Will's Good Idea for the Week of 11/21/21

Last night our neighbor Tommy messaged the neighborhood dad's chat group, 'Fellas it's my 57th birthday. Come on by!' So we did, as did three other the dads. Tommy is Vietnamese and so was the party. At least 40 of Tommy's family and friends were packed in his house. The food was delicious. There was this one shrimp dish...wow. We saw a few people cross themselves before eating.  The men were dressed to various degrees of casual. The women wore jewels and dresses, most of the later was orange, by design. There was a live band and much Karaoke was sung in Vietnamese. Our best guess is these were French songs with Vietnamese lyrics. The karaoke was not wholly unlike this. Many danced, especially one older gentleman. 

'He must have run for his life,' we thought. Tommy himself was a child in Saigon in when the NVA rolled in. HIs father, an officer in the ARVN, later spent a decade in communist prison. We were chit chatting with another party-goer, who told us he knew people who were evacuated in the great South Vietnamese navy run for the Philippines. 

Segwaying to Will's Good Idea for the Week of 11/21/21, why not do the Vietnam War short story collection? Remember MACV advisor Captain Sean Lane from Seven Stories? We could write one story this December for starters. We'd show Sean Lane in Tet, in Cambodia during the evacuation, later on as an advisor in Nicaragua....We'd take his story all the way out to Desert Storm...and beyond. Maybe he becomes a minor celebrity opposing the invasion of Iraq in 2003? It's a thought.

Anyway, happy birthday, Tommy.

Will's News Roundup, Local, International

It was Star Wars Day. You know, we've never seen the Rise of Woke, or whatever the last one was called. We're not even mad. We just don't care. We caught some of RoTJ and Empire last night. Which was good for our soul. With each year we get more emotional about the original trilogy. 

CNBC says that India's Covid outbreak is catastrophic: 'India crossed 20 million reported cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday. There were 357,229 new cases reported over a span of 24 hours, bringing the total to 20.28 million, according to health ministry data'. One of our neighbors lost her dad in India. They won't even be able to go to the funeral. We expect to see more of this.

The above mentioned are moving to North Carolina. Another neighbor already has family down there. The Carolinas are a hot destination for fleeing Yankees. Tennessee too. This is the third move in our neighborhood this year. The neighbors held an open house last weekend. Every family we saw was Indian. 

NJ.com reports that the Covid numbers continue to improve. 'New Jersey on Tuesday reported another 1,208 confirmed coronavirus cases and an additional 45 deaths, 14 months after the state announced its first positive test and a day after Gov. Phil Murphy announced the state will lift many of its major COVID-19 capacity restrictions May 19 as vaccinations increase and numbers continue to improve. More than 3.15 million people have been fully vaccinated in New Jerseys as of Tuesday — roughly 46% of the state’s 6.9 million adults. Another 157,000 residents have been vaccinated out of state.' The infection rate plummeted to .027. Lat weekend we took the Stroocklettes for ice cream and didn't wear a mask. Nobody said nuthin'.

By now you've all seen the CIA's humiliating recruitment video. Cis-gendered Intersectional Agency, as Tucker says. This is what they're focusing on. Which is fine. The CIA was already an incompetent joke.  This blog supports whatever undermines the CIA so we hope to see more commercials like this. Day one of the Stroock Administration would see a massive Tomahawk Strike on Langley. 

It looks like Frank Luntz's rent boy is going to hold a vote on the War Profiteers Daughter when congress reconvenes. Leadership has abandoned Liz Cheney. As we said, she's trying out for Joe Scarborough's job on MSNBC, or Mika's anyway. Heh. Watch out Mika, you're wife #3. What's a 4th? 

We saw W was saying something about how the GOP can't be the WASP party. Who said that's what the GOP was trying to be? Honestly we weary of him. The man wouldn't defend himself and now...DeSantis 2024? Gentlemen, do yourself a favor and google Ron DeSantis' wife. Wow.

In Israel, the opposition gets a crack at forming a government. The Times of Israel says: Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid and Yamina chief Naftali Bennett have been negotiating a potential “change government” — “change” meaning ousting Netanyahu — in which the two would rotate the premiership.' They have 51 MKs. They need 60. Don't ask this blog how they get there. Likud defectors? The Times describes Bennett thusly: 'Bennett, a religious Zionist politician, is seen as having emerged from under Netanyahu’s shadow, wielding influence that goes beyond his native community and beyond just the right. While he staunchly opposes a Palestinian state and backs many right-wing policies, he is relatively liberal on religious issues and pragmatic on some others, and is seen as mostly independent of the rabbis he tended to follow throughout most of his career.' Remember, the Haredi are total jerks.

Chindian Snapshots

If there's a blonde girl running around Chindia, she's mine. Two new families moved in this year so far.  Both are from Edison and work in IT. Sorry, local joke. 

Driving to the store yesterday we saw a bunch of ten year old boys playing in a field. Again, this is Chindia so they were playing cricket. There were some sticky wickets there, let me tell you. And just like baseball, eventually they lost the ball in the sewer. 

Just last night Middle Daughter said she was in the mood for something spicy. So she went over to her BFF's house. Her BFF's folks are from Bengal. We've got three families that speak Gujarati (two Patels, which is like Smith in Gujarat) one Tamil, one Telgu, Karela (Christian actually), one family from Mumbai, and one Indian family by way of London (parents born in Kenya).

By now reader(s) are aware of the great plague washing over the subcontinent. We were chit chatting with our neighbors, who are in constant contact with family over there. Word is things are worse than reported. So far the Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China seems to be concentrated in the north. But that won't last. All our neighbors know people who got it.

Interestingly the Chinese assault on India changes the neighborhood's summer plans. No one will be going back home this summer. We're planning a couple of block parties. Oh, the cavalcade of Indian food....and the Indian beauties cooking it.

Anti-Asian Hate Crime Week: The Chindian Experience

This week it's back to The Great Nuclear War of 1975. We're finishing up the Argentine and Falklands chapter. The main plot is, of course, the ARA's attack on the Los Ilse Malvinas. [Why you bloody yank....Ed] The subplot involves an Argentine relief convoy sailing into Los Angeles. This allows us to show South America and Mexico, and of course Southern California. Now, now, no jokes about nuking LA from orbit.

We'll be blogging about Chindia all this week here at William Stroock dot Blogspot dot come. To kick things off, here's a fascinating article about Chindia, immigration and architecture: 'The west end of Bridgewater, New Jersey marks a series of densely populated suburban communities, known to the public as the “Milltown-Vanderveer” district, and [known] to its residents as “Chindia” for its predominantly Chinese-Indian demographic. The majority of Chindia’s two-story, single-family homes are inhabited by immigrants raising first generation Asian-American children. Stratton Meadows, a “Chindian” community'. The cars, the kids, the extracurricular activities are as American as can be. Que the Lee Greenwood.

You know, we've never seen a Chinese family move in here. It's always, well almost always, an Indian family moving in from Edison as the article points out. Just this month a Chinese family with college-aged kids moved out and you guessed it, an Indian family with school-aged kids moved it. 'Let me guess, you moved here from Edison and you work in IT.' 

For Monday Metal we give you Hong Kong born guitarist Herman Li:

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 3/21/21

Hey look at that, 3/21/21. Qbi Wan tells me there's deep QAnon meaning in that number, but we're skeptical. We'll see.,

So what if in conjunction with the Cambodian Incursion of 1970 the United States launched an all out invasion of North Vietnam? We're talking a Marine Division landing at Haiphong, reinforced with the 1st Cav, the 82nd Airborne dropping on Hanoi and the 101st flying in to reinforce. The best elements of the ARVN driving north from the DMZ, an aerial campaign to rival Operation Instant Thunder in Desert Storm...etc etc...Now that might be a hell of a one-off novel. [Stop, just stop you Yank tosser-Ed].

The Israelis are voting on Tuesday. We'll have an article about it for Moscow out tomorrow. Nut-graph, as the J-School losers would say: Bibi, the once and future PM. Remarkable. In that vein we've really had no intellectual developement [I'll say-Ed] Thankyou....with the Israel Strikes universe. With each day it becomes more and more likely The Weser will be our summer sneak in. Bibi....Bibi's PM...Bibi...Bibi's PM.

Any writer of any success whatsoever understands the importance of picking a project and sticking with it. But sometimes one must needs follow the buzz, the fire, the ju-ju...And that all leads to The Weser. A thousand words a day? Two thousand? Shiiiiiit....half the point of the project is that we know, just know, we can turn that mother out in no time. Besides, we've been thinking about The Weser for a couple of years now. [So shut up and do it-Ed]

Given that we live in Chindia this blog supposes reader(s) are wondering if there's been a spate of Anti-Asian hate crimes here. Seriously? This hasn't stopped our feckless School superintendent, Dr. Thomas Ficarra from issuing virtue signaling denunciations of anti-Asian hate crimes. Twit.

Chindian Neighborliness in Himalayan Level Snow

Dear god, we have snow flurries. 

The snow totaled out at 2 + feet. It was so deep and heavy that if one looked closely the snow took on a blue hue. We finally got our drive and walkway cleared out yesterday afternoon. Our two oldest daughters discovered why grownups aren't too keen on snow. They were rewarded with hot cocoa. There was much ebullient sledding afterwards.

We usually clear our 75 year old neighbor's driveway too, but as noted yesterday, our snow blower died. We got another neighbor (Guajarati) with a working snow blower to help. Down the street, another neighbor (also Gujarati) had his two 20-ish sons shoveling snow. We saw them and thought, 'What I wouldn't do to get my hands on some stout young men.' [Phrasing! -Ed]. We got a hell of a workout these last two days. 

In between bouts of snow shoveling we worked on chapters in '75 and '76 and just about wrapped up a thing we're doing for another thing. We await word from our Central Committee handler in Moscow, he always emails us on Wednesday demanding update on monthly magazine article quota.

Our neighbor Rik Meta, who challenged Corey Booker* in last year's senate race, announced he's running for congress in our 7th Congressional district against incumbent Tom Malinowski. Meanwhile last year's challenger, Tom Kean, for whom we manned the phones, is retiring from the state senate. At this point we'd support Meta. Kean had his chance. 

Meanwhile CNBC reports: 'New Jersey became the No. 1 state to move away from in 2018, according to new data from moving and relocation company United Vans Lines....“The data aligns with longer-term migration patterns to southern and western states, trends driven by factors like job growth, lower costs of living, state budgetary challenges and more temperate climates,” Michael Stoll, economist and professor in the Department of Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, says in the report.' Someone commented on FB that New Jersey is as expensive as New York but without the benefits. Quite right. If you people knew the property taxes we pay...

*We voted for Booker in 2014. He was up against a professional conservative and perpetual loser and he'd just rescued a family from a burning building. Why not?

Chindian Vignette Two, Electric Booglaoo

Below are the questions our friend in the local Chinese American community sent us, and our answers.

-what is your general impression of the ethnic Chinese population here in the USA

Very positive. Great immigrants. Great Americans.

-what is your general impression of the Chinese people in China

Generally positive.

-what is your general impression of the Chinese government?

Communist pigs. They learned nothing from the massive mistakes the Soviets made at Chernobyl, especially covering it up. Gorbachev thinks Chernobyl was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. Between the imprisonment of a million Uighurs, the Hong Kong Protests, Trump’s victory in the trade war, and now the Wuhan Virus, Beijing has lost a lot of face. It’s a miracle they didn’t send the tanks into Hong Kong. Maybe they felt they couldn’t get away with it? A reckoning will come between the West and the Politburo in Beijing. Also, Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh.

-Do you think the Chinese people in China are for or against the Chinese government? 

I have no idea about people’s opinions in a country where it is illegal to hold certain opinions. I suspect if people could vote they’d vote Xi Jinping out, just like the people of Nicaragua did to Communist Danny Ortega in 1989.

-Do you think the ethnic Chinese here in the USA are for or against the Chinese government? 

Don’t really know. Probably both. Back when I was a history professor, I had Chinese students tell me Taiwan was rightfully China’s. The presence of Chinese people here suggests many of them don’t like the communist government.

-In the hypothetical situation when China (current government) and US are at war, what percentage of ethnic Chinese in USA will support China?

A small percentage at most, probably just people here on work visas planning to go back to China anyway. This is not unusual. Look up something called The German-American Bund.

-Do you think China is a threat?

Yes, absolutely. The number one threat to the United States in the world, militarily, politically, economically. It would be nuts to keep Huwai in the country and we should shut down these Confucius Institutes that have popped up. We should bring back all the industry we can from China and find different suppliers for the things we need.

-Do you genuinely believe ethnic Chinese in the USA is an integral part of the US and share your love of the country?

Yes, without hesitation. Chinese have been in this country since the late 19^th century. My maternal grandfather served in Europe with a Chinese officer, and I have the unit pic to prove it. My paternal grandfather went to school with a Chinese man.

-what news source do you use to learn about China and the Chinese people there?

Lately the Epoch Times.

For the coronavirus situation:

-Do you think the Chinese government is to blame, and for what?

The Chinese government is to blame for the creation and spread of the Wuhan Virus. Xi Jinping should be tried for crimes against humanity, Nuremburg style.

-Do you think the Chinese people in China are to blame. and for what?

No. Not to blame.

-Do you think the ethnic Chinese in the US are to blame, and for what?

No.

-did you know that many Chinese communities are organizing donations to the hospitals essential workers, and neighbors in need. if you do, how did you learn about it?

I am aware of this.

-what is your opinion about these donation activities?

I It’s think it’s very nice and a good thing to see and agood public relations move.

-the Chinese community here feel unsafe, because they are afraid that there might be hate crime from the coromavirus as they are ethnically associated with China. do you think they should feel this way? what can help with this anxiety?

There is very little reason to fear actual harm, scorn, or even idiocy. Though the later will happen. I understand this uneasiness perfectly. I myself am Jewish and every time a Jew makes the news for bad reasons, say Harvey Weinstein or Jeffrey Epstein, the Jew-haters come out from under the rocks. I suggest the film ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ currently available on Amazon Prime.

Chindian Vignettes

We saw two Indian lads playing cricket in the field across the street. One of our Chinese neighbors asked if we wanted an N95 mask. Now where did he get his hands on those? There's a Wuhan China Virus from Wuhan China* FB group for Bridgewater. 

Four Democrat jerks have taken it upon themselves to slam any source they don't like, and no, they didn't like Tucker Carlson's interview with Governor Murphy** We've gotten in the weeds with these witch finders a bit. Sometimes it has to be done.

We made a new friend there, though, which is nice. She's a naturalized American citizen from China and a member of a local Chinese American society and has been posting about their charitable  efforts on behalf of hospitals. She's become curious about how Chinese Americans are viewed here, and sent me some written questions, which are fascinating. We invite reader(s) to chime in below:

What is your general impression of the ethnic Chinese population here in the USA

What is your general impression of the Chinese people in China

What is your general impression of the Chinese government?

Do you think the Chinese people in China are for or against the Chinese government?

Do you think the ethnic Chinese here in the USA are for or against the Chinese government?

In the hypothetical situation when China (current government) and US are at war, what percentage of ethnic Chinese in USA will support China?

Do you think China is a threat?

Do you genuinely believe ethnic Chinese in the USA is an integral part of the US and share your love of the country?

What news source do you use to learn about China and the Chinese people there?

For the coronavirus situation:

Do you think the Chinese government is to blame, and for what?

Do you think the Chinese people in China are to blame. and for what?

Do you think the ethnic Chinese in the US are to blame, and for what?

Did you know that many Chinese communities are organizing donations to the hospitals essential workers, and neighors in need. if you do, how did you learn about it?

What is your opinion about these donation activities?

The Chinese community here feel unsafe, because they are afraid that there might be hate crime from the coromavirus as they are ethnically associated with China. Do you think they should feel this way? what can help with this anxiety?...

We'll post answers when available.

*Sometimes called Covid-19
**Whom we think is doing a fine job.

7-16-19 In New Jersey

Governor Phil Murphy is off to India:

Gov. Phil Murphy will soon embark on another international trip to help boost business in New Jersey — this time to India, a country with strong ties to the Garden State.

Murphy announced Monday he will be the first sitting New Jersey governor to visit India on official business, taking a seven-day, six-city economic tour in September of a country he called one of the state’s largest trade and investment partners.

Smart.

'Strong ties to India...' he ain't kidding.

Indian-Americans represent the largest group of foreign-born residents in New Jersey, Murphy’s office said.

Of the state’s nine million residents, about 420,000 are Indian-American — “one of the fastest growing communities in our state," Murphy said.

Long time and attentive readers will know we live in Chindia. Just this week we have a new family moving in and they're from...India! Interestingly they're Indian Christians. Wonder what they do for Dewali.

More than half the families on our block are Indian. 

Without asking we're sure our new neighbor works in IT and is moving from Edison.

How do you spell Indian-American?

We live in Chindia, so this comes as no surprise:

After a historic 20 rounds, eight competitors were named co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Sixteen kids had advanced to the finals Thursday, pared down from 50 competitors after 5 1/2 hours of competition in Oxon Hill, Md.

The winners were Rishik Gandhasri, 13; Erin Howard, 14; Saketh Sundar, 13; Shruthika Padhy, 13; Sohum Sukhatankar, 13; Abhijay Kodali, 12; Christopher Serrao, 13 and Rohan Raja, 13.

Every morning the smart-bus fills up with Indian and Chinese kids.

Don't deny the science.

Just don't.

The Festival of Lights...

...No, not that one. 

We live in Chindia.

Last night our neighbor had a party for the celebration of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.

It's like Chanukah and the 4th of July all rolled into one. Literally. After drinks we all went outside and spent an hour or so lighting off celebratory fireworks. 

This used to be our milieu, our tableau if you will, and it's nice to know we can still light a pack of jumping jacks and toss them so they go off midair.

As we left Mrs. Stroock said in a few weeks we'll host a party for our own Festival of Lights. The Israelis can do the fireworks.

Chindian Trick or Treat!

Trick or treating in Chindia last night we asked two more of our friends about the Apu from the Simpsons controversy. Becuase if two Indian guys can't speak for the entire Indian nation and diaspora then four certainly can. Their reaction was pretty much like this:

After trick or treating last night our middle daughter read her Hebrew book to her Hindu BFF; Lucy and Ethel we call them. Younger reader(s) are just going to have to google that.

Damn near brought a tear to our eye.

Senor Trump

My friend William Katz points to a Washington Times article about Hispanic voters shifting to the GOP.

This is not unusual. In Texas, W and Rick Perry used to nab 30-50 percent of the Hispanic vote. In the 2004 election, W got 40-44 percent of the vote. The article notes, as we have noted, that Rick Scott is making great inroads with the Hispanic community in Florida.

The swing comes despite the border-family controversy. Or becuase? A side theory: as there are deep divisions within the Jewish community* so there are deep divisions within the Hispanic community, which is really many communities. A Mexican may not necessarily be all that upset about ICE deporting a Honduran.

But there is one identifier that is more important than race/ethnicity and that's class. 

Of course we live in Chindia. Our friends and neighbors are indistinguishable from us except for their race.

Middleclass persons, whether white, Jewish, Chindian or Hispanic, like prosperity. 

Which explains the Hispanic swing toward Trump.

Democrats, being Marxists at heart, should understand economic determinism.

*If we saw a drowning Hasidic we're not sure we'd throw him a life preserver. He wouldn't throw me one without first consulting the Talmud.

Chindian STEM

We live in Chindia.

Our friends and neighbors are workaholics, IT specialists, chemists, big-pharma consultants, property owning businessmen.

Our daughters' friends get on the school bus with book filled backpacks and musical instruments. When the smart bus for the special smart-kid school drives past one see's a sea of Indian and Chinese faces looking back. Which should surprise nobody. These kids all get extra tutoring*, and they go to a specialized school on Sundays for language and culture instruction.**

Just the other night Mrs. Stroock and I went to our oldest' s orchestra concert. That gymnasium was filled with kids  with names like Anish, Suruj, Vishmida, Vikrum…and the specialist chamber orchestral unit was 90 % Chinese.

It's called work ethic, people.

New York's Bolshevik mayor doesn't get it. Hotair tells us:  

New York City has eight “specialized” high schools which the top achieving students in middle school can apply to. Only the best are accepted and the specialized (generally STEM-focused) educations they receive put them firmly on the path to admission to a good college. But someone brought a problem to Mayor de Blasio’s attention recently. There aren’t enough black and Hispanic students qualifying to get in.

Without looking we knew these schools were dominated by Asian and Indian kids and indeed Hotair provides the numbers to prove it.

Needless to say the parents are pissed. Over to you Steve Sailer.

*Kumon.
**Among our friends; Chinese school, Russian skola, Greek school Hindu school-the last of which has lead to some interesting bus stop conversations among 8 year-olds.

Ban Schools not Guns: The Test Scores

My friend William Katz reports that the American education system is a disgrace. Here's the link to the full article which says that:

Sixty-five percent of the eighth graders in American public schools in 2017 were not proficient in reading and 67 percent were not proficient in mathematics...

And we've had a spate of teacher's strikes demanding more money, too.

Union busting pipe guys can't get here fast enough.

We live in Chindia and it is worthwhile to ask oneself what these immigrant parents do. The kids get extra tutoring at Kumon, lots of extracurricular activities, play instruments, etc...Basically the bus stops are loaded with Chinese and Indian kids with large backpacks and a violin. Every last kid on the smart bus is Chinese or Indian.

We checked.

It's almost as if our Asian neighbors understand something about American education that we don't.


Which is why we always say ban schools not guns.

Chindian Delight

We live in Chindia.

Actually there's more than just Indians and Chinese here. We have a Russian family, a French family a Vietnamese family...

Yesterday was the non-annual-but-periodic Stroock block party:

Peoples mixed. 

For a while we were chatting with friends from Vietnam, the Soviet Union and China. That is we were chatting with people from three different communist countries. Try imagining that 25 years ago.

Our Vietnamese friend is 50 something, from Da Nang and remembers the communist government throwing him out of his house and imprisoning his army officer father. Later on our French neighbor conversed with our Vietnamese neighbor, in French. 

Our French neighbor says things are bad in Europe and she would never think of going back. They still have French citizenship though and voted in this year's election. They pulled the lever for Macron. Their oldest son hopes to go to West Point.

Our Chinese friend is from Beijing and didn't know about the 45 million or so people killed by Mao until I told him. Also he thinks China won the Korean War.  

Our Indian friends all mingled and chatted about kids, family back home, summer travel plans to India, long distance phone rates and the like. We had Hindi, Telgu, Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali speakers. India is about as homogeneous as Europe. While we cannot tell the difference in Indian names, our neighbors assure us that Indians usually can't tell the difference between European names. Makes sense, actually.

We've lived here so long that when we say 'Indian' we think of Gandhi and not Geronimo. When watching the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians the other night, middle daughter thought of her Indian BFF and asked, 'R's Indians?' We replied, 'No dear, as in, me white man, trade big wampum.' 

Middle daughter, R and the fifteen or so kids all played and ran around like crazy people, and that was before the dessert fueled sugar high. They're all indistinguishable from one another.