Wednesday Will Down

Good afternoon, Stroock's Books midweekers.

We had a helluva 12 hours. First our SUV died, on the streets of Somerville. After dropping Youngest Daughter off at dance, we parked on main to get a cup of coffee. Upon returning from the Donut the car wouldn't start. It's a dead starter, we think. We called a truck and were towed and dropped off at our preferred mechanic within an hour. Nice. 

On Christmas Eve, 1978 we were jumping from the stairs and determined to jump from the fourth step, like our big sister*. We jumped, stuck the landing, and bit a hole through our tongue. Our mother tried to get us to sleep by giving us some Nyquil, or some such. There followed the worst night of our life as our tongue throbbed in pain and we kept throwing up the Nyquil. 

Last night may have been worse. About the time our car was being picked up, our foot flared in pain. We spent the night on the couch in the most sustained, intense pain of our life, unable to dull it, unable to put a stop to it. We finally nodded off about 3 AM. We're back from the doctor. We have a case of Achillies tendonitis, a soft cast and boot. We've never felt more disabled. 

And just last week, after a summer of doctor visits, we remarked to Mrs. Stroock, 'No more doctors for a while.' We plan, god laughs. For as it is written, we plan, god laughs. 

Moving on...

Happy Battle of Hastings Day to all those that celebrate. Damn William the Bastard. Damn him. Reminder, England hasn't had a legitimate monarch since Harold Godwinson, Edward the Confessor's rightful heir. We've written extensively on Harold, William and the Normans. Some of our writing can be found here.

Today is also our first girlfriend's birthday. Ah, Kirsten. We shall take the image of your pretty blue eyes to our grave. There's a reason why A Line Through the Desert has to be in the spring of 1988. 

We got a notice from Blogger about new content guidelines effective 16 December. Do not be surprised if this blog gets nuked. What then? We don't know. 

DOGE report.

Several chapters of the 5th nuke novel have gone out and beta readers seem pleased.

*We've long accused our sister of shoving us down the basement steps because we got the last red popsicle, an accusation she denies lo these fifty or so years. Later we got her back by pushing a tower of blocks upon her, which chipped a tooth.  

Thank this, Canadians

Good morning fellow Stroock's Books citizens and happy Tuesday. 

We had a good gym session yesterday but once again our heel and ankle are sore. This is really starting to annoy us. 

We were remiss yesterday in not acknowledging Canadian Thanksgiving. We apologize to our fellow North Americans. 

Related, the Alberta Independence referendum is next week. Actually, it's a referendum to determine if they should have a referendum. We urge our fellow North Americans to vote Yes, Eh. 

Final Canadian post...if Alberta leaves Canada and joins the US, do the Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampede join the NFL?

A report from The New York Post about American tourists overwhelming Disneyland Paris. When we did the family vacation to Paris in 2018, we spent a day there. The metro stop marks Disneyland Paris on the map with a set of mouse ears. We ourselves are no fan of amusement parks and view visits to them as tests of physical and mental endurance. But Mrs. Stroock is a stalwart Disney fan. Disneyland Paris did not impress her.

The Times of Israel says that one year after the ceasefire, such as it is, Gazans are lamenting the state of things in Gaza. Thousands are trying to leave, and it seems public opinion is turning against Hamas. Was drawing out and stalling the process part of Netanyahu's plan all along? And bear in mind that Netanyahu got a 'ceasefire' in which Israel retains the right to act against terror targets. So, knowing Bibi, probably. You know what the imams say. 

More Jews...someone at Ynet has been reading Stroock's Books, and calls for a unity government between Netanyahu and Eisenkot, with Bibi serving first. We endorse the parameters of this proposal 100 percent. These include no judicial reform (we can live with that) and a 10/7 commission (which is much needed). And please, a Haredi draft law. Oh, and get ready for President Netanyahu. If Shimon Peres (Quisling) can be president, then why not Bibi?

Political note, state: Hot Air is impressed with the GOP in the New Jersey senate debate last week. We didn't even know the debate took place. We've voted for Corey Booker at least once because why not? We'll vote for the challenger this time. Beege Welborn is right, Justin Murphy's hair is glorious. 

Political note, local, very local. My Central New Jersey describes the ongoing battle between one member of the Bridgwater-Raritan school board and superintendent Robert Beers. The current fight began when school buses were nearly an hour behind schedule during the first few days of the school year. We can personally attest to the lateness fiasco. This affair has gotten so big locally that they're talking about it in one of Oldest Daughter's classes at Rutgers. Last night the board convened a special session on the Beers issue. Further updates and a possible declaration of interest as events warrant. 

DOGE report.

We tidied up the sub story and have figured out how it ends. We think we'll keep it. 

In World War 1990: Thatcher's War we read through the battle of Dublin Airport and the Battle of Howth. We don't love them. And you can see the editing. But we don't hate them either. They may be just good enough. That is no small thing. 

Columbus was a Migrant

Another miss for Stroock's Books, yesterday. We don't got no good ideas no how. 

We spent yesterday morning cleaning and then getting the pontoon boat out of the water. We drove the pontoon boat onto the trailer skids, a skill we did not know we had. 

We took youngest daughter for a brief walk in the woods and discovered fresh evidence of bears. Needless to say we didn't go too far. Make a lot of noise, Les Stroud says. And so we do when trapsing through the Berkshire woods. 

Then we headed home in a constant downpour. [Aren't you geeking out about what the storm will do to New Jersey's ground water and reservoir levels?-Ed] We are, Ed. We are. 

We got home in time to see the Giants/Redskins overtime. The Giants said, 'Here, take the game,' the Redskins replied, 'Oh no, you take it'. We've never seen an ending like that.  We are reminded of the last Giants/Redskins tie, the Gus Frerotte game of 1997.* 

Speaking of the Redskins, Happy Indigenous People's Day. We kid, we kid. The Stroock House celebrates Columbus Day. The Stroock House celebrates the European discovery, settlement, and conquest of North America. 

That being said, the Thanksgiving Day play in Adams Family Values is hilarious. One should be able to laugh at oneself. 

We're trying to decide just how obnoxious we want to be on Substack about Columbus Day. It's one thing to celebrate the European conquest of North America, it's another thing to post 'The Scalping of Jane McCrae' and wish people a happy 'Indigenous People's Day', right? Right? We're getting soft in late middle age. Or cautious. Whatever. But damn it! Migrants have rights. 

Bla-bla Israel, bla-bla elections. We throw up our hands. Our best a hung Knesset in which the opposition cobbles together a government with Arab help (they're about 15 percent of the Knesset). We wouldn't lose sleep Prime Minister Eisenkot. 

Cornell Week, continued...we see a rash of stories of bad fraternity behavior, hazing, and old timers (such as us) reconsidering their fraternity days. We remained baffled a the overly aggressive hazing in the press. What's the point of brute aggression and humiliation? 

When we pledged in the winter of 1993, we had to watch an anti-hazing video. It was a lecture by a state attorney, and fraternity man, about prosecuting a fraternity for hazing deaths. When asked about his frat, the prosecutor replied, 'Excuse me, fraternity'. Damn right. He went on about brothers obsessed with hazing but little else The video always stuck with us. 

DOGE report.

About the only thing we know we're doing today is cleaning up the Battle of Dublin. 

At this moment, we don't quite believe in the Soviet sub story. We should finish it and send it off for beta reading. Sometimes one can over think and be over critical of one's work. 

*Under Jim Fassel the Giants went 10-5-1, won the division, and then blew a home playoff game against the Vikings in, like, the last minute and a half. This was only the second worst sports moment of our life. Worse would come in 2002, Giants fans know. Anyway, right now the NFC East is wide open and the Giants this season are lucky. But as the great Branch Ricky said, luck is the residue of design. Thank you coach Harbaugh.

Saturday Updates

Good morning from the pastoral splendor of the Berkshires. On the drive up last night we hit three 10 + minute traffic backups, which added an hour to the trip and annoyed us no end. 

Nevertheless we are here for a short sojourn and the putting away of the boat. 

We write this from the Morris Chair owned by out great grandfather, the man for whom we are named. 

It was 25 years ago next week that the Stroock family gathered at the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction. We note the 2001 gathering because we hadn't been to the house since 1996. We were living in Northern Virginia and didn't really have the time for the 6-7 hour drive. Also, in the summer of 1996 our grandparents put the house on the market. After that we didn't want anything to do with the place. They asked for $299,000, that's in nice, none-inflationary 1996 dollars. Needless to say, the house didn't sell.

The Things.

World War 1990: Thatcher's War is 78,000 words and is in the sit phase. This is it. This is the novel. 

We've one more story to read through in the 5th nuke novel. We need to finish the sub story. It's better than before but we're still rather meh about it. We dunno. Maybe we're just over thinking things [You? Overthink? Never. -Ed].

Blue Down? Blue and White Level. Blue Star Down and Out

Baah...one foot feels much better but now the other's sore. One thing's for certain, we could use a gym break. Good morning, Stroock's Books reader(s) and shabbat shalom. 

We'll be heading up to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction today for a short sojourn in the Berkshires' bucolic splendor and autumn leafery [Not a word-Ed]. Whatever.

Sports wrap...the Cowboys lost, and that is good. Their trash defense gave up 241 yards on the ground, to a sorry Bucs team that hadn't won a game yet. The Cowboys suck. The Cowboys are, in fact, embarrassing. 

The Jerusalem Post says, 'Hamas sees Gaza war as victory, believes Israel's destruction is still possible, official warns'. Well of course a nihilistic terrorist cult believes this. Hamas has certainly won the diplomatic and cultural aspects of the war as a brief glance of the NY Post will show. But facts on the ground matter. And them facts ain't good. 

Political note, International: Israeli polls....Same. Seeing things stalled in Gaza and the settler trouble in Judea and Samaria, this morning we lean, slightly, toward booting Netanyahu. 

Political note, national: Hot Air articulates what we've been thinking for at least a month, Why the US Midterms Might Fool Us. Maybe. We know this, polling sucks and has gotten worse over the last quarter century. Hey, anyone else remember when the polls predicted a red wave four short years ago?

Political note, local: Here in NJ07, Tom Kean is fighting mad, and slamming Rebecca Bennett for working at a health insurance company. Ads usually begin, 'Millionaire Rebecca Bennett...'  There's plenty of enthusiasm for Bennett around here, lots of signs.* We see fewer Kean signs. Kean seems to be where incumbent Leonard Lance was in 2018, and incumbent Tom Malinowski was in 2022. Both lost.

Cornell Week... We know the accuser's name. Why do the accused get named but not the accuser? The public has a right to know. And what if the accused are vindicated? See the Duke Lacrosse rape hoax from 20 years ago. To this day we recall some of the accused Duke lacrosse players' names and we hate that. Just because a woman says something happened does not mean that thing happened. The accused have rights and due process. A quick reminder, the great Robert Stacy McCain is always right. 

DOGE report.

Salyut story read. Alexei, Alexie, Aleksi - pick one. Otherwise things are fine. 

We looked at the Soviet sub story too and we're not pleased. It's not working. We don't know why. Upon this matter we shall dwell. 

On our drive north we shall ponder nuclear war short story ideas. 

*Political prognosticators and pundits who don't think signage is important are morons who's analysis should be ignored. 

News and Jews and Fraternity Ews

Well, we got through October 7th okay. 

Our foot and ankle are still bothering us, baaah.

When the 10/7 stuff became too much for us, we mowed the lawn, probably for the last time this year. 

Good morning, Stroock's Books devotees and happy Thursday. 

At The New York Post, Andrea Peyser writes, 'there is just one tragic takeaway from the Hamas massacre of Oct.7: In matters of life and death, Jews must go it alone.' Do click over. Hamas' man in New York (the mayor) used October 7th to condemn the Jews. We're not gonna lie to you people, sometimes it's been a lonely three years.

Related...Hugh Hewitt interviews Commentary's John Pohhoretz on the state of Israel, the state of the world, and the state of Jews in the US. Podhoretz tells Hewitt that the latter is not good. We agree. Like us, Podhoretz has never see Judan haus in the US like we're seeing now. Podhoretz said there was 'a little bit of it' when he was a kid, 'Not much of it.' Same. Anti-Semitism touched us very lightly, until October 7th. Then we saw a torrent of it online, on Substack, mostly. First from the left, then from the Tucker-right; dorks. 

We've no idea what to do about it. 

Cornell-7...These bros were dumb enough to organize an orgy and dumb enough to text other bros to join. What are the odds that at least one of them was dumb enough to whip out his phone and record it? We'd say those odds are good. What can we tell you fems and libs? This is your culture. In Animal House, you made the Deltas the good guys, and the ROTC fraternity the bad guys. The Cornell orgy is what you wanted. Dean Wermer was right. 

Yankees...Swept by the Rays. Ancestrally we're a Yankees fan but we haven't really cared in at least a decade. Didn't watch one game this year, or last year, or the year before that. We see once again Aaron Boone's Yankees failed to reach the World Series, being swept by the Rays. Mister we could use a man like George Steinbrenner again. Mr. Steinbrenner would be furious and fire everybody this morning. Contending isn't enough. You've got to win.

When we saw the Yankees clinch the AL east at Camden Yards in 1999, the players shook hands and went back to the clubhouse. Mrs. Stroock asked why they weren't celebrating. 'After merely clinching the division?' we replied. In 1999 nothing less than the World Series would do. 

DOGE report.

Two nuke short stories remain to be read, the Salyut and BAOR. We approach the task with [Great fear and trepidation?-Ed], great fear and trepidation. 

Finally got a contract for our Nathanael Greene article. Maybe they'll respond to our article idea queries next. Fingers cross. 

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.