Hello one and all and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links, another week with an abundance of absolutely crazy and weird stories filtering through the Internet. My virtual cup runneth over with this stuff.

Mercifully, the weather has continued to be really nice here in southern Ontario (which means lots of walks for me and my special needs son, especially on the Sabbath). As I've likely mentioned previously, the last walk of the day is when I first walk the household menfolk to synagogue for evening prayers. My son and I "drop" them off, and then we have our little set circuit that we follow (kids with special needs can be kind of rigid and very routine oriented). The "long" circuit takes us through a beautiful local park, and sometimes, if we're lucky, like we were this past week, we get a glimpse of the finer side of humanity as we make our way through the path and the greenery.

The nice lady was dressed in religious Jewish garb, hair covered. She looked at me for a few moments.

"Shabbat Shalom," I said. (Religious Jews typically greet each other in this fashion on the Sabbath, even when we don't know one another.)

"Shabbat Shalom," she replied. And she looked at me again. It was awkward for a moment. She took a breath and continued in a heavy Israeli accent.

"I just want to say to you, I send you strength. I see you all the time, walking, walking in this park and I admire you. I want to tell you that. I send you 'koach' (Hebrew for strength/fortitude)".

I switched to Hebrew, thanked her and told her that was very sweet and asked her for her name so I can address her by name the next time. Strength is a nice and sincere thing to wish for and to pray for for others, but only when it's not mixed with pity. It's kind of like what Mark says about when even just a little bit of sh-t is mixed into ice cream, you can't eat it. Even if it's just a teeny, tiny amount of poop swirled into that ice cream, it's indigestible. In the same vein, blessings and prayers should be pure, devoid of pity but full of compassion and loving kindness.

What I've learned over the years raising a disabled child is that us humans aren't always capable of understanding that the things that elicit pity in them about others are often blessings and glimpses of the divine that they may never be privileged to experience. When my son cuddles up to me early in the morning, reaches for my hand, and folds his small fingers around mine and hovers between sleep and waking holding my hand until his breathing is rhythmic again, I feel G-d's grace, I feel chosen. It is my shield against pity, no matter how well-intentioned the sentiment.

I've mentioned previously that I think that we are at the beginning of the end of the extreme trans movement, that is to say, getting close to the cultural tipping point. Lately, I see more people speaking out against the medical mutilation industry and the targeting and grooming of young children. I also get the sense that more people are prepared to take a public stand against extreme wokeism, they are finding their sea legs in this battle.

My evidence is mostly anecdotal, but then I see something on social media that I think is noteworthy. Here's where I think the real battle lines are being drawn. This is the real battle line. It's painful to listen to but if you want the silver lining, at least they admit it's a religion. But the line "it's not a joke, Mansour" is KILLING ME.

I listened to it several times, picturing a pasty, grossly overweight, single, cat-owning, liberal Canadian scolding harpy teacher screeching at her brown, Muslim student, hectoring him about her religion of cultural woke Maoism. Here's another example of the same phenomenon with the blowback, and you know what, if push came to shove, I'd be on the side of the road with the fully covered Muslimas. And here's another example. As we say in the news biz, once is a one-off, twice is a coincidence and three's a trend. So take a look at those nuggets 1, 2 and 3 and tell me if you see the trend.

Lastly, a rather sad essay that I can only read and say "well, DUH". Of course we were all happier. The human carnage of the sadistic and anti-human Covid policies, mandates and vaccines were, and are still more lethal than the virus. I've never been very sentimental about turning back time, but I certainly still want it all back. All of it. All of the normal with all of the things. I'm still waiting for Mark to found the one-issue political party that he proposed previously; the "2020 Party". Maybe when he buries Ofcom, he'll revisit it.

Have a great weekend and see you in the comments.

~

North America:

America is a joke. I can hear Putin and Chairman Xi laughing their heads off. GOOD GRIEF.

If you can stomach it: BidenLaptopMedia (not for the faint of heart).

Fabulous.

"A failure to observe Pride could be illegal."

Everything is fine.

Of course Elon Musk is correct.

~

Israel and Jews:

Woke Israel is gross Israel.

Jews Against Soros!

If you stay that way, it's your own fault.

The Israeli left is repulsive. Ehud Barack is a disgrace.

How religious Jews became official scapegoats for Covid policies.

~

The Formerly Great Britain:

What a terrible, terrible look, King Charles. Absolutely disgraceful.

~

Walkbackening, Reckoning and Accounting:

These are the people who ruined our lives: like, okay, yah, like let's totally shut it down, you know??!??!

A REAL MYSTERY

Slaying the censorship leviathan (MUST MUST READ).

Nothing to see here.

OH I SEE.

WINNING!

~

Europe:

The evolution of criminal gangs in Sweden. Criminal gangs, such a small price to pay for Swedish diversity. Can't have any homogenous white and blond societies can we? PS: Do the cops in the photo look Swedish? Related?

"Only 271."

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Common sense returns.

~

Predatory, Evil Kooks:

"I will never call my rapist father a woman."

Evil social contagion. Profitable for so many.

This will only end when individuals buck up and say no,litigate and drag public policy kicking and screaming back to normalcy.

"Cancel culture is psychopathic."

LOLOLOL: "You're just making it up." This is a blueprint, y'all.

~

Human Grace:

This is delightful. Enjoy your shoes!

BABIES AND MUSIC Y'ALL

"On the eve of another D-Day anniversary, I wanted to share a letter written to my father from his sister on D-Day."

Courage is contagious.

"Our goal is to reclaim the rainbow, fully and heartily." (Prayer here.)

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.