Meet the Mets...

Beat the Mets...cheat the Mets...So beloved Mets slugger Pete Alonso has moved on...to the Orioles. Baltimore gave Alonso a 5-year, $150 million contract. Mets fans are distraught. Local sports radio is in Chernobyl like meltdown. In Queens people have taken to the streets. And rightfully so. Alonso was a reliable 35-45 HR guy for the Mets. He could be streaky, as are all power hitters. But Alonso could also carry the team for a week or ten days. Alonso was no liability at first base. 

Here's Alonso's greatest HR. Just before Alonso hit it we turned to Mrs. Stroock and said, 'He hasn't gotten a big hit all year.' The Mets didn't even offer Alonso a contract. Exit question: having lost their closer the day before they lost Alonso, just what is the Mets' plan?

Fun New York factoid. Generally speaking Mets fans are also Jets fans. Given the Jets horrid situation, these people must be ready to  jump off a factory scaffold into a vat of super molten iron where they melt till their computer system shuts down all while giving a thumbs up - metaphorically.

Meanwhile Mrs. Stroock's Phillies re-signed homerun hitting DH Kyle Schwarber. She is pleased.   

The New York Post reports: Gun rights activist Kyle Rittenhouse, who made national headlines for being acquitted in an August 2020 shooting that killed two men during rioting in Kenosha, Wis., made a surprise return to social media Wednesday to announce that he is married.' Two commies down and a beautiful bride. This is what we call WINNING. God bless America. 

Pirates are fun! Arrrr avast ye matey [Well, that wasn't obvious-Ed]. The US Navy hijacked a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil to Iran? Can the US navy do that? The US Navy can do whatever it wants. Why would oil rich Iran need to important oil from Venezuela? And is Iran the real target here? Anyway, fun fact: piracy is perfectly Constitutional, as Article I, section 8 grants congress the power to issue 'letters of marquis'.  The Iranians and Houthis hijack ships. Why not America? 

Europe sucks and everyone on the Continent knows it. Kurt Schlichter excoriates the 'Euro-weenies'. Reminder, the Colonel is always right. The story of Europe over the last century + is the story of failure. August 1914, Versailles, Munich. As for Europe's post-war success, it's only possible because of the Pax Americana. These people couldn't stop the Serbs in the 90s, and they can't stop the Russians now. The EU is a chimera. It's not really a thing. It has no real power. The EU is really just a joke. 

DOGE Report: we went through the TW MS yesterday, adding little details here and there. Today it looks like we'll move over to the TW II MS and start writing. Why not? Does this novel begin with a bunch of Prod louts crossing the border and getting ambushed by the Irish Ranger Wing, or with Belfast riots? Or neither?

Hmmm....looking over the TW II MS....does it need international scenes? Do we need to see what Gorby or Saddam are thinking? Perhaps not? Perhaps not. Okay, we read through the first chapter of police/paramilitary violence, political intrigue, and cloak and dagger. It looks good. We need a formal prologue from Bush's POV laying down what's going to happen in the novel.