William Stroock's Blog

Wednesday Post Without Title

Arisen this morning we did. 

Mornings on Substack are still awkward as we're not starting the day with, 'Good morning, Substack. This is your [Insert Day] reminder that Hamas chose war.' We need a new schtick. You know we have over 1350 followers there [Bravo. Let me slow clap you-Ed].

Over the weekend we got dragooned into neighborhood canvassing for Board of Ed elections. We walked Chindia, put some flyers in people's doorknobs, and then hit the gym. This was our third day in a row at the gym, strength-cardio-strength, and we were feeling it after all the walking. The body must needs rest. Hmmm....the weather will be nice this afternoon and it's been three weeks since our last Arturo Fuente. Maybe. 

So Hamas is slow walking return of the hostage bodies, and last night returned a body that was not Israeli. Jerusalem is considering its options. Trump is hopping mad. Hamas, this blog recommends against coming between Trump and his Nobel Prize. Also, now that Israel has all the living hostages back, Hamas has very little leverage. Israel Radar has a great article on the current situation. The situation is good...for al Yahud.  

FB says we posted this in 2013: 'Remember, in a month nobody will remember the shutdown/debt ceiling episode, but Obamacare will still suck.' Ah yes, that post came after several GOP legislative efforts to prevent Obamacare from going into effect. As usual the GOP lost. Failure theatre it's called and it's one of the how we got to Trump moments. Our prediction was right by the way. Obamacare sucks. 

Pointless nostalgia week...continues: Back again to 2005. We got up each morning around 6 AM (or the phone would ring and the Bernards' secretary would say the name of the absent teacher - we needed nor more info. We'd put on a nice pair of slacks, button down shirt and tie, and drove 20 minutes up to Bernards High School to our substitute teaching gig. We'd be home by 3:30 or so.

Almost right away that year, and we really mean the 2005-2006 school year, had a feel, a vibe. A soundtrack even. We were taking guitar lessons and could finally play some rock songs*. This is the year we rediscovered AC/DC. If we started A Line Through the Desert in 2006, Jake Bloom's favorite band would be AC/DC, not Led Zeppelin. 

DOGE report: We went through the Battle of Ardee chapter yesterday. Stuff's getting better. We've got about ten more pages to do. 

*When one learns guitar, no matter one's age or intent, one begins with First String Etude and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It's frustrating as hell. Now we rock. Ah....we miss that. 

We got 'Narded

It's past 10 PM last night and we're stalking the house, grumbling and barking to ourselves. You see, we've put the Grognard to work reading a couple of chapters of World War 1990: Thatcher's War. How he can read 32,000 words and get back to us with notes in an hour is beyond us, but read 32,000 words and get back to us with notes in an hour he did. He's like that. Weirdo.

Among other things, the Grognard noted that we described Royal Ulster Constabulary uniforms as blue. They're green, he said. We forwarded some pics and said the RUC unis were blue. They're green, he insisted once more. Blue, we counter--insisted. British police unis are blue. Ask Bobby Peel. Finally, we asked the internet, and the AI thingy said RUC uniforms were green, rifle green. Which is a dark green color trending toward blue, but not blue. 

We cursed. A lot. And felt kind of bad. Hense the grumbling and barking. We sent the Grognard a mean face emoji.  How did we miss the rifle green unis thing? Mrs. Stroock reminded us that we are at least partially color blind. For years we thought our old Toyota Sienna was tan when it was in fact light green. 'Do you think I would drive a tan minivan?' Mrs. Stroock demanded. 

Us, 'What color is our current Minivan?' 

Mrs. Stroock, 'Gray'. 

Us, 'Shit.'

We have tried to take solace in our color blindness. One does not know what one does not know. For as it is written, one does not know what one does not know. 

Good afternoon, Stroock's Books fans, such as they are. 

We had dank, wet weather yesterday with a constant light, very light, drizzle. We've had more of the same today. 

You know, we say we don't see much Juden-Hass in our life, and then we see someone on Substack wishing death upon our family. Oh look, there's another...and another.  How long have we been letting this stuff just roll off our back, barely registering it was there? [You thought your minivan was tan-Ed]. Usually we fire back with, 'Your new stepdad's a Jew, I bet,' or some such. 

At least the Redskins lost last night, to the Bears. The Bears are the dullest franchise in the NFL and have been so ever since Ditka left 32 years ago. We hate everything about them. Quick, who was the starting QB on the Bears 2006 Super Bowl team. See?

DOGE Report: The Grognard seemed pleased with the Battle of Derry [Londonderry-Ed] chapter. We are going over the Battle of Ardee chapter, a chapter with which the Grognard also seemed pleased. So far we hate it with ten pages left to go. But we are making the chapter better, as one does.

Blue and 20

Good afternoon, People of Stroock's Books. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Moose eating cousins in North America. You bastards. 

A Nor'easter slammed the Jersey shore yesterday. The storm surge bisected our own LBI, which is standard. We're only getting some light rain here.  

The last of the hostages are home. Is it over? Can we finally stop obsessing? Do we stop wearing Israel T-shirts to the gym? These are not easy questions. Not for us. Not for any man. 

As we write this, we're watching Prime Minister Netanyahu address the Knesset ahead of President Trump. Boy is Bibi tongue bathing the boss or what? Who can blame him?

Here comes Yair Lapid, leader of the Opposition and fierce critic of Bibi. Relax, it's his job. As the great Benjamin Disraeli once said, the job of the Opposition is to oppose. And so he did. 'We are not going anywhere,' Lapid declared. Nope. Not going anywhere. 

And here's Trump...Whatever one thinks of the man, the president, there's never been a better friend to Israel and the Jews in the White House. The American president addressing the Knesset is a hell of a thing. 

Sports wrap: the Jets suck, what else can we say? Carolina beating Dallas salvaged the Stroock family sports weekend. Dallas, you're 2-3-1 and your defense blows. Suck it. 

Pointless Nostalgia Week: the first day. We're on the fives, 2025, 2015, etc....Today we're thinking about autumn 2005. This was our best year substitute teaching at Bernards High School. We were called in several times a week. At $85 per it really added up. Bear in mind a HS sub isn't expected to do much, and has free time during all the regular teacher's prep time. We used that free time to work on magazine articles and A Line through the Desert. Heck we often wrote during class time. They didn't want us actually teaching. 

We had a great time. At 32 we were one of the younger teachers in the school. Trust us, some real dinosaurs were there, teachers who'd been at the school since the 1950s. The heavy metal revival was just kicking in, and that autumn we saw kids wearing some of the old black heavy metal T-shirts from the 1980s. We liked the kids, and we think most of them liked us. We were able to be laid back with the kids, having established the previous year that we weren't afraid to write student's up. In fact, when one class got out of hand with the pretty young sub we thought was a student when we first met her,(textbooks out the window), we were sent in the next day to straighten things up. In retrospect, we were a little too loosey goosey with other people's kids and we'd do a few things differently today. But it was a great year. Golly, that senior class is pushing forty now...

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/12/25

Baaah....we awake tired and frustrated. We need more coffee...ah, there we go. 

Yesterday was the last day of Sukkot. Our congregation met for dinner at the synagogue. The event was pleasant enough. 

Yesterday we donned blue jeans for the first time since May. Whoa, those jeans are loose. We're not sure why. We've had something of a sweet tooth the last couple of months. That's what one risks when one marries a girl who can bake. 

So the other day we bought one of them fancy King James bibles and began reading it. A King James bible isn't official as far as Judaism is concerned. But it's foundational to modern English literature. After reading a few chapters we realized that we know this document better than we thought we did. Yes...we'll read the New Testament too.

The hostages will come home tomorrow, or maybe even today, they say. Already it seems Hamas is playing games. That is a very bad idea. Do they really want to come between Trump and his Nobel Peace Prize?

For two years we've begun every morning on Substack with, 'Good morning, Substack. This is your daily reminder that Hamas chose war.' We've always gotten a lot of crap on Substack from leftwingers and Islamists. But we're also getting a lot of crap from right wingers now, Tucker Carlson types, the so-called Woke Right. For example, we're hearing from a Christian pastor. Anyway, those reminders stop tomorrow. We'll also have more to say on this matter at the appropriate time

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 10/12/25...Again, we're tired and frustrated. Bogged down in the Troubles with an unwieldly novel that gets bigger the more we work on it. The more we write, the more we have to write. We need to write one more pre-invasion chapter. See what we mean?

Saturday Updates

Good morning, Stroock's Books weekenders and happy Saturday. 

Hmm...the lawn is mowed. Nowhere to go till this afternoon (a synagogue function), no need to hit the gym, really. We've nothing to do this morning. We might just go to the gym anyway. We'll see. 

With great autumnal weather here in New Jersey yesterday, we were sorely tempted to crack open a bottle and enjoy an Arturo Fuente. But no. We've gone two weeks and are trying to get through the month. Maybe Wednesday. We'll see. 

Anyway, yesterday will probably be the last day we wear shorts till the spring.

Between you reader(s) and us, we're glad the Phillies were eliminated from the playoffs. It's just something we don't have to worry about.

The Things.

Another week, another week wrestling with World War 1990: Thatcher's War. We wrestled more or less effectively, but shrug in ennui and frustration. We're just not getting there. 

We finished the rough of our second nuke short story. It's grim and sad. We're pleased. Other story ideas include the BAOR and Soviet cosmonauts, 'I see many nuclear blasts in Motherland, Comrade'. But we're not in the mood to tackle those yet. On the fourth day, what else is an interesting story? 

Red and Green are Blue Because of Blue...

...You see the Phillies colors are red while the Eagles colors are green and both lost to teams (the Dodgers and the Giants) whose colors are blue...

Good afternoon, congregants of Stroock's Books, and shabbat shalom.

We had to turn the heat on this morning. We can wear shorts today, just barely. But soon one must needs breakout the denim. Damn [Hey, you wanted autumn, knobhead. You got autumn-Ed]. 

We mowed the lawn, probably for the last time. Fun fact, we actually got one of them Ryobi battery powered mowers and it works just fine. One battery is more than enough to get the job done and it's interchangeable with the leaf blower and chainsaw. Holds out hand *ahem*. Not really. But Ryobi, if you're reading we're more than willing to have a Ryobi Tools and Equipment Week here at Stroock's Books - for the right price. 

The ceasefire is in effect. Hamas has till 12 PM Monday to release the hostages. The Israelis have warned Hamas that if crowds swarm the vehicles they will respond with air strikes to disperse and troops to rescue the hostages. We'll approach events with circumspectitude until the hostages are home. 

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are at the Western Wall this afternoon. We naysayed, but they closed the deal. Well done. And so say all of us. 

As predicted, 'Netanyahu gains traction while opposition loses seats after hostage deal, new poll reveals...' At JNS Jonathan S. Tobin appraises Bibi's war record. That appraisal is good. I got the hostages back is a powerful campaign message.* More analysis from The Times of Israel. Nut graph, as the J-School losers would say: Hung parliament, which is fertile ground for Bibi. Exit question: will Bibi call an early election ? Turns out he might. 

Our Bibi T-shirt should arrive today. 

Now watch the world adjust to the new normal with Israel as the victor and Trump overseeing the peace. The krauts have already announced that they're lifting their Juden arms embargo and the Austrians say if Eurovision is Juden-frie, they won't host the contest in 2026 as planned. 

Jersey Beat. We've no insights on the gubernatorial debate as of yet, though note Sherill's inability to answer questions on her personal and financial issues was not a good look. There were fireworks and Ciattarelli says he's going to sue Sherrill for defamation, which seems odd. NJ.com reports on the GOP's voter registration surge. Another good week for Jack, another bad week for Mikie. 

Sports Wrap or suck, anyway: Mrs. Stroock's Phillies are done....wow Giants! What's wrong with the Eagles? We watched the former (and saw some fine pitching) but not the latter. We were burned out on sports by then. Instead we watched episodes four and five of A Man in Full [Poof-Ed].

DOGE report: we probably need to add yet another chapter setting up the British invasion of Ireland. We can use this chapter to show the UDF or RUC busting a Prod terror ring or some such. Bastards. 

Will Almost Had a Heart Attack Week, fin: So we went on a diet. Lost some weight (gained most of it back the next year) and otherwise moved on. So ended 2015, in which we were diagnosed with gout, a heart problem, and lost out professorial job. Heck of a year, Brownie. Heck of a year. 

*Hamas held one Israeli hostage for a decade. Getting the hostages back is a huge deal. 

A Decade and Four Days

Good day, great day to Stroock's Books readers and Israel supporters across the land. 

The temperature will be autumnal all day. 

Funny, we're not sure what we want to post on FB, 'Trump Nobel' or 'Bibi Lion of Judah'. Okay we went with the former. 

We've seen the terms of the first phase of the agreement, thank you Israel Radar. We see no issues. This is a very Israeli friendly agreement. As for releasing 2000 prisoners, it's Israel's own damn fault for setting such a precedent. And it's really not that big a deal. Germany was crawling with ex-Nazis after WWII. It is what it is. Actually, this deal is looking better all the time. 

We agree with everything Open Source Intel says. Point 1 is big. We said for over a year, 'Hezbollah, Bibi'. Point 2 is absolutely huge. Israel Radar also has a great analysis of the war and the challenges ahead. We've said for two years, not peace. Victory. No doomerism here. This is victory. 

One supposes Hamas could play games or even back track on the deal. That would be suicidal, though. Our own sense is that the Arabs are sick of this shit. Yep. The Arab world's dirty little secret is that they hate Gazans and West Bank People. 

Exit Questions...Does this mean that we must no longer begin our day by reminding Substack that Hamas chose war? Can we stop obsessing about the war? ere we wrong about Steve Witkoff? Must we still wear Israeli T-shirts to the gym? Lol, our Netanyahu T-shirt is supposed to arrive today. W

In retrospect, Operation Hatikva was crucial to bringing about an agreement. We can't get Hatikva out of our head. 

This blog will celebrate when the hostages are home and not before.

Trump should win the Nobel Prize.

Speaking of Nobel Prizes, the committee has announced the winner of the Nobel Prize for literature. Once again they overlooked us. Bastards. 

Sports Wrap: Mrs. Stroock's Phillies survive another day. She's got the Phillies this afternoon and the Eagles tonight. The Toronto Blue Jays eliminated the New York Yankees. You suck, Canada. 

What can one say? We're totally unprepared today. 

Will Almost Died of a Heart Attack Week Day Four: So the next few weeks at home were kind of weird. We were under doctor's orders to take it easy for a while. Meaning do very little. As Mrs. Stroock's father was visiting and living in a local extended stay, she'd take the girls there for the evenning and leave us to our own devises. Mostly we lay on the couch and watched TV. It was during this time that we binged four seasons of Game of Thrones-which is quite the television experience. 

When we talked to the doctor about diet changes we asked, 'So no red meat?' He replied, 'Red meat is not a problem.' Huh, that's not what they used to say. So began our distrust of medical advice. Anywho...we ate a lot better, and a lot less, a lot of greens and such a lot of tofu. People noticed our complexion changed. We were about 265 the day we went in. Within a month we were down to 255. Not bad. A long weight and fitness slog lay ahead. 

During this time we noticed a throbbing in our chest, from the chest stent, pain in the left arm, and even in the jaw. As if our body was reacting to the cardiac catheterization. We found the chest pains a little disconcerting. But we pressed on. 

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...

Operation Hatikva

That's us at Dunkin, Starbucks (we were totally hopped up on caffeine by the time we left)*, Tim Hortons (we got the turkey-bacon club combo, Canadian bastards), Barnes and Noble, and finally with our Israel flag doing a three-mile walk through Chindia. We added the hat at Tim Hortons, increasing our Jew-power by 50 percent. We showed the colors as best we could in Bridgewater. Am Israel Chai. 

We might have gotten the side-eye a few times. Maybe. Being big means people don't generally want to mess with you. As for walking around Chindia, you could see the look on people's faces, 'Is that man walking around with an Israeli flag?'

We look good. There's no getting around it.

*Behind the counter worked a blue haired weirdo, someone with some serious pronoun problems, some idiot wearing a mask whom we almost yelled out because we were at our second coffee stop and like, 6tth cup of the morning, and two more or less normal looking young men.

Two Years On

Okay....we wake up to see no London or Paris or Sydney synagogues have been torched in anti-Jewish pogroms. Yet. Progress? We await protests across the United States, including at Rutgers. Oldest Daughter has been advised not to wear anything visibly Jewish. JFC, this is the world we live in. Rutgers Hillel is holding several events today. 

We've been dreading today. It's just gonna suck. Focus....

Anyone wanting a refresher on what the Gazans did two years ago can start here. You know all the October 7th massacre footage you haven't seen because the press suppressed it? Well I've seen it. As I wrote in the days after 10/7, I've seen things that you wouldn't believe. 

The Times of Israel tells us, 'Antisemitism now a ‘normal’ part of life in the US, new survey finds...' A depressing but accurate report, '55 percent of Jewish Americans reported at least one form of antisemitism in the last 12 months, while 57% said antisemitism has become “a normal Jewish experience.”' You know, we were reading the story and thinking, 'not us,' then we realized how much Juden-hass is directed at us on Substack.  We're dealing with a knuckle dragger right now. So yes, Antisemitism is part of our new normal. We just never let it bug us before. What an amazing disconnect.

Here's what we wrote one year ago today. Every word still holds. 

Today also begins Sukkot. 

Today we'll conduct our own Operation Hatikva. No details forthcoming. We'll report tomorrow.