In case you missed it, here's how the last seven days looked to Mark:
It was a bad week for freedom of speech, beginning with the news from England that Wiltshire Police had demanded that local newsagents cough up the name and address of every customer who had purchased Charlie Hebdo. This was our most-read piece of the week, yet it was followed by the even more disturbing revalation that this action was not a clumsy improvisation by one bozo county copper but part of a nationwide policy directed by the chief constable in charge of "combating extremism". The week ended with yet another murderous assault on those few brave people who, unlike Her Majesty's Constabulary, are prepared to defend free speech.
~On Monday, Mark's Sinatra Centenary countdown celebrated one of the most recorded songs of all time: "Stardust."
~Tuesday saw one of the most disgusting exercises in official evasion, as senior apparatchiks at both the White House and the State Department dug in after the President's repugnant remarks on the "bunch of folks" who got killed in Paris, and insisted, at length, that there are "no Jews to see here". A few days later, just to underline the contemptible dishonesty of the Administration, there was a shooting at yet another European synagogue, this time in Copenhagen.
~On Wednesday, Mark pondered the delusions of progressive westerners: in Paris a street artist was beaten up for displaying his Co-Exist slogan, and in Syria an "aid worker" from Arizona who'd supported the "resistance" from the "minarets" was killed by the Islamic State.
~On Thursday, Mark returned to The Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss Scott Walker and the decline of a two-party system into a two-school system.
~On Friday, Mark took his cue from the President and indulged in a couple of columnar selfies, on the Bambi-boomer approach to foreign policy, and the intersection of brewing and breeding.
Saturday was Valentine's Day. We celebrated with the song for the season; a cautionary tale on vascularization from Mark's new book; and the perfect date movie - Clint Eastwood's valentine to himself.
Despite the usual procedularist delays, Mark continues to prepare for his trial against fake Nobel Laureate and Big Climate enforcer Michael E Mann. While we're waiting to get Dr Fraudpants on the witness stand, we hope you'll take a look at a new book featuring Mark and many eminent scientists called Climate Change: The Facts. It's available in Kindle at Amazon outlets worldwide, as well as in Kobo and in Nook at Barnes & Noble. And, as always, we thank those of you who've continued to support Steyn's pushback against the Clime Syndicate via SteynOnline gift certificates and other Steyn store purchases. At the end of a grim week for the cause of free speech, Mark's own book on the subject, Lights Out, seems more prescient than ever.
A new week at SteynOnline begins tonight with our Song of the Week.
