Hello one and all and welcome to a breezy, almost mid-March edition of Laura's Links.
Guess what? I have news for you! At the two-year anniversary (almost to the exact day) of "two weeks to flatten the curve", the mask mandate in the torturous place known as Ontario will be coming to an end. March 21 will also mark one week before Ontario's Emergency Act is supposed to expire. But will it? Who knows. But at the very least, our faces and our children's faces will finally be free.
My gracious host, Mark Steyn, actually spoke a lot about this in this week's engagement with James ("Bo Snerdley") Golden on the radio. He mentioned how it is once again a crime for females in Afghanistan to feel sunlight on their faces. That's always been saddening and infuriating to me, and I'm still having trouble processing that it happened to me and my children in an allegedly free country within our allegedly free Western civilization.
I actually couldn't actually bear watching the press conference during which the mask announcement was formally made. I don't feel any sense of relief yet, because I'm still really angry. I'm not feeling very forgiving, but I hope I can summon enough grace to accept any truly heartfelt apologies that come my way. Liel Leibovitz has some very sage advice on this and I'd urge you to read his whole, delightful essay here.
The partial liberation of our and our children's faces – and of our lives – is coming at a time when Jews around the world are preparing for the Purim holiday, and I'll hopefully have more for you on that next week. Some of the themes of the holiday are particularly resonant, and in keeping with the current state of the world and I'll see if I can flesh out some thoughts on that as I prepare for the holiday over the coming week. Purim is a lot of fun, but it is also an annual reminder of how non-crafty/non-Martha Stewartesque I am. I have two left hands when it comes to crafts, fine motor anything and making cute (or even themed – yes people do themes!!!) little food packets, one of the obligations of the holiday. I actually used to consult with the uber-Catholic Kathy Shaidle on this, and she rightly pointed me toward Pinterest where I could steal, errr....LIBERATE...creative ideas from others. Someone (I can't remember who) once called Pinterest the Special Olympics of social media and – sorry, not sorry – I laughed.
I'm going to try to keep the faith as we approach our facial liberation date, but truth be told, I'm pretty worn out. Like many others, I have two solid years of fighting the appalling Wuhan Flu and our very own home-grown tyrannical public health regime under my belt. I hope I'll still have stuff to talk about when the bulk of this nightmare is finally behind us. Ha ha. Just kidding, there's zero chance I'll shut up and Mark Steyn is just a saint (or truly insane) for building this perfect online safe space for me, so I'll forgive him for his wildly indiscrete and oddly extravagant complimenting of hot Afghanistani or Ukrainian babes when AHEM OMG OMG STEYN WHAT AM I CHOPPED LIVER????
Sorry, I digress. Where were we?
Right. Weary.
I'm filing late at night and have another big day ahead. So, have a great week and I'll see you in the comments.
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North America:
There are still a few truth tellers in America. Here's one. Masks did nothing.
Surprise! Another very intelligent truth teller just got banned from Twitter. I really enjoyed his tweets, his analyses and his thoughts on lockdown. If you wish, you can purchase a copy of attorney Michael P. Senger's book here to support his work.
The idiots will still go to Europe and yes, they will enjoy their promotions. They will feel no guilt, no shame and will sleep like babies at night.
"The only thing lacking in that speech was a mirror."
You must watch this wonderful interview that the Great Prophet Steyn did with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. Must view! (This spot starts at about minute 36.)
RELATED: "Personally, I would like to apologize..."
Another beautiful essay from the great Rupa Subramanya at the National Post: The trucker convoy exposed the hypocrisy of Canada's left-wing elite. Indeed.
Maybe he'll get a nice mani-pedi as well?
"So much has been accomplished." The deaths and destruction are their accomplishments. That is the left, in a nutshell.
In which I endorse life advice from a Kardashian! ""I have the best advice for women in business," Kim Kardashian says. "Get your f--king ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days."
"I love Drag Queen Story Hour now."
Imagine what else they were lying about.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
His life means something and I hope he gets a transplant soon.
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Europe:
I repeat: France. Is. Screwed. I don't see any way that France will not be the first Islamic state in Europe. I used to think Sweden would be first, but France is definitely number one in this category now. The demographics are irreversible, even if Macron eventually goes more butch on Islamic radicalism than the unvaccinated. Ha ha. Like that will ever happen.
Smart lady. Read the whole thing.
Austria to suspend its "controversial" vaccine mandates. That's a pretty polite word for medical tyranny. Congrats, Austria, I guess. More here.
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Russia/Ukraine:
"Putin's Russian history is a fantasy."
"The West's Green Delusions Empowered Putin" from Michael Shellenberger at Bari Weiss' Substack: "How is it possible that European countries, Germany especially, allowed themselves to become so dependent on an authoritarian country over the 30 years since the end of the Cold War? Here's how: These countries are in the grips of a delusional ideology that makes them incapable of understanding the hard realities of energy production. Green ideology insists we don't need nuclear and that we don't need fracking. It insists that it's just a matter of will and money to switch to all-renewables—and fast. It insists that we need "degrowth" of the economy, and that we face looming human "extinction." (I would know. I myself was once a true believer.)"
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Israel and Jews:
I dunno about all this. There's a lot of weirdness in here. Cannot get a good sense of what the heck is going on between the Saudis and the Israelis although I suspect there was a lot more good will with Netanyahu in government (strong horse).
Turkey and Israel make up after the break up. This is a pretty big story and is being pretty underreported in the news.
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Kook, Predatory and Child Grooming/Pedophile Left:
"What is this evil push in schools to convince kids they were all born the wrong gender?Because that's the real agenda of these demonic leftists no matter how much they lie."
"Left-wing activists are organizing "sex ed summer camps" for 8-year-olds in Indiana."
Jesse Kelly with helpful advice to Republicans and conservatives that they will never take: "Offense. Go on offense. Stop hiding and whining like losers. Attack."
LOL dummy.
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Human Grace:
Mensch! (He did a great interview on Tucker Carlson the other day as well.)
Jews and Palestinians unite in a heartwarming show of strength for a living creature.
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.
