New Week, New Editing

We had a bout of cold weather this weekend, but the temp's gonna be in the 50's all week. We think we may lose the winter beard. We're guessing we won't get another snowstorm. Our snowblower gas tank is full. We'll run it just to burn through the gas and piss off some environmentalists. This blog has always believed in maximizing its carbon footprint.

Why did 74 people from Kenya visit this blog last night? Are we seeing a sudden spike in popularity in Africa? Are those Nightingale Russia pussies just using a VPN? [Again with Nightingale Russia?-Ed] Speaking of Russia, we heard from our KGB handler, and frankly, he sounds a bit down. We would be down too if we'd been personally sanctioned by the United States government. In all seriousness, and the previous sentence was serious, but in all seriousness, he really didn't think there'd be a war.

Maybe it's just us, but is Russia's War of liberation in Ukraine already becoming part of the background news? [War of liberation? You just have to push buttons, don't you?-Ed] I do, I really do. Here's what we mean. Back in the 80's every night on the news there'd be an update on the Lebanese Civil War. Same for the Jugoslav civil war in the 90's. Thirty seconds, maybe a minute on the nightly news, and then on to the latest 'women's health' story. 

What Will's Watching, Bill Maher on The Sunday Special: Ben Shapiro and Bill Maher have a long conversation about politics, Trump, voting, the environment, etc. The point of the conversation was for two men who disagree on many, many things to have a civil conversation. As always Maher makes great points. If one went for a beer with Bill Maher, he'd probably want to talk about anything other than politics. Which is one of the reasons we like him. Also, Maher is a free speech absolutist. 

Okay...back to work on The Weser this week. We'll finish Part II: The British and Part III: The Confederates. We're achieving great things, but must needs watchout for over editing. That is, once more, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. As the Federation president said in Star Trek VI, 'Just because we can do a thing does not mean we must do that thing,' or some such.

Monday [not] Metal: Hmmm...Alanis Morrisette is touring with Garbage. You don't get more mid-90s than that, not outside of laboratory conditions. Ah, Alanis Morissette, Gen-X's psycho ex-girlfriend. Man...if you heard the girls listening to Alanis in the dorms you just stopped and slowly backed away. We saw Alanis in 95 with a cute 18 year old who's upstairs right now.  Anyway, Garbade:

Happy Unity Day, Comrade

Good morning! After a late and restless night on election night we slept in a bit this morning. Besides, the girls have the next two days off as these are in-service planning days for the teachers. Because these people haven't had enough time off the last few years. 

Do recall we've been a substitute teacher, a full time teacher at a second rate Yeshiva in Passaic and a college prof. So when we talk about teaching, we know what the fuck we're talking about. The gig ain't rocket science. Of course the teaching class will tell parents one needs a masters degree to assign chapters one and two, odd numbers only. 

Here in New Jersey, they called the gubernatorial race for Murphy. This blog is not surprised. As of this writing we know of no evidence of fraud. Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney was taken out by a truck driver who spent a couple of hundred bucks on his campaign, about half at Dunkin Donuts. Too bad, we liked Sweeney, he fought Murphy on taxes. Even so, this is pretty cool.

Two questions about the Virginia elections. Since the Democrats didn't steal the gubernatorial race, does this mean they didn't steal the presidential race last year? Second, does Youngkin's win mean the GOP doesn't need Trump to rally the base and win? This would be the 'Trumpism without Trump' particle that physicists have yet to locate. Discuss.

They'll be no Russian collusion from us this week, as Thursday and Friday are holidays over there. Day of Unity? Looks like we're celebrating the expulsion of Polish troops from Moscow, the foundation of the Romanov dynasty and the end of the Russian 'Time of Troubles'. Yeah, 'cause that's when the Russian troubles stopped. Who's your favorite Czar? Post in comments. 

Will is Invincible...

[Oh, you really like tempting the gods, don't you? Knobhead-Ed]

We spotted some wild turkeys in the backyard yesterday. 'Bill!' we shouted to our neighbor originally from the wilds of Minnesota, 'Get your rifle!' Actually, the Turkeys were headed off toward the direction of one of the fox dens. Uh oh. 

Let's see what yesterday's blog traffic looked like...it seems the wine moms at Nightingale Russia took the day off. Our guess is they attended a yoga class and then one of those pinot and paint events. Good of the hubby to take the kids for the afternoon, get in some me time, no?

[For the love of Kek, how much longer are you going to play at this?-Ed]

For as long as we think it's funny.

[You've had online critics in the AH community. You're thinking of expanding this gag to them, aren't you?-Ed]

Yes I am.*

On a side note, why don't all you French guys showing up here drop us a line on FB? Fans of Battle of the Three Seas? Let's talk.

Fox News reports:  'A drug meant to treat cholesterol was found to reduce coronavirus infection by 70% in lab studies, with researchers calling for additional clinical trials among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. A team of researchers from the U.K. and Italy published findings in the Frontiers in Pharmacology journal Friday, finding that fenofibrate and fenofibric acid resulted in a significant reduction in coronavirus infection in human cells when the drug was used in safe and approved concentrations, according to a news release posted Friday.' We've been on that stuff for six years. Seventy percent? Bring it.

The New York Post tells us that Barry's Birthday Bash went on sans mask and has the pics to prove it. This crap doesn't really surprise us anymore. The brazenness is the point. The gall, the....oh never mind. No mask for Barry, no mask for Will. 

The Jerusalem Post reports more bellicosity from the Israelis after more Hezbollah rocket fire, 'Israel will not accept shooting into its territory.' War? The 6 Day War began because Assad and Nasser were trying to outdo one another's rhetoric. There's only one man we trust to wage a war against Hezbollah.  Ariel Sharon** is dead. Mr. we could use a man like The Bulldozer again.

*We referenced. We referenced hard.

**Greatest Jew since Charleton Heston.

Will Freelances

Good morning exiled Russians in Helsinki Sweden [That's Finland, you mean Stockholm-Ed] Oh yes. We see you started at this blog's very first post. Okay.

Let's pop on over to the New York Post and see what's happening this morning...Oh my god! We admit that when we went to bed last night we thought Killer Andy C (the man murdered more New Yorkers than Osama bin Laden) was going to survive. But with several Democrat governors and even Joe calling for Andy to resign and the state legislature making noises about impeachment...na. Killer Andy C remains the once a future governor. If you're a Dem you can always ride things out. Just ask Governor Blackie in Virginia. 

You know, reading over the report summary, this sounds exactly like the dumbass stuff we did when we were an idiot 17 year old. Of course Killer Andy C is a grown man. These moves are passive aggressive. They are the actions of a man who lacks confidence. Damn it Andrew, you're the governor of the Empire State. You once had a pretty blonde girlfriend with a great rack and [Now who's acting like a dumbass 17 year old-Ed] act like it. Dinner in the office, candlelight...that'll do it.

Someone contacted us last week about submitting some Pershing pieces to their website. We asked what they were offering. They replied, 'We’re a government agency with no budget to offer compensation for submitted articles, so that’s not on the table, regrettably. What is on offer here is the opportunity to promote your book to the over 200,000 monthly distribution of our newsletter.' This agency is $1.6 million short of its $50 million fundraising goal. We haven't responded yet, we're waiting for the stiff drink we poured ourselves to settle us down a bit, lest we tell these people what we really think.  Fifty million, by the Lords of Kobol.

As the great freelancer Robert Stacy McCain has said, the number one goal of any writer is to get paid. Maxim pays. It's why were working on collusion for him right now. Again, Nightingale Russia, we're not really colluding, just writing newsy articles about what's happening here in America. [How long are you going to continue this Nightingale Russia stuff?-Ed] For as long as I think it's funny. [Strap in, folks. This could last several more weeks-Ed].

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/1/21

August already. Man time moves fast when you're middle aged. We think it's one of the reasons summer gets us down now. Also we're all by ourselves and after a while it becomes terrifying. The dog days indeed.

Good morning wine moms from Nightingale Russia. We see you stopped by Substack:

Judging by some of the posts you non-Vikings have been reading, we think we get the gist of your coming line of attack. Okay, we admit it. Will says mean things and has a few controversial beliefs. Yes, we think Apartheid era South Africa was misunderstood and was the least-worst country in sub-Saharan Africa. We still don't know if NYT reporter Ali Watkins is a slut or a whore.  Sorry, sweetheart, we weren't giving up the poontang to a middle aged loser for access, and you were. Yes, we're Super Straight. Vice's Nicole Clark is still too stupid to be Asian. Oh, by the way. If you really think we have all these QAnon contacts, then you probably think Vladimir Putin is issuing us orders from his Arctic fortress. And we recently opened a Twitter account, purely for venting purposes.

[You're just getting mean and having fun at other's expense-Ed]

Why yes, yes we are.

In New Jersey hospitalizations are declining and the infection rate is dropping. First slowly then all at once? A vaccine skeptical friend asked our advice. We said, 'Since you asked, get the vax. Also go for a walk every night.' Masks are worse than bad. They're useless. Vaccines are good. 

More work on The Great Nuclear War of 1975 yesterday. Things are looking good. The plan has always been to release '75 and then The Great Salvation of 1976 soon after. We were thinking of releasing '75, The Final Storm, then '76. But no, we think '75 and '76 back to back will work best. They did start out as one novel. Both are 75,000 words.  We will not resume work on The Final Storm until The Weser is completed. First slowly then all at once. 2022 is going to be lit.

Fauci and Walensky: The case for Indictment

Welp, we're alone for a couple of weeks. It's already weird. Last night we woke up at 2 AM knowing it was just us, the cats and Youngest Daughter's stuffed otter, Petunia and her gator, Chompson. We didn't like it. We didn't like it at all. We did have an Arturo Fuente Short Story and a nice bottle of chianti, though. We enjoyed that. 

Our ruling class is putrid. But if you're smart enough to read this blog you already knew that. The people running this nation's health bureaucracy are worse. They're incompetent. They're bad liars. They have no idea what they're doing. Nobody should listen to anything 'Doctor' Fauci says. Via Hotair, check out Frank Luntz 'begging' CNN to take Fauci off air. 'Every time he speaks, he actually turns off people,' Luntz says. Luntz is right. It doesn't matter if you like Fauci. His brand is corrupted. This blog wants proof the man is a doctor. We're serious. And Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC is just making it up. 'How are these rules, Rochelle? Yeah, good!' Neither one of them knows what the hell they're talking about.*

Yesterday we posted our Substack piece, Nightingale Russia thinks I'm working for the Kremlin: 'On July 5th an organization called Nightingale Russia did an expose about me called Inforos: Confessions of a Contributor. I’ve written for Inforos since the spring of 2019. That’s a problem for Nightingale Russia. You see, here’s how they describe Inforos, “InfoRos information agency is acting as a front for GRU psychological influence operations.” If one believes Nightingale Russia, I’m some sort of indy writer ‘recruited’ by Inforos’ English language editor Maxim Krasovsky who himself answers to one Denis Tyurin, alleged GRU spy...'Click on through.

We might have a new writing gig. Unsolicited. We've been asked. Oh, how jealous Maxim will be. Flowers and candy are sure to follow. We're working on something for him right now. We'll see if they pay, though. No money, no Will. 

Pershing in Command got Instalanched again. Even though it's been Instalanched twice already, we still saw a nice sales surge. We put a new posting up at Helen's Page today and will post when approved. 

The Confederates remarked at the different ways New Jersey and Tennessee are handling vaccinations. The fully vaxed rate here is 65.12 percent. In Tennessee its 44 percent. Remember, New Jersey was an original hotspot, has the highest death rate per capita in the nation, and is a blue state. My best guess is that those numbers are a wash. 

*Defenestrate 

Your Saturday Updates (Sunday Edition)

As directed by the Party's Central Committee, we have relocated from the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction to the Central Front. Note, Nightingale Russia, there is no Party Central Committee, Northern Strategic Direction or Central Front. 

Our sister came back up with her brood on Friday. Yesterday they took the boat out without issue. Is it too much to hope that everything's been fixed and maybe the Waterproof will be good to go next spring?

Pro tip, don't fill the dishwasher and forget to start it before leaving for two weeks. We scienced in there. We're talking middle school science fair levels of mold. 

As threatened, we started a Twitter account. We shrug with Mediterranean acceptance. 

We had a great week of writing. World War 1990: The Weser, stands at 39,000 words and the British chapter is done(ish) Tons of work to do this week to shore up the Brit chapter, but the narrative is set. We're also using the chapter to get the Confederates across the Weser and into a scrape. Don't mess with those guys. Right now, we're using a British Engineer regiment to throw a bridge across. To derivative? That's the best scene in A Bridge too Far.

This week we'll release our blistering Substack article on the Pseudo-Russian dissidents in Sweden, and you won't believe what happens next. Nightingale Swedes, we know you're reading this. If you would like to comment for the piece, you may contact me any number of ways. That's a courtesy you didn't extend to us, by the way.

Your Friday Sports and Collusion Roundup

Oh look, we're colluding with the KGB again: 'To watch broadcast television in America during the summer of 2021 is to be bombarded by Covid-19 advertisements. The commercials usually come in two forms. First, corporations tell Americans that, ‘We all came through the pandemic together’ and also, ‘We’re here for you now.’ This is a sentimental advertising ploy designed to pull the heartstrings...'Click, to continue colluding.

At this point, we really don't have much else to ad about the ninnies at Nightingale Russia and their accusations against us. We will say this, large swaths of the Democrat Party are compromised by China. We'd rather be compromised by Russia. Admit it, Nightingale Russia, Putin is cool AF. We lay down in a pool of our own blood and whisper, 'The kompromat...the kompromat....'*

This has been floating around the internet for a few days:

Look at those lovely young ladies, accomplished athletes. No, they'll never be rolling in cash the way that purple haired misanthrope will be. Still they can look forward to careers in futball, and when they're ready, a family and home. Which would you choose? Pride of a nation. 

What Will's Watching: We admit to enjoying the Olympics in a detached sort of way.  Maybe we're just having fun with the Daughters. The games are going to be a miasma of Woke human interest stories, aren't they? Sure, NBC always pours it on, every athlete has a major struggle to overcome. This year it's going to be even worse. Must be hard to be a millionaire celebrity athlete. Just ask Megan Rapinoe. You're no Jessie Owens. Yes, we are actively rooting against Woke US athletes. 

Below, your Friday Flag, Sydney 2000. Pride of the USA:

*Reference

The Nightingale Russia/Swedish Women's Soccer Team Nexus

Good morning from the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction, valued reader(s). Not you, brave anonymous Swedes of Nightingale Russia. You know, writing those last too sentences, it occurs to us that the Nightingale Russia Swedes just don't get our Soviet terminology jokes. 

You see, we don't slip into a faux Russian accent and Soviet era military terminology because were a Sovietophile or even a Russianophile. We've read plenty of Russian history and [shakes head] yikes. No, we do so because we think it's silly. Kind of like the old Wendy's Soviet Fashion Show ad from the 80s. What? No, no you dumb Swedes. Wendy's isn't saying they like the Soviet Union, they're...oh never mind. 

We will say thank you, Sweden, for humiliating that purple haired millionaire weirdo and the rest of the knee benders of the US Women's Soccer Team. Skanks. We miss Hope Solo, she was our kind of crazy. [You would totally get on that-Ed] I would, I would. 

We're sitting out on the deck. It's sunny, not a cloud in the sky, 65 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, not the fru-fru Euro-Celsius. We just saw a pair of herons fly low over the water. That's the Berkshires. We'll be heading home Saturday. 

Zoom in and center right you'll see the boat. We still haven't taken that thing out since getting it in the water. 

What Will's Watching, a lot of baseball lately. And we've actually been kinda entertained. We're not emotionally invested in a team anymore, we've just been appreciating the game. 

Nightingale Russia: Read Carefully Next Time

Nightingale Russia thinks Inforos recruited us to the Soviet's great misinformation campaign. To make their point, the anonymous anti-disinformation warriors in Sweden quote this blog.

Stroock goes on to describe how he became involved with InfoRos, explaining: ‘We became aware of those nefarious Ruskis through our friend Sara [sic] Abed who wrote a lot about the Middle East for them at the time. We got Sara to do a quick article about us and our Zionist stoogedom… That was our in with Moscow and from there we’ve written more than 50 clearly marked and obvious op-ed pieces about American politics and foreign affairs, with brief forays into matters Israeli and British…We are paid a fixed sum for each article and the exact number is none of your business, but we assure you it is many, many rubles.’ *

After quoting us, the gals at Nightingale Russia make this bizarre claim, 'Stroock’s comments imply that InfoRos asks writers like Abed, who are already producing content for the agency, to keep an eye out for other journalists who could be recruited to the cause.'

Nightingale Russia, your reading comprehension skills need work, Лошадь мочи. Read what we wrote again, slowly, out loud, and take notes. The quoted paragraph doesn't imply Sarah Abed recruited us. It doesn't imply anything. The paragraph says the exact opposite of what Nightingale Russia claims. Inforos didn't recruit us, we recruited Inforos, Гандон. 

*For the record, here's the post they're quoting.

A Thousand Swedes Ran Through the Weeds, Chased by one American

The Swedes are back this morning. Hi Nightingale Russia, you irony impaired dimwits. We're about 2/3rds done with our Substack article on the brave anonymous anti-Putin warriors based out of Helsinki, Sweden [Finland-Ed]* As promised, it's Nightingale Russia week here at William Stroock dot BlogSpot dot com. As The Critical Drinker says, let's begin, shall we?

Nightingale Russia writes: 

'In a since deleted post Stroock joked Maxim being a Russian spy, ‘We sent our post about Junkpedia [sic] to Maxim our editor at InfoRos in Moscow. He has quite a sense of humor for a KGB agent.’ He obviously had his Russian intelligence services confused...'** 

Let's quote again:

Stroock writes about Maxim a few more times saying in December 2020 that he was writing ‘next week’s KGB column this week’ and in the same paragraph mentioning Maksim again, ‘Maxim, I am rolling’. The paragraph discusses Joe Biden and the ‘China/Dem spy scandal.’ In January 2021, ‘We have a lot on our plate and weren’t planning on colluding with the Russians this week. But Maxim got into bed next to us, put a gentle hand on our shoulder and asked, ‘Honey, are you awake?’ So it looks like we’ll chronicle more of the internal GOP war. It’s nice to be wanted.’ It certainly appears that Stroock is responding to Maksim’s request to write stories about US political events.

They excerpt, but totally miss, our gag about wandering the streets of San Francisco 'looking for American nuclear wessels.' We're not surprised. 

You know, лох, a blog riddled with quips about being compromised by the KGB, compares writing to putting on a slinky black dress, strappy heels and hanging out at the bar, and marinates in ironic self loathing in which the author is berated by an imaginary Liverpudlian editor whom we once fired over MeToo concerns, should probably be read with a certain ironic detachment, чертовски дно.

*Reference

**Here's the post Nightingale Russia claims we deleted. We have never deleted a published post.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 7/18/21

A beautiful morning and afternoon, with a couple of hours on the lake thanks to a kind neighbor who asked, 'Why don't you just get a new boat?' and then, 'Your kids want to go for a swim?' There followed biblical levels of rain. More today. 

You'd have to be an inhuman monster not to laugh at the Texas Democrats who fled the state to deny the legislature a quorum to pass an election security bill, posted pictures of themselves without masks on an airplane, and then caught the Fauci Flu. It's hilarious. Don't let them back into Texas without a two week quarantine!

What Will's Watching, Mets @ Pirates: Up 6-0 in going into the 8th, the Mets' bullpen gave up five runs and let the Pirates back in the game. The Mets hit a homer in the top of the 9th making it 7-5. The Mets' closer pitched the bottom of the 9th, promptly loaded the bases and gave up a grand slam. Pirates 9, Mets 7. Beat the Mets. Cheat the Mets. Step right up and defeat the Mets. Bring your kiddies. Bring your dog. Come on out and eat like a hog. LOL Mets.

A Confederate reader points out that you don't call a Southern Man a Yank. Seriously, check the comments, people. Wonder how many fights broke out in Britain during The War (no not that one), because some Limey said, 'Sorry Yank,' to a Georgian. Yes, we're already playing off that in World War 1990: The Weser.

Nightingale Russia, the fallout. We've mentioned before that someone from Sweden has been going over this blog. Given the deep dive Nightingale Russia did on our old posts, it was obviously them.  Which brings us to Will's Good Idea of the Week. of 7/18/21. We're going to do two things about the anonymous anti-disinformation warriors at Nightingale Russia. We'll Fisk their hit-piece on us here. Meanwhile, we're also writing a Substack article on same. One will be respectable, one won't.  Betcha my reach is greater than yours. 

Our KGB handler wants something for this week. A lot to cover. In the meantime, off to crank out a few thousand words of The Weser.

Saturday Updates from Russia

We awake tired and sore after pulling kayaks in and out of the water. We still refuse to so much as get in the boat. The Stroocklettes have been informed thusly and are adjusting themselves to the new order. Middle and Youngest Daughter have camp next week, so they will be fine. Looks like some daddy/daughter time with the teenager is in the offing.

Reader(s), it's happening! Please, this blog implores you, if you click one link this morning, click this one. It's an expose from something called Nightingale Russia, and it's all about us. We read it like eight times yesterday. [Ego?-Ed] Absolutely. When we found the piece we were just so....happy. We smiled, we laughed like an idiot. Eight times. We're going to read it again after we're finished here. We've been waiting for this. Nightingale Russia quotes extensively from this blog, and it's obvious that they just don't get the joke. Which is hilarious. We'll deal with these people next week.

In other news, The National Interest has pirated another one of our magazine articles. We admit it's flattering. It's nice to see people recognize that we are among the best there is at what we do. At the bare minimum we're going to start bragging that our work appears in The National Interest. When we get home we're going to send them an invoice at $800 per. Not kidding. 

We think we're going to start a Twitter account just to see how long we can go before it gets taken down, Fauci did Covid, that sort of thing. Because Fauci did Covid.

On to the things:

Being bogged down with children and boat issues we haven't done anything on The Great Nuclear War of 1975.

World War 1990: The Weser is coming along splendidly, though. We're at 32,000 words. The 8th Infantry Division section is partly done, which means it's partly not done. But we're good. We figured out how to start the British chapter and have done so. This entailed adding a British general scene at the beginning, watching as 4 Armoured Division pulls back from the Weser. We also introduce some BBC guys. Also, the Brits meet the Confederates. Two of the 211th ACR's squadrons will cross the Weser, one will remain on the west bank maintaining contact with the Limeys. This chapter is going to be a chess match between the Brit and Jerry general and we'll convey action via listening in to the command net, a trick we've used before and love doing. We'll punctuate with the BBC guys. The first part of the book takes up 30,000 words. We'll keep this chapter about 10,000. Maybe 12,000....15,000?