Programming note: Mark is on the telly this evening and all week, hosting Fox News Primetime. Tune in at 7:00pm ET.
Hello again and welcome back to a very stuffed edition of Laura's Links. This week, my metaphorical news cup just totally and completely runneth over with the good, bad and the ugly of the internet. You're welcome!
First of all, I would like to draw your immediate attention to the fact that I actually and totally hate myself for not thinking of this first!!! I'm serious: I'm LITERALLY SHAKING. Zoom me a therapist with a MAGA background STAT!!! Aiyeeeeeee!!!!
But seriously, the mask-wearing profile pictures have always annoyed me from the very beginning and I always thought of them as preening, puke-worthy and virtue-signalling garbage moves. Look at me and my mask! I'm so safe – even my picture saves lives! You won't get the Wuhan Flu from my profile picture nosirreeeeee. My hate-on for this dumbness was kind of simmering along but I CANNOT BELIEVE I didn't think of the pronoun thing first. Argh!!!! Kudos, Mr. Young. Well played!
Next, I would like to give the SteynOnline In-House Jewish Mother Seal of Approval to this fabulous essay from the delightful and wise Brendan O'Neill at Spiked. I loved the whole thing and I think the homage to Churchill is wonderful and apt. I spotted little other nuggets of random smartness throughout the week as well, like this right here. As you know, over the past few weeks, Mark has been reading Nineteen Eighty-Four and serialized it as the newest addition to the SteynOnline Tales for Our Time collection. There are some very interesting thoughts about the China Flu and its Orwellian ripple effect in this Twitter thread. It's long, but worth your while.
I don't have much else to report. Oh, wait... hmmm... OK. How's this: I tried to do a normal thing with one of my kids last week. That is, if you can call walking to a local mall (which is closed) in the -20ºC weather to buy a coffee made by someone other THAN MYSELF, and then try to slip the mask down and sip it IN the closed mall while it's still hot before the Mall Cops chase me back out into the cold where mt hot coffee turns into iced coffee because a) this is February in Canada and b) this is how messed up Ontario is under our idiot Premier Doug Ford. This is what "entertainment" has been reduced to by this feckless, power-drunk ghoul... because SAFETY.
I tried to do another normal thing on Shabbat (i.e take a walk by myself) and I ended up getting bit by a dog (a yappy, fugly Yorkie with a pony tail on it's dumb little head, I mean for real Yorkies?? Who likes these dogs?? Do not try to change my mind in the comments!) I'm fine. Tetanus is up to date and the little bugger has all its shots, but I still have its little irksome overbite marks on my lovely Zionist leg and I thought to myself, "Yep, that was the perfect cap to another locked-down week in the Deranged Dominion."
This week will SURELY be better. Smile everyone!
Anyway, blah blah blah enough about me! Let's get back to the Man of the Hour with the Supersized Brain Power and his past week. On Tucker Carlson Tonight, Mark talked about When Free Speech Becomes a Right Wing Fetish, and guest-hosted for Rush Limbaugh for a full three hours, focusing on The Post-Political World. You can listen to the show in podcast version right here. There was a new Mark Steyn Show, Straight Down the Middle, and he guest hosted for Tucker Carlson last Friday evening. Mark's Song of the Week was the lovely Edelweiss – don't miss it.
Obviously, the YUGE Steyn news was his new role as Host With the Most on Fox News Primetime, which has been on air this entire week at 7:00 PM Eastern. So far, SO AMAZING! You can catch up on the great monologues and excellent interviews with interesting guests right at Steyn HQ, at SteynOnline. I know we are all happy for Mark and this well-deserved prime time debut but I think we should also take a moment to be happy for all of Mark's wonderful bespoke suits and his loyal cadre of pocket squares because they have really been suffering through this lockdown and have barely seen the light of day, poor things. We're all in this together and stuff, same boat, save lives, stay home, never hug granny again you germ-filled granny killer. Also save laundry detergent because you can wear the same clothes every day and stuff if you never go out!!! Save pants, too because who needs pants for Zoom meetings?
And now! The week that was. See you in the comments!
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North America:
First of all, a must-read about Canadian PM Blackface Hairdo and a former MP in his party. I just love this so much I want to hug it:
I was met with an earful that I needed to appreciate him, that everybody talked to him about his privilege, that he's so tired of everybody talking to him about this stuff, and that I cannot make this announcement right now," (Celina Caesar-Chavannes) said. She alleges he told her "he couldn't have two powerful women of colour leave at the same time." After listening to his "rant" for a while, Caesar-Chavannes said she cussed out the prime minister."
"I had to ask him, 'Motherf*cker, who the f*ck do you think you're talking to?'" she said. "I was so angry."
"She said she didn't make out what Trudeau said after that, but it "sounded like he was crying". She ended up delaying her resignation announcement until March 2019.
Siri, show me books that I'll never read. You could probably get high sniffing the cover of this baby.
Another must, must, must read from the ever erudite and incisive Lee Smith at Tablet magazine. Kudos to Mr. Smith on this fine, and horrifying essay.
This exactly: "...the impeachment trial isn't just an act of revenge. It is a vehicle for making the culture war about Trump a permanent feature of American politics".
American governance: "A house of nut jobs and bigots."
The left, in a nutshell: feelings, not facts matter.
The actual reason to hate these people is right here, baby.
The left loathes the disabled. Loathes.
A victory for the good guys, the churchgoers, in California.
Completely unserious America.
The great VDH on American Animal Farm.
Lockdowns are pure and unadulterated evil.
As Mark always says, "the left is serious about power". Conservatives can actually learn something from the way lefties operate but sometimes it seems they are unteachable.
Citizen patrols begin out of necessity in Oakland, California.
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Israel and Jews:
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Palestinians:
The sad state of affairs in Gaza.
Pathetic culture of death. The extra level of insult is the idea of trees, as it has long been a tradition of the Jewish to plant trees in Israel. So to take the idea of trees and apply it to honour terrorist murderers is another layer of psychotic 'up yours' from the Palestinians to the Jews.
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Europe:
Fabulously normal Sweden. The real normal. Not the "new" normal. "New" normal people and advocates can seriously stick it where the sun don't shine.
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Barbaric, evil, communist China:
While men fight their way into women's sports, prisons and bathrooms, China is taking masculinity a little more seriously.
OH, OK. Nothing to see here. Back to sleep.
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Kook Left:
One for my "Are You Freaking Kidding Me?" file.
An explanation of the new woke religion.
This may be one of the greatest tweets ever.
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Human and Canine Grace:
Special Olympics as a gateway to transform accessible healthcare.
This dog lets butterflies sit on its nose.
"You OK? Sometimes you need a hug."
Man of many desks.
Put your hands up!
"All it takes is one person, one gesture, to change a life."
It's open thread time! Log into SteynOnline and let Laura know what you think of these stories or other happenings from week that was or the election results that never will be. Commenting privileges are among the many perks of membership in The Mark Steyn Club. While going off topic is permitted on Laura's Links, do stick to the other rules as you engage: no URLs, no profanity, and no ad hominem attacks. Meet your fellow Club members, including Laura, in person by joining us on our rescheduled Mediterranean cruise alongside Tal Bachmann, Michele Bachmann, and Conrad Black among Mark's other special guests.
