Hello again and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links.
I'm obviously very happy that our fearless leader felt well enough to take his rightful position at the mic yesterday for The Mark Steyn Club Live Q&A Around the Planet! And if you missed the live show, you can check out the replay right here.
A couple of weeks ago (or maybe even last week, I can't remember now) I posted an Instagram reel in which a twenty-something young woman described how she got off a plane at JFK, and took the train back into the city - she had been vacationing in Spain. Anyway, she put in her AirPods as usual, but then was interrupted by an older woman beside her who wanted to chitchat. Unaccustomed to that level of normal human interaction because of habitual AirPod use, it took a couple of interruptions for her to not put her AirPods back in and they started talking.
Anyway, to make a long story longer, the reel was basically about encouraging people not to wear AirPods and to talk to people. Now I love my AirPods (and my other Apple products) but I thought this was solid advice and I loved the story. I even liked the corporate sponsors who slid into her comment section, offering to host them on the trip they decided to take together, back to Puerto Rico to see her family (that the old woman hadn't seen in decades, because she was scared to fly, etc). If this is a paid, fake thing I do not want to hear it! If this was all brewed up by a clever ad agency or Hilton Hotels I DO NOT CARE LA LA LA NOT LISTENING. I liked all the feeeelz, so I don't care!
Now, I have been generally using my AirPods a lot on public transportation lately, getting caught up on the daily Nach Yomi (Prophets and Writings) cycle. But a few days ago, I was on a bus and two older ladies got on after me and one was really slim and fashionable. She had a fabulous outfit on plus an even better hat. So before I put my Pods in, I told her how much I liked her outfit. It was really Katherine Hepburn style; a nice fitted, crisp cotton white button down shirt, tan capri pants, and she has a lovely colorful necklace. Her companion also had a nice hat - so I complimented her hat as well and put on my Pods.
The well-hatted but less fabulous outfit lady got off the bus first. And then, as if manifested from the aforementioned Instagram reel, fabulous outfit lady started to talk to me (obviously necessitating taking out my Pods) and we chatted allllllll the way to where I had to get off. But before I got off, we exchanged phone numbers and I hope we will be meeting for coffee soon.
You know I don't like to go all wooo woooo on you all, but sometimes the wooooo woooo seems to just come right over to me and sit beside me.
I used to call myself flypaper for crazy people (mostly, but not entirely, in work situations and mostly, but not entirely with women) but perhaps in my current iteration as a woman of a certain age, I will be flypaper for very cool, funky and interesting new friends and acquaintances.
One can hope!
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In other news: today, as you read this, is the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av so I will be on a 24-hour fast until sundown this evening. Wishing a meaningful fast to all our Jewish readers, with great hopes of witnessing the Third Temple in our lifetime, amen!
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Have you manifested anything lately (or at all)?
Feel free to share those experiences in the comment section below and I'll see you in the comments as I'm able.
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North America:
RUH ROH, good that I have a Ring camera at the door.
Dear American leftists, please continue on this path. You're doing great.
As I was saying about leftists digging violence: "Would he watch the World Cup with the victims of crime or just the perpetrators? For the upper middle class strivers, proximity to social predators is more thrilling than proximity to targets. Birds of a feather."
When you've even lost CNN: "So I know the mayor is having his best lawyers look at this right now. Let me save them some time. You DO NOT have the authority to do this." I'm so old, I remember when Mam-Obami was all (rightly) about local issues!
RELATED: "We should be concerned about the baleful effects of normalizing this kind of nuttiness." Indeed. Again, how did this guy get to be mayor of New York after living in America for 8 years? Please make it make sense.
Florida man. But in all seriousness, people like this need help-not affirmation.
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Israel and Jews:
Temple O' Rama History Geek Out!
They love the land so much they burn it to a crisp.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
"I've had a lot of flak in my career. But I never imagined I'd be condemned for expressing horror at the parading of an emaciated Jew through the streets by a mob of anti-Semites. I never thought I would get it in the neck for using the word 'medieval' to describe a swarm of men who surrounded and jeered at a terrified half-starved Jewish woman. And yet here we are."
Why imprison? Deport.
Once again, I find myself saying you can have a whole lot of money but not a whole lot of taste. Don't these people (Hilary Clinton, Jill Biden) realize that you can purchase the service of a stylist? They have the worst taste. UGH. Also, who is this new guy? Where did he come from? The UK is sadly becoming a joke. Maybe this hand-plucked, squishy goofball will last for 5 minutes more than the other guy? How long till the blob replaces him? IT'S ALL REALLY WEIRD GUYS.
I think that Ireland should probably focus on stuff like this instead of Da Jooooooz but what do I know?
Laura Dodsworth on Brazil. This is a lovely and interesting essay, and I especially appreciated her observation about Brazil being multi-ethnic, but not multicultural. The distinction is so important.
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Iran:
Ida Turan on the current situation, plus a bit of history. She says: "...patience is required and we must wait for the right moment". I always feel a little bit better about things after reading her essays. I hope she's right.
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Human Grace:
"Just water, laughter and people cheering your name." Really nice.
"As I was making my way through Saad's book, I kept remarking the sharp distinction between empathy and love." Read the whole post. Good stuff.
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