Hello to one and all and Happy New Year! I hope 2020 is a year of joy, health and happiness to you all. I would especially like to wish a happy New Year to the Mensch-in-Chief himself, Mr. Mark Steyn, to his family and to his entire team. It is my honour to be here as your SteynOnline In-House Jewish Mother, ushering in the New Year. I have a very strong Jewlepathy feeling that this is going to be a fantastic year for the Most Unwoke Bloke in Bespoke himself and all the good people in his midst.
I had a bunch of my usual groaners and obnoxious quips lined up for you, but as I sit to file this column I confess to being torn between taking a "business as usual" stand or a more serious and introspective approach given the truly evil and murderous attacks inside both Jewish and Christian houses of worship over the past few days. I guess the key is balance. When humans do evil things, life is never the same as it was, especially for those closest to the injured and the murdered. But if we let the evil settle in our minds and hearts permanently, we bring additional victories to dark forces. Balance. Serious moments with lighter ones. Therefore, as we begin a New Year, I would be remiss to not warn you that snowmen are evil unless you behead them so you don't go to hell. You're welcome!
Mark had a busy week as well! He guest hosted for Tucker Carlson on Boxing Day, with more choice clips here. He kicked ratings butt! The video clips were great of course because of the lovely suits, matching pocket squares and assorted cutie patootie guests and that's the main thing, right? Oh, yah also interesting, intellectual commentary of course blahblah yadda yadda yaddah stuff! Sorry where were we? It got hot in here all of the sudden...
I have to say that my favourite piece this week here at SteynOnline was Values, Complications and Evasions. You must read this one. Mark takes on anti-Semitism head on, and also delivers another glorious knock out to leftist Jewish kook Bernie Farber. Many of us here in the Deranged Dominion have a history with Mr. Farber so it's quite glorious to see his "Islamoschmoozing" (thanks Mark, gonna be liberating that one) mega-fail highlighted by our very own Prophet Mark Steyn, PBUH, ululululululu etc. Mark's such a mensch. Happy New Year to him and his and readers and supporters near and far!
Now let's take a look at some of the stories that whizzed through the internet over the past week.
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America:
Geniuses in San Franfeces decide to ban disposable cups instead of poop.
Evil walked among us in Texas, and it was stopped.
Vegan influencer is now a hunter-gatherer teaching people to kill animals. I could not love this story more.
Breitbart simply giving mainstream media a whooping.
Best and brightest immigrant to America from Albania ("ISIS wannabe") has his own version of the American dream: beheading infidels with chainsaws. How lovely and patriotic. You know the schmaltzy poem on the statue right, give us your poor, your expert headchoppers, etc.
From my enormous DUH file: how liberals are allowing anti-Semitism to flourish.
From the American Thinker: the despicable black attacks on Jews are rooted in the Democrats and their coddling of anti-Semites. Indeed.
Democrat blames Democrats on anti-Semitism.
Jews should avail themselves of the Second Amendment: arms expert suggests six firearms that will fit into a Talit (prayer shawl) bag.
Why Jews now walk in fear in America.
An armed and trained Jew is the best kind of Jew.
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Jews and Israel:
I didn't know if I should put this into "Jews and Israel" or "Human Grace" but it's both. I loved every single part of this story and kudos to Josh Eisen for putting it out there. I should also note that the phrase he used, that he put it out there "because it will have a larger reach than my arms" is so beautiful, and it is exactly the reason why I write, and why I am so lucky to write for Mark Steyn. Thank you, Josh Eisen for putting it out there and for summarizing why we do what we do.
Thoughts on America's failed Jewish leadership. I would put "leadership" in scare quotes because for the most part they are just a bunch of un-elected, weak-tea, wanker pansies. See here for example. The attacks are not "senseless" they make perfect sense to the attackers who understand that it is open season on Jews and that nothing will happen to them, especially in Democrat-controlled enclaves.
Joel Pollack: What we Jews can do to defend ourselves.
Here's a good example of what to do. G-d bless and keep the Guardian Angels. A round of concrete sandwiches for all the disgusting lowlife thugs on the prowl wherever they are:
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Europe:
The rector of Notre Dame says there's a 50% chance the cathedral cannot be salvaged. There's no will, so there's no way. I'd say there is a 100% chance that France is screwed.
A migrant (best and brightest) who murdered a Swedish teacher has his sentence reduced because pathetic, dhimmi, grovelling morons with sympathy for the devil.
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Formerly Great Britain:
Her Majesty's Idiot Constabulary spent a ton of money on vegan meals for Extinction Rebellion "activists."
Apparently, they had nothing better to do with their resources.
Persecuted Christians are being punished in Britain and by the UN and treated as enemies.
A reason for cautious optimism? Douglas Murray covers a non-event.
PM Boris Johnson remains interesting. Also flies economy, unlike Prime Minstrel Hairdo!
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Kook Left, Trans and Wokestapo:
Indiana parents walk out of public meeting in protest over plans to make their children's bathrooms accessible to predators.
What's that you say? I'm a transphobic hater? Silly me to be concerned about adults wanting access to children in bathrooms and being obsessed with it actually. When people literally tell you what they are, you bloody well better listen.
From Spiked Online: We need to fight the new thought police. Exactly. Buck up, people!
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Human Grace:
Human life is sacred. Imagine the alternative of not assuming that "vegetative" patients can understand. That they are aware of everything is unspeakably heartbreaking in so many ways. We must do better.
Grandpa surprises his ten grandkids with their very own school bus.
Police deliver Christmas gifts to child whose mom was murdered.
On Christmas Eve, Dutch schoolchildren honour Canadian soldiers.
Paralyzed football player and wife adopt five daughters.
Child with cerebral palsy falls asleep in Santa's arms.
Getting over the loneliness of Christmas by giving of yourself.
Heroic student who confronted a mass shooter honoured by Star Wars as a Jedi.
J-Lo's designer surprises teen with early aging disorder with her own bespoke outfits.
Veteran's cousin fulfills his final, dying wish.
Mom opens 'Special Kneads' bakery to employ her son with CP.
"I remember you guys": Guardian Angels return to patrol Brooklyn.
Rules to live by for 2020 (some ideas anyway).
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Bonus personal Human Grace moment:
We had some unusually nice weather here in Toronto over the weekend, so I took my disabled son out for a walk in the late afternoon on the Sabbath with his pushchair as I had earlier in the morning. We walked my husband to synagogue and when he went in, I felt pretty alone, and a little down, but we set out on our usual route.
About halfway through our route, my son (who can walk, but not for any great distance) got out of the chair and I said, "do you want to walk", and he just smiled at me from ear to ear. He walked the entire rest of the way home for the first time ever, probably almost a kilometre on his own. He was laughing and looking up at the sky and the birds, I pushed the chair with one arm and held his little mitten-covered hand with the other.
It was so normal, just me and my boy out for a walk. It was so normal it was almost like magic. Sometimes the smallest things are such big things. Even as I think about it now, I could cry. I guess some things are destined to make us happy and sad at the very same time. I think this is part of a living grieving process, for me anyway for what might have been but what isn't. I hope you all treasure the super normal things in your lives as they happen, because what seems to be the most totally mundane part of your day is mostly like a veritable human treasure trove for so many others.
Happy New Year!
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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I've only visited a few of the links from this post. For some reason, Laura, that story at the end about you and your son out for a walk just made my day when I read it. It's a story that brings joy all out of proportion to what we would think.
Thank you J B, it still makes me happy, too.
All the best to and yours Laura. For those of us old enough to be aware of that last station coming up on the horizon, your point about the mundane things of life is particularly apt. Don't neglect the small aspects of the journey, they're just as important as the big, important way points, and this train ride we're all on has no option to go back...
Indeed Richard. Life ain't no dress rehearsal.
The blatant abuse of Christian refugees by the British immigration bureaucracy would, in the USA, result in an immediate Preliminary Injunction ordering issuance of visas to the unfairly denied Christians, and a lawsuit placing the agency under court supervision for violation of the First Amendment freedom of religion clause, and of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The individual bureaucrats would be sued for money damages under 18 US Code 1983 for violation of civil rights under color of law. The Department of Justice would decline to pay for the bureaucrats' personal legal defense, and likely reach a settlement with the plaintiffs on their case against the government. The plaintiffs' attorneys would be paid by the government under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Once the court entered a Summary Judgment for the plaintiffs, the government could then fire the bureaucrats for misconduct.
Restrooms and locker rooms and shower rooms are supposed to be safe spaces where you can remove your clothing for a few minutes, when you are most vulnerable. The hypocrites of the Left demand that we protect young adults in universities from threatening ideas, but have no qualms about physically intruding on the privacy of children.
CRYING!
DRAIDLE DON'T CRY!!!
I took my first martial arts class at age 43, as something of a lark. Nearly 18 years (and a black belt) later, I have some perspective on self-defense--mostly, that I'm for it. As it happens, Jews have a system of self-defense, a very popular one, called Krav Maga ("contact combat" in Hebrew). It was developed by a Hungarian Jew, Imi Lichtenfeld, in response to fascist gangs of the 1930s (not too dissimilar to today), and has been taught to soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces for decades.
Learning self-defense (not fighting--self-defense) instills simultaneous benefits of alertness and composure; anything is better than walking the streets in terror. My teacher says self-defense is like first-aid: everyone should know at least some. When I teach (when they let me teach), I describe self-defense as a flow chart of choices between where you are now and the safety of home (including not leaving home at all). We eventually get to the worst-case scenarios of defending yourself against physical assaults, but only after a series of yes/no questions to avoid trouble altogether. And all the while we train. We train our bodies to get stronger; we train the system to build muscle memory; we train our instincts to sense trouble and its solutions even before it happens--and most important (to my way of thinking) we train our attitude toward physical force.
Most people (many people, anyway) are uncomfortable using force, even against unprovoked force. Some students (as many men as women) never overcome their reluctance, and never reap the full benefits of training. Almost all martial arts are taught as defensive systems: how to respond to a punch, kick, etc. from someone who means you harm. These defensive responses can also be used offensively, but that is not their intent; and initiating contact is taught only as a means of self-defense (as, say, against multiple threats). Using my flow chart theory, one need only apply as much physical force as necessary--no more, no less--against an attacker to render him harmless to your journey home, a stiff drink in your hand, and a cat in your lap. That can even be showing that you're not an easy mark. Researchers have asked prisoners convicted of violent street crimes how they choose a target, and it's often based on something as minor, and correctable, as a shuffling gait or inattention to surroundings.
And for goodness sake, if you can get out of a dangerous situation by merely handing over your wallet, purse, phone, watch, etc., that's a bargain every time. But these would not appear to be such times. God bless the Guardian Angels, God bless the IDF, and God bless and protect everyone who learns to walk without terror.
Inspiring, Josh! Really that you started at 43 is very impressive. You know Rabbi Akiva? Another good story of people in their 40s starting their life.
Dear Laura, There is an adage among commodity traders, "let your profits run, but cut your losses." Your passage "Sometimes the smallest things are such big things" is true for us all, even if sometimes we cannot see it at the moment. Let your profits run. Enjoy your "super normal" times. Reflect on them. Allow them to take their place in your library of cherished memories, and, if you can, retrieve them when the negatives seem to outweigh the positives. Sometimes a fond memory wipes away a world of heartaches gray with troubles, and opens the door to a vision of the best of the temporal life.
Laura courageously wears her heart on her sleeve (and internet.) We are all the richer for it. PBUH. ululula, etc.
Silwa and the guardian angels also courageously Speak truth to power. Both are bright lights in a world filled with darkness.
Long may they live!
Thank you, Marc, that's very kind of you.
Laura, I was dabbing my eyes reading about your afternoon walk with your son; the account is even more vivid having met you both (on the cruise). All the emotions - his and yours - are conveyed in your profoundly touching description.
Best wishes to the Rosen Cohens for 2020!
Big hug right back atcha, Kate.
Yeah, the story choked me up a bit too. God Bless you Laura!
And you as well, Thyle.
The Protestant view on Snowmen is given by Calvin & Hobbes.
W.T. -- Yes! Killer Mutant Snow Goons! Some of Watterson's best work was those creatively macabre scenes. How appropriate.
How great it would be, a la the Guardian Angels, to see a cadre of Bo Snerdley's "Make Black Americans Republican Again" New Journey PAC marching through Crown Heights, beginning to take it back after years of intellectual looting that has never been rectified.
On his PAC's website, Bo's even wearing a beret.
Does "Blue Bottle" have different connotations in America? It does seem a rather apt name for a cafeteria chain in San Francisco, these days, but it doesn't sound terribly tempting. Was "Cockroach" already taken?
"what seems to be the most totally mundane part of your day is mostly like a veritable human treasure trove for so many others."
So true!
Dear Laura, I do enjoy your columns so much! I don't post much (bit of a Steyn Online lurker, sadly), but I couldn't help but cry when I read your story about your son. What a wonderful / sad / touching moment for you. Thank you for your courage and your wonderful witty writing! I will pray that your son walks with you ever more often.
Hi Paula, I'm glad to hear! You should post more, especially such nice things about me :)
I do appreciate your prayer for more walks very much.
That is the most wonderful story about your son walking home, Laura. The tears came streaming down as I read that and pictured the two of you. I know what you mean about how the most mundane things in our life can be such a treasure. My husband had to leave for a few days over the holidays to tend to family business and I thought it would be easy getting through the holidays alone, actually was looking forward to watching some of Kathy Shaidle's films, but it wasn't that easy and I'm not even disabled. It gave me a window into the lives of people who are alone on Christmas and have to take care of everything alone.
But I remembered one neighbor who was really alone nearby. I took a couple dogs out for a walk the day after Christmas and passed by his house, that of an elderly gentleman who lives alone at the top of the hill. I know he has no car because he's always out hiking it from the campus and the nearby shops. The last time I saw him out in the cold night it was raining before Thanksgiving and I almost hit him. He had nothing on him reflective. I picked him up and asked if he remembered that I picked him up about a year and half ago. He vaguely remembered.
At first, I thought he had senile dementia but no, he was lucid and just seemed hard of hearing. When I walked by the house last week he was out front and waved and motioned to me to come up to the porch to sit a bit. Well, I used the chance to ask if he had ever found anything reflective to put on his jacket because I made the suggestion and he agreed it was a good idea but no, he hadn't. He seems alone except he kept saying "we," and I think things are really falling apart for him. I contacted a neighborhood group to see if anyone would keep their eyes open for him to help him with a lift, preferably some men who do the 5-mile round trip drive from the neighborhood to the shops and campus. So, no response there, but I think if I can get him some reflective sleeve bands to wear he'll be safer walking along in the dark. Cars just zip pretty fast coming home from work at night. Just seems sad that there are people living right in our own neighborhoods who are quite neglected. Some relish their independence but I wonder if many aren't quite lonely.
Thanks, Fran. It's very good of you to care about your neighbour. I do hope your neighbours rally for him as well.
It's a strange area, people wave but keep their distance, I don't expect help from many here. Also, people go to work and come home and you never see them all weekend. People buy homes and sell after a year. It's not for everyone. Crime is on the rise here, too. The town has a gang problem. But I like projects, so maybe this elderly gent will be a little project for me. I'm making him his reflective arm bands, but I'm hesitant to be too forward. One step at a time. It will depend largely on his willingness to accept help. The basic necessities like food and heat, but it's something that I think needs a follow up. I recently met one nice woman out training her new puppy to walk on a lead. I'll enlist her help. I don't think it's a good idea to drive up to his door alone anymore, even though the ice is broken.
I can also talk to someone over at one of the churches or Chabad for advice if this gets beyond me. Some adult children might exist and be out there. I'll get it figured out. Things have a way of working out if one's heart is in the right place. (Enjoying your links again even if I don't comment on them all. I take them one or two at a time over the course of the week).
Laura: I always enjoy your links and your story about your son enlivened my spirit today. As ever, thank you. (Oh, and as a bonus for paying to read your links I get the stuff from that Steyn-fellow.)
Thank you very much, Clayton. I'm so glad you enjoyed the column and enlivening spirits is an added bonus. Yah, that Steyn guy is also a pretty good read....
Thank you so much for sharing your own moment of human grace, Laura. Although I suspect there was an element of the superhuman, too. So beautiful.
Josh, sometimes I wonder about that myself.
Laura,
Thank you for sharing the moments with your son walking home for the first time; may it be the first of many. Truely a gift of grace as you have so wonderfully described.
Every blessing to you and your family.
Brendan
Brendan, thank you very much. Blessings right back to you and yours.