No Gold Today, Just DC

Good morning, reader(s) of Stroock's books, such as they are, especially our fellow North Americans who are no doubt recovering from their Canada Day melancholy and malaise.  

In just a few hours we'll take the family to the airport, marking the official beginning of our own summer melancholy and malaise. 

More signs that the Gaza campaign is winding down. This seems wise to us. We once again raise the problem of diminishing returns. How much rubble can one bounce? Bibi is going to Washington Next week. Also, the Saudi's are calling for a Gaza not run by Hamas. Hmmmm... Trump has sent his 'final deal' they say. Israel has accepted the deal. Hamas is hedging. 

Summer 1995....alert reader(s) will notice we waited till the third post of the series to talk about our internship. Honestly, the actual job wasn't that important, or interesting. We interned for Senator William V Roth of Delaware and were attached to the Senate Government Affairs Committee, which he chaired. This committee was tasked with reorganizing the government. We were one of a half dozen interns for Senator Roth. We made no lifelong friendships, though one of our fellow interns had himself attended the non-Jesuit University which we eventually chose and spoke well of it. The bastard. Actually, Raleigh was a bit older than us, a Marine veteran, and a great guy. Let's see...Nope, can't find him.

The Government Affairs Committee was on the third floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Constructed in the late 1950s, Dirksen looks decent enough from the outside. Inside was slate floors and brick wall. Gen-X will know what Dirksen felt like, a postwar elementary or middle school. There's nothing wrong with Dirksen, but it's far less impressive than the granite and marble open floor plan Hart Senate Office building built in the 70s.

Now let us dissuade those of you raised on The West Wing or The American President or Charlie Willson's War (Aaron Sorkin ruined government, didn't he?) People in government don't make important policy decisions while walking through hallways from the meeting on farm subsidy appropriations to the meeting on defense expenditures. Staffers mostly sit at their desks. They're working on tasks. They're on the phone.  Meetings happen in bland conference rooms. Okay, the Government Affairs conference room was pretty cool. Long and narrow with a massive table in the middle. The walls were lined with bound copies of the US Code. This 21 year old was impressed. 

DOGE. Same. More slugging and slogging through the Battle of Los Banos. We haven't outlined this battle but know what we want to  happen in broad strokes. Mostly we're writing as we go. A happens so B happens. We want D to happen so therefore C must happen first, etc etc. Very free flowing, like Jazz, but without too many notes. 

We read chapter III of World War 1990: Thatcher's War and are pleased. Very pleased. One must needs make a tweak or two, as always, but otherwise the MS is looking pretty darn good

Okay, we're off to drive the womenfolk to Newark Liberty Airport.