Quotes and Links

A week in review

The View’s Whoopi Goldberg, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2024.

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.

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• “Blocking roads is a sign that your cause doesn’t have a lot of support. It’s an easy way for a small group of people to appear to wield a lot of influence because of the scale of disruption. Groups that actually do have influence and support don’t need tantrums to get attention.” — Tablet’s Noah Blum, on pro-Palestine protestors’ efforts to inconvenience as many Americans as possible

• “Election denial is a sickness that is poisoning our democracy.” — Hakeem Jeffries

• “The more we learn about 2016 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE President in the Oval Office.” — Hakeem Jeffries in 2018

• “2024 Is the Year of Elections and That’s a Threat to Democracy” — Bloomberg headline

• “The Biden administration is enforcing immigration laws. In fact, the administration has been so heavy handed in recent months that I have serious concerns.” — Democrat rep. Pramila Jayapal

• “I support every state taking very aggressive action to keep [Trump] off the ballot.” — D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser

• “I can’t even believe I’m in the entertainment industry. I can’t. You know, it’s so unlikely. I’m from a small town in Indiana. I’m not a pedophile…” — Comedian Jim Gaffigan, during the Golden Globes

• “I think it is very clear that Donald Trump’s grievances, way back, before Charlottesville, or at the time of Charlottesville, ties him to what happened at [Mother Emanuel AME Church].” — Democrat Rep. Jim Clyburn, who says Trump bears some responsibility for the 2015 shooting at Emanuel despite the fact that he wouldn’t become president for another 18 months

• “As a law professor who teaches criminal law, I felt compelled to inform you to be gay, do crimes, and also look at my pretty earrings today.” — Nonbinary University of Alberta professor Florence Ashley, in a TikTok message to her/his (no idea what to call them but I refuse to use “their”) followers

• “They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace. They’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10.30am.’ Or in emails, I’ll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they’re like, ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that kind of limiting?’” — Jodie Foster, on Gen Z

• “Officer Fanone, I’m going to try to get through this. Thank you for what you did three years ago today. Please, tell me your thoughts on this third anniversary [of Jan. 6].” — MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, who cried on air while saying this

• “Liberals Warn Harvard President Ouster Could Lead To Terrifying World Where People Are Held Responsible For Their Own Actions” — Babylon Bee headline

• “Look I vastly prefer Biden and would never vote for Trump. But saying you’re defending democracy while suppressing a primary in your own party is ridiculous.” — Andrew Yang

• “I don’t understand this, this it going to cost 2.6 billion dollars for tax payers. They don’t even give veterans health insurance…help me understand this shit.” — Rapper 50 Cent, regarding California’s decision to grant free health insurance to illegal migrants

• “As an alum of Harvard—look, I graduated 25 years ago, and of course it was always a little pinko. But now, I don’t recognize it.” — John Fetterman

• “Joe Biden’s work and America’s economy is the envy of the world. How do we get that message out to voters?” — MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough

• “The DeSantis-Haley debate is gripping television. Like a really, really angry version of the Pan Am Games Bronze Medal field hockey match.” — Matt Taibbi

• “Why did Fauci get a $5 million advance for his memoir when he can’t remember anything?” — American Commitment president Phil Kerpen; Fauci said “I do not recall” more than 100 times during his testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday

• “Or do you want somebody who says, ‘I’m going to be, on day one, I’m going to be a dictator.’ Who says it to you, tells you, ‘I’m going to put you people away. I’m going to take all the journalists, I’m going to take all the gay folks, and I’ll move you all around and disappear you.’ If that’s the country you want, you know who to vote for.” — Whoopi Goldberg

• “At this point I’ve come to have a grudging respect [for] people who are still into new COVID variants like I respect people who are into the nth sequel of obscure movie franchises.” — Nate Silver

• The New York Times: “What Really Brought Down the Boeing 737 Max?”

• A Los Angeles Times story about how “Sikh drivers are transforming U.S. trucking.”

• “The Hunt for El Chapo,” from The New Yorker.

• A New York Times piece on “The Misguided War on the SAT.”

• “The threat from the illiberal left,” from The Economist.

• A GQ story about one of the deadliest climbing days on Mt. Everest.