Greetings friends, and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links on this most lovely un-woke Wednesday. This week, we mark the passing of the Summer of Stupid, Rest in Hell, and the auspicious beginning of Stupendously Sinister September which will definitely get much worse as we inch closer to the American elections in November.
Let's see what's happening around town....
The power grabs continue unabated, despite laughable numbers of China Flu cases (relative to population). Hospitals are not overwhelmed. ICUs are not overwhelmed. The only thing that seems to be overwhelmed is the capacity of elected politicians to actually not behave abominably.
They are excellent at behaving poorly. For example, NYC's mayor continues to raze his city to the ground, despite the evidence that the sky continues not to fall. I think one could reasonably come to the conclusion that it's malice and not imbecility. And still, I predict he will be re-elected.
What do we need? We still need more people willing to stand up for the real normal. Our normal way of life. We need more people recognizing the life-threatening consequences of lockdown, and seeing it not as a bonus, but as an evil, terrible thing. We need more leaders to say Never Again and, as Mark always says, to make it impossible for them to keep doing the wrong thing.
Speaking of hizzzzonor, it was another busy week for the Global Grand Poobah of Content as he once again shared most excellent episodes of The Mark Steyn Show and his political ruminations with us. I refer specifically to Culture, Consequences and the Corner, a Monday Notebook post on Macdonald Falls, and Wokeness and Wetness.
After much foraging through the internet, I did rustle up a few Human Grace stories (YOU'RE WELCOME) and even had some moments of normalcy myself over the past week. I hope you did as well. And now before we adjourn to the week that passed, I'll sign off with this excellent blueprint for how to deal with any cancel culture hyenas that may be baying at your window. This this this is the way you do it. Magnificent.
Enjoy the links (she says, cackling, that kind of uppity, rightwing, suspicious Zionist Jewish mom cackle) and I'll see you in the comments.
~
North America:
Look what the "Lincoln Project" is up to.
A sober look at race relations in America.
Jews–take a good look at NYC, a city where, clearly, not all black lives matter. Where not all lives matter.
Tim Pool on why he is voting Trump.
The origin story of the COVID-19 lockdowns (read the whole thing).
One for the D'UH file: exercise and stretching reduce depression in young people.
Death To America, now in America.
Professor sent to Re-Education Gulag after writing "Wuhan Flu" on syllabus.
How stupid, gross and insensitive are the COVID mask fascists? This stupid and gross.
How is this not bigger news?
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Chinese Communist Barbarians:
China is a serious threat to all of humanity.
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Israel and Jews:
How to do Jewish mornings.
Israeli raaaaaaaaacists.
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Middle East:
New Middle East continued: ""The UAE is not the first Arab country to conclude a peace agreement with Israel, and it will definitely not be the last,".
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The Formerly Great Britain:
Libraries must be decolonized because white people are racist or something.
Re-writing history, BLM style.
Peter Hitchens explains the face masks sloooowly.
The loudest non-Jewish voice against anti-Semitism in Britain. (That's the Times of Israel's header, I personally think this guy is also a leading voice against anti-Semitism in Britain as well.)
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Europe:
Is Europe waking up to the truth about the COVID scare?
If we shove some migrant feet in his mouth (reminder) will he stop talking?
Meanwhile, oddly enough, France continues to defend the important things.
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Humourless and Kook Left, Wokestapo and Trans:
As I always say, beware of the "Helpy People". And when I say "Helpy People" I refer mostly to psychologists and social workers, but most miscellaneous "counsellors" and "therapists" should be included in this category.
~
Human Grace:
When a little kid kept biking around a guy's driveway, he decided to do something about it.
Ciao for now, friends. Have a good safe week.
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 – and Laura Rosen Cohen – in person by joining us on our rescheduled Mediterranean cruise alongside Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAlleer, Douglas Murray and Michele Bachmann.
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13 Member Comments
Why is "finding" 29 missing children in Atlanta not bigger news? Two extremely depressing and awful reasons.
First, the loud minority of social conservatives who have fallen for Q nonsense believe it is related to the Clintons and Epstein, and understandably, we'd prefer to not encourage them. The idea is nuts, but at least it's innocent nuttery arising from total unfamiliarity with the sort of nasty political mau mauing engaged in by the leftists who invent Q to make conservatives look stupid in the first place.
Second, one unhappy truth among many about what we now call "sex trafficking" is that, in this case, it is just the tragic and usual exploitation of children and young adults by adults -- and very often relatives -- in their own communities. To talk about this honestly is to expose the fact that this in an internecine community problem, even if some in those communities occasionally move girls from state to state. Another unhappy truth is that the other type of "sex trafficking" is bringing girls across borders illegally, and to talk too much about that smacks of criticizing illegal immigration.
I'm always happy to see feds and local law enforcement bring down the house on anyone who sexually exploits any child anywhere, and the "sex trafficking" term was first adopted to deal with local crimes against children because, in Atlanta at least, we couldn't get juries to convict pimps and child molesters. I'm glad the feds stepped in. But, honestly, the real problem remains the incredibly light sentences given to any molester in our courts, and you hear absolutely nothing about that, thanks to the libertarian dolts who have silenced social conservative's previous leadership on crime issues within our party.
Thank you for this Laura, I was late to the Links. Great as usual. I am pissed also, I hope everyone else is dealing with their spouse like we are, wine (wifey giving me slack) and dvr Tour de France!
Dear Ms. Cohen, thank you for your 'link' to 'A sober look at race relations in America'. What an incredible and powerful speech Representative DeBerry, Jr. delivered! I've got to figure out how to share that further (and I will)!
Pleased to be a member of the Mark Steyn Club and a big fan of your 'Links'!
Very best regards,
Peter Jones
Hi Peter, yes that speech was really something, from the heart. Thanks very much for your kind comments.
Human Grace: Teddies without Borders have been sending teddy bears knitted by people all over North America to help children in war torn countries. A lot of United Church women and Unitarian church women have been knitting these gifts which are used instead of styrofoam in packages of medicine, etc. sent overseas. A friend of mine send me a photo of some she has made. But you can see them on the knittingwithoutborders site.
Nicola, that is so nice.
LOVED the boy on the bike and the chalk motocross track the guy outlined in his driveway. Imagine the love and joy he created with that one small act. Beautiful.
That said...
Imagine the darkness and hatred created by the hit piece on Jared Kushner put together by the so-called Lincoln Project. Actually, I think Satan put it together, but the so-called Lincolnians green-lighted it and released it. Six-six-six, you loathsome toads? Really? Who forgot the horns? I thought they all had horns? Meanwhile, I understand Abraham Lincoln is consulting with his attorneys on possible legal action against George Conway and his amphibian cabal.
Undeterred, young Jared just helped arrange perhaps the greatest leap forward in Middle East peace since...well, given the lack of Middle East peace, forever. I admit to feeling ambivalent at first, wishing instead that Israel had carried out plans (since put on hold) to extend sovereignty over large tracts of Judea and Samaria, but I'm warming to the development. I used to spit on any team (Arsenal FC) or event (Abu Dhabi Golf Championship) sponsored by the UAE or its airline, but suddenly my mouth's gone dry. All the better to void my rheum instead on the so-called Lincoln Project and other Never Trumpers. Perhaps Golda Meir's old prediction has come true: "Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."
Hi Josh, yes, that bike video was totally adorable. And really the more scenes that I see relating to the Emirates-Israel peace deal the more I am amazed. Really there is such a huge difference in the reaction of regular citizens of the Emirates and there are tourism, pharma, military, culture agreements already signed. Apparently Bahrain is next. It's very interesting stuff.
Just now saw that, thanks to Trump arm-twisting, Israeli flights to UAE have permission to use Saudi airspace. That is big (and hard to imagine any other way to get there)!
Since we can go off-topic, I will. Although my thought is not so far afield of Mark's recent discussions about conservatives having given up the fight to control the popular culture that we may have lost our society. And also it relates to the discussion about creating good art, not simply conservative art. The two aren't mutually exclusive. If you review old cowboy movies or even all these Irene Dunne movies I have been watching lately, you'll see those old movies can be entertaining, they're not too stuffy (see some of the Pre-Code Hollywood movies which can be hysterically funny and extraordinarily tame by today's standards), and many of those old movies have solid pro-family, pro-life, pro-American themes.
And you know how as you start clicking through actors' backgrounds and movie plots, you might find yourself stumbling across items you only knew existed in passing. And that's happened to me in the last few days. We know and hear a lot about the routing out and blackballing of Communists in the 1940s. It's presented to us as if it were a bad thing -- and it was bad insofar as we support free speech and the expression of ideas -- but I wonder if it weren't simply a momentary loss for the communists back then. It's as if conservatives declared victory and stopped defending their principles while the communists continued to fight back and now have basically take over Hollywood. In the 1940s, a group of prominent Hollywood artists banded together to form the the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals ("Alliance"). Tonight I read the Alliance's "Statement of Principles" which sound remarkably on point with all that's happening today. I would paste the statement in for your review and comment, but there isn't enough space. With Laura or Mark's permission, I'll paste it in a separate remark to this comment because it is worth reading in its entirety. Meanwhile I will summarize it: The group believed in liberty and freedom to speak, think, live, worship, work, and to govern themselves as individuals. They rejected anything contrary to or that might undermine those ideals -- specifically mentioning communism and fascism. The group stated that they believed most who worked in the industry believed in these American principles, but by their very nature of loving freedom and being individuals, that the majority were unorganized to promote these ideas, but they promised to organize and fight to do so. There's more, but I'm out of space.
Southern California is still racking up deaths from ...or in concert with co-morbidities..Wuhan Flu. How could this be? It looks like the Governor airlifted sick Mexican nationals crosing the border deeper into SoCal and flooded the local hospitals and their ICUs. What was a sick local supposed to do? Be transported out of their community to somewhere else for care. Anything is possible in the "nation-state" of El Norte....the Peoples' Democratic Republik of Kalifornia (PDRK..not to be totally confused with the DPRK). Why is it possible? In a one party state with no fears for election reversals, what the Party oligarchs want ... they get... even maskless hair styling. May I flip the classic 1960's admonition? In today's Red-Blue battle... "Better Red than Dead".
Sorry to hijack this message board for a topic not discussed in the show but did you happen to notice as I did that the dems failed to bring up Russia or the Mueller report even one single time at their convention? I'm wondering why this isn't a newsworthy topic. Thoughts?
I think it may be that the press and people generally simply discuss only what is presented to them and they fail to notice what's not presented to them.
The other thought is that the Russia hoax and the impeachment may not be a winning issue for the Democrats right now because some Democrat internal poll says so. So the Democrats didn't mention it in the primetime hours during the four days of their convention.
I watched the prime time parts of both conventions. I didn't watch anything that may have been presented during the daytime hours. Was anything presented or discussed during the non-primetime hours? If so, maybe it was mentioned there. And I haven't read any Party's written platform yet.
I suppose a third reason the Democrats may not have discuss the Russia hoax and the subsequent Presidential impeachment is because the press still blathers on about it. If the mainstream media will promote those topics, then the Democrats can refocus their energies to promote BLM-Marxism ideas, unironically call whites intrinsically and congenitally racist, and continue to push their anti-American/globalist propaganda.