Hello friends and welcome to another edition of Laura's Links, now available freshly curated for all of you hatey, hatey masses of nasty, Trumpy, populisty, Brexity, yucky, goober-faced, Bible-thumpy, gun-clingy, knuckle-draggy, flyovery, conservatives – created from my Jewy, Zionisty capitalisty, keyboard right here at SteynOnline every non-Woke Wednesday.
PHEW. That was a mouthful. But as you may rightly assume, I'm just getting started!
One of the most painful, but exquisite, parts of being a writer is when someone writes something, it comes to your attention, you read it and pause while you literally say out loud, "oh mah gawd I wish I had thought of that first" or some reasonable facsimile like "I can't believe what a complete idiot I am for not thinking of that first" as you whap yourself upside your own head. But at the same moment, you are completely and utterly delighted with the combination of words that has spilled forth from someone else's brain and soul and you read them over and over. Of course, this happens to me all the time when the great Prophet Mark Steyn sets pen to paper, or lets loose on The Mark Steyn show or on his appearances with Tucker Carlson. The Steyn effect is well known. But here's something pretty good that I spotted randomly on Twitter.. Thunk.
Many years ago, when I was new to special needs parenting, I got some life-altering advice from another parent regarding developmental expectations for my son. She said, emphatically: presume competence. It's short and sweet and is a message that I took to heart and made a living part of our "new normal". Those two words changed a lot of lives for the better; the ripple effect is immeasurable.
What you say, what you write, what you put your name to, what you face head-on, and most importantly how you behave makes a difference. What you do makes you you. Presume your own competence and centrality in dealing with the whirlwind of our current political reality and look not for saviours among men.
Make sure also not to miss a single thing shared by the Most Unwoke Bloke himself over the past week. There was a Steynian look at fake "hate crimes", and new episodes of The Mark Steyn Show including The Soon to Be Canceled (this was one of my absolute favourites for a few reasons not excluding how totally amped up Mark gets about free speech, right Mark?)
**waves**
**dabs face with handkerchief**
**composes self**
Where were we?
Oh ya, episodes!
Stuff!
Yes, there was also Footballs of Clay and a great Monday Notebook post about The Priorities of McConnell. Lots of great stuff, so don't miss a single thing.
And now, it's time to look back at the week that was.
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North America:
A new Clinton venture. What could possibly be wrong with that?
The mob attempts to cancel Steven Pinker.
What is cancel culture? Read here.
Bari Weiss gets canceled, sort of self-cancels. Her resignation letter is here.
Andrew Sullivan: Canceled.
NY state nursing association calls for independent investigation after official state nursing home report is released.
VDH: All cultural revolutions start at year zero. (Must read!)
This is how the left wants to run America.
Orange County schools to fully re-open next month.
Canadian Libranos never change.
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Big Tech Is Evil:
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Israel and Jews:
Searching for babka's soul.
A very ominous warning from influential Jewish thinker Rabbi Berel Wein: I, too, believed America was the exception to the rule. But no longer.
Meanwhile, my idiot people have been very busy being stupid. Keep on stupiding, losers.
Ten Chassidic ideas that, if applied, will change you into a better person.
Turning tragedy into hope.
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Europe:
French public largely in favour of rebuilding Notre-Dame exactly as it was before the fire. Do we have a motive or explanation for the fire yet? Just checking. Lemme know if you hear anything mmmmkay?
Meanwhile in Sweden, apparently having no deaths still does not constitute proof that the no lockdown policy was the right one.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
Things police in Britain are good at: blaming the victim and arresting twelve-year old children for racism. Things they are not so good at: actually preventing the rape of children and prosecuting the rapists. Check out the comments under the 12-year old kid's story and see how many adults think it was a really butch move for the police to arrest a child. What a rancid, disgusting display.
Nigel Farage asks when conservatives will stand up to the cancel mob. Oh, maybe in Neveruary.
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Kook Left, Wokestapo and Trans:
What would we do without research?
Can someone translate this from Insane Kook Left Blah Blabbedly Blah Blah to English for me?
"The Unbearable Whiteness of Being" by Bruce Bawer – really good, read the whole thing!
Brave women. Strong humans use their own names and put their names to their words. Quote me on that.
Sports Illustrated goes woke. Somehow I don't think this is the kind of model that red-blooded, heterosexual men are looking for in their swimsuit issue... Add SI to the left's list of "things that heterosexual men like that must be destroyed."
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Human Grace:
G-d bless the healers and those who cheer on children.
Florida woman takes dishwashing job to be close to husband with Alzheimer's.
Sage advice: stop burning America. Do something good.
See you in the comments!
Let Laura know what you think of these or other stories from the week that was in the comments below. While Laura's Links serves as our weekly open thread, we still hold to the regular comment rules about URLs, profanity and ad hominem attacks. If you want to join in on the conversation sign up for membership in The Mark Steyn Club, or pick up a gift membership for a loved one.
