Hello one and all. Welcome back to another edition of Laura's Links. The past week was, once again, filled with disturbing and horrendous news stories from around the world, but punctuated here and there with good (or good-ish) news. A major move toward normalcy here in Ontario is the news that in September, elementary and secondary students will be going back to school in person, albeit subject to various public health guidelines. Gyms and restaurants are opening up here as well, finally. Alas, it seems that for much of the world (OMG I'm looking at you, Australia!) the "the criteria for lockdown seems to be the abolition of death."
So, a small SteynOnline In-House Jewish Mother happy dance for small bits of sanity here in the Deranged Dominion. I wish I could say with complete confidence that things will eventually go back to normal – the real, legitimate normal, that is. I want it back. All of it. Unfortunately, what I can say with complete confidence is that the angry, soulless, power-drunk-yet never-satiated political left all around the world will continue to do its best to make sure we never get our normal back.
They want violence, outrage, fragility, crime, rioting, murder, offence and lawlessness to be our new normal. They are awful. How awful? This awful. This horrible. (More here.) Don't ever give up the fight. Your fight. Don't accept their normal.
Over the past week, my gracious double-plus-extra-normal, extraordinary host, the great Mark Steyn, had much to say about current affairs. In case you missed them, make sure to check out the latest episodes of The Mark Steyn Show, including The Seeds of Destruction, Manacle Mania, and a Last Call Special: Jewels and Goals . He also reminisced about the late P D James, Baroness on Barrenness. Also, don't miss his Song of the Week on the beautiful and lyrical I'll Never Smile Again.
A commenter at The Mark Steyn Club, one Brian W., called my last collection of links "delightful and dreadful." That's something I may eventually put on my calling card or CV, I like it so much. Therefore, unsurprising to nobody, this batch is more of the same! But to moderately inoculate you against potential gloom beforehand, click here. You're welcome.
Now let's look back at the week that was.
~
North America:
Popular young creators leaving TikTok in droves due to privacy concerns.
Attorney General Barr outmaneuvers the Democrats.
The great VDH wonders what the "silent majority" (if there is such a thing at all – Mark Steyn is not sure that it exists) will do about the revolution.
Update on the Canadian Joke Stasi: The Supreme Court of Canada to hear appeal of Quebec comedian's joke complaint.
American "justice."
Minneapolis city government tells citizens to lay back and think of Mogadishu.
Maryland police arrest "high school" students for raping 11-year old girls off campus. The "high school" students are in the 19-20 year old range and "undocumented." Other than that, nothing to see here. Societies that do not protect their women and children do not do very well. Not very well at all.
Also in Maryland, which seems like an extremely messed up and dangerous place by all accounts: school leaders and parents are not happy about Maryland county closing non-public schools.
For my enormous OMG I wish I had thought of that first file: "Luxury beliefs" are the latest status symbol for rich Americans.
And one for my D'UH file.
Google redeems itself? Nah. But it is interesting.
~
Jews and Israel:
Food for thought: Israel was Ground Zero for Woke Religion
From the soooper, dooooper, so smart Jew Daniel Greenfield: You can get cancelled for philo-Semitism, not anti-Semitism.
The secret of life: meaning.
~
Europe:
Celebrate migration to Sweden. Looks like mass migration continues to pay wonderful, multicultural dividends: "Wilma's severed head was later found in his apartment, but despite this, the 23-year-old continued to deny the murder."
More benefits of migration here.
~
Kook and Humourless Left, Wokestapo and Trans:
Time for your pap smear, Mark Steyn!
The Great Awokening on Twitter
As per the great Prophet Mark Steyn: if you let them erase your history, they will own your present and your future. Just say no to Year Zero.
Is Ellen going down because she wasn't woke enough?
Lastly: I highly recommend this episode of James Delingpole's Delingpod podcast, in which he interviews the great Kurt Schlichter. First of all squeeeeeeeeee! Real men! Also, I am totally jealous of their perfect analysis of some of the coronavirus "rules" and psychosis that has taken hold all over the world. I have felt for a long time that the rigidity about "public health" and COVID "rules" has lent itself perfectly to people who are otherwise disposed to control freak and OCD-type of behaviours. But these two guys upped my ante. They pinpoint that The Rules give people meaning in their lives. Bingo. They also talk about how instead of people signalling virtue by their actions to the world, all we have now are dumb bum, soy boy, know nothing, do nothing virtue-signallers. Listen to the whole thing – it's great. Kudos to Mr. Delingpole and Col. Schlichter.
~
Human Grace:
How one small brave act saved thousands of lives. Small acts matter. Just do them.
The secret of a long life: art and nice sex.
A reminder to "shoot your shot".
"The Man Who Conquered Polio": Jonas Salk was born on October 28, 1914 in New York City to Lithuanian Jewish emigres. His father was a garment worker. As a child, Salk prayed that he could do something good for mankind. His brothers teased him, calling him "little Jesus."
Personal moment of grace: We took a walk on the Sabbath and stopped in the park. Normally, my disabled son likes to be in motion: he's happy to be out for hours as long as we don't stop moving and pushing his wheelchair. One of my other kids was playing in the park with friends. My husband and I have long resigned ourselves to the fact that sitting quietly on a park bench is just one of life's simple pleasures that is not in our destiny, just not within our reach. We even joke about it.
But as we approached one of the benches, in full view of the kids playing, we sat down, turned my son toward the path and just waited. We waited and didn't say anything but I knew both of us were thinking 'good Lord, are you letting us just sit on a park bench under the sun, in the breeze'? And it turns out we were blessed with about a half hour of normalcy – a taste of it – and it was glorious. Every human has something that they take for granted, that's human nature. But I'm always reminded of something a very devout Christian friend of mine once remarked, off the cuff: someone, somewhere is praying for the things you have. Let's all try to more consciously remember our blessings. We need to live in the moment, and consider what we have that others are praying for. It could be as simple as a silent half hour on a park bench under the sun, enveloped by a sweet summer breeze.
See you in the comments!
It's open thread time! Laura's Links serves as our weekly opportunity to kick back in the comments and dish on the stories Laura has curated and others she may have missed. While the 'No going off-topic' is suspended, the others, regarding URLs, profanity and ad hominem attacks, remain in place. If you want to join in on the commenting – one of many perks reserved for members of The Mark Steyn Club – you can pick up a membership here. Meet your fellow Club members in person by joining us on our rescheduled Mediterranean cruise, alongside John O'Sullivan, Douglas Murray and Michele Bachmann.
Comment on this item (members only)
Submission of reader comments is restricted to Mark Steyn Club members only. If you are not yet a member, please click here to join. If you are already a member, please log in here:
Member Login
52 Member Comments
Delightful, Dreadful AND Depolorable! I should needlepoint a pillow for you....or maybe just make a Key Lime pie instead as I can't seem to get past that pic Tal Bachman put up without craving a piece!
I will happily accept all crafts. I have two left hands and cannot do anything crafty with my hands. Total flop in the handiwork department. Brain works pretty good though.
Hi Laura,
I really appreciate your work of finding all of these stories, always intriguing. I'm noticing a pattern here with the stories related to COVID, FDR WWII? FDR=DEM's, Governors, Mayors, Socialist/AntiFA. WWII= COVID-19. If this has been said elsewhere, disregard I'm late to the party. Shortages of everything due to the war. Instead of Japanese Americans in camps during WWII, we're all in detention camps, our houses. Plus how many of these "Precautions" will remain after this WWII/COVID-19 is over. I'm curious of your thoughts on this but maybe I'm in nutsville you don't have to join me.
Cheers,
Marc B.
Hi Marc, thank you. I think that the people putting in The Rules will be very, very, very reluctant to let go of any of them. They also like being the centre of attention. They will not live by The Rules, but they will expect you to abide by them forever and they will want to add more. A lot of this is about control and power. And like Mark says, tyranny is capricious in nature-always.
The article you linked (1000 words, at least) about the woman who stewed for months then wrote a book about being the only black person ay an LA birthday party almost made my head explode. To counter that, I started making a list of people who do NOT spend months worrying about the racial makeup of a random birthday party and then write a book about the trauma. I'm sure others can add many more:
People whose job involves physical work
People working two jobs to get by
People who've lost their job and are worried about paying the rent
Police officers, firefighter, paramedics, soldiers, critical care doctors and nurses, hospice workers
Engineers
People who live in towns of less than 200,000 that are not college towns
Farmers and ranchers
People dealing with a serious disability or illness for themselves or a child or other family member
In short, anyone dealing with, or helping others deal with, real problems in the world.
I had a similar reaction, James. Frankly, couldn't finish the link. Skin color has been made into a big factor for some people who benefit financially from pointing out the worst in humankind. Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Barack Obama and the "For the first time in my life I'm proud of my country" Obama come first to mind. What pretenders, what dividers! I don't know anyone who thinks like this? I might have met a couple people, two, who think like this out of thousands of people in my life. I usually avoid them like the plague. I don't feel that anything they say enhances the quality of life. There are also some terribly insecure people around but most I think have been programmed or have a chip on their shoulder and want the world to know about it.
Making literally everything about race seems deeply anti-human, a point Mark has made much better.
Probably that's true. What comes to mind when you say that: making literally everything about race seems deeply anti-human, is the CS Lewis book, The Abolition of Man. What fascinates me is what exactly is their end game. The Radical Left mob comes after our laws, our ability to protect ourselves, our speech, our language, history, with a laser focus on sorting us according to race and religion and the take away is what will be left when they whittle away all the characteristics of man, whether it relates to a feature someone was born with like skin color or funny ears or whether it was something one was born into, a religious family, or one's language or unique culture. The alternative is a bunch of big boring obedient zeros who exist to serve them. What else can follow? So what they're about is making humans big nothings. Why should we all roll over for that kind of life? That would make death more appealing. Oh, so that's it. Brings me back to the first alarm bell ringing about how man is overpopulating Earth. I see how this works. You really have to believe this stuff to want this stuff.
Very insightful.. Thanks for engaging in this discussion, I greatly value your contributions to this great site. :-)
Well, it's a two-way street, isn't it, James? We're able to delight in being a sociable species aren't we, after all. I doubt I would be commenting at all if there weren't for all the alive minds voicing their thoughts, memories and experiences here. Mark Steyn was the Cat-alyst and very suiting to his character and life that he produced a collection of Feline songs. The way everything, essays on culture, music, politics, literature has come together here is pretty wonderful, marvelous and extremely stimulating to the gray matter. I did forget something above, that part about the sorting. I omitted the whole 57 gender crapola. It seems to me we were still struggling with understanding the gamut of differences between just two. How do you process the jump from two genders to a dozen or so in the interval of a few decades? I can't. I'm still trying to figure out my why my husband thinks and acts the ways he does and no doubt it's that two-ways street thing again.
Exactly, James P. "Get a life" is what came to mind when I first looked at that garbage heap of an "article".
Leave it to a French ingenieur to think the problem with chocolate chip cookies is the shape of the chip. The closest thing to perfection in this imperfect world is toll house cookies. The only research needed is why some batches are crunchy and some are gooey, even using seemingly identical ingredients and preparation. This research needs to be done until a statistically significant number of cookie batches have been taste tested.
It's SCIENCE!
Great VDH article, thanks, Laura! It's probably been said by someone else, more eloquent than I, but it occurs to me that every leftist rationalization for the violence and calls for revolution I've read starts with a rehashing of 400 years of institutional racism. (Rewriting history from 1619 was necessary because slavery and Jim Crow weren't sufficiently awful, apparently). They must include the sins of the past because "revolution" can't be justified solely on the current state of racial discrimination. It IS, after all, illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, has been for 2 generations, and there are avenues of legal redress for victims. Current injustices (racial and otherwise) warrant peaceful protests for continued change, and yes, IMHO, more changes are necessary, but only incremental. There is no justification for "Good trouble" (which apparently includes theft, arson, maiming and murder) and certainly not for wholesale overthrow of governments, city or otherwise. Personally, I find it shocking and dismaying that my Christian pastor (white progressive female) joins many black Christian leaders cheering Marxists and calling revolution "just" based on a reality that is long dead and gone.
Woke-ism is religious fervour without redemption. You may want to find a new Church if your pastor is cheering on Marxists.
I agree, although it's so hard to leave after 23 years. It's been a wonderful, loving, accepting community within which to raise our son (with DS), from baptism to confirmation and after. This is our 3rd pastor during that time, keep thinking maybe we'll outlast her; but the same members responsible for her "call" are still here, and more who believe the same, so yes, it's time to find another church home. Already grieving.......
In life you have to often cut your losses. It's great that it was supportive for that long, but in my experience, most of the people espousing the "progressive", Marxist stuff are completely anti-human, anti-disabled nihilists. You don't want that kind of energy around your son. A new Church can be better than you imagine. Change is hard, but necessary.
It sounds like you are a Presbyterian.
It is perfectly legal to practice racial discrimination, it's called Affirmative Action.
Nah, UCC.
Our church (Catholic) has a DS youth group and you don't have to be Catholic to participate... I'll bet there's one in your area too.
Thanks for the suggestion, James, will check it out.
They just locked down Aberdeen in Scotland again.
Only 20 deaths in NE Scotland out of 1 million. No deaths for over 2 weeks. So 0.02%. The Great Wuhan Bat Flu Farce continues.
Over 3000 people die in the UK from home accidents. So 45 in the North East.
It said between 5 and 10 die putting their socks on each year. Homes are far more dangerous than bat flu.
Facts, schmacts.
I was just reading your links. In Rush link at moment.
All these lefty leaders and others are narcissists. Twitter and Facebook too.
Nothing to do with science, just their blown up self importance. They will all finally flip when Trumps get reelected. Will stay up late to watch it.
Me, too, Ray -- I only caught the leftist media meltdown (from about 10 pm EST) last time by accident, I'm looking forward to a repeat of the denial/shock/tears progression. Oh, wait, we may have to wait months due to mail-in ballot counting, right? Takes the fun out of it.
Trump is right to worry about mail in ballots. Brexit party in Peterborough. Was a cert. A convicted Labour fraudster got drafted. Convicted and was allowed.
A couple of months later Nigel gave the conservatives a free hand. Split the vote in Peterborough. The convicted fraudster won. All the CCTV didnt work. But the conservatives won 80 seat majority a few months later. Farage is like Trump (and absolutely Mark and here). It is called teaching. The lefties and I mean everywhere just lie as soon as they open their mouths. Everyone hates YouTube, but they give Mark's videos. It is weird watching them. Still real today, but the tide has turned with Brexit and Trump I think.
Laura, your closing comment about that moment of grace is profound in its simplicity (a Maslow-style Peak Experience?) and your friend's remark is one to remember. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, Brian W.
In regard to antisemitism versus philosemitism, antisemitism is the "luxury belief." All that is necessary is that the apologias be expressed with the proper vocabulary and style of expression. Most of the philosemites have yet to learn that skill, and would be disqualified on other grounds even if they ever did.
Antisemites also have the luxury of adaptation. Whatever the trendy enemy is of the time, they project that onto Jews. Though the intensity of the hate remains constant, the "reasons" are ever-changing and malleable.
It's not so much that the entire State of Maryland is "messed up", but that Montgomery County abutting Washington, DC elected an ultra-progressive quasi-socialist government (note that both news items cited are from Montgomery County). The Republican governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, is a decent and sensible man who is clashing with the tyrannical county despots over allowing the private schools to open if they wish. I'm rooting for the Governor to prevail.
Thank you, Ritepath for that additional information. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I understand though that not a small portion of Maryland has an MS13 problem. I can't imagine that is confined just to Montgomery County.
I realized that Ellen was not a nice person years ago. In fact, 13 years ago. This was the infamous dog incident. For those who don't know or remember, Ellen adopted a dog from a privately run dog rescue operation and then proceeded to break their rules by giving the dog to someone else. The owners of the shelter found out and took the dog back. The home that Ellen had given the dog to did not meet their standards.
In response, Ellen made a big deal about this on her show including crying and making public the name of the shelter. This led to the two women who ran the shelter being deluged with hate mail and phone calls, including death threats.
The whole episode completely turned me against Ellen and I have never changed my opinion of her. Using her celebrity status and fan base to try to bully two private women who were only trying to do good showed me her true self.
I didn't know that about Ellen's dog. That's disappointing to hear. I never have been interested in daytime tv but when I did see her, I never found her to be my cup of tea, but I know people who think she's great. I hope the dog got a better home in the end.
On the rare occasions when I have watched her show - mostly when I was visiting a terminally ill friend, who had this odd compulsion to watch Ellen even 'tho he kind of despised her, or maybe because he did - I always noticed how she liked to humiliate her staff, making her twinky boys in tight shorts run onto the set to deliver a message and then run off again, and various audience members, by subjecting them to quiz shows in which the penalties for wrong answers consisted of being dropped into freezing water or doused with slimy substances.
Yet again, I would like to suggest an Open Forum page for this club. It has been considered before, but apparently rejected. Limiting open discussions to Laura's page seems wrong to me. Laura does a great job of providing all kinds of interesting topics to discuss and to bring up something completely different seems like dissing her and her amazing efforts here. I feel a little bad just doing it.
However, there are times when something comes up that I, and I assume others, would like to talk about that Mark doesn't discuss. For example, this week I would very much like to discuss the newly revealed video of George Floyd which has been kept hidden for so long and we can only see now because it was leaked. I consider this whole incident extremely important and worthy of our discussion.
So, how about giving us a page where we can talk about whatever burning topics interest? I think it would be a great addition to an already great club.
This is right where we can go off topic, and I agree Laura does bring us a great buffet of so many topics each week. I try to open as many as time permits. Laura's a major asset to the Mark Steyn Club. She's an inspiration for rational thought and courage to me.
And the question of the leaked video was a mind blower. Even though it doesn't change the fact that the manner in which Mr. Floyd ultimately died was horrible, it shows that Minnesota's AG Keith Ellison held onto it to control the outcome of the prosecution. That's not his job to control the process. But how does it help the prosecution now? It was clear in the video that George Floyd resisted arrest and possibly could've helped bring about his own demise because of the way he didn't cooperate with the officers who were initially just trying to get him into the car without anyone getting hurt.
The old mantra credited to Rahm Emmanuel about never letting a crisis go to waste sure seems to have been the spark for the worst riots in the history of the country metastasizing around the world. The Leftists in power can't get enough power and if they have to end up with scorched cities, economically decimated lives and more dead bodies as a result of their lying and manipulation then lying and manipulating is their way to retain power and now we know that's exactly what they'll do. The radical Democrats can't be trusted to animal control duties.
The big baloney from the petty tyrants Governors about staying home, staying safe was all just another lie and manipulative ploy to kill more lives. They have no solutions to economic prosperity for the underclass so destroy what prosperity exists so everyone but them are able to have a nice life. Very evil forces are alive and alive against good hard working Americans now. The future of America now hangs in the balance. I don't know if life will ever be the same again.
Correction: ..so no one but them are able to have a nice life.
"never let a good crisis go to waste" includes blaming the pandemic on Trump. Yes, we as a country did NOT have sufficient PPE and other required stockpiles, and most nursing homes were not prepared, either, but to put that at Trump's feet is simply hogwash. Prior Presidents, and current and previous governors on down to local hospitals and nursing homes are all to blame for lack of preparation of a pandemic experts have been warning about for years.
I am on record in this forum as saying that Officer Derek Chauvin did nothing wrong. I'm too big a person to say I told you so.
Hi Steven, just a sub here like you.
But Mark has said all before. 10 years ago. Just sub him on YouTube. Then you get hit with it all 10 years ago and a lot earlier.
I personally think he is sick of it. What I would say to Mark. Thanks and good on you. But I think you will have to spark up again. Maybe one more time? Then get michael 'climategate' mann to pay for your retirement. Tim Ball is going to get it all.
Ray, maybe it's just me, but I have no idea what you're talking about.
Don't worry I am sure Minneapolis city government will institute a voucher program for those who do not have enough cash when interacting with a person trying to finance there lifestyle by forcibly redistributing resources.
For Canadian comics free jokes:
An entity proceeds to enter an establishment. The entity conveys something that can be misconstrued. Another entity interprets what the first entity conveyed incorrectly. Hahahahaha.
Do you know why a specific species performs an act you are not physically able to perform?
Because it can.
Appreciated the Delingpole recommendation!
Good, I'm glad!
Another luxury belief: Serving in the armed forces is either quaint or deplorable. For the poor serving in the forces is a way to learn a trade and to make a living.
"Personal Moment of Grace" -- I'm crying!
((((DRAIDLE)))))
Thanks as always Laura for including Daniel Greenfield in your Links. Like VDH, he has a gift for being both brilliant and very to-the-point. His site also yields some great links of its own, such as one today by John Waters, regarding the implications of mask wearing, on a deeper psychological level. (It speaks to their degrading nature). One of the most awful aspects of what young children lucky enough to go back to school this fall will confront are masks, on everybody all the time. That will include all kids over the age of TWO here in NJ, per the American Academy of Pediatrics. Just thinking about it makes me sick. I'm very much with you on wanting ALL of our normal back, even with little prospect of success. I fear we are about to begin "educating" a new generation who will never know or remember what normal really was. Mark is so right; we are in transition. God help us.
That guy is one smart Yid. Amazing. Ugh masks. Yes, don't get me started. Don't give up! Fight for normal. It's worth it.
That Ellen tweet by Ted Cruz makes the most sense about Ellen being cancelled by the left. And it is the left who is targeting her from my observations and because that's the left's modus operandi. I have seen her talk show off and on over the years. The interviews are terrible, but I like a couple of the games she has the audience play. I also don't think she is funny or clever anymore. The last funny bit of hers I can remember is about passengers on an airplane during landing and take off. She would turn to the side and stand straight up and say, "Alive." Then she would lean slightly back and say, "Dead." I still laugh a little when I think about it. But that was during her early stand-up years, and ever since she became defined by her sexuality, which should be the least interesting thing about her, and she herself has used her sexuality to frame everything she talks about. It is tiresome and not entertaining. Well, in my opinion anyway. My other opinion is that she should take her seemingly charming and beautiful wife to Australia or somewhere outside the public eye and retire from public life. Why put up with any of this nonsense when you have that kind of huge wealth? Leave the public eye and enjoy everything else you might like in life.
I checked out the online video of a Ellen's funniest moments and saw the clip about the airplane. The entire video was pretty short but I have to admit she is somewhat charming. I got a chuckle out of her mocking herself when waving to someone she thought she knew and she found out it wasn't that gal. I could relate to that. I flew from El Paso to Atlanta once and was sure the lady across the aisle and in the next forward row was a very outgoing acquaintance from the girls' high school USTA years. The entire flight I was sure it was Candy, and then not, sure it was, then not. As we deplaned I was just behind her and said, "Excuse me, would you happen to be Candy"? The woman turned to me and gave me a blank look and shook her head. I knew in a split second it was not Candy. Ellen kind of nailed the chain of emotions when that happens.
Fran, I searched online for the clip you mentioned. I hadn't honestly remembered much of DeGeneres's old skits, but the skits I just watched were cute. By the way, I did the same thing you did on a plane a couple of years back: I said hello to a man who was the spitting image of a lawyer I know, but my reaction was different from the skit where Ellen tried to disappear after the embarrassing mistake. In this age of genetic tracing and the popularity of discovering your family tree webpages, I told the man my mistake and I mentioned to him the webpage he could find the lawyer's photo so he could see for himself why I made the mistake. I am sure I only made myself seem crazier to him. I am also sure those two are related, but not separated a birth because the man on the plane was a tad younger than the lawyer as I noticed while I spoke to him. Then I emailed my lawyer friend on the walk through O'Hare to tell him he had a long-lost twin somewhere in the Chicago area! The lawyer seemed much more interested in my story than the man on the plane.
As an aside, if we can make these kinds of errors identifying people we actually know, we shouldn't ever be a surprise when eye witnesses are challenged or that eye-witness testimony is often proved unreliable evidence in court.