If it's Friday, it's Shabbat at Stroock's Books

Shabbat Shalom Stroock's Books kibbutzim. We're glad it's Friday. 

Happy International Women's Day to all those who celebrate. [No bad joke?-Ed] See below.

We had excellent back-to-back days at the gym Wednesday and Thursday, and we think we'll just keep on plugging away through weekend. Weather permitting we'll do a five-mile walk.  

We did not watch the SOTU. Instead we watched Young Sheldon (we're now binging it on Netflix) and then Mrs. Stroock's Flyers. We did catch a bit of the SOTU reaction. People we follow who are normally pretty pessimistic about elections are getting pretty optimistic about Trump's chances. The polls are the polls but November is a loooooong way's off. Exit question: how does Trump stop the Steal? 

No, 'Ex-CIA chief David Petraeus on Thursday said that for Israel to beat Hamas, it must not only take apart its remaining battalions in Rafah but also must get Gaza running again for Palestinian civilians,' reports The Jerusalem Post. He wants to do the whole COIN thing again. Bad idea. Leave a smoldering pile of rubble and tell the Gulf States to rebuild it. Support your Arab brothers, Dubai et al. 

Related: Joe wants the navy to build a pier in Gaza. A worse idea than COIN. An idea so dumb only Tom Friedman could have thought of it. Friedman once called for US peacekeepers in Judea and Samaria. That pier means ships, and naval personnel, and Marines operating under absurd rules of engagement to protect it. Hamas or some other Jihadi fuckwit will bomb said pier within a week. The real purpose is to pressure Israel, right?

Meanwhile, we see no evidence of progress in hostage negotiations. In fact the talk in the Israeli press is getting downright pessimistic. Ramadan begins on the 10th. Best guess, no deal. Would that it were so. There, we said it. 

Hilarious:

Where are her cats? Reminder: Feminism is ALWAYS bad for women. [And on international women's day too. I shake my head more in sorrow than anger-Ed].