A Decade and Three Days

Good rainy day, reader(s) of Stroock's Books. We awoke to a steady downpour this morning. 

We are sore and tired after Operation Hatikva. Three miles walking fulfilled Tuesday's cardio requirement. Frankly we thought we'd be in a better mood this morning. Baaaah! Maybe it's just the rain. We know, a 4th cup of coffee will help. 

Honestly, yesterday's Pro-Hamas protests could have been a lot worse. Here's Powerline's wrap. We expected anti-Jewish pogroms. No Juden-hass incidents to report at Rutgers. Oldest Daughter's biggest concern was her micro-econ test. 

Douglas Murray is absolutely right when he says Israel has won the war but Israel and the West are losing the moral and public relations space. This has been true for a long time. And no, there's nothing the Israelis can do to get better PR. We dunno, maybe this is the low point. But that's probably just wish casting. 

The simple fact is, it's getting harder to be a Jew, even in the Anglosphere. Even in America. It's one thing for Europeans to hate Jews. It's actually pretty on point for the Continentals (homos). But His Majesties' Dominions and their American ally are supposed to be better than the fru-fru Eurosophists. 

For all our parading yesterday, we really don't know what to do. Writing about it isn't therapeutic. Neither is worrying about it. Neither is posting on FB or Substack. One day we're going to wear an Israeli shirt or hat out, and someone is going to say something to us that they'll regret. Anywho, we've ordered some new Israeli T-shirts. 

Negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue apace, with Hamas making new demands. Hamas sure ain't acting like they lost, are they? Who can say what the Gazans think?  We'll say it again, Steve Witkoff does not impress us. Neither do Trump's deadlines. We also urge patience. Remember, Bibi's way is sideways-sideways-strike. 

The final New Jersey gubernatorial debate is tonight. Hot Air has a good summary of the current state of the race, and a local New Jersey controversy: does one refer to a particular New Jersey sandwich as a Taylor Ham or a Taylor Pork roll? Heh, we've no dog in this fight and never ate the sandwich, whatever one wants to call it. Anyway, between becoming rich in congress, her kids getting accepted to Annapolis, and her own cheating scandal, Sherrill is having another bad week. Is it enough to put Jack Ciattarelli in the governor's office? We don't know...we don't know.

Will Almost Had a Heart Attack Week Day Two on Day Three: Yeah, we really weren't in the mood yesterday. Our cardiac catheterization really did (and does) feel like a miracle of modern medicine. Forty years ago we would have had a bypass, or more likely have dropped dead of a heart attack (that's how our maternal grandfather went - in 1984). The morning after the doctor saw us and said we were a week to ten days away from a 'major cardiac event'.

And then we went home. Actually, then we went to the coffeeshop we always went to and got lunch. We still had the hospital ID on our wrist. Also our left inner elbow was all blue and purple from the needle that'd been in our arm for 12 hours. Our three-year-old loved it. 'Daddy's purple!'. During lunch we talked things over with Mrs. Stroock. We were going to have to make some changes...