Yesterday, the usual "known wolf" - that's to say, known to the highest levels of the French security apparatus - killed three and wounded a dozen more in this year's first attack on a Christmas market - in Strasbourg. The jihadist yelled ...oh, go on, take a wild guess: Joyeux Noël? Bonnes Fêtes? No, he stuck to the traditional greeting.

Just over two years ago, in the summer of 2016, I met a delightful German lady who lives just across the border from Strasbourg and whose husband, in fact, was born and raised there. Along with her child, my friend, as I put it, "had found herself on the receiving end of some vibrant multicultural outreach from one of Mutti Merkel's boy charmers":

As a result, she no longer goes out after dark. She had also decided - with reluctance, because she enjoyed it - to cancel her participation in a local Christmas market, where she'd sung carols every year - in broad daylight. 'Why would you do that?' I asked. 'Because it's Christmas,' she said, 'and I'm worried Christmas will be a target.'

I have never forgotten those words - because they were at once both absurd and chilling. But four months later "a German citizen" attempted to blow up the Christmas market at Ludwigshafen, and a mere two years on it is now taken for granted that Christmas markets across Europe have to be held behind the ugly throttling barriers of "security" - which as we saw yesterday are, ultimately, never secure.

Because we won't put up security barriers where they count - at the nation's border - we have to have ever more intrusive and constricting security on everything within the border. I have written about it innumerable times; I even wrote a short story about it. But the men and women who govern us refuse to change the policies that enable Yuletide slaughter, and their citizens continue to vote for them. And so Strasbourg's mayor Roland Ries says that "life must go on" - which fatuous bromide ensures that the killing of his citizens will go on. Because he and the rest of a depraved political class lack the will to do anything about it.

Spare a thought for those killed yesterday. We hardly do. Not anymore, not unless the death toll's three figures. The life that's going on is diminished and degraded by such complacency and indifference.

~I made a rare Tuesday appearance with John Oakley on Toronto's Global News Radio 640 to talk about sundry topics in the news, including the CBC's restoration of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" to the seasonal playlist, Gitmo alumnus Omar Khadr's application for a Canadian passport, and a subject not unrelated to yesterday's killings: treason as just another vibrant swatch in the quilt of multiculturalism. Click below to listen:

In fairness to Omar Khadr and his "Canadian" family, they have mostly killed and wounded people on distant battlefields far away. Since their heyday, Canada and the rest of the west have continued to admit vast numbers of people - like yesterday's killer - who find it more convenient and satisfying to slaughter us in our own home towns.

~For that brave band who prefer me in vision, tomorrow evening, Thursday, I'll be with Tucker Carlson south of the border at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific.

For those Ontario listeners who enjoy my visits to the Oakley show, we hope to see a few of you at my forthcoming stage appearances with the great Dennis Miller in western New York and Pennsylvania. We know at least one Montrealer coming to the Rochester show, but, if you're anywhere along the QEW, it's a lot closer. And Kingston (or even Ottawa) isn't that inconvenient for the Miller/Steyn Syracuse gig.

And for those who prefer me in audio only I'll be back on Friday evening for the second of this year's festive Tales for Our Time.

Tales for Our Time is made possible through the support of members of The Mark Steyn Club. If you're interested in joining the Club, please see here. Likewise, don't forget our second Steyn Club cruise, setting sail on September 4th next year, or our special Christmas Gift Membership. The latter comes with a special personalized Christmas card from yours truly and a handsomely-engraved set of three of our most popular Tales for Our Time for your loved one to listen to in the car or perambulating through the wilderness or almost anywhere else. For more details on our special Christmas Gift Membership, see here. We are grateful for the support of all our Club members around the world - from London, Ontario to London, England, to London, Kiribati - and look forward to welcoming many more in the months ahead.