Saturday Updates

We did not have a good week, what with medical issues and current events. And when we don't sleep well now we need a couple of days to recover. We spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening tired and in a bad mood. 

Will's sports wrap. Okay despite being scientifically proven to raise estrogen levels, we've been watching some World Cup. At least the US beat those Kangaroo eaters yesterday. But after watching a couple of matches, we're at least 10 percent gayer. We kid....we kid. 

Okay, seriously, we're enjoying the World Cup, it all seems like good fun. Despite being half an hour from the Meadowlands, we haven't run into any foreign tourists. There are plenty of hotels around here, so they must be about. Still, seen any confused Euros anyone driving on the wrong side of the road or anything like that. 

The Things. 

We wrote a couple of scenes in World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We've got, we think, two chapters left to write. Two and a half. These are the final Dublin assault. And we think we'd like to do a chapter on paramilitary and terrorist violence. Also and RUC crackdown on the Prods.

We wrote the Suez story in the 5th nuke novel. We need more stories. 

Creatively, not a bad week at all. 

Down a Friday but not Doom

Good morning, Stroock's Books Kibbutzim, and Shabbat Shalom. 

That was some gout attack yesterday. While the gout is flushed out, the ankle is still sore, and will remain so today.

Nothing yet on the MRI.

Last day of school yesterday for Youngest Daughter.

We're trying to lighten up, relax and enjoy summer. 

We're also trying to learn to stop worrying and love the MoU. Over at Hot Air, The Counterargument to My Pessimism on Iran. Trump's playing for time, they say.  It is a compelling argument by two sensible men. We urge reader(s) to click over. 

That gout attack was stress related, and half of the stress was from worrying about the war.*

On the bright side, Israel kicked the ever living crap out of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, even Iran. Israel is much safer than it was on October 7th. 

Even brighter, oil prices are down 40 quid from their peak a few months ago. This will help the economy, and improve vastly GOP prospects this fall. 

*The other half being worrying about the appointment: getting there, the staff forgetting to send directions, the results, etc etc. 

Doomy Doom & Doom

What a morning to have a gout attack. We were dreaming about our left ankle hurting and then we woke up to our left ankle hurting. Weird. We nuked it with colchicine and cherry juice and are on the mend. No plans to cancel today's gym appearance, unless we decide to do something really stupid like crack open a bottle and light an Arturo Fuente becuase...

After nuking the gout we drove to our prostate MRI (+12 PSA level. Readers should just go ahead and google that). We were not prepared for how narrow the enclosing machine was. Took us a couple of minutes to gut check ourselves into the thing. But gut check ourselves into the thing we did. Twenty-eight minutes overall. The machine was loud; with lots of clunks and beeps. The time went by fast, actually. We'll hear back in a day or two, they say. 

There is no sugarcoating the Iran deal. It sucks. The Iranians outmaneuvered Trump and art of the dealed him. We don't understand why he let this happen. The deal is bad from Iran to Hormuz to Lebanon, where Trump will now exert maximum pressure upon Israel to stop fighting and withdraw. Anything else is wish casting. 

We'll do a less doomy post tomorrow. 

Yesterday we were remiss in not mentioning a family birthday. Devotee's will recall our Mississippi born, Louisianna raised grandmother, Hannah Marx Eisman. Her namesake was born 26 years ago yesterday. Let's just say, there's an eerie family connection from Beyond the Grave. In any event, the readership will celebrate appropriately. 

Will is Doomed

Happy midweek, Stroock's Books readers. 

We're enjoying cool 50ish temps at the moment, with highs reaching into the low 80s this afternoon. 

It seems the Iranians are rolling Trump. We don't understand how that's possible. The MoU with Iran is shaping up to be a disaster. We don't get it. Powerline's assessment seems right to us. Of course Trump would help matters if he'd release his version of the MoU, since all we've seen is the Iranian version. What the actual F is going on? We don't know. 

Rumors abound that Trump will fire officials that oppose the deal, Ratcliffe, Hegseth(?)...the F? 

The deal is getting worse all the time*.

Once again Netanyahu will be in opposition to the American president....Clinton, Obama, Biden...Trump(?!). How in the hell?

In Israel Gadi Eisenkot is on the verge of becoming the leader of the opposition, according to The Jerusalem Post. This is fine. The poll produces a hung parliament though, and Netanyahu still wins the preference question 41-33 over Eisenkot. 

DOGE report.

We finished the rough draft of the Suez story.

We wrote two scenes in World War 1990: Thatcher's War. Now let's edit. 

*Reference.

Tuesday Post Without Title

Good morning, fellow enthusiasts of Stroock's Books. And happy Tuesday. 

Once again, we will not have a scorcher today with temps only reaching into the high 70s.

Back to backs at the gym. We're tired and sore. Mid month we weighed in at 245, pounds not kilos.

Our colon/endoscopy follow up was fine. No cancer or anything. We do have a bourgeoning acid reflux issue which the doctor said could become a major problem down the road. Time to get on another med, we're not happy about this, and make a few lifestyle changes, about which we are also unhappy. Coffee causes reflux, as does seltzer, both of which we drink a lot of (of which both we drink a lot?). Heck, we've been using seltzer to treat heartburn for decades. As noted previously, we are not happy. We are miffed even. We are not happy at all. 

We've new prescriptions to pick up. We're also not happy about this.

Deal or what?...The Israeli press is filled with doom. The administration insists the deal is a good deal (they would though, wouldn't they?) We can't see or imagine why Trump would give the game away after accomplishing so much. So maybe he's not giving the game away. Nevertheless...We sure hope Trump knows what he's doing. We can't help but notice that oil is below $80 this morning. 

Related...Dems only have a +5 advantage in the polls. That's not enough. 

Jews...so what's with the Torah walk and the new synagogue? Well, our old synagogue was in a town that used to be very Jewish. The demographics changed and now the town is very Latin. The congregation shrank and then shrank some more. Ours were the last children bat mitzva'd. With the congregation shriveling, and dues drying up, our synagogue merged with a neighboring synagogue. It was a very moving ceremony. The new synagogue is much closer to home, which is nice. 

DOGE report. 

Okay, we figured out the next chapter in World War 1990: Thatcher's War. The chapter takes place a week after the Battle of Ardee and has a news report showing Britain's farcical advance into Ireland. Lots of political machinations with preparations for the Dublin assault. 

We should finish the nuke novel Suez story today [Should-Ed]. 

Doom...or not...or Maybe

Good morning, Stroock's Books loyalists. Happy Monday and happy mid-June.

Plenty of rain last night. Good. We needed it. Highs only in the mid-70s today. Which is nice. 

We have a follow up to our colon/endoscopy a few weeks ago. Wish us luck. 

Dance taxi is over. Only a few more days of school left. 

The US and Iran have a deal they say. Or not as according to the veep, they're still talking. The US is saying the deal means one thing. Iran is saying the deal means something else. Hot Air has an early write up. Right now this seems like more of the same. The fighting stops.  Hormuz opens. Nuclear talks begin. This feels like a punt, so far. 

The Israelis are apoplectic, which should surprise no one. Boy if some of these terms are true....yikes. Usually this blog reminds reader(s) to eschew doomerism. Right now we remind reader(s) to eschew optimism. We await events.  

Final thought, Duane Patterson at Hot Air is about where we are.

Trump has his announcement. The market will rise today. The price of oil will drop.

Related...In The Times of Israel a long interview with Together Party leader Naftali Bennett. We like the cut of his jib.

Staying Jewy... So yeah, we did a Torah walk yesterday in which we physically walked the Torahs out of our old synagogue and drove them to the new synagogue and walked them in. 

We look good, there's no getting around it. They gave us the heavy torah. 'Your husband looks like he spends a lot of time at the gym,' - true quote. You're goddamn right we do. This being America in 2026, we took the precaution of having a police escort. One never knows if stabby will show up. 

Kurt Schlichter discusses the latest round of Irish Troubles and asks some excellent questions. A fun column, as is Schlichter's wont. Let's just say many of his points will seem familiar to readers of World War 1990: Ireland. 

Ugh...what is this urge to have to know what is going on in the world up to the very minute? This we must eschew. 

We searched in vain yesterday for something to read. We fight ennui.

DOGE report.

We had a big sales spike yesterday, no idea why. 

We spent a few hours going over the Suez story. It's coming along. we think we have the ending. 

We've no idea how to get to where we need to go in World War 1990: Thatcher's War. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 6/14/26

Good Sunday morn, Christian faithful. We hear Waffle House has a kids eat free special today. 

The New York Knicks are world champions for the first time in 53 years. And that's the first New York championship since the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2012. Riots ensued. Congratulations Knicks fans.

Yesterday's dance recital went just fine, two girls, two shows, five dances. What can a dad say? 

Heh, we can say that there is no dance taxi for three months. That means free evenings, no more 8:30 dinners, etc etc. 

Israel slammed 70 + Hezbollah targets yesterday, hit Beirut's Dahieh suburbs this morning and has ordered more evacuations. Is Israel launching a new campaign, or taking care of business before an Iran deal, which is close being signed, they say? We hear contradictory reports as to what's in the deal. The Israeli press is filled with doomerism. Israel is just not in a place where it can allow itself to enjoy the moment. This blog awaits events. 

Oh, happy birthday, Mr. President. 

Will's good idea for the week of 6/14/26.

We're working on Suez, but have no idea how it ends. We've no idea what actually happens in the DEW line story. We need more short story ideas for the 5th nuke novel. Something else overseas, but what? But who? Whom? Ideas welcome. The 5th nuke novel is 36,000 words.

We're off to do a torah walk from our old synagogue to our new synagogue. It is exactly what it sounds like.