Hi again and welcome back to another edition of Laura's Links. It was another pretty busy week for me and mine, but at least the weather has been good here in "Stage Three of Re-Opening" Ontario and more tastes of normal have been popping up. I actually have a professional function next week with colleagues, at a place that is not my home or a grocery store, with other human beings, during which other humans will ask me what I want to eat, then serve me food that I do not have to buy, cook, prepare or clean up! After conversations are had and food is consumed, those cheerful, helpful humans in uniforms will actually take my plate away from my table. I won't even have to get up and wash the dishes! Incredible, I cannot wait to experience this!!
Before the Chinese coronavirus hit, this was called 'having lunch at a restaurant' and it was novel as the Wuhan Flu. People, do not call, e-mail or text me for the next few days because I will be sorting through my "real life, outside the house" clothing, and spending quite a bit of time reassuring my lipsticks that of course I still care about them, so I'm gonna be exhausted.
The post-service communal Kiddush is back at our synagogue, thank G-d, and one of the kids has a wedding to go to next week. Mazel Tov! Then, I am supposed to meet a select group of very interesting adults who are not internet service technicians, delivery drivers or other assorted government workers that I must continually liaise with on a regular basis for my special needs' son's "stuff". I will be meeting a group of lively adults, known as "friends" for dinner (!!!!) at a restaurant, and will sit inside said restaurant and it is very likely there will be laughs and stories and once again a variety of delectable food items BROUGHT RIGHT TO ME without me lifting a finger. OMG.
OK I may have to use one finger to point to the menu and what I wish to order and it's a small sacrifice and form of physical exertion I will just have to make. And I may have to use my middle finger to symbolically demonstrate what I think of Chairman Xi and his disgusting, murderous WuFlu and how repulsed I am by his sickening communist regime and its evil influence on our lives, and all the patsy, useful idiot politicians and TV doctors of the West who went along with evil communist policies and implemented them here, but otherwise I just can't even!!!!
On that note, I'll share some smart words related to the above from some particularly interesting humans who are on Twitter amongst the other many things they obviously do with their lives.
Speaking of super smarties, The Boss Man, Mr. Mark Steyn, was very busy over the past week answering questions live on the airwaves, writing, talking about music on the radio and politics galore on the telly! If you missed anything – and seriously, why would you but IF you did – catch up right here: the replay of The Last Dam Buster (the live Clubland Q&A/Mailbox) can be found here. On Friday, Mark was in for Tucker Carlson, guest hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight and you can find some great clips here. He released a new episode of The Hundred Years Ago Show, "Weimar, He's Making Eyes At You", the Song of the Week was The Sheik of Araby. Mark's Monday Notebook featured an update on this never-ending-but-hopefully-ending-soon saga along with a brief but touching tribute to the late Jackie Mason, RIP. And he guest hosted Tucker Carlson Tonight again on Monday night.
In parting, I'll share a thought via an Israeli cooking show of all things. Mr. C and I were watching the Israeli version of a cooking reality show/competition and one of the challenges was to make a dish that embodied "something you are missing or lacking". It could have been a quality, a thing, or a person, but it had to be represented in the food item created. It was quite interesting. One contestant, Svetlana, an immigrant to Israel from Russia, said that she missed her father who had recently passed away. Married but childless, neither she nor her husband have any family in Israel, and Israelis are notorious in a good way for having large, boisterous families, and this too, was lacking in her life. She made soup in memory of her father. She said soup just reminded her of him and of family life. Every family, she said, likes soup, and it's something that you generally just want someone to make for you, but now she makes it for herself and for her husband, showing love through making it to her own small family of her and her husband. I was really touched by her perspective, and it is certainly true that love is so frequently found in food, or through food. And sometimes, pace Svetlana, you just want someone to make soup for you. This is something I believe in deeply. Perhaps I'll touch more upon that another time.
In the meantime, make soup (or buy the very best you can afford and heat it up) for your loved ones and I'll see you in the comments.
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North America:
Changing my mind about Covid and the narrative: this is an extremely interesting and clearly articulated Twitter thread and I urge you to read the whole thing. It's refreshing to see someone write about having a change of heart and going public about an evolution in thinking about something as polarizing as Covid.
"Deaths from COVID in children are incredibly rare." It is extremely lucky that this is the case and a further reminder of how utterly evilly children have been treated since March 2020, how they were systematically abused by the adults who are supposed to protect them on the premise that the adults were keeping them (the children) "safe".
The great VDH: "Democrats No More", a must-read as it contains gems such as his conclusion about the American/global left: "Now with money, institutions in their hip pocket, and cool popular culture, the Left would not just damn American institutions, but infect them: alter their DNA, and reengineer them into revolutionary agencies. So here we are with a near one-party system of a weaponized fused media, popular culture, and the administrative state—confident that all Americans will soon agree to love Big Sibling."
Huge props to Julie Kelly for staying on top of this story. This is heartbreaking and in complete tandem with the VDH article just above. You'll note how utterly cruel the comments are if you follow the thread, mostly from anonymous, pathetic garbage humans with no lives who are only brave on Twitter.
The useless, disgusting, highly partisan ADL continues to suck. This is really, really bad.
Ahh, the joys of shopping in San Franfeces.
Gamma! Delta! Epsilon! Lambda!! We are all gonna die AIYEEEEEEE!!!!!
Antisemitism is OK, anti-vaxx is not.
One for my bulging D'UH file.
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Jews and Israel:
Ben and Jerry's: Go Choke on Your Woke. I love this Rabbi. And seriously, as I have previously mentioned, I'd be happy if all of that overly sweet, craptacular Ben and Jerry's Kook Jew sh&t were just shipped right to the Jew-haters currently occupying the White House so the demented guy could feast on it all day long with the Jihad Squad of Congress.
Jumping in honour of Hannah Senesh. This actually made me tear up. More here.
How coffee revolutionized the social life of Jerusalem in the 16th century.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
"It's time to talk about Covid vaccines and periods." I'm not suggesting this is a particularly riveting topic for everyone, but if it's a thing, and it clearly is, discussion should be permitted and taken seriously and not censored or pooh-poohed.
Children should not be jabbed.
"Eric Clapton is the new Punk". Indeed.
Demographics are destiny: south London synagogue dating back to 1867 closing.
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Europe:
I will never forgive the French for making me root for them.
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Evil, Wicked, Barbaric, Murderous Communist China:
Behold the "wisdom" of Chinese demographic central planners.
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Down Under:
Peter Daszak and the China Virus.
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Kook Left:
Don't send your children to government schools.
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Human Grace:
The story of the sticky note art friend.
When a child doesn't speak, parents learn to read the body. Welcome to my life. Literally. Physicians and other health professionals need to trust that we, the caregivers of these precious souls, understand them better than anyone on earth, and need to really listen when we translate our non-verbal children to outsiders. That trust can be a matter of life or death.
Meet Benjamin and his pal Mimi.
Five ways to get over bitterness.
Man receives first double arm transplant.
This is so nice: Twitter thread on how you met your spouse. Great stories. Really heartwarming.
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. 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.