Shalom friends, readers, frenemies and enemies and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links. I'm putting the finishing touches on this column with dishpan hands (do you guys remember that old Palmolive commercial with "Madge"? Remember? "You're soaking in it!" Am I dating myself? Bueller? Anyone? Oh well, whatevah!! There's been a ton of shopping, cleaning and food prep Chez Cohen today and we're just kind of getting started (picture my face!!!).
Why this frenzy of activity? Why my dishpan hands? Well, the Jewish holiday of Shavuot ("Weeks") starts tonight and runs into the Sabbath so it's a two-day sucker for us Jewish people. Thus, I'll be offline and in festive/domestic servitude mode until Saturday night. In a nutshell, it's the celebration of receiving the Torah, when we fress on cheesecake and other dairy goodies, pull all night Torah study sessions and read the Book of Ruth.
A few hours after you read this, the holiday will be starting so any fabulous insights, snark or other observations that you share in the comment section will not be addressed by yours truly until Saturday night after sundown at the very earliest. I'll pop in when I can, don't miss me too much!
For your reading edification, this batch of links is really quite robust if I do say so myself, and if you can make it through all the utterly disgusting and insane crap of the first few sections, I promise there is some really good, heartwarming and moving stuff as you inch toward the Jewish and Human/Feline Grace section, so fear not as you plod through all the crazy stuff.
Before wrapping it up for the week, I'd like to bring your attention to two stories that once again prove Neil Oliver's adage that the reason things are happening is because the people in charge want them to be happening.
Get a load of this story: New York women and their subway schmattahs.
This would have been inconceivable and unthinkable just a few years ago and now it's supposed to be just a regular, normal thing. Let me tell you something: THIS IS NOT NORMAL. This is what women do in Islamic countries to try not to get raped and assaulted (spoiler-it doesn't really work). This is why, as my gracious host Mark Steyn reported years ago from Sweden, blonde Swedish babes are dying their hair black. This is called appeasing the rapists and violent thugs instead of addressing the problem. This is a band aid "solution" that women are clinging to because they have been abandoned by the adults in all of the rooms. And this is happening because the reprehensible politicians in charge of our cities want this to be happening to you, your families and your children, capish? They want this to be happening.
Here's another little nugget: France is banning short haul flights. Did you read that and digest it properly? The entire country of France is entirely banning short haul flights.
PEOPLE: When the insufferably evil totalitarian elites tell you what they are going to do to you (i.e 15 minute cities and all their 2030 kook Gaia green sh&t plans, etc) you better be paying attention. They mean it. They aren't kidding around.
Mark has often said that what they want is for your world to get much more shrunken and smaller. They are making no secret of it and now we have much actual evidence that the plans are well underway.
Listen to what they say: trust that they are telling the truth about exactly how they plan to screw you. They are so very proud of their plans that they advertise and brag about them constantly and spell them out explicitly. So pay attention to their totalitarian braggadocio and plan accordingly.
I don't want to leave you completely depressed, so I'll relay a more uplifting nugget I heard from Rabbi Manis Friedman (mentioned below in the Jewish section). He advised that whatever you have some "extra" of, that's what you should be sharing with people-and it's not necessarily money. If you're the person that people come to for advice, then you've got a little extra wisdom, so make sure you share it. If you're the go-to person for organizing, then share that skill with people. If you are really comfortable financially, then yes, you should be giving some of that extra to those in need. The message was that everyone has something inside of them to give, and being charitable is just as good for the giver as it is for the receiver-perhaps even more so. Whatever is in you, whatever makes you the singular human you are, whatever blessings you have received, consider being a vessel for good and transmitting those "extras" to others.
Happy Shavuot to the Jewish people and I'll see you in the comments as I'm able.
~
North America:
Democrats and leftists are ruthless. Conservatives need to learn more than a few lessons from them. They don't care about human collateral damage. Our humanity is our weakness when it comes to fighting evil. More here.
Related: Red values and blue hellholes.
And the Calgary "Peace Prize" goes to....
When houses of worship lose their way.
This is a must read via Wesley Yan's substack on the hellish public education system in urban America and the children it fails.
Canada: Culture of Death
RELATED: Priorities!
~
Walkbackening, Reckoning, Accounting:
~
Israel and Jews:
This is pretty wild. "Tablet magazine goes to Saudi Arabia.
A lot of Arab countries had 'their' Jews though and it never really worked out great for the Jews.
~
The Formerly Great Britain:
~
Predatory Kooks, Trans and Climate Nutters:
"Satan respects pronouns and he loves who you are.
"Will there be prosecution by the government?" Nope.
~
Jewish Wisdom:
What is "good chemistry"? Rabbi Manis Friedman has the goods.
~
Human and Feline Grace:
Wise words from the late Martin Amis on clarity in writing which includes this spectacular phrase about where he was in life, at a point when "...the future is getting smaller and the past is getting bigger.." That is definitely how it feels to be getting older. The whole clip is mesmerizing.
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.