Welcome back to a fresh batch of Laura's Links. I started off the week praising the one and only Katie Hopkins, who was kind enough to put into words what many of us are feeling, so don't miss her excellent essay right here. I laughed out loud, seeing myself in more than a few paragraphs and recognizing the sense of sadness and hopelessness quite intimately. Ms. Hopkins has been cancelled by pretty much every social media platform and news outlet on the planet, so it was good to see her published in full form in this piece.
If you're interested in razor-sharp lockdown analysis by another brilliant woman, I'd urge you to read this piece (and all others) from Laura Perrins, a.k.a "The Conservative Woman", who explains very sloooooowly and clearly that "cruelty is the point" of the lockdowns. She's right, of course. And every story I see about a suicide from preventable despair, a child suffering from depressing, an older person weeping from isolation, or of a disease ravaging someone who could have been treated at an early stage were it not for these stupid and evil policies, I get more angry and agree with her more.
The lockdowns are pure, unadulterated evil. Of course, I'm not the only one questioning when they will end and waiting for the blowback to begin, if it ever does.
As for me and my house, as the week progressed we were thrown a few breadcrumbs of freedom by our most benevolent leaders. Our Dear Leader, Doug Ford of the Million Dollar Beeping Covid Bracelets has granted the peasants in my area permission to patronize our gyms and groom ourselves with haircuts (pets were allowed to be groomed well before us mere humans). How nice and charitable of him to take a break from extending endless emergency orders to do so. More on emergency powers and a loss of liberty here from Tucker Carlson and Naomi Wolf.
Anyhoo, I'll quit while I'm ahead and focus on staying sane whilst continuing the fight against lockdown evil. Not an easy task at all.
For those who may have missed it, the biggest part of Mark's past week was spent remembering the late Rush Limbaugh. After sharing his own personal remembrance of Rush at SteynOnline, he also honored Rush on Tucker Carlson in the segment Remembering Rush. He also spent Friday afternoon talking about Rush on a special episode of The Rush Limbaugh Show, guest hosted Tucker's show that evening and somehow found the time to release a new episode of The Mark Steyn Show – Claptrap and Self-Appendectomies. On Monday, he was joined on the airwaves by Kathryn Limbaugh in a special show dedicated to remembering her and our beloved El Rushbo, giving listeners across America a chance to share their condolences and memories with Rush's lovely, caring and dignified widow.
And now, a look back at the week that was. Happy Purim of course to all our Jewish readers, and I'll see you in the comments.
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North America:
Lighten up, Frances. The joke that made it to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Greenwald: On journalistic tattletales and censorship.
The great VDH with a merciless truth bomb about the Lincoln Project: "The Lincoln Project's Band of Brothers—initially four financially strapped, embittered middle-aged white male Washington insiders—lectured the country that those few, those happy few, that band of brothers would fight for us. If only they were adequately funded, they could save us from the moral turpitude of four more years of Trump."
"The first step toward righting America is refusing to believe the left about anything." Absolutely. Amen.
A proper, fitting tribute to Rush Limbaugh by the great Daniel Greenfield.
Why the lockdowns? Follow the money. It's a very profitable industry for some.
Keeping children out of school is evil.
And here, via the quite interesting Amy Alkon, a "circle back" (to borrow a phrase from Jen Psaki), to high school bullying. I actually did this a few years ago. I looked up someone I went to middle and high school with and asked for her forgiveness for something not very nice that I did in Grade 6 in an attempt to curry favour with the popular girls (of which I was not one). She had no recollection of the event whatsoever, but accepted my apology gracefully and fully and forgave me. I felt so much relief I cried.
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Israel and Jews:
A horrifying story I didn't know anything about until I read this: "The Jewish VD Detective Who Exposed the Infamous Tuskegee Experiment." Something that came to mind while reading this is that yes, your government will conduct experiments on you. It's a 'then and now' thing.
Prune forever. The best. That is all.
Give Israeli rock a chance.
They hate us, who cares? "Build better things" is exactly right.
Purim greetings from Bibi to Iran.
My idiot people, getting what they voted for, good and hard.
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Europe:
If masks work, why don't they work?
Devastating: A chronicle of horror from The Atlantic, featuring the unending, sinister arrogance of the left: "The State Can Take Better Care of Your Children Than You". Read the whole thing.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
Horses&!t indeed. Lockdown Forever psychosis is everywhere.
Can we talk about this yet?
Follow the money.
More about following the money, and the media right here.
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The Humourless Kook Left, Wokestapo and Trans:
What the left is about: controlling souls. Indeed.
America is doomed.
Why is wokeness winning? From Andrew Sullivan: "Social aspiration also plays a part. The etiquette of wokery is increasingly indispensable for high society. They mark you as someone high up in the American social hierarchy. The right words and phrases signal your ease in this elite; the wrong ones — "sexual preference"! — expose you as a rube, a bigot or, worse, a middle class provincial."
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Middle East
Biden's Middle East: "Israeli newspapers are now reporting on the Israel Defense Forces preparing plans for a possible military option to 'undermine Iran's nuclear efforts or, if need be, counter Iranian aggression, which will soon be presented to the government.'"
Interesting––the Egyptian Minister of Energy visits the Israeli Leviathan natural gas field rig. More here.
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Land of the Rising Sun:
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Human Grace:
Don't worry, 'bout a thing. Coz every little thing's gonna be alright...
Making dolls with Down Syndrome.
As little as a loaf of bread.
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 Douglas Murray, Conrad Black, and Michele Bachmann among Mark's other special guests.
