Soon War Night...Soon Yemen?

Good Thursday and pre-shabbat greetings, Stroock's Books associated fans, observers and hangers on. 

Our sojourn across the Hudson went just fine. We eschewed a visit to the cemetery. It's not like anyone is going anywhere, at least not before the zombie apocalypse. 

Let's check Dow futures after yesterday's drop....yikes. 

Trump nixed an Israeli proposal to attack Iran, they say, 'Even hawkish members of Trump’s cabinet expressed skepticism that a military strike could destroy Iran’s nuclear ambitions, resulting in a “rough consensus” that for the time being negotiation was the better option, the Times reported.' According to the report the plan included an Israeli commando raid. Cool and terribly risky. 

This does not worry us, no...Exit questions....Why not give negotiations one last shot? Besides, Trump just delivered 3,000 munitions to Israel with another 10,000 on the way so let's not fire up the Trump is gonna screw Israel machine. Also, what if the Trump admin feels Iran is on the brink of an economic/political collapse? Final question: why did the administration plant this story in the press?* 

Oh, again for the record. This is Israel's war, not America's. Ahhh....but Israel Radar reports that US air strikes on the Houthi may be prep for an upcoming Yemeni/Saudi offensive. 

Up in Canada, they held the federal leaders French language debate last night. Don't ask us what happened. English language debate tonight. There's some evidence that Pierre and the cons are gaining (slightly) on Carney and the libs. One poll has Carney falling. The poll's an outlier but it's also the latest. A trend? We've asked our fellow North American for comment. 

Doge report: we began two scenes in Thatcher's War. We'll work on them today. 

Oh look, the War Night ebook file has arrived. Ebook and hard copy files have been uploaded and are under review. 

*Or is this story why a couple of Pentagon officials have been thrown out of the building Jewish Insider asks?

Mid the Week

Good midweek, Stroock's Books people. 

Today we sojourn across the dread Hudson River for lunch with our father. 

Stroock digital notes...Look at us, blog post 5990. Post 6000 closing in [We're doing this again?-Ed] We are.... Book sales have seen three separate spikes this week. No idea why. Substack?...Mark Steyn notes that our old home, Gab, is leaving Great Britain. We looked and saw we've done a few posts on Gab this year but have largely stayed away. No reason other than we just get better results on Substack. 

New Jersey beat: With the deluge of rain we've had the last week, New Jersey reservoirs are filling. Our local Round Valley/Spruce Run reservoir is now over 85 % full about 5 percentage points off its historic average. 

We have asked in several places online if Winston Churchill was great. No one says no, but no one can answer why he was great. He saved western civilization, goes the response. But how? We also point to a devastated empire in 1945 that would soon fall away. Also John Cleese has argued that London is no longer and English city. We don't like much of what we see in Britain lately. See, for example, the Steyn post above.

Middle East notes...Turkey encroaches into Syria which is worrisome. The next war?...The president has informed Jerusalem that he intents to withdraw troops from Syria. Good...Administration messaging on Iran negotiations is all over the place. One minute special envoy Steve Witkoff is talking about uranium enrichment levels, the next minute press secretary Karoline Leavitt is saying Iran can never have the bomb...American B-2s are dropping 30,000 pound bunker busters on the Houthi. A warmup? This blog is not impressed with Witkoff....Washington is fast tracking munitions deliveries to Israel...

DOGE report: we read through the Thatcher's War interlude chapter and did some fixing up. We may have to add another chapter, the Armagh War. Why Not? This would also give us the opportunity to show more of the post-war world. World War 1990 Thatcher's War is going to be a big book which pleases nobody and pisses off everyone. 

The War Night hardcopy is uploaded and ready to go. We should have the kindle version this week. We are nervous AF.

Wither Winston?

A fair and good morning to Stroock's Book's reader(s) wherever they me be. 

Does WC from Houston still stop by this blog? Where you been?

We did a little light yardwork yesterday and got a little light rain last night. Scattered showers are expected. Tomorrow the NJDEP will update its reservoir levels.  

The Passover seders may be over but Passover is still with us. The observant (not us) will refrain from bread etc for the rest of the week. There's lots of matza around the house, which means lots of matza crumbs, which calls for daily (at least) vacuuming. 

It's also spring break here, which means the girls were home to watch Jeff Bezos shoot his fiancée and some celebrities into space. The jokes can and did write themselves. At Hot Air, Beege Welborne writes about the chick-astronauts oh so fashionable and flattering uniforms, 'The uniforms the delightful Ms Sanchez designed were certainly first rate hootchie and very blue, which suits the company's name. And I'd bet good money she's been told it's her best color.' Heh, space vixens indeed. 

The Post Douglas Murray/Dave Smith Joe Rogan fallout continues. We'll spend the rest of this week coming to grips with some of the ideas being tossed about by the right. 

We've seen a lot of writing about the 'Woke Right' (we're not sure it's a thing) and Churchill. Most conservatives take it as read that Churchill was a great war leader and probably the greatest leader of the 20th century. We asked why on Substack. Two points. First, Britain lost a lot of battles and territory in 1940-1941. And two, Britain was a bombed out and broke secondary power by the end of the war. So, was Churchill great? 

DOGE report: we read through the interlude chapter in Thatcher's War. We're feeling pretty groovy at the moment.

We received the reformed War Night MS from our people. We uploaded the softcover PDF, gave it a quick run through and approved it. We have the yips, though, about which nothing can be done. Kindle file should be ready by the 18th. 

We now have 1008 followers on Substack. Look at us! Is this selling books? We dunno. 

Passover the Experts!

Second Passover Seder conducted. Pharoh chastised with extreme prejudice. 

Oh look, on Substack we have 999 followers. 

This is a news report on the flooding of the Green River (a tributary of the mighty Ohio) and the town of Livermore Kentucky. Our mother's family was from Livermore and many of our cousins remain. Both of our grandparents are buried in the hilltop cemetery on the east edge of town. Though we haven't set foot there since 2004, Livermore has remained with us. 

This Joe Rogan debate/discussion between Dave Smith and Douglas Murray has gotten a lot of attention online. In the second half of the discussion, Smith is absolutely wrong about Israel and Murray cleans his chronometer. However, throughout Murray keeps falling back on 'expertise' and 'lived experience' to counter Smith's stance not only on Israel and Gaza but the discussion of history and current events. 'Have you ever been there?' Murray asks Dave smith of Gaza. So what?  Imagine believing in expertise after these last five years. We've never seen Murray look worse. 

Okay so on what subjects are we an expert? We earned an MA in the American Revolution. We've published, we think, two articles about the war, lol. One on Captain William Washington, the other on Colonel Otho Holland Williams (come on, click on that would you?). We wrote a history of Pershing and the AEF in the Great War. We've whipped out our degree a few times, in defense, and a few other times pointed out, 'Look we've written extensively on the AEF,' but we've never insisted non-specialists can't have an opinion.* 

Speaking of things about which we are not an expert...Dow Futures are up this morning. 

Related...We'll spare our hot takes on the attempted murder of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro and his family till we know more. The golden age of Jews in America is over. We're gonna Jew harder though, we'll tell you that. 

DOGE report: yesterday we organized and edited Thatcher's War interlude chapter. We realized that after the battle of Derry much mischief must needs be happening in Northern Ireland, a lot of tit-for-tat. Good...(claps hands)...good. Attack on RUC station followed by raid on IRA hangout punctuated by Prod paramilitary violence accentuated by rogue UDF action.

*The academy would almost certainly A-reject our online degrees, B-insist we're a Pershing and AEF non-specialist. We don't care. 

One Seder Down

Chag Pesach Sameach, Stroock's Books Hebrew enthusiasts. We had a fine seder with dear neighbors last night. We can't recall a livelier or pithier seder. Lots of prep by Mrs. Stroock, who later used her crack 51 year old dishwasher - us.*

We swear to Hashem that reciting the ten plagues becomes more ominous every year: Dam, Tsifardeah, Kinim, Arov, Dever, Shkhin, Barad, Arbeh, Choshech, Makat b’chorot. Gives us chills every time. May the 10 plagues fall upon Gaza. 

Fun Fact, had we written a third Israel Strikes novel about a new Israel/Egypt war we would have called it Israel Strikes: The Eleventh Plague. 

Related...the US and Iran completed their first round of nuclear talks in Oman. We have no insights. Some believe Iran would seriously ditch its nuke program for sanctions relief, etc. After 18 months of proxy war, and Israel's demonstrated ability to hit Iran at will, not to mention Trump's very credible war threat, maybe they would. This blog remains skeptical. 

Also related....special Stroock's Books editorial statement, because we encounter this crap from time to time on Substack. Israel is at war. It is Israel's war not America's war, and Israelis should fight it. We've said so from the very beginning. See Israel In, USA out. 

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 4/13/25...World War 1990: Thatcher's War is turning into a meditation on post war politics and a nation not ebullient after having won World War Three. The interlude chapter has lots of political machinations punctuated by Ingham and Clarke's adventures in NYC. We just wrote a scene where they toss the NORAID fundraising director into the Hudson River - from the USS Intrepid museum. 

*The wife cooks dinner. The husband does the dishes. Everything is as is should be. 

Saturday Updates

Chag Pesach sameach, Stroock's Books Kibbutzim. Tonight we'll have the first of two Passover seders. Gentile reader(s), you didn't hear it from us, but dab some lamb's blood on your door tonight. Trust us. [You told that 'joke' yesterday-Ed]. Damn it!

Quite the deluge of rain hit New Jersey last night after light rain all day. Fill those reservoirs, nature. 

We had a most excellent workout yesterday, making for three days in a row at the gym. We keep thinking our cycle needs changing, but why mess with a good thing?

The things.

After a slow week we had a burst of creativity on Friday and really moved along the interlude in Thatcher's War. The more we write the more Thatcher's War becomes a novel about post-WWIII politics. Thatcher's War is...Jesus, 58,000 words. 

We resubmitted the War Night MS for formatting and await its return...you know what with...or with what. 

We're drawing the ire of several Jew haters on Substack. They're always anon, by the way. Our 'yo mama' jokes just aren't getting it done. We're almost a little concerned. We actually blocked and reported someone yesterday. We'll do so again today. 

 

Pre-Plague Friday Shabbat

Shabbat Shalom Stroock's Books Kibbutzim. Passover begins tomorrow. You didn't hear this from Stroock's Books, but tomorrow night put some lamb's blood on your door. 

Related...Jeremy Saltan has a new batch of Israeli polls this week, 'The overall result is that the coalition drops to an average of 47 seats. The Zionist opposition bloc with Bennett 2026 will receive 63 seats without the Arab parties.' Bennett himself averages 26 seats. One day Israel will move on from Netanyahu. That day will be in 2026.*

Also related...Happy birthday John Milius. Bet you people didn't know Milius was a Person of the Book. Drop your John Milius quotes in comments. We'll start, 'Charlie don't surf!'**

We got in back-to-back days at the gym. Good cardio session yesterday with barely any knee pain. We're almost back.

A bit of rain last night with more scheduled for today. Most excellent. NJDEP says many weeks of rain are needed to top off the state's reservoirs. Our local Round Valley/Spruce run system is at about 85 percent, down 10 percent from norms this time of year. recall New Jersey had a very dry autumn. Yes, we've become something of a rainfall-reservoir level geek. Something to blog about, no? 

After losing a thousand points yesterday, Dow futures are up today. The market is fluctuating, just like we said it would. We're an ace stock picker, we are. Always trust financial advice from Stroock's Books. We predict the market will be very volatile today before settling down on a final number. 

DOGE report: We submitted the War Night MS for final formatting. We feel [Great fear and trepidation?-Ed]... great fear and trepidation. We got a case of the yips. 

We didn't have much Thatcher's War Juju yesterday. But we did have a couple of ideas we'll be writing about today. Basically, while Ingham is blowing up IRA bars in NYC, a low level insurgency should be happening in Armagh. Progress...Progress...

*We suppose Bennett's number could come down after Bibi and Likud batter him in the campaign. We'll see. Note, no one else comes close to beating Bibi. 

**Fun fact....in 1984 Red Dawn was marketed as kind of a cheesy 80s-action flick. Today it survives as an existential war movie, no?