Will Stands in the Breach

We went for a walk yesterday afternoon and will do so again this afternoon.

Looks like we'll be getting 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow. That's just enough for us to rev up the snowblower. Certain North American readers are thinking 'Wuss'.

For those of you who know us on FB, the more we post pics of kids or cats or whatnot, the more we really want to post mean things. 

We've gone through the British attack scene in The Final Storm once again. What we once thought was weak is looking better and better. This is one bear of a book.

We're going over The Weser's final scenes. We're not quite sure if were done. Maybe? As it stands now the ending just kind of fades out. Know what I mean? That might not be a bad thing. 

We've been tweeting about NJ07 and issues important to same. Nothing yet.

NJ.com reports:  'State Senate President Stephen Sweeney on Thursday formally announced his plan to appoint Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg to the board of directors of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Weinberg, who announced a year ago she wouldn’t seek re-election after three decades in Trenton, will resign from the Legislature on Friday to accept the new position, Sweeney said in a statement. The news of her planned resignation and appointment to the board was first reported by NJ Advance Media Wednesday evening.' Hmmm...does it look bad? Probably. Is it bad? Probably. We shrug indifferently.

Mark Judge writes a scathing assessment of Ben Shapiro. 'Shapiro has a brilliant mind and it was fun watching him rip apart liberalism. He’s the Lt. Commander Data of the right, reporting to annihilate the weak arguments of virtue-signaling college students.' Heh, Data. We like Ben Shapiro, but agree with Judge on this one. Facts don't care about your feelings, Shapiro likes to say. But left feelings don't care about Shapiro's facts, and he doesn't get that. Judge is always worth reading. Still, he writes articles in niche publications. Shapiro has founded a conservative media empire. 

The Daily Caller reports the Mannings are interested in buying an NFL franchise. Anyone whose watched Petyon and Eli's Monday night broadcast knows these two understand football. However, acumen doesn't necessarily translate into winning sports. John Elway won a Super Bowl as the Broncos' GM. But Derek Jeter has been a bust as the Miami Marlins' owner so far. Supposition: Peyton would be the owner, Eli the GM and Cooper would run the business end. You gotta better plan?

Russia Today's homepage is loaded with stories about Kazakstan. Quoth: 'The first plane with Russian peacekeepers on board took off for Kazakhstan early on Thursday, as the Central Asian country remains gripped by violent protests provoked by a sharp hike in fuel prices after the New Year.' Peacekeepers. Oh that's good. Other sources report Soviet, sorry... Russian troops are fighting in the streets. Peace Keepers. Still laughing at that one.

Breaking! Must credit Stroock's Books...

When asked about the Kazakhstan situation, William Stroock replied, 'Kazakstan? You mean like, Borat? There's fighting in the streets? Russian troops? Who gives a crap? I don't love it but I'm not going to go boycott the Olympics over it or anything...Now excuse me while I go meet my 'friend' Maxim for some perogies and Borscht.' 

Developing...

Duned

Yesterday we hit the treadmill and did a nice easy hour in which we didn't check the time till the 59th minute. As we suspected running through the soreness cleared out the knee. Some residual soreness remains. We did some good book thinkin' too. Things are coming together, mentally speaking, for the Australian scene. 

We haven't talked about our QAnon contacts lately because they've demanded silence from this blog. However, Qbi Wan has given us permission to break our  silence. He says the parents vs school board conflict was partially stoked by QAnon assets and observers should expect to see more direct actions. Qbi Wan also claims that the Justice Department is designating parents as domestic terrorists so they can redirect Federal resources against Q. Qbi Wan says, 'The plan unfolds'.

Reviews  of Dune are coming in. The Critical Drinker says Dune is (mostly) brilliant. The Critical Drinker is mostly right. Ben Shapiro reviews Dune here and agrees with Will. Ben's 'biggest issue' is the musical score. The brilliant Steve Sailer notices something we noticed: 'Spaniard Javier Bardem (best known as Anton Chigurh) is amusing as Fremen chieftain Stilgar, doing a grumpy riff on Mexican Anthony Quinn’s wonderful Auda Abu Tayi in Lawrence of Arabia.' Does this mean we are also brilliant? It does.

We've been unable to watch Dune, and we've watched it twice now, without thinking of the previous two versions. We just know all the rhythms and beats. It's like we're listening to another version of a song we love. Shapiro says one hasn't seen Dune till one has seen Dune in the theatre. That's our plan. 

A lot of people talk about author Frank Herbert's amazing world building. But is the world really all that amazing? The Dune universe is eerily familiar to those of us who lived in the 20th century. Herbert wrote about a great-power conflict over a must have natural resource found only in the desert. The Atriedes are the west. The Harkonnen are the Ruskis. The Fremin are the Arabs from Lawrence of Arabia. This template also works for Medieval and Renaissance Europe. That said, Herbert's work on Fremin culture is impressive.

Rainy Monday April in New Jersey...

...Still beats the hell out of living in NYC.

Good morning William Stroock dot BlogSpot dot com. Now let's write about some Limeys getting ready to blow crap up in the USSR.

We did the treadmill on Saturday and the machines on Sunday. Neighbors are asking if we've lost weight. We feel good. We look good too. We know this because on Saturday a beautiful young lady decked out in flashy tights got on the treadmill next to us and actually blushed. [You people know he makes stuff up for a living, right? Ed]

We aren't following the show-trial in Minnesota that closely. We do love how the likes of Ben Shapiro keep talking about 'evidence' and the prosecution failing to make it's case and just wait till... [donk-donk] suckers. The jury will do whatever it damn well pleases. We expect Chauvin to hang. The Z Blog makes a good point: 'Like people, societies make their own luck. This is a terrible case to use for a remake of To Kill A Mockingbird. Floyd is not a sympathetic character. The world is better place without him. On the other hand, Chauvin is not a good guy either. The cops everywhere are out of control and people are increasingly sick of it. The prosecutors are incompetent, and the defense thus far is not much better. The way to bet here is the jury will turn out to be just as bad as everything else with this case.'

The International Criminal Court is investigating Israel. Israel tells the International Criminal Court to go suck on some gefilta fish: 'Israel does not recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and will not cooperate with its investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians, senior government officials decided at the end of a Thursday meeting.' This is how you play the game.

Ladies and gentlemen, the once and future Prime Minister: 'Yamina leader Naftali Bennett says his party supports the formation of a right-wing government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud.“I told Netanyahu and I will say it here, too — Likud can count on the votes of the Yamina party in favor of forming a right-wing government,” says Bennett in a public statement.' One more coalition member to go. Oley, oley, oley, oley....Bibi...Bibi....

Instapundit reports that the chances of getting the Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China from a surface are approximately nil. Next year they will tell us that they think masks don't really do anything. Never, ever doubt us.

Monday Metal. Yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. Below, the best song off the album. Listen for those transitions:

Various on a Monday Morning

And we did an hour on the treadmill yesterday! We're quite pleased. Given the mask, we've been long distance running at 3.5 rather than 4. In the end this amounts to a half mile difference, which just isn't that big a deal. It's time we care about, not speed. And we're amazed that we can stay on the damn thing that long. It also occurred to us that one day, we won't need a mask, and when that day comes, it'll be like removing an impediment. [It won't be 'like'-Ed] We lifted after. By the Lords of Kobol we feel great.

So yeah, Westmoreland. The more we read the less we like. At first we were impressed with the young Westy. He was a straight shooter indeed. Later he was a man of accomplishment, the kind of man who would decide one morning that he'd want to learn guitar and then go do it. But Westmoreland was a limited thinker, shallow. At MACV, well, Westmoreland just didn't get it. His staff, his generals in the field  couldn't make him see that attrition wasn't working. We're reconsidering giving Westmoreland command of the Korean relief force in The Great Salvation of 1976. While he did command XVII Airborne Corps, we're just not sure he was up to it. It's still a good idea, though. 

We're going back into the Korean chapter war this week. We approach the task with great fear and trepidation. We'll do an initial readthrough, then look for places to expand the chapter.  The Korean War chapter really ought to be the last tough nut in '76. [He's never going to learn. Are all you Yanks like this?-Ed]

Yesterday we watched Ben Shapiro's interview with Gina Carano,  late Cara Dune of Star Wars: The Mandalorian. Until recently she wasn't into politics. Carano hadn't even voted till last year. She was completely blindsided by the entire controversy and cancellation. We liked The Mandalorian, too bad. We're done. This blog just doesn't know how or when this crap stops. 

Well, Ron DeSantis is running for president.  DeSantis brings a lot to the primary race. Governor of an important state, he ran and won a tough, close campaign in 2018. He fights too. That's a good sign. DeSantis doesn't have a low-T problem like certain other Florida governors.

That's assuming Trump isn't running.  Right now our best guess is that he's not. We base that on absolutely nothing. As if anyone knows what the hell is gonna happen in 2024. We think Trump plans for himself a role as elder statesman, the Obi Won of the MAGA movement, if you will.  Of course Trump is keeping his options open. 

Nikki Haley, who betrayed Trump, has requested a meeting. Request denied. Good. Ahhh...Rubio/Haley, what might have been. Yes we've always thought they were a great way to get Latin and other minority voters. Steve Sailer has argued for years that GOP strategy should focus on getting more of the white vote. 

Ben Shapiro on Chanukah

Ben Shapiro explains Chanukah to idiot American Reform Jews and the Harris':

And never was a Facepalm more needed. Fuck-heads.

Orson Scott Card: Trump Supporting Liberal

Ben Shapiro does a fascinating interview with science fiction legend Orson Scott Card.  Aspiring writers should watch this in its entirety. 

We were very interested to learn that Card is actually a Democrat, a Daniel Patrick Moynihan Democrat - his words.

Ah, Moynihan. It was our privilege to vote for the man in 1994. A Democrat who believed in Social Security and Medicare and a foreign policy hawk. He was bipartisan to boot. Remember, Moynihan worked in the Nixon Administration and was President Ford's ambassador to the UN. Moynihan believed in America.

Moynihan was a Democrat from another time, the kind of Democrat we grew up watching on Huntley-Brinkley* and Meet the Press. There were other Dems like him. Georgia's Sam Nunn, a defense hawk, Illinois' Paul Simon, a deficit buster who used to take to the senate floor and talk about monetary policy. And let us not forget pre roid-rage Al Gore. Were only half joking. Gore took to lifting weights in the 2nd term, and we think it changed the man.

They're all gone now, leaving us with...the modern Democrat Party.

Card voted for Trump.

*Stroock family inside joke.

Newt Knows! Newt On!

Last Sunday Ben Shapiro, who is often wrong, interviewed the right guest, Newt Gingrich.

Newt is an interesting man, author, college professor, politician. As House minority WHIP he forced the resignation of Democrat House Speaker Jim Wright. In 1994 he engineered the Republican takeover of the House in. Newt was the first GOP to fight in a generation.

As speaker, Newt got Bill to sign welfare reform and made a pragmatic deal on spending which balanced the budget.

What looked to us like a disappointing tenure at his resignation in 1998 now seems like a successful tenure.

Newt is a deadly political prognosticator and one should always listen closely to what he says. He combines election experience and acumen with historical perspective. Newt has won a lot and knows his history.

We recall him on the radio on election day 2004, calling bullshit on the bullshit exit polls showing Jean Francois Kerry (D-FR) had won.

In Shapiro's fascinating and perhaps best interview, Newt talks about his time as speaker during Bill Clinton's impeachment and restates the case against the man. His regrets are quite interesting. 

We hope he's secretary of state in Trump's second term.

This blog suggests watching the interview in its entirety:

SOTU or Mom's Night Out?

In our SOTU remarks on Wednesday we slammed the Democrat gals dressed in white. God, 'girl power' is annoying. Some of those screeching harpies were actually wearing ERA buttons as if they had to get home from Congress in time to watch Mary Tyler Moore.

Ben Shapiro (PBUH) expounded our thoughts perfectly:

What in the name of Adon's Ban?*...the clapping, the cheering, the raising the roof, the wooting...Look at how pleased with themselves they are.

Can't you just see one of them listening to Fight Song every morning on the way to the work, fancying herself persisting against the imaginary big, bad good ol' boys.

We believe it was the comedian Bill Burr who pointed out that these girl power types always need a pat on the back - just for doing their jobs.

Bachelorette Party was a great line, Mr. Shapiro, great indeed. 

We suggest the Dem gals' display looked like a bunch of moms on girls night, just after the third glass of chardonnay has been poured.

*First to name the book gets a free one.

The Darkest of Webs

Yesterday was Ben Shapiro's birthday

Mazeltof!

A decade ago we were following Ben when he was Andrew Breitbart's (PBUH) protégée.

Now at the Daily Wire he is a 'thought leader'* of the so called Intellectual Dark Web.

Briefly, the IDW is a lose network of writers, lecturers, podcasters and thinkers, who are, for lack of a better term, Not-Left.

They are interested in ideas, intensely curious and enjoy long-form discussion.

Shapiro has a talk show called the Sunday Special. Lot's of these guys have them, Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan...and they all interview one another.

It seems redundant for Rogan to go on Shapiro and then for Shapiro to go on Rogan but it's actually quite interesting. This lose association of intellectuals is having a conversation, in public, threshing out post-neocon conservatism and Trump.

The latest example is Tucker Carlson's verbal vivisection of Mitt Romney. This kicked off a debate on the issue of markets and capitalism in which Shapiro responded forcefully to Carson.

Shapiro should have Carlson back on for a good threshing out of ideas.

Joe Rogan can be addictive. He just hangs with guests as varied as Jay Leno, Jordan Peterson, Les Stroud, Steven Crowder and of course, Shapiro. Sometimes the chats go on for three hours.

Are you watching? If not, why not?

.

*We should be pistol whipped for even using the term.