Three Years on

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s). Today is October 7th. Let's go see if Stabby has been up to anything today...Not so far. 

Do we have to spend today looking at October 7th footage? Remember, we were on twitter that morning. We've seen things you wouldn't believe. Here's what we wrote on October 7th, 2024. This blog insists reader(s) click through. 

Our foot is still bothering us so there will be no Operation Hatikva II. But we write this in our local Dunkin Donuts wearing our Israel cap and I Stand with Israel shirt. 

What Will's Reading:  In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis. This book continues to amaze. We are riveted. 

Some critics say the Gaza offensive was too slow, that the IDF should have blitzed the entire strip at once. The Israelis couldn't do that because they had to keep significant forces in the north in case Hezbollah attacked. So the IDF's Gaza campaign was incremental, taking out Hamas cities one by one... Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Rafah...

The Israelis approached Hamas tunnels with great caution, which we knew. But we didn't know the IDF figured out that Hamas used the tunnels for storage and movement, not fighting. And once the Israelis entered a tunnel, Hamas usually bugged out. Eventually the Israelis used the tunnels to move around the strip themselves. 

To the surprise of nobody, the Biden Regency stalled the Israelis, and even called upon them not to invade the Gaza strip. Netanyahu was extremely cautious as well and wouldn't authorize a new phase of the ground invasion until the IDF gave him an articulate plan with concrete objectives. Bibi always moves cautiously and never makes a decision until he has to. 

Also, the ground attack began on 29 October. During the interval Israeli troops trained for urban and tunnel warfare, one of the reasons for the delay. 

Moving on...

An interesting article on Hungary and Ukraine. We know that guy. Smart kid. 

Cornell...At the moment, the Cornell-7 are guilty of nothing except bad judgement. That may change. But what would make a young woman want to engage in a drug and alcohol fueled orgy? And why would she be surprised later that the young men 'didn't respect her in the morning'? Joining an orgy was not a good idea, not for these young men, and especially not for this young woman. And then word got out. And rather than exciting or empowering, for this young woman the orgy was shameful and regretful. It seems from texts and phone messages some of the Cornell-7 felt the same way. Exit question: What did she think would happen? 

Political note, international. We quote the great Israeli journalist Amit Segal on Israeli polls, 'In recent weeks, Benjamin Netanyahu has faced a dilemma: Which channel does he believe? Channel 12, which has the opposition at 54 and Netanyahu’s bloc at 53, or Channel 14, which has him significantly stronger at 63, while the opposition hovers at 45?' Segal points to Brazil as well, where Flavio outperformed his poll numbers by 7 points. Exit question: if it's happening there, and Bibi thinks it is, is it happening here?

DOGE report.

There's little more we can do to Thatcher's War at the moment. 

We read through three 5th nuke novel stories and are quite pleased. 

Hmmm....should the 5th nuke novel be published before Thatcher's War? We still need one more story. 

Upon this idea we shall dwell.

The Day Before the Day

Argh....ankle pain. Gout? We don't know. But we do know it woke us up. 

We had a good weightlifting session though. 

October 7th is tomorrow. We hate the day as much as we hate September 11th. 

Related... the great Hugh Hewitt interviews historian and Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. Oren predicts the October 27th election will result in a hung Knesset.

Also related... we are reading In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis. Key takeaways so far: Israel intel refused to take warnings of a Hamas attack seriously. Israeli leadership was stunned by the rapidity and breadth of the Hamas attack. On October 8th, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant wanted to launch a massive assault... on Hezbollah, arguing that they were the greater threat. This was in the papers at the time. We recall agreeing with the assessment, and long term reader(s) will themselves recall this blog's occasional admonition, 'Hezbollah, Bibi.' But we thought then and believe now that opening up a second front in October of 2023 was a bad idea. In any event In the War Room is proving to be an excellent book.

Cornell... why did the Cornell-7 think getting wasted and engaging in group sex was a good idea? Others are already making this point, but we'll make it too. We live in a sex addled society riddled with porn. Porn existed when we were in high school and college. But most of it was 'normal'. That is, one was for the most part viewing two people having sex. And the porn wasn't at one's fingertips, either - a click away. The younger generation will never know the video store walk of shame.

And that's where the Cornell-7 got the idea.

Why 50 years ago one could watch Detective Sgt. Joe Friday bust pornography rings on Dragnet.  Now the left wants to legalize prostitution. A few years ago a friend said that they and there spouse had discussed doing a '3-way'. We replied, 'It's probably not a good idea.' And we were right. In our sexually permissive society, where one sees sex everywhere, anything goes so long as adults consent. Even if the act involves consenting adults, it may not be a good idea. What the Cornell-7 and that woman were up to was not a good idea*.

What Will's Watching: Ad Astra. What a strange movie. Brad Pitt plays Roy McBride, an astronaut whose father was himself an astronaut and pioneer of modern space travel. Cliff McBride headed Project Lima to Neptune a few decades before and disappeared. Since then an energy burst called The Surge bombards earth, causing having. Roy spends much of the movie coming to grips with his father's legacy and their estrangement in psychological monologues. Ad Astra some good moon and space cinemaphotography. In this world the moon is well travelled and just another airport now with all the trappings of Newark or Dulles. Ad Astra never reaches the heights to which it aspires and as mentioned above, is very weird, 2/4.

Political note, international: polls in Brazil underestimated Flavio's support by at least five points. Interesting. In Quebec, polls predicted a PQ majority. Last night the province elected a PQ minority. Also interesting. 

DOGE report. 

The DEW Line story is Dew done [Idiot-Ed].

We had a good day with World War 1990: Thatcher's War. TW is almost done.

Reader(s) will kindly excuse us, as we're off to the dentist. 

*If the prosecution proves rape, we'll call the Cornell-7 rapists and the accuser a victim. We do not believe the accuser has a strong case. But we await facts. See how that works you screeching harpies? 

Monday Blue is Big for a Blue Week

Good morning Stroock's Books reader(s). Yeah, nothing to say yesterday. We dunno.

We await our glasses. Like real glasses, not these cheap CVS readers.  

So it's 10/7 week and we've no idea what to do. We're reading In the War Room. Riveting Do we want to read a history of the attack? There's plenty of uplifting stories of resistance too you know. And do reactivate Operation Hatikva? We look good there, that's just all there is to it. 

Related...looks like we finally found a decent Israeli poll aggregator. Likud rising. 

NFL wrap...An endzone interception run all the way back for a touchdown is a hell of a way to clinch a win. Jameis Winston Jameis Winstoned making both key and disastrous throws. Where was the running game?  Reinder: Cam Skataboo is not an every down back. We don't know if the Giants are a good team. We don't believe they are. But we know the Giants aren't a bad team. The Giants are 3-1, after having beaten only one decent team. 

So we're going to go there, that is, to Cornell. We've seen a lot of sex/rape scandals in our life. Some very big ones turned out to be hoaxes; Tuwana Brawly, Duke Lacross, UVA. So we when news of the Cornell scandal broke, we didn't say much and waited for facts. 

We've actually been sitting on another fraternity scandal story. We're Greek as we used to say. Just last week we dug out a couple of old AXP t-shirts for our daughter's 'Frat-Bro' day at school. But idiot fraternity behavior annoys us greatly. What the Cornell-7 did, even if consensual* was dumb. 

We'll end by quoting the great John Nolte. 'Part of me just wants to point and laugh at the blue on blue circular firing squad…. The local DA is a Democrat, Cornell is a far-left college. Hochul threw both under the bus.' This scandal is bad for Cornell, and that is good. 

It's Cornell Week here at Stroock's Books, where we'll be talking about the case, the issue, and our old fraternity days. Here's a good primer on our old fraternity days. See also this. Do click through. We'd be delighted. 

Polling gut check times: do you really think that weirdo Talarico is up 6 points in Texas?

DOGE report.

The Dublin aftermath chapter is looking much better. We will probably delete a planning scene. 

The DEW Line story is almost done. Sometimes everything falls into place. We did have to go back and strengthen a character's character. 

*This blog is skeptical of the accuser and her claims but awaits more facts. See, one can choose not to join a digital lynch mob before one knows all the facts. Just saying, 'I don't know,' can be so liberating.

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders and happy Saturday. 

We should be more ebullient about our test results. Oh well. 

The weightlifting is going quite well. We've put on five pounds in the last few weeks we think and can physically feel our muscles growing. We've enjoyed the regimen so far. We've a bout of bursitis in our left knee, so no cardio lately.

We are growing our autumn beard. 

The Things.

We slugged on through World War 1990: Ireland. The last few chapters need a lot of work. Frankly, we're dismayed. We shall press onward, ever onward. But not this weekend.  World War 1990: Ireland is...80,000 words. 

We finally had a breakthrough on our DEW line nuclear war story. We've got it! We've got it!

Diagnose This

Good morning, Stroock's Books kibbutzim and shabbat shalom. 

We'll have unusually warm weather today with temps topping 80. 

After the Nor Easter, New Jersey's water situation is shiny. Most reservoirs are well above their seasonal averages. 

So after blood tests, an MRI and a biopsy...we don't have prostate cancer. There is a clump of cells the doctor wants to keep an eye on, with a further blood test in a few months. But overall we are in the clear. 

So endith a season of medical tests which we've been poked, prodded, stabbed and put under anesthesia. Sometimes in that order. We shall commemorate the moment by adding whisky to ice.

The price of oil per barrel is falling again. We've seen it here in northern New Jersey. Meanwhile a third carrier is heading for the gulf and the US is boosting air defenses in the Gulf Arab states. Doings are transpiring. 

This blog once again calls attention to Captain Smit Machchhar, the brave Indian pilot who opened the cockpit door. The Hindu is a friend to the Jew. Gentile saint.* 

Related...now this poll is interesting, from The Times of Israel, a publication that is no friend to Netanyahu. 'The survey was the latest in recent weeks to show Netanyahu’s presumed bloc pulling ahead, after months in which nearly every poll showed his supporters trailing the presumed opposition bloc.' Note, the Bibi bloc does not have a majority. To our mind, the oppo bloc has not made the case against Bibi or for an Eisenkot lead government. This blog is open to persuasion. Exit question: might this be simply a post hijacking bump?

Ugh, October 7th is next week. Do we have to revive Operation Hatikva?

What Will's Watching, The Pitt S1 E9. Lots of sucker punches last night. Why? These are poisoning a really good show. 

Also, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlyn. Through four episodes the show is holding up for us. This is a very Christian show in an interesting way. One feels as if one is reading Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Ultimately, The Pendragon Cycle is about early Anglo-Saxon England, and many of the kings named we remember from our reading of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Halfdan, Vortigern.... 

Speaking of Anglo-Saxon England....do click over. That was a fun article to write. Some of that text is 25 years old now. Alfred eventually found its way into this. 

DOGE report.

We read a couple of the latter chapters of Thatcher's War and weren't pleased. Weren't pleased at all. Back to work today. 

LE Sive's last stand is totally inadequate. Get ready for 85,000 words. 

*When we take over, his name will be on the protected scrolls. 

Airplane III: The Israelis

Middle Daughter got back late last night from her Harry Styles concert and we had to pick her up at a friend's house at 12:45 AM or so. 

Happy Thursday everyone. 

What Will's Watching: While we waited for Middle Daughter to get back to her friend's house we watched Eastern Promises, the 2007 Viggo Mortensen Russian gangster film. Eastern Promises has mood, heart, and soul. There's a lot going on there. Mortensen brilliantly plays a driver and foot soldier in the Russian mob. Lots of Russian culture everywhere. A clever, but not too clever, film. Plot twists and turns abound. Highly recommended 4/4.

So the Israeli passengers overpowered the hijacker and took control of the plane. And let us tip our cap to the Hindu pilot who, strength failing him, unlocked the cockpit door so the Israelis could rush inside and pummel the hijacker.  

There remained the problem of who was going to fly the plane. 

'Is there anyone on board who knows how to fly a plane?'

IYKYK and you better know.

Fortunately two replacement pilots were aboard and took control of the aircraft. They didn't have the fish for dinner, that's for sure. 

We had fun with that all day yesterday and are chortling about it as we write. 

The FlyDubai episode was like the Battle of Macho Grande all over again. 

Netanyahu met the plane when it landed at Ben Gurion and congratulated the heroes, because of course he did. Netanyahu is a political Jedi master and we are mere padawan apprentices fumbling with our lightsaber with those stupid helmets on our head. 

Political note, national: we've now seen two polls in which Maine Senator Susan Collins is leading by 3 points. We're going to stop worrying. 

DOGE report.

We read the Battle for Dublin Airport and then we read it again. 

We read the Battle for Howth. And then we read it again. 

Both scenes are better than they were before. But are they good enough? This is not an easy question. Not for us. Not for any man.

It's October. Is World War 1990: Thatcher's War done? No. But the rough draft is nearly complete. 

The reader will kindly excuse us, as we're off to the doctor to see if we have prostate cancer.

Blue and Orange are Blue While Blue and White are not

For reasons that need not concern the readership (such as it is) our morning was all discombobulated. 

Good afternoon, Stroock's Books midweekers, and happy Wednesday. 

Israeli passengers on a Fly Dubai jetliner prevented a hijacking, they say. We await facts.

From The Times of Israel, a good analyses on the Israeli election. Nut graph, as the J-school losers would say, nobody knows nuthin' and the most likely outcome is a hung parliament. Bibi loves political maneuvering and at his best when under pressure. In the negotiations following a hung parliament, Bibi would have the advantage.  

Beat the Mets, cheat the Mets...letting Pete Alonso go is the worst Mets personnel decision of this century. But we recall some other doozies. 

In 1989 the Mets traded tough guy Len Dykstra and prankster Roger McDowell to the Phillies for the-past-his-prime Juan Samuel. Going back a decade, in1972 the Mets traded future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan for journeyman outfielder Jim Fregosi. 

In some ways the Mets are just unlucky. 

The Mets lost Daryl Strawberry in 1991 (a good thing) and replaced him with base stealer Vince Coleman (a bad thing). Coleman never equaled the success he had in St. Louis and against the Mets. They didn't catch him stealing till 1990.

In 2002 the Mets brought in half a dozen stars, and everyone of them slumped. Slugging first basemen Mo Vaughn ate his way to a .250 batting average. Jeromy Burnitz stopped hitting homeruns. Speedster Roger Cedeno stopped stealing bases. hall-of-famer Roberto Alomar entered the hall-of-average when he joined the Mets. 

See also outfielder Jason Bay, a consistent 30/100 hitter till the Mets signed him in 2009. 

What Will's Watching, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlyn ep-2. Better than episode-1 by a grade level. We had a visceral, emotional reaction to this episode's final few minutes. Which means producer/director Jeremy Boreing knew what he was doing. Episode-2 has some GoT level plot twists. Episode-2 also had a little too much talking. But overall, nicely done, 3/4,

DOGE report.

We realized this morning we still have to read the Howth landing, son-of-a-mother!@#$@!#. Wait, no! The airport and minehunter scenes come first. Thank the Lords of Kobol. 

But things are going pretty well.