Quotes and Links
A week in review.
“It’s now beyond question that freedom of speech must be protected at all costs, because it’s allowed the psychopaths among us to reveal who they are.” — Podcaster Clifton Duncan.
“Knowing that my community sees me this way and acknowledges my womanhood is all I need to keep going.” — Trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who was named Woman of the Year by Attitude magazine.
“This is why people who insisted complaints about censorship were right-wing blather weren’t paying attention to history. Once the tool exists, it will inevitably be used in all directions.” — Matt Taibbi, regarding Germany banning pro-Palestine protests and the U.K. banning the display of Palestinian flags.
“America is not sending their best and brightest, you know, to Washington, D.C.” — Senator John Fetterman, in an interview with Stephen Colbert.
“Harvard Student Leaves Lecture On Microaggressions To Attend ‘Kill The Jews’ Rally.” — Headline from the Babylon Bee.
“This is maybe the weirdest part of this whole thing to me; how do you go from losing your mind over an errant pronoun or the phrase ‘master bedroom’ to shrugging off explicit hate?” — Author Kat Rosenfield.
“Absolutely he does—climate change is an existential threat!” — NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby, when asked if Biden believes that climate change is more frightening than a nuclear war.
“Joe Biden is our third Black president.” — Headline from the Hill.
“I’m at a loss. If I can get infected while wearing an N95, using anti-viral nasal spray and a portable HEPA filter, then it is simply impossible to stay safe in this environment.” — Reporter Erin Durkin.
“My greatest fear is this bloodshed in Israel will make us lose sight of what really matters: January 6.” — Michael Tracey.
“The Democrat party has transitioned from ‘denying the US government is engaged in censorship of ideas and information’ to ‘rationalizing censorship’ because truth and free thinking are dangerous to the rest of the Democrat platform and big government in general.” — Rep. Thomas Massie.
“If there’s a big scandal about me, my only request is that it be called Elongate.” — Elon Musk.
“You’re indoctrinating them into this woke, guilt-ridden ideology that you are carrying around with you, and you feel like you have an obligation to impose this on children. Our goal should have always been the goals the liberals had in the 60s and 70s, which is a color-blind society.” — Joe Rogan, who says his five-year-old daughter’s school has been trying to turn her into an “antiracist” activist.
“Hamas apparently knew how to get around Israel’s Iron Dome defenses. They probably learned this from Iran. Iran almost certainly got the information from Russia. And who gave it to Russia? Sure looks like it was Donald Trump, at the request of Putin.” — Progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann.
“In light of recent information regarding historical and offensive connotations associated with the word ‘picnic,’ we have chosen to rename our event ‘Lunch by the Lake’…we sincerely apologize for any harm or discomfort the initial title may have caused.” — A statement from the Environmental Law Society at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“One guy even told me that he doesn’t call it ‘CVS.’ He calls it ‘FREE-V-S.’” — Mark Meredith of Fox News, on the looting and shoplifting in Washington, D.C.
“This is the season of crunchy leaves, chunky knits — and pumpkin spice latte misogyny.” — Headline from the Guardian.
“Researchers say that L.A.’s bird species are remarkably segregated. In a new study, they argue that the difference in bird populations is a lasting consequence of racist home lending practices from decades ago, as well as modern wealth disparities.” — The Los Angeles Times.
“These last few days have been a real eye-opening period for a lot of people — a lot of Democrats, a lot of progressives — in terms of antisemitism on the left.” — CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“Some parents are concerned their daughter might miss out on a scholarship, they might miss out on playing for this team or that team. Boy, that doesn’t sound like community; that sounds like selfishness.” — Wisconsin Rep. Dave Considine, during a debate on a bill to ban biological males from playing in women’s sports.
“You don’t find a lot of murderous antisemites in senior business jobs. You don’t find many in the military or national security agencies. Maybe somebody in academia should ponder why their one sector of public life is so very susceptible to a plague so rare everywhere else.” — The Atlantic’s David Frum.
“Death of a Lobsterman,” from Esquire.
A Vanity Fair story on “How the FBI Discovered a Real-Life Indiana Jones in, of All Places, Rural Indiana.”
The New York Times: “Teachers Can’t Hold Students Accountable. It’s Making the Job Miserable.”
“In Israel, the Death of an Illusion,” by Martin Gurri.
“The Race to Catch the Last Nazis,” from GQ.
Screaming into the Void: “‘Experts’ Now Claim ‘We Didn't Know’ - But They Did.”
“Dispatches: Life on an Alaskan Crab Boat,” from Men’s Journal.
A Bloomberg piece on how “Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away.”
“Behind the Scenes at a Five-Star Hotel,” from the New Yorker.
"Maybe somebody in academia should ponder why their one sector of public life is so very susceptible to a plague [of murderous antisemites] so rare everywhere else.” The kind of 'somebody in academia' that David Frum presumably has in mind...that somebody couldn't ponder their way out of a paper bag. https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/how-diversity-narrows-the-mind
“America is not sending their best and brightest, you know, to Washington, D.C.” — Senator John Fetterman, in an interview with Stephen Colbert. That's a classic. I think he is actually the poster child.