Will Stands in the Breach

We went for a walk yesterday afternoon and will do so again this afternoon.

Looks like we'll be getting 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow. That's just enough for us to rev up the snowblower. Certain North American readers are thinking 'Wuss'.

For those of you who know us on FB, the more we post pics of kids or cats or whatnot, the more we really want to post mean things. 

We've gone through the British attack scene in The Final Storm once again. What we once thought was weak is looking better and better. This is one bear of a book.

We're going over The Weser's final scenes. We're not quite sure if were done. Maybe? As it stands now the ending just kind of fades out. Know what I mean? That might not be a bad thing. 

We've been tweeting about NJ07 and issues important to same. Nothing yet.

NJ.com reports:  'State Senate President Stephen Sweeney on Thursday formally announced his plan to appoint Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg to the board of directors of Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Weinberg, who announced a year ago she wouldn’t seek re-election after three decades in Trenton, will resign from the Legislature on Friday to accept the new position, Sweeney said in a statement. The news of her planned resignation and appointment to the board was first reported by NJ Advance Media Wednesday evening.' Hmmm...does it look bad? Probably. Is it bad? Probably. We shrug indifferently.

Mark Judge writes a scathing assessment of Ben Shapiro. 'Shapiro has a brilliant mind and it was fun watching him rip apart liberalism. He’s the Lt. Commander Data of the right, reporting to annihilate the weak arguments of virtue-signaling college students.' Heh, Data. We like Ben Shapiro, but agree with Judge on this one. Facts don't care about your feelings, Shapiro likes to say. But left feelings don't care about Shapiro's facts, and he doesn't get that. Judge is always worth reading. Still, he writes articles in niche publications. Shapiro has founded a conservative media empire. 

The Daily Caller reports the Mannings are interested in buying an NFL franchise. Anyone whose watched Petyon and Eli's Monday night broadcast knows these two understand football. However, acumen doesn't necessarily translate into winning sports. John Elway won a Super Bowl as the Broncos' GM. But Derek Jeter has been a bust as the Miami Marlins' owner so far. Supposition: Peyton would be the owner, Eli the GM and Cooper would run the business end. You gotta better plan?

Russia Today's homepage is loaded with stories about Kazakstan. Quoth: 'The first plane with Russian peacekeepers on board took off for Kazakhstan early on Thursday, as the Central Asian country remains gripped by violent protests provoked by a sharp hike in fuel prices after the New Year.' Peacekeepers. Oh that's good. Other sources report Soviet, sorry... Russian troops are fighting in the streets. Peace Keepers. Still laughing at that one.

Breaking! Must credit Stroock's Books...

When asked about the Kazakhstan situation, William Stroock replied, 'Kazakstan? You mean like, Borat? There's fighting in the streets? Russian troops? Who gives a crap? I don't love it but I'm not going to go boycott the Olympics over it or anything...Now excuse me while I go meet my 'friend' Maxim for some perogies and Borscht.' 

Developing...

The More we Post...

...the quicker we get to our 5000th post. This is post 4780. 

News and New Jersey notes.

Gab's Andrew Torba reports that GETTR (in the news again because Joe Rogan fled there) is built on Amazon Web Services. Are the people running GETTR out of their mother loving minds? Parler used AWS and got nuked for their trouble. We watched Gab get bounced by its registrar and at least one hosting company until Torba built his own servers. Now he's got his own ap, search engine and payment processor. Torba is building a parallel economy. Viva Gab! Viva Torba. 

Russia Today reports widespread violence in Kazakhstan: 'Kazakhstan’s authorities have imposed a state of emergency across the country in an attempt to get a grip on a deteriorating security situation, after widespread demonstrations were sparked by a gas price hike.' That seems to happen a lot around Russia's near aboard no? Funny that. Maybe we're just getting paranoid. [Getting?-Ed] Feel free to insert a Borat joke. 

Good and more of this please. The Times of Israel reports, 'A Tel Aviv court on Wednesday sentenced a man to one year in prison for his involvement in a mob attack on an Arab motorist during a spasm of communal violence last year. Lahav Nagauker, who was 20 at the time, was convicted of incitement to violence and racism as part of a plea deal that resulted in lighter charges. His sentencing was the first in the incident that took place last May, when a mob yanked Saeed Mousa from his car and proceeded to beat him in an assault that left him motionless and bloodied on the ground, and seriously injured.' Don't act like Palestinians. 

NJ.com reports on Covid in New Jersey: 'New Jersey on Wednesday reported another 58 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and a new one-day record of 31,391 confirmed positive cases, while the number of coronavirus patients across the state’s increasingly stressed hospitals have now surpassed 5,400 — the most in more than 20 months. The state’s seven-day average for new confirmed positive tests increased to 26,862, up 85% from a week ago and nearly nine times higher than a month ago.'

Here in Bridgewater the girls are doing half days this week, but everything the district says hints that we're going all virtual next week. There's a (virtual) schoolboard meeting tonight. We're making the girls read a little extra but that's it. Is our belief that all the extra learning we forced on them during the spring of 2020 did no good at all.

We're staying away from the gym for a few weeks. We may or may not go for a walk later. Wonder if we'd pass anyone wearing a mask outdoors. Loser. 

Below, an ESPN/ New Jersey Devil's commercial. Unlike the old New Jersey Nets, the Devils have a dedicated fan base around here. This always was a hockey region. It supports three teams:

A Senatorial Monday

Mrs. Stroock takes the Stroocklettes to see family in Indiana on Wednesday. We're stocked up on alcohol and tobacco supplies. Expect to see this headline, 'A New Jersey man...'

We'll finish our World War 1990: The Weser readthrough today or tomorrow. From there we write the final chapter. We'll also have to make some editions to the existing MS. This really needs a Soviet POV character. As of right now, The Weser stands at 60,000 words. 

The jokes about fake Indian Senator Elizabeth Warren having the Wuflu write themselves. 'Did Trump give her a blanket?' we heard. She'll need some big medicine, that's for sure.  For shame. This blog would never laugh about such things. Our own man child Senator Corey Booker has tested positive too. You know we voted for him. Why not? New Jersey has had 6000+ Wuhan Virus cases for several days now and our transmission rate is well above 1. While Governor Murphy has said, 'All options are on the table' he still hasn't said much about mask mandates. We'll see. 

Sticking with news about senators, Senator Joe Manchin has killed the subliterate named Build Back Better Bill. This means we'll have to write yet another Inforos column explaining BBB, Manchin, West Virginia and the filibuster. 

Which brings us to Monday Metal. Here's Dover Delaware's own Love Seed Mama Jump doing a punk version of Country Roads. These guys were a really big thing when we went to college in Dover, 92-95. They're still around doing shows, weddings and Bar mitzvahs. Enjoy:

We Nuke, CNN Nukes

There we were, lying in bed about to fall asleep when we felt that gentle nudge, 'Honey are you awake?' Of course, we mean that metaphorically. We checked our email this morning and saw that line of Cyrillic letters which can only mean one thing. Our KGB handler wants more collusion. Bah...We don't feel like writing about Covid transmission rates and vaccines and R numbers.

So Chris Cuomo is suspended indefinitely from CNN. They'll change that status to definite, don't you worry about that. We'd like to tell you people a story. Back in '99 we worked at CNN Washington (click here for some reminisces). One day some numbskull got the idea to let Algore guest host Larry King Live. People were pissed. There were legit arguments about it in the hallway. Many thought giving Algore the mic when he was running for president was inappropriate and bad ethics. The plan was dropped by the afternoon.  

Governor Phil Murphy is a smart man: 'There are no immediate plans to implement lockdowns or other restrictions in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in New Jersey despite growing concerns over the newly discovered omicron variant that has the possibility to spread more easily, Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday.' The usual caveats followed. But still... The man does not enjoy lockdowns and mandates, unlike certain former tristate area governors who killed thousands of old people and had to resign from office because they're a sex pest.

Moving on to other former tristate area governors, Hot Air points out Chris Christie's book sales are terrible, 2,289 the first week, and there's no constituency for him in the Republican Party. We don't like his Trump attacks but we'll point out that when he was governor, Christie made all the right enemies. The teacher's unions hated his guts. Oh well. Maybe Christie can be AG in the DeSantis admin. 

We had another great day of reading The Great Salvation of 1976. Things just moved and flowed. We read through chapters covering the president's reconstruction commission and education in the post-war US. That is, we read a lot of scenes taking place in libraries and school houses. What's happening? What's it like? This is the stuff we think is interesting. We think George Will arguing with Carl Sagan about fossil fuels is cool. But will readers?

We spent some mental energy on our desert mercs novel. We even outlined the opening three chapters. Should we?

Post Thanksgiving Notes

It's 7:55 AM, and the womenfolk are already out the door for Black Friday. 

This morning it's raining here. Mrs. Stroock will be making preparations for hosting her sisters and their families tomorrow. Other than some straightening up, there's not much for us to do till the aftermath. We get dish duty as is right and proper. 

If we may indulge in a bit of nostalgia, 20 years ago was our first Thanksgiving in New Jersey. We hosted a second Thanksgiving for Mrs. Stroock's family in our rustic, colonial era farm house in bucolic Peapack. Mrs. Stroock's mother passed away that spring. 

We got across the Hudson for Thanksgiving at our sister's place in New York State (the one who ran the motorboat up on shore two summers ago) and back home by 6:30. Since the family met in session there was discussion of scuttling the boat and a motion made for getting a pontoon boat, always our preference. The motion was tabled for further discussion. We actually didn't eat all that much. One plate. It was a big plate, but still. 

Traffic there and back was normal and it took us about 15 minutes to get across the George Washington Bridge. From there we hung a right onto route 9A and proceeded up Manhattan's west side opposite the geologically imposing Palisades. 

Did we collude with the Soviets on Thanksgiving? Did we ever: 'This Thursday America will have its second Covid Thanksgiving. Despite treatment and vaccine breakthroughs more Americans have died of Covid in 2021 (392,000 +) than died of Covid in 2020 (377,000+). American Covid cases are surging once again, and as of 18 November the seven-day rolling average stood at 88,482, 16% than the previous seven days. At least 59% of the nation is vaccinated, with the Centers for Disease control approving vaccinations for children and suggesting adults get boosters.' We managed to work in an NFL and a WKRP reference. Click the link, comrades...

An interesting article from NJ.com about a Native American family's Thanksgiving traditions. 'Being a clergyman for more than 40 years, The Rev. John R. Norwood, of Moorestown Township, understands that Thanksgiving’s core meaning is rooted in gratitude and togetherness...“We share a meal with loved ones and share food with those in need, in celebration of God’s continued provision..." with some Native American dishes and customs thrown in. It's almost as if these Native Americans are Americans who love America while honoring their heritage. Imagine. This blog urges reader(s) to read the whole thing. Click on over.

Life imitates Will: 'The former head of the Mossad spy agency said Thursday that the option of an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear sites must be seriously considered, days before nuclear talks renew between Tehran and Western powers. “Independent strikes on nuclear sites, if Iran takes this path that endangers our existence, should and must be on the table — unequivocally,” Yossi Cohen told the Ynet news site.' I am a prophet. I have the sight. Click the link.

Indecision Abounds

We've completed reading The Great Nuclear War of 1975. The next time we read it, the MS will be in proof form. 

Not ten minutes after we finished we had an idea for a scene where remnants of the US Pacific fleet are gathering in Subic Bay. This helps set the stage for events in The Great Salvation of 1976. Not a bad idea, Damn it. This is why we wait and take our time. 

We've talked to our editor and we'll be sending the MS along this Sunday Night. That gives us a week to tidy up things and ad whatever last minute things we're going to add. 

We'll probably lay the groundwork for the Barents Sea strike scenes today and this week in The Final Storm. We're writing without joy. This is a rough novel with a long slog ahead. 

There seems to be a lot of support among friends and readership for the next project being World War 1990: Battle of the GIUK Gap. 

This blog admits to massively overthinking things.

We'd like to write something different.

[You have, Knobhead. Your nuke novels. By the way, I love the way you're playing up the Brit angle-Ed]

True. As Mr. Trump said during the first season of The Apprentice, take risks. The Great Nuclear War of 1975 is certainly a risk. It's a bit of sci-fi dystopia, so's its sequel. While it is true we are very good at what we do, we just don't know how these novels will sell. Once again, as the great Neil Gaiman has said, 'You know what people want after they like the thing of yours that they read? Another thing just like it.' As each WW1990 novel has sold better than the last, might it not be a good idea to write another?

Inshallah, we shall all eat lamb in paradise.

NJ.com reports on our probable future congressman's net worth: 'Tom Kean Jr., who is seeking the Republican nomination to take on Rep. Tom Malinowski for a second time, would be the second richest member of the state’s congressional delegation if he is elected to Congress next fall. Kean’s federal financial disclosure report showed assets of at least $6.5 million, which would put him behind only Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5th Dist., who had $8.8 million. Like members of Congress, candidates must disclose their finances annually.' Rick Mehta, who lives somewhere around here, is also running for the GOP nomination. We'll vote for him. There's nothing wrong with Kean, but the man had his chance. Heck, we made phone calls for him last time around:

The New York Post tells us:  'KENOSHA, WI — Protesters upset over the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse marched in Kenosha on Sunday — in the presence of a Second Amendment-supporting father-daughter duo armed with AR-15s they said were to protect the demonstrators. "We just do security for different groups. We’re doing a favor for them,” Erick Jordan, 50, told The Post while walking alongside his 16-year-old daughter Jade. ' Everything about this story is heartwarming and A-OKAY. The 2nd Amendment and open carry is for everyone, and people need as much armed protection as they think they need. We bet that daddy-daughter duo really knows how to lay down fire. 

So last night a man drove an SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha Wisconsin. As of this writing 5 are dead and dozens injured. We're not commenting on the incident, you know why? Because we know fuck-all about it, that's why. We don't even know how to pronounce Waukesha. So we're not gonna speculate. Where not going to write things like, 'if true'. We're not going to make comparisons to Kyle Rittenhouse. We're going to stick with what we know. A man drove and SUV through a Christmas Parade in Waukesha last night. If only the poo-flinging monkeys in the media could do the same. Who, what, where, when, why. Try it some time you degenerate communists. Oh, and if the driver of the SUV turns out to be a mentally-ill child rapist, try not to take his side. 

Monday Metal. When in doubt, The Answer:

20 Years After Will's 2001

Having just come off one Wuhan Virus from Wuhan China surge, New Jersey is beginning the next surge: ' New Jersey on Tuesday reported another 1,305 COVID-19 cases and 24 confirmed deaths as the rate of transmission continues to increase above the key benchmark that indicates the outbreak is once again expanding. The Garden State’s seven-day average for confirmed positive tests increased to 1,418, up about 31% from a week ago and 9% from a month ago.' You know, we used to tell friends who didn't want the vax that you'll either get the vax or you'll get Covid. But we're all going to get Covid anyway, aren't we?

We had something of a breakthrough editing The Great Nuclear War of 1975 yesterday. We're adding just a few scenes that will add so much to the story. This is why one waits. This is why one reads again and again. One reads the MS 10 times and on the 11th time one finally see's the opening. Overall the editing job his halfway done. We are very good at what we do.

What Will's Watching, Seinfeld on Netflix. These are the original and unedited episodes, presented as they were upon first airing in the 90's. At least in the NYC TV market, the original cold openings had been edited out in syndication. We haven't seen these one minute bits in a couple of decades. In truth we only watch the last three seasons of  Seinfeld. These are a postmodern farce. Festivus anyone?

Forgive this blog a bit of nostalgia, please. But it was 20 years ago right about now that we had settled into something of an alternate lifestyle. That July we had moved to our rustic farmhouse in bucolic Peapack, New Jersey. Having just spent the last six years in Northen Virginia, this autumnal November seemed a bit chilly. We were going back to school, online. On a dial up. Our classes were German Military History, Ancient Warfare of Medieval Warfare, the last two with Professor Brian Todd Carey, whose books you should really buy.  

It was an odd autumn. Most of our profs were reservists, and we assumed they were going to be called up. For that matter we were wondering if we should, you know...Didn't happen, so we plugged away at our studies as always. One Saturday night we stayed up to the wee hours working on a paper and decided we liked it. So for the next several weeks we slept in and worked late. We'd start about 10 and take our first break at about 12:15 to watch Politically Incorrect. Don't scoff, after 9/11 Maher was brilliant. He suffered no excuses for the terrorists and their apologists. From there we'd work till about 3 AM before turning in. 

That first late night paper was about Alfred the Great. We got an A, of course. Said paper became our first feature length magazine article. We wrote that paper with some secondary sources as back up. But we primarily used the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and Asser's Life of Alfred. We spent nights feeling like we were in Excalibur. The lights dimmed, the fires rose, the farm house grew cold....it was the dark ages...One could almost hear armored hoofbeats. How many Vikings does it take to change a lightbulb? None. The light from the burning monastery is more than adequate. 

We will be revisiting that 20 year old Autumn.

Fill this up

The people running New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Service really don't want you to show up in person. Which is fine. They mailed us a driver's license renewal form that allowed renewal via mail or online. We chose the latter option and renewed our license in five minutes. Just one of the many reasons why this blog doesn't hate Phil Murphy. Actually the MVS was first streamlined in the early 2000's by former governor Jim McGreevy, about whom the less said the better. 

It cost us $75 to fill up our Honda Pilot yesterday. We vaguely remember hearing about the 'Energy Crisis' in the late 70's. Well the energy crisis is coming back, isn't it? Thanks Joe. 

Five years ago yesterday we made America great again. The Trump record:

-Last president lawfully elected
-Hillary denied
-Courts remade
-Greatest economy ever
-Energy independence
-Secure border
-Isis defeated, Soleimani and Baghdadi killed
-Abraham Accords
-Operation Warp Speed

To be clear on the top line point, the Dems stole the election of 2020. Stole. The election of 2020 was fraudulent, unfair, dirty, corrupt. In other words the election of 2020 was stolen by the Democrats. To be clearer, Trump won.*

This blog will believe Joe won when critics can present evidence that the election was fair.

Should Trump run again? He's already been elected twice. But a strong case can be made that Trump's moment has passed. Time and distance allow for an honest assessment. We've found flaws. Why go with the original software when you can upload version 2.0, say DeSantis? The laws of political gravity being what they are, DeSantis being the hot candidate now all but guarantees he won't be the hot candidate in 2024. 

*Yes, this blog supports Jack's decision not to concede. What's the rush? No, this blog does not think Phil Murphy stole the governor's race.

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.

It's only Tuesday and I've already colluded with Moscow

Gee, call someone a dumb-cunt Nazi-fuckhole and Facebook gets all touchy.

Vaccine Passports is a fight we've already lost. Rather than a complicated ap, this blog suggests issuing people a number and tattooing it on their arm. We know this system has worked before.

Our latest collusion with Russia: 'Joe Biden held his first press conference last Thursday and it went exactly as expected. Taking preapproved questions from friendly reporters and reading off cue cards, Biden promised extensive action on guns, the border crisis and infrastructure among other issues. He stumbled, he rambled, and he wandered off. ‘So, the best way to get something done, if you…if you hold, it near and dear to you, that you…uh, uh, like to be able to, uh - well, anyway.’ The media praised the performance, of course.' Click on through.

The New York Post*, tells us of yet another woman felt up by Killer Andy C. We've lost track of how many that makes. One point though. All these young career go-getters, all these corporate women out there to persist and show the men they can do it to, when confronted by Cuomo just shrunk away and pretended nothing happened like a Madmen era secretary fending off an amorous boss. You go, girl. Feminism failed.

This blog has said over and over again that New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is no Andrew or Gretchen. Yes he made the same nursing home mistake as Killer Andy C. and yes, we disagree with some of what he's done. But Murphy is no thug and doesn't come off like he's having a great time. NJ.Com tells us: Gov. Phil Murphy announced Monday he is loosening restrictions on outdoor gatherings and capacity limits for New Jersey’s concert and entertainment venues that were put in place to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Outdoor gathering limits will increase from 25 people to 200 people effective 6 a.m. Friday. At the same time, venues that can seat 2,500 people will be permitted to increase indoor seating capacity to 20%, up from 10%, and outdoor capacity to 30%, up from 15%.' Between Andy, Gavin and Gretchen, maybe Murphy is the least-worse?

The Times of Israel reports: 'New Hope party chief Gideon Sa’ar may join a government led by Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid, if Lapid and Yamina chief Naftali Bennett rotate the prime ministership between them, according to a television report Monday.' That's three center and right parties. This is perfectly normal. Stable too. Maybe Bibi should just hang it up? Alternately, maybe these guys should just suck it up and accept Bibi is the PM for as long as he wants. The Israeli press tends to criticize Bibi for not getting it done in the election, but neither have these other guys. Kill the king already.

Though we didn't write much yesterday we had a breakthrough on how we're going about The Final Storm. Each attack sequence will be its own chapter with four or five scenes. We started with Vice President Quayle and his family arriving at Raven Rock.

A reader posted a few ideas yesterday. There is a Boomer in The Final Storm, but it's outfitted with Tomahawks. Yes we know they didn't really do that till the 90s. We have a Soviet missile silo. I a probably doing a scene where American missiliers pop the hatch and come on out in '75. These were not bad ideas. Keep the ideas coming. 

*Paper of record

The New Jersey Lockdown Wars Continue...

Casa de Stroock hosted a particularly decadent cheese and chocolate fondue with a pair of special guests. It all went right to our thighs.

As the Wuflu flies through New Jersey, New Jersey lashes out. In Howell the chief of police refuses to enforce Governor Murphy's Thanksgiving rules. Speaking of, the governor and his family were harassed at dinner last night. It's regrettable. Murphy is no Killer Andy C. But that's war, boy. There's gonna be a lot of collateral damage. Here in Bridgewater we have 19 new cases today. That's 840 total and 70 deaths, out of a town of 44,000.

There's only three kinds of Americans now, lockdown resisters, lockdown skeptics and lockdown fetishists. Heck, at this point we may park our cars in the street just to make the snitches think we're hosting a big Thanksgiving dinner. Come and get us, copper.

We are approaching the Battle of the Roki tunnel raw. We haven't seen the raw material in months. It's edited but unsmooth. It needs straitening out and context. Lots of work, but so far that work seems self evident. We have encountered no roadblocks. Which is more than we can say for the Soviets coming out of the Roki Tunnel. 

What are two wayward Afghan guys doing at the Roki Tunnel. Who are these guys? Why did we put them there? Why didn't we set this up earlier with a mention of them arriving at Tbilisi with the Georgian commandoes?

We've written two more winter scenes in The Great Nuclear War of 1975, one in West Virginia, one in Vermont. This needs to be a long, grueling chapter. We could use some ideas. But nothing obvious. No cannibalism or anything like that. The issue isn't food. There's plenty of it because there's a lot less people. The issue is distribution.

Will in New Jersey and Russia

New Jersey is adding 4,000 Wuhan Virus cases per day, and the health department predicts that could surge to 10,000. Here in Somerset County we see wild fluctuations between 50 and 150 + new cases per day. Since Beijing released the bug, Bridgewater has reported 757 cases and 75 deaths. Reported. Our friends who caught the bug exbibit classic flu symptoms and say they're getting a bit better everyday.  

Governor Phil Murphy has announced new restrictions and 'reserves the right' to order a total lockdown. We don't think he'll do that. We can't really complain about Murphy's handling of the crisis, even before the pandemic we didn't think he was that bad, you know, for a Democrat. The main difference between Murphy and Andrew Cuomo is attitude. Murphy doesn't get off on bullying people. Don't be a 'knucklehead' he admonishes. Also, Murphy doesn't like unleash the Gestapo against the Jews like Obergrupperfuhrer Cuomo. Look, Murphy's not perfect, but he also ain't no Gavin Newsom.

Anyway, here's our latest bit of Soviet disinformation:

A few days before the presidential election, this observer predicted President Trump would win about 50% of the popular vote and around 325 electoral votes. Obviously that didn’t happen. But most polls and poll aggregates predicted a Blue Wave leading to a Joe Biden landslide. That didn’t happen either. And while Biden has won the popular vote, at the risk of sounding like a sore loser, the matter of the electoral college has not yet been settled. The media can say the presidential race is over all it wants, but until the votes are certified by the state legislatures and the electors meet, it isn’t over. As we write, President Trump is exercising his legal options.

Click on through... 

Will Nukes America

Today we're taking out our adopted home state:

That's a nuke for Newark, Trenton and Fort Dix. We also did Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Dover Delaware. Would they nuke Atlantic City?

We had an interesting conversation with the Canadian readership who pointed out that North America is so big, so dispersed that the Soviets could never possibly nuke everything of value. On the other hand, the Soviet gigantomania made them extremely vulnerable.

2/21/20 in New Jersey

Awwww.....

Popular Jersey Shore department and convenience store Hand’s on Long Beach Island will close this spring after 70 years in business. A store manager told NJ Advance Media that Hand’s is aiming to close in early April, although an official date has not yet been set. The store is located at 1310 Long Beach Blvd. in Beach Haven.The owner of Hand’s is retiring and sold the property, according to the store manager. The news was first reported by The SandPaper, a local newsmagazine in Ocean County.

The Fami de Stroock spent most of 30 summers at LBI and we shopped at Hand's regularly. Oh well.

2/19/20 in New Jersey

This is gruesome:

A new study finds that New York and New Jersey are losing more residents than any other states. New York topped the list, losing 307,190 residents, and New Jersey came in second with 97,124 residents moving out.

Which helps explain why Casa-de-Stroock's property was once again re-assessed down. 

The state lost nearly a hundred thousand people in a year. Hey Governor Murphy, you think this is a reflection on you? Maybe the sky high property and sales taxes?

1/27/20 in New Jersey

NJ.com reports that the American Dream Mall is gangbusters:

Some said it would never open. Others are betting on when it will close. But if its first three months in business are any indication, American Dream is proving the nay-sayers wrong. The long-awaited mega-mall in the Meadowlands has seen more than 790,000 visitors since it opened its doors three months ago this weekend, according to a spokesperson for the Triple Five-owned property.

The mall is in the Meadowlands, just a few miles from Met Life Stadium, there's an autumn Sunday traffic nightmare waiting to happen. We'd be interested in seeing some demographic info on the customer base. How many are coming across from Manhattan and Staten Island?

Right now the American Dream Mall is something for New Jerseyians to do on a dreary January afternoon. The Stroock girls are already on our case about going...

1/6/20 in New Jersey

Our own Tom Malinowski:

Yesterday the State Dept. said that "we're speaking in a language the regime understands." Now we know what they meant: Trump is literally speaking as an Iranian leader would, threatening a war crime.

Presidents should speak in a language that distinguishes us from our enemies. https://t.co/Z9nXVD0syd

— Tom Malinowski (@Malinowski) January 5, 2020

Malinowski is one of those diplomat types, which is fine. He is also severely critical of the President's foreign policy, which is not fine. Malinowksi worked in Jean Francois Kerry's State Department.

Malinowski refers to Iran as an enemy, but he was on the job when Barry and Jean sent them pallets of cash.

Following the man on Twitter, we've gotten to like him a bit. He has a sense of fun and humor and is perfectly in-offensive, no small thing for the party of Ihan Omar. But Malinowski is up against New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, son of the beloved former governor. Also impeachment. He's cooked.

12/30/19 in New Jersey

Former Governor Chris Christie, who knows a thing or two about winning elections in New Jersey, lays it down:

You know what’s happening in blue New Jersey, a very blue state. Jeff Van Drew switches from Democrat to Republican, from the majority party to the minority party in the middle of impeachment because of impeachment. Andy Kim, who won his seat two years ago, is now losing to Katie Gibbs, his Republican challenger. And Tom Malinowski is losing to Tom Kaine Jr., the son of the former governor.

New Jersey may be blue, but we ain't California, we're more a light blue. Medium blue?

As previously noted, Tom Malinowsi is our congressman. To be honest, we've gotten to like the man. He's more or less sane, and has a sense of humor. Malinowski could be a Dem president's secretary of state. Oh well.

12/17/19 in New Jersey

Governor Phil Murphy bolsters his woke credentials: 

A highly debated bill that would allow undocumented immigrants in New Jersey to get drivers licenses is now one step from becoming law. Hours after hundreds of advocates staged an overnight protest on the Statehouse steps to call on lawmakers to pass the bill, the measures cleared both the state Senate and Assembly, but not without staunch opposition.

What a slap in the face to law-abiding citizens.

Murphy will make a fine Democrat presidential candidate in 2024.

You tell me what to do, people. You tell me, cause other than leaving snarky comments on NJ.com's FB page, I got nuthin'.

12/15/19 in New Jersey

Democrat Jeff Van Drew, representing NJ-02, is a staunch opponent of impeachment and is switching parties.

Van Drew's district is south Jersey; affluent Philly suburbs, pine barrens and the shore. Eagles, Flyers, 76rs and Phillies. It had been represented by 11 term Congressman Frank LoBiondo, a longtime GOP squish for whom our college roommate used to work, also Sean Spicer. This is Trump country 50-46.

Van Drew's switch will probably make no difference vis-a-vis the coming impeachment vote, but it's a nice topper for all the other Dems who will vote no.

Pelosi the Pox almost certainly has the votes to carry through the articles of impeachment, because I guess she wants to hand the gavel over to Kevin McCarthy in 2021.