Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/5/24

We had a rainy Saturday and surprise birthday party with our sister-in-law in eastern Pennsylvania. It was nice getting together with Mrs. Stroock's late father's family. He was from a small valley town, coal country, and spoke a kind of pigeon-German. He was also a huge Philly sports fan and a great grandpa. 

Speaking of the dead...we have to go pester our niece because it's Cinco de Mayo. In the Stroock household, that means it's the anniversary of the death of the woman after whom our niece is named.* That's right, we've brought it back to our Nachez born, Baton Rouge raised paternal grandmother. 

Hannah Marx Stroock with her grandchildren ca, 1987

Boy, did we call yesterday's diplomatic news or what? Hamas wants a deal that ends the war, Israel won't agree to a deal that ends the war. There's still lots of 'Gaza Deal Close' type headlines this morning. We shall see. Our best guess is that there's a deal. But that is only a guess. 

Despite negotiations, the war continues. Arutz Shiva: 'On Saturday, following ISA and IDF intelligence information, IAF fighter jets eliminated, in southern Gaza, Aiman Zaarab, a senior Islamic Jihad operative...' Our thoughts and prayers to the bereaved. Just because one is not bulldozing the fuck out of something does not mean one is not making war upon that thing. 

Israel Radar reports that in months of fighting in Gaza, only two IDF armored vehicles were permanently knocked out, and the trophy anti-missile system was 85% effective. This blog doesn't want to minimize the 250 or so dead the IDF has lost in Gaza, but we thought the casualties would be much, much worse. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 5/5/24...with the acceptance of Standoff at San Miguel we're free to think about other ideas. We've been asked by the same people to submit to a WWII alternate history anthology. The mind races, but we have no percolation. We had thought, what if the Japanese land at Midway? But we've seen American defenses there, and Japanese plans. The assault would have been a Somme like slaughter. 

This seems like a good place to recall where War Night ideas stand. We're going to do Haig in his bunker, heck, maybe he in a command vehicle out in the woods. We're going to write about an American arty battery raining nuclear shells down on Fulda. We think we have an idea for a Soviet bomber landing on a piece of American interstate. With nothing else to do one of the crew walks into a gas station, buys himself a coke. Could you imagine? 

The Grognard has sent his report on World War 1990: Norway. We approach it with great fear and trepidation. 

*We were eating tacos when we got the call.