Sports Blow

Unusual autumnal weather here in New Jersey. As we write this it's 37 degrees out [Scorching!-Ed]. We're using American numbers, not the stunted British numbers, love. By midafternoon the mercury will climb to 80. We'll probably barbeque a couple of times this week and...SMASH...oh look, Oldest Daughter knocked a dish off the counter. We didn't know Pyrex could shatter like that at 6:47 AM... 

Beat the Mets, cheat the Mets, step right up and defeat the Mets. The Dodgers blew out the Mets once again to advance to the World Series. The Dodgers are a better team, that's all. This was probably Pete Alonso's last game with the Mets, he had a down and very un-clutch year. We wouldn't break the bank to sign him back, but someone will. 

Speaking of sports futility, Mrs. Stroock's Eagles blew out our own New York Giants 28-3. A dear friend of ours is an Eagles fan, we've spent all morning telling him how much we hate his guts. Former Giant Saquon Barkley had a revenge game, rushing for 176 yards. Some morons at the Meadowlands were booing Barkley. Giants' ownership didn't even make an offer. The Giants had 104 yards in total and head coach Brian Daboll lifted QB Daniel Jones. What can we say? at 2-5 the Giants blow. The sad thing is that the Eagles are...okay and their head coach is a madman who needs a SSRI medication adjustment. A really good team would have put up 40 + points on the Giants. 

And wrapping up New York sports generally blowiness, the Steelers defeated the poser Jets 37-15. Aaron Rodgers must be wondering why he ever wanted to go to the Jets. Never go to the Jets. They're nicknamed Gang Green for a reason there, boyo. At 2-5, Aaron Rodger's Jets are the same old Jets [And the Jets haven't made the playoffs since the second Obama Ministry-Ed]. That's right, Ed. 

Hell of a night in New York sports. A hell of a night. 

In political news a bunch of swing state secretaries have said they won't announce their election results on election night. We'll have to wait days for final results of course. The Democrats are telling us how they intend to steal 2024. We'll ask the same question we've been asking all autumn, how does Trump plan to Stop the Steal? However, it is possible that Trump is doing so well it won't matter. Maybe it'll be a blowout. On the gripping hand we don't have to worry about keeping ourself busy on election night because election night just won't matter that much. 

Israel Radar has a piece about what Israel does with Gaza going forward. For years before the 10/7 genocide, we slammed people who argued that Israel should topple Hamas. Yeah, we asked, and then what? Well Israel seems to be facing that question right now. Israel occupying the strip is a moronic idea. That'll lead to insurgency and COIN and nightly announcements of Israeli casualties. Who wants to redo Iraq? We don't trust the Arabs to run the place either. There's a strong case to be made for leaving a smoldering pile of rubble and walking away. 

We've been wondering about this...the Israelis cracked an Iranian spy ring...in Israel! Also, the Israelis won't authorize a strike on Iran until the very last minute to 'prevent leaks'. Wonder who they're worried about leaking intel? Reminder, the Harris-Biden Regime is littered with Iran symps and spies. We don't know what the Israelis are planning vis a vis Iran, but it better be good. A rather talented, charismatic and good looking author wrote a novel about that once. 

Monday Metal, we just can't get enough Rory Gallagher. Used to Be, a nice bluesy rock song with some good riffs and a catchy beat:

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/20/24

Today marks the end of Sukkot. We'll be attending a dinner at our Synagogue. 

Related, Hezbollah sent a drone against Bibi's home. What was the point of that? We read a headline that Iran is 'distancing' itself from the attack. Which seems wise. Whatever the Israelis are planning against Iran better be good. 

Speaking of, the Regime leaked classified documents about Israeli plans to strike Iran. Note, the regime is littered with Iranian sympathizers and outright spies. The Israelis would be nuts to tell the Regime anything after this. Or is the information just a bit of Israeli strategic misdirection? You know what the imams say. 

In other Iranian sympathizer news, The New York Post reports: 'Vice President Harris publicly agreed with a protestor this week who interrupted her to accuse Israel of committing “genocide.”' And that barren wombed whore of Babylon is going on Al 'pin back your yarmulke' Sharpton's show today. One would think that the Second Gentlemen would point out that going on Sharpton's show might be, what's the word, insensitive. There's a reason Kamala didn't pick Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro for veep. 

We see the Yankees are back in the World Series for the first time in 15 years. We couldn't care less. My, how far we have fallen. Incidentally it had been 15 years since the Yankees last World Series appearance when they began their great run in 1996. The only question remaining is will they face the Dodgers or the Mets? Either matchup is interesting. 

Facebook reminds us that on 20 October 2002 we took our first substitute teaching gig. We remember everything about that day. There began a job as a more or less permanent sub at Bernards High School, Bernardsville New Jersey. It was a rewarding experience, one in which we brought our computer and worked on A Line Through the Desert or wrote magazine articles. 'You're a narc, right?' a kid asked us early on. Funny.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/20/24. So you're the average Australian bloke seeing the US and USSR destroy one another on the telly. What do you do? What are you thinking about?  What if it's dinner time, a nuclear war is being waged, but your country isn't part of it, and you're just sitting around the kitchen table with your family talking things over like you would on a normal Saturday Night dinner, except the subject is nuclear war? This is what interests us. 

Saturday Updates

A good Saturday morn to Stroock's Books reader(s). We should probably mow the lawn.  

One week to go till the last Stroock Bot Mitzvah. Preparations are proceeding accordingly.

Meet the Mets...Meet the Mets...the Mets absolutely refused to let the Dodgers get back into last night's game, adding runs after the Dodgers chipped away at the Amazin's lead. Impressive. Back to LA. Stroock's Books thinks this series goes to seven games and stands by its Dodgers/Yankees prediction. 

The Things. 

We are working diligently on War Night, and the Australia story is coming on just fine.

We've heard nothing back on our Jewy alternate history WWII sub story. This is also fine. 

From the Foreign Desk: Sir John A. MacDonald

A Caucus Revolt?

Recently, a second Liberal MP (Member of Parliament) has come forward to say publicly that he believes Justin Trudeau should resign. Canadian media has reported that there is a letter with about 30 signatures of Liberal MPs asking Trudeau to step down, and this letter will be presented to him at the next Liberal Caucus meeting next week. Does this mean Trudeau will resign? Not necessarily.

First of all, 30 MPs out of 150 or so is a fairly small number. They would need to add at least another 20, preferably 50 names before Trudeau would likely step down due to a caucus revolt. What is a caucus revolt? In the Westminster system of government, it is when enough MPs decide that they want rid of the leader, and the leader is compelled to step down. This is how Margaret Thatcher was removed as well as Jean Chretien (Canadian Prime Minister). To make matters worse, four cabinet members recently announced that they will not run for re-election. This is generally considered a sign that those MPs don’t think that the government can win another election.

What happens next? Assuming Trudeau actually does step down (which is not certain at this point) there would be a leadership race. The problem (first one) is that there aren’t any really strong contenders for the Prime Minister’s role in the Liberal party right now. Trudeau has been making sure that any potential replacements don’t get into cabinet. Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister) and Mark Carney (former head of the Bank of Canada) have both had their names put forward as potential replacements but don’t have much support. There aren’t too many others at the moment.

So, what would happen if he were to step down? A leadership race would be announced, and that usually takes anywhere from six months to nine months, even if it is quick. It could take longer. Contenders would have to announce their candidacy, sign up new Liberal party members and there would be a convention where the members would vote for a new leader. This would easily go into next year.

Why would this be a problem? As I’ve mentioned before, the Canadian Parliament is a minority at the moment. That means the Liberals have the most seats but not 50% +1. That means the other parties can vote no confidence at any time and an election would have to be called. Ordinarily in Canadian politics there is something of a gentleman’s agreement that no elections are held while a party is choosing a new leader, then a bit of time is given for the new leader to establish themselves. There are two problems with this. One, an election must be called by October 2025, and it is conceivable for a Liberal leadership race to go over that time. Second, in the early 2000s the Conservatives elected a new leader and Jean Chretien (the Prime Minister at the time) called an election early to prevent the new leader from establishing himself. At the time, it was heralded as a brilliant move. Now, it would likely come back and bite the Liberals, as the other parties would not want to give the new Liberal leader time to establish themselves.

What other problems are there? The Liberals are extremely unpopular, and even a new leader would likely not change that calculation. In the next election, absent a miracle, they are likely doomed. Also, as I’ve mentioned before, Trudeau is not a well educated or well-regarded man. So, should he be removed from the leadership position, he will not have a job to go to. He may continue to sit as an MP, assuming he wins his riding in the next election, but that is not certain. The Liberals may want to offer him some kind of golden parachute to get rid of him, but I haven’t heard anything about that. It would have to be something prestigious, like “Canada’s representative to…” something. Probably with the UN.

What other problems are there? Well, a large number of MPs do not qualify for a full pension until February of 2025, which means there are a lot of MPs with a vested interest in keeping the government propped up until then. Coupled with the Liberals losing two byelections in supposedly safe seats (that even pollsters thought they would keep with the Conservatives 20 points ahead) the electoral situation for the Liberals is likely worse than anyone realizes.

In Canada, people want Trudeau gone, and an election called soon. Even absent a Caucus revolt, Trudeau is done.

Hole in His Head

Go back and look at yesterday's post. We published it at 9:27 AM. We hinted at Sinwar's death did we not? Right? Right? Rumors were a-flying, and a few sources we trusted were already comparing photos and saying 'Yep, that's him'. And just the other day we wrote that Israel was on the back foot. 

This blog would not be the first to point out that Sinwar's death changes the Gaza situation. We're not sure exactly how, though. But change is a-coming. We'll say it again, no other Israeli leader could have led Israel through this war. Noone. 

We'd offer this deal to individual Hamas terrorists. Bring in a hostage and you can apply for amnesty. Note: amnesty not guaranteed, we'll be comparing your face to the thousands of hours of 10/7 footage we have.  Also we make no guarantees for your future. By which we mean, for the rest of your life you'll start a car with great fear and trepidation. But go away, start over, lay low, and you'll probably be ok. 

Both Joe and Kamala tried to prevent the Israelis from taking Rafah. 'I studied the maps' that woman said. Ef them. Ef them both. 

Beat the Mets, Beat the Mets....All three Dodgers wins have been blowouts and they're one win away from the World Series. The Dodgers are just a better team, that's all. Jesus, these broadcasters are chatty idiots. 'Mets down 3-2 trying to tie the game and even the series at 2 games a piece.' To quote Han Solo, Well I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. 

What Will's Watching: Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage. This is CBS's spinoff of Young Sheldon*. They changed formats, shooting in multi-camera with a laugh track. This is a typical sitcom with set up and payoff jokes, contrasting GMFM to Young Sheldon. The jokes were okay and mostly landed. And Georgie's father-in-law actually sets straight his berating wife. We found the transition to multicamera jarring, though. Overall, we were entertained and will watch GMFM again.  

*Our review of the Young Sheldon series finale. 

The Israeli Flag Doesn't have a Cross

A touch of gout this morning. What's up with that?

Tragedy as One Direction's Liam Payne has fell to his death from a 4th floor balcony last night. We're trying to process the news here at the Stroock household. 'There'll never be a One Direction reunion now!' Middle Daughter cried. She suspects foul play. 

Well Kamala's interview was a disaster. Just what were her people thinking? We suspect they wanted the interview to go badly so they could run the 'Brett Baier was disrespectful to a woman of color' narrative. Just watch them. [Did you just quote Pierre Elliot Trudeau?-Ed] Actually, we paraphrased him.

The very able Mike Cernovich Tweeted an interesting point, 'Kamala Harris didn’t come out from hiding if Democrats have this super secret double triple stealing machine that so many of you believe they have.' Hmmm...if Kamala can't steal 2024, does that mean Joe didn't steal 2020? We admit, we might see things differently if Trump wins. Exit question. Is that a flip-flop, or just one changing one's mind once the facts change?

On his podcast, the great Stephen L. Miller predicts post election lawfare against Trump. He see's an effort to turn faithless electors, and even a push for congress, led by Kamala who has to sign off on everything as veep, to refuse to certify Trump's win. 

Things aren't going well for Kamala, not even the polls, we admit it. But two years ago, polls predicted a red tsunami and how did that work out?

Israel Radar reports that Russia warned Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear sites. We'll reprise something that we've said in earnest as an adult, Wutcha gonna do about it? Seriously, Vlad? Israel Radar also reports on a rumor going around the Twitter right now. We've seen the pics and all we'll say is...maybe. 

Don't look like a Jew. The NY Post tells us, 'A dimwitted anti-Israel TikTokker filmed herself tearing down flags outside a New Jersey restaurant — not realizing they were Greek, rather than similarly colored Israeli ones.' The Greek flag has a cross there, DC. Related, our shipment of Israeli T-shirts arrived yesterday. Our policy of wearing Israel gear out continues unabated. Am Israel Chai. 

Beat the Mets...Beat the Mets...Dodgers 8, Mets nil. The Mets may finally have run into a better team. There's no shame in that. With the Yankees up 2-0 on the Guardians, we could be looking at a Yankees/Dodgers World Series, the first since 1981. For those who don't know, the Yankees and Dodgers used to be baseball's marquis rivalry. They met a bunch of times in the 1950s and then in 1977, 1978 and the above mentioned 1981. We'll watch that. 

Whoa Bibi!

Whoa Bibi! JNS reports, 'If a vote were to be called now, Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party would secure 33 mandates out of the Israeli parliament’s 120...' And interestingly, 54 percent of those polled said they oppose holding an election before the war is over. Nothing succeeds like success, and militarily, Israel is succeeding, so says Israel Radar. Just keep scrolling. No wonder Bibi felt he could leak the Biden's Regime's letter threatening arms sanctions over Gaza. 

Related, Breitbart's Joel Pollak has a piece about polls and Jewish support for Harris. About 62 percent of American Jews plan to vote for Harris. This is actually low, as Pollak explains. Pollak also explains traditional American Jewish support for the Dems. We urge reader(s) to click on over and read the whole the thing. Do note that Orthodox Jews overwhelmingly support Trump. 

Ah, so Kamala is going on Fox tonight for an interview with Brett Baier. This blog predicts Kamala plans to contradict and argue with Baier to make herself look like a fighter, or some such. We won't opine as to whether that will help her. 

The Israelis have finalized their plans for an attack on Iran, they say. We've no idea what the Israelis will do. Given the pressure the Biden Regime has been exerting upon the Israelis, we're of a mind to say, screw it, and hit some nuclear sites. Wanna play hardball, Joe? We'll play hardball. Whatever the Israelis do, we're sure it'll be interesting. 

All...Right...Now...we've begun the next story in War Night. This one is about an average Australian family as events unfold. Dad's watching the telly, mom's returned from the market, kids out in the yard. The ABC broadcasts an update on the fighting in Europe. Prime Minister Whitlam comes on screen. What happens when a nuclear war breaks out but you're on the other side of the world? We've also begun research the Soviet space station, comrades....

I Plagiarized this Post

Good Tuesday, Stroock's Books CoDominium. There's nothing like a Tuesday after a Sunday cardio/strength session and a Monday weightlifting session. 

The Mets impressed us last night jumping out to a 6-0 lead against the Dodgers and winning 7-3. The series is tied 1-1 and now heads to Shea, sorry, Citi. The packed-with-national-and-international-stars Dodgers are big bullies, let's see what they can do against a team that's not afraid of them. We think Dodgers in 7. Let's go Mets! F-A-N!

At the Meadowlands we see the Jets are the same old Jets, losing the game via an Aaron Rodgers interception on the final drive. 

Reading of events in Israel, our sense is that the Netanyahu government will strike Iran and then perhaps try to wrap up the war via negotiated settlements with Hezbollah and what's left of Hamas. The Biden regime is putting a tonne of pressure on Israel to open up Gaza. Feels like Israel is on the backfoot for the moment. 

So it turns out Kamala is a plagiarist. Why are we not surprised? Back in our professorial days we failed students who thought they could cut and paste whole term papers. It was easy to catch. 18-year-olds don't write that good. Neither does Kamala. Note, it is not hard to not plagiarize.* 

Someone has, from time to time, run this blog through something called PlagScan. We know this via Blogger's web traffic data. It's possible something here or in one of our books isn't properly attributed. But we've never cut and paste whole blocks of text and passed them off as our own. 

We've borrowed and worked with other's ideas. [What's the difference?-Ed] The difference is these are influences. Look at To Defend the Earth. One see's the influence of other alien invasion stories throughout the novel. These include War of the Worlds, Footfall and Independence Day. We even mentioned our influences in the intro, thank you Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. The World War 1990 series wouldn't exist without Tom Clancy. The Day After and Nan Randall lay the cornerstone of The Great Nuclear War of 1975.  Ideas just don't come from nowhere.

We're not quite ready to get optimistic about the election, but it does seem that the Kamala campaign is repeating the worst mistakes of failed Dem presidential campaigns going back to Dukakis. JFC. What do we make of the polls? If the pollsters are right, then we will have a close race. If the pollsters are wrong, given that they've under polled Trump voters for nearly a decade now, then Trump is going to win comfortably. Kamala's people sure ain't acting like they're winning.  Exit question, did the pollsters finally figure out how to poll Trump voters? 

Morning Rory is just about done. On to an Australian family?