The Chindean Home

Good Thursday, Stroock's Books staff. Thank you all for coming. Please turn to the page 3 in your packets.

We had excellent back-to-back days at the gym, leaving us feeling comfortably exercised and flexed. Which is one of the reasons we like going to the gym. Our weight seems to be coming down a bit. 

We are left reeling from our visit to Rutgers yesterday. The tour coed said the average Rutger's student SAT was 1400 or something. We take a weird pride in our SAT score being 850- combined. Wow, 1400 for a state school.  Reminder, Rutgers is The University of New Jersey by another name. But it's also a school for smart kids. Lots of kids from our neighborhood attend Rutgers, if you know what we mean. You best study, we told Oldest Daughter and walked away.

You know, the other day a fellow Chindian asked us if we felt out of place in the neighborhood, not being Chinese or Indian and all. An interesting question, we replied.  We moved to Chindia in 2005. Since then, the Chindianess has become more pronounced. 'Let me guess, you're in IT and moved here from Edison,'* we always say to a new neighbor. As to the out of place question, we eventually answered. 'No. No, man. Shit, no man.' This is home, man. We will say this, around here, we always know which kids are ours. 

Presidential Greatness Rumination Week: This blog is reduced to extoling the virtues of Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. How did that happen? Republican incompetence, ingratitude. A party singularly unable to enact any of the reforms for which we've been pining these last (literally) 30 years. Mitch McConnell loves Ukraine but hates the southern border. We're sick of hearing about Ronald Reagan. His accomplishments have zero relevance in today's political environment. We're tired of the Trumpian drama and long for Eisenhower. Ah, Eisenhower. 

We see more progress by Soviet, sorry, Russian forces in the east and southern front. We're not surprised. Ukraine can have all the HIMARs it wants. But fancy weapons won't win when Russia is fighting a war of attrition. Should the Ukrainians crack, and we've no opinion on whether they will or not, the Regime will blame Republican for scuttling the Ukraine arms deal. Stroock's Books believes said deal was sending good money after bad. Reinforcing defeat as Frederick the Great would say. 

A good article by Edward Luttwak on Israel's upcoming attack on Rafah. He makes Rafah sound a lot like Fallujah, actually. Heh, 20 years since the Fallujah battle. Remarkable. Luttwak reminds us that Egypt is making a lot of noise about the attack, but this is pro-forma. Egypt hates Hamas and Gazans too. Is this blog concerned about, negotiations and a possible pause? Not really. Delay gives the Israelis time to prep the battlespace, not only in Rafah but Judea/Samaria and Lebanon as well. Besides, there's still a lot of mop up work in Gaza City. 

*The unofficial capitol of Indian America on the East Coast.