Hi again and welcome to another edition of Laura's Links. But before we dive into the links, I need to give you a very special update! I just received an encrypted message via an excitable carrier pigeon wearing a MAGA hat from the Steyn HQ underground bunker in New Hampshire right to my suburban Toronto home! Word is that Mark will be guest hosting for Rush Limbaugh tomorrow, Wednesday, March 4 from 12pm to 3pm EST. All of us here on Team Steyn send our prayers and very best wishes to Rush.
There's tons of stuff that Mark is dying to talk about, from the Geezer Apocalypse of the Democratic party, to coronavirus and his Hubba Hubba Hijab pin-up babe. So be sure to tune in for three full hours of full strength, undocumented radio bliss from the most Unwoke Bloke in Bespoke!
Friends, I guess this is the official coronavirus edition because I have spent most of the week trying to figure out if I should be panicking or carrying along with life as usual, albeit with increased hand-washing vigilance. I can actually make a case for both scenarios, which is uncharacteristic of me and my usually decisive self. For what it's worth, I did throw out the garlic from China that Mr. C bought at the grocery store a couple days ago and I would not be broken-hearted if this epidemic blew up a lot, errr...most....okay all of our manufacturing dependence on China.
Other than hand washing, I'm not sure about what other non-insane precautions I should be taking. But one thing is for sure though, this Beeeeg Satan-Zionist Daughter of Pigs and Monkeys-Ingrate Infidel is not taking Iranian clerical medical advice on this pandemic. So sue me. Unfortunately, it appears that stupidity, along with coronavirus, remains epidemic and global as well. But for real and not for joking: regular potato or sweet?
Mark Steyn, as you can imagine, has some thoughts about COVID-19 as well. As a temporary reprieve from virusmania, Mark doled out a whopping scoop of wisdom in his latest video edition of Mark's Mailbox. And, most importantly, he did this wearing a tasteful colour palette that complemented the set and his ginger complexion so perfectly! Nicely played, Mr. Unwoke Bloke in Bespoke! Another pivot away from the gloom and doom of politics was found in his lovely essay on Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Friends, I know it's really crazy out there. But if intrusive thoughts of coronavirus get you down, animals riffing to George Michael could be just the tonic. Try it, you'll like it. Now let's get started.
~
North America:
Wise words from Tucker Carlson: "Wokeness is a cult, they'd let you die before they admitted that diversity is not our strength."
Speaking of that cult: gender-neutral passports could soon be available in America.
The great Rex Murphy on Canadian PM Hairdo: "We don't have a government in Ottawa; we have an Instagram page with executive authority. And it is a disaster, not because it is Liberal, but because it is led by a dilettante play acting the part of prime minister." Ouch.
Heartache! The left dumps Never Trump.
Oy to the Vey! Via a very special friend with deep ties to Montreal...Behold, one of Quebec's not so attractive old-new Jew problems.
Jewish student (of the left) leaves CUNY law school after being a target of anti-Semitic harassment.
OMG America! Please stop being stupid dhimmis about this! Wake up! US Navy resumes flight training for Saudis. WHY????
AMERICA! Stop breaking my heart with this abject and abusive stupidity. I can't take it.
YUGE: Trump campaign targets voters in 15 black communities.
Mini-Mike is in big trouble: when Spongebob Reddit turns on you, it's over. This may be the greatest political index ever, EVAH EVAH!
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Formerly Great Britain:
From Katie Hopkins: there is no free speech in the U.K.
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Sweden and Europe:
The victimized children of Sweden.
For the "Shoot the Messenger" file via my pal Andrew Lawton, file: Ryanair boss in trouble for stating the obvious.
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Random:
Woman uses tiny cut-out to buy the "right" shoes online. Ladies: you're welcome.
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Israel and Jews:
Asking the important questions: is spaghetti bolognese Jewish?
Why is "honour your parents" the Bible's hardest commandment?
From Chabad: nine simple ways to perform acts of kindness.
Uncle Bernie's anti-Semitism problem.
Very big news, if true: Vatican to open up archives of Pope Pius XII.
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Kook and Humourless Left, Wokestapo and Trans:
Deviant adults for some reason MUST "perform" in front of children. And is it just me or are these targeted children mostly white, and the parents dragging them to these ghastly grooming events mostly single women? What's up with that?
Speaking of trans.... (thirty minutes but well worth every minute).
Rush Limbaugh on the basics of liberalism for new listeners (read the whole thing, so good).
The psychotic and aggressive hostility of progressive psychology.
"Sue, you're shouting at tea!"
Trans is the new Get Out of Jail free card.
I hope she sues them into oblivion. Oblivion. This madness will only stop when they all go belly up.
Is nothing sacred? PBS's Clifford the Big Red Dog reboot features new and improved woke family change-two mommies. As Douglas Murray puts it, we must now agree that they are not just equal to you boring heterosexual, stuffy, squaresville, sleepy-headed duds, they are better than you!
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Human Grace:
UK actress decries abortions of Down syndrome babies.
Holocaust survivors find joy in fighting poverty.
Three hundred people pack courtroom for boy's adoption.
Two year-old girl with Spina Bifida receives very special Barbie doll.
It's good to have an attitude of gratitude.
The US Food and Drug Administration approves robotic Israeli standing wheelchair.
When life throws a curveball at you, just Shake It Off.
Now let's hear your comments, away you go!
Let Laura know what you think of these stories – or any others from the past week – in the comments below. Laura's Links is our weekly open thread, so the "no going off topic" rule is suspended, though others are still in effect. 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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34 Member Comments
Laura, I count on both you and Mark to keep the insanity light and laughable! Unlike the Left, I'm not a fan of doom and gloom as a regular diet.
Thanks Janet. A spoonful of laughter makes the medicine go down....
Once again, another Top-Notch column by my favorite Laura since Laura Petrie!
Wow, thanks Bob, high praise indeed. And viva capri pants!
Katie Hopkins!!! Love this woman!
The photo of the desecration of those monuments in Manitoba infuriated me. The beautiful and simple stone slabs could not possibly offend anyone. The defacing of monuments dedicated to fallen brave men and women is indicative of that thin glass sheet or film separating barbaric behavior from civilized behavior Mark talked about in the John Buchan story, "The Power-House." Some tales, like this one, I just didn't want to end.
So much has been written about him, so the Pope Pius XII documents should make for interesting reading. On his death in 1958, Golda Meir was among those who praised his condemnation of "the 10 years of Nazi terror" against her people. Which is very much at odds with the narrative of "Hitler's Pope".
In a televised debate on the merits of free speech in Canada in 2006, the late Christoper Hitchens' made this assertion about the wider response to the Holocaust: "If everyone is taught to study the Final Solution - about which nothing was done by this country, America or the United Kingdom while it was actually going on - but let's say as if in compensation for that everyone is taught an official and unalterable story of it now, and it's taught as the great moral exemplar of the morally-lacking elements of the Second World War as a way of stilling our uneasy conscience... "
Interpretations of history are disputed even as it unfolds. How will Pope Francis - with his landmark declaration of "human brotherhood" between Catholics and Muslims - be judged in the context of the present-day terror against Jews in Europe? And how will other European and world "leaders" be judged?
Not well at all, Kate, not well at all. Profound and interesting comment!
Thanks - though I can't take credit it, Fran. It was Christopher Hitchens (again... without the apostrophe) who repeatedly warned that it would be religious authorities who would "hold open the gates for the barbarians". He didn't live to see Pope Francis' Catholic-Islamic global fraternity, and his indifference to religiously-motivated attacks on Jews in Europe and Christians in the Middle East/ Africa.
The question of whether the Allies did enough to save the Jews remains so contested - and so relevant. But challenging historical consensus in this area is pretty much off-limits.
Oh, the ups & downs of Laura's links! Lovely "nine simple ways to perform acts of kindness", yet another article I found here and shared with my Christian friends. Dismayed by the UK's abortion laws regarding Down Syndrome - up until birth!!! I realize the statistics of 9 out of 10 are fairly universal in the "developed" world, but my heart cries out at the barbarity.
Kim! I'm so happy you shared the Chabad link with your Christian friends. That's lovely!
I realize now reading this it implies I don't have any Jewish friends, but of course I do :-) Muslim and Hindi, too. Our disability community includes those of all faiths.
Did not read it that way at all!
In regards to the second coming of "Clifford - The Big Red Dog."
Once again, I have to ask the questions - How did the LGBT (etc.) movement become so powerful so fast? How did they go from a marginalized group a mere thirty years ago to a force capable of changing our understanding of language (well, other people's understanding) with the ability to inject themselves into every facet of life and culture whether warranted or not? How did they go from a minor facet of society to one where every ambitions politician would rather set fire to his home rather than not appear prominently on a float at the "Gay Pride" Parade?
Disclaimer - I have nothing against any of the LGBT (etc.) "community." Really, I don't. However How did they go from a fringe group to one capable of insisting that drag queens and :other "colorful" folk take part in children's story hour at your local library. How did we arrive at a point where we have to knuckle under to the "Pronoun Police" or face censure, loss of reputation and even loss of employment?.
I ask this question purely as a matter of interest to those of us who who occasionally study politics and social anthropology. Surely it is worthy of some serious study or the dissertation of an ambition doctoral candidate. .
Christopher Caldwell wrote a piece about "The Roots of Our Partisan Divide," in February 2020 Imprimus, the Hillsdale College Monthly publication. I thought the essay gets started offering up an answer to your question, John. Nobody strong enough to stand up to the heat these people dish out. We're living with two constitutions now, he explains.
Read Douglas Murray's book-all is revealed.
Great read as usual Laura. The experience of the young Jewish lady from CUNY is a microcosm of what is happening in the West, except that on the grand scale it would mean cultural extinction and eventually submission or death. The RyanAir boss had to know he would be pilloried by the left and the usual Islam apologists, and I disagree with him re: jihadists not blowing up their kids or wives (see Bagdhadi and PLO). On a related note, last night as I was bouncing back and forth from the election coverage on Fox (I would bounce away when Donna Brazile. would come on), I saw a Delta Airlines commercial, a new one, to me at least, it featured trans/gays kissing, lots of "inclusion" (meaning happy hijab ladies, bearded guys on top of mosques, etc.). I couldn't believe a marketing department would be allowed to present something this disturbing to the majority of it's potential market, but then I remembered why I don't buy Gillette razors anymore, after they informed me I was "toxic" because of my sex and race. Human Grace section was wonderful!
Best regards and thank you. P.S. Sorry for the spelling boo-boos.
Laura,
Have faith, there are many ills that effect us in North America, but I'll bet that when we look back at 2020, Coronavirus won't crack the top ten in terms of causes of fatalities; it will rank behind pneumonia and the regular flu. I'd actually bet that when we look back at 2020 (North America only), that workplace accidents will rank higher than Coronavirus.
Jamie
To put it in perspective, according to John's Hopkins, the flu kills from 12,000 - 60,000 people in the US and 300 to 600 thousand people worldwide.
Causes of deaths occurring in USA, by rank, just in the two months of Jan-Feb 2020:
141,000 Abortion
104,000 Heart Disease
96,000 Cancer
26,000 Accidents
25,000 Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease
23,000 Stroke
19,000 Alzheimer's Disease
13,140 Diabetes
8,460 Flu/Pneumonia
8,220 Kidney Disease
2 Coronavirus
Amen. And you left out self-harm (i.e. suicide), which has cracked the top ten causes of fatalities in the US, more than homicide, for as long as I can remember.
Laura, I ran to your column today in a cold sweaty coronavirus panic expecting to find an uppity Jewish mother's chicken soup recipe that would ease my pandemic fears. I've skimmed and clicked franticly but have found nothing. Please help!
Uppity Jewish Chicken Soup is the best chicken soup.
Now that Iran is second only to China for coronavirus cases, the regime's leadership there seems peculiarly exposed. The mullahs, ayatollahs, basij, revolutionary guards all congregate in ways that present the perfect opportunity for a virus to spread. About a twelfth of the members of the Iranian parliament are said to be infected already. How odd, if the virus were to cut a swathe through the apparat of the islamic republic.
Khamenei: "'Tis but a scratch."
The Black Knight ("Monty Python and the Holy Grail"): "Iran has had worse."
Owen, it's kind of unbelievable how the virus has attacked the political leadership and some spiritual leaders as well. I read that some 23 members of parliament are affected. I can't believe that they haven't (yet) blamed Da Jooooooooz or the Mossad for the virus.
From the RyanAir article: "This "no-frills" attitude has, for better or worse, opened up Europe to the Irish middle and working class."
"Sue, you're shouting at tea," is now and evermore shall be a meme. Brilliant.
Josh, I laughed so hard at that line. Still chuckling.
I always enjoy your column, Laura, but particularly want to note my appreciation for the "Human Grace" wrap up.
Thank you for reading. I'm glad you like both the column and that section particularly.
I know what happens when potatoes are kept in a moist dark place for a few days, they start to sprout. Good luck trying to pry that one out!
Think of all the CO2 sequestration, just sprouting out the butt.
One potato, two potatoes, three potatoes, four.
Earn your carbon tax credits, be a sequestration whore!
It's surprising the hemorrhoid remedy advice did not include fingerling potatoes. I would imagine there would be much less of a shock to the system with those. Coated in violet oil one could cure not one but two health issues with one little application. I don't know if I can take too many more links today. I was planning on roasting some taters for dinner but suddenly I'm off taters.
Well if people are going to be washing their hands all the time maybe we should buy shares in companys selling hand cream.
Just learned that you should wipe your hands after using those security bins as you go through security as they are touched by so many people!
Thanks for the links as finished the Tale for Our Time and there us a void tonight.
Enjoy!