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.”
“President Biden says what’s happening in Gaza is not a genocide. But we’re not going to forget in November, are we? You are an enabler, President Biden.” — Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), during remarks given at the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit.
“What do you think [Trump] would have done if black Americans had stormed the Capitol? I don’t think he’d be talking about pardons. This is the same guy who wanted to tear gas you as you peacefully protested George Floyd’s murder.” — Joe Biden, during remarks given at a campaign event in Philadelphia this week.
“Diversity, Equality and Inclusion are literally the core strengths of America. That’s why I’m proud to have the most diverse administration in history. It starts at the top with the Vice President.” — Also Joe Biden (same event), casually admitting Kamala Harris was a DEI hire.
“We live in a historically weird moment where left-wing populists want to transfer money from working class Americans to young adults from upper middle class households who borrowed 150K to get a useless fine arts masters from NYU.” — George Mason University professor David Bernstein
“With respect to Judge Merchan, I have like a man crush on him. He is such a great judge that it’s hard to see the jurors wouldn’t have the same impression.” — MSNBC legal analyst and Russiagate architect Andrew Weissman
“Can you imagine if we put any more Republicans on the Supreme Court? We will lose all of our rights!” — Jill Biden, Ed.D., during an appearance on The View. She also said that come November, “Americans are going to choose good over evil.”
“The implication could not be clearer—rather than being seen as criminals who victimize society, they’re going to be seen as victims of the system.” — Pastor Corey Brooks, regarding Illinois Democrats trying to rename criminal offenders as “justice impacted individuals.”
“Well, a gendered space in architecture, when you look at how was stuff opened like when you look at metro stops, when you look at bus stops, you look at a lot of transportation hubs, a lot of things, are they more friendly to people of both genders? Or all genders? These are all questions that we are looking at when we look at cities and how they’re built these days.” — John M. Erickson, Mayor of West Hollywood, who says there’s an epidemic of “racialized” and “gendered” architecture in his city.
“It’s so I can help save our democracy.” — Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), on why she’s selling merchandise making fun of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “butch body.” This was during her Thursday appearance on The View.
“In 2016 Trump won 6 percent of black voters. In 2020, 8 percent. The latest Pew numbers have him tracking at 18 percent, an astounding number if it’s even close to accurate.” — Ben Domenech, editor of the Spectator
“Donald Trump wants to destroy not only this city, but the country, and eventually he could destroy the world.” — Robert De Niro, during Tuesday’s press conference sponsored by the Biden administration that took place outside the Trump trial.
“We have seen studies come out talking about how 1 in 3 women in the South are looking at potentially losing their life during child birth.” — Abortion activist Kaitlyn Joshua, during an interview on MSNBC.
“Let me get this straight, someone was courageous enough to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy, but Trump and genocide supporters get a free pass. Make it make sense.” — Lance Cooper, founder of the nonprofit “Water The Planet”
“So grateful he didn’t obey a lawful order to sit down and chill out for 20 minutes while waiting for an ambulance to treat his fentanyl-induced panic attack — had he done that, he couldn’t be used as a propaganda weapon to burn down the country and extort sinecures for middle class blacks while thousands of other poor black people were murdered as a result of delegitimizing police protection of vulnerable, violence-prone communities. Truly a heroic act that we should honor in hopes that others emulate him in the future.” — Wesley Yang, regarding the Biden administration issuing a statement celebrating George Floyd on the anniversary of his death.
“I would say that some deep red state should bring absurd charges against Biden before a biased right-wing judge and jury, except that the conservative jurors would, even now, ‘stand up for’ the Constitution and the judge would probably discipline the prosecutor for abusing it.” — Podcaster Darryl Cooper
“A quick and easy way of determining whether something is good or bad for society with 100% accuracy is by watching MSNBC. If it makes MSNBC anchors happy, it is bad. If it makes MSNBC anchors upset, it is good.” — Reduxx’s Anna Slatz
“This kind of violent rhetoric against drug workers is abhorrent. Most fentanyl sellers are people who use it as well, and they are trying to survive under the same destructive, racist system that replaced opium with morphine, then heroin, then fentanyl: the War on Drugs.” — Hilary Agro, a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia
“When you talk to immigrants that are going to these Trump rallies, they agree with his message on immigration. Their point is ‘I did it the right way. I came here legally.’ The sentiment I heard from a lot of voters was ‘We have these immigrants that the city is taking care of in a way that I’ve never felt taken care of by this city.’” — NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns
“For African-Americans and Latino voters, a Trump re-election would be terrible for them. Just, please, do what you did back — from the Biden campaign’s point of view — do what you did in 2020.” — MSNBC’s John Heilemann
“#Menstruation affects half the U.S. workforce but talking about it at work can be taboo. For #MenstrualHygieneDay, here are 5 easy actions employers can take to help menstruators thrive at work.” — Tweet from the U.S. Department of Labor
“I got them. These are the instructions that the jury has to follow in Donald Trump’s hush money trial before they can reach a verdict. 53 pages. This is complicated. This is lengthy stuff. It took the judge over an hour to read it, but guess what? The jury doesn’t get this in the room during deliberations. They have to write questions. They write notes. But they don’t get these instructions. In New York, both parties have to agree and the judge has to agree. And in this case, it didn’t happen. They don’t have this in the room right now.” — NBC News Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett
“Dear university students in the United States of America, you are standing on the right side of history.” — Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran and one of the worst human rights offenders on the globe
Smithsonian: “For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II”
“The Militiamen, the Governor, and the Kidnapping That Wasn’t,” from Esquire.
A Wired piece on “How Bookshop.org Survives—and Thrives—in Amazon’s World.”
Rolling Stone: “Since 2020, orcas off the coast of Spain and Portugal have sunk several sailing vessels and destroyed hundreds of others. Renaud de Stephanis won’t rest until he stops them.”
“The Nonprofit Industrial Complex and the Corruption of the American City,” from American Affairs.
A New Yorker story about the current state of the “knocker” industry.
Business Insider: “The case of the Lego Bandit”
WHERE DO YOU FIND THIS STUFF??? Amazing - keep up the phenomenal work
I think de Niro's rage contorted face and the U.S. Labor Department's communique about 'menstruators' probably mean we are in the end times......