Hello again and greetings from the Deranged Dominion.
It has been another great and crazy week on planet earth. I've been preoccupied with the usual combination of work, domestic responsibilities and of course, saving up interesting and eclectic news stories from across the internet. So many humans, so many stories. This week, I've decided to go light on the intro and heavy on the ending. This is because I can't really think of anything better to say at the moment than Douglas Murray's advice, his understated cri du coeur of stand by your friends, and don't let bullies get away with silencing decent people. Amen, amen.
You can tell that how serious I am about that message because I am purposely refraining from mentioning you know, the whole Yes I Know What Team He's On But Muh Crush, Etc. little thing. Totally am not gonna talk about that. But can someone at least please send my Girl Scout "Restraint" badge stat, and I'll sew it onto my jacket with pride. Like cis heteronormative Jewish Zionist mom pride, not like Pride Pride. Oh and also, I can't really sew, but I can hire someone to do that.
Silly me, I digress! I shall now focus.
Mark has been talking a bit about the ongoing impeachment kabuki in Washington, which he has previously described as the elites' impeachment of the American people which is very, very very #SAD! Although he's been pretty much non-watching the proceedings, he has still shared some of his reflections on the ape-oplectic reactions of the soy latte-drinking, 1990s-goateed Bull(sh&t)warky, pressing mean girl dispatches from the #NeverTrump crowd then and now.
Now let's take a look at the week that was.
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America:
A look at the deadly extremism of Antifa in America.
From the great VDH: The alarmists were wrong on Soleimani and the US-Israel model has been a resounding success.
Also from VDH: The anti-Trumpers and their shadow government.
Elizabeth Warren gets completely destroyed by a normal, responsible, American dad.
Red-blooded American dad kills coyote with his bare hands to save family after it attacks his son. First reaction: hero! Second: hot! OK maybe, just maybe I sort of, kind of thought of those things in reverse order. Oh come on now, all you ladies were thinking the same thing as me, so don't try to shame me in the comments. Not that it would work, but whatevzzzz.
New York: This is your city on communism. Understand that this is what the left wishes for all of the civilized world.
The great David Mamet says President Trump is an excellent President and his opponents have been behaving in a psychotic manner. (Article and podcast.)
A good and forthright statement from the White House Press Secretary about the impeachment sham. But I think that it's not really that "the Members (of Congress) will help expeditiously end this brazen political vendetta on behalf of the American people" it's more like Mark Steyn's thesis that the members of Congress have been carrying out a vendetta against the American people. That's what must be ended. See what you think. Mark said on Rush that the impeachment process is the anti-democratic forces in government impeaching We the People, every single one of the 63 million people that voted for Trump. What say you?
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Israel and Jews:
Photographs from Auschwitz, newly colourized.
For the "go back to Europe" crowd (not that they want us there anyway) Ashkenazi Jews are also indigenous to Israel and not to Europe.
History geek out! Thirteen year old discovers 1500 year old Greek inscription in Caesarea.
This made me really miss my Bubbies: "My husband's grandmother cooked in Yiddish."
Elie Wiesel's son Elisha opens up about his father.
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Middle East:
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Germany:
Police to lower German language requirements in a bid to get more new recruits. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe this guy will apply? I think it's obvious who the real "new Nazis" are in the world, and if you are not convinced by the above video, in German with all the quaint, accompanying jihad pantomime then there's no hope for you, just as there's no hope for Germany.
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France:
Nothing to see here: French anti-terror officer charged with selling fake ID on the Dark Web.
France licenses the murder of Jews.
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Formerly Great Britain:
"British men", including a police officer, appear in court charged with child sexual exploitation.
Hubba hubba, what could possibly go wrong?
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Sweden:
Swedish women are quitting their jobs due to harassment from migrant men. This is called self-imposed sharia. Not a shot fired (OK, the occasional bomb has gone off) but the gender-segregation a la Saudi Arabia is happening quite naturally. Pretty soon Saudi Arabia will have more gender progress than Sweden. Sweden is a third world dumpster hell hole.
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Kook and Humourless Left, Wokestapo and Trans:
University of Minnesota faculty and staff to undergo LGBT pronoun training.
This seems a perfectly good and totally not insane use of British taxpayers' hard-earned money.
Speaking of trans issues, consider this.
And this is a beauty. If you haven't followed the whole story, basically a well-known British actor and musician named Laurence Fox is in trouble with the Wokestapo mobs because he refuses to be called a racist, and will not back down. He's had it. He's done! That's the summary. But listen to this wonderful podcast interview here for more bits. And I have totally stolen liberated the line "I'd rather eat a lightbulb" from Mr. Fox. An additional good interview with him and James Delingpole is here.
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Human Grace:
A Jew has a coming to Jesus moment about Catholic hospice care.
"I'm just helping people feel alive again." Just? Goodness gracious, there's no "just"-it's YUGE!
Cutest school prayer ever, ever, EVAH EVAH EVAH?
Baby tries ice cream for the first time. This baby is my spirit animal.
At risk kids in Israel bunk together at camp with special needs kids. Very sweet.
This is an amazing Twitter thread about the incredible amount of knowledge that you can gain from YouTube for free! Love it. Love, love, love this.
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Personal Moments of Human Grace:
As I get older, and as I've lived more years as a Jew, I have frequent occasion to think a lot about the wisdom of my forefathers and about living Jewishly. There are so many things about Jewish living that make so much sense to me. I sometimes wonder if it is the Jewish reverence for life itself that is the root cause of anti-Semitism. A little over a week ago, I attended a funeral and the Rabbi most graciously linked together the life of the deceased with the Torah portion of that particular week. It was respectful, lyrical and perfectly appropriate. Then as per Jewish custom, the shiva followed-another tradition I think just makes so much sense for humans. A couple of days later, I attended a wine and cheese evening organized especially for special needs mothers in my community, organized by my local Chabad. And the next evening, I had the privilege of attending a community wide Challah bake to pray for the full and complete recovery of a community member, a young mother, who has been struck by cancer.
Challah is one of the Jewish commandments specifically for women. When Jewish women prepare Challah, and "take" Challah-apportioning as was done as a sacrifice in the days of old, it is a particularly auspicious time for prayer. Online groups of Jewish women all over the world solicit names for prayer specifically for when one "takes" Challah. All the ingredients of Challah are also symbolic. I was with approximately 100 women gathered together to make Challah and pray for a young mother, and any other sick people and for the protection of our families and Israel. Then, at every table, every woman made blessings over another 6 or 7 individual foods: wine, nuts, fruit, vegetable, and others. The idea was that each table not only generated blessings from the Challah, but from all the foods created by G-d. Multiple blessings all in merit of a full recovery.
The young woman's sister, who organized the event, said a few words. She said how grateful her sister was for everyone's prayers, and her only request was that if anyone among us had any long-standing quarrel or alienation from a friend or relative that they make peace with them in her merit, for her health. So humbling, so beautiful, such a modest and poignant request. My Challah dough was soft and fluffy, and delicious when served to my family for the Sabbath. Blessings abound.
Now, do let me know what you think!
Let Laura know what you think of these stories in the comments below. If you're not yet a Mark Steyn Club member and want to join in, you can get yourself or a loved one a membership here. Laura and her family will be on the upcoming Mark Steyn Cruise along the Mediterranean, so you can share your thoughts with her in person by booking yourself a stateroom.
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28 Member Comments
The personal human grace story was very inspiring and heartwarming, Laura. It shows that there is a strong sense of a supportive and loving community alive and well within the Jewish tradition that other faiths can emulate.
I think you're correct about the root of anti-Semitism being the Jewish reverence for life and also from the importance placed on having a strong relationship with our Creator in our daily life. You're a wonderful storyteller and it helps as a person from a different faith tradition to hear about the meaning behind the smallest details. I look forward to hearing more of your personal human grace installments.
Thanks, Fran.
Too bad David Mamet has that awful daughter Zosia who starred with vulgar Lena Dunham on Girls. Love the film Spartan for which he wrote the screenplay.
That was a very interesting exchange between Little Princess Smarter Than Your Average Rube Gonna Git Me a Beer Warren and the dad who did the right thing and saved to put his daughter through college while others are getting promised free tuition. It was hard to hear every word but I think another recording I heard had Warren saying something along the lines of: it's not possible to go back to fix everything and we have to move forward with improving lives. This must mean we won't hear about reparations for African Americans whose ancestors were slaves in the South, I guess.
So many links, so many reactions! I'll try to limit myself to two (for now). First, the return of graffiti to the NYC subway system. The video of the tagged train made this old credulous boomer rube heart skip a beat. Those were the trains of my youth when I came to the Big Apple from Portland, OR (a credulous boomer rube even then) to attend college. They would sometimes lose power and sit still and dark in the tunnel between stations.They lacked air conditioning, so the windows would be open, with the full sound of the metal wheels on metal rails deafening the cattle-car riders within. I'm having a Proustian moment recalling the stench of urine wafting through the dank subterranean "air". Ah, such memories! Banished by the arrival of responsible Republicans like Rudy Giuliani, who believed that New York City could, should, and would do better. Only to see my salad days return with the first Democrat the credulous rubes of the city put back in Gracie Mansion. What's the Steynian word for it? Ah, yes: reprimitivization. It's not just for the developing world.
And Challah. I knew it was too divinely delectable to be just a baked good. It's manna from heaven. Thank you for reminding us. And such a preferable Proustian moment!
Great observations on a great Links Josh! I think we "Credulous Boomer Rubes" should start referring to ourselves as CBR's, like Tucker dubbed the CPL (Creepy Porn Lawyer)!
"reprimitivization" Did you coin that? It's VERY good.
It's good because it's STEYN. I use it with permission (not exactly).
"The great David Mamet says President Trump is an excellent president..."
Mamet's "American Buffalo" is going to be revived in NYC at the Circle In The Square theatre ("previews begin March 24" 2020, says the flier that we received in the mail this week).
I'll wager any sane amount of money that concerned attempts by the Broadway theatre left-wing Communists, who run the show in Manhattan, will be made to sabotage the production.
I'm surprised it's gotten this far without have already been torpedoed.
He's such an interesting, smart person. I really like listening to him talk about his intellectual conversation/evolution to conservative.
Pardon me! This should be "I'm surprised the AB revival has gotten this far, without having been cancelled."
I had the same thought when reading that, Don. I don't know about the Broadway crowd being Communists, but by and large they are left-wing bourgeois poseurs, and they're not going to give up the good life for anything or anybody. That hypocrisy, that unreflective un-self awareness of leftists is part of what caused Mamet to move to the right.
Might you have a link to his conversation?
Also, probably forgotten by now is Harry Stein's surprisingly good "I Can't Believe I'm Sitting Next To A Republican," A Survival Guide..." Encounter Books (2009 hardcover).
I say surprisingly good because I had, unfortunately, first read his very badly written and edited "How I Accidentally Joined The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (And Found Inner Peace)" (Delacorte Press [Random House] (2000 hardcover).
It was all the more surprising because an excerpt from it was run in New York Magazine (something that today would not be tolerated by The Undeniably Tolerant Brooklyn Basement Keyboardists at NY Magazine, which has gone all the way down the toboggan run into complete left-wing political hysteria).
To fill in the incomplete thought: "It was all the more surprising because an excerpt from it was run in New York Magazine" (around 1997), the contents of which hit me like a lightning bolt.
Especially electric was his comment about it being impossible for the students in his children's high school to discuss politics, seeing as how there was only one side presented, to which the mandate was clear: There could possibly be no other alternative to the insidious left-wing propaganda.
They are Communists in all but name, displaying an intolerance identical to that which fueled the Russian revolution a century ago and which erupted by a savage virus in the 1960s. I agree that unlike previous generations of Communists, they will never give up the "good life" of which you speak; they will, however, vehemently deny it to others whom they deem unworthy of their genius. Hence, their suppression of free speech and by extension, their contempt for due process, which interferes with their self-appointed right to instantly condemn others.
I think he did a podcast with Ben Shapiro a couple of years ago, that may be the one I'm thinking of. There may be others though I'll try to remember!
The coyotes around here usually keep to themselves but three appeared together out of the arroyo in the neighborhood while we were walking the dogs last week. It was just a little creepy seeing the three together and they followed after us for about fifty feet before they changed direction. Usually we only see lone ones or pairs. There were also a couple mountain lions sighted earlier in the month at my neighbors a few streets away just sitting up on her stone wall resting. They come down from the canyons set back in the base of the mountains looking for food. The sightings are getting more frequent though. Kind of puts one on edge.
I have never read National Review, but clicked on the link about the shadow government. I was making these same comments about the Obama gummint being in power if not in office recently.
It occurred that this is the insurance policy.
When Clinton asked Trump if he would accept a loss, it was because she was thinking that she did not have to accept a loss. Obama and his crooks had a plan to stay in power. We are living that plan.
Did they - do they - intend to have Hillary run for the House and be made Speaker if Trump and Pence were/are removed?
This would be a play out of Putin's book.
Yes indeed-the insurance policy! Mark has often pointed out that it doesn't really matter if you get 'your' guy in charge if the permanent bureaucracy still calls the shots.
You know, I had quite the crush on Laurence Fox when I was a young lass watching Inspector Lewis; it would be frankly embarrassing for me to have a relapse. Ooo, is that another interview?
Listen to the podcasts, the are really wonderful.
I have been! They are fantastic. When you hear most actors give interviews you get the same waffle as you did in the last one: But Mr. Fox is funny and informative, gives new insider antidotes every time and punches back at the "woke" nonsense in a conversational way, without alienating. And according to instagram he did an interview with Douglas Murray yesterday, so there is more to look forward to.
OMG Laurence Fox and Douglas Murray-glorious!
Laura, great links re Douglas Murray and Laurence Fox. I really admire Douglas for his defence of Roger Scruton. And Laurence - a bit like Ricky Gervais - has a talent for Twitter trolling with his #StunningAndBrave shtick, and he's not backing down... ever! Still have to get to the David Mamet podcast; I became a fan too after reading "The Secret Knowledge" a few years ago.
The "neo Nazi" link (it's pretty obvious who they are, as you say) is disturbing. It looks as though it might've been in the wake of the 16 year old school girl (Mila) from Lyon being forced into hiding after she "insulted" Islam online: the doxxing and death threats have been global. Things have definitely gone backwards in the three decades since the-ayatollah-and-the-novelist.
But the Tablet article on hospice care and your Challah experience are great reminders of the bigger picture: Never despair.
I didn't read much about that story of the school girl, only saw it on one of my social feeds in passing, but you're probably right! That #StunningAndBrave is really hysterical. I also was very touched by that Tablet article. I wish Catholics and Jews could unite more publicly and cohesively on the issues that really bring us together; the sanctity of life and issues of mercy and care. A lot of left-leaning and secular Jews are so anti-Christian in a very knee jerk way, that Tablet article was a good look at what happens when a Jew takes a look at the holiness within Christianity with a more open mind even while we have clear theological differences.
Mila is still in hiding. Her lawyer made a statement over the weekend criticising the absolutely gutless political class. The elites - such as the French "justice minister" - claim to uphold secularism as the nation's most important value, then throw this young girl under the bus. It's only a degree of difference between this case - where the girl is effectively imprisoned, condemned as a blasphemer by the state authorities, with demands for her death from the mob - and that of Asia Bibi in Pakistan (before she was granted refuge in Canada).
The official appeasement of Islam is the same in the case of the murder of Sarah Halimi. Truly disgusting. It's a license to murder Jews, as you say. It's hideous. And like the "grooming gangs" in the UK, it's also the public indifference to what's going on, as Mark mentioned in the recent Q&A.
As for Catholics and Jews, they won't "come together" as such because Pope Francis has submitted to Islam too: he paid lip service to anti-Semitism while forging an alliance with Islam through his commitment to "Human Fraternity" with the Muslim world.
It all ties in with Mark's point about universalising the Holocaust at a time when Europe in the 2020s is looking a lot like Europe in the 1930s. Pretending to care about the past provides an excuse to facilitate its recurrence in the present.
her only request was that if anyone among us had any long-standing quarrel or alienation from a friend or relative that they make peace with them in her merit, for her health.
I've heard it said that hating someone is like taking poison and waiting on the other one to die.
That's very true. A terrible way to live.