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.”
“People keep suggesting that it’s outrageous to keep Biden as the Democratic nominee. I disagree. Biden is actually perfect to lead the progressive liberal party. Its functionaries run the entire government — all of the agencies, the cabinet, and the inner circle of executive branch operatives. They have a giant publicity arm in the mainstream media, and by extension, the entertainment industry. Their court intellectuals run the universities. Their people are in charge of the military. A Democratic president is about as essential to running the US government as the king is to England. Arguably, even less essential. This is so obvious to the Democrats, they don’t even have to pretend to have a candidate in compos mentis, and it’s rather an audacious and troll to keep him at the top.” — Patrick Deneen, a professor of political philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.
“I think it’s always appropriate to make sure we’re investing in small businesses, especially minority-owned, black-owned, women-owned businesses.” — Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, when asked why he spent $30,000 of campaign funds on hair and makeup services.
“This is one of those cases where I don’t think it’s brought if Biden’s not president of the United States. You know, this is one of those things that, if Biden had chosen not to run in 2018, I doubt Hunter Biden’s ever prosecuted.” — MSNBC’s Chuck Todd
“Staring at a box of Kleenex that says ‘Your feelings deserve to take up space’ and I can feel the Democrat leaving my body.” — The Atlantic’s Tyler Austin Harper
“America’s elites fear and mistrust the American voter. They have lost faith in democracy, a system that in 2016 delivered the power of the presidency to the monstrous Trump, and they dream of a rising class of Platonic guardians, people exactly like themselves, with the right pedigree, the right opinions, the right manners, who rule not because they have won an electoral lottery but in perpetuity, as a reward for their superior virtue.” — Martin Gurri
“We have built safe mobility offices in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica to reach people where they are so they don’t have to take the perilous journey.” — DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, during an ABC interview.
“I mean, it sounds nuts, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy threw me in jail. He’s out of his mind. I mean, he did his whole first campaign around ‘lock her up.’ This is his motto.” — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), during an appearance on Kara Swisher’s podcast.
“You are positively advantaged being black now. This is just a fact.” — American philosopher Sam Harris, in an interview with Don Lemon.
“We’re not gonna have men playing in women’s sports—we’re not doing it.” — Donald Trump, during his recent campaign rally in Las Vegas.
“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
“Elite liberals are perpetually vacillating between hair-on-fire ‘fascism’ hysterics and cool, confident assurances that they were obviously right all along. That’s one of the beauties of elite liberalism. Boundless adaptability, and the most exquisitely effortless memory-holing.” — Michael Tracey, regarding New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof’s article on “Why Biden Is Right to Curb Immigration.”
“In real life, the trans adult I knew best was a normal guy who worked at the zoo. In real life, the MAGA guy I know best is a little league coach who thinks all politicians are corrupt. In real life the cop I know best is an immigrant who wanted a stable, honorable job that she could balance with a family. In real life, the devout Catholic I know best is pro-choice, but spends the most time thinking about recruiting for the choir. In real life, the Muslim immigrant I know the best is a teacher who is mostly still in it for the holidays with her family. In real life, the former prisoner I knew best went away for 10 years at 18 years old but seemed like anyone else except growing up in a family where people went to jail all the time. The redneck I know best is a high school dropout with a stepson who is now a college professor. Don’t let the internet keep you from looking at the real world.” — HarperCollins editor Eric Nelson
“The number of people who used to call themselves liberals who have no issue using indictments, lawsuits, fines, intelligence leaks, censorship, denial of services, ballot access challenges, smears, and other illiberal tactics to achieve political ends is astounding.” — Matt Taibbi
“Ironically, if Donald Trump had been not named Donald Trump and had indeed shot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue, Alvin Bragg would have let it slide.” — Ben Shapiro
“In a year or two, when everyone agrees gender fluidity is a Bolshevik charade, progressives will pretend this never happened and there will just be this wasteland of broken, sexless, purple-haired, heavily tatted, keffiyeh-wearing twentysomethings to show for it.” — Free Press writer Peter Savodnik, regarding the American College of Pediatricians statement calling out all the major medical associations by name for pushing the gender transition craze on kids.
“The answer is contained in the question, if trans women weren’t women they wouldn’t be trans women. It’s like asking whether blue cars are cars, or whether tabby cats are cats. Don’t waste my time with tautologies.” — Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson, when asked if he believes that trans women are women.
“The question that Democrats don’t seem to be able to have the balls to answer is just how many [illegals] is too many? And like, infinity is the answer—if you don’t give that answer, you’re a racist. That’s their essential problem with this issue.” — Bill Maher
“And I think that when it comes to women and people with uteruses, that understand and see what is happening state by state with the roll back of their rights and their protections, I think they look at the larger picture and say ‘What does Trump’s retribution have to do with me?’” Danielle Moodie, host of the WokeAF Daily podcast, during an MSNBC interview.
A piece by N.S. Lyons on how the Ford Foundation “has spent decades tearing the country apart, tax-free.”
A Wall Street Journal story about an anonymous messaging app that upended a high school.
“Like Russia, Ukraine Is Now Recruiting Soldiers From Prisons,” also from The Wall Street Journal.
The Economist: “Is the New York Times bestseller list politically biased?”
“The Mayday Call: How One Death at Sea Transformed a Fishing Fleet,” from The New York Times Magazine.
A piece from The Verge on the Microsoft Excel World Championship in Las Vegas.
The New York Times: “The Epic Hunt for a Lost World War II Aircraft Carrier”
So many of these are gold, but the Gurri, Taibbi, and Savodnik quotes are next-level truth.
That first quote by Patrick Deenan could not be more on point.