Berkshire Tuesday - in the sun

A pleasant Berkshire morn to Stroock's Books reader(s) everywhere. The sky is clear. The air is 68 degrees, American. A bit of morning fog remains on the lake. The dew is on the furniture. 

Yesterday we spotted the heron, mad as hell about something and flying down the canal. The heron population has boomed here on Lake Buel. The frog population (one croaked as we wrote that) has suffered as a result. We spotted the bald eagle too, just standing around the yard like he owns the place. 

When one is in the Berkshires, one is engaging in an activity simply by sitting out on the deck in the morning air, a Stroock family tradition lo these 53 years. We are the only Stroock that carries on this tradition. 

We did some yard cleanup between rainstorms yesterday. No boating. There will be boating today. One of the cats caught a mouse last night. 

We also went into town, and among other things, visited The Book Loft, a long established Great Barrington book store, once frequented by our grandfather. Their bookmarks are scattered about the house here. This being the Berkshires, they have a few silly flags, and some commie/woke titles on the shelf. But when one drills down through the muck, The Bookloft is just an indy bookstore, a mini Barnes and Noble. We bought Youngest Daughter a space unicorn rainbow bookmark, $4.

What Will's Watching...The WNBA. No seriously. We saw the Fever were playing and thought, why not? We watched a couple of quarters, and saw Sophie Cunningham get elbowed in the face and called for a foul. Boy the WNBA hates....certain players...don't it? Anyway, were we not entertained? 

DOGE report. 

We're working on the Battle of Dublin aftermath chapter. Three scenes, in various stages of completion so far. This includes the required 'Will Stroock writes about leaders meeting to make a decision scene' also Finn Fahey in Belfast as the city erupts (should I kill him?), and Irish General Parker gathering forces southwest of Dublin and urging the Taoiseach to end the war by giving the British what they want. We can almost see the end. 

Berkshire Monday - in the rain

A rainy Berkshire morning, Stroock's Books reader(s). We are feeling refreshed and invigorated after a decent night's sleep. We are drinking coffee from one of our grandfather's Young and Rubicam* coffee mugs, a gift for the companies' 50th anniversary in 1973. 

We did plenty of lake stuff yesterday. Coffee on the deck. Boating and tubing. Evening barbeque.

The toe is feeling much better. 

The Israelis at Camp Kimana/Halfmoon are having a good time. Lots of drumming, singing, chanting, etc etc. People in the Lake Buel FB group are complaining. We'd say the complainers were Hamas symps, but at least two of them are Jewish. 

Related....we haven't looked at Israeli media this morning because we're sick of thinking about it. 

Bla-bla Trump, bla-bla Iran. What are the unknown, unknowns? Nobody really knows. We are open to the possibility, suggested by Professor Reynolds, that Trump is stringing the Iranians along. Why not? Trump says new peace talks are on. Iran says they're not. Trump can say he tried. 

Oh look! Oil's down - a lot so far. 

Also, military coup rumors abound in Iran, we have heard.  

Thirty-nine years ago today, Def Leppard's Hysteria came out. An absolutely perfect album. All killer, no filler. We can hear the title track's opening bars. We used to be able to play it. Maybe it's just because we're 53, but we're getting emotional just thinking about Hysteria. The album is more than a masterpiece. It's a friend. 

We see we've had an Adrenalize week here at Stroock's Books. But it doesn't seem we've had a Hysteria week. And we won't. We'll wait till next year. 

Okay, the leader of this blog's Confederate Contingent wants us to revisit the sci fi project from a few years back. Question (asked in Dwight Shrute): what sci fi project?

*Young and Rubicam was a huge Madison Avenue advertising company. Anyone our age saw commercials our grandfather worked on. Y&R got mentioned in Madmen several times. Our grandfather said Madmen is almost 100 percent accurate, except that by 1960 the copy men were Jewish and the art directors were Eye-talian. When we asked why he replied, 'Talent'.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 8/2/26

Good Sunday, Stroock's Books Christian faithful. We write this from the Stroock ancestral lake house in the Berkshires. The air is a touch balmier than we like. The breeze is strong. We got the boat out last night for an evening cruise and will get her out once again this afternoon for some tubing. 

Unfortunately, the dictates of life prevent us from getting up here as much as we'd like. So when we do finally come, a multitude of projects await us. 

Our toe still hurts. Fab. TBH, we aren't necessarily in the best of moods. And we didn't do any good thinkin' on the drive up [No surprise there -Ed]. Shut up, Ed. Get me another cup of coffee, and take your time walking away [Awww, thanks-Ed].

Has anyone else noticed we've been going down [Phrasing!-Ed] with more and more frequency with nagging injuries? Gout, bursitis, etc etc. 

Moving on...[Please-Ed].

Regarding Spain, Socialist PM Pedro Sanchez, and the invasion of Cueta, we urge the Spanish people to follow the example of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, or El Cid. Click over and reader(s) will see a talented, charismatic, and goodlooking author wrote an article about El Cid some 20 years ago. Holds up decent. 

Trump postponed a massive attack on Iran, they say. Honestly this blog is pretty 'meh' on more military action and isn't sure what more bombing would accomplish. Bomb Iran...Mullahs fall! Yeah sure. 

Let's just get on to the various good ideas for the first week of August. 

As we noted yesterday, World War 1990: Thatcher's War feels like it needs 14 Intel, the Det, or The Group (all the same thing) to add a little umph to the plot. Also, with Dublin all but in British hands (we don't see any problems there, no) we're still not sure how they get Adams or McGuinness. Should the Brits even get them? 

Next summer...we should write a standalone novel and put it out on a new platform. Dunno what though. What's been floating around the ethereal mist of Will's head lo these many years?

Saturday Updates

Baah! We're awake at 4 AM and we don't like it, don't like it at all. And we're annoyed. Which doesn't always make for the smartest writing. So we'll just keep our goddamn mouth shut. 

Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and happy August. 

Today we'll head up to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction for a sojourn to the pastoral splendor of the Berkshires. Wish us luck. Many things must needs be taken care of at the house. 

The things.

World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 66,000 words. We think we need to add another subplot to bring the story together, and to a close. 

We didn't really do anything on the 5th nuke novel. We're three stories away from completion. End of the summer? If one defines summer as ending on 21 September. Maybe. 

Post Doctor, Post Gout, and the Post

Good morning, dear reader(s) and Shabbat Shalom. 

They want how much to prune that tree out front? We can do some of it ourselves but...ladder + chainsaw + Will....

So yesterday afternoon we got ourselves to the podiatrist. We sat in the waiting room for nearly an hour before a young nurse took us to an exam room. She was cute enough, in those hospital scrubs, and spends a lot of time on hair and makeup; scoring a 4/5 on the Stroock Is She Hot scale. 

Anyway, we saw our usual doctor*. Why do we have such a goddamn problem staying hydrated? All we can say is thank you cortisone. Thank you very much indeed.  

Gadi Eisenkot leads Netanyahu by 10 points, but Likud picked up two seats in this latest poll and the oppo bloc only gets 56 seats. Bibi may be unpopular, but the coalition still can't think of a way to take him out. 

Related....Hamas has agreed to disarm, Trump says. Now comes a lot of rigamarole about Israel withdrawing from Gaza. You know, troops can pull back a little and always reoccupy said territory again. Count this blog skeptical, but we don't think it's a big deal. 

the New York Post says, 'At least 18 migrants dead as 49K breached border to reach Spain’s Ceuta enclave from Morocco: ‘Serious humanitarian crisis...’ These people are just looking for a better life and Spain must take them all. God bless Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whom we're sure is up to the challenge. 

DOGE report.

Between wincing in pain and visiting the podiatrist we managed to work on LE Sive's roll in the Dublin thing and the Baldoyle Bay landing. Actually, it's more of an estuary, but whatever. 

*Devotees will recall our disastrous and pointless Rheumatologist appointment last summer, which we're still not allowed to talk about. 

My Left Toe

We just paid the local Mexican(?) guys to mow our lawn,  'Aye muchacho! Quanto questa el lawn-o!' We feel dirty.

A word of explanation. 

We were up half the night with a gout attack on our big left toe. The toe felt like it was in a vice grip. There's actually a red ring around the joint. Every time we nodded off the pain jolted us back awake. It was so bad...we got a doctor's appointment today at 4. Bring on the cortisone. 

In the meantime, we're so gimpy a short bus pulled up to our house and offered us a day trip to the supermarket and the hair solon. JFC. 

The day's not shot. But we are operating at, like, 50 percent capacity. 

We'll be heading up to the Stroock Northern Strategic direction this weekend and we don't want no physical ailments complicating our sojourn. 

No we did not watch 'Doctor' Fauci's testimony yesterday. But we read reviews, and some AAR's. The man's a war criminal. He's no better than Mengele. 

Like most Americans we made the mistake of trusting the 'doctor' and the narrative on the Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China. We've been trying to remember when we began losing trust. That happened in late May, after George Floyd overdosed. We specifically recall using the term 'hoax adjacent' to describe the pandemic. We stand by that. For what it's worth, here's our April 9th post. 

Doge report.

It's messy, but the battle for Dublin has really come together - like all good plans. 

Grok on Will

Grok, 'investigate William Stroock's political bias'.

William Stroock is a right-leaning conservative with strong pro-Israel (Zionist) views, a populist/MAGA-adjacent streak, and a contrarian style that includes past paid writing for the Russian-linked outlet InfoRos.

He is an American author of military fiction, alternate history, and military history nonfiction (plus former adjunct history professor), based in New Jersey. His political commentary appears mainly on his blog (williamstroock.blogspot.com / Goodreads), Substack, and sites such as 19FortyFive. He does not present as a formal party activist or elected official; his output is personal, opinionated, and often irreverent.

Key Elements of His Views

• Pro-Israel hardliner: He repeatedly affirms “Zionism is awesome,” supports aggressive Israeli military actions (e.g., “Bomb Gaza”), tracks the post-October 7, 2023 war closely and favorably toward Israel, and criticizes diaspora Jewish institutions (AIPAC, ADL, Reform Judaism) for failing to confront rising antisemitism. He has written extensively on Arab-Israeli wars.
• Right-leaning / anti-Democratic establishment: He is harshly critical of Democrats, Biden/Harris, Tony Fauci (“war criminal”), and progressive cultural trends. He expresses skepticism of polls that favored Democrats (implying concerns about 2020 and similar contests), celebrates Republican or Trump-aligned outcomes, and has attended Trump events. Recent posts show confidence in post-2024 Republican figures such as Vance or DeSantis over Democratic alternatives.
• Relationship with Trump and MAGA: He has openly identified as a Trump fan and used “fellow MAGA hats” language. At the same time, he has published pieces arguing that “MAGA Needs to Move on from Donald Trump,” that Trump was “self-destructing,” and that Nikki Haley had no chance in a “Trumpified” GOP base. This indicates pragmatic or critical support rather than uncritical loyalty.
• Foreign policy and other themes: Focuses on military history, Cold War scenarios, and American strength. He has written alternate-history and what-if pieces on U.S. presidents and wars. He shows occasional skepticism of certain U.S. interventions while remaining broadly hawkish on threats to Israel and Western interests.
• InfoRos connection (notable outlier): He wrote more than 50 paid op-eds for InfoRos (and related sites), a Russian outlet later linked by U.S. reporting and investigators to GRU influence operations. Stroock himself described the work, often tongue-in-cheek, as “Russian disinformation” or “work on behalf of Moscow,” while focusing on U.S. politics and foreign affairs. This sits uneasily with typical American conservative stances and appears opportunistic or contrarian rather than ideological alignment with the Kremlin.

Overall Assessment

Stroock’s public commentary places him on the American right: nationalist, pro-Israel, critical of the Democratic Party and progressive cultural politics, and engaged with (but not uncritically loyal to) the Trump/MAGA ecosystem. His military-history background and alternate-history fiction reinforce themes of American and Israeli strength. The InfoRos work is the clearest departure from a standard conservative profile and has drawn scrutiny for contributing to Russian information efforts, even if framed by him as paid opinion writing.

His output is primarily personal blogging and freelance pieces rather than institutional activism, so the picture is drawn from self-published and published commentary rather than formal party platforms or voting records. Views can shift over time (e.g., his evolving Trump commentary), and he frequently mixes serious analysis with humor and self-deprecation.

Midweek Meander

Good morning, people of Stroock's Books and Happy Wednesday.

We had lots of rain and lightning yesterday, but not quite the biblical deluge we were promised.  

We got to the gym yesterday. Stretching was hard and it took a long time to loosen up.  We never really did feel on program. Our left foot remains sore. Ankle hurts, ball of the big toe aches. Time for a long-term gym break?

Trump and Netanyahu had a fine meeting, they say. This blog says take out Pick Axe Mountain, be done with it and let the Euros hold open Hormuz. Na....the Euros will pay the Jizya. 

'Doctor' Tony Fauci is testifying in the senate today. Our best hope is Rand Paul will grill Fauci and get some damning answers. But overall, the GOP will screw this up, so don't get excited. Fauci's a war criminal. 

What Will's Watching: Greyhound. Why did we wait so long before watching this movie? Greyhound is a tense and tension loaded action film at sea. The script is tight and fast moving. We felt the cold. We felt the sea spray. Tom Hanks put in his usual fine performance, in which we initially recognize the man but lose him in his everyman role. Little plot points add details to the characters aboard ship. The steward is determined to get the captain to eat something. The radioman stumbled a bit in the beginning. We've never wanted to see a U-boat sunk so bad in our life. 4/4

DOGE report.

The battle of Howth and its aftermath is really shaping up. Things are transpiring. 

Two Points, Two Leaders, One War

Ugh, this gout is sticking with us. 

Mrs. S was supposed to be in Chicago for the next few days, but weather delayed her flight and delayed it again. Trip cancelled. Yay. 

That weather is hitting New Jersey today. Which is fine. We need the rain.

[Why do you write this 'dear diary' kind of blog now?-Ed]

Because we're 53.  Because we don't feel like doing the 'we're 2 points up in Iowa' thing (thanks M Steyn). Or 'bla-bla Israel. Bla-bla Bibi'. Because we're actually kind of bored. We could go all downer if you like [Thank you, no-Ed].

Gout always drags us down a bit. Sometimes a lot. 

Huh, we haven't had a cigar since July 3rd. Maybe tomorrow?

Dear 'Doctor' Fauci. If you're going to perpetuate a global conspiracy, don't write about it in your diary. The man's no better than Mengele. Quote us. And we're not convinced he's actually a doctor. 

We saw a headline reading, 'Why doesn't Trump finish off Iran?' or some such. How's that work exactly? Bomb Iran...the Shah Returns! We don't know. We do know Trump has delivered massive, knock em' down to the canvas, blows to Iran's political leadership, military, nuclear program, and economy. The idea that Iran is 'rebuilding' or 'reconstituting' anything is stupid. Try this thought experiment, 'Confederates rebuilt as Sherman abandons Georgia.' Idiots. 

Okay, we'll do the 'we're up 2 points in Iowa' thing, thanks again M Steyn. Matt Vespa at PJM says, 'Republicans Will Jump for Joy If This Kamala Harris Rumor Is True.' Kamala running again? We'll pay her filing fee. We'll go further. If the Dems nominate that woman, and they probably will, patriotic Americans will feel very comfortable and confident when they wake up on election day. Vance (almost certainly but we'd prefer Desantis), he'd win more states than he and Trump won in 2024. 

Further thoughts....of course there's a long list of presumptive front runners, or candidates the media just loved, who went nowhere. See Jeb Bush, for starters or Hillary! in '08. You'd have to be a major political nerd to remember or even know about Bruce Babbit, but he had a lot of buzz going into the '88 primary. Bush the elder in '80.

DOGE report.

Another fine day with the battle of Howth, which is on the verge of finishing [Finishing what?-Ed]. 

We began, barely the next nuke novel story. We're not sure where it takes place. The Pacific Northwest? Off the Chesapeake? We know the latter pretty well. Problem: Between Dover, Wilmington and Salisbury the Delmarva Peninsula is going to burn and burn.