Quotes and Links
A week in review
Note for new subscribers: On Fridays I send out a post with a list of various notable quotes from the past week, along with links to some of the best reading material I’ve come across. You can opt out of these posts by simply clicking on the top right and going to “manage subscription.”
“I’ve obtained documents alleging that Harvard DEI administrator Shirley Greene plagiarized more than 40 passages in her PhD thesis, making her the third black woman at Harvard to be accused of academic fraud.” — Christopher Rufo
“How throwing soup at the mona lisa can help fight climate change” — Headline from The Los Angeles Times
“Becoming clear that an entire generation of younger progressives whose political character was formed during the Obama admin take the extra-gentle media treatment he got as the baseline to which any Dem president is entitled. Hence their indignation when we do our jobs.” — The Washington Post’s Megan McArdle
“Whites are psychopaths, and their behavior represents an underlying biologically transmitted proclivity with roots deep in their evolutionary history.” — Dante King, an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medical Education at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, during a lecture at the University of California, San Francisco
“Obviously the issue is far broader and more fundamental than historical accuracy. It’s whether the top tech platforms should embed the esoteric biases of the politically homogenous cadre of people they employ into the most powerful epistemological technology ever created.” — Axios reporter Lachlan Markay, on Google’s new AI model, Gemini, refusing to show pictures of historical white people
“I’ve been crying in intermittent bursts for the past 24 hours since casting my ballot. Filling in that Biden/Harris line felt cathartic.” — Jack Krawczyk, Google’s product manager in charge of Gemini, back in 2020
“The world’s information monopoly is entirely captured by unmediated, weapons-grade ideological mania. The company that dominates what people see on the Internet is a blue-haired nonbinary Vassar sophomore.” — Wesley Yang
“If you ask Google’s AI whether ‘whiteness should be eliminated,’ it says the answer is ‘complex and multifaceted’ and tells you to study critical race theory and immerse yourself in ‘whiteness studies.’ But if you ask Google’s AI if ‘blackness should be eliminated,’ it says the very question is ‘deeply concerning and harmful’ and ‘perpetuates violence and discrimination.’” — Sean Davis, CEO of The Federalist
“Google Gemini Finally Draws White Man After Being Prompted To Generate Clarence Thomas” — Headline from The Babylon Bee
“I’ve been a senator since ‘72. I’ve served with real racists. I’ve served with Strom Thurmond. I’ve served with all these guys that have set terrible records on race. But guess what? These guys are worse. These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles.” — Joe Biden, on Republicans in the 118th Congress, during a Culver City stop on his three-day fundraising trip to California
“I move that every newspaper in America quits doing any fact-checks on Joe Biden.” — MSNBC’s Claire McCaskill
“And to find out that, literally, Barack Obama’s two terms as president are your reparations, and Juneteenth, which you already celebrated anyway, is your reparations, and yet you built this country—you literally, physically built this country.” — MSNBC’s Joy Reid, who is a privileged wealthy child of immigrants
“It now appears as if the House Republican majority is being used by Russia to interfere in the 2024 election on behalf of Donald Trump.” — Democrat Rep. Dan Goldman, during an interview on CNN
“It seems like a lot of the domestic enemies are right here serving in the House.” — Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett, during an interview on MSNBC
“The belief that severe weather events constitute more of an ‘existential threat to humanity’ than modern great power conflict demands so much willful idealism from the believer that we might as well call it faith.” — National Review’s Noah Rothman, on Biden’s remarks made at a San Francisco fundraiser
“Stupid, man. Just pulled a gun out and started shooting. I shouldn’t have done that. Just being stupid.” — Lyndell Mays, one of the men charged with murder in connection to the deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory celebration last week
“Ethically, cannibalism poses fewer issues than you might imagine.” — From an article published in The New Scientist; no author given
“[Nikki] Haley’s nearly all-White high school lacked lessons of racism, some say” — Headline from The Washington Post
“They’ve surrendered to the communists.” — MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, on Republicans sending Ukraine $110 billion instead of $170 billion
“Everyone needs to start opening their doors because this is a shared responsibility.” — Democrat Boston Councilwoman Julia Mejia, calling on people to take in illegal migrants because the city is overflowing
“Perhaps one way to navigate yourself through this seemingly insoluble morass would be to ask yourself why Biden, who is stipulated #Old, has managed to helm the most successful presidency in modern history.” — Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick
“Every form of music in America was stolen from black people.” — The Daily Show’s Dulcé Sloan, during an interview on MSNBC
“One thing about me is if I see a customer shoplifting, I pretend I didn’t.” — Self-described “communist” and former Disney actor Calla Walsh
“Being forced to ask an employee to unlock a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo is actually insane, fuck capitalism.” — Also Calla Walsh
“Biden knew he had highly classified documents in his home, kept them for a reason, and held on to them for years. He knew, all along. He arguably broke the law, and he definitely misled the American public.” — CNN’s Elie Honig
“What the Pentagon has learned from two years of war in Ukraine,” from The Washington Post.
A New York Post article on NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ migrant debit card boondoggle.
Esquire: “Twenty-six years ago, Barton McNeil called 911 to report that his three-year-old daughter had died in the night. It was the worst thing that could ever happen to any parent. Then a new nightmare began.”
A Smithsonian piece about “Recovering the Lost Aviators of World War II.”
Vanity Fair: “Life Aboard a Nuclear Submarine as the US Responds to Threats Around the Globe.”
A story from Undark on “The Burgeoning Science of Search and Rescue.”
Has there ever been a ruling class more certain they can do anything (We can change the climate! We can make men into women! We can achieve total equity!), while living in hysterical terror (COVID! White people! MAGA Republicans! Words are violence!)
It really defies understanding.
This column is a Friday highlight. It’s hard to believe I live in the same world as some of these people.