're working on War Night's first story. We're writing about an old fashioned coffee drinking, cigarette smoking, donut eating journalist in a television newsroom when the missiles go up. Since our father was one of these, we got a great source. Film was edited with razor blades. Guys put out their cigarette butts on the newsroom floor. Broads in the newsroom? You kidding me? These were journalists. Cynical, hard-bitten news guys who trusted no one and nothing they couldn't touch and feel.

One thousand words yesterday, one thousand words today. [Nice plan, love-Ed].

Segue...we worked a bit on The Final Storm yesterday. Things are fine. Does the epilogue that wraps things up feel rushed? We're not going to worry about it, right now. As there's some action at the US embassy in Moscow we had been wondering if we needed to research the topic. There was a sex scandal at the embassy in the late 80's (which we vaguely remember) and a book about same which takes readers inside the Moscow embassy. Do we need to read it to get the ins and outs of Marine guard duty there? Really? Can't we just have a couple of guards at the main gate wondering, 'Hey, what's all that gun fire at the Kremlin?'...why is a ZiL limo coming down the street? Get the OOD on the horn....'

Black Pill Will: Over at Taki's Magazine, the great Daivd Cole shares our pessimism. But that's not what we want to bring to reader(s) attention: 'I had one high school teacher who made us watch The Day After. Another who forced us to see Testament. And I laughed all through ’em. I’d seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I was 8; movies don’t scare me. And then a third teacher showed us Threads and I was like, “Okay, that’s unnerving.”' Exit question, what makes Threads so much worse. Warning, if you haven't seen Threads, don't. I know that's the Stroock's Books seal of approval. But still. Don't. Click on through. 

Yesterday we said the Civil War (or War Between the States if one prefers) was about slavery, Lincoln was no tyrant and we lampooned Neo-Confederate loons. We stand by that. We're a Yankee. A blue belly. When we read about the war we root for the North. We think Sherman's March was brilliant and righteous. And Lee was soundly whipped by Grant. The Confederacy was a caste/apartheid society run by and for a preposterous elite. We're glad it's gone.

Still, we bear the Confederacy no malice. We neither hate nor love the CSA. We accept that it was. We accept that southern people have pride in their heritage. And while we think it's time to move Confederate statues out of public spaces, we think it should be done respectfully. Put 'em in old Confederate cemeteries. We hate the strain of Yankee triumphant bragging we see in social media. Lincoln sought reconciliation.  And just because one tweets something in #Confederatehistorymonth, doesn't mean one supports the CSA and slavery. Idiots.