BIBI SOB

First day of school! Cool autumn morning air has arrived in earnest. Good. And so the Stroock family summer has ended. Six months ago, when we were running the dance-taxi in dreary late winter weather, we thought of summer, the beach, and the sun. And quite a summer we had. Two trips to the Stroock Northern Strategic Direction, two trips to LBI. We're almost looking forward to autumn. Dance taxi resumes, as does Hebrew school. We've one last bot mitsvah. 

The Times of Israel reports on the diplomatic kabuki between Israel, Hamas, the US, and the Arabs. Talks seem to be coming down to the Philadelphi Corridor. Netanyahu has been saying one thing in public and another in negotiations and a lot of anon sources are claiming he's sabotaging the latter. Perhaps, perhaps. Bibi is the master negotiator, as we've said. First he says no withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor at all. Then he moves halfway and says, okay, partial withdrawal to look flexible. Sideways, ever sideways goes Bibi. One gets the hunch he's having a great time. Bibi is a bastard (or an SOB if one prefers), after all. A deal is close, or not. Don't ask us what's going to happen .

The Times of Israel (boy they've really become anti-Netanyahu)* reports on an interesting poll on Bibi and the negotiations. Three quarters of the Israeli public is pessimistic about a deal being reached. More interestingly:  'Asked if Netanyahu’s demand to retain the Philadelphi Corridor is “largely based on military and strategic considerations,” 51% agreed that it was, while 39% indicated that they believe his position is “largely intended to prevent a deal from being reached, for Netanyahu’s own political reasons.”' If there's no deal, Bibi is on firm ground politically, no? 

John Podhoretz writes of the upcoming 10/7 genocide anniversary and Hamas in America: 'Their intention is to take over the anniversary of the massacre and turn it into a tribute, as they plan to do at the University of Maryland.' U of M has just announced they won't allow an anti-Jewish pogrom on campus on 10/7. The university will cave, don't worry. We've no idea what to do and await the day with dread. One cannot say it enough, the golden age of American Jews is over.

Black Pill Will: Okay, this blog admits it. Kamala has been screwing up for at least three weeks and the polls seem more and more favorable for Trump. However, look to Europe. In France Macron has refused to accept the new government, and in Germany the other parties 'won't allow' the AfD to form a government. Let's say Trump wins. What does one think is going to happen here? The Regime simply won't allow Trump to take office, that's all there is to it. 

Will Defends New Jersey: So yesterday we took Oldest Daughter to the Motor Vehicle Service** to get a picture ID. Sorry anti-gov types. The facility was well organized, clean and well lit. From the moment we walked in the door the staff was courteous and helpful. We were in and out of the MVS within an hour. We spent a good chunk of the waiting time explaining to Oldest Daughter what the DMV used to be like. 

On a side note the people standing next to us in line were Algerian. We know this because they were showing an MVS agent their docs, and she looked into a big reference book of foreign driver's licenses, which was pretty cool. We peeked and saw the agent was on the Algeria page. Anyway, these people saw our blue Israel hat. They saw it alright. We listened for the magic word, 'al Yahud' and prepared to hurl insults at them. 'Your falafel is weak, and your chicken shawarma lacks flavor!' Mostly they spoke French.  

2004 and More: 20 years ago we were recovering from a fairly traumatic summer after a year teaching at a second-rate Orthodox Yeshiva in Passaic. We were actually disappointed that the Yeshiva didn't bring us back. Also, we weren't able to find another fulltime teaching gig. So we went back to being a more or less permanent sub at Bernards High. This began a fun two year stretch there that ended with the birth of our first born in December of 2006. 

*Not a good thing or a bad thing. It's just a thing.

**Don't ask us why the MVS is called the DMV. Also, don't ask us about the stupid U-turn jughandles or why one can't pump one's own gas in New Jersey. We've lived in the Garden State for 23 years and there's still plenty of stuff that makes no sense to us. And yes, one will meet New Jerseyans who've never pumped their own gas and insist the task must be performed by trained professionals. We are so totally not making that up.

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