More wonderful (or outrageous) quotations, anecdotes, and aphorisms
🇺🇸 "Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country." —Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834)
🇺🇸 "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth." —Ronald Reagan, 1964
Video: "The Great Train Robbery." —Silent Motion Picture, 12 minutes, Thomas A. Edison, 1903, Library of Congress
"Just because you believe in something does not mean that it is true." —Albert Einstein
"Cultivate friends you disagree with, as well as those with whom you agree, because together you'll locate the soft spot in your own thinking, and find common ground to build on." —Professor Robert P. George
"My history teacher was so old, he taught from memory." —Henny Youngman
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." —Edmund Burke
"A nation that forgets its past has no future." —Attributed to Winston Churchill
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." —George Santyana, 'The Life of Reason or the Phases of Human Progress', 1905
"If we open a quarrel between the past and the present we shall find that we have lost the future." —Winston Churchill, 'Finest Hour' speech, June 18, 1940
"We have but one sample of history." —Paul Samuelson
"When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people." —Abraham Joshua Heschel
"Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." —Anonymous
"Youth is a circumstance you can't do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old." —Frank Lloyd Wright
"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." —Albert Einstein
"Smile oft. Speak gently. Be kind." —Edgar Cayce
"It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice." —One of Sir John Templeton's 'Laws of Life'
" … the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." —U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, Democratic National Convention, Madison Square Garden, New York City, August 12, 1980
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." —Maya Angelou
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." —Anonymous
"Do transcontinental railroad enthusiasts have a one track mind?" —Anonymous
"The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know it when you find it." —Steve Jobs
"Never criticize someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, you're a mile away and you've got their shoes." —Colin Corneau
"Humor makes all things tolerable." —Henry Ward Beecher
TRIGGER WARNING: Financial
"If you lend someone $20, and never see that person again, it was probably worth it." —Anonymous
"The food at this restaurant is awful ... and such small portions!" —Woody Allen
"Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted." —Anonymous
"I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed." —George Carlin
Investing: "They were a people so primitive they did not know how to get money, except by working for it." —Joseph Addison
"If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." —Warren Buffett
"99% of investors should dollar cost average into index funds and call it a day." —Brian Feroldi
"Because of the stock market's upward tendency, lump sum investing beats dollar cost averaging 68% of the time, but dollar cost averaging beats cash about the same percentage of the time." —After Megan Finlay and Josef Zorn, Vanguard
Don't lock in your loss: "If you can't ignore a crash, then you cannot manage your investments." —WillRetire
"I’m the biggest worrier when times are good, and oddly calm during crises." —Annette Louisan
"You never know what you can do till you try." —William Cobbett
"The man who has missed the pleasure of a job well done has missed one of the great pleasures of life." —Attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes by Bill Bennett
"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?" —Edgar Bergen
"No man is free who must work for a living." —Illya Kuryakin
"How not to have to dry the dishes. ... " [More] —Shel Silverstein
"The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play." —Arnold J. Toynbee
"Find something in life that you love doing. If you make a lot of money, that's a bonus, and if you don't, you still won't hate going to work." —Jeff Foxworthy
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat & drink beer all day." —George Carlin
"People who see life as anything more than pure entertainment are missing the point." —George Carlin
TRIGGER WARNING: Meteorite trauma
Unlucky star! "Ann Elizabeth Hodges was struck by a meteorite [Click for photo of this unique injury] while inside her home in Sylacauga, Alabama in late 1954." —Russell Goldman, ABC News
Lucky star! "Sleeping woman avoids death by inches after meteorite crashes through roof of her home and lands right beside her on pillow" —Adam Manno, 'Daily Mail', October 10, 2021
Another meteorite: "Meteorite smashes through roof of New Jersey home, still warm to the touch ... found on the now-dented floor." —Sarah Do Couto, MSN, May 12, 2023
"Real knowledge comes only from experience." —MikeG62
"Good judgement comes from experience and experience, ... well that comes from poor judgement. " —Anonymous
"It's not an optical illusion. It just looks like one." —Anon.
• "Too soon old, too late smart."
• "So many books, so little time."
• "My favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations."
• "Too much of a good thing is wonderful."
• "The hurrier I go the behinder I get."
—Needlepoint pillow homilies
"Things are more like they are now than they've ever been before." —Classified advertisement from Gordon Creamer Realtor, 'Amarillo [Texas] Daily News', October 21, 1948
"I miss the days when I used to be nostalgic." —Michael Benveniste
How sad: "[Disney owned] National Geographic [Magazine] lays off its last remaining staff writers. ... [and] the magazine has curtailed photo contracts that enabled photographers to spend months in the field producing the publication's iconic images." —Paul Farhi, June 28, 2023 ["Two funny fake rumors: Russian spy caught by being seen throwing National Geographic magazines into the trash, which an American would never do; and that continental drift and resulting earthquakes are caused by the ever increasing weight of National Geographic magazines piling up in homes along the west coast."]
Grateful to President Eisenhower for wonderful American highways: "Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." —Charles Kuralt
Try to tell an American he can't, and he will: "Man uses Barbie fishing rod to make record catch." —Los Angeles Times
"That reminds me about the guy who breaks a wrist and asks his doctor: 'Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after this heals?' The doctor replies 'Absolutely, no problem!' The man laughs, and points out that that's great, because he never could play the piano before!" —Ken Rockwell
"Homework! Oh, Homework! I hate you! You stink! ... " [More] —Jack Prelutsky
"Do the best you can, and we'll love you just the same." —Mommy
"Believe in your dreams." —Taylor Swift
"I'd rather surprise people than pretend I'm better than I am." —Jeff K.
"It's good to go on vacation and it's good to come home." —Grandma R
"Mistakes are proof you were trying." —Pillow
"Don't let fear stop you from doing the thing you love." —Sing 1
"If you believe it, you can achieve it." —My perfect Landing
"Believe you can and you're halfway there." —Theodore Roosevelt
"The grass is always greener over the septic tank." —Erma Bombeck
"If it's not fun, you're not doing it right." —Bob Basso
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." —Walt Disney
["Impossible doesn't mean difficult or improbable, impossible is defined as violating the laws of physics, so things that are actually impossible can't ever happen."]
Click on red hilarious video links ...
▶ Baseball: "'Who's on first, What's on second, and I Don't Know's on third.' Why - Left fielder. Because - Center field. Tomorrow - Pitcher. Today - Catcher. I don't give a darn - Short stop. ... " —Abbott and Costello
▶ The Komodo Dragon Expert: "The Komodo dragon is the world's largest living lizard. It's a ferocious carnivore. It's found on the steep-sloped island of Komodo in the lesser Sunda Chain of the Indonesian Archipelago and the nearby islands of Rinja, Padar, and Flores. ... Where do they come from? ... " —Bob and Ray
▶ Dead Parrot: "I wish to register a complaint. ... Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue ... What's wrong with it? ... I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it! ... " —Monty Python's Flying Circus
▶ "'Went With The Wind.' ... " —Carol Burnett
▶ 'Inflationary Language': " ... We have hidden numbers in the words like 'wonderful,' 'before,' 'create,' 'tenderly.' All these numbers can be inflated and meet the economy, you know, by rising to the occcassion. I suggest we add one to each of these numbers to be prepared. For example 'wonderful; would be 'two-derful.' Before would be Be-five. Create, cre-nine. Tenderly should be eleven-derly. A Leiutenant would be a Leiut-eleven-ant. A sentence like, 'I ate a tenderloin with my fork' would be 'I nine an elevenderloin with my five-k.' And so on and so fifth. ... " [Complete transcript] —Victor Borge
▶ Olympia Restaurant: "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger! No Coke, Pepsi! Chips!" —'Live from New York, It's Saturday Night!, 1978'
"If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." —Katharine Hepburn
"Dance as though no one is watching you; love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth." —Alfred Souza
"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain." —Emily Dickinson
"To the world you might be one person, but to one person you might be the world." —Bill Wilson
"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves." —Albert Einstein
🖖 "Live Long and Prosper. [Vulcan language phrase 'dif-tor heh smusma.']" —Star Trek Science Officer Mr. Spock
[The (lesser known) response is "Peace and long life."]
"There are 10 kinds of people, those who read binary and those who don't." —Unknown
"There's no place like 127.0.0.1 !!!" —robpoe
The smart, lazy kind: "Many years ago and far away, an employer wanted to compare VAX vs IBM run times. They developed some code to do a bunch of math and then printed out how long it took. IBM took 30 seconds; VAX took 0.001 seconds. They were astounded. Turns out, the compiler figured out that if you aren't going to use the result, it would optimize away the calculation." —TomatoTomahto
"If you want a much higher level computer programming language, try APL, by Kenneth E. Iverson, winner of the Turing Award in 1979." —Try using APL here (live software online) [Yes, it's worth the time to learn APL's powerful notation!]
"This computer screams." ——>Wow!
In other computer news ... The world has gone completely mad: "Had to download the iPhone app, make a Bluetooth connection, and install the revised firmware update to allow my wife to operate her new TOOTHBRUSH! (I kid you not!)" —Oral-B iO Series 7 Electric Toothbrush, $198.49 [Bet that her toothbrush has more computing power than the IBM 7074 that I used in college.]
"De gustibus non est disputandum ('There is no accounting for taste.')" —Unknown
"Middle age is when you can finally afford the things that a young man could truly enjoy." —Dave Kadolph
"People want the latest model even when the latest model is 65 years old." —Michael C. Johnston
"If you had all the money you spent on cameras, you'd spend it on cameras." —Jnny
"In terms of addiction, there is nothing more powerful than men's toys." —Sammy Davis Jr.
[No sexism intended: It's wrong to rewrite quotations of what others said or wrote (and possibly anachronistic), but please mentally substitute "person/people" or the like, whenever you read "man/men" meaning human/humans.]
"You're gonna need a bigger boat." —MrHollywood
It Might Not Even Matter How Much Something Costs: "The most expensive asset we own is one we don't use." —Albert Erickson
"Shop your closet first." —E-mail subject line
"One person's trash is another's treasure." —Idiom
"There is a very fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness.' :'!':" —Greg Lamont
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." —Ferris Bueller
"Live now; always make now the most precious time. Now will never come again." —Captain Jean-Luc Picard
"At some point you are trading time you will never get back for money you will never spend.“ | “How do you want to spend the best remaining year of your life?" —Wannaretireearly
"Everything that exists in your life, does so because of two things: something you did or something you didn't do." —Albert Einstein
'Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart': "I wasted my life. I'm not kidding. I should have done something that simply earned money effectively, and then pursued my interests as hobbies on the side." —Michael C. Johnston
"So you're saying it's wrong to park on the driveway and drive on the parkway?" —marter
"Letting cooler heads prevail." —Idiom
"Doppelgangers don't just look alike, they act alike and share DNA." —Matt Growcoot, September 1, 2022
Online shopping: "They don't send you what you ordered, they send you what they have [in stock]." —Donna
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." —Abraham Lincoln
"I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me." —Joshua Graham
"I need someone who sees the fire in my eyes and wants to play with it." —Anonymous
"A government is like fire, a handy servant, but a dangerous master." —George Washington
"Tact is the art of building a fire under people without making their blood boil." —Franklin P. Jones
"You can observe a lot by just watching." —Yogi Berra
"I never said half the things I said." —Yogi Berra
"You can pick your nose, but you can't pick your family." —NCIS S3:E14
"A dyslexic man walks into a bra." —from an acquaintance in Los Angeles
"A dyslexic who is extremely nervous should eat calm chowder." —Anonymous
"The man who can keep a secret may be wise, but he is not half as wise as the man who has no secrets to keep." —Edgar Watson Howe
"I'd hate for your ego to write a check your body can't cash." —Movie: 'Top Gun'
"[Caroline seeking confidential information ...] Marisa: Can you keep a secret?
Caroline: Yes of course.
[Marisa declining to leak the secret ...] Marisa: Good. So can I." —Movie: 'Maid in Manhattan'
Know the Emergency Hand Signal asking for help: "Raised hand with palm forward and tuck thumb into palm, then curl four fingers around thumb." —signalforhelp.net
● Improved Health Savings Accounts with variable deductible resulting in an accelerating decline in health insurance premiums: "The fundamental idea is that the amount of the deductible of a linked health insurance policy varies and is equal to the current health savings account balance, with changing monthly insurance premiums automatically paid from the account. This self-insurance approach with linked major medical backup maximizes cost consciousness while providing 100% coverage. ... As account balances become larger, self-insurance increases, cost consciousness increases, health insurance premiums dramatically decrease, investment earnings cover the costs of medical care, and monthly contributions can decrease. ... " [MORE] —Solution to Health Care Reform
TRIGGER WARNING: Freedom
"Laissez Faire, laissez passer." —Francois Quesnay, French Physiocrat
"Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions." —John Locke
Freedom from Great Britain: "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." —Resolution submitted by delegate Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, adopted by the Continental Congress, July 2, 1776
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government ··· " —Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 [Attributed to Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Paine]
■ " ... We are a unique country in many ways and we are the only country – the only country in the world – not based, organized based on geography or ethnicity or religion or race or anything else, but based on an idea. The only country in the world based on an idea that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Sounds corny but it's the truth of who we are. We've never lived up to it but we've never walked away from it. And the rest of the world looks to us because … we lead not only by the example of our power but by the power of our example … We are the essential nation … the organizing principal around which the rest of the world is moving … We are in the mist of a fight between democracies and oligarchs … we are at an inflection point … The question is who will prevail – are democracies going to prevail … or autocracies going to prevail. That's what's at stake … " —President Joe Biden, Rzeszow, Poland, March 25, 2022
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated." —Thomas Paine, 'The Crisis'
"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: 'We the People.' 'We the People' tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. 'We the People' are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the People' tell the government what it is allowed to do. 'We the People' are free."
—President Ronald Reagan's Farewell Address to the Nation, January 11, 1989, Washington D.C.
Gadsden flag, 1775 – Most popular symbol of the American revolution:
"DONT TREAD ON ME" —Christopher Gadsden, a South Carolina delegate to the Continental Congress and brigadier general in the Continental Army
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." —John Adams, 2nd U.S. President
"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." —Benjamin Franklin
"The main difference between liberty and freedom is that liberty is the state of being free from oppressive restrictions or control imposed by authority on one's way of life, behaviour, or political views, while freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants." —Hasa
Life, Liberty, and Property: "Every Man has a Property in his own Person. This no Body has any Right to but himself. The Labour of his Body, and the Work of his Hands, we may say, are properly his." —John Locke
"Property rights and personal rights are the same thing." —President Calvin Coolidge
"Government has no other end, but the preservation of property." —John Locke
"Now what liberty can there be where property is taken without consent?" —Samuel Adams, Founding Father and leader of the Boston Tea Party
Volition: "Property consists of one's life and all of its non-procreative derivatives. Freedom is the societal condition that exists when every individual has full (100%) control over his own property." —Andrew J. Galambos
"Independence now and forever!" —Daniel Webster
"Give me liberty or give me death." —Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth." —President George Washington
Forced equality of outcome: "Human beings are born with different capacities. If they are free, they are not equal. And if they are equal, they are not free." —Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
"Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty." —Louis D. Brandeis
"Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a right to, but himself." —John Locke, 'Second Treatise of Government'
Separation of powers: "When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner." —Montesquieu
["In reaction to tyranny under monarchy, the U.S. Constitution brilliantly creates a new form of government ('we don't need a king') having separation of powers into eight parts, with a bicameral legislature, executive [elected by The Electoral College], and judiciary providing checks and balances among both federal and state levels, and to prevent a 'tyranny of the majority'." —Barbara Martin]
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands … may justly be the pronounced the very definition of tyranny." —James Madison
Gratitude changes everything: "Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude." —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happiness: "Three things provide long-lasting satisfaction, as quantitatively measured by academic psychologists: autonomy, meaningful contact with others, and the development and exercise of competence." —William J. Bernstein, M.D., Ph.D.
[i.e., seek happiness in autonomy, connectedness, and competence ('internal rewards') in preference to the transient satisfaction of fame, fortune, and power ('external rewards').]
["So, this explains why socialism is so miserable because it usurps individual autonomy (both personal and financial), subsitutes government force for voluntary meaningful contacts with others, and largely regulates competence out of existence (because central planning eliminates the necessary knowledge of individual preferences, decisions, and skills that a market economy provides when people constantly interact while voting with their dollars)." —Fred Michaels]
"Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product." —Eleanor Roosevelt
'Act happy!': "Happiness is a moral obligation. … (or at least to act as happy as possible). … Happiness is a virtue, not just an emotion. … The pursuit of happiness is morally equivalent to the pursuit of goodness, kindness, and integrity. … Gratitude is the mother of goodness and happiness. … Your feelings are secondary to your behavior. ... There is almost no correlation between disposition and suffering. … 'Happy wife, happy life.' … 'Happy spouse, happy house.'" —Dennis Prager
Four Habits of the Happiest People: "1. Practice self-kindness; 2. Learn to be grateful; 3. Forgive others; and, 4. Slow things down (exercise patience)." —Marcel Schwantes, 'INC.'
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." —Attributed to Abraham Lincoln
"Fake it till you make it." —Wisdom from 12 step program
"All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it's truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy." —Dennis Prager
"Resentments are like drinking poison and hoping someone else dies." —Dennis Prager, quoting from 12 step program wisdom
"Don't wait for miracles, your whole life is a miracle." —Albert Einstein
"My best advice to young people is to travel while you can and make joyful memories that will last you a lifetime! (... and take a few terrific photos of where you've been, including your loved ones in the pictures, to help you remember.)" —Dad
"Remember to make memories with your loved ones – have stories to tell, not stuff to show." —Tammy Ely
"Most experiences are better imagined." —'Random Poster'
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ... " —Charles Dickens' novel, 'A Tale of Two Cities,' opening paragraph
"'The time has come,' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things: Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings' " —Lewis Carroll – The Walrus and The Carpenter in "Through the Looking-Glass"
"Photography is my one recreation and I think it should be done well." —Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll
'What's Your Photography Joy Point?': "I see five basic joy points in pursuing photography. By 'joy point' I mean the aspect that gives you the most satisfaction with being a hobbyist or professional involved in photography.
Buying/Collecting; Learning; Photographing; Post Processing; Presenting/Viewing." [MORE]
—Thom Hogan
"Pictures are not incidental frills to a text; they are essences of our distinctive way of knowing." —Stephen J. Gould
"The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words." —Elliott Erwitt
The Leica Look: "A statistically unusually high number of the most famous images of the 20th century were taken with Leica M cameras." —Irakly Shanidze
'Time for my old Leica [M] joke':
Q: "How do the locals count to ten in the city of Wetzlar?"
A: "3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 4.2, 6, 7, 8, 8.2, 9, 240, 10." —Søren Engelbrecht
Photographic categories: "Advertising, Architecture, Close up/Macro, Concert, Event, Family/Friends, Fashion, Fine Art, Food, Glamour, Healthcare/Medical, Interiors, Landscape, Model, Myself/Self Portrait, Nature, Night, People, Party, Pets, Portrait, Press/Journalism, Sports, Still Life, Street/Urban, Studio, Travel, Underwater, Wedding, Wildlife" —Nikon
Keep shooting – your best photos are ahead: "The hallmark of a great photographer is one who never stops learning and experimenting. Re-ignite that creative spark with a new-to-you lens, challenge yourself with film photography, or read up on the latest tips and tricks on our blog. But whatever you do, just keep shooting." —KEH
"Owning more than one lens assures you that you will always have the wrong lens on the camera for any given picture." —Ted Orland, 'Photographic Truths'
"Never sell a good lens!" —Michael C. Johnston
'Lensoholic?': "Once you have more than about five lenses you are a collector." —Tom Caldwell
"I put my camera on in the morning and take it off in the evening, like my shirt." —David Vestal
"The best lenses on Earth are those closest to clear windows into the imagination ... " —Robert/MrHollywood
"You can't catch a fish without having your line in the water, and you won't take good pictures without your camera in your hand. Photography is comforting that way. Spend the time, and you’ll get results." —Key Thoughts and The Zen of Fishing
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but more than one photog has noticed perfectly corrected lenses producing perfectly boring photos." —Steve Huff
Q. "Where I live is relatively boring, so I'm not finding things to take photos of. What should I do?"
A. "Welcome to existentialism. You should be asking Kierkegaard, not me." —Thom Hogan, September 4, 2023
"I prefer and own Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander lenses." —airfrogusmc
'The most boring strategy': "Use my existing gear until it needs to be replaced." —JasonTheBirder
Overachiever: "Kathleen Mary Lindsay, who you've probably never heard of unless you enjoy The Guinness Book of World Records, wrote 904 books under 11 pseudonyms ['including Mary Faulkner, Margaret Cameron, Mary Richmond, Molly Waring, Betty Manvers, Elizabeth Fenton, Nigel Mackenzie and Hugh Desmond']." —Michael C. Johnston
"I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." —Julius 'Groucho' Marx
"Don't be so humble — you're not that great!" —Groucho Marx
"Everything I write is a personal opinion. Even when I quote facts, they are the facts I personally choose to accept." —Mario Giannini
"Nourish your enthusiasm." —Ansel Adams
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." —Allen Saunders, famously quoted by John Lennon
"We plan. G-d laughs." —an old Yiddish proverb
"A person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused." —Shirley Maclaine
TRIGGER WARNING: Science, Theology, Cosmology
"The more I study science, the more I believe in God." —Albert Einstein E = mc2
"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." —Frank Lloyd Wright
Is this what makes the creation of the universe possible?: "Negative gravitational energy exactly cancels the positive energy represented by the matter. So the total energy of the universe is zero." —Stephen Hawking, 'The Theory of Everything'
The universe ends by evaporating excruciatingly slowly???: "Black holes evaporate — now physicists think everything else does, too. Particle by particle, all matter may eventually disappear ... " —Adam Mann, 'Scientific American', June 22, 2023
'Religiousness ... wonder and stand rapt in awe': "Behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly." —Albert Einstein, 'Mosaic'
"I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference." —Robert Frost
"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." —Brian Littrell
"For fast acting relief, try slowing down." —Lily Tomlin
"The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them." —Isaac D'Israeli
"My retirement plan is to keep working." —Standard joke
"I was born with nothing and I have most of it left." —Anonymous
Sillygism: "Stale crackers are better than nothing; Nothing is better than a meal at a fancy 5-star restaurant; Therefore, stale crackers are better than a meal at a fancy 5-star restaurant." —Bill Brassfield
Extremely Common Mistakes:
WRONG: "You have a large amount of friends." [Correction: Large number, not large amount.]
WRONG – illogical: "You're better at it than anyone I know." [Correction: Anyone ELSE.]
—Pet peeves
"The best things in life are free." —Frank Sinatra
"'Tada hodo kowai mono wa nai' ('Nothing is more risky than something that is free.')" —Japanese saying
"Don't make the waffle batter until you have plugged in the waffle iron." —Donna
"Don't ever leave the kitchen while any burners on the stove are on." —Fire Department
"When making the Thanksgiving turkey, remember to turn on the same oven that the turkey is in." —Don't ask
"A new study suggests that consuming chocolate may increase your chances of grabbing the prestigious [Nobel] prize." —Cum hoc ergo propter hoc
TRIGGER WARNING: Dinosaurs
Dinosaur predecessors to birds:
Pterodactyl [The elongated finger makes this pterosaur's wing.]
Archaeopteryx [The arm and hand makes this pterosaur's wing.]
"There are 10,000 living species [of birds, but] only about 4,000 mammals, so [it is] still the age of dinosaurs." —Jacques Gauthier, Nova
Gooneybird: "While albatrosses may go years before returning to their island (usually to mate), they do touch and land on the water's surface out at sea." —Reuters Fact Check
TRIGGER WARNING: Incomprehensibly large numbers
"20,000,000,000,000,000 [twenty quadrillion; 2 x 1016] ants are crawling around Earth, researchers find, weighing more in total than all [wild] birds and mammals combined." —Sophie Lewis, September 20, 2022
"We have no paupers ... The great mass of our [United States] population is of laborers; our rich, who can live without labor, either manual or professional, being few, and of moderate wealth. Most of the laboring class possess property, cultivate their own lands, have families, and from the demand for their labor are enabled to exact from the rich and the competent such prices as enable them to be fed abundantly, clothed above mere decency, to labor moderately and raise their families. ... Can any condition of society be more desirable than this?" —Thomas Jefferson, 1814
"A photographer is like a cod, which produces a million eggs in order that one may reach maturity." —George Bernard Shaw
'A billion daily just in the U.S.': "The world now contains more photographs than bricks." —John Szarkowski, Curator of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, 1976
"Photographers fade faster than photographs." —Ted Orland, 'Photographic Truths'
How many places have you ever lived?: "I didn't deliberately collect pictures of all the places I lived as I moved through life ... I wish I'd been more careful and conscientious about documenting my own life and the people in it." —Michael C. Johnston
"I've been called worse things by better people." —Pierre Trudeau
"I get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest." —Rodney Dangerfield
"When I was a kid, I walked to school uphill both ways." —Idiom
"The advice I would give to someone is to not take anyone's advice." —Eddie Murphy
"There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people." —Adam Smith, 'Wealth of Nations,' 1776
"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." —Oscar Wilde, 'Lady Windermere's Fan' (1892) Act III
TRIGGER WARNING: Political
"The government does not add value to the economy. It removes value from the economy by imposing taxes on one citizen and providing cash to another." —Mark Levin
'Power's Playbook': "Cause the problem for which you are the solution." [More] —Max Borders
"It's the economy, stupid." —James Carville, strategist in Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign
'Perfecting the world': "I want the world to be better because I was here." —Will Smith
"He suggested that when you look at people who are good at what they do, they have an extraordinary sense of concentration while they're doing it." —David Hurn
"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." —Leo Tolstoy
"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind." —Aristotle
"Who says nothing is impossible? I've been doing nothing for years." —Henny Youngman
"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important." —Bertrand Russell
Having a crummy day?: "Your entire experience of the world and your life is completely governed by your thoughts. So if you change your thoughts, everything else gets magically better ... come up with better thoughts that are actually believable. ... It's not worth ruining your day and getting your blood pressure up … [but] easier said than done." —Wisdom
"Lost time is never found again." —Benjamin Franklin
"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." —C. Northcote Parkinson
"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." —The Spectator, 1711
"Everytime I ask what time it is, I get a different answer." —Henny Youngman
"A prevalent Israeli joke is that it took the Hebrews no less than 40 years of wandering in the desert to find the only place in the Middle East without oil." —Yitzhak Shamir
"A meeting is an event at which the minutes are kept and the hours are lost." —Unknown
"When it comes to work, there are many who will stop at nothing." —Henny Youngman
"I wish my brother would learn a trade, so I would know what kind of work he's out of." —Henny Youngman
"The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep." —Robert Frost
"While the moments do summersaults into eternity | Cling to their coattails and beg them to stay" —Townes Van Zandt
"If I cannot drink Bourbon and smoke cigars in Heaven then I shall not go." —Mark Twain
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on ye shoulders of giants." —Sir Isaac Newton in a letter to Robert Hooke, February 15, 1676
"Thoroughly conscious ignorance is the prelude to every real advance in science." —James Clerk Maxwell
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." —Albert Einstein
"Don't believe everything you think." —Unknown
'Your memory profoundly influences what you see': "Reality and imagination are completely intermixed in our brain which means that the separation between our inner world and the outside world is not as clear as we might like to think. If our imagination is vivid enough, we will think it is real and we use our imagination to create our perception of reality ... " —Nadine Dijkstra
["Our brain is creating the emergent property of consciousness by running in neural wetware, a constantly updating memory plus sensory driven predictive simulation of our environment including ourselves. [i.e., the 'story' of reality is constructed]" —John Garrideb]
"What is written here is false." —Eubulides, 4th century BCE, Liar (pseudomenos) paradox
"What if there were no hypothetical questions?" —George Carlin
"I saw a lot of white men almost fight today.
I do not think this is good." —Hin-mah-too-yah-la-kekt (Thunder Rolling Down the Mountains), also known as Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perce Indian tribe, after impassively watching a football game between the Universities of Washington and Nebraska in Seattle in 1903
"When I feel like exercising I just lie down until the feeling goes away." —Robert Maynard Hutchins, who pulled the University of Chicago out of the Big Ten Conference and eliminated the school’s football program
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." —S.G. Tallentyre, The Friends of Voltaire
"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." —Ron Paul
Did you know!: "By replacing your potato chips with grapefruit as a snack you can lose up to 90% of what little joy you still have left in your life." —Anonymous
Billion dollar idea: "A smoke detector that shuts off when you yell, ‘I'm just cooking!’" —Anonymous
"When you're in a hole, stop digging." —Denis Healey
"The instructions tell you what to do." —At the front of the Scholastic Aptitude Test examination booklet
"A projected 857 percent [sic] reduction in energy used for U.S. residential lighting by 2040." —National Geographic innumerate environmental department of the impossible
"Never make forecasts, especially about the future." —Samuel Goldwyn
"The hell with the past — I'd like to put the future behind us." —New Yorker cartoon
🐕 "Military dogs always hold a higher rank than their handlers." —Eric Milzarski, February 12, 2018
"Edward Steichen owned a three legged dog, which he named Tripod." —Ted Orland
"If you want a better lens, get a tripod." —My mentor in college
"I think it is really a variable-weight tripod: the farther you carry it, the heavier it gets." —Stephen S. Mack
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." —Winston Churchill, November, 1942
"There is nothing that does so much harm as good intentions." —Milton Friedman
"Be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." —Gloria Vanderbilt
"Vivian: The stores are not nice to people – I don't like it.
Edward: Stores are never nice to people. They're nice to credit cards." —'Pretty Woman' [movie]
"Quantum Mechanics: the dreams stuff is made of." —William A. Arnett
"Film isn't dead. It just smells funny." —Lars Vinberg
"He's got a photographic mind. Too bad it never developed." —Leopold Fechtner
"May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live." —Irish Blessing
"Invest we must." —Jack Bogle, Founder of Vanguard Investments
"Stocks for the Long Run." —Jeremy Siegel, the Russell E. Palmer Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
They mocked our 1998 'Dow 36,000' book and prediction (that has proven to have been correct): "We said 'if you're in for the long-haul buy equities and it will work out OK.' And then people just went nuts! The reason is … they're pushing a socialist agenda that is defeated if everybody participates in equity markets." —Kevin Hassett, Former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers, September 10, 2021
Bear Market Musings: "Contrary to what most people believe, low prices create the expectation of higher future returns. Thus ... higher bond yields and lower stock prices make the return outlook ... more attractive than it was ... " —George Sista, October, 2022
"One of the funny things about the stock market, every time one is buying another is selling, and both think they are astute." —William Feather
"The highest form of wealth is the ability to wake up every morning and say, I can do whatever I want today. If there is a common denominator in happiness, a universal fuel of joy, it's that people want to control their lives. The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, is priceless. It is the highest dividend money pays." —Morgan Housel, 'The Psychology of Money'
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." —Parable
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. ... " —Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Self-Reliance'
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started." —Mark Twain
"If you can have any superpower, luck is the one you want." —Elon Musk, at his first SpaceX astronaut lauch
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." —Lucius Annaeus Seneca
"If you want your children to succeed, let them fail early and often." —Head of psychiatry at a children's hospital
Fuel for healthy souls: "We all need certain inputs if we're to be deeply healthy ... for children this is even more important ... Truth, goodness, beauty, wholeness and internal harmony, aliveness rather than mechanization, uniqueness not uniformity, completeness, simplicity, richness, playfulness, self-sufficiency, meaningfulness, human interaction." —Paul Rosenberg
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." —paraphrasing Clare Boothe Luce, and falsely attributed to Leonardo da Vinci
"From today, painting is dead." —Paul Delacroix, c. 1839, on seeing his first daguerreotype
"I suddenly understood that photography can fix eternity in a moment." —Henri Cartier-Bresson
"Momma don't take my Kodachrome away!" —Paul Simon
"There are more ways to screw up a large format [8" x 10" film camera] image than the average cell phone photographer can possibly conceive." —CopCarSS
"I once asked Ansel Adams what kind of camera he used, and he replied, 'the biggest one I can carry!' Which was his standard answer." —Michael C. Johnston
How to Choose a 4" x 5" film Camera: " ... And if you find you're not using it, then set it up in the corner of the living room as a conversation piece! Like a racehorse put out to pasture. They're pretty things, and exotic to normal citizens. Instead of actually using it, you can explain to your friends how to use it, and let them get under the dark cloth and look at the image on the ground glass. It's all good." —Michael C. Johnston
Wishing you: "Good light and good negs." —Photographer Brett Weston (1911–1993), used to sign his letters
"We have a mixed marriage. She has a Leica, and I a Nikon." —Compromise
Mulholland Drive, Bel Air, Los Angeles, California – Panorama of the San Fernando Valley, c. 1975
"Buying a Nikon doesn't make you a photographer. It makes you a Nikon owner!" —M. David Farrell, Jr.
Camera brand agnosticism: "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter." —David Hume Kennerly, Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist and former White House photographer for President Gerald R. Ford, in the early '80s, when Michael C. Johnston asked him what camera he used
"A camera is a tool, not a jewel." —Anonymous
"Buy the best camera you can afford and will carry. Buy only the lenses you will carry and use most of the time. Use this kit as long as possible." —Thom Hogan after Michael C. Johnston
"Modern cameras are recording the randomness of photons quite well, and randomness of photons is by far the primary source of noise in an image when you look closely. ... What's limiting image sensors today is essentially quantum efficiency. ... collect light over the same area (sensor size) and output the result to the same area (print size) and the differences between two cameras (almost completely) disappear." —Thom Hogan, January 24, 2022
"For those who already have an interchangeable lens camera system: don't switch brands. Seriously." —Thom Hogan
"Last Camera Syndrome refers to a user who is satisfied with their current camera and not likely to buy another body. Unless their current camera breaks, they aren't in the buying market any more." —Thom Hogan
"Alternately, wait for The Perfect Camera to be announced. That way, you have the cost savings of never buying anything." —justmeMN
"This summer I decided to be honest with myself and recognise that I was simply no longer using my DSLR and lenses. ... they never left the hotel room; I used the iPhone instead. So during the summer I sold all my photo equipment ... " —Tom Burke
"Better to be a nerd than one of the herd." —Michael C. Johnston
"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." —Robert Capa, photojournalist
... "but [Capa] also died [from] being too close [to] a landmine. So please be careful." —Pascal Méheut
Oculus Dei "Eye of God": "If a camera has a soul, you will find it in the lens." —PaulC
"Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants." —Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
"Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography." —George Eastman
"My first thought is always of light." —Galen Rowell
"Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." —Rudyard Kipling
"I'm waiting for the day when my children ask 'What did you do in the analog-digital war, Daddy?'" —Colin B
"There are many things of which a wise man might wish to be ignorant." —Emerson
"A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it." —Albert Einstein
"Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are." —Niccolò Machiavelli, 'The Prince'
"Act in haste, repent at leisure." —Proverb
"In-laws and outlaws." —FreddieFIRE
"In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him." —Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Software and cathedrals are much the same – first we build them, then we pray." —Sam Redwine
"I don't want to buy any more things that I have to learn." —Ilene Wexler
Design heuristics: "An error message indicates a flawed design. Improve and simplify the design so that the error cannot ever occur. Every possible action should yield a meaningful result. Complexity provides a combinatoric nightmare of oppotunities for coding errors to be hidden in obscurity. With sufficient simplification, every possible action and all of the limited number of pathways will get used often enough that all the possible bugs will get quickly revealed, and can be eliminated. The designer must take responsibility because users commonly blame themselves for what is actually bad design, and so fail to report problems." —DrDr
World wide web inventor, "Sir Tim Berners-Lee['s] ... parents ... met while building the Ferranti Mk 1, the world's first commercially available computer ... " —Iain Thomson
"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey." —John Ruskin
"News is what hardly ever happens. If it happened often, it wouldn't be news." —Anonymous
[Exception: Murder and mayhem on the nightly local 6 & 11 o'clock TV news.]
National defense: "F-16 fighter pilot recalls [her] suicide mission on 9/11 to stop hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 from crashing into the terrorists' target, the White House or Congress." —Amazing heroism
"We can do Good, Quick and Cheap work. You can have any two but not all three." —Anonymous
"The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society. ... There is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. ... " —President John F. Kennedy, April 27, 1961
"A good photograph is one that makes the viewer so aware of the subject that they are unaware of the print." —Kodak
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it." —Agent K
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." —Henri Cartier-Bresson
"LIGHTS ALL ASKEW IN THE HEAVENS. Men of Science More or Less Agog Over Results of Eclipse Observations. EINSTEIN THEORY TRIUMPHS." —'The New York Times', Monday, November 10, 1919, headline about Sir Arthur Eddington's experimental confirmation of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
Einstein's theory of General Relativity
General relativity equation: "Matter tells space-time how to curve (math on the left) and space-time tells matter how to move (physics on the right)." —Robbert Dukgraaf, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ
Albert Einstein during a lecture in Vienna in 1921, F. Schmutzer
"I don't teach my students, I provide the circumstances in which they can learn." —Albert Einstein
Advertisement for tutoring by Albert Einstein
Maxwell's Equations
(Laws of Electromagnetism)
"From a long view of the history of mankind – seen from, say ten thousand years from now – there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as [James Clerk] Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade." —Nobel laureate, Richard Feynman, 'Lectures on Physics', 1963
"The precise formulation of the time-space laws of those [electro-magnetic] fields was the work of [James Clerk] Maxwell. Imagine his feelings when the differential equations he had formulated proved to him that electromagnetic fields spread in the form of polarized waves and with the speed of light! To few men in the world has such an experience been vouchsafed ... it took physicists some decades to grasp the full significance of Maxwell's discovery, so bold was the leap that his genius forced upon the conceptions of his fellow-workers." —Albert Einstein, 1954
"I stand not on the shoulders of Newton, but on the shoulders of James Clerk Maxwell." —Albert Einstein
[Also, your digital camera uses the same three color filter method of color photography invented by James Clerk Maxwell.]
" ... The only desire which I can have is ... to serve my own generation by the will of God, and then fall asleep." —James Clerk Maxwell, in his final days, confiding in a friend and colleague from Cambridge
"All these fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no nearer to the answer to the question, 'What are light quanta?' Nowadays every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks he knows it, but he is mistaken." —Albert Einstein, 1954
"It is important to realize that in physics today, we have no knowledge of what energy is." —Richard Feynman, 'The Feynman Lectures on Physics', Lecture 4, 1964
"Anyone who claims to understand quantum theory is either lying or crazy." —Attributed to Richard Feynman
"Shall I refuse my dinner because I do not fully understand the process of digestion?" —Oliver Heaviside
The fine-structure constant, α: "There is a most profound and beautiful question associated with the observed coupling constant, e – the amplitude for a real electron to emit or absorb a real photon. 
It is a simple number that has been experimentally determined to be close to 0.08542455. (My physicist friends won't recognize this number, because they like to remember it as the inverse of its square: about 137.03597 with an uncertainty of about 2 in the last decimal place. [But a 'constant' that significantly decreases at higher energy.] It has been a mystery ever since it was discovered more than fifty years ago, and all good theoretical physicists put this number up on their wall and worry about it.) Immediately you would like to know where this number for a coupling comes from: is it related to pi or perhaps to the base of natural logarithms? Nobody knows. It's one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding by humans. You might say the 'hand of God' wrote that number, and 'we don't know how He pushed His pencil.' We know what kind of a dance to do experimentally to measure this number very accurately, but we don't know what kind of dance to do on the computer to make this number come out – without putting it in secretly!" —Richard P. Feynman, 'QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter', 1985
[Coupling Constants:
Strong, αs = 1; Electromagnetic, α = 1/137; Weak, αw = 10-6; Gravity, αg = 10-39.]
Here's some information that will surely come in handy: "The metal ... experiences alpha decay at such a minute rate that its half-life is more than a billion times the estimated age of the universe." —Bismuth is radioactive!
'How Far Do We Travel in Our Lives?': "Your total absolute lifetime motion through the universe is about 1.5 trillion km through space and about 750 trillion km through time." —Paraphrasing Paul M. Sutter, PhD.
"People who can't explain the difference between distance, speed, and acceleration don't understand the world." —Calculus
'Physics … is for girls?': "Contrary to modern stereotypes, the laws of the natural world used to be considered a fundamental part of young women's education." —Joanna Behrman
Recommended math: "Anyone wanting to be able to have facility in handling any technical subject, whether it be physics or any of the other sciences, engineering, or economics, etc., should try to become sufficiently knowledgeable in math through multiple college level courses, at least to the level of the following courses:
Derivatives of multivariable functions (Kahn Academy) and
Multivariable Calculus (MIT).
These are only examples of courses at this elevated (and difficult) level, but since there are a multitude of courses now available online without charge, anyone with an internet connection with sufficient aptitude and motivation has the opportunity to become highly educated, regardless of their wealth. —Sarah Wilson
["Proficiency with Fourier analysis, convolution, differential equations, matrices, statistics, etc. is incredibly helpful in so many different technical fields."]
Anticipating an educational future with the benefit of AI tutoring: "Average students who were individually tutored [by a human tutor] performed two standard deviations better than they would have in a classroom. That's enough to raise a person’s test scores from the 50th percentile to the 98th." —Klinton Bicknell, et. al., February 5, 2023
"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school?" —Albert Einstein
"When I was a student, I was no Einstein." —Attributed to Albert Einstein
"Well, I'm sick and tired of smart guys." —Angry Joe Biden, Luzerne, County, PA, October 24, 2020
"I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. ... Someone once said that Thomas Jefferson was a gentleman of 32 who could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, and dance the minuet." —President John F. Kennedy at a dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners of the Western Hemisphere
"Corrupt politicians make the other ten percent look bad." —Henry Kissinger
"The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. " —James Madison
"Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians." —Chester Bowles
"Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny." —Edmund Burke
"Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made." —John Godfrey Saxe, 1869
"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." —Winston Churchill
'Have no plans to change': "I just like to challenge consensus, question my own convictions and stress test my philosophies ... that is what helps me grow ..." —BizarroJerry
"Study Finds ... The Biden adminstration's regulatory burdens have cost almost $10,000 for each American household." —Casey B. Mulligan
Q. "What's the most terrifying word in nuclear physics?
A. "Oops."
And who thought that building nuclear reactors without a containment vessel was a good idea?: "The Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded because rules to keep the reactor safe were ignored. Why? Because under communism, the Soviet Union had regulations for everything. But, when everything is endlessly regulated, in order for people to function, they must ignore regulations, but don't know which regulations not to ignore." —Vladimir Agapov
"Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind." —General Douglas MacArthur
"Enforcing bad laws poorly is better than enforcing bad laws uniformly." —Alex Nowrasteh
"All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states, the states created the federal government." —President Ronald Reagan, first inaugural address
'Devastating decision' for overreaching authoritarians: "A clear statement is necessary for a court to conclude that Congress intended to delegate authority 'of this breadth to regulate a fundamental sector of the economy.' ...
the Government must point to 'clear congressional authorization' to regulate ... " —Supreme Court of the United States, West Virginia et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et al., No. 20–1530, June 30, 2022
["This is about maintaining the separation of powers, not climate change ... And we're not done. My office will continue to fight ... when those in Washington try to go too far in asserting broad powers without the people's support." —West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R)]
"People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous." —Edmund Burke
"It's as though someone, whose tastes you don't share, has come into your home and re-arranged all the furniture." —Review of Microsoft Word 6 menus compared to Word 5.1
Sony A6600 camera menus: "As far as the menus are concerned, if you don't think they're a Gothic horror it means you haven't delved into them far enough. Keep on menu-diving. It's like being lost in an endless and terrifying cave." —Michael C. Johnston
"It is a poor workman who blames his tools." —Proverb
"Maybe one day I'll take a decent picture. In the meantime, I'll blame the equipment." —Joo
"If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere." —Henry Kissinger
"I feel, therefore I photograph." —grahamp
TRIGGER WARNING: Economics, Taxation
Stolen property: "If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year." —IRS Publication 17, §8, Page 76
"My friend told me her and her husband take half of their kids' [Halloween] candy every year.
She said it's never too early to teach them about taxes." —Marisa Varallo
"A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right." —Peter Roberts
"The trick is to stop thinking of it as your money." —IRS auditor
✓ "I want to end the income tax – and replace it with … nothing." —Sharon Harris
[Repeal the 16th amendment.]
"To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race." —President Calvin Coolidge
"If politicians stopped meddling with things they don't understand, there would be a more drastic reduction in the size of government than anyone in either party advocates." —Thomas Sowell
'Drain the swamp': "Fire the civil servants, sell the buildings, starve them of funds, honor the 10th amendment. Transfer power of healthcare, family policy, education, everything not in the constitution to the states respectively or to the people, as the constitution requires. Close down the unconstitutional federal departments, agencies, and bureaucracies with their armies of interferers and armfuls of regulations. Yes, close it all down, everything except Defense, State, Treasury, and Justice. Abolish the federal income tax, abolish all federal taxes, replace them with an annual levy from each state on the basis of population. Do you think that sounds over-the-top? No! What's extreme is what we've got now, the insane centralization … " —Steve Hilton, August 21, 2022
"We have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious." —Thomas Jefferson, 1824
Perverse incentives: "One in four low-wage workers face marginal net tax rates above 70 percent, effectively locking them into poverty. Over half face remaining lifetime marginal net tax rates above 45 percent." ... "Since 1967, average inflation-adjusted transfer payments to low-income households—the bottom 20%—have grown from $9,677 to $45,389. During that same period, the percentage of prime working-age adults in the bottom 20% of income earners who actually worked collapsed from 68% to 36%." ... "among the four million able-bodied adults without dependents on food stamps, three in four don’t work at all. Fewer than 3% work full-time." ... "Higher-income couples marry and lower-income couples don’t." —Charity Without the Welfare State, June 1, 2023
"Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and enslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man." —Walter E. Williams
Millennia before investing in total market index funds could create global economic growth that is rapidly eliminating world poverty: "You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year. ... tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn males of your flocks and herds. ... Bring this tithe to the designated place of worship ... Then you and your household shall ... eat it there ... At the end of every third year, bring the entire tithe of that year’s harvest and store it in the nearest town. Give it [one-thirtieth] to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. ... At the end of every seventh year you must cancel the debts of everyone who owes you money. ... There should be no poor among you ... Release ... Hebrew Slaves ... in the seventh year ... " —Deuteronomy 14:22
Q. "When you see around the globe the maldistribution of wealth, the desperate plight of millions of people in underdeveloped countries, when you see so few haves and so many have-nots, when you see the greed and the concentration of power – did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed's a good idea to run on?" —Talk-show host, Phil Donahue
A. "Is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed? You think Russia doesn't run on greed? You think China doesn't run on greed? What is greed? Of course, none of us are greedy; it's only the other fellow who's greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. The great achievements of civilizations have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn't construct his theory under order from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn't revolutionize the automobile industry that way. In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you're talking about – the only cases in recorded history – are where they have had capitalism and largely free trade." —Nobel laureate, Milton Friedman, Video, 1979
"I have never understood why it is 'greed' to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money." —Thomas Sowell, 'Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays'
"The government has never shown much aptitude for real business. The Congress will not permit it to be conducted by a competent executive, but constantly intervenes. The most free … method ever devised for the equitable distribution of property is to permit the people to care for themselves by conducting their own business. [The people] have more wisdom than any government." —President Calvin Coolidge
■ "We don't dispute that the free market is the greatest producer of wealth in history — it has lifted billions of people out of poverty. We believe in property rights, rule of law, so forth." —President Barack Obama
'That's capitalism' ... 'Adam Smith's Solution to Poverty ... that only economic growth would improve living standards': "People living in absolute poverty, which is defined as earning less than two dollars a day, was 42.7% of the world's population in 1980. By the year 2000 that had fallen to 27.8%, and today [2023] it is less than 9%. ... Adam Smith ['The Founder of Free Market Capitalism'] argued that only an expansion of free markets and free trade could lead to increased prosperity." —Larry Kudlow, June 16, 2023
Maimonides' highest of eight levels of Charity: "The greatest level, above which there is no greater ... [includes] entering into a partnership with him, or finding employment for him, in order to strengthen his hand until he need no longer be dependent upon others ... " —Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204)
If Charity is the Goal, Hoard the Wealth: "If their true desire is to help their fellow man, they should hoard every penny of their significant wealth. ... to monetize their wealth in order to support charities is ... to oversee the conversion of production goods to consumption goods. ... the removal of limited capital from the productive parts of the economy will ultimately reduce our standard of living ... When individuals save, they're by definition providing capital to entrepreneurs, and the capital formation that results from saving naturally stimulates job creation. Considered in this light, savers and investors are conferring the ultimate benefit on others by virtue of their financial means supporting individuals eager to work. ... wealth creation. So when the rich maintain their money and investments, their increased net worth redounds to wages and job opportunities. ... Considering innovation, most everything that we enjoy today results from individuals saving, as opposed to giving away their money. ... " —John Tamny, 'Forbes', June 17, 2010
["Such ongoing investment is precisely the highest ... level of Maimonides' ladder of charity: ... whatever ... it takes to enable the disadvantaged to become self-reliant." —Chris Mitchell]
Perfecting the world: "Almost nobody understands the concept that by over-saving (accumulating and investing more savings than you will spend during your lifetime) you are paying it forward — accelerating the advance of civilization by the elimination of poverty and causing the rising standard of living to happen faster. The over-saving pays for more rapid innovation and production, while compounding infrastructure and wealth. This is how the free market creates abundance." —Elizabeth Anderson
Amazing free market progress: "Absolute poverty is defined as living on less than $1.25/day. Over the last 30 years, the share of the global population living in absolute poverty has declined from 53% to under 17%." —Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., February, 2012, June 27, 2016 ["What greater act of charity could there possibly be than free market economic progress lifting 2.5 billion people out of absolute poverty in only 30 years?" —Mark Harris]
[The Great Enrichment: Professor Deirdre McCloskey explains that the explosion of material wealth (by thirty times, 3,000%, uniquely since about 1800) is due to discovery (innovation) under conditions of liberty (equality of permission), property rights, respect for entrepreneurship, mobility, and creativity, while minimizing coercion/regulation by aristocracy, and peace.]
"Extreme poverty (~$2/day) plummeted from 42% in 1980 to <10% today." —Alex Epstein, May 4, 2023
Americans living paycheck to paycheck:
"44% of those making over $100k; 78% of those making under $50k." —Lendingclub
"61% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck." —Jessica Dickler, 'CNBC', August 12, 2023
■ Guaranteed income: "There is no reason why, in a society that has reached the general level of wealth ours has attained, the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all – some minimum of food, shelter, and clothing sufficient to preserve health and the capacity to work." —Friedrich Hayek
Conjecture: "If you permanently eliminated every welfare benefit and welfare program of every kind, and substituted paying everyone the amount of the poverty limit, thereby with certainty eliminating all poverty, while taxing back any amount of that poverty payment from each individual's income in excess of the poverty limit, wouldn't you find that you had instantly eliminated poverty with extremely low overhead costs, no need to qualify for payments, with greatly reduced perverse incentives, and with a total cost to completely and permanently eliminate all poverty considerably lower than what is currently wasted fighting poverty? Since poverty has been rapidly declining due to rising incomes, the cost of a subsidy to eliminate residual poverty should also rapidly decline. Is a welfare reform style work or education requirement needed to make this function properly? Wouldn't it also feel dramatically more secure for everyone to have eliminated the fear of poverty by making poverty impossible, and having empowered everyone to undertake risks to improve their lot in life, knowing that falling into destitution was no longer possible? [This could be administered like Social Security, with direct deposit, and using a guardian to receive payment for individuals, such as minors and spendthrifts, not able to manage their own finances. It might help individuals who have difficulty managing money, to have the funds made available by using a debit card with a calculated spending limit that continuously increases (minute by minute) over each poverty payment period, so that there is never a weekly or monthly lump sum payment that can be impulsively wasted.]" —John Garrideb
"Basic income project shows signs of success." —Timothy Pratt, August 13, 2023
"There's lots of ways to be, as a person. And some people express their deep appreciation in different ways. But one of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there. ... " —Steve Jobs, 2007
● Understanding wealth: [Which contradicts the myth of the Robber Barron.]
💰💰💰"Adam Smith wrote in 1776 that the extremely wealthy 'only select from the heap what is most precious and agreeable. They consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity, though they mean only ... the gratification of their own vain and insatiable desires, they [inevitably] divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are [thus] led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life [as] ... had the earth been divided into equal portions.' – or as Neil Simon put it, 'Money brings some happiness. But after a certain point, it just brings more money.'● Teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime [i.e. the gift of self sufficiency]:
So, disliking the ultra-rich for their wealth shows profound ignorance about both money and history, because all the money in excess of whatever limited amount they can quickly spend for their personal use, however ostentatious (but often not), has to be put somewhere – and as a result, rich people are essentially forced by the nature of wealth to either permanently give their wealth away to others (charity/gifts/spending), or (if they wish to remain rich) to temporarily give their wealth away as loans to others who need it most (as debt such as bonds, loans, mortgages, etc.), or (as equity investments such as company stock, or mutual funds) to put their wealth in the hands of others who can benefit because they know how to use the capital most productively – so, whatever their intentions, the 'rich' have little choice but to give away their 'excess' wealth (temporarily or permanently) and thus to use their wealth principally to the benefit of others. ... So it is extremely foolish to resent that 'rich people' typically have just some pieces of paper (such as stock certificates, bonds, or deeds), or increasingly commonly only have account data on computers (mostly not 'excess' wealth held as actual things in their possession), while in reality their 'wealth' is actually almost entirely in the hands of and benefiting everyone else, you included (such as companies, factories, and stores creating, manufacturing, and making available to you all the things you want to buy to sustain an ever improving standard of living, and the employment and profits to pay for it all) ... And 'you can't take it with you!'" Thus, a parable of choices,▶ Abundance: By saving and investing, providing the capital for compound economic growth, perpetually improving the world's standard of living, energy abundance, health, and longevity, according to the preferences that people vote for with their purchases, perfecting the future world, making everyone ever wealthier through innovation under conditions of freedom, with capital investments and advancing and disseminating knowledge that makes food abundant, life safer and more comfortable, and workers more productive so their real wages rise, while lifting the masses out of poverty, misery, and starvation, with luxuries undreamt of by royalty of earlier generations, such as indoor plumbing, machine power enabled by fossil fuel and electricity, factory and farm automation, leisure time, extended childhood, retirement, entertainment, plastic, steel, aluminum, float glass, transistors, integrated circuits, lasers, television, computers, cellphones, digital imaging and video, internet, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, vaccines, surgery with anesthesia, dentistry, automobiles, airplane flights, microwave ovens, air conditioning, etc., an amazing accumulation of knowledge, technology, and steadily rising standard of living for which we should all be grateful.● Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day:▶ By charity which is mostly once and done, so the money, however well spent, is all gone, without lasting benefit. Or,● Waste a fish and you get a rotting pile of garbage:▶ By a century of coercive taxing and misguided spending, with central planning and regulation, that not only enslaves, but mostly squanders individuals' money, efforts, knowledge, and time while ignoring their preferences, stifling freedom, growth, and innovation, destroying wealth, making everyone worse off than what could have been, but also debasing the currency and borrowing from future generations to further compound the reduction of standard of living over time. —Mark Harris
More Personal Finance quotations: [YMMV]
"Thrift is a wonderful virtue, especially in an ancestor." —Mark Twain
"If there's a will, prosperity can't be far behind." —W. C. Fields
"Successful investing involves doing just a few things right, and avoiding serious mistakes." —John Bogle
"Just buy the whole market and wait fifty years." —Jack Bogle
" ... instead listen to financial morons in the break room ... " —Flashes1
"Doing well with money has little to do with how smart you are and a lot to do with how you behave." —Morgan Housel
"The best financial advice there is in nine words: Make money, spend less, invest simply, and wait longer." —Brian Feroldi
'Always be buying': "I wished I had started investing when I was young." —AAII
The best defense against financial risk is to over-save: "Keep working and saving until you have over twice what you need to retire." —Paul Merriman
"The closer you come to holding the entire market portfolio, the higher the expected return for the risk you take." —Nobel Laureate, William Sharpe
"The beauty of owning the market is that you eliminate individual stock risk, you eliminate market sector risk, and you eliminate manager risk. – In my view, owning the market and holding it forever is the ultimate strategy for winners." —Jack Bogle
Stay the course: "The cardinal investment sin: selling your winners too soon." —John Lim
"Staying the course means going against your own emotions at times. Staying the course means thinking and acting for the long term even when it doesn’t feel right in the short-term. Staying the course means preparing not predicting. Staying the course means doing nothing when that's what your plan calls for." —Ben Carlson
"Do nothing is almost always the right move." —Brian Feroldi
'Stupid slogans' while freaking out as markets fluctuate: "You don't lose money until you sell. Losses are temporary unless you sell. You lock in losses when you sell. Why stop playing when you're losing the game? The IRS doesn't let me realize a loss unless I sell." —'Stay the course'
The Luckiest Generation: "Baby boomers are by far one of the wealthiest generations the world has ever seen. ... total returns ... since 1983: Stocks +7,930%; Bonds +1,060%; Housing +515% ... annual returns of 11.4%, 6.2% and 4.6%, respectively. ... arguably the greatest 40-something-year period in the history of financial markets ... The long-term return for U.S. stocks over the past 100 years or so was 9.7% per year." —Ben Carlson, August 25, 2023
"The older I get, the more I realize that investing success is more about psychology than anything else, and that a 'suboptimal' allocation that lets you sleep at night is better than an 'optimal' one that wakes you up at 3 AM in a cold sweat." —Bill Bernstein
"Investing is simple [keep buying and hold forever low cost capitalization weighted passive index mutual funds], but it's not easy [inability to 'stay the course']." —Warren Buffett
Tracking the market: "What Index Funds accomplish for you with minimal cost, thought, and effort is astounding."
—Watch this animation ('Top 10 S&P 500 companies, 1980-2020')
'Financial Order of Operations ... where the next dollar should go ... to grow your money':
"1. Deductibles Covered; 2. Employer Match; 3. High-Interest Debt; 4. Emergency Reserves; 5. Roth & HSA; 6. Max-Out Retirement; 7. Hyper-Accumulation; 8. Prepaid Future Expenses; 9. Low-Interest Debt." —moneyguy.com
The best way "to get what you want, is to deserve it ... You want to deliver to the world what you would buy if you were on the other end ... " —Charlie Munger
"We have seen much more money made and kept by 'ordinary people' who were temperamentally well suited for the investment process than by those who lacked this quality." —Ben Graham
"Know what you own, and know why you own it." —Peter Lynch
"We assume that markets are efficient, that prices are right." —Eugene Fama
"Risk mitigation doesn't always work the way you expect." —Portfolio Charts, Tyler9000 ["The results of including small cap value, long term bonds, and gold in an investment portfolio can be counterintuitive!"]
Why Bonds?: "That's why I've said for a long time that equities were the place to be. I mean, there's been no comparison. To me, it's just been absurd to see pension funds and those people, in the early teens of this century, saying, 'We ought to have 30 or 40% in bonds.' There's no comparison. A bond that pays you 2% is selling at 50 times earnings, and the earnings can't go up. And the government has told you, 'We'd like to take that 2% away from you by decreasing the value of money.' I mean, that's absurd to own something like that. You may have to own it for legal reasons or something of the sort, but to make that as a voluntary choice in the last ten years, against owning assets, has struck me as absolutely foolish." —Warren Buffett, 2018 video at 30:00
"Eventually, one runs out of greater fools." —Burton Malkiel
"The purpose of investing is not to simply optimize returns and make yourself rich. The purpose is not to die poor. " —William Bernstein
"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful — that's what matters to me." —Steve Jobs
"Few understand that by dying rich, your investments will continue compounding to pay it forward with future increasing of abundance and standard of living." —John Garrideb
"A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money." —W. C. Fields
"Ninety-nine percent of personal finance can be summarized in nine words: Work a lot, spend a little, invest the difference." —Morgan Housel
"The two greatest enemies of the equity fund investor are expenses and emotions." —John C. Bogle
Numerous insights from Professor Itzhak Ben-David:
• Appallingly, hedge fund investors lose about 65% of profits to supposed “2/20” management fees.
• Performance chasing (stupidly buying what went up in price, and selling what went down) is a losers’ game that explains why most investors do much worse than what they invest in. (Just the opposite of 'buy low, sell high.')
• Momentum was mostly due to investor performance chasing based on Morningstar star ratings until 2002, when momentum disappeared because Morningstar changed from all fund star ratings to star ratings within each of the 9 style boxes.
• The 80% confidence interval for prediction of the following year’s stock market performance is +/–20% (almost 3 times wider than what people expect).
"It is a fact that 90% of all people who play the commodities game get burned. I submit that you have now read all you ever need to read about commodities." —Andrew Tobias, c. 1978
Set It and Forget It: "Automation is the key to a successful savings and investing plan." —Rick Ferri
"Approximately 99% of the time, the single most important thing investors should do is absolutely nothing." —Jason Zweig
"The time to buy is when there's blood in the streets." —Attributed to Baron Rothschild, 1871
"Far more money has been lost by investors in preparing for corrections, or anticipating corrections, than has been lost in the corrections themselves." —Peter Lynch
'Handy-dandy maxims to provide confirmation bias of whatever you've already decided to do:' —nisiprius
● The market is down and you want to buy?:
"Buy low, sell high.";
"Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.";
"Buy when there's blood in the street."
● The market is down and you want to sell?:
"Cut your losses and let your profits run.";
"Don't try to catch a falling knife.";
"Don't fight the dominant trend of the market.";
"Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful."
● The market is up and you want to sell?:
"Buy low, sell high.";
"Nobody ever went broke taking a profit.";
"Bulls make money and bears make money but pigs get slaughtered."
● The market is up and you want to buy?:
"The trend is your friend.";
"Cut your losses and let your profits run.";
"You're playing with house money, now."
"More money has been lost reaching for yield than at the point of a gun." —Raymond DeVoe, Jr., 1995
"The safe assumption for an investor is that over the next hundred years, the currency is going to zero." —Charlie Munger
"Minimize your maximum regret." —My old MBA teacher
"Retirement planning is not about maximizing the chance of dying rich, but minimizing the chance of living broke." —adage
"I don't view it as saving. I think of it as 'buying' freedom and independence. Honestly, I can't think of many things I want to buy more." —Trebor
"The best investing advice is to live below your means." —J.Brennen
Obvious stuff that people commonly get wrong: "Never buy something as an investment that you cannot sell in the future for more money. (Or an investment where you can't immediately get back all of your money.)" —Ralph Fischer
["A depreciating asset may be fun to have, but is likely not actually a good investment. (When the prices of things you own are going up, make sure that you know if you are getting richer (after taxes), or actually are getting poorer while being fooled by inflation.) Some examples of investments to avoid where you start out by automatically losing money on day one: Diamonds, load funds (with sales charges), 'permanent' insurance (with hidden sales charges), annuities (especially with surrender charges or withdrawal restrictions), etc." —Ralph Fischer]
Start saving from your first paycheck!: "Saving part of every paycheck is your most important habit. … For young investors, savings rate is more important than all the other investing advice … " —Rick Van Ness
["The first decade of saving is as important as the entire rest of your career, because compounding needs 40-50 years to make you quite wealthy. Reinvest interest, dividend, and capital gain distributions. Contribute the maximum allowed amounts to tax advantaged retirement accounts. Make sure to take full advantage of any employer match offered in a retirement plan at work, as it would be really foolish to turn down free money!" —Mary Thomas]
"The US household saving rate has dropped significantly: from 17.0% in the 1950s to just 4.1% in the last decade. Foreign investment has been replacing US saving. In the 2000's, foreigners invested more than $2 in the US for every dollar invested by Americans. In the last decade, they invested roughly $2 for every $3 invested by Americans." —John C. Goodman, September 8, 2023
"A $5 million retirement nest egg puts you in the top 0.1% of households. [While 49% have saved $0 for retirement.]" —Veronica Dagher and Anne Tergesen, 'Wall Street Journal', August 11, 2023
"I should have computed the historical co-variances of the asset classes and drawn an efficient frontier. Instead, I visualized my grief if the stock market went way up and I wasn’t in it–or if it went way down and I was completely in it. My intention was to minimize my future regret. So I split my contributions 50/50 between bonds and equities." —Harry Markowitz
"There are an infinite number of strategies worse than this one: Commit, over a period of a few years, half of your assets to a stock index fund and half to a bond index fund. Ignore interim fluctuations in their net asset values. Hold your positions for as long as you live, subject only to infrequent and marginal adjustments as your circumstances change. When there are multiple solutions to a problem, choose the simplest one." —John C. Bogle
"In life there are no solutions, just tradeoffs." —Thomas Sowell
" … in the very long term, long bonds are more risky than stocks due to their exposure to future inflation." —William Bernstein
"There are fixed income income investments where one does get decent returns but doesn't accept the interest rate risk of [typically recommended] total bond funds with a rolling 6-7 year duration. They would be Series I Savings Bonds, 1, 2, 3 year U.S. government bonds [held to maturity], the federal employees' Thrift Savings Plan's G fund, stable value funds, Certificates of Deposits (CD's), Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuities (MYGA's), or Money Market Funds." —Parkinglotracer
Debt limit – U.S. Government has previously defaulted – Treasury securities are not risk-free: "On 26 April 1979, the US Treasury defaulted on $41 million of maturing Treasury bills. They were paid 20 days late on Thursday 17 May 1979 after the Government found some money. Then again on 3 May 1979, Treasury defaulted on another $40 million. These were also paid 14 days late. Then again on 10 May 1979, Treasury defaulted on yet another $40 million of maturing T-bills. These were also paid on 17 May. Treasury refused investors' demands to reimburse the ... lost interest on the late days ... " —Ashley Owen, October 4, 2013
"The rich aren't like you and me. They have many more ways to lose money." —Bill Bernstein
"If you can't pay for it in cash you don't need it." —Anonymous
"The rich man buys once, the poor man buys twice." —Anonymous
"Buy the best. ... If you buy the best you only have to buy it once." —Michael C. Johnston's investment banker grandfather
"I'm a strong believer in buying quality in the first place. If you can't afford quality, don't buy until you can afford it." —Thom Hogan
"It costs more to be poor." ... "The reality of having no money is that it costs more." —Michael C. Johnston
"The trouble with being poor, is that it takes up all your time." —Willem de Kooning
For security, freeze your credit report, and use credit cards to make payments, but don't have debit cards. —Frank Abagnale, 'Catch Me If You Can' Talk at Google
[Also use unique strong passwords and turn on second factor authentication on all your financial accounts.]
Retirement expenses: "Many of us do not include money being saved for retirement as an expense. But retirement savings contributions and taxes can be a big factor between salary while working and income needed in retirement." —Katietsu
"If you're saving 15% of income [while working], that's a 15% raise [when retired]. Not too shabby." —sureshoe
" ... expense that ... goes away is commuting expense and dress clothes for work." —JazzTime
"Once you are no longer drawing wages, payroll taxes (FICA, Medicare) of 7.65% go away. That's quite a savings!" —Church Lady
"Time goes by faster [in retirement] than when working." —nagaf
"Every time you blink it's time for breakfast again." —Youngblood
"I've got a confession to make: I'm getting really sloooooow. I used to be fast. ... I'm doing the best I can. I'm just plain slowing down. It takes me longer to think of words now ... Feels like time is speeding up, but it's not. I'm just slowing down." —Michael C. Johnston
"You can't help the poor by being one of them." —Unknown
"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence." —Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, 'The Ten Cannots'
China's empty cities — China Evergrande Bank property developer default/collapse, debt crisis, most indebted company in the world, $305 billion: "World's biggest asset bubble, housing in China, 30% of Chinese GDP, and represents over 70% of household wealth in China. That's the property housing market. … One of the biggest companies in the world, number 125 on the Fortune 500, on the brink of collapse." —Jonathan D.T. Ward, September 24, 2021
'The enormity of the Chinese debt': "The Chinese measurement reached ... 50 times what [the debt] was in 2007. ... The Chinese century is over. Facing upside-down demographic and economic trends, China is heading off the cliff. ... Every age-related trend in China is going in the wrong direction. ... fertility rates in Beijing and Shanghai have fallen to an astonishing 0.7, the lowest in the world. ... now, imagine that vast nation with barely one-third of the population it has today ... at the end of the century ... " —Joe Tauke, July 30, 2023
■ "In a few days, China — the world's most powerful authoritarian state — will begin hosting the Winter Olympics, and, like Germany in 1936, it will attempt to use the spectacle to score a propaganda victory for its system of strict controls. ... [Deng Xiaoping] invited foreigners to invest in China, and this led to four decades of miraculous growth that continued even after [Chinese President Xi Jinping] came to power in 2013. ... Xi has done his best to dismantle Deng's achievements. He brought the private companies established under Deng under the control of the [Communist Party of China] and undermined the dynamism that used to characterise them. Rather than letting private enterprise blossom, Xi introduced his own 'China Dream,' which can be summed up in two words: total control. That has had disastrous consequences. In contrast to Deng, Xi is a true believer in Communism. ... It is to be hoped that Xi may be replaced by someone less repressive at home and more peaceful abroad. ... " [More] —George Soros, January 31, 2022
'I can't get my money out': "Billionaire [veteran emerging markets] investor Mark Mobius says China is restricting flows of capital out of the country." —Carla Mozée, March 3, 2023
Kissinger sees war over Taiwan: "On the current trajectory of relations, I think some military conflict is probable." —Henry Kissinger, interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, June 15, 2023
'China's economy is in trouble': " ... following the lifting of Covid lockdowns, growth is stalling. Consumer prices are falling, a real estate crisis is deepening and exports are in a slump. Unemployment among youth has gotten so bad the government has stopped publishing the data." —Laura He, CNN, August 23, 2023
"The Soviet Union … collapsed. China is in trouble because now they're trying to replace the market." —Steve Forbes, August 30, 2023
"Consistently avoiding ruin is the most underrated financial skill." —Brian Feroldi
"'It's different this time' are the most expensive words in the English language." ... "When people say things are different, 20 percent of the time they are right." —Sir John Templeton
"You make most of your money [by continuing to invest] in a bear market, you just don't realize it at the time." —Shelby Davis
"You shouldn't buy [a total market] index fund because you think it's a hot performer. Buy it because you're going to hold it forever." —John Bogle
"Act as if every broker, insurance salesman, mutual fund salesman and financial advisor you encounter is a hardened criminal." —William J. Bernstein
"We turn your money and our experience into our money and your experience." —Investment 'advisors'
["They are salesmen. Steer clear." —windaar]
Anti-mutual fund Sales Pitch to ignore: "Investors with portfolios of $500,000 or more may have outgrown [sic] a [mutual] fund-heavy approach. ... You May Need A New Approach ... Perhaps it's time to graduate to a better strategy." —
Fisher Investments, '6 Pitfalls Of Funds'
"On balance, the financial system subtracts value from our society." —Jack Bogle
"You can't cheat an honest man!" ... "Never give a sucker an even break or smarten up a chump!" ... "It's morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money." 😀 —W. C. Fields
"Ah, the patter of little feet around the house. There's nothing like having a midget for a butler." —W. C. Fields
"If you're happy with every part of your portfolio you're not diversified enough." —ekid
"Diversification means always having to say you're sorry." —Brian Portnoy
"The ultimate beauty of index funds is that they get you utterly out of the business of guessing what will happen next. They enable you to say seven magic words: ‘I don't know, and I don't care.’ … With an index fund, you're on permanent auto-pilot: you will always get what the market is willing to give, no more and no less." —Jason Zweig
"The winning strategy is to build a globally diversified portfolio of passively managed funds that reflects your ability, willingness and need to take risk, and then having the discipline to stay the course." —Larry Swedroe
"Investors who can watch their portfolio drop without reacting are destined to build incredible amounts of wealth." —Brian Feroldi
'Managing the world's largest mutual fund': "Why passive is anything but, when running ... [1.3] trillion-dollar behemoth ... Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund. ... Gerry O'Reilly, the fund's principal portfolio manager ... reveals the active management required ... to match the CRSP U.S. Total Market Index. [Multiple daily company changes require a 10% annual portfolio turnover.]" —Consuelo Mack, Wealthtrack podcast, July 21, 2023
"[Most investors would] be better off in an index fund." —Peter Lynch, famous stock picker, 'Barron's', p. 15, April 2, 1990
" … the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund ... " —Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., 1996, Shareholder Letter, 1997
"Most of the mutual fund investments I have are index funds, approximately 75%." —Charles R. Schwab, 2000, 'Guide to Financial Independence', p. 90, by the founder of the pioneering discount brokerage firm that bears his name
"An index fund … is 'self-cleansing.' The failures fall away and the winners can grow endlessly." —J.L. Collins
"Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard's.)." —Investment instructions in Warren Buffett's will (written at age 83 years with a net worth of $66 billion)
"When you buy high and sell low, it is very hard to make money, even if you do it with great enthusiasm." —David Swenson
"Never confuse the likely with the certain or the unlikely with the impossible." —Larry Swedroe
"It is always better to err on the side of safety." —Harry Browne
"The Permanent Portfolio is a simple 4-slice portfolio created by [Libertarian Party presidential candidate in both 1996 and 2000 and] investment advisor Harry Browne in the 1980's and presented in his book Fail-Safe Investing in 2001. It looks like this: 25% Total US Stock Market – for economic expansion; 25% Long-Term Bonds – for deflation; 25% Cash – for economic recession; and, 25% Gold – for inflation." —Harry Browne
"Murphy's law holds true. Whatever can happen, will happen. Give it enough time, the US stocks will crash. Every great empire rises and falls. Every single one in the history of mankind. We just don't live long enough to witness it in person." —H-Town
"If you want to lower the volatility of your investment portfolio, don't look at it so often." —Rick Ferri
Volatility≠Risk: "Stock prices will always be far more volatile than cash-equivalent holdings. Over the long term, however, currency-denominated instruments are riskier investments - far riskier investments - than widely-diversified stock portfolios that are bought over time and that are owned in a manner invoking only token fees and commissions. That lesson has not customarily been taught in business schools, where volatility is almost universally used as a proxy for risk. Though this pedagogic assumption makes for easy teaching, it is dead wrong: Volatility is far from synonymous with risk. Popular formulas that equate the two terms lead students, investors and CEOs astray." —Berkshire Hathaway 2014 Annual Report
"In investing, logic is turned on its head; bad companies are 'good' companies, buying low and selling high is not a workable strategy, selling when you double your money is a stupid move, economic growth isn't related to stock growth save tangentially, time does not diversify risk, diversification across stocks provides a greater than the sum of parts benefit, stocks are safer (less damaging vis-a-vi inflation) than savings after a while and so on, there's a million examples. There is hardly anything intuitive about this, it's the opposite of common sense." —nisiprius
"Living below your means is the ultimate financial strategy." —Jack Brennan
"The great industrialist Andrew Carnegie long ago observed that 'The man who dies rich, dies disgraced.' Carnegie was wrong. The man who dies rich dies a hero for his delayed consumption driving innovation and job creation on the way to even greater wealth. To save and invest is to expand capital, while selling assets in order to consume wealth is to destroy limited capital." —John Tamny, 'Forbes', June 17, 2010
The concept that ongoing investment does vastly more to rapidly eliminate poverty and create abundance than does charity has been overlooked in typical religious traditions that mostly were established long before the rise of modern free market economies and the resulting dramatic reduction in extreme poverty:
"Having, first, gained all you can, and, secondly saved all you can, then give all you can." —John Wesley
[In the last quarter century 1.1 billion people, about one-seventh of the world’s population, have been lifted out of extreme poverty. —Lant Pritchett, 'Poverty Reduction and Economic Growth', Oxford University, February 2, 2020]
"… don't speak too soon; For the wheel's still in spin; And there's no tellin' who; That it's namin'; For the loser now; Will be later to win; For the times they are a-changin'" —Bob Dylan
"TEOTWAWKI" —The end of the world as we know it.
"TANSTAAFL" —There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.
(From 'Economics in Eight Words', by Walter Morrow, 'El Paso Herald-Post', 1938)
"POSSLQ" —United States Census Bureau speak
"Only invest what you can afford to lose – as in, if the investment goes to zero." —Anonymous
"[Investors need to understand about risk] the importance of being balanced across asset classes and diversified within them. … 'You're not really diversified unless you own something you're uncomfortable with.'" —Peter L. Bernstein
The internet is replete with humorous errors [especially homophonic gaffes] and ad homonym attacks:
"Stock investor wrote that he was '100% inequity', when he meant '100% in equity'."
"Homonyms are a reel waist of thyme." —Homonym Jokes
[Japanese has far more frequent homonyms than English, so much of phonetic typewriting with a word processor in Japanese is choosing which homonym is intended.]
Recently approved diabetes/anti-obesity drugs: "Semaglutide [Wegovy, Ozempic] could cut the obesity prevalence in the United States by about 46% and prevent more than 1.5 million cardiovascular disease events over 10 years when given to eligible patients with overweight or obesity." —Andrew Rhoades, August 30, 2023
'SAA': "Struggled for the longest time, trying unsuccessfully to guess what the medical intern could possibly mean when he wrote the medical diagnosis using his made up abbreviation, 'SAA'." —Answer
Pet peeves: "Ambiguous medical abbreviations [Does MI mean myocardial infarction or mitral insufficiency?, Does MS mean mitral stenosis or multiple sclerosis?]; 'new' genus names for bacteria [Pasturella —> Yersinia], altered radiation dose units [with four different redundant Absorbed Dose units for energy per unit mass, really?], and renamed lab tests [SGOT/AST, SGPT/ALT]; having not one, but TWO ridiculous error prone names for every drug; and revising the controls on new cameras, made so complicated that a thousand+ page manual is needed." —'Don't move the cheese'
"Every man should make up his mind that if he expects to succeed, he must give an honest return for the other man’s dollar." —Edward H. Harriman
"Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." —Bill Gates
"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get!" —Dale Carnegie
"Knowing and not doing is equivalent to not knowing at all." —Anonymous
"In financial markets things always take longer to happen than you would expect, but once they happen, events unfold faster than you expect." —Rudi Dornbusch
Pricing: "What everyone knows is not worth knowing." —Anonymous
["What everyone knows that is true is already priced in, so is of no help. But, if you are sure that 'what everyone knows' is wrong, and you are prepared to be patient, only then might you have the ability to purchase at an amazing bargain price. For example, everyone 'knew' that Apple (at $0.40/share! adjusted for stock splits) had no technological advantage over competitors, and that the leading biotechnology companies (down 90%) would never be able to create new drugs."]
"I don't know anyone who can time the market, and I don't know anyone who knows anyone that can time the market." —John Bogle
"We don't know how to beat the market on a risk-adjusted basis, and we don't know anyone that does know either." —Larry Swedroe
"One way to deal with uncertainty is to accumulate more capital than the anticipated need might call for." —Phineas J. Whoopee
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." —Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929
"Those with enterprise haven't the money, and those with money haven't the enterprise, to buy stocks when they are cheap." —Benjamin Graham, 'Forbes', 1932
"If real yields were positive, I would be all over TIPS like polka dots on a bikini." —nedsaid
"Cryptocurrency has 'no intrinsic value' and investors could 'lose all your money.'" —Andrew Bailey, Bank Of England
"It's much more profitable to sell investing advice than to follow it." —Malcolm Forbes
"If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stocks, not selling advice." —Norman R. Augustine
"Investing in stocks is short-term risky. Not investing in stocks is long-term risky." —Brian Feroldi
"Sell down to your sleeping point." —John Pierpont Morgan, Sr.
"The key [in retirement] is matching your spending to your income. You will be fine as long as your cash flow from interest, dividends, pensions, Social Security, and other income is higher than your spending. Then you have nothing to fear from [a] bear market." —Rick Ferri
'Two fund portfolio': "Deep down, I remain absolutely confident that the vast majority of American families will be well served by owning their equity holding in an all-U.S. stock-market index portfolio and holding their bonds in an all-U.S. bond-market index portfolio." —Jack Bogle
'Two fund portfolio': "My advice could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard's.) I believe the trust's long-term results from this policy will be superior to those attained by most investors – whether pension funds, institutions or individuals – who employ high-fee managers." —Warren Buffet's estate plan
"The Three-Fund Portfolio will help you to develop a sound asset allocation strategy, make smart investment selections, and guide the implementation of your plan." – "The beauty of owning the market is that you eliminate individual stock risk, you eliminate market sector risk, and you eliminate manager risk." – "The odds of outpacing an all-market index fund are, well, terrible." —Jack Bogle's Words of Wisdom
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." —Jack Bogle
The Boglehead Philosophy: "1. Develop a workable plan; 2. Invest early and often; 3. Never bear too much or too little risk; 4. Diversify; 5. Never try to time the market; 6. Use index funds when possible; 7. Keep costs low; 8. Minimize taxes; 9. Invest with simplicity; 10. Stay the course." —Taylor Larimore
"A fool and his money are some party." —Paraphrase of an old proverb
"To the extent that a fool knows his foolishness, he may be deemed wise. A fool who considers himself wise is indeed a fool." —Buddha
"If we want a world in which all 8 billion of us have the opportunity to flourish—to live long, healthy, prosperous, fulfilling lives—we need to use more, not less, fossil fuel going forward." —Alex Epstein, August 31, 2022
"Make memories! – Stop and smell the roses!" —Anonymous
"Every journey into the past is complicated by delusions, false memories, false naming of real events." —Adrienne Rich
"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." —Douglas Adams
Procrastination: "The best way to get something done is to begin." —Unknown
"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." —William Morris
"The most important thing you should know about me is that I am not an expert." —Anon.
"No one spends someone else's money as wisely as he spends his own." —Dick Armey
"Biden says 'Amazon here we come' as he sides with the union movement. ... Biden's comments on Amazon are more than just empty rhetoric ... meaning that when Biden tells Amazon to watch out, 'it can carry weight.'" —Colin Lodewick, April 7, 2022
TRIGGER WARNING: ☭ Communism, Socialism, Leftism
"Fight evil." —Julie R. Hartman
■ "Communism is a failed system, a universally failed system, and I don't see Socialism as a very useful substitute … " —President Joe Biden, The White House, July 15, 2021
'Communism is pure undiluted evil': "Every time it has been enacted by a state, it resulted in vast torture, deprivation of elementary human rights. and mass murder. Why doesn't anybody going to almost any American college know this? Because the left is still protecting communism." —Dennis Prager
'Bidenomics is a disaster': "Mr. Biden doesn't believe in free enterprise." —Larry Kudlow, July 20, 2021
Explaining socialism: "It's turned away from, 'I would love to have a car like Larry's' to 'I want Larry's car.'" —Dana Perino, quoting her husband
☭ "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." —Karl Marx, 1875
"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." —Margaret Thatcher
"Exactly. Eventually, they run out of other people's money and then they come for you." —Elon Musk, Tweet, October 25, 2021 [World's richest person, personally owning ~$300 billion in Tesla stock as Telsa hits $1 trillion in market capitalization (not including his holdings of private company SpaceX stock, so he could become the first trillionaire).]
"Remember that socialism is theft … enemies of free enterprise." —Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives
"With all due respect to Margaret Thatcher, the final act in socialism isn't running out of other people's money, but bloodshed in the streets." —Charles Payne
Marxists: "Rest in Power #FidelCastro." —'Black Lives Matter' organization, Twitter, November 20, 2016
■ "The Cuban [economic] model doesn't even work for us anymore." —Fidel Castro, Sept. 2010
"We pretend to work and they pretend to pay us. —A cynical commentary on communism by 'the workers'
" ... socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that is has been disastrous." —Thomas Sowell
"Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that's where it's really at." —Bill Ayers (communist domestic terrorist in whose living room Barack Obama began his political campaign) ["I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." —Bill Ayers to 'The New York Times', 2001]
"If socialists understood economics, they wouldn't be socialists." —Friedrich August von Hayek
"Everyone knows that Scandinavian countries are not socialist. … All of these countries, with no exception, became rich after they made free market reforms in the late 19th century and early 20th century. … Sweden, for instance, had the 5th highest per capita income in the world until the 1950's, without a welfare state, though it was never a socialist country, but after the 1950's it created a welfare state, and it had dramatic effects on the quality of life of people, so per capita income fell … to 14th position, income inequality increased, and the work ethic was seriously damaged, and in the early 1990’s Sweden went bankrupt because government was so big, and they had to reform the state. So it is completely absurd to suggest that these were socialist countries." —Axel Kaiser, Director, Friedrich Hayek Chair, Adolfo Ibáñez University, Santiago, Chile
Obama to Russia: "This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility." —President Obama, on hot microphone in Seoul, South Korea, March 26, 2012
"I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir [Putin], and I stand with you." —Russian President Medvedev
"There's plenty of money in this world. There's plenty of money in this country. It's just in the wrong hands." —New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
"Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it." —Anonymous
"It is easy to despise what you cannot get." —Aesop
■ Warning to Obama that Socialism Does Not Work: "In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated." —Vladamir Putin, 2009 [... and Russia did not celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.]
"Vote early and often." —William Hale Thompson, Chicago Mayor from 1915-1923, also attributed to gangster Al Capone, and Mayor Richard J. Daley
'The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse': "You cannot post 'Thou shalt not steal,' 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' and 'Thou shalt not lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment." —George Carlin
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." —George Orwell
"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." —Alexis de Tocqueville
"I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty." —William F. Buckley, Jr.
'One Ringy Dingy. Two Ringy Dingy ... ': "If you know that 'Wolley Segap' spells Yellow Pages backwards, you're getting old. You also remember telephone booths, pay phones, rotary dial telephones, long distance, and person-to-person calls." —"Have I reached the party to whom I am speaking?"
"Preserving debt affordability at levels consistent with [U.S. Treasury bond] AAA ratings will invariably require adjustments of a magnitude that, in some cases, will test social cohesion." —Moody's Investors Services, Inc., 3/16/2010
"Amdahl's Law implies that higher IQ only improves the parts of the problem which are dependent on IQ in the first place." —shess
Ring, ring: "Congratulations on winning the sweepstakes." —Boo: My landline telephone answering machine mostly talks to criminals [Not a joke, just the actual daily experience, what happened today, on December 1, 2021.]
"What is it that you need?" —How to get a phone caller to get to the point [Otherwise, "Please place me on your do not call list."]
Yes?: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." —Betteridge's law of headlines?
"It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear." —arcticpineapplecorp.
"Perhaps he knew, as I did not, that the Earth was made round so that we would not see too far down the road." —Isak Dinesen, 'Out of Africa'
Syphilis: "It's as common as sin." —Davy Morgan, M.D., our old medical school professor of pathology, who was gassed in World War I
"Sick as hell anemia; Fireballs in the uticus; Screaming holy Jesus." —Heard in the ER
"You never know when you'll see or experience something for the last time." —Sean
"As long as there's one person on earth who remembers you, it isn't over." —From Oscar Hammerstein's libretto of the musical 'Carousel'
"When an elder dies, a library is lost." —African proverb
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." —John Donne
"The news of my death is greatly exaggerated." —W. C. Fields
"All I want to do is have some fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard." —Sheryl Crow
"If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter." —Thomas Jefferson
"I don't have a photograph, but you can have my footprints. They're upstairs in my socks." —Groucho Marx
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." —Mark Twain
"Dance with who brung ya." —Old American rural country saying
"The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable." —U.S. President James A. Garfield
"May you live in interesting times." —Sir Austen Chamberlain quoting a non-existent 'Chinese' curse
"Big things happen fast." —Vesta Mason Clement
"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan." —Von Clausewitz
"Be civil to all; sociable to many; familiar with few; friend to one; enemy to none." —Benjamin Franklin
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." —Ancient proverb
"I never hold a grudge. As soon as I get even with the son-of-a bitch, I forget it." —W. C. Fields
"I have never yet seen any plan which has not been mended by the observations of those who were much inferior in understanding to the person who took the lead in the business." —Edmund Burke
" ... trash talk ... Washington floats on a river of aspersion." —David Brooks
"A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.' " —International Pun Contest: "The ability to make and understand puns is considered to be the highest level of language development."
Q. "Where do pencils go on vacation?
A. "Pennsylvania." —Advertisement
After theoretical scientist, Dr. Mental, divorced her husband, Perry, what was she called?
"Don't anthropomorphize digital cameras. They don't like it." —Carlos Echenique
"Re-verify our range to target ... one ping only." —'Hunt for Red October'
"Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end." —Stephen Hawking [also attributed to Woody Allen]
Failure to observe extraterrestrials: "But where is everybody?" —Fermi paradox
"The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is ... 42." —Douglas Adams, 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', 1979
"The present is the only point where time touches eternity." —C.S. Lewis
"Forever is composed of nows." —Emily Dickinson
"Time makes more converts than reason." —Thomas Paine, 'Common Sense'
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” —Albert Einstein
"There was a young lady called Bright; Who could travel much faster than light [sic]. She set out one day; In a relative way; And returned on the previous night." —Arthur Buller, Punch, Dec. 19, 1923
Spacetime: "If you're stationary, time passes at the speed of light; slower if you are in motion." —Einstein's Special Relativity, 1905
["Objects in spacetime all move at constant speed c in spacetime." When you go into motion, you are simply rotating the 4D velocity vector of constant length, c, away from the time axis. But rotating a full 90 degrees away from the time axis is impossible, because reaching the speed of light spatially with time stopped would take infinite energy, as mass increases with speed.]
Q. "What moves faster than the speed of light?"
A. "Nothing (except Cosmic Inflation of the Universe during the Big Bang)." —Amazing!
["The Universe grew by a factor of 1016 in less than 10-30 seconds." (Like the graviational collapse forming a colossally supermassive black hole but with time reversed.) But that was space expanding, not something moving through space. ... A difference between the universe and a black hole reversed in time is that the universe is an expansion of space-time, whereas a black hole is a contraction in space-time.]
Remarkable photograph: The physicists who discovered quantum mechanics.
Solvay Conference, Brussels, Belgium, 1927
[Identify all the Nobel Prize winners!]
At a cosmology conference, at the Vatican: "He [The Pope] told us that it was fine to study the universe after the Big Bang, but that we should not inquire into the Big Bang itself, because that was the moment of creation and the work of God." —Stephen Hawking
"You don't take a photograph – you ask to quietly borrow it." —Debbi, Texas
Priorities in upgrading photographic quality: First improve the photographer's skills, camera/lens support (tripod, etc.), lens, and camera body last. —Thom Hogan
"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." — Albert Einstein
"In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind." —Louis Pasteur
"When I'm good, I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm better." —Mae West
"The main reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad girls live." —George Carlin
"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a moiré." —Jeff
"A man's soul can be judged by the way he treats his dog." —Charles Doran
First world problem: "A staggering $490 million [about a half billion dollars] is spent annually in the U.S. on Halloween costumes for pets." —Julie Hartman
"My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am." —Paul Dunn
"Where the Amish go on holiday." —Dina Litovsky, photographer (BBC Video)
"[The telephone] has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. This device is inherently of no value to us." —William Orton, President of Western Union, 1876
"That's as crazy as Dick Tracy's two-way wrist-radio. It'll never work." :-)
"Using radio wave interference to give each cellphone its own cell, so everyone gets full bandwidth performance." —Steve Perlman's Artemis pCell technology
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." —Marshal Ferdinand, 1911 (later, Commander of French Military Forces in World War I)
Time to close the Patent Office?: "Everything that can be invented has been invented." —Joke from an 1899 edition of 'Punch' magazine, mistakenly attributed to Charles Holland Duell, Commissioner of the United States Patent Office, at the time
[What Patent Commissioner Duell actually said was: "In my opinion, all previous advances in the various lines of invention will appear totally insignificant when compared with those which the present century will witness. I almost wish that I might live my life over again to see the wonders which are at the threshold."]
"There is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home." —Ken Olsen, Founder of Digital Equipment Corporation ('DEC'), 1977
Antimissile defense: "With lasers, if you can see it, you can kill it." —Robert Afzal, Lockheed Martin
"Americans saving $758 million per day by working from home ... according to research from freelancing platform Upwork [$90 billion since the onset of COVID-19]." —CNN Newswire, December 1, 2020
"I am always learning." —Michelangelo
"Don't go for the geniuses. They never want to sleep." —First lady, Abigail Bartlett, M.D., played by Stockard Channing on "The West Wing"
"Social Conservatives hate big government; they want it just small enough so it can fit into our bedrooms ... " —paraphrasing Josh Lyman on "The West Wing"
"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." —Thomas Jefferson
"A genuine leader is not a seeker of consensus, but a builder of consensus." —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
" ... we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people." —President Donald J. Trump, Inaugural Speech, January 20, 2017
"No good deed goes unpunished." —Walter Map, 12th century
"Invest in the innovators of the NASDAQ 100 and become an agent of innovation." —Invesco QQQ (Exchange Traded Fund Advertisement) [In contrast, see: 'Biden's profound misunderstanding of innovation.']
["Bernie Madoff was an American fraudster and financier who ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was formerly chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange." —James J. O'Brien]
"I am just a poor boy / Though my story's seldom told / I have squandered my resistance / For a pocketful of mumbles / Such are promises / All lies and jest / Still, a man hears what he wants to hear And disregards the rest." —Paul Simon
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket." —Idiom
"Stop undercutting America's innovators." —AEP
GIGO: "Garbage in, garbage out." —Idiom
Proposed IBM System/360 Computer Instructions:
BH — Branch and Hang—Apocryphal opcode mnemonics, c. 1969-70, posted on a wall near a computer at JPL.
IIB — Ignore Inquiry and Branch
TDB — Transfer and Drop Bits
DO — Divide and Overflow
SRZ — Subtract and Reset to Zero
PI — Punch Invalid
SSJ — Select Stacker and Jam
FSRA — Forms Skip and Run Away
RASC — Read and Shred Card
SRSD — Seek Record and Scar Disc
BST — Backspace and Stretch Tape
RIRG — Read Inter-Record Gap
UER — Update and Erase Record
EM — Emulate 407
SPSW — Scramble Program Status Word
EIOC — Execute Invalid Op Code
EROS — Erase Read-Only Storage
PBC — Print and Break Chain
CM — Circulate Memory
MLR — Move and Lose Record
CRN — Convert to Roman Numerals
DMPK — Destroy Memory Protect Key
DC — Divide and Conquer
EPI — Execute Programmer Immediate
LCC — Load and Clear Core
HCF — Halt and Catch Fire
Courtesy of A.T. Young, Astronomy Department, San Diego State University.
"The only constant in life is change." —Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus
'The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." —Steve Jobs – 1955-2011 R.I.P.
"When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is, and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life. Have fun. Save a little money. ... That's a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that people can use. Once you learn that you'll never be the same again." —Steve Jobs
♦ We are probably discarding 99% of the great and useful new ideas: "The patent process, legal profession, and venture capital companies are an insurmountable nightmare for most people and their ideas. It should be much easier to record new ideas and inventions, to not get them stolen, and to start up a technology or other company or venture, or to get existing companies to adopt the new concept. It should not be necessary for the innovator to also have the time, financial resources, wish to discard their current occupation, people skills, social skills, business skills, organizational skills, legal skills, and skills at obtaining patents and fund raising. Most innovators are not suitable to become company founders or leaders, the people around them may not be supportive, or they may, given their current circumstances, just not think it worth the effort, yet their valuable innovations should be preserved and not be discarded, and lost to civilization. We should have trustworthy venture-capital companies that take good ideas and create the teams, organizations, and leaders to bring innovations to market, or introduce the innovation to existing enterprises and facilitate its development and adoption, to everyone's benefit. That the innovator can explain their breakthrough and what is needed for the next step should be all that is necessary for a new technology to bloom. It needs to be much easier than it is now, for innovators to benefit the world and get rewarded." —Judy Davis
"Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine." —Attributed to Alan Turing [Turing machine; Electronic stored program computing machine; Turing test for artificial intelligence; Cracking encryption of German Enigma machine to win WW II.]
"[Steve] Jobs was a genius. What he did, particularly when he came back to Apple ... his ability to pick people, his taste in people, even for skill sets that he didn't have himself ... it's truly phenomenal. And there's no chance in hell it happens without him. ... So that period between when he goes back to Apple and when he sadly dies quite young, no one else can do what he did there. I couldn't have done that. I don't know anyone who could have." —Bill Gates
In 2009, "Steve Jobs, the inventive and often strong-willed co-founder of Apple, warned ... [President] Obama that the United States needed to become more business-friendly if it did not want to lose its edge. He talked about how much easier it was to build a factory in China than in the U.S., where there were too many regulations and needless costs. And he complained about the U.S. education system, saying unions protected bad teachers and kept principals from hiring good ones."
"When I resigned [from my faculty appointment at the University of California, San Diego] I got into a hot air balloon in the middle of Revelle Plaza and flew over the Chancellor's residence playing my sopranino recorder so that he would hear the sound. He came out and I yelled down that I was resigning and floated off. I was an art professor at the time and it seemed arty to leave that way." —Jef Raskin, who went on to join Apple Computer, Inc. as its 31st employee, later fathering the Apple Macintosh computer, and at Information Appliance, Inc., the Canon CAT
Apple Macintosh: "What I proposed was a computer that would be easy to use, mix text and graphics, and sell for about $1,000. Steve Jobs said that it was a crazy idea, that it would never sell, and we didn't want anything like it. He tried to shoot the project down." —Jef Raskin
"There's no doubt that Jef [Raskin (1943-2005)] was the creator of the Macintosh project at Apple, and that his articulate vision of an exceptionally easy to use, low cost, high volume appliance computer got the ball rolling, and remained near the heart of the project long after Jef left the company. He also deserves ample credit for putting together the extraordinary initial team that created the computer, recruiting former student Bill Atkinson to Apple and then hiring amazing individuals like Burrell Smith, Bud Tribble, Joanna Hoffman and Brian Howard for the Macintosh team." —Andy Herzfeld
"While Mr. [Steve] Jobs' stated positions on management techniques are all quite noble and worthy, in practice he is a dreadful manager. It is an unfortunate case of mouthing the right ideas but not believing in or executing them when it comes time to do something. ... Jobs regularly misses appointments. He does not give credit where due. Jobs also has favorites, who can do no wrong — and others who can do no right. He interrupts and doesn't listen. He doesn't keep promises. He is a prime example of a manager who takes the credit for his optimistic schedules and then blames the workers when deadlines are not met." ... "Steve Jobs would have made an excellent King of France." —Father of the Macintosh, Jef Raskin
Apple's current approach to its customers: "There's a fundamental disconnect between making products that are supposed to be friendly and easy to use while simultaneously forcing customers to dig deeply through hidden and confusing settings and details and changes to figure out what in the world is happening to them." —Ric Ford, 2015
"If I had not studied music, there would be no Macintosh computers today." —Jef Raskin
[Jef's mountaintop home, (past the vinyards and the peacocks on the road) overlooking Silicon Valley, (with ripe chestnuts on his trees), had a fabulous auditorium music room (but sleeping on the floor there in a down sleeping bag with the heat off at 45°F indoors pitch black at night was fairly miserable), and a model airplane landing strip, marked with an 'X' indicating that it was closed, to prevent airplane pilots from mistakenly attempting an emergency landing on the miniature runway. His beautiful but inexpensive formerly owned Rolls Royce (which cost him only $17,000) did impress the venture capitalists, and it was great fun being picked up at the San Jose airport by Jef driving his Rolls!]
"If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music." —Albert Einstein
Recommended first exposure to classical music (necessary to listen at least 3 times):
Handel's Messiah (Hallelujah Chorus);
Bethoven's 5th Symphony; and,
Vivaldi's Four Seasons. —Dennis Prager
[Also: Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concertos; Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture; Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite; and, Jerusalem.]
Designed by morons: "Apple has been working up to this level of malpractice for years now, making ill-conceived workflow-destroying changes ... This is scary incompetence taken to putrid new Apple Core Rot levels. ... worrisome decline of OS X quality and integrity. ... The risks in upgrading OS X have become unacceptable due to software testing incompetence, half-assed design practices, arbitrary changes that leave users hung out to dry, and overall juvenile judgment at Apple ... which has infected both OS X and iOS and is metastasizing. Your goose is Cooked if you trust Apple as a professional: it is part of the logical progression from the first warning shot with Apple’s Final Cut fiasco some years back." —Lloyd Chambers, 2015
"Apple hardware usually rocks, the software is usually rocks." —Lloyd Chambers, 2020
False alarm: "The iPhone 14's new Crash Detection feature, which is supposed to alert authorities when it detects you've been in a car accident, has an unexpected side effect: it dials 911 on rollercoasters [also while skiing and during enthusiastic dancing]." —Probably the longest lasting non-stop 'crash' ever [hint for a fix]
"Sony cameras are mostly just hard to hold, because they aren't really designed for human hands in the first place." —Sauseschritt
Law Of Unintended Consequences: "The price of features is trouble." —Anonymous
"Since each recent major release of OS X further degrades the user interface and offers little new functionality of value to me, I have been induced to delay upgrading a stable version until there is a pressing reason." —Dan Y
Apple Software Quality: "There is a loyal Apple OS user base that sees Apple as a tool maker, not a fashion house. Quality control and an intuitive interface would be a good start." —a MacInTouch reader, 2015
"I've never let schooling interfere with my `education." —Grant Allen
"You may be a redneck if ... you have spent more on your pickup truck than on your education." —Jeff Foxworthy
"Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles." —Frank Lloyd Wright
Obama budget with nearly $1.5 trillion in deficit spending fails to get a single Democratic vote … again: "President Obama's $3.6 trillion [2013] budget ... was unanimously defeated, 414-0." —United States House of Representatives, March 28, 2012 [Similarly unanimously defeated 97-0 in the Democrat-controlled Senate in May 2011.]
"When the heavy hand of government replaces the invisible hand of the market, economic freedom is the inevitable victim." —Mitt Romney
FEMA response to Hurricane Sandy:
"Those who know the least always seem to know it the loudest." —Andy Capp
"If you argue with an idiot, there are two idiots." —Robert Kiyosaki
"We live in a society where if you don't have a job, you are left to die." —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) NY
"Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public." —Scott Adams
"Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed." —Albert Einstein
"One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not." —Alexandre Dumas
TRIGGER WARNING: Apocalyptic Environmentalism
'The IPCC's perversion of science': "The IPCC's Synthesis Report severely distorts science to advance a corrupt political agenda. ... a common-sense reading reveals that it's total garbage. ... a blatantly biased view of exaggerated negative impacts, with no mention of positives like global greening thanks to CO2 fertilization of the atmosphere or decreasing cold-related deaths. ... Instead of accounting for our climate mastery ability, the IPCC ... ignores our ability to neutralize negative climate impacts, despite the fact that we've driven climate disaster deaths down by 98% over the last century! ... All experts in the field should unequivocally condemn this dangerous piece of garbage and the process that produced it. ... the IPCC severely distorts the present state of climate danger." —Alex Epstein, May 4, 2023
"The long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible." —United Nations IPCC 2007 and 2018 reports
"The 1800's were a very cold time (Little Ice Age) and the 1°C warming since then has coincided with the greatest improvement in human life in history – in large part due to fossil fuels. ... When people talk about 1.5°C of warming as catastrophic, it's even more absurd than it sounds because it's not 1.5°C warming starting now, it's 1.5°C total since the 1800's. Which means 0.5°C warmer than now – in a world where far more people die of cold than of heat." —Alex Epstein
[The industrial revolution which vastly improved living conditions, nutrition, health, safety, longevity, wealth, etc., occured when fossil fuel powered machines could be substituted for human and animal muscle power.]
"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant." —James Madison
An apocalyptic cult: "The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change." —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) NY, January 21, 2019
'Weather zealots': "Did you know that the word 'gullible' has been removed from the dictionary?" —April Fools
If you believe that: "There is a bridge that I'd like to sell you." —George C. Parker
"I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the man who sold it." —Will Rogers
"You'll never meet a scam artist you don't like!" —Caution
Survey of 10,000 age 16 to 25: [Our kids are being totally mislead; no wonder they are depressed.] "75% think the future is frightening [WRONG!]; 56% think that humanity is coming to an end [WRONG!]; 39% hesitant to have children because the future is so bleak. [WRONG!]" —Marian Tupy
"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they've been fooled." —@Joreth crediting Mark Twain
Didn't happen: "If current trends are unchanged,’ temperatures would rise 2° to 4° in the first decade of the 2000's." —Attributed to James Hansen, NASA, Climate Scientist
" ... the next 18 months will decide our ability to keep climate change to survivable levels ... " —HRH Prince Charles, July 10, 2019 [Oops! Too late! We're all going to die! (NOT)]
" ... civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." —Biologist George Wald, Harvard University, April 19, 1970
"[By 1995] somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct." —Sen. Gaylord Nelson, quoting Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, Look magazine, April 1970
"[Because of increased dust, cloud cover and water vapor] the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born." —Newsweek magazine, January 26, 1970
Brrr: "[The world will be] eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." —Kenneth Watt, speaking at Swarthmore College, April 19, 1970
"We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation." —Biologist Barry Commoner, University of Washington, writing in the journal Environment, April 1970
"Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from the intolerable deteriorations and possible extinction." —The New York Times editorial, April 20, 1970
"By 1985, air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half ... " —Life magazine, January 1970
"Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make." —Paul Ehrlich, interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970
" ... air pollution ... is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." —Paul Ehrlich, interview in Mademoiselle magazine, April 1970 [Ehrlich also predicted that in 1973, 200,000 Americans would die from air pollution, and that by 1980 the life expectancy of Americans would be 42 years.]
"It is already too late to avoid mass starvation." —Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes, The Living Wilderness, Spring 1970
'Earth Day co-founder killed, composted girlfriend': "Ira Einhorn was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event at the Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970. Seven years later, police raided his closet and found the 'composted' body of his ex-girlfriend inside a trunk. ... After his arrest, Einhorn jumped bail and spent decades evading authorities ... He was convicted of murdering [his ex-girlfriend, Helen 'Holly'] Maddux and is currently serving a life sentence." —NBC News, April 21, 2011
"By the year 2000...the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America and Australia, will be in famine." —Peter Gunter, North Texas State University, The Living Wilderness, Spring 1970
"A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years." —Greta Thunberg, Twitter, June, 21 2018
"We must realize that unless we are extremely lucky, everybody will disappear in a cloud of blue steam in 20 years." —Paul Ehrlich, The New York Times, 1969
"Air polution may obliterate the sun and cause a new ice age in the first third of the next century." —The Boston Globe, 1970
"Deep concern with the future of the world ... fall within the rank of proesses wich produced the last ice age." —Brown Univerity Geological Sciences Department letter to the White House, 1972
"Spy satellites show new ice age is coming fast." —The Guardian, 1974
"Snow is starting to disappear from our lives ... Children just aren’t going to know what snow is." —Dr. David Viner, University of East Anglia, The Independent, 2000
"University of California physicist John Holdren has said, it is possible that carbon dioxide climate-induced famines could kill as many as a billion people before the year 2020." —Paul Ehrlich, 1986
"Entire nations could be wiped off the face of the earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000." —United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), 1989
"... most of the beaches on the East Coast of the United States ... gone in 25 years." —'New York Times', Sepatember 18, 1995
"The Department of Interior warned that climate change could lead one day to the Statue of Liberty being 'underwater' due to sea level rise and storm surges." —Washington Examiner, October 6, 2016
"Britain will be Siberian in less than 20 years." —The Guardian, 2004
"Climate activist Greta Thunberg deleted a tweet from 2018 warning that humanity would be wiped out 'unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.' Here we are, five years later, and the world didn't end. If the 'experts' were wrong about climate change, what else are they wrong about, and why are we still listening to them?" —Dennis Prager
"I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself." —Oscar Wilde
"The energy industry is the industry that powers every other industry." —Alex Epstein, June 21, 2022
'California': "Bordering always on the Pacific and sometimes on the ridiculous." —George Carlin
'California is a suicide, not a murder': "1) Policies [such as energy 'net zero'] that create scarcity and high prices are by design, and only benefit crony capitalists, 2) public education at all grade levels in California is failing, and 3) punishing crime deters crime ... if criminal penalties were enhanced instead of being scrapped as per the progressive agenda, crime would be deterred." —Edward Ring
Also see, Fixing California: The Electric Age; The Transportation Revolution; Affordable Market Housing; Forest Management; Prosperity Economy.
"New poll shows nearly two-thirds of Californians thinking about leaving the state. ... Issues leading to dissatisfaction included economic uncertainty, expensive housing and living costs, public safety, political polarization, and the state's education system ... " —Travis Gillmore, June 23, 2023
'The West Intends Energy Suicide: Will It Succeed?': "The University of California has made the decision to remove all companies that own fossil fuel reserves from the UC Retirement Savings Program (RSP) fund offering. On June 30, 2022, we will sell existing holdings from RSP core funds and will no longer invest in fossil fuel companies. UC Investments defines these holdings as publicly traded companies that own any amount of fossil fuel reserves in thermal coal (not metallurgical coal), oil and gas. UC Investments believes that the fossil fuel industry faces considerable long term financial risk ... " —University of California Retirement Savings Program, 2022
"Let's be clear about what happened:
1. Biden destroyed America's oil/gas industry and made us dependent on OPEC again.
2. Biden begged OPEC to produce more oil.
3. OPEC is doing the opposite—cutting output by 2 million barrels a day.
Total failure. OPEC is laughing at him." —Rep. Steve Scalise (R), October 5, 2022
'Utopian energy dreams are doing great economic and security damage': "Soaring oil and natural gas prices. Electricity grids on the brink of failure. Energy shortages ... worse to come. ... costly consequences of misguided climate regulation, subsidies and mandates ... the West's utopian dream to punish fossil fuels and sprint to a world driven solely by renewable energy. ... manifest debacle ... short of a technological breakthrough, the world will need an ample supply of carbon fuel for decades to remain prosperous and free. ... climate monomania is endangering living standards ... Historian Arnold Toynbee argued that civilizations die from suicide, not murder. The West's climate self-destruction may prove him right." —Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, July 17, 2022
We are safer from the climate than ever: "For every million people on earth, annual deaths from climate-related causes (extreme temperature, drought, flood, storms, wildfires) declined 98% – from an average of 247 per year during the 1920's to 2.5 per year during the 2010's. ... The planet is becoming more liveable, not less. ... Any credible prediction of climate catastrophe must ... acknowledge that we are currently safer from climate than humans have ever been [and] the failed history of climate catastrophe predictions." —Alex Epstein
[The reality of the past was disgusting, like the streets of San Francisco now, but indoors too.] The good old days, boy were they terrible: "Louis XIV’s (maybe the richest man on earth at the time) magnificent palace of Versailles, built in 1631, had no proper waste facilities. People relieved themselves where they stood in hallways, curtains, and in the gardens. Once contemporary observer noted, 'Versailles was the receptacle of all of humanity's horrors – the passageways, corridors, and courtyards are filled with urine, and fecal matter.'" —Marian Tupy
Abundance – The Future is Better Than You Think: "Over the last 50 years, the percent of our disposable income spent on food has dropped by more than 50 percent, from 14% to less than 6%." —Peter H. Diamandis, M.D., June 27, 2016
"After all is said and done, a lot more has been said than done." —Aesop
TRIGGER WARNING: Disease, Illness
STAY ALIVE = GET VACCINATED! [Find COVID-19 Vaccines and
Tests near you]
"Getting Covid is about 50,000 times more dangerous than getting the vaccine." —Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
[Exclusion of therapeutics: "Biden Administration actively preventing monoclonal antibody treatments. —Florida Surgeon General, Joseph A. Ladapo, M.D., Ph.D."; "The President [Biden] has been getting bad medical advice ... Delays in Merck [Molnupiravir] and Pfizer [Paxlovid] [oral protease inhibitor] therapeutics that cut Covid deaths to zero ... " —Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H., December 28, 2021; " ... thousands of COVID deaths due to 'de-emphasizing therapeutics'" —Senator Rand Paul, M.D., December 27, 2021
[However the Omicron variant produces breakthrough infections, with the vaccines continuing to limit serious illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.]
"1 in 306 Americans has died of Covid (1,100,000+ dead) and 7+ million worldwide."
—Pandemic, after three years [More Covid-19 deaths in 2021 than in 2020.]
["3 1/2 years after the start of the Covid epidemic, if Americans keep dying at the current rate (1,100/week) , there will be more than an additional half-million deaths from Covid-19 over the next decade." —June, 2023]
["More than 6 million children have tested positive for Covid since the beginning of the pandemic." —NBC News, October 14, 2021; But zero deaths? "Since January 2020, fewer than 450 children between the ages of 5 and 18 have died of COVID-19, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The American Academy of Pediatrics says that, in the 45 states with data current as of October 18, childhood COVID-19 cases resulted in deaths in between 0% and .03% of infected children." —Emily Zanotti, Daily Wire, October 20, 2021]
[CDC reports a continuing U.S. Covid-19 death toll of over 1,100 deaths/week in May, 2023.]
"There is no vaccine against stupidity." —Albert Einstein [But ignoring natural immunity following infection also makes no sense.]
[Dying from a, now treatable {PAXLOVID; monoclonal antibodies} and almost fully preventable disease is incredibly dumb. Period. No exceptions.]
• Note, however, that the original Covid-19 vaccines are less effective against the later Omicron variants, especially regarding preventing transmission;
9/2022 Second generation mRNA vaccine boosters that include Omicron antigen are being introduced, but are as yet untested.
'Looking at a winter of severe illness and death': " … the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated." —Joe Biden, July 22, 2021
[By way of perspective, Tobacco kills more people than Covid-19. (The correct takeaway is to save your own life by getting vaccinated, social distancing, and N95 masking and also stop smoking!)]
Vaccine 'refuseniks': "If you're not vaccinated right now, you're not nearly as smart as I thought you were. … We have a pandemic because the unvaccinated are sowing enormous confusion." —Joe Biden, July 27, 2021
Breakthrough infections: "This is not an epidemic of the unvaccinated. I'm very disappointed when I hear those statements. Clearly many many people that are getting infected today have been what CDC calls 'fully vaccinated' and some of them have been boosted." —Robert R. Redfield Jr., M.D., Former CDC Director, January 8, 2022
"Death rates are up 40 percent over what they were pre-pandemic [among OneAmerica's group life insurance policy holders, working aged people between the ages of 18 and 64]" —Scott Davison, CEO of insurance company OneAmerica, January 7, 2022
Covid Testing Shortfall: "We can't just give out tests willy-nilly. We're going to have to strategically provide [at home Covid tests] to the elderly and those with comorbid conditions so if they get sick they can test immediately and get on those oral drugs from Merck or Pfizer, or potentially get a monoclonal antibody. That's what we need to do, and there's just a lack of leadership and complete confusion. I'm very disappointed. … We're in a bad situation. We need to use the tests to keep people out of the hospital and keep them from dying. Not just put them on the internet first come first serve." —Admiral Brett Giroir, Former White House Covid Task Force Member and Testing Czar
False/Utter Nonsense: "We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition and many on ventilators." —U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, January 7, 2022 [The correct number is about 3,500, mostly mild cases, almost none on ventilators, including many children hospitalized for other conditions testing positive.]
Biden Mocks Americans' Freedom: "I have the freedom to kill you with my Covid, I mean come on, freedom." —Joe Biden, October 22, 2021
"We have won many battles but unvaccinated America is choosing to let COVID win the war. " —Thanh Neville, M.D., M.S.H.S., ICU Physician at UCLA [But distinguish dying with Covid-19 vs. dying from Covid-19?]
"I should have gotten the damn vaccine" —Michael Freedy, text message to his family from unvaccinated father of 5 children, just before his untimely death from Covid-19 at age 39
Covid-19 Mutation Variants: "By failing to contain the virus through vaccination, wearing masks and avoiding crowds, people are allowing the coronavirus to morph into increasingly dangerous forms." —William A. Haseltine, PhD., former Harvard Medical School Professor
"Biden administration turned down public health expert plan in late October that called for manufacturing and sending over 700 million rapid COVID-19 tests to Americans ... " —Azmi Haroun, 'Business Insider', December 24, 2021
5 day quarantine & return to work masked without testing: "The CDC just United the country ... into not trusting them. Congratulations on getting Americans to agree on something. #CDCsays [trending on twitter, December 29, 2021] #COVID19" —LWArtwork
Covid deaths among fully vaccinated Americans: "Between Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 [2021], the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's cumulative count for breakthrough deaths jumped by 51% from 7,178 to 10,857." —CDC [Thereafter CDC ceased reporting breakthrough deaths, and removed this data from their website.]
"number needed to vaccinate to avoid one COVID-19 death in participants aged younger than 65 years exceeds 100,000; number needed to vaccinate to prevent medically attended symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections ... ranging from 40 to 105" —Caitlyn Stulpin, September 7, 2023
COVID-19 lockdowns caused more deaths instead of reducing them: "Following the implementation of [Covid-19 lockdown] policies, excess mortality increases." —Virat Agrawal, Jonathan H. Cantor, Neeraj Sood, and Christopher M. Whaley, 'The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Policy Responses on Excess Mortality', Working Paper 28930, National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2021
Effects of Lockdowns on COVID-19 Mortality: " … Lockdowns have had little to no public health effects … Lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument." —Jonas Herby, et. al., Johns Hopkins University
"Maintaining relative humidity in the 40%-60% range in indoor spaces could help slow the spread of the coronavirus." —Healthy Buildings program at Harvard
"Increased cases of myocarditis and pericarditis were reported in the United States after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination." —CDC
"The association of increased risk of COVID-19 with higher numbers of prior vaccine doses in our study, was unexpected." —Cleveland Clinic
'How far New York City is from coming back full-time': "Only 8% of office workers are in their jobs five days a week in New York City at this moment. … almost deserted 10 days before Christmas." —Stuart Varney, December 15, 2021
"4 million Americans sidelined from jobs [2.5% of workforce job loss] due to Long Covid [aka Chronic Fatigue Syndrome]." —The Census Bureau, The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and The Lancet, August 1, 2022
"People living with long COVID can experience wide-ranging and debilitating symptoms. They can have trouble working, sleeping, taking care of their families and doing even basic physical activity, among other issues ... Our goal ... is to figure out why and how some people experience these long-lasting symptoms, and to identify treatments that could help." —Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, NIH Acting director
"SARS-CoV-2 disrupts mitochondria – suggests a cause for long Covid." —Elizabeth Cooney, August 8, 2023
"The pandemic is over. ... no one's wearing masks." [sic] —Joe Biden, 'CBS 60 Minutes', September 18, 2022 [But "White House won’t relinquish emergency powers."]
"None of the predominantly mucosal respiratory viruses [such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and RSV] have ever been effectively controlled by vaccines. ... Durably protective vaccines against non-systemic mucosal respiratory viruses with high mortality rates have thus far eluded vaccine development efforts." —David M. Morens, Jeffery K. Taubenberger, and Anthony S. Fauci, January 11, 2023
"Save your own life by getting screened for colon cancer and breast cancer." —Barbara Taylor
"Experts warn against offers for costly full-body scans ... a terrible idea. ... scans may harm patients since they would be undergoing unnecessary testing. ... Most of the stuff that they identify is clinically unimportant, but will still result in extensive follow-up testing, interventions, biopsies, procedures, and operations to manage things that never would have harmed the patient in the first place." —Matthew Davenport, M.D., Professor of Radiology and Urology at the University of Michigan and American College of Radiology Vice Chair for its Quality and Safety Commission, August 11, 2023
"Experts agree ... I suggest we listen to Nobel Laureates ... :" —Taylor Larimore
"Asked what he’ll do with his share of the prize money, Diamond said he’ll probably put it in a total market index fund." —Douglas Diamond
"Whether you decide to tilt toward value depends on whether you are willing to bear the associated risk ... The market portfolio is always efficient ... For most people, the market portfolio is the most sensible decision." —Eugene Fama
"Investors shouldn't delude themselves about beating the market. They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen." —Daniel Kahneman
"A foolish attempt to beat the market and get rich quickly will make one's broker rich and oneself much less so." —Harry Markowitz
"Most people might just as well buy a share of the whole market, which pools all the information, than delude themselves into thinking they know something the market doesn't." —Merton Miller
"The most efficient way to diversify a stock portfolio is with a low-fee index fund. Statistically, a broadly based stock index fund will outperform most actively managed equity portfolios." —Paul Samuelson
"You may think your opinion is superior, but it pays to be humble, investing in the market rather than trying to beat it." —William Sharpe
"A portfolio approximating the market may be the most important portfolio." —Robert Shiller
"Diversification is a safety factor that is essential because we should be humble enough to admit we can be wrong." —Sir John Templeton (1912-2008)
Words of Wisdom: "'Deep down, I remain absolutely confident that the vast majority of American families would be well served by owning their equity holding in a Standard & Poor's 500 Index fund (or a total stock market index fund)." —Jack Bogle
"People who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was." —Joseph Heller
"Reward work, not wealth." —Joe Biden, November 3, 2020
["So, instead of saving and investing, take a pile of rocks and a sledge hammer, and get to work to be rewarded. (This idiocy is an especially damaging version of the long discredited 'labor theory of value' which is the central error in Marxist theory, because value is actually instead peoples' subjective opinions of what things are worth to them. ['Value is in the eye of the beholder!']) Central planning must always fail for lack of required information, precisely because it neglects indivdual choices which express those subjective valuations. Note that phrasing this as 'not ... reward ... wealth' is dishonest, because what Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are actually advocating is confiscating your wealth." —Christopher Anderson]
"No one cares how hard you worked." —Ctein
America is still the land of opportunity: "There is alot of income mobility … Nearly 70% of Americans will spend at least some time in the top quintile, the highest group of income earners." —James Freeman, Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Assistant Editor
'Chasing away entrepreneurial capital': "There are 'go-to' states and there's 'no-go' states. And 'no-go' states right now are New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, [and] California. You cannot invest in those places. They are no longer investable." —Kevin O'Leary, February 24, 2023
The zero-interest-rate policy of the Fed: " ... a disguised tax ... It takes income from savers and hands it as a subsidy to borrowers. It also facilitates and funds the fiscal deficit policies of central government. Such a well disguised tax is a boon for governments. The cruelest tax of all is this 100 percent tax on interest income." —Sarel Oberholster, November 26, 2009
"Biden has declared war on American small business." —Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), House minority leader, 'NY Post', September 28, 2021
"Sixty percent of the people in the top one percent are successful small business owners." —Steve Moore, May 16, 2022
Looks like it was designed by Beijing and Moscow: "Wall Street didn't build this country, the middle class built the country, and unions built the middle class. ... but it's time for corporate America and the wealthiest 1% of Americans to just begin to pay their fair share, just their fair share .… We're going to reward work, not just wealth. ... It's time to remember that 'we the people' are the government [sic]." —President Joseph Biden, April 28, 2021
Real wages falling in America: "DOWN 2.7% under Biden ['Real weekly earnings fall for 26th straight month']; UP 7.3% under Trump." —Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 9, 2023
False: "Anybody making less than $400,000 a year will not pay a single penny in taxes. [sic]" —Joe Biden, May 3, 2021
Percent of Americans who will pay more in taxes under the $3.5 trillion[sic] actually $5.1 trillion] Democrat's ['class warfare'] budget 'reconciliation' bill:
"37% of Americans making less than $100,000, 35% making between $100,000 and $200,000, and 59% making between $200,000 and $500,000" —Joint Committee on Taxation, September 22, 2021
"You know sometimes the big spenders in Congress talk as if all that money they spend just kind of magically appears on their doorstep, a gift from the Internal Revenue Service. They talk as if spending were all giving a no taking. Well, there is no magic money machine." —President Ronald Reagan, April 24, 1985
Actually a $6 trillion increase in the national debt: "As a matter of fact, my first two years in office I've lowered the deficit by a record $1.7 trillion. Lowered the deficit — the debt.[sic]" —President Biden, remarks at the North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) Legislative Conference, April 25, 2023
Biden's misleading deficit claim earns him a Bottomless Pinocchio: "President Biden's claims that his policies have resulted in a $1.7 trillion reduction in the deficit are misleading at best. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)" —Glenn Kessler, The Fact Checker, 'Washington Post,' April 28, 2023
'Misdirection': "You want to bring down inflation? Let's make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.[sic]" —Joe Biden, May 13, 2022
'Think the rich don't pay their fair share? Think again': "Despite the well-worn political rhetoric about fair share, the tax burden on the wealthy continues to climb ... In 2020, the top 1% of taxpayers earned 22% of all adjusted gross income; their 42.3% share of the income taxes is nearly twice their share of the nation's income. The opposite is true for the bottom 90%. They earned more than half, 50.5%, of the nation's income but paid 26.3% of the taxes — roughly half of their share of the nation's income." —Scott Hodge, CNN Opinion, April 21, 2023
"There are two distinct classes of men in the nation, those who pay taxes, and those who receive and live upon the taxes." —Thomas Paine
Pick a law you want to repeal: "The 16th Amendment. The income tax is immoral and should not exist. Ultimately, government should operate based off of a user fee model where people pay for the services they need, want, or use." —Connor Boyack
"The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead. Raising corp taxes[sic] is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection." —Jeff Bezos, May 13, 2022,
■ "In fact, the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves. Inflation is a regressive tax that most hurts the least affluent. Misdirection doesn't help the country." —Jeff Bezos, Tweet, Amazon.com founder, owner of 'The Washington Post', and world's second richest person, May 15, 2022
"You're living in a country that is borrowing $63,000 a second." —Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), member of the House Ways and Means Committee, August 7, 2023
Only Government Creates Inflation: "Inflation is made in Washington because only Washington can create money. ... What produces it is too much government spending and too much government creation of money and nothing else." —Milton Friedman
"There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion." —Ludwig von Mises
"Look, a squirrel! This is the White House's statement about my recent tweets. They understandably want to muddy the topic. They know inflation hurts the neediest the most. But unions aren't causing inflation [sic] and neither are wealthy people. Remember the Administration tried their best to add another $3.5 TRILLION to federal spending. They failed, but if they had succeeded, inflation would be even higher than it is today, and inflation today is at a 40 year high." —Jeff Bezos, May 16, 2022
Pick a law you want to repeal: "The Federal Reserve Act of 1913—the sinister creation of a central bank (the 'Creature from Jekyll Island') in the USA that created a money printing machine so politicians can grow the government, finance wars, and inflate the debt away by creating more money again and again. The Fed causes inflation, which is basically stealing value from your hard-earned money so that politicians can use the newly made money. It weakens society by creating economic instability and enticing families to spend their money now (while it still has value) instead of saving it for the future. Ultimately we should have a free market for money, where there is competition of currencies and the interest rate isn't decided by some secret committee of bankers, but by the market itself—the aggregate transactions of millions of people. For me, the Fed is a root of evil that we need to strike at." —Connor Boyack
"The average rent in New York City is now over $5,000 a month. Rents are rising at the highest rate since the 1980's. ... Home buyers press pause: 7 out of 10 people who were planning to buy a house this year are reconsidering or putting their plans on hold." —Stuart Varney, July 14, 2022
"The rent is too damn high." —Jimmy McMillan, III
Another whopper from the Pinocchio-in-Chief: "I give you my word as a Biden: If you make under $400,000 a year, I'll never raise your taxes one cent.[sic] But, I'm going to make those at the top start to pay their fair share in taxes. It's only fair [sic]" —Joe Biden, Tweet, September 26, 2021
☭ "Loot the looters." —Vladimir I. Lenin, 'Pravda', No. 18, February 6, 1918, p. 3
"Ephesians ... seized the jewelry of the rich women of Ephesus and used it to retire government debts." —Aristotle
Income Taxes: "The rich [already] pay twice their fair share." —Larry Kudlow, September 27, 2021
"Since this is an era when many people are concerned about 'fairness' and 'social justice,' what is your 'fair share' of what someone else has worked for?" —Thomas Sowell
Federal Income Taxes: "Too High 50% ... Too Low 4%." —Gallup Poll, sample of 961 Adults, April, 2021
[While Democrats propose massive tax increases!]
Taxes in New York City: "Just saying, 65,000 out of 8 million [less than 1%] pay half [51% of income taxes] so it's not like we don't 'tax the rich.' … Let's not lie, the rich pay alot of taxes." —Bill Maher, September 17, 2021
Taxes in New Jersey: "If tax rate is your issue… either a family or a business… we're probably not your state." —New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D), October, 2021
"The average rent in New York City is $5,588 … the city will have to spend more than $12 billion to manage the migrant crisis. Where's that money coming from? [$383 daily per family, $9.8 million per day]" —Stuart Varney, August 10, 2023
"But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?" —Walter E. Williams, 'All It Takes Is Guts: A Minority View'
'87,000 IRS agents': "Why would they do that? ... Because you're not going to be able to contend with the audit. So they're going to crush a lot of people by doing that. ... And I think of all the things that have come out of Washington that have been outrageous, this has got to be pretty close to the top ... And I think it was basically just a middle finger to the American public that this is what they think of you. ... Fortunately, that's one of the reasons we [Florida] don't have an income tax, because if you don't have an income tax, you don't empower revenue agents ... " —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, August 18, 2022
"Corporations don't pay taxes, they collect them." —Rep. Kevin Brady (R), Texas
■ "Our true choice is not between tax reduction, on the one hand, and the avoidance of large federal deficits on the other. It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenues to balance our budget – just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits. ... In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now." —President John F. Kennedy, address to the Economic Club of New York, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City, December 14, 1962
"Bobby Kennedy ["RFK"] totally supported his brother JFK's tax cuts … He wanted to keep the tax cuts … [Robert F. Kennedy] also ran against the Great Society welfare state, because he said they were going to be too dependent on the government … " —Larry Kudlow, July 14, 2023
■ Fairness: "Well, as you know, there are many things in life that are not fair, that wealthy people can afford and poor people can't. But I don’t believe that the federal government should take action to try to make these opportunities exactly equal, particularly when there is a moral factor involved." —President Jimmy Carter, July 13, 1977
"Federal, State, and Local government spending is now 44% of GDP. (Federal spending about 24% of GDP this year.)" —Larry Kudlow, January 25, 2023
✓ 'Fair share'? — You've got to be kidding!: "Progressive income taxes (the second plank of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Communist Manifesto) are doubly unfair, and were unconstitutional until the 16th amendment was unwisely passed (by mistake) after a dishonest campaign claiming that only the extremely wealthy would be taxed (sound familiar?). By way of comparison, Mcdonald's 'taxes' fairly for hamburgers because the food purchases are voluntary (not theft like government taxes) and the price is equal. The price of a hamburger is the same for everyone, rich or poor, man or woman, and regardless of race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, etc., so people are treated equally. That's fair. Rich people are not overcharged for a hamburger, but they can pay double if they want to buy two hamburgers. Income taxes are more than unfair because, you are forced to buy what you do not want, much of your money is wasted, and the involuntary price is unequal, i.e., discriminatory. Simple 'flat tax' unfairness (proportionally unfair, like property taxes) would overcharge a rich person with ten times as much money 'only' ten times as much for the same hamburger. Progressive income taxes (what we have now) are doubly unfair (disproportionally) because they force a rich person with ten times as much money to pay much more than ten times as much for the same hamburger. What could be more unfair than to be wildly overcharged for what you don't want to buy (and which you may oppose as wrong, harmful, wasteful, destructive, or immoral)? And the overcharge will be stolen from you at gunpoint by government agents if you refuse to pay, and you will be locked up. It actually gets worse, because in America, approximately half of the population pays infinitely more income tax than the other half that pays zero income tax!" —Erica Marshall
'Armed IRS agents wanted': "Major Duties … Carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary." —jobs.irs.gov, August, 2022
"Teach your kids about taxes by eating 30% of their ice cream." —Anonymous
"No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft, and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong." —Walter E. Williams
"You cannot tax your way into prosperity. You can try, but you can’t do it. It’s been tried for hundreds of years and it has failed." —Larry Kudlow
"Inflation is the tax collector for the liberal world order." —Rep. Thomas Massie
"When I say cut taxes, I don't mean fiddle with the code. I mean abolish the income tax and the IRS, and replace them with nothing." —Ron Paul
'The Billionaire and the Socialist': "Let's change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else. [Elon Musk was named Time magazine's 'Person of the Year', 2021]" —Senator Elizabeth Warren, December 13, 2021
"Stop projecting! (Elizabeth Warren is a fraud – Her lies about being Native American disqualify her from presidency, Senate) ... You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry Mom would just randomly yell at everyone for no reason ... Please don't call the manager on me, Senator Karen." —Elon Musk
'Most innovative entrepreneur of his generation': "And if you opened your eyes for 2 seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any [other] American in history [$11 billion] this year ... Don’t spend it all at once ... oh wait you did already." —Elon Musk, also 'Financial Times' Person of the Year, 2021, also richest person on earth
[Paypal, Tesla, OpenAI, SpaceX, Neuralink, Twitter/X]
"Strange as it may seem, the Sixteenth Amendment (which gave the American people the affliction of confiscatory income taxes) was never supposed to have passed. It was introduced by the Republicans as part of a political scheme to trick the Democrats, but it backfired. The Founding Fathers had rejected income taxes ... " —W. Cleon Skousen
BIG BROTHER — Let the IRS surveil your bank account:
"It would ask just for two pieces of information from the banks of these folks. The amounts that come into their bank accounts and what amounts go out of their bank accounts. … I'm not out to punish anyone, I am a capitalist.[sic] … All I'm asking is you pay your fair share.[sic*]" —Joe Biden, September 16, 2021
*["In 2018 the top 10% of income earners paid 71% of all federal income tax. The top 1% paid 40%." —Varney & Co., September 17, 2021]
'COME BACK WITH A WARRANT.' 4th amendment doormat
Courtesy of Amazon.com
"The Pretense of Knowledge." —Friedrich Hayek
"We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." —Barack Obama, University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri, October 30, 2008
"We are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation." —Michelle Obama, May 14, 2008
" ... for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country ... " —Michelle Obama, January 12, 2015
" ... we have an incredible opportunity to not just dig out of this [coronavirus] crisis, but to fundamentally transform the country." —Joe Biden, May 4, 2022
"Here in the United States we are alarmed by the new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence, and not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free and we will stay free. … Tonight we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country." —President Donald J. Trump, State of the Union Address, February 5, 2019
"I was Barack Obama's campaign cochair on his second term and today I don't recognize this Democratic Party, and so I'm looking forward to an intense fight." —Gloria J. Romero, former California State Senator and the Democratic majority leader of the California State Senate (2005-2008), July 11, 2022
"It is a great advantage to a President, and a source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions." —President Calvin Coolidge, explaining why he chose not to run for another term as President in 1928
'Stakeholder Capitalism' = Fascism: "The goal of the Great Reset is 'capitalism with Chinese characteristics'—a two-tiered economy, with profitable monopolies and the state on top and socialism for the majority below." —Michael Rectenwald, December, 2021
"While we struggle to afford food and fuel, the elite gathered at Davos/[World Economic Forum] to discuss how we should be allowed to live our lives. Their totalitarian dream of a so-called 'Great Reset' where people own nothing and are tracked/monitored with every step, must be condemned by us all." —Tulsi Gabbard, May 31, 2022
"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." —Henry David Thoreau
'Declining American Values' ... 1998 → 2023: "Religion 62% → 39%; Patriotism 70% → 38%; Community Involvement 47% → 27%; Having Children 59% → 30%; Money 31% → 43%."
—Wall Street Journal / NORC Poll, March 1-13, 2023
"We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth." —Abraham Lincoln
American Values inscribed on every U.S. coin: "Liberty, In God We Trust, and E Pluribus Unum ['from many one']. We must restore these values ... the 'American Trinity' ... if America is to remain the last best hope of Earth." —Dennis Prager
"Between the omnipotent state and the naked individual looms the first line of resistance against totalitarianism: the economically and politically independent family, protecting the space within which free and independent individuals may receive the necessary years of nurture." —Michael Novak
'Law and Manners' Speech: "Civilization and the pleasantness of everyday life depend on unwritten rules. Early in the 20th century, an English mathematician and government official, Lord Moulton, described complying with these rules as 'obedience to the unenforceable' – the area of personal choice that falls between illegal acts and complete freedom." —Michael Munger
Fascism – The Road We are Traveling: "A highly influential movement among the world's elite to 'reset' the global economy using banks, government programs, and environmental, social, and governance metrics ... would put substantially more economic and social power in the hands of large corporations, international institutions, banks, and government officials ... " —Glenn Beck, 'The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of Twenty-First-Century Fascism'
What Is the Great Reset?: "Leftist authoritarianism is the political ideology and modus operandi of what I call Big Digital, which is on the leading edge of a nascent world system. Big Digital is the communications, ideological, and technological arm of an emerging corporate-socialist totalitarianism. The Great Reset is the name that has since been given to the project of establishing this world system." —Michael Rectenwald
Biden's plan for an entitlement society – For the first time in history, more than half of all Americans would be on the federal dole: " … 57% of all married-couple children would receive federal entitlement benefits, and more than 80% of single-parent households would be on the entitlement rolls." —John F. Cogan and Daniel L. Heil, Wall Street Journal, June 28, 2021
'Do they not allow him in the actual White House?': "Biden ridiculed for using fake White House ... bizarre virtual set for televised meetings ... constructed across from the White House in the South Court Auditorium ... and not an actual room like East Room, Cabinet, Oval, Roosevelt, Sit Room, etc." —Kyle Morris
TRIGGER WARNING: Profanity
■ "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up."
—Former President Barack Obama, c. November 30, 2020
"Something's going down in college football stadiums across the country. … They are chanting 'F*** Joe Biden'. They can't stop it. It’s like the most popular cheer on Saturday. … This thing is starting to take off." —Jesse Watters, September 18, 2021 ['#LetsGoBrandon']
■ "Lets go Brandon. I agree." —Joe Biden, December 24, 2021
Outrageous and obscene, but explicitly consensual: " … And when you're a star they let you do … anything. … G*** them by the p****. ... " —Donald Trump, who was elected president after these private remarks were publicized by his opponents
"Invertebrate president [Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden]." —Rep. Mike Garcia (R) California
■ What are we doing?: "This is the United States of America, Dammit! What are we doing?" —Joe Biden, Scranton PA, October 20, 2021
Iowa Poll: "62% of Iowans disapprove of the job Joe Biden is doing as President." —Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register, September 21, 2021
'Just Perfect!': "Our country could not be more better served than with this most experienced capable hands than President Biden.[sic]" —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, December 14, 2021
Colossally bad: "Where one party barely in control in the United States Congress is using that to force-feed something on the American people that they very clearly don't want, that very clearly is going to hurt them in the long term, and that really challenges the fabric of our democracy and our constitution. … They're selectively challenging and suspending Americans' liberties and freedoms, as Democrats and Democrats alone see fit and as serves their purpose. … This [$5.1 trillion spending] bill is just the latest iteration … I hope that the American people are starting to pay attention about just how dishonest the Democratic leadership in the White House, in the Senate, and in the House have been to the American people, and why all Americans should understand. In light of, again, what we have seen in the last eight months, and how things have unraveled and how this country is going to places that none of us ever imagined and most of us still believe are un-American and they don't represent the very best of our values." —John Ratcliffe, former Director of U.S. National Intelligence, September 12, 2021
"This notion that you can send checks out to everybody and things will be fine is just not true. Some people have this absurd view that the economy is like some magic horn of plenty; It just makes stuff. Goods and services? They just come from this magic horn of plenty. So, if somebody has more stuff than somebody else it is just because they took more from this magic horn of plenty. Let me break it to the fools out there: If you don't make stuff, there is no stuff. We've become detached from reality. You can't just legislate money and solve these things. If you don't make the stuff, there is no stuff ... Obviously." —Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, cofounder of PayPal, founder and CEO of SpaceX, and cofounder of Neuralink, 2020
Only Government Creates Inflation: 
"Inflation [See graph (right) of the annual inflation rate of Trump 1.4%(red) vs. Biden 9%(blue)] is made in Washington because only Washington can create money, and any other attribution to other groups of inflation is wrong. Consumers don't produce it. Producers don’t produce it. The trade unions don't produce it. Foreign sheiks don't produce it. Oil imports don't produce it. What produces it is too much government spending and too much government creation of money and nothing else." —Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman (fully explaining inflation in 33 seconds)
$5.1 trillion 'reconciliation' budget bill: " … Disastrous dangerous policies. We are not going to help them pass this debacle. This is a blueprint to bankrupt our country. We will not stand for it." —Rep. Kat Cammack, (R) Florida, September 23, 2021
"Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." —Romans 1:22 KJV
"How bad do conditions have to get in this country before Democrat voters wake up and realize that their policies and the governance of the Democrat leaders is literally destroying this country? I mean, you've got 40-year high inflation, record gas prices, skyrocketing crime, open border of flooded deadly drugs. I just call [it] the list of horribles. It doesn't get much worse than that. And yet Democrats just kind of shrugged it all off." —Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), November 9, 2022
"Has anyone noticed that China's taking over of ports worldwide, and flooding the United States with Fentanyl is the mirror image of the 19th century opium wars?" —Li Ming
["By the end of 2022, Chinese firms had acquired ownership and/or operational stakes in 95 ports in 53 countries, spanning every continent except Antarctica."]
The 'malaise' is back:
Building a Worser America: "The policies are all wrong. I can't remember any President whose first year has gone as badly as Biden and I've never seen a President less likely or less able to change course. As the [NY] Times says, 'Democrats shouldn't panic, they should go into shock': ['The rise of inflation, supply chain shortages, a surge in illegal border crossings, the persistence of Covid, mayhem in Afghanistan and the uproar over critical race theory — all of these developments, individually and collectively, have taken their toll on President Biden and Democratic candidates ... ']." —Stewart Varney, November 18, 2021
'Biden's Errors Worsen Inflation': "He needs to ditch his woke advisers and make growth the overriding priority. Three factors combined during the past two years to create the perfect economic storm. Covid-19 scrambled the U.S. economy's supply lines. The Federal Reserve kept its foot on the accelerator way too long. And the Biden administration did pretty much everything wrong, injecting $1.9 trillion into a supply-constrained economy, sending out stay-at-home checks, letting tenants live rent-free, squeezing oil and gas production, launching an avalanche of growth-killing regulations, lining up behind unions, and pushing yet another deficit-financed budget." —Senator Mitt Romney, 'The Wall Street Journal', April 19, 2022
'Impact of regulatory rules on households': ['Regulators Gone Wild': "Biden through 2022, and comparable periods."]
"Change in cost per U.S. household: Obama ▲$4,353; Trump ▼$2,636; Biden ▲$5,019."
—Casey Mulligan, University of Chicago Economist, August 15, 2023
New CNN Poll: "66% Disapprove of Biden on economy; 34% Approve." —CNN, May 4, 2022
"Americans saw 'most severe' pay cut in 25 years under Biden. ... the median decline in real wages is a little more than 8.5%." —Thomas Barrabi and Ariel Zilber, October 6, 2022
Laughably, idiotically, dangerously, wrong, wrong, wrong: "Government spending is reducing the national debt.[sic] It is not inflationary.[sic]" —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Philadelphia, March 11, 2022
■ 'Putin price hike' inflation dissembling: " … For a few days he [Joe Biden] was saying … everything is Putin's price hikes, inflation is Putin's fault. People don't believe that either. They know that they had inflation before this … You can't blame everything in the economy on Putin." —David Axelrod, former senior Obama advisor, 'Tacks on Tap' Podcast, March 12, 2022
■ "The President needs to stop blaming others and do his job." —Joe Biden, April 20, 2020
"Biden, White House claims U.S. has 'zero inflation' [sic] despite annual rate remaining 8.5%." —Steven Nelson, August 10, 2022
With the consent of the governed?:
"Country on the wrong track?
Total 85% wrong track;
Republicans 92% wrong track;
Democrats 78% wrong track."
—AP-NORC Poll, June 23-27, 2022 [Under the Democrat Biden adminstration]
"#BareshelvesBiden trending as Americans vent about empty stores amid supply chain crisis." —Jeff Mordock, 'The Washington Times', January 10, 2022 [#BareshelvesBiden hashtag now being censored on Twitter (no search results).]
"Biden's woke economics are completely wrong." —Larry Kudlow, May 4, 2022
Federal Reserve: "There is no understanding of economics going on at the Fed." —Arthur Laffer, May 4, 2022
Inflation/Recession: "The Fed is way behind the curve and there's not going to be a soft landing." —Larry Kudlow, May 4, 2022
'Blue States, You're the Problem:' " ... many blue states are actually doing worse than red states. It is in the [Democrat run] blue states where affordable housing is often hardest to find, there are some of the most acute disparities in education funding and economic inequality is increasing most quickly. ... Blue states is where the housing crisis is located. Blue states are where the disparities in education funding are the most dramatic. Blue states are the places where thousands of homeless people are living on the streets. Blue states are the places where economic inequality is increasing most quickly in this country. ... Affluent liberals tend to be really good at showing up to the marches and talking about how they love equality. They are really good at showing signs on their lawns that 'all are welcome here'. But by their actions what they're actually saying is, 'yes we believe in those ideals, just not in my backyard'." —'The New York Times', Opinion video, November 9, 2021
"What I have made clear to the President [Biden] and Democratic leaders is that spending trillions more on new and expanded government programs, when we can't even pay for the essential social programs, like Social Security and Medicare, is the definition of fiscal insanity. ... need to means test any new social programs ... America is a great nation but great nations throughout history have been weakened by careless spending and bad policies. ... " —Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), September 29, 2021
"Social Security is unsustainable because it is not meeting the first order condition of a Ponzi scheme, namely expanding the pool of suckers." —Walter E. Williams, 'American Contempt for Liberty'
'Socialism' – '$3.5' trillion [actually $5.1 trillion]: "I like the President [Biden] personally, but he was never a moderate and this administration is in no way moderate. Bernie Sanders may have lost the nomination but he won the war over what is the program of the Democrats is going to be. This is socialism for America. It needs to be stopped. No Republicans will support it. Hopefully there will be one or two brave Democrats that will stop this from happening." —Minority Leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, [R-KY], July 15, 2021
'Biden makes false claims in fiery economy remarks': —Maria Bartiromo
"Republicans like to portray me as some kind of big spender. I have spent a lot of money … Ladies and gentlemen, this year, by the end of the fiscal year, we will have cut the federal deficit by another $1.6 trillion.[sic] In one year. One year. So when they come to you and talk about big spenders, let them know, almost $2 trillion in deficit reduction.[sic] I don't want to hear any more of these lies[sic], about reckless spending. We're changing peoples lives. … " —Joe Biden, AFL-CIO, Philadelphia, June 15, 2022
"Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated." —Thomas Jefferson
"Bidenism has to go." —Larry Kudlow
"I would just can this whole [multi-trillion dollar social and climate spending] bill. Don't pass it. That's my recommendation. ... It might be better if the bill does not pass because you've spent so much money, you know, it's like the federal budget deficit is insane." —Elon Musk, Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, December 6, 2021
And "God knows what else! ... " —Joe Biden, August 8, 2022
'Big Government Socialism' = 'Policies to Wreck America'
Democrat 5.1 Trillion dollar 'reconciliation' federal budget bill, attacking free market capitalism:
"SAVE AMERICA! – KILL THE BILL! ... KILL ALL THE BILLS!"
—Larry Kudlow, September 16 - November 19, 2021 ['#LetsGoBrandon']
Big government socialism versus free enterprise capitalism: "It's all about [the Democrats' reckless tax and spending spree] collectivizing America, undermining a free enterprise system. It's really bad." —Senator Pat Toomey, (R-PA), September 28, 2021
"It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it." —William F. Buckley, 'National Review' mission statement, 1955
🇺🇸 "We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world." —President Franklin D. Roosevelt, State of the Union, Washington DC, January 6, 1941, >
🇺🇸 " ... We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom – freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection." —Ronald Reagan
"When people get scared (by an actual threat or a fake one) they demand the government save them. The state is all too willing to step in and (at least pretend to) save us. But in the process, it takes our freedom. In hopes of safety, we surrender our rights. We grow the government bigger to stop the threat (which is often of the government's own making). It's a pattern throughout history." —Connor Boyack
"You cannot comply your way out of tyranny." —From a T-shirt
"How to sell freedom without starting a fight." —Jim Babka
'State socialism': "Men as communities are supreme over men as individuals." —Woodrow Wilson
Democratic Socialism: "Our movement continues and it's getting stronger every day. Many of the ideas we fought for, that just a few years ago were considered 'radical' are now mainstream." —Bernie Sanders speaking at the Biden Democrat presidential nominating convention, August 17, 2020
["As mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders took his wife, Jane, to the Soviet Union for their honeymoon."]
America's Cultural Revolution: "How the radical left conquered everything." —Christopher F. Rufo
"Xi Jinping aims to rein in Chinese capitalism, hew to Mao's socialist vision." —Lingling Wei, Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2021
Biden's first year of mistakes: "Inflation at 40-year high; Ongoing supply chain crisis; Illegal immigrants flooding the southern border; Drug crisis fueled by open border policies; Murder rate reaches highest level in 25 years; Covid cases soar; Botched Afghanistan withdrawal; Push to change filibuster, failed 'voting rights'[sic] bills." —Maria Bartiromo, January 21, 2022
"Illegitimi non carborundum" —Don't let the bastards grind you down
Is America headed down the wrong path?: "Wrong direction 61%; Right direction 29.9%"
—Real Clear Politics polling data average, August 26, 2021 - September 7, 2021
"71% say US heading in the wrong direction. ... 48% of Democrats, 93% of Republicans and 70% of independents ... say the country is heading in the wrong direction ... "
—NBC News Survey, October 23-26, 2021 ('New York Post', October 31, 2021)
'President Joe Biden's approval rating continued to decline':
"Is America on the Right Track? — YES 18%; NO 79%"
—Monmouth University Poll, May 5-9, 2022
'Is the US heading in the right direction?':
"Wrong track 74%; Right direction 20%." —NBC News Survey, June 16-20, 2023
How do Americans feel about the country's direction?:
"Concerned/Scared 86%; Excited/Optimistic 14%."
—CNN/SSRS Poll, May 12-13, 2022
Is Biden too old to effectively serve another term?: "Democrats 69% YES, 30% NO; Republicans 89% YES; Independents 74% YES; Overall 77% YES, 22% NO." —Associated Press - NORC Poll, 1,165 adults, August 10-14, 2023
Our French Revolution: "We are in a Jacobin Revolution of the sort that in 1793-94 nearly destroyed France. And things are getting scary. The Democratic Party vanished sometime in 2020. It was absorbed by hard-left ideologues. They were bent on radically altering, or hijacking, existing institutions to force radical, equality-of-result agendas that otherwise do not earn majority support. ... " [More] —Victor Davis Hanson, April 6, 2023
"If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people into office who screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem; you voted them in; you have no right to complain." —George Carlin
Implosion of the Biden Presidency?: "Disarray ... Chaos ... Escalating extremism and intolerance on the progressive left ... Slumping poll numbers ... 
The angry left's assault on civility ... Criminalize parents who challenge them ... Presidency is a metastasizing shambles ... A real world case study in the perils of progressive impossiblism ... Open borders ... Fiscal incontinence ... Naïve strategic idealism ... Mask wielding, mandate waving, dissent canceling authoritarian collectivism ... Reign of error ... Everything he touches becomes a cascading waterfall of destruction ... Approval ratings plumbing new depths ... Negative ratings on just about every major issue ... Picturesque incompetence ... Escalating incompetence." —Gerry Baker, 'Wall Street Journal at Large,' October 8, 2021
☭ "The worst the better." —Vladimir Lenin, before the 1917 Russian communist revolution
🇺🇸 'One little factoid': "[In the year] 1800, 90% of the global population lived in dire poverty – less than two dollars a day (by today's dollars, not dollars then) – today, it is less than 10%. That's because of capitalism. That's all you need to know about capitalism." —Steve Forbes, May 4, 2023
☭ 'Colorado Teachers' Union Makes Anti-Capitalist Activism an Official Goal' – 'State teachers' union ... Marxist platform': "The CEA believes that capitalism requires exploitation of children, public schools, land, labor, and/or resources and, therefore, the only way to fully address systemic racism (the school to prison pipeline), climate change, patriarchy (gender and LGBTQ disparities), education inequality, and income inequality is to dismantle capitalism and replace it with a new, equitable economic system." —Colorado Education Association passes 'Economic Equity' Resolution #3, submitted by Bryan Lindstrom, by formal vote at the 97th Annual Delegate Assembly of the state's largest teachers' union, April, 2023
Joe Biden is making Americans poorer [aka the 'Incredible/Great Transition']: "Americans are getting poorer by the day, and they can thank President Biden. ... Americans are worried about inflation and don't think the Biden administration can fix it without plunging our economy into recession. With the president still hawking even more government spending, higher business taxes and increased regulations – all of which will drive prices higher – why would they? Almost from the start, Americans knew that Biden's policies were wrong for the country." —Liz Peek, May 3, 2022
"He's got some 'splaining to do." —Ricky Ricardo
"I wish I hadn't called it [The Inflation Reduction Act]. It has less to do with reducing inflation…" —Joe Biden, Park City, Utah, August 10, 2023
59% of likely voters agree: "Democrats inherited an economy that was primed for an historic comeback, and promptly ran it straight into the ground." —Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, late July, 2022
Biden stock market after worst inflation in 40 years, [-1.5%] GDP economy contraction: "Dow down 8 weeks; Longest [stock price] losing streak in 90 years." —Maria Bartiromo, May 20, 2020
Voters believe the [Biden] economy is bad: "69% (was 63% April)." —CBS News Poll, May 18-20, 2022
'Grim expectations': "Jamie Dimon CEO of America's largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, says 'economic hurricane' on the way 'brace yourself' and Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, says 'I have a super bad feeling about the economy' wants to cut staff 10%, hiring freezes." —Maria Bartiromo, June 5, 2022
President Biden's lack of approval among young voters: "21% approval; 58% disapproval, Voters age 18–34." —Quinnipiac University Poll, April 7–11, 2022 ["Placeholder President Joe Biden: Young people are far more likely to be heard chanting, 'Let’s go Brandon,' than are their grandparents." —Charlie Kirk, April 19, 2022]
"One of the reasons I am running is because of my age and my experience. With it comes wisdom. We need someone to take office this time around who on day one can stand on the world stage, command the respect of world leaders from Putin to our allies and know exactly what has to be done to get this country back on track." —Joe Biden, CNN, October 15, 2019
Afghanistan debacle/surrender: "I make no apologies for what I did." —Joe Biden, January 20, 2022
"Putin knows that if I am President of the United States, his days of tyranny and trying to intimidate ... are over [sic]. I'm going to stand up to him. He is a bully ... When I'm President, things are going to change." —Joe Biden, CNN, October 23, 2019
Weak and incompetent is extremely dangerous and can lead to war: "My guess is he [Putin] will move in [invade Ukraine], he has to do something ... It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and we end up having to fight about what to do and not do ... " —Joe Biden, January 19, 2022
Incoherent policy: "The President believes that sanctions are intended to deter." —Jake Sullivan, White House Spokesman, February 11, 2022
"The purpose of the sanctions is to try to deter Russia from going to war." —Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CNN 'State of the Union', February 20, 2022
"We want them to have a deterrent effect, clearly, and he [Putin] hasn't invaded [Ukraine] yet." —Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, February 21, 2022
"The purpose of the sanctions has always been and continues to be deterrence." —Vice President Kamala Harris, Munich, Germany, February 20, 2022
"You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter.[sic]" —Joe Biden, NATO, Brussels, Belgium, March 24, 2022
Putin cannot remain in power [but never mind]: "A dictator, bent on rebuilding an empire, will never erase the people's love for liberty ... Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, for free people refuse to live in a world of hopelessness and darkness. ... For God's sake, this man [Russian President Vladimir Putin] cannot remain in power ... [a] murderous dictator [and a] war criminal ... " —Joe Biden, Warsaw, Poland, March 26, 2022
"The president [Biden] should avoid public speaking ... At least when the topic is important." —James Freeman, Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2022
'Damaging intelligence leaks, bragging':
"The United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that has allowed Ukrainians to target and kill many of the Russian generals who have died in action in the Ukraine war, according to Senior American officials." —'The New York Times', May 4, 2022
"NBC News reports U.S. intelligence shared with Ukraine help lead to Ukraine sinking of Russian cruiser Moskva, one of the most embarrassing setbacks Russia has faced since the start of the war." —NBC News, May 5, 2022
["Biden is furious about the leaks saying US intelligence helped Ukraine kill Russian generals and sink its warship." —Sophia Ankel, May 10, 2022]
"Carl von Clausewitz noted long ago that a key to success is to pursue a retreating enemy. When an enemy is in retreat, it is possible to inflict the greatest damage on his forces, disorganized and disheartened." —Walter Russell Mead, 'Wall Street Journal;, March 18, 2022
The ship's sinking, all right: "Well, to call President Biden and his administration incompetent is accurate, just too kind. These are their policies. They want to drive up the price of fossil fuel. They want to drive up the price of energy so apparently we use less of it. Again, energy price affects the price of every good and commodity. So again, this is exactly what they want. They want open borders, they want deficit spending, they want to increase debt, they wanted to make Americans more dependent on government, they want increasing energy prices, they want inflation. This is what they want. This is what is so disappointing in the last election. I tried to warn Americans, don't elect people that want to fundamentally transform America. I've said this repeatedly, do you like, much less even love something that you want to fundamentally transform? So no, they have put America on a disastrous path. We need to stand up for our country and yell 'STOP.' And we need to sweep Democrats from power in the November, 2022 election so that we can stop this madness." —Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), October 17, 2021
"Biden is a damp [sock] puppet in human form. … Biden is treating the American public like fools. ... If you scare people enough, they will demand removal of freedom. This is the path to tyranny." —Elon Musk, Twitter, January 27, 2020
"For reasons unknown, @potus is unable to say the word 'Tesla' ... do the right thing and acknowledge @Tesla for its hard work in making EVs a possibility for Americans." —Elon Musk, Twitter, January 30, 2020
" ... doing one team's bidding before an election, shutting down dissenting voices on a pivotal election, that is the very definition of election interference. ... Twitter was acting like an arm of the Democratic National Committee ... " —Elon Musk, c. December 8, 2022
Spying on Twitter users: "The degree to which various government agencies effectively had full access to to everything that was going on at Twitter, blew my mind. I was not aware of that. [Would that include peoples' direct messages?] Yes." —Elon Musk, April 17, 2023
TRIGGER WARNING: Race
The usual litany: "Afghanistan catastrophe, open border disasters, record inflation, parents domestic terrorists, record crime, and now constitutionally divisive ethnic and racial standard for open Supreme Court seat, which wouldn't even pass muster on a college campus." —Larry Kudlow, January 27, 2020
Supreme Court nomination campaign pledge: "I'll appoint the first Black woman to the Court. It's required that they have representation now — it's long overdue." —Joe Biden, March 2020 Democratic presidential debate, Washington, DC
Biden's Supreme Court pick should: "Consider all possible nominees: 76%; Consider only black women: 23%; ... nonwhite Americans (28%) wish for Biden to consider only Black women for the vacancy ... a majority of Democrats (54%) also prefer that Biden consider all possible nominees." —ABC News/IPSOS poll, January 28, 2022
"A very interesting time in our Country, but do not worry, we will be great again—and we will all do it together ... America will never fail, and we will never allow it to go in the wrong direction. Too many generations of greatness are counting on us. Enjoy your Thanksgiving knowing that a wonderful future lies ahead!" —Donald J. Trump, November 25, 2021
Unnecessarily high prices at the gasoline pump: "Perhaps the greatest limiter of the supply of oil has been anti-oil politicians' constant threats to severely restrict or even ban oil production going forward. E.g., 
when Joe Biden promises 'I will end fossil fuel' and then becomes President, oil investors run for the hills. Is it any wonder that, threatened with punishment, investment in oil and gas has declined dramatically? Between 2011 and 2021, oil and gas exploration investments declined by 50%. Less investment = less supply = higher prices. Anti-oil politicians' restrictions on infrastructure, especially pipelines, have reduced the supply of oil by making it difficult or impossible to transport US oil to international markets. If not for these restrictions we'd be producing more oil, with lower prices for everyone." —Alex Epstein
'Biden has thrown a wet blanket over the entire oil and gas industry': "On his very first day in office, Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL Pipeline, ended ANWR [Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] drilling in Alaska and instituted a phony metric called the 'social cost of carbon,' which pretends to capture upstream production costs and downstream consumer uses, measured over centuries. Think about it! It cannot be done. This whole jihad against fossil fuels throws a wet blanket over the entire oil and gas industry ... not only the best in the world, the most affordable in the world and actually the cleanest in the world. U.S. carbon emissions have been falling for years. Then came the Biden regulatory octopus with tentacles reaching everywhere to stop fossil fuels. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has essentially banned new pipelines. The Interior Department has stopped drilling on federal land. The Energy Department has frozen [Liquified Natural Gas] LNG export projects. The [Environmental Protection Agency] EPA has reinstituted burdensome standards for the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. [National Environmental Policy Act] NEPA [expedited] permitting reform has been thrown out the window. ... Even though the oil companies have leases, the regulatory octopus including FERC, Energy Department, Interior Department, EPA, SEC, and Federal Reserve won't provide the permits, or the pipelines, or the financing for those projects. It's a classic bait and switch. ... " —Larry Kudlow, March 31, 2022
"A new report from the Department of the Interior shows the Biden Administration has leased fewer acres of land for oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters since former President Harry Truman in the 1940s. The Department of the Interior has given out leases for 126,228 acres through August 20, 2022, according to analysis from the Wall Street Journal. The last president to lease out less than 4.4 million acres at this point in the first term of his presidency was Richard Nixon in 1969-1970." —Daniel Baldwin, September 15, 2022
"America should have been pumping more oil and gas ... America needs to play a real leadership role. America is the swing producer, not Saudi Arabia." —Jamie Dimon, CEO JPMorgan, October 12, 2022
Displaying complete ignorance that prices are set by supply and demand: "Look, those excess profits are going back to the shareholders and their executives instead of going to lower prices to at pump and give relief to the American people." —Joe Biden, October 28, 2022
["Why would anybody be so stupid as to invest their savings to drill for oil or have an oil company if owners didn't receive the profits?" —Charles Garcia]
"The pro-human CO2 policy is to reduce CO2 emissions long-term through liberating innovation, not punishing America." —Alex Epstein
Citing government energy policies: "There hasn't been a refinery built in this country since the 1970's. I personally don't believe there will be a new petroleum refinery ever built in this country again." —Michael Wirth, Chairman and CEO of the Chevron Corporation
"Fifteen states respond to 'woke capitalism', threaten to cut off banks that refuse to service coal, oil industries." —Brittany Bernstein, 'National Review', November 22, 2021
Loony: "There has never been a better time to be short. … Short people don't just save resources, but as resources become scarce or because of the earth's growing population and global warming, they may also be best suited for a long term survival." —Mara Altman, 'The New York Times', January 1, 2023
Transitioning to cleaner fuels: "I understand that publicly admitting that oil and gas will play an essential and significant role during the transition and beyond will be hard for some. But admitting this reality will be far easier than dealing with energy insecurity, rampant inflation and social unrest as prices become intolerably high." —Amin Nasser, CEO, Saudi Aramco, December 6, 2021
"Every area of the world that has tried using significant amounts of unreliable solar and wind has had major cost and/or reliability problems. In the US, we have had big electricity price increases and huge reliability problems even at 12% solar and wind." —Alex Epstein
"Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country. ... It's a nation that's really only dependent upon oil and gas for their economy." — U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), March 15, 2014
'Green' = Against all actually available forms of energy: "It would be little short of disastrous for us to discover a source of clean, cheap, abundant energy ... " —Amory Lovins, the leader of the modern 'green energy' movement, c. 1970's
'The Energy Freedom Platform': "The root of our global energy crisis is Green Energy Fascism—the idea that government should have total control over the energy industry (fascism) used for the 'green' goal of rapidly eliminating fossil fuels and nuclear." —Alex Epstein, August 10, 2022
'Stop letting environmental groups funded by Russia dictate America's energy policy': "It is an open secret that Russians have funded anti-fracking and anti-natural gas propaganda in America for decades. ... Many people don't know that for years, Russia has funded the anti-fracking propaganda that many environmental groups have picked up. ... NRDC, Sierra Club, and Climate Action Network were all found to have received millions of dollars of funding in grants from a shady San Francisco-based company called 'Sea Change' that a money trail linked back to the Russians." —Samantha Dravis, March 1, 2022
'Russian Green propaganda': "Russian attempts to influence U.S. domestic energy markets ... ['Russia funneled Green groups millions of dollars to oppose fracking & cripple American energy.']" —United States House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, March 1, 2018
Russia's support for far-left climate groups: "The radical green groups are in bed with Russia. Russians financed the greeny disinformation campaign against fossil fuel. ... Russia is financing green groups in order to stop fracking in the United States, which would help Russia." —Larry Kudlow, March 18, 2022
'Have the environmentalists been infiltrated by Russia?': "Oh, absolutely. … Intelligence indicates that Russia has been running a covert influence operation in order to sabotage U.S. energy markets, shape our energy policy, and influence Americans' opinion in favor of green energy and against fossil fuels and fracking. And that is with the intention of weakening our economy and promoting dependence on Russia. … First they run a disinformation campaign through social media. This is done through the same agency called the 'Internet Research Agency' which is the one that was involved with intervening with 2016 elections and every other election that the Russians traditionally target. And the second way, Russia covertly funds environmental organizations. It is very difficult to track the flow of money because the Russians' intelligence tradecraft is very stealthy. And a lot of the environmentalists are completely unwitting who they are being funded because it is done through multiple money laundering operations, through tax havens, and it's extremely extremely difficult to point. … The Russians believe that they have been successful and they have been studying our society for more than 10 years. They know what our hot buttons are and have figured out that there is a movement that promotes green energy and their message would resonate in ultimately the bill that is being sponsored by the Democrats in 2020 is playing to Putin's hand. The Democrats have been entrapped by Putin's covert influence operations." —Rebekah Koffler, former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, April 12, 2022
"The same people who hyped Russiagate ignored warnings by the head of NATO & Hillary Clinton that Russia was financing activists to block nat gas production." —Dr. Michael Shellenberger, March 6, 2022
"The West's green energy delusions empowered Putin. While we banned plastic straws ... because of a 9-year-old Canadian child's science homework ... Russia drilled and doubled nuclear energy production. ... Europe produces 3.6 million barrels of oil a day but uses 15 million barrels of oil a day. ... Europe produces 230 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year but uses 560 billion cubic meters. ... Europe uses 950 million tons of coal a year but produces half that. ... by early 2021 ... nearly 47 percent ... of the natural gas consumed by the European Union came from Russia." —Michael Shellenberger, March 3, 2022
Climate change corporate regulatory disclosure framework dissent: "We are not the Securities and Environment Commission – At least not yet." —Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, March 21, 2022
Energy Sources 1800-2020. Courtesy Alex Epstein.
"Solar and wind can't come close to replacing fossil fuels. They only provide electricity (20% of energy use) – and they don't even do that well. Because solar and wind are unreliable, they don't replace reliable power plants – they add to the cost of reliable power plants." —Alex Epstein
["Washington Post 'journalist' tries to smear Alex Epstein [in an attempt to discredit his new Fossil Future book. But instead it's a cancel culture fail!]" —Jon Hersey, March 30, 2022]
Why everything they said about solar was wrong: "Solar panels will create 50 times more waste & cost 4 times more than predicted ... [and] both key raw materials and the panels themselves are being made by forced labor in Xinjiang province in China." —Michael Shellenberger, June 21, 2021
■ House Democrats blast Biden's Energy Agenda in Letter to Pelosi and Schumer: "[The] language in the House budget reconciliation package specifically targeting the U.S. oil, natural gas, and refining industries ... have the potential to cost thousands of jobs, stifle economic recovery, increase energy costs for all Americans, strengthen our adversaries, and ultimately impede the transition to a lower carbon future." —Seven Texas House Democrats, September 13, 2021
"Energy is the industry that powers every other industry. The lower cost and more reliable energy is, the lower cost and more reliable everything is. The higher cost and less reliable energy is, the higher cost and less reliable everything is. ... Build Back Better[sic] would not create prosperity via magic 'green jobs' but rather cause mass 'green joblessness'—because 'green jobs' are: 1) unproductive, 2) largely in China, and 3) the cause of job losses in other industries via high energy prices. ... it will destroy far more well-paying US jobs than it creates." —Alex Epstein
"All new for 2023! The Mercedes AA Class. No charging stations." —Batteries not included
"Why is Europe so vulnerable to Russia and what can we learn from it? Europe has extreme dependence on Russian natural gas because Europe has foolishly restricted fossil fuel and nuclear energy production on the false promise that unreliable solar and wind could replace it." —Alex Epstein
"On December 2, 1942, underneath the University of Chicago's Stagg Field football stadium, Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1) was activated, becoming the world's first nuclear reactor. Today, 78 years later, 440 reactors generate over 10 percent of the world's electricity, with another 50 now under construction." —'Generation IV, the future of nuclear power', by David Szondy, April 15, 2022
Pebble bed modular reactors: "Energy Northwest ... and X-Energy Reactor Company (“X-energy”), a leading developer of advanced small modular nuclear (pebble bed fission) reactors and fuel have a joint development agreement for up to 12 Xe-100 advanced small modular reactors in central Washington [State] capable of generating up to a total of 960 megawatts of carbon-free electricity. Energy Northwest expects to bring the first Xe-100 module online by 2030. ... The Xe-100 can operate for 60 years without stopping to refuel. There will 200,000 fuel pebbles constantly being fed through the system." —Brian Wang. August 19, 2023
■ "Hopefully, it is now extremely obvious that Europe should restart dormant nuclear power stations and increase power output of existing ones. This is critical to national and international security." ... "Nuclear is vastly better for global warming than burning hydrocarbons for energy." —Elon Musk, March 6, 2022, (Russia invades Ukraine, day 11)
[There are "120 mothballed nuclear power plants in Europe" —Stuart Varney]
■ Pro-nuclear: "Cheap [nuclear] power in unlimited quantities is one of the chief factors in allowing a large rapidly growing population to preserve wild lands, open space and lands of high scenic value." —William E. Siri, Sierra Club President, 1966
Anti-nuclear (fear mongering): "Our campaign stressing the hazards of nuclear power, will supply a rationale for increasing regulation … and add to the cost of the industry … " —Michael, McCluskey, Sierra Club Executive Director, 1974
"Closure of [an existing nuclear reactor] ... will result in dramatic increases in ... greenhouse gas emissions [and] ... carbon dioxide mitigation costs range 'from under $20 per ton to keep existing nuclear running longer, to over $800 per ton for rooftop solar.' —
Robert Bryce, April 29, 2021
[Reiner Kuhr explains that adding subsidized wind and solar forces nuclear reactors to provide power only intermittently which is sufficiently uneconomic (for example, allowing subsidized renewable sources to bid negative power prices) to force closure of nuclear reactors which results in significant increase in carbon emission because CO2 emitting gas fired backup electricity generation must be used instead, and with much higher prices for electricity.]
Approve then disapprove: "There is no way for the U.S. to achieve significant cuts in carbon dioxide emissions without nuclear energy and lots of it. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues to act like it doesn't want the nuclear sector to succeed. ... by rescinding ... licenses, the agency showed ... that it poses an uncontrollable risk for investors looking to put money into nuclear energy." —Robert Bryce, February 28, 2022
"Since the [1974] advent of the [United States] Nuclear Regulatory Commission [almost a half century ago] not one new [nuclear reactor electricity generating] plant has been approved from conception to completion." —Alex Epstein, September 14, 2022
"We have allowed ourselves to depend on geostrategic adversaries such as Russia to provide our vital nuclear fuel supply. In fact Russia provides 20% of all of our nuclear enriched fuel services in the United States today." —Edward McGinnis, former Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, March 7, 2022
["FBI uncovered Russian [Clinton] bribery plot before Obama administration approved controversial nuclear deal with Moscow."]
■ "Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures." —Elon Musk, March 4, 2022, (Russia invades Ukraine, day 9)
Supply Chain Woes: "Try to lower expectations." —The Washington Post, October 19, 2021
Botched Biden Afghanistan withdrawal will lead to 'inevitable' future terror attacks against America: " ... a matter of when not if ... The terrorists now have a safe haven in Afghanistan after Biden's botched withdrawal. As we continue to neglect our border security here at home, the reality in Afghanistan jeopardizes our own homeland security. Can we really trust the Biden administration to keep us safe?" —Rep. Carlos Gimenezz, September 9, 2021
" ... I think [Joe Biden] has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." —Dr. Robert Gates, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, 2014, reaffired 2019
The Big Guy: "I'm a Capitalist [sic], but guess what, I'm also listed for 36 years the poorest man in the Congress, but I make big money now l'm in [sic] President." —Joe Biden, October 15, 2021
Deflecting blame for inflation caused by excessive money creation and government spending: "In the last few decades, in too many industries, a handful of giant companies dominate the market, in meat processing, railroads, shipping. Too often they use their power to squeeze out smaller competitors, stifle new entrepreneurs, and raise the prices.[sic]" ... "Capitalism without competition isn't capitalism, its exploitation." —Joe Biden, January, 2022
["If this monopoly pricing were true, would a progressive corporate income tax result in more smaller companies that would compete? Alcoa Aluminum was found guilty of being a monopoly becaused they did too good a job and kept lowering aluminum prices too fast for competitors to emerge! Similarly, the original meaning of 'Robber Baron' was a complaint about lowering prices too fast for the competition to keep up." —Mary Brown]
"I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something." —Jackie Mason
Bloomberg Inflation Solution – 'let them eat cake lentils': " ... if you earn less than $300K ... here's how to deal ... public transportation ... sell your car ... When it comes to food ... tasty meat substitutes include ... lentils and beans ... stay away from buying in bulk ... rethink those costly pet medical needs. It may sound harsh, but researchers actually don't recommend pet chemotherapy ... " —New School Economics Professor Teresa Ghilarducci, Bloomberg.com op-ed, March 20, 2022
Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet: "Each day, I recommend a minimum of three servings of beans (legumes), one serving of berries, three servings of other fruits, one serving of cruciferous vegetables, two servings of greens, two servings of other veggies, one serving of flaxseeds, one serving of nuts and seeds, one serving of herbs and spices, three servings of whole grains, five servings of beverages, and one serving of exercise (90 minutes at moderate intensity or 40 minutes of vigorous activity)." —Michael Greger, M.D.
You can't make this stuff up!: "U.S. in Talks to Pay Hundreds of Millions to Families Separated at Border: Government is considering payments of $450,000 per person ... " —Michelle Hackman, Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman, 'Wall Street Journal', October 28, 2021; "Garbage ... Not true." —Biden; True. —ACLU
["Under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, all those jailed in the U.S., convicted or not, having families to be eligible along with their traumatized separated family members ... Thousands to seek arrest to get their $450,000." —David Moore]
"It just goes to show you. It's always something. If it's not one thing, it's another." —Roseanne Roseannadanna
"The reason I say that I think Biden has a chance to be the most progressive president since FDR is that is exactly what Joe Biden said to me." —Socialist Bernie Sanders
"Legal plunder has two roots: One of them is in human greed; the other is in false philanthropy." —Frederic Bastiat
"It used to be the boast of free men that, so long as they kept within the bounds of the known law, there was no need to ask anybody's permission or to obey anybody's orders." —F.A. Hayek
"The duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from its government·" —Thomas Paine
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty·" —Thomas Jefferson
"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." —Albert Einstein, Letter to Jost Winteler, 1901
Critical thinking: "Teaching your children to question authority is one of the greatest gifts you can ever give them." —Connor Boyack
"To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." —Thomas Jefferson
Seven Articles of the Constitution: "I. Legislative Branch; II. Executive Branch; III. Judicial Branch;
IV. States' Relations; V. Amendment Process; VI. National Supremacy; VII. Ratification." —U.S. Constitution
'Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States'
"Totally Reject Lawlessness, Ignoring the original intent of the Constitution, Violation of the Bill of Rights, Rule by Executive Fiat, a Police State, Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism, an unelected Deep State, Judicial Activism, Unconstitutional Mandates, Undermining separation of powers, Exceeding enumerated powers, Incompetence, Lying, Racism, Censorship, Indoctrination, Wokeism, Cancel Culture, Intimidation, Election Tampering, Big Tech Fascism, Modern Socialism through the Regulatory State, and American Marxism." —Anne Williams
"In the 1960's, the radicals of the West took that idea of cultural revolution from China and they appropriated it and retrofitted it to fit the conditions and the politics of the West." —Christopher Rufo
🇺🇸 "We're blessed with the opportunity to stand for something—for liberty and freedom and fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to·" —Ronald Reagan
"The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both." —Milton Friedman
"I consider trial by jury as the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution." —Thomas Jefferson
"Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth." —Albert Einstein
"All of us need to be reminded that the federal government did not create the states, the states created the federal government." —President Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address, 1981
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." —George Orwell
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing [AFFH] tyranny: "Joe Biden and Democrats are Set to Abolish the Suburbs." —National Review and
explained
repeatedly
[+Creepy e-mail censorship: Two e-mails containing only links to these National Review magazine articles were bounced (not delivered) as "Message not allowed ... 550 High probability of spam" but when Atlantic was substituted for National Review, an otherwise identical e-mail was delivered.]
We object to Censorship
★ Democrat primary campaign contributions to Republican candidates who will be easier to defeat in the general election = Election Tampering: "Groups linked to Democrats appear to be trying to use pricey television ads and mailers to boost the profiles of ... conservative ... candidates ... running in important Republican primaries this year. The effort seems to be aimed at giving Democrats a leg up in the general election. It's not the first time Democrats have deployed such tactics ... and in the past they've been successful." —Sandra Fish and Jesse Paul, June 8, 2022
Frighteningly Orwellian: "Biden allied groups, including the Democratic National Committee, are also planning to engage fact-checkers more aggressively and work with SMS carriers to dispel misinformation about vaccines that is sent over social media and text messages." —Politico
★ Blocking Communications = Election Tampering: "As election day approached, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T shut down the Trump campaign's ability to send text messages. And then Google … prevented the Trump campaign from raising money over Gmail. There is no precedent for that. The Trump reelection campaign lost millions in donations. That was the whole point of it. So the most powerful companies on planet earth … tried to stop Donald Trump, the sitting President, in his tracks. Is that fair? … Democracy… ?" —Tucker Carlson, December 14, 2021
"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." —George Washington
"Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are in capable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal, nor universal." —Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence
Insidious compelled speech: "California's mandatory 'implicit bias' training for medical professionals violates the First Amendment." [More] —Pacific Legal Foundation
"Make Orwell fiction again." —Slogan seen on a hat
What if we [the left] are the ones who are actually on the wrong side of history?: "What if we are the bad guys here?" —David Brooks. 'New York Times', August 2, 2023 [Title of the 'remarkably frank' newspaper article was quickly censored and replaced online.]
'Weaponization of the Federal Government': "Chilling revelations on the rise of feds' Orwellian speech police. ... [" ... the most massive attack against free speech in United States' history ... blatantly ignored the First Amendment rights to free speech."] injunction from a federal judge barring contact between Team Biden and social-media companies, cited evidence of a 'massive effort' by the White House and federal agencies to 'suppress speech based on its content.' ... collude with Big Tech companies to impose a mass public-private surveillance and censorship regime on the American people. ... This amounts to a conspiracy to violate the First Amendment, resulting in rampant election interference, the stifling of crucial debates ... " —Benjamin Weingarten, July 4, 2023
★ Misrepresenting to voters what policies you will follow if elected = Election Tampering: "I beat the socialist, that's how I got … the nomination. Do I look like a socialist? Look at my career, my whole career. I am not a socialist[sic]." —Joe Biden, September 21, 2020
"If you look at Joe Biden's goals and Bernie Sanders' goals, they're not that different ... " —Former President Barack Obama, 'The New Yorker', August 31, 2020
"What amazes me is you look at the President [Joe Biden], Vice-President [Kamala Harris], you look at the Speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi], and you look at the Democrat Leader in the Senate [Chuck Schumer]. Between the four, they don't have one hour of private sector experience." —Mark Levin, October 17, 2021
"In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America, we are." —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
"I think overall we can likely push Vice-President Biden in a more progressive direction across policy issues." —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, September 16, 2020
" ... I'm going to be good to go down as one of the most progressive presidents in American history." —Joe Biden, Presidential Candidate, October, 2020
"We [Biden and Harris] are simpatico on our philosophy of government and simpatico on how we want to attack ... approach these issues … and like I told Barack [Obama], if I reach something where there's a fundamental disagreement we have based on a moral principle, I'll develop some disease and say I have to resign." —Joe Biden, at joint press conference with Kamala Harris, December 5, 2020
Huh?: "President [Kamala] Harris." —According to Joe Biden, December 29, 2020, March 18, 2021, December 17, 2021
"I've seen more of Dr. Fauci than I have my wife, we kid each other ... Look, who's president? Fauci! But all kidding aside, I sincerely mean it." — Joe Biden, December 2, 2021
"The world has become too absurd to be satirized." —Gilbert Keith Chesterton, 1911
" ... the middle class has been buried the last four years." —Vice President, Joe Biden, 2012, after almost four years in office
■ "How many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?" —Barack Obama, August 19, 2019
"We ended cancer as we know it [sic]." —Joe Biden, July 25, 2023
"In America anyone can become President. That's the problem." —George Carlin
Biden gets confused ... can't remember: "'My mind is going blank now.'" —Matthew Miller, September 2, 2021
"Not only do I not know what's going on, I wouldn’t know what to do about it if I did." —George Carlin
'Press Corps Blasts "Continued Efforts To Limit Access To The President" By The White House': " ... belief by many reporters that the administration seeks to limit access to the president [Biden] by anyone ... who might ask a question the administration doesn't want to answer. ... continued efforts to limit access to the president cannot be defended." —White House Press Corps, June 30, 2022 Protest Letter
Cause for concern: "One big problem is that Mr. Biden often doesn't seem to know what he's talking about." —Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, October 22, 2021
Obama says he wants a third term through a 'front man': " ... if I could make an arrangement where I had a stand-in, a front man or front woman and they have an earpiece in and I was just in my basement in my sweats looking through the stuff and then I could sort of deliver the lines and somebody else was doing all the talking and ceremony, I would be fine with that." —Barack Obama, 'The late show with Stephen Colbert', November 30, 2020, YouTube
"Biden is just a front man. Obama, April 21[, 2022]: social media censors 'don't go far enough,' so the government needs to step in to do the job. Six days later, Homeland Security rolls out the 'Ministry of Truth' (aka Disinformation Governance Board)." —Tulsi Gabbard, May 1, 2022
'Obama The Puppetmaster': "[Barack Obama is] the master puppeteer behind Joe Biden." —Monica Crowley, Former U.S. Assistant Treasury Secretary
"The true threat to democracy is the left telling us that we can't question our government." —Kari Lake, Arizona gubinatorial candidate (R), c. November 5, 2022
'Could It Happen Here? It Is Happening Here': "My field of study in graduate school was communism. As a fellow at the Russian Institute of Columbia's School of International Affairs ... one of seven students in the entire university to major in what was known at the time as 'Communist Affairs.' ... In my wildest dreams, I never imagined what I was studying would ever apply to the United States of America, the freest country in world history. ... This is what happens in dictatorships. ... All these years later, I see that I was wrong. Communism — or if you will, left-wing fascism and totalitarianism — is coming ... " [More] —Dennis Prager, April 4, 2023
"It's hard to tell what Biden's doing ... The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter ... " [More] —Elon Musk, May 16, 2022
Biden 'News Conference': "I'll take your questions, and as usual, folks, they gave me a list of the people I'm going to call on." —Joe ‘I’m going to get in trouble with my staff’ Biden, June 16, 2021
'Bizarre confession': "But, I'm not supposed to be having this press conference." —Joe Biden, December 21, 2021
"Staffer dressed as Easter Bunny stops Biden from answering reporter's question." —Steven Nelson, April 18, 2022
'AN ADMINISTRATION DEFINED BY CRISIS' — April border apprehensions:
"2020: 17,106; 2021: 178,795; 2022: 234,088" —CBP, FY Southwest Land Border Encounters
"The border is secure. [sic]" —Kamala Harris, September 11, 2022
■ "No great country can say that it is secure without being able to control its borders." —Senator Joe Biden, C-SPAN, August 8, 2007
"The simple truth is that we've lost control of our own borders and no nation can do that and survive." —President Ronald Reagan, June 14, 1984
President Biden approval rating among hispanic voters: "26% Approval; 60% Disapproval." —Quinnipiac University Poll, May 12-16, 2022
"Let me tell you something, folks, people are driving across that border with tons, tons—hear me, tons—of everything from byproducts from methamphetamine to cocaine to heroin, and it's all coming up through corrupt Mexico." —Senator Joe Biden, 2006
★ U.S. Government sponsored illegal immigration = Election Tampering: "An unrelenting stream of immigration, nonstop, nonstop. Folks like me who are Caucasian of European descent for the first time in 2017 will be an absolute minority in the United States of America. Absolute minority. Fewer than 50% of the people in America, from then and on will be white European stock. That's not a bad thing. That's a source of our strength." — Vice President Joe Biden, C-SPAN, February, 2015
"Donald Trump's 'Remain in Mexico' policy is dangerous, inhumane, and goes against everything we stand for as a nation of immigrants[sic]. My administration will end it." —Joe Biden, Tweet, March 11, 2020
'Does anyone still believe a word she says?': "We have a secure border ... " —V.P. Kamala Harris, 'Meet the Press', September 11, 2022
Drug deaths 2021 – 1 in 3,000 Americans died: "The border is just completely open. The worst thing about the border in my opinion right now is 1 out of every 3,000 people that were alive one year ago in the United States died of a drug overdose. And a lot of those are kids that took one pill, had fentanyl made in China." —Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), February 1, 2022 ["Provisional data show more than 107,000 deaths, two thirds from synthetic opioids like fentanyl."]
"Chinese fentanyl is payback for [the] Opium Wars." —downvoteforwhy
"We are literally going to change the course of this country for generations to come." —Joe Biden, Presidential Candidate, October, 2020
"You'll shoot your eye out." —Santa Claus
Torn from a page in a George Orwell novel: "When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It would erase Trump's lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe." —Robert Reich, October 17, 2020
Killing the goose that laid the golden egg: "I promise you this, as a first order of business, Joe Biden and I are about to work to get rid of that tax cut." —Kamala Harris, Vice-Presidential candidate, McAllen Texas, October 30, 2020
"Obama calls Kamala Harris 'the best looking attorney general.'" —Rachel Weiner, 'The Washington Post', April 4, 2013
The impact of Trump's tax cuts: "2019 Real Wealth increased 28.4% among bottom income earners, but only 8.9% among the top 1%." —U.S. Department of Labor ["IRS data proves Trump tax cuts benefited middle, working-class Americans most: The fact is, Republicans' 2017 tax reform law did exactly what was promised: It lowered taxes for all income groups, provided the greatest benefits for middle-income households, and spurred economic growth that helped reduce poverty and improve prosperity." —Justin Haskins, 'MSN', December 4, 2021]
"A rising tide lifts all the boats." —President John F. Kennedy, quoting the New England Council (Chamber of Commerce)
Promoting American prosperity: "Make Trump's tax cuts permanent. Abolish the death tax. Keep the step-up in basis for the capital gains rule." —Senator Thomas H. Tuberville's Vision for America, (R) Alabama, September 1, 2021
Making America Prosper: "Arthur Laffer, Larry Kudlow, Steve Forbes, Kevin Hassett, and Steve Moore." —Supply-Side Economists ["Supply side tax cuts have been dramatically successful all four times they were tried, under Presidents Harding, Kennedy, Reagan, and Trump." —Charles Garcia]
'The business of America is business.' [But what he actually said was:] "After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world." —President Calvin Coolidge, January 17, 1925
"Liberty, freedom, capitalism, our constitution, limited government, low taxes, less bureaucracy, school choice, law and order, free market solutions for healthcare, secure borders, energy independence, constitutionalists on the bench, free and fair trade, and peace through strength." —Sean Hannity, November 3, 2021
■ "The last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession, because that would just suck up, take more demand out of the economy, and put businesses in a further hole." —Barack Obama, August 5, 2009
"We're flirting with fire. … It's something you've got, 'I want it, and if I don't get it, it's not fair.' … Ultimately, you can't have the anarchy of 'what's yours is mine, because it's not fair.' It's not going to float with America." —Scott Shellady
■ "We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully to become immigrants in this country." —Senator Barack Obama, 2005
"We are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it." —Thomas Jefferson, 1820
"Free speech means the right to shout 'theater' in a crowded fire." —Abbie Hoffman
"It's a lot easier to post a photo than it is to write 1,000 words ... " —Matt Parvin
Famous last words: "Well, having already too many lenses in this [focal length] range I doubt that I will buy another one." —Thomas Bernardy
"Don't cry over spilled milk." —Why not? Just had to spend $3,061.28 for a replacement Macbook Pro after 7 year old spilled a glass of milk onto the old laptop computer, killing it.
(Lesson learned: No more computers allowed at the dinner table. Also, backup your computer!)
"The closest thing to eternal life is a government program." —Ronald Reagan
"69.420% of statistics are false." —Elon Musk, Twitter, April 9, 2022
"Reducing the max allowed tweets/day to a number below what a speed typist on meth could do was helpful." —Elon Musk, November 24, 2022
"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention." —Thich Nhat Hanh
"You have a dollar. I have a dollar. We swap. Now you have my dollar. We are no better off. – You have an idea. I have an idea. We swap. Now you have two ideas. And I have two ideas. – That's the difference. ... " —'System' Magazine
"No need for a wallet in your funeral pants." —jabberwockOG
Two-hundred year Testamentary Charitable Trust of Benjamin Franklin (Investment Compounding from 1790 to 1990): "If this plan is executed, and succeeds as projected without interruption for one hundred years ... of most general utility to the inhabitants ... whatever may make living in the town more convenient to its people, and render it more agreeable ... The remaining ... I would have continued to be let out on interest ... for another hundred years, as I hope it will have been found that the institution has had a good effect on the conduct of youth, and been of service to many worthy characters and useful citizens. At the end of this second term, if no unfortunate accident has prevented the operation, the sum will be four millions and sixty one thousand pounds sterling ... " —Last Will and Testament of Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
["After corresponding with a French mathematician named Charles-Joseph Mathon de la Cour, Franklin was intrigued by the concept of compound interest. The mathematician challenged Ben to leave small amounts of money–which would collect interest over time–to later be spent on utopian charity projects. Franklin agreed, and he bequeathed £1,000 (one thousand British Pounds) each to his native city of Boston, Massachusetts and his adopted city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania." £2,000 (=US$4,400) became $7,000,000. No wonder Benjamin Franklin's picture is on the United States' one hundred dollar bill!"]
How much money is enough?: "Just a little bit more." —John D. Rockefeller
"At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds, 'Yes, but I have something he will never have — ENOUGH.'"
"'Climate emergency' declaration = endless dictatorship."
'Climate emergency': "Biden believes the green new deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face." —Biden website, September 30, 2020
More Pinocchios: "No, I don't support the green new deal." —Joe Biden, first presidential debate, September 30, 2020
"I wrote the bill on the environment. Why would I not be for it?" —(Whispering) Joe Biden, June 24, 2021
"California court rules bees are now fish." —Rich Calder, June 4, 2022
'Totally fake green energy transition': "From 2004 to 2022 ... worldwide spending on wind and solar power totaled some $4.1 trillion. [while] global hydrocarbon usage — oil, gas, coal — increased by 110 exajoules, vs. 32 for wind and solar." —New York Post editorial board, July 15, 2023
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." —Abraham Lincoln
"You can fool some of the people some of the time -- and that's enough to make a decent living." —W. C. Fields
'President Biden versus U.S. oil': "One million fewer barrels of oil per day since Biden's inauguration; Interior Department raising drilling fees; Reversing plan to drill in Alaska National Petroleum Reserve; Banning new drilling leases on Federal lands; [Cancelled Keystone XL pipeline; Worsened environmental regulation permitting;] Gas prices reach seven year high." —Biden's energy crisis, February 8, 2022
President's economic illiteracy for failing to grasp that prices are determined by supply and demand: "Biden's 'price gouging' warning to oil and gas companies is 'mind-boggling'. [Biden threatened,] 'I want to add one more warning … to the oil and gas industry executives. Do not — let me repeat, do not — use [Hurricane Ian] as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American people.'" —Breck Dumas, September 28, 2022
["Biden's oil windfall tax would backfire, warns Larry Summers. 'If you reduce profitability, you will discourage investment which is the opposite of our objective.'" —CNN, November 1, 2022]
UberLIE: "It's simply not true that my administration or policies are holding back domestic energy production.[sic] That is simply not true." —Joe Biden, March 8, 2022
['STOP THREATENING THE EXISTENCE OF THE OIL INDUSTRY': "Politicians around the world, including US Democrats, have opposed and threatened the oil and gas industry's existence. Now they are denying responsibility for the consequences: higher prices. [Using dishonest 'business decisions', 'windfall profits', '9000 leases', and 'price gouging' denial tactics.]" —Alex Epstein]
Poll: "70% Disapprove of Biden's handling of gas prices, inflation." —ABC News/Ipsos Poll, March 13, 2022
Biden's plan to tackle the 'climate crisis': "Since taking office, President Joe Biden has waged a war on fossil fuels [ending U.S. energy independence, and endangering the U.S. economy and competitiveness, rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement], nixing the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ditching an oil drilling project in Alaska [ANWR with more oil than Saudi Arabia], introducing sweeping fossil fuel regulations and making it harder for utilities to gain approval for natural gas projects [also preventing the United States from supplying Europe's energy needs from liquified natural gas terminals]. His administration has also defied multiple court-ordered deadlines to restart the federal oil and gas leasing program after Biden attempted to halt the program altogether." —Thomas Catenacci, March 9, 2022
"Biden's attacks on the industry have created an uncertain environment that prevents investment." —CEO of a large, publicly traded energy company, June 2022
Biden's not-so-clean energy transition: " ... requires mining industries and infrastructure that don't exist [and that leftist 'environmentalists' won't allow]. ... demand for key minerals such as lithium, graphite, nickel and rare-earth metals would explode, rising by 4,200%, 2,500%, 1,900% and 700%, respectively, by 2040. The world doesn't have the capacity to meet such demand." —Mark P. Mills, The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2021
"Electric cars will not save the climate. It is completely wrong." —Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency
"Electric vehicles are much heavier than gas vehicles, and that's posing safety problems." —Nathan Bomey
Electric vehicle battery fantasy: "Put very simply, all the world's cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years ... Meaning, 90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist." —RJ Scaringe, Rivian Automotive Inc. CEO
'25 States blast Biden's EV push': " … the proposed rule, if left uncorrected, would damage our economy, tax our electrical grids … and threaten our national security." —Letter to U.S. EPA from Attorneys General of 25 States, July 5, 2023
"Everything is connected. There would be no climate crisis if it wasn't for racism. [sic]" —Jane Fonda, at age 85, January, 2023
Promoting energy poverty: "It's all about reducing our standard of living so that we can contribute to the future climate of the planet." —Chuck Devore, Texas Public Policy Foundation, May 11, 2021
["America's strangled natural gas potential: Urgently needed American natural gas pipeline infrastructure should be built to supply clean energy, reduce carbon emissons, enrich America with both profit from producing energy and reduced energy cost, boost American employment and manufacturing, fuel unserved U.S. states like Massachusetts that are forced to import expensive energy from our adversaries, and allow U.S. coastal liquified natural gas terminals to supply the world, allowing halving the carbon dioxide emission when replacing coal." —Lisa Martin]
"A Promise Kept: Biden's War on American Energy. [Eighty-one steps taken to cripple our energy production.]" —Rep. Jim Banks, March 25, 2022
Some sacrifice—from you: "We must face the fact that the energy shortage is permanent [sic]. ... keeping our thermostats ... at 65 degrees in the daytime and 55 degrees at night ... " —President Jimmy Carter, February 2, 1977
["What an utterly false and ridiculous claim, especially from a nuclear engineer! Even matter is condensed energy. Making energy increasingly available is the principal driver of achieving prosperity and abudanace." —Patricia Harris]
Green Religion: "Nature is my religion. The earth is my temple. ... Many people who have rejected more traditional religion have embraced environmentalism as their big picture belief system." —Bill Muehlenberg
"Environmentalism is a watermelon: Green on the outside and red on the inside." —David Horowitz
Oil producer calls out Biden's energy policies: "President Biden, on day one of his presidency, made it his top priority to cripple American oil and gas producers. His administration has axed progress on the Keystone pipeline, shut down leases on federal lands, encouraged Woke Wall Street to divest from fossil fuels, and installed absolute antagonists in leadership at Federal Reserve, the EPA and Department of Interior." —Cecil O'Brate, CEO of American Warrior Oil
Biden canceling the Keystone XL and other pipeline construction was a serious mistake: "It's kind of insane that we have trucks and trains carrying oil all over this country, rather than constructing pipelines, which would permit accessing more resources and cheaper, safer transmission." —Larry Summers (D), former Obama administration Economist, Boston Globe's Globe Summit, September 15, 2022
"In January [2021], President Biden imposed a ban on new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. ... it is a ban with no end in sight. ... A ban on oil and gas leasing will simply push production to other countries. That means fewer jobs for Americans, less revenue for states and the federal government, and more imports of foreign oil. ... " —Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), May 13, 2021 Build back worse: "Joe Biden killed the Keystone Pipeline. Russia wins. The Colonial Pipeline gets shut down by Russia. Russia wins. And now the response from the Biden administration is to give Vladimir Putin a brand new shiny natural gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2. Russia wins, again. So it's really hard to believe how we've gone from from America first to America worst in such a short period of time." —John Ratcliffe, Former U.S. Director of National Intelligence, May 23, 2021
Destroying America's Energy Independence and Standard of Living: "Your pursuit of this radical agenda continues to hurt Americans not insulated from the consequences of your decisions by geography or privilege. Maybe one day, down the road, we will obtain the Utopian energy profile you desire. But in the meantime, Americans want practical, effective leadership – not visionary deprivations." —Letter to President Biden from 19 State Attorneys General urging him to reinstate the Keystone XL Pipeline, May 17, 2021 The ultimate debunking of 'solar and wind are cheaper than fossil fuels': "China, despite being the world's leading producer of solar and wind (using coal) is also using record amounts of oil. Why not just use solar and wind instead, since 'solar and wind are cheaper than fossil fuels'? Because solar and wind aren't cheaper. In most cases, they're totally incapable of replacing oil. To deny the blatant reality that solar and wind cannot outcompete fossil fuels, opponents of fossil fuels use a fallacy ... 'false generalization'—taking something that's true in rare circumstances and falsely generalizing it to all circumstances." —Alex Epstein's 'Energy Talking Points', July 19, 2023
"Apple, like nearly every other international technology company in the world, gets the overwhelming percentage of its power from cheap, plentiful, reliable coal and almost none from expensive, unreliable solar and wind." —Forbes
"Right now about 40% of American electricity is 'clean,' with unreliable solar and wind providing about 10%. Given nuclear and hydro realities in the US, 80% 'clean' by 2030 means quintupling unreliable solar and wind, from 10% to 50% of our electricity in 8 years! ... The facts are clear. 10% solar and wind in the US is disastrous. 50+% solar and wind would guarantee unaffordable prices, constant shortages, frequent blackouts – and the fleeing of industry and jobs, once companies realize the US no longer has low-cost, reliable electricity." —Alex Epstein's 'Energy Talking Points', October 22, 2021
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." —Richard Feynman
The Hard Math of Minerals: "Today's plans to decarbonize global energy systems, which center on a massive expansion in the use of solar, wind, and battery technologies, need to better account for the high environmental and economic costs of materials and minerals. ... It has long been known that building solar and wind systems requires roughly a tenfold increase in the total tonnage of common materials—concrete, steel, glass, etc.—to deliver the same quantity of energy compared to building a natural gas or other hydrocarbon-fueled power plant." —Mark P. Mills, January 27, 2022
"Solar and wind, the politically favored alternative, has intractable problems with cost (unreliability requires costly infrastructure duplication), versatility (only electricity) and scalability (depends on 'reliables' and diluteness causes unprecedented material needs)." —Alex Epstein, October 20, 2022
"The Keystone Cops in the White House are deliberately destroying our fossil fuel industry and America's energy independence, which is raising prices, creating an insidious inflation tax hurting the poor the most, making energy unreliable, making America less competitive, empowering America's adversaries, forcing the U.S. to import energy from Russia and the unstable middle east, while endangering the national security of the United States and its allies, and actually increasing carbon dioxide emissions." —Christopher Davis
How 'the experts' can be totally wrong about energy: "The whole climate crisis is not only fake news, it's fake science." —Patrick Moore, Ph.D., Greenpeace Founder "Over the last two decades ... as a direct result of the shale gas boom, the United States has given the model for how the world can make the most meaningful contribution to addressing climate change: replacing coal consumption with natural gas. This is the most impactful green initiative available in the world, and it is not even close. It is proven, it is actionable using today's technologies, and it can be executed rapidly." —Toby Z. Rice, President and CEO, EQT Corporation. the largest producer of natural gas in the United States
"New York bans fracking and pipelines [and natural gas hookups for new construction]." —Mary Miller
"It's not about climate change, it's about wealth redistribution." —Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy
'No trend in tornado frequency or intensity': "In the United States ... The mean annual number of tornadoes has remained relatively constant." —UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2021
How far photographs can travel aloft in tornadoes: "A photograph ... was returned to its owner after being found 219 miles away from where it started out." —Study by John Knox, Associate Professor of Geography, University of Georgia
Climate Science Is Not Settled – We are very far from the knowledge needed to make good climate policy: "Yes, it's true that the globe is warming, and that humans are exerting a warming influence upon it. But beyond that ... 'I do not think The Science says what you think it says.' For example, both research literature and government reports state clearly that heat waves in the US are now no more common than they were in 1900, and that the warmest temperatures in the US have not risen in the past fifty years. ... Humans have had no detectable impact on hurricanes over the past century. Greenland's ice sheet isn't shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago. The global area burned by wildfires has declined more than 25 percent since 2003 and 2020 was one of the lowest years on record." —New York University (formerly CalTech) Professor of Physics and Engineering Steven Koonin, Ph.D., former Undersecretary for Science, U.S. Department of Energy, in the Obama Administration Council of Economic Advisers and the Office of Management and Budget assess that the economic effects of climate change will be trivial: "White House Tells the Truth About Climate Change ...[The White House Report says that] While the estimates differ, each shows an economic impact of less than a few percentage points for a few degrees of warming. The consensus, apart from two counterbalancing outliers, is that today’s warming of 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit has reduced GDP by less than 0.5%. That is trivial, considering real GDP has grown by more than 800% since 1950. If warming reaches 4.5 degrees—about what the United Nation’s climate panel projects for 2100 under plausible scenarios for future global emissions—the consensus reduction amounts to less than 2%. In other words, if the average annual GDP growth rate is 1.5% for the next 80 years, the economy would grow 232%. A 2% climate-change effect would reduce that growth to 225%. As physicists say, that's a difference 'in the noise.'" —Steven E. Koonin, Ph.D., Professor at New York University, and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, 'Wall Street Journal', July 6, 2023
■ 'Green Bad Deal': " ... we redistribute de facto the world's wealth by climate policy. ... One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with environmental policy ... " —Ottmar Edenhofer, Co-chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes Working Group III, and lead author of the IPCC's 2007 Report
■ "The Green New Deal ... wasn't originally a climate thing at all
["By raising the cost of energy, it also functions as a hidden 'regressive' tax on every American, and on every product produced or transported in the U.S., hurting the poor the most."]
[Hurricanes: "From 1970 to present ... no overall increase in ... Accumulated Cyclone Energy." —William D. Balgord, January 14, 2023]
"All warfare is based on deception." —Sun Tsu
"It's not easy being green." —Kermit the Frog
Green New Deal FAQ: "Economic security to all who are ... unwilling to work. Upgrade or replace every building in US for state-of-the-art energy efficiency. Build out highspeed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary." —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) NY, February 5, 2019
"We have plans to build a railroad from the Pacific all the way across the Indian Ocean." —Joe Biden, June 16, 2023
Q. "Does your bank have a policy against funding new oil and gas products?" —Rep. Rashida Tlaib, House Financial Services Committee hearing, September 21, 2022
A. "Absolutely not, and that would be the road to hell for America." —Jamie Dimon, Bank Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
"We'll be back. ... Don't damage the economy too much for us to fix it later." —Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, June 13, 2021
Anti-capitalism: "Go woke, go broke." —Andy Kessler, July 18, 2021
Go Woke, Go, Broke! "Market value lost: Ben & Jerry's/Unilever -$2.5 billion; Target -$13.9 billion; Bud Light -$19.88 billion; Disney -$18.1 billion." —July, 2023
"Being Woke means never knowing what you'll be required to believe tomorrow." —Professor Robert P. George
Biden's woke economics are perverse: "These things [destructive tax hikes, wild fiscal stimulus, out of control entitlement spending] are all disincentives. … The Biden group doesn't understand the incentive model of growth. That's too bad because economics is all about real world incentives. … He's got the story exactly in reverse. ... This is the worst most perverse economic recitation I can ever recall. ... His so called 'government investment' which is a progressive euphemism for government spending, indeed, massive social spending, without work requirements or employment incentives, somehow that's going to boost the economy. But it won't. ... This kind of financing does in fact risk permanently higher inflation. ... " —Larry Kudlow ["The Sage of the West Wing" according to Rick Perry], July 19-20, 2021
Biden economy forces half of 'Gen Z' Americans to live with their parents: "At least 54 percent of adults aged 18–25 are opting to live with their parents out of economic necessity, according to a new study of over 300 participants conducted by The Harris Poll." —Tyler Durden, November, 2022
Profound and grave damage [from Biden's incompetent and shameful withdrawl from Afghanistan]: "The commander-in-chief is demonstrating cowardice to our allies and to our adversaries. … We've got to survive the next three years with a President [Biden] and a national security team that has … literally created one disaster or tragedy or humiliation or debacle after another." —John Ratcliffe, former Director of U.S. National Intelligence, September 12, 2021
"In just a few short months, the Biden administration has created a disaster on the southern border of the United States. It did so by methodically—and by all indications intentionally—undoing every meaningful border security measure that had been in place. As a result, we have had five straight months of over 170,000 illegal immigrants apprehended at the border. The number in June [2021] was the highest in over 20 years. And Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been effectively shut down." —Mark Morgan, former Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, July 22, 2021
"I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any treat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." —General Douglas MacArthur
Abundance – The Future is Better Than You Think: "We humans are wired to pay 10x more attention to negative news than positive news. ... The truth is, driven by advances in exponential technologies, things are getting much better around the world at an accelerating rate." —Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." —H. L. Mencken
"The road to the nomination for the Democratic party runs through Venezuela." —Senator Lindsey Graham, February 5, 2019
Democratic presidential debate fossil fuel energy question:
"Would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth even knowing that potentially it could displace thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers in the interest of transforming to that greener economy?"
"The answer is YES." —Joe Biden, PBS NewsHour/Politico, December 19, 2019
Vow to constituent: "I want you to look in my eyes, I guarantee you, I guarantee you we're going to end fossil fuel." —Joe Biden, New Castle, New Hampshire, September 6, 2019
Biden plan to destroy the oil industry, end energy independence, and cripple the U.S. economy:
"No more subsidies for fossil fuel industry. No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill. Period. End. Number one."
—Joe Biden, Democratic presidential primary debate, CNN, March 15, 2020
"I'm not banning fracking, no matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me.[sic]" —Joe Biden, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 31, 2020
"[Biden's] lies are driving me crazy." —Larry Kudlow, September 27, 2021
Oil company response to Biden's letter: "ExxonMobil has been investing ... more than $50 billion over the past five years, resulting in an almost 50% increase in our U.S. production of oil during this period. Globally, we've invested double what we've earned over the past five years -- $118 billion on new oil and gas supplies compared to net income of $55 billion. ... We kept investing even during the pandemic, when we lost more than $20 billion and had to borrow more than $30 billion ... In 2021, total taxes ... were $40.6 billion ... " —ExxonMobil, June 15, 2022
Q. "Would there be any place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in a Biden administration?" —CNN, July, 2019
A. "No, we would work it out, we would make sure it's eliminated and no more subsidies for either one of those." —Joe Biden
"There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking." —Kamala Harris, CNN September 4, 2019
Q. "Would there be any place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in a Biden administration?"
A. "NO." —Joe Biden, CNN, July 31, 2019
"No one is going to build another coal burning [plant] … We gotta shut down the ones we have. But no one is going to build a new one." —Joe Biden, CNN, September 4, 2019
["If innovation could economically sequester underground the carbon dioxide from burning coal to produce reliable inexpensive non-polluting 'green' energy, why would't that be terrific?" —Mary Thomas]
Coal: "We're going to be shutting these plants down all across America ... " —Joe Biden, November 4, 2022
["President Biden's comments are not only outrageous and divorced from reality, they ignore the severe economic pain the American people are feeling because of rising energy costs." —Senator Joe Manchin, (D-WV), November 5, 2022]
Fossil Fuels: "No more drilling. There is no more drilling. I haven't formed any new drilling." —Joe Biden, November 6, 2022
"Anybody who can go down 300 to 3,000 feet in a mine, sure as hell can learn how to [computer] program as well. ... Anybody who can throw coal into a furnace can learn how to program, for god's sake." —Joe Biden
"There is always an easy solution to every human problem — neat, plausible and wrong." —Henry Louis Mencken
"The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left, the choice is between normal or crazy." —Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AK), Little Rock, Arkansas, February 7, 2023
" ... It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. ... " —Winston Churchill, from an Oct. 1939 radio broadcast
"Nobody should be in jail for a nonviolent crime." —Joe Biden
"Would I like to debate this gentleman [Donald Trump]? No … I'd ... beat the hell out of him." —Joe Biden, Miami, March 20, 2018 [Biden repeating his desire to assault Trump, previously stated at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, October 21, 2016.]
'Sometimes alarmingly incoherent': "Play the radio, make sure that ... you have the record player on at night. ... " —Joe Biden, September 12, 2019
" ... Trump won significantly the last two [sic] times." —Joe Biden, Cincinnati, October 12, 2020
We hold these truths to be self evident: "All men and women created by go you know you know the thing you know how we talk about we the people." —Joe Biden, Houston Texas, March 2, 2020 [also confusing his wife of 28 years with his sister]
"I'm running as a proud Democrat for the Senate [sic]." —Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, Toledo Ohio, October 12, 2020 ["Biden calls himself 'Vice President' in latest job-title screwup." —Steven Nelson, August 4, 2022]
"Four more years of George [sic] … " —Joe Biden, October 26. 2020
"Are there people in the Republican party who think we are sucking the blood out of kids?" —Joe Biden, July 23, 2021
"I don't care if you think I'm Satan reincarnated." —Joe Biden, CNN, July 21, 2021
"I had nurses at Walter Reed Hospital ... they actually breathed in my nostrils to get me moving." —Joe Biden, July 23, 2020
"The President [Obama] put me in charge of getting out the recovery money which was 800 and, I don't know, excuse me, was 80, almost $89 billion, I guess it came to 84 at the end, 84 billion [sic] … But we declared our independence on December 7th [sic], by the way, and it's not just D-day [sic]." —Joe Biden, May 27, 2020
Fudging the facts doesn't promote tolerance: "A Black man [co-inventor, Lewis Latimer] invented [1881] the light bulb [sic], not a White guy named [Thomas A.] Edison [1880]." —Joe Biden, Kenosha, Wisconsin, September 3, 2020
'Earth at Night.' [Enlarge] Courtesy of NASA.
[What is the
bottom edge of this image? ... and Why?]
Most voters say Biden is mentally unfit: "Is Biden mentally up for the job of president? YES 36%; NO 60%." —'Wall Street Journal' Poll, August 24-30, 2023
What year is it? "We are going to deal with climate change, end end at zero emissions, net emissions by 2050, by 2020 [sic] make sure all our electricity is zero emissions." —Joe Biden, September 7, 2021, Queens, NY
"U.S. troops died in Iran [sic] and Afghanistan ... You could take care, people who were quartermaster, you can sure in hell take care of running a, you know, a department store, a thing where in the second floor of a ladies department or, you know what I mean?" —Joe Biden, Tampa, Florida, September, 2020
"If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask." —Joe Biden, May 13, 2021
"No, I didn't say that." —Joe Biden, July 29, 2021
Truck driver delusion: "I used to drive an 18 wheeler." —Joe Biden, Macungie Pennsylvania, July 28, 2021
'Yeshiva boy': "I also want to acknowledge someone else who means a great deal to our family, Rabbi Michael Beals of the Congregation Beth Shalom in Wilmington, Delaware. … That's where I received my education. I probably went to shul more than many of you did. [Audience laughter.] Y'all think I'm kidding." —Joe Biden
Puerto Rican upbringing: "We have a very, in relative terms, large Puerto Rican population in Delaware. … I was sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home." —Joe Biden
Civil rights activist: "I got my education, for real, in the black church. That's not hyperbole, that's a fact." —Joe Biden
'Outrageous and dishonest': "Four different people in Wilmington expressed to me that these claims of Biden are so outrageous and dishonest that it caused them to truly worry for his mental health." —Civil rights activist Shaun King
'Build back debtor!': " … Pass our bipartisan my bipartisan infrastructure agreement and my build back better plan which is being debated now and I'm going to be heading over there quickly shortly after I do this press conference back to my office to make some calls." —Joe Biden, The White House, November 5, 2021
"A visibly confused, tired-looking Joe Biden [~Robin Where?] mixes up Libya, Syria three times in speech on Russia." —Greg Price, June 13, 2021
"I had these terrible headaches was diagnosed with having an a, well anyway. They had to take the top of my head off couple of times. See if I had a brain." —Joe Biden, March 6, 2023
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." —Thomas Paine
Biden tells Townhall Covid-19 whopper: "If the President [Trump] had done his job, had done his job from the beginning, all the people would still be alive[sic]. All the people. I'm not making this up, just look at the data. Look at the data." —Joe Biden, Moosic, PA, Presidential Townhall, CNN, September, 2020
['Even if this whopper made any sense, more Americans died of Covid-19 in 2021 under Biden than did in 2020 under Trump." —Robert Martinez]
"The public is lied to every day by the President, by his spokespeople, by his officers. If you can't handle the thought that the President lies to the public for all kinds of reasons, you couldn't stay in the government at that level, or you're made aware of it, a week. ... The fact is Presidents rarely say the whole truth—essentially, never say the whole truth—of what they expect and what they're doing and what they believe and why they're doing it and rarely refrain from lying, actually, about these matters." —Daniel Ellsberg, 'Presidential Decisions and Public Dissent', Conversations with History, July 29, 1998
☭ "Telling the truth is a petty- bourgeois prejudice. Deception, on the other hand, is often justified by the goal." —Vladimir Lenin, November, 1917
"The arrogance of lying by a politician leads to bad policy making every time." —Larry Kudlow, April 6, 2022
'Biden's litany of lies':
● Cost of Democrat spending plan is 'Zero'.—Larry Kudlow, September 27, 2021
● Rich don't pay their fair share.
● No crisis at the border.
● Border patrol 'whipped' migrants.
● Won't leave Americans in Afghanistan.
'Biden loves to retail certain stories. Some aren't credible': "As president, Biden has continued a tradition of embellishing his personal tales, in ways that cannot be verified or are directly refuted by contemporary accounts." —Glenn Kessler, 'The Washington Post', August 31, 2023
Most expensive falsehood in history?: " ... the truth is ... it's going to cost nothing, because we're going to raise the revenue.[sic]" —Joe Biden, September 24, 2021
[The actual cost will exceed that of World War II plus the Marshall Plan which rebuilt Europe.]
"I don't believe that deficit spending is one of the main causes of inflation." —Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury Secretary znd Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, March, 2023
Absurd zero cost claim: "We talk about price tags. It is zero price tag on the debt.[sic]" ... "There is nothing in any of these pieces of legislation that's radical … that is unreasonable.[sic]" —Joe Biden September 24, 2021
From the Fabricator-in-Chief, another Whopper: "I have known every — every [Israeli] prime minister well since Golda Meir, including Golda Meir ... And during the Six-Day War, I had an opportunity to — she invited me to come over because I was going to be the liaison between, she and the Egyptians about the Suez, and so on and so forth.[sic] " —Joe Biden
[Golda 'Meir however, was not elected prime minister until 1969, two years after the Six-Day War. The Israeli prime minister in 1967 was Levi Eshkol, who served between 1963-1969.']
■ "Marriage is between a man and a woman and states must respect that." —Joe Biden, ‘Meet the Press’, 2006
Delaware Petroleum Malignancy Syndrome: "You'd have to put on your windshield wipers to get, literally, the oil slick off the window. That's why I, and so damn many other people I grew up with, have cancer [sic]. And why, for the longest time, Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation." —Joe Biden, July 20, 2022
"I never considered voting for Trump in 2016. I may be forced to vote for him this year. … Joe Biden would be a figurehead president, incapable of focus or leadership, who would run a Teleprompter presidency with the words drafted by his party's hard-left ideologues." —Danielle Pletka, AEI Senior Fellow, Washington Post, September, 2020
"The Green New Deal is a Trojan Horse for Socialism." —U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Climate Apocalypse: "Without clear coordinated and committed approach from the other 85% of the carbon emitters, the world will continue to warm, storms will continue to worsen, climate change will continue to threaten lives and livelihoods, public health, and economics of our existence, and literally the very existence of our planet.[sic]" —Joe Biden
"This city is headed for disaster of biblical proportions … old testament … real wrath of God type stuff, fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and the seas boiling, 40 years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes, the dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria." —'Ghostbusters', Columbia Pictures
"China would prefer Joe Biden." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, CNN, August 9, 2020
" … We stand with the people of Hong Kong & continue to support their human rights & fundamental freedoms." —U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Tweet, September 16, 2021 [Posted and then promptly deleted by Blinken.]
Hong Kong: "The British gave us the institutions of freedom ... Rule of law, free speech, the free market ... That created the best in the world." —Jimmy Lai
"When goods don't cross borders, soldiers will." —Frédéric Bastiat
"We are at risk of losing a war today because too few of us know that we are engaged with an enemy, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), that means to destroy us." —Brian T. Kennedy
"The Chinese people will absolutely not allow any foreign force to bully, oppress or enslave us and anyone who attempts to do so will face broken heads and bloodshed in front of the iron Great Wall of the 1.4 billion Chinese people." —Chinese President Xi Jinping, Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Tiananmen Square, July 1, 2021
"Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them." —Emily Dickinson
The "USA birth rate has been below minimum sustainable levels for approximately 50 years." —Elon Musk, May 24, 2022 (See graph of 'fertility rate slump')
["Is it a coincidence that 50 years exactly corresponds to the onset of the ridiculous and completely wrong earth day catastrophe predictions?" —Joseph Thomas]
"If your parents never had children, chances are you won't, either." —Dick Cavett
"Is it OK to still have children?" —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) NY
"Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference." —Mark Twain
Plants will suffocate, ending life on earth in 1-2 million years, if the 250 million year trend continues of dropping atmospheric CO2 levels to below 150ppm, as sea shells accumulating on the ocean floor sequester carbon dioxide:
■ 'Completely crazy' Green New Deal 'insanity' would 'cause people to starve:' "It would be the end of civilization if 85% of the world's and 85% of the US's energy in the form of coal, oil, and natural gas was phased out over the next few years. ... We do not have anything to replace them with. ... [Green New Deal advocates] are opposed to approximately 98.5% of all the electricity we are using and nearly 100% of all the vehicle and transportation and ships' and planes' energy that we are using. ... You don't have a plan to feed 8 billion people without fossil fuels ... or get the food into the cities. ... If we ban fossil fuels ... agricultural production would collapse .. and half the population would die in a very short period of time ... and there wouldn't be a tree left on this planet." —Patrick Moore, Greenpeace co-founder, March 11, 2019
Nanny state – Biden takes on valiant fight against ... gas stoves: "Considering a ban on gas stoves." —U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, c. January 10, 2023
["You'll have to pry my gas stove from my cold dead oven mitts." —Chip Bok, Political Cartoon, January 13, 2023]
["If indoor air pollution is an actual first-world issue, rather than an anti-fossil fuel pretext, the solution is better ventilation standards (also needed to reduce spread of respiratory viruses), not such a stupid anti-environment standard-of-living-reducing ban. The U.S. extraordinary success in innovating fracking for natural gas production is the reason that the United States was the nation that achieved the greatest reduction in CO2 emission." —Paul Lopez]
No pain, no gain: "Anesthesiologists can play a role in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming by decreasing the amount of anesthetic gas provided during procedures ... " —Research being presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Orlando, Florida, January 27, 2023 [Research redacted as 'inaccurate.']
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." —Chris Hatfield, Astronaut mantra
Electrical power grid instability causes California blackouts: "We have a much more risky supply of energy now because the sun doesn't always shine when we want and the wind doesn't always blow when we want." —Professor Frank Wolak, Economics, Stanford University
"The annual output of Tesla's Gigafactory, the world's largest battery factory, could store three minutes' worth of annual U.S. electricity demand. It would require 1,000 years of production to make enough batteries for two days' worth of U.S. electricity demand." —Mark P. Mills, The 'New Energy Economy': An Exercise in Magical Thinking
Breakthough Solid-State Battery?: "Compared with conventional lithium-ion battery technology, solid-state batteries will be lighter, smaller, more powerful, charge faster, last longer, and be safer." —Clint Demeritt, April 7, 2021
White House Science 'Czar' Tells Students: "We [the United States] can’t expect to be number one in everything indefinitely." —Dr. John P. Holdren, Director, Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, April, 2010
"Stay on target ... Stay on target ... " —Star Wars
War with Radical Islamists: "Mr. Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the [terrorist] attacks in Paris and San Bernardino." —Redacted by The New York Times
Terrorism: "It can happen here almost any time. … If [you] knew what I know about terrorism, [you] would never leave the house ... " —Marine Corps General John F. Kelly, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, May 26, 2017
"Q. What keeps you awake at night?
A. Nothing – I keep other people awake at night."
—Marine Corps General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 'Face the Nation', May 28, 2017
"The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." —Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'
"Today's consumer protection hurts consumers more than it helps us. Competition and the open society protects us far better than government ever can or ever will." —John Stossel
"A citizen's right to film government officials, including law enforcement officers, in the discharge of their duties in a public place is a basic, vital, and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment." —Federal First Circus Court of Appeals, Boston, MA, 2011
Clueless: " ... there are these incredibly hot rocks, 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees [sic] ... " —Al Gore, Nobel Laureate ["The temperature of the earth's inner core is 9,392°F." —Stuart Varney]
"Caution: Cape does not enable user to fly." —Warning label on a Batman costume
"Who told you to think? I don't give you enough information to think." —'Total Recall' (movie)
'¿Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt?':
"No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence [sic]." —Nancy Pelosi, Twitter, March 30, 2023
"If you want to create jobs the quickest way to do it is to provide more funding for food stamps ... it's the biggest bang for the buck.[sic]" —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat - California)
"Our country was founded by geniuses, but it's being run by idiots." —Senator Kennedy, R-Louisiana
Language Police: "[Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, House [of Representative Democrats] move to ban 'Father, Mother, Son, Daughter' and other 'Gendered' words." —C. Douglas Golden
"Avoid the terms 'mothers' and 'women' ... 'breast milk' ... " —Natalie O'Neill, February 10, 2021
'Thought police' ('political correctness gone mad'?): "Commonly used [sic] gender-neutral pronouns [neopronoun neologisms] include Ze/zir/zem/zeir, Xe/Xir/Xem/Xeir, and hir/hirself." —Liz Sommer, January 8, 2019
Impermissibly compelling speech: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein." —W. Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 642 (1943).
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." —Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, Presidential Nomination, July 16, 1984
"We must make the building of a free society once more an intellectual adventure, a deed of courage." —Friedrich Hayek
"Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done." —Lord Gordon Hewart, The Lord Chief Justice of England, 1924
"Do you catch lyme disease at night from a luna tick?" —Anon
"Homeowner: You charge more than a lawyer."
"Plumber: Yes, I didn't get as much when I was a lawyer." —Joke
"After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels." —Texas Governor Ann Richards, Democratic National Convention keynote, Atlanta, Georgia, July 18, 1988
'Make him feel special': "She pursued him until he caught her." —Anonymous
"Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man's lifetime income – which he then spends sending his son to college." —Bill Vaughn
'Failure to launch': "45% of young Americans age 19 - 29 are still living with parents." —Harris Poll via Bloomberg, September, 2023
"College graduates should not have to live out their twenties in their childhood bedrooms, staring up at fading Obama posters, and wondering when they can move out and get going with life." —Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), 2012
"What if they gave a war and nobody came?" —Paraphrasing Carl Sandburg
"The first casualty, when war comes, is truth." —Hiram Johnson (1866-1945)
"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity." —George Carlin
"Never get involved in a land war in Asia." —Advice from General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur to President John F. Kennedy in 1961
The shape of the table: "One of my earliest recognitions of the madness of politics was the discussions of the shape of the table of the Paris Peace Talks designed to end the Vietnam war. It took over 6 months to decided on the shape of the table, hampered by the unwillingness of some of the parties to sit at the same table with others. Ultimately 3 separate adjacent tables were used – with North and South Vietnam in the center circular table." —Paxus Calta ["Arguing about a triviality, as used by Ho Chi Minh, in this example, is an incredibly useful negotiating tactic to utilize, when delay is to your advantage." —Lisa Rodriguez]
Vietnam War: "It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker." —Anonymous former Trump administration officials, claiming to quote President Trump
[Vietnam War Protester chant: "Hell no, we won't go!"]
Draft Resistance in the Vietnam Era: "In 1972, there were more conscientious objectors[*] than actual draftees ... " —Jessie Kindig
[*Thereby responding to then President Richard M. Nixon's greetings in the manner of the reply given in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram.]
"The most fundamental objection to [military] draft registration is moral. ... The notion of involuntary servitude, in whatever form, is simply incompatible with a free society." —President Ronald Reagan
"In the 1960's women learned to burn their bras. In the 2020's women will need to learn to burn their draft cards." —Gloria Richmond
WW II: "During the war an Italian girl saved my life. She hid me in her basement in Cleveland." —Henny Youngman
"Dictatorial Powers: The sad truth is that government does everything incompetently, whether it is something trivial or something on which the fate of the country depends. War is the health of the state because the government uses war to fighten us into surrendering our liberties and our property." —Judge Andrew Nepolitano
"When men become locked in battle, there should be no artifice under the name of politics, which should handicap your own men, decrease their chances for winning, and increase their losses." —General Douglas MacArthur
To the German Commander: "NUTS!" —The American Commander, A.C. McAufiffe, Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, December 22, 1944
"I think I shredded most of that. Did I get them all? ... " —Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, Iran-contra hearings, 1987
"Never confuse genius with luck and a bull market." —John C. Bogle
"Investors everywhere are checking their accounts to see how much money they made. That's the way it is, you know, when stocks go up you look, when they go down, you tend not to look, you look away." —Stuart Varney, September 3, 2020
Investments: "In really bad markets, the only thing that goes up is correlation. ... If you want the return, you have to accept the volatility." —nedsaid
"Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people do or say. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill." —W. C. Fields
"Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen." —Mark Twain
"I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself." —Ronald Reagan
"There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice." —Mark Twain
"Keep her warm. Don't forget to hold hands and snuggle in the tent. Tell her you love her." —Ben Miller
"When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his first name was Always." —Rita Rudner
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." —Mark Twain
"I'm trying to read a book on how to relax, but I keep falling asleep." —Jim Loy
"I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose." —George Carlin
"Nothing's perfect and you'll be a lot happier if you accept that." —ProfHankD
"I do not want to 'upgrade' ... Paying money to buy headaches is a stupid idea ... " —Lloyd Chambers
"If you can't make it good, make it big, and if you can't make it big, make it RED!" —Paul Rand, who taught design at Yale
"A big blow from a stranger hurts less than a small blow from a friend." —Yiddish proverb
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." —Groucho Marx
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the uneven division of blessings, while the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal division of misery." —Winston Churchill
"Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried." —Winston Churchill
Principle of defensive design: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." —Edward Aloysius Murphy, Jr., aerospace engineer who worked on safety-critical systems
Anchor your furniture: "Since 2000 there have been at least 580 deaths resulting from furniture tip-overs – 81% were children. Tip-overs also cause roughly 22,500 emergency room visits each year. Securing your furniture to the wall can avert tragedy." —U.S. Senator Bob Casey, September 8, 2023
"If everything seems to be going well, you probably don't know what's going on." —Paraphrasing Murphy's Eighth Law
"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler." —Albert Einstein
KISS: "Keep it simple, stupid!" —Kelly Johnson, lead engineer, Lockheed Skunk Works
Peter Principle – Why Things Always Go Wrong: "People are promoted to their level of incompetence." —Laurence J. Peter
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance." —Confucius
"May the farce be with you." —Mel Brooks
"The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size." —Albert Einstein
" ... repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny ... HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance." —Declaration of Independence
"The Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document – still the preeminent support of free government throughout the world. ... If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. Any change from the Declaration's eternal truths would be reactionary, not progressive." —Calvin Coolidge
"It's all rigged." —Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado)
"It ain't bragging if you can do it." —Dizzy Dean
"The press' job is to ... protect the liberty and freedom of all of us from ... organized governmental power. When they ... decide ... what truth that you may know, as an American, and what truth you are not allowed to know, they have, then, made themselves a fundamental threat to the democracy, and ... made themselves the enemy of the American people." —Pat Caddell, Democrat strategist and Jimmy Carter's pollster
"I believe [John B.] Gurdon has ideas about becoming a scientist; on his present showing this is quite ridiculous ... he would have no chance of doing the work ... and it would be a sheer waste of time, both on his part and of those who would have to teach him." —His high school biology teacher writing about the future Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine [After cloning the first animal, a frog, Dr. Gurdon then had to wait 50 years to receive that recognition for his breakthrough, commenting "I am lucky to be still alive."]
"This concept [for Federal Express overnight package delivery] is interesting but not feasible." —Yale Economics Professor to his student, FEDEX founder, Fred Smith, on why his proposal was only worth a grade of "C," 1965
"Difficult to predict the future is!" —Yoda
"The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." —Abraham Lincoln
"Seen at a coffee shop: Sleep is the primary symptom of caffeine deprivation." —Travis Saling
"The best cure for insomnia is to get a lot of sleep." —W. C. Fields
"All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth." —Richard Avedon
"There is no real magic in photography, just the sloppy intersection of physics and art." —Kirk Tuck
"Don't only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets; art deserves that, for it and knowledge can raise man to the Divine." —Ludwig van Beethoven
"Use a picture. It is worth a thousand words." —Arthur Brisbane, newspaper man, 1911
"It's a lot easier to post a photo than it is to write 1,000 words ... " —Mathieu Parvin
'The Humane Interface': "An interface is humane if it is responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties." —Jef Raskin
"A computer shall not waste your time or require you to do more work than is strictly necessary." —Jef Raskin
"We’re Apple. We don't wear suits. We don't even own suits." —Steve Jobs, Apple CEO
"Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club! ... " —Tyler Durden
"We don't have a domestic spying program." —Barack Obama to Jay Leno
Senate Church Committee: "I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency [the NSA] and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return." —Senator Frank Church, 1975
"No one has willfully or knowingly disobeyed the law or tried to invade your civil liberties or privacies ... there were no mistakes ... we don't hold data on U.S. citizens." —NSA Director General Keith Alexander, 2012
NSA Violated Fourth Amendment and the FISA: "Illegal searches conducted by the National Security Agency under Obama were 'widespread' and created a 'very serious Fourth Amendment issue." —U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, April 26, 2017
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes." —Dwight David Eisenhower, Presidential farewell address, 1961
"In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air. These messages are between ships at sea, they could be between units, military units in the field. We have a very extensive capability of intercepting messages wherever they may be in the airwaves. Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left such is the capability to monitor everything—telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide. If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology." —Senator Frank Church, NBC's 'Meet the Press', August 17, 1975
"Amazon awarded secret [ten billion dollar National Security Agency] cloud computing contract." —Chris Mills Rodrigo, August 10, 2021
"Liberalism means A and B decide what C shall do for D. Oh, and they charge a commission for having done so." —Milton Friedman
¿Land of the free?: "Although the United States is home to 5 percent of the world's population, almost a quarter of the world's prisoners are incarcerated in American prisons." —U.S. Department of Justice
"It's called 'the American Dream' 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it.[sic]" —George Carlin
"I am less interested in the return on my money than the return of my money." —Will Rogers
"A dog teaches a boy three things: Fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down." —Robert Benchley
"The stock trading symbol for Petco?" —WOOF
"Does Popeye suffer from exOphthalmOs?" —Significant other
"On top of all my other medical problems, now they tell me I have hypochondria ... " —Rick Oleson
"Habits are either the best of friends or the bitterest of foes." —Margaret Thatcher
"If you repeat an action for 28 days, it will become a habit." —Dr. Robert Anthony
"Rise early, that by habit it may become familiar, agreeable, healthy, and profitable. It may, for a while, be irksome to do this, but that will wear off; and the practice will produce a rich harvest forever thereafter." —George Washington
"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." —Idiom
"Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny." —Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
'Still the Best Hope': "Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph." —Dennis Prager
"Over 20% of what William Shakespeare wrote consists of just ten words: the, and, I, to, of, a, you, my, in, and that." —nisiprius
"Can a Ship 'Flounder'? The difference between 'flounder' and 'founder'." —Merriam Webster
Flock / herd / gaggle / clowder / pod / brood / glaring / chowder / parade / shrewdness / husk / bloat / tower / obstinacy / kettle / murder / troop / brace / cluster / paddling / pitying:
A colony of penguins: "A flock of penguins on land is called a 'waddle,' but the same flock of penguins at sea is called a 'raft'" —paraphrased from 'Penguin Town' video
"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive." —Gilda Radner
"I am impelled to tell you how much I have come to admire your intellect, your drive, and your honesty, and that I consider myself lucky to have made your personal acquaintance in Brussels." —Albert Einstein writing to support Marie Curie during her time of personal crisis, 1911
"Photography is not like painting. There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera." —Henri Cartier-Bresson
"Identify the dominant philosophy of a society and you can predict its future." —Ayn Rand
Zero Aggression Principle: "It is always wrong to initiate force to achieve a social or political goal." —Jim Babka
'Failure of Big Government Socialism': "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." —Winston Churchill
"The left is concerned with only one thing, control, and they disguise this control as charity." —Elbert Guillory
"Government 'help' to business is just as disastrous as government persecution– the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off." —Ayn Rand
Four Trillion Dollar Oops: "Our home ownership strategy will not cost the taxpayers one extra cent." —William Jefferson Clinton, June 5, 1995
"President Barack Obama was a pioneering contributor to the national subprime real estate bubble, and roughly half of the 186 African-American clients in his landmark 1995 mortgage discrimination lawsuit against Citibank have since gone bankrupt or received foreclosure notices. As few as 19 of those 186 clients still own homes with clean credit ratings ... " —Daily Caller
What caused the 2008 financial crisis?: "There was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone. 'Red lining,' if you remember, was the term where banks took whole neighborhoods and said 'people in these neighborhoods are poor and they're not going to be able to pay off their mortgages.' Tell your salesman 'don't go into those areas.' And then Congress got involved, and local elected officials as well, and said 'Oh that’s not fair, these people should be able to get credit.' And once you started pushing in that direction, banks started making more and more loans where the credit of the person buying the house wasn't as good as you would like." —New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, 2008
Bank bailouts = moral hazard: "Americans are done with government bailouts, especially when caused by the government's own policies. Out-of-control spending in Washington and Federal Reserve interventions have fueled skyrocketing inflation. Any universal guarantee on all bank deposits, whether implicit or explicit, enshrines a dangerous precedent that simply encourages future irresponsible behavior … " —House Freedom Caucus, March 20, 2023
"Mark my words ... Medicare in about eight to nine years goes into the red ... It is going broke. ... What is truly scary – what is truly risky – is if we do nothing [because Medicare is] unsustainable ... [and] running out of money. ... [Medicare must be reformed] to be there for the next generation, not just for this generation." —President Obama, 2012
"A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say." —Michael Kinsley
Give the perspective: "[From] someone who has seen the intelligence and can tell the American people they [the Biden Administration] are lying to you. They're not telling you the truth about what our intelligence says ... They can't be trusted and they shouldn't be trusted." —John Ratcliffe, former Director of U.S. National Intelligence, September 12, 2021
"Now I know what a statesman is; he's a dead politician. We need more statesmen." —Bob Edwards
"I'm into painting with light – not painting by numbers!" —Allan Swindles
✓ "The United States abolished involuntary servitude (slavery) with the 13th amendment only to reinstate it with the 16th amendment." —John Galt
✓ "Lincoln said 'government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free' but a tax burden approaching 50% now approximates half slave and half free." —Antonio Rodrigues
Eliminate the Income Tax: "About 45 percent of all federal revenue comes from the personal income tax. That means that about 55 percent – over half of all revenue – comes from other sources, like excise taxes, fees, and corporate taxes. We could eliminate the income tax, replace it with nothing, and still fund the same level of big government we had in the late 1990's [about a decade earlier]. We don't need to 'replace' the income tax at all." —Ron Paul, New York Times, November 20, 2008
"Silence like a cancer grows." —Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound Of Silence" Lyrics
"This week I got an iPhone. This weekend I got four chargers so I can keep it charged everywhere I go and a land line so I can actually make phone calls." —Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO
"Why is it that with over 60 years of improvements in cameras, lens sharpness and film grain, resolution and dynamic range that no one has been able to equal what Ansel Adams did back in the 1940s?" —Ken Rockwell
"Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has no problem calling for the destruction of Israel and blaming it for attacks linked to his own party, but when his [sister's husband] needs life-saving heart surgery, only Israeli doctors will do." —Paul Alster
"The world is divided between the people who resent those who have been more successful and those who want to emulate them." —Dennis Prager summarizing George Gilder
Q. "How many gallons of blood, on average, does your heart pump in a day?"
A. "2,000." —Varney & Co., Trivia
"The function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable." —John Kenneth Galbraith
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." —Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" —Carl Sagan
"Measure twice, cut once." —The old carpenters' rule
"I challenge the growing trend in our society to give numbers a credence that they simply don't deserve, all the while assigning far less importance to the things that can't be expressed with numbers – qualities such as wisdom, integrity, ethics, and commitment." —Jack Bogle
"The milliHelen (the amount of beauty required to launch 1 ship)." —Patrick Perez
"The greatest teacher, failure is." —Yoda, 'The Last Jedi'
"Always pass on what you have learned." —Yoda, 'Return of the Jedi'
"The Force is strong with this one." —Darth Vader, 'A New Hope'
"Great, kid, don't get cocky." —Han Solo, 'A New Hope'
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." —Darth Vader, 'A New Hope'
"Try not. Do or do not. There is no try." —Yoda, 'The Empire Strikes Back'
"I like firsts. Good or bad, they're always memorable." —Ahsoka Tano, 'The Mandalorian'
" … many of the truths that we cling to depend on our viewpoint." —Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'Return of the Jedi'
"Difficult to see; always in motion is the future." —Yoda, 'The Empire Strikes Back'
"Your focus determines your reality." —Qui-Gon Jinn, 'The Phantom Menace'
"In my experience, there's no such thing as luck." —Obi-Wan Kenobi, 'A New Hope'
"You have failed me for the last time … " —Darth Vader, 'The Empire Strikes Back'
"I never ask that question until after I've done it!" —Han Solo, 'The Force Awakens'
Funny, derogatory, mildly offensive ways of saying mentally impaired, dense, unintelligent, nuts, loony, stupid, slightly crazy, a bit slow, a bit thick, or merely eccentric [so many ways to be mean]; Also see 'ablest micro-aggressions':
• A few fries short of a Happy Meal.
• A few bricks shy of a load.
• A few sandwiches short of a picnic.
• Half a bubble off plumb.
• A few spanners short of a tool box.
• A few cards shy of a full deck.
• A few cans short of a six-pack.
• A few crumbs short of a biscuit.
• A few trucks short of a convoy.
• A few clowns short of a circus.
• A photographic memory with the lenscap on.
• His driveway doesn't go all the way to the road.
• His elevator does not go all the way to the top.
• The lights are on but no one's home.
• Not the full bottle.
• A sausage short of a barbie.
• The butter's slipped off the noodles.
• The cheese slid off the cracker.
• A few slices short of a loaf.
• Out to lunch.
• Not the full tin of bikkies (or box of chocolates).
• Wouldn't know what day it was unless he had two baked potatoes on his plate.
• 24¢ short of a quarter.
• Only two bob in the pound.
• 60¢ in the dollar.
• He's the full quid, but it's all small change.
• A few roos loose in the top paddock.
• Not too tightly wrapped.
• A shingle short.
• Not all there.
• Not playing with the full deck.
• A couple of buttons missing.
• Not running on all cylinders.
• A couple of ribs short of a cage.
• His river doesn't run all the way to the sea.
• Hasn't got them all in a row.
• Hasn't got both oars in the water.
• A bit of light gets in.
• Not the full tube of Dencorub.
• If brains were dynamite, he couldn't blow his hat off.
• His flag is at half staff.
• A deficiency in the marbles department.
• Not quite enough coupons for the coffee percolator and matching set of cups.
• Not got all their chairs at home.
• Not the full shilling.
• A few points short of promotion.
• A few points short of a council flat.
• One condom short of an orgy.
• He's a 6-pack, but he's missing the plastic bit that holds it all together.
• When they were handing out brains, he was at the back of the queue.
• Dumber than a box of rocks.
• Not the brightest candle in the chandelier.
• Not the brightest color in the crayon box.
• Two plums short of a fruit pie.
• One prescription shy of a full medicine cabinet.
• One burrito shy of a combo plate.
• Three ants shy of a picnic.
• One cow shy of a full barn.
• A couple drops shy of a full glass.
• One shirt shy of a full closet.
• One horse shy of a herd.
• One rose shy of a bouquet.
• One song shy of a CD.
• One inch shy of a foot.
• One painting short of an art gallery.
• One dog short of a kennel.
• One meatball shy of a plate of spaghetti.
• One bandaid shy of a first aid kit.
• A couple quarts short of an oil change.
• A black and white mind, working on a color coded problem.
• A cup and saucer short of a place setting.
• A deadbolt with a broken cylinder.
• Three pieces short of a jigsaw puzzle.
• A few cups shy of a tea service.
• A brownie shy of a bake sale.
• One tree shy of a forest.
• One brick short of a load.
• A few bees short of a hive.
• Couldn't find their butt with both hands if it had a bell on it.
• His wheel is spinning, but the hamster is dead.
• Some drink from the fountain of knowledge, they just gargled.
• Their antenna does not pick up all the channels.
• One coffee bean short of a latte.
• As nutty as a fruit cake.
• The lights are on but nobody's home.
• Not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
• One peanut short of a snickers.
• Has a hole in their bag of marbles.
• Their screen is missing a few pixels.
• Their cord does not reach the outlet.
• They're a few channels short of cable.
• If clues were shoes they would be barefoot.
• About as sharp as a marble.
• Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
• A few peas short of a casserole.
• One fruit loop shy of a full bowl.
• Did your dad drop you on your head when you were a baby?
• One lime short of a Margarita
• No grain in the silo.
• Too much yardage between the goal posts.
• One petal shy of a flower.
• Duller than a butter knife.
• The gate is down, the lights are flashing, but the train is not coming.
• One ant shy of a colony.
• Brilliant as a burned out light bulb.
• A book full of blank pages.
• Christmas tree without an angel on top.
• The cornbread did not get baked.
• Dipstick doesn't quite hit the oil.
• Driving with the engine off.
• From the shallow end of the gene pool.
• Having a blond moment?
• If you looked up 'stupid' in the dictionary you'd see your picture.
• Not the sharpest tool in the shed.
"People look at Joe Biden and they know that the tray table is not in its upright and locked position. They see that for themselves." —Kellyanne Conway, November 8, 2021
"Let me start off with two words, 'MADE IN AMERICA'." —Joe Biden, Hagerstown, Maryland, October 7, 2022
"A three letter word, 'JOBS'." —Joe Biden, Athens, Ohio, October 15, 2008
"I have been in 57 states [sic] ... " —B. Hussein Obama
Protests have now "spread to 1,000 countries [sic]." —Diane Sawyer, ABC News
"Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans [sic] will lose their jobs." —Nancy Pelosi
"But you can't erase what you've already done ... giving a five hundred trillion dollar [sic] tax cut to 120,000 families." —Joe Biden
"Now we have over 120 million dead [sic] from COVID." —Joe Biden, June 25, 2020
"It costs you 12 to 14 thousand dollars a month for child care.[sic]" —Joe Biden, June 14, 2022
"From the time I got to the Senate, 180 years ago [sic]." —Joe Biden, September 27, 2020
"I could drop dead tomorrow." —Joe Biden, October 23, 2022
"You get a tax break for a racehorse, why in God's name couldn't we provide [a] tax credit for everybody who has childcare costs? ... It would put 720 million women [sic] back in the workforce. ... " —Joe Biden, March 2, 2020
Guns: "One-hundred-fifty million people [sic] have been killed since 2007 ... more than all the wars, including Vietnam from that point on." —Joe Biden, February, 2020
"There's four rules of firearm safety that you follow with any gun:
● Treat every weapon as if it's loaded;If you follow those rules, no one is in danger, and no one gets hurt."● Never point a gun at anything you're not willing to kill or destroy;
● Never put your finger on the trigger unless you're willing to kill or destroy; and,
● Always be aware of what's in front of, behind, and around your target.
—Tim Clemente, Hollywood technical consultant
"Over 170 million jobs [sic]" could be lost due to sequestration. —Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), March 1, 2013
Heroic police prevent massacre: "We lose 93 million Americans [sic] a day to gun violence." —Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Build Back Bolshevik:
"The build back better is three baskets:
It's •climate, •health, •jobs, •security, and •moral responsibility."
—Nancy Pelosi
["How about instead of Building Back Better, you just put everything back the way it was and leave it alone." —Michael Smith]
'Word Salad': "Today the business of our work is for the council to report on the work that has occurred since our last meeting across these areas. We will today also discuss the work yet ahead, the work we must still do to continue to move forward." —'Space nerd' Vice President Kamala Harris, NASA, September 8, 2022
["She [Kamala Harris] sounds … like someone giving a book report on a book she has not read, … Complacency and arrogance make a ruinous compound." —George F. Will]
"The United States shares a very important relationship, which is an alliance with the Republic of North Korea, and it is an alliance that is strong and enduring. [sic]" —Vice President Kamala Harris, Korea Demilitarized Zone, September 29, 2022
'Word salad' aka 'Middle level nothing': "We know community banks are in the community." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"It is time for us to. Do what we have been doing, and that time is every day. Every day it is time for us to agree. That there are things and tools that are available to us. To slow this thing down." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"We've got to take this stuff seriously, as seriously as you are because you have been forced to take this seriously." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"Our allies have stood firm and unified in a way… to ensure that we are unified." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"So I think it's very important, as you have heard from so many incredible leaders for us at every moment in time and certainly this one, to see the moment in time in which we exist and are present, and to be able to contextualize it, to understand where we exist in the history and in the moment as it relates not only to the past but the future." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"I love Venn diagrams. I do. I love Venn diagrams. So, the three circles — and you can do more! Nobody says a Venn diagram has to only be three circles, right?" —Vice President Kamala Harris
"I'm excited about electric school buses. I LOVE electric school buses. I just love them! For so many reasons. Maybe because I went to school on a school bus. Hey, raise your hand if you went to school on a school bus!" —Vice President Kamala Harris
"In the Western hemisphere, that is where the Caribbean is. We are also in the Western Hemisphere. They are our neighbors." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"We were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time, right? ... The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to passage of time. There is such great significance to the passage of time when you think of a day in the life of our children." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"We must, together, work together to see where we are, where we are headed, where we are going and our vision for where we should be, but also see it as a moment, yes, to, together, address the challenges." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"The significance of the passage of time, right? The significance of the passage of time. So when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time ... there is such great significance to the passage of time." —Vice President Kamala Harris
" ... to continue to do the work that we have that is a priority … as it relates to what we must do in terms of continuing to work together." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"Um, we have definitely extended the — and I, it's something that I think we need to keep doing, awareness about what we have to do on Pell grants, and I can follow up with you on specifically what we've been doing." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"So I am here because this is a community in the Mississippi Delta that has a long history of being part of America's history, um, including having the needs that should be met ... " —Vice President Kamala Harris
"Space is exciting!" —Vice President Kamala Harris
"So, during Women's History Month, we celebrate and we honor the women who made history throughout history, who saw what could be unburdened by what had been ... We see the suffragists, the riveters, the marchers, the mothers and sisters and aunts and grandmothers and daughters, all the giants upon whose broad shoulders we stand." —
"You need to get to go and need to be able to get where you need to go to do the work and get home." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"Great aspiration of our nation has been to expand freedom. … But the expansion of freedom clearly is not inevitable, and it certainly is not something that just happens." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"We also recognize just as it has been in the United States, for Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way of its impact has been the pandemic ... So, to that end, we are announcing today also that we will assist Jamaica in COVID recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential to, I believe, what is necessary to strengthen not only the issue of public health but also the economy." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"I think that, to be very honest with you, I do believe that we should have rightly believed, but we certainly believe that certain issues are just settled. Certain issues are just settled," —Vice President Kamala Harris
"That's on top of everything else that we know and don't know yet based on what we've just been able to see and because we've seen it or not doesn't mean it hasn't happened. But just limit it to what we have seen." —Vice President Kamala Harris
"Culture is a reflection of our moment and our time, right? And present culture is the way we express how we're feeling about the moment and we should always find times to express how we feel about the moment that is a reflection of joy ‘cause you know — it comes in the morning." —Vice President Kamala Harris, New Orleans, June 30, 2023
"We cannot let this, we've never allowed any crisis from the Civil War straight through to the pandemic of 17, all the way around, 16, we have never, never let our democracy sakes second fiddle, way they, we can both have a democracy and ... correct the public health." —Joe Biden
"One, we have to uh, depend on what the president's going to do right now. And first of all, he has to, uh, tell uh, uh—wait til the case is before anything happens. Look the whole idea is he's got to get in place things that were shortages of." —Joe Biden
"South Korea is ... within miles of the border of North Korea." —Hillary Clinton
"If ignorance is bliss, then why aren't there more happy people?" —graffiti
"It's much easier to be critical than correct." —Benjamin Disreali
"I would love to spend a lot of my time venting and yelling at people." ... "I ... talk to experts ... so I know whose [tuchus] to kick." —Barack Hussein Obama, II, 44th President of the United States [Reading the audiobook of his third autobiography has Obama speaking for an astounding 29 hours straight.]
✓ "You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream – the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order – or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism." —Ronald Wilson Reagan, 'A Time For Choosing'
"Look it UP to write it DOWN so what is RIGHT> is <LEFT." —John Garrideb
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." —United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
"62% of Americans say the political climate prevents them from sharing their political views." —Cato Institute national survey, 2020
"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." —President Harry S Truman, Special Message to the Congress on the Internal Security of the United States, August 8, 1950
■ "When true democracy goes away people get hurt. It has real consequences. This is not an abstraction. … Government starts telling you what books you can read and which ones you can't. Dissidents start getting locked up. Reporters start getting locked up if they're not towing the party line. … Corruption reigns because there's no accountability." —Barack Hussein Obama, Philadelphia, November 5, 2022
"There's something amazing about America's democracy, it's got a gyroscope and just when you think it's going to go off the cliff, it rights itself." —Albert Einstein writing to his son
Using fear and deception to achieve government control:
"Terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal threat for the homeland today. Not ISIS, not Al-Qaeda, white supremacists.[sic]" —Joe Biden, Tulsa Oklahoma, June 2, 2021
"My statement is that domestic violent extremism represents the greatest terrorism related threat to the homeland." —Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Capitol Hill, April 28, 2022
"In the FBI's view, the top domestic violence extremist threat we face comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocate for superiority of the white race." —Attorney General Merrick Garland, Capitol Hill, May 12, 2021
["The federal government is proceeding with plans to build a new FBI headquarters complex twice the size of the Pentagon building." —J. Michael Waller, February 1, 2023]
Wrongthink Thoughtcrime Doubleplusungood: "The United States remains in a heightened threat environment fueled by ... false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories, and other forms of mis- dis- and mal-information ... "
—Department of Homeland Security Bulletin, February 7, 2022 [See above; Click here for complete DHS Bulletin.]
"We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor we're aware of." —'Men in Black', 1997
"No danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is an opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. Only an emergency can justify repression. Such must be the rule if authority is to be reconciled with freedom·" —Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Whitney v. California, 1927
"Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down." —Frederick Douglass
Censorship is 'the first step into a thousand years of darkness'.
Censorship is Un-American.
Courtesy Smithsonian Museum of
American History and Rock the Vote.
"In a free state every man may think what he likes, and say what he thinks." —Baruch Spinoza
"Internet culture ... has a marked petty-and-vindictive streak. People can get criticized severely for almost anything, because ... well, because they can, I guess." —Michael C. Johnston
Culture War: " ... for the Democratic Party's liberal adherents, silencing their adversaries has become their primary project. ... In modern-day American liberalism ... censorship is a virtual religion. They simply cannot abide the idea that anyone who thinks differently or sees the world differently than they should be heard." —Glenn Greenwald, January 29, 2022
"A government that can censor its critics has license for every atrocity. It is the beginning of totalitarianism. There's never been a time in history when we look back, and the guys who were censoring people were the good guys! Once you start censoring, you're on your way to dystopia and totalitarianism!" —Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., July 21, 2023
Censorship using 'Fact Checkers': "Political and corporate elites empower NewsGuard to censor anyone that doesn't comply with their agenda. That's why they hate anyone who fights for the truth, like PragerU. We have educated millions of Americans about NewsGuard—one of the largest and most influential 'fact-checkers' employed by Big Tech. ... NewsGuard wants to control the narrative on any and every topic." —PragerU
['Fight to Save America!': "PragerU's age-appropriate and educational materials are only problematic to those who want to teach Critical Race Theory, gender fluidity, that math and objective truth are racist, and that America is a terrible place." —PragerU CEO Marissa Streit]
"We're being censored." —Manhattan Institute
"Our reading lists would be very short, indeed, if we reserved our sources to only those we could prove to be perfect." —Connor Boyack
"When I complain about Google's censorship, my wife tells me to 'shut up'." —Husband
Western Values: "The Left doesn't care 'cause they love ideas, not people." —Dennis Prager, August 3, 2018
"Media helped hide the real Joe Biden by censoring Hunter stories." —Miranda Devine, 'New York Post', November 28, 2021
"... Twitter ... has interfered in elections." —Elon Musk, November 30, 2022
'Twitter Files': "Shortly after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the billionaire entrepreneur pledged to release internal documents that would reveal how Twitter engaged in free speech suppression under previous ownership. The files were released to two independent journalists ... " —'The Western Journal', December 9, 2022
The Twitter Files: "An existential threat ... One of the most important news stories of our time. The Twitter Files story encompasses, and to a large extent connects, every major political scandal of the Trump-Biden era. ... the Twitter Files reveal an unholy alliance between Big Tech and the deep state designed to throttle free speech and maintain an official narrative through censorship and propaganda. ... going back years: the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, Twitter's secret policy of shadow banning, President Trump's suspension from Twitter after the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, the co-opting of Twitter by the FBI to suppress 'election disinformation' ahead of the 2020 election, Twitter's involvement in a Pentagon overseas psy-op campaign, its silencing of dissent from the official Covid narrative, its complicity in the Russiagate hoax, and its gradual capitulation to the direct involvement of the U.S. intelligence community—with the FBI as a go-between—in content moderation. ... " —John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist, January 2023
"The Hill has removed its comment section, as there are many other forums for readers to participate in the conversation ... on Facebook and Twitter." —The Hill
'UN Official: We Own the Science': "World Economic Forum member brags about partnership with Google to censor critics. ... 'CNN is ... part of a political war on who owns the narrative.' ... 'Great Narrative' project to accelerate propaganda by merging government and corporate power to censor any viewpoints they deem politically undesirable." —Jamie White, October 2, 2022
★ News Censorship = Election Tampering: "If unaware Biden voters knew about the Hunter Biden laptop probe, 16% would not have voted for Biden." —Media Research Center, poll, November 9-18, 2020
'Media's Bias of Omission': "Biden Scandals Get the Silent Treatment. ... National evening newscasts on ABC, NBC and CBS. From June 8 to June 12 ... the three major networks dedicated 291 minutes to scandals involving former President Trump and exactly zero minutes to scandals involving the current president." —Joe Concha, July 9, 2023
Main stream media ignores Biden scandals: "Network coverage last week: Trump January 6 indictment – 162 minutes; Biden scandals/Devin Archer – 8 minutes." —Media Research Center, July 30 – August 5, 2023
Final Presidential debate, 2020: "I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life.[sic] ... I've not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever.[sic]" —Joe Biden
"This is a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all that lies ahead." —Elon Musk, November 28, 2022
"Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
[Poll:] Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle? – Yes 29.6%; No 70.4%. ...
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy." ... "Seize the memes of production!" —Elon Musk, March 26-27, 2022, [who then purchased 9.2% of Twitter's stock, becoming its largest shareholder! ... later becoming Twitter's owner.]
'Wikipedia co-founder says site is now 'propaganda' for left-leaning 'establishment'': "If only one version of the facts is allowed then that gives a huge incentive to wealthy and powerful people to seize control of things like Wikipedia in order to shore up their power ... There's a global enforcement of a certain point of view on issues ... " —Larry Sanger, Wikipedia Co-founder
"Google's Gmail censorship cost GOP candidates $2B since 2019, Republicans say, citing new study [that] found that Gmail flagged most GOP fundraising emails as spam, while allowing through most Democrat emails." —Peter Hasson, April 13, 2022
"Don't be evil." —Its corporate code of conduct which, by engaging in censorship, Google has failed to follow
Elite capture: "Peter Schweizer says that, in a quarter-century as an investigative journalist, this is the scariest investigation he has ever conducted. That the Chinese government seeks to infiltrate American institutions is hardly surprising. What is wholly new, however, are the number of American elites who are eager to help the Chinese dictatorship in its quest for global hegemony. Presidential families [$31 million from the top of communist China's intelligence service to the Bidens], Silicon Valley gurus, Wall Street high rollers, Ivy League universities, even professional athletes—all willing to sacrifice American strength and security on the altar of personal enrichment." —'Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win'
Hunter Biden's Laptop From Hell: "I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years … It's really hard. But don't worry, unlike Pop [Joe Biden, aka the Big Guy, aka Robert L. Peters, aka Robin Ware, aka JRB Ware], I won't make you give me half your salary." —Hunter Biden text to his daughter Naomi, January 2019, New Year Post
★ Deplatforming = Election Tampering: "Censorship, cancel culture intimidation, wokeism, viewpoint discrimination and deplatforming are Un-American because the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court all guarantee your natural unalienable right to free speech." —Charles Culpepper
"Facebook and Twitter Limit Sharing New York Post Story about Joe Biden." —Shannon Bond, NPR, October 14, 2020
"Whenever one tries to suppress doubt, there is tyranny. " —Simone Weil, 'Lectures in Philosophy'
Left's Ideological conformity enforcement mechanism: "First, activists create a panic about misinformation or offensive speech. Second, the social media platforms try to meet them halfway by introducing measures like warning labels. Third, the activists realize they've drawn blood, and continue to push for outright censorship. Finally, the social media platforms give in and remove the offending voice from their platforms altogether." —Zaid Jilani, 'The Blue Stack Strikes Back', February 8, 2022
A Twitter Mob is a Religious Experience: " ... To put it simply, social media mobs transmute painful emotions into a belief in one's own righteousness. This is also what religious experiences do. ... these social media systems very clearly furnish people with pre-packaged, group virtue. In the end, the whole exercise boils down to a simple assumption: that complaining in the prescribed way makes you righteous. And that's just foolish." —Paul Rosenberg
"Disinformation" = Censorship: "Facebook Banned 1.3 BILLION Accounts Over Three Months to Combat 'Fake' and 'Harmful' Content." —Melissa Holzberg, 'Forbes', March 22, 2021
["22 Million tweets labeled 'misinformation' on Twitter;
859 Million tweets collected in databases for 'misinformation' analysis;
120 analysts monitoring social media 'misinformation' in up to 20-hour shifts;
15 tech platforms monitored for 'misinformation' often in real-time;
<1 hour average response time between government partners and tech platforms;
Dozens of 'misinformation narratives' targeted for platform-wide throttling; and
Hundreds of millions of individual Facebook posts, YouTube videos, TikToks, and tweets impacted, due to 'misinformation' Terms of Service policy changes that DHS partners openly plotted and bragged tech companies would never have done without DHS partner insistence and 'huge regulatory pressure' from government." —Mike Benz, November 9, 2022]
'The Death of Free Speech and the Cost of a Free Lunch': "Facebook bans Trump for at least two years." —Musadiq Bidar, CBS News, June 5, 2021
"The answer to 1984 is 1776." —PSA33_3
Poll: "75% Don't trust social media to make fair content moderation decisions." —Cato, December 15, 2021
The corporate Big Tech censors are failing: "Facebook shares are getting crushed today, down almost 25%. The company's value has fallen today by more than Boeing and General Motors are WORTH. Why? For the first time ever, the number of Facebook users is shrinking. (The ridiculous rebranding to 'Meta Platforms' probably doesn't help.) Apparently deplatforming every person and group who has a non-woke thought isn't working out as well as Mark Zuckerberg had hoped." —Alex Berenson, February 3, 2022
["Zuckerberg's net worth drops by $70 billion [i.e., in half, in 2022] after censoring President Trump and pursuing idiotic 'Metaverse'." —Reed Cooper, September 23, 2022]
"Our greatest freedom is the freedom to choose our attitude." —Viktor E. Frankl
"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?·" —Thomas Jefferson
"You shall not criticize anything or anybody in the government any longer or you shall go to jail." —Progressive California Senator Hiram Johnson explaining President Woodrow Wilson's (D) Sedition Act, 1918
Progressive Woke Tyranny — Turning America into Communist China: "In the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong. Significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet, and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with a society’s norms and values.[sic]" —Jack Goldsmith and Andrew Keane Woods, 'The Atlantic', April 25, 2020
Debate: "This House Believes Wokeness Has Gone Too Far." —Konstantin Kisin, Oxford Union, January 13, 2023
'A BIG threat...': "The left is indoctrinating 5-year-olds with perverse sexualization propaganda. Changing the definition of words and phrases like 'woman,' 'vote by mail,' and 'recession' to fit their fanatical agenda. Calling parents 'domestic terrorists.' And convincing an entire generation of young boys and girls that they can change their gender if they 'think' they were 'born in the wrong body.'" —Marissa Streit, CEO, PragerU ["Videos viewed more than 7 BILLION times, even with Google and YouTube censoring."]
"Unwoke, Inc. proves that you can push back and make a cultural impact by providing non-woke alternatives in academia, culture, and business." —Amala Ekpunobi
'Position of the American Left': "'Men give birth'; sexual identity is 'nonbinary'; young children should attend drag queen events; a person's sex or 'gender' is not a biological fact, but a subjective feeling; men who say they are women must be allowed to compete against women in sports and be placed with women in women's prisons; young girls who say they are boys and want their breasts surgically removed should have their breasts removed ... among the many examples of left-wing nihilism." —Dennis Prager, February 21, 2023
"Biden's CDC is urging schools to avoid the words 'male' and 'female' in sexual health education." —Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK)
'Equitable Math' – 'Dismantling Racism in Mathematics' – 'Latest Plan to Collapse Civilization': "White supremacy culture shows up in math classrooms [sic] when ... the focus is on getting the 'right' answer." —Paul Bond, 'Newsweek', February 23, 2021
"US Navy used drag queen influencer to attract a 'wide range' of new troops as recruitment plummets." —Micaela Burrow, May 1, 2023
The San Francisco 'Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) Program Application' lists alternative
"Pronouns (Check all that apply): She/her/hers; He/him/his; They/them/theirs; It/its/its; Co/co/cos; Zie/zim/zis; Ze/hir/hirs; Xe/xem/xyrs; Ey/em/eirs; E/em/eirs; Per/per/pers; Fae/faer/faers; Ae/aer/aers; Tey/ter/ters; Ve/ver/vis; No pronouns/just name; Declined; Not Listed:_________ ".
The San Francisco 'Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) Program Application' also lists 97 alternative
"Gender Identity (Check all that apply): Cis-gender woman; Woman; Transgender Woman; Woman of Trans experience; Woman with a history of gender transition; Trans feminine; Feminine-of-center; MTF (male-to-female); Demigirl; T-girl; Transgirl; Sistergirl; Cis-gender man; Man; Transgender man; Man of Trans experience; Man with a history of gender transition; Trans masculine; Masculine-of-center; FTM (female-to-male); Demiboy; T-boy; Transguy; Brotherboy; Trans; Transgender; Transsexual; Non-binary; Genderqueer; Agender; Xenogender; Fem; Femme; Butch; Boi; Stud; Aggressive (AG); Androgyne; Tomboy; Gender outlaw; Gender non-conforming; Gender variant; Gender fluid; Genderfuck; Bi-gender; Multi-gender; Pangender; Gender creative; Gender expansive; Third gender; Neutrois; Omnigender; Polygender; Graygender; Intergender; Maverique; Novigender; Two-spirit; Hijra; Kathoey; Muxe; Khanith/Xanith; X-gender; MTX; FTX; Bakla; Mahu; Fa’afafine; Waria; Palao’ana; Ashtime; Mashoga; Mangaiko; Chibados; Tida wena; Bixa’ah; Alyha; Hwame; Lhamana; Nadleehi; Dilbaa; Winkte; Ninauposkitzipxpe; Machi-embra; Quariwarmi; Chuckchi; Whakawahine; Fakaleiti; Calabai; Calalai; Bissu; Acault; Travesti; Questioning; I don't use labels; Declined; Not Listed:_________ ".
Required Woke Medical Student Oath [Harmful substitute Hippocratic Oath]: " ... Our institution is located on Dakota land. ... We commit to uprooting the legacy and perpetuation of structural violence deeply embedded within the health care system. We recognize inequities built by past and present traumas rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, the gender binary, ableism and all forms of oppression. ... we commit to promoting a culture of antiracism ... We pledge to honor all indigenous ways of healing that have been historically marginalized by western medicine. Knowing that health is intimately connected with our environment, we commit to healing our planet and communities. ... We commit to collaborating with social, political and additional systems to advance health equity. ... and hold ourselves accountable for our mistakes and biases. ... " —The University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Twin Cities, Incoming Class of 2026, White Coat Ceremony, August, 2022
[• "Top med school putting wokeism ahead of giving America good doctors: Elite medical schools are deliberately recruiting woke activists, jeopardizing their mission of training physicians. ... Medical schools are rushing down a dangerous road. These institutions have long lowered application and educational standards in the name of diversity; now they are enacting an ideological litmus test for future physicians. Recruiting woke activists instead of the most qualified candidates will both undermine trust in health care and lead to worse health outcomes for patients. That’s the last thing medical schools should do." —Stanley Goldfarb, M.D. and Laura L. Morgan, R.N., September 2, 2022
• "It's past time for reasonable doctors to stand up and denounce this poison. Western medical science and shamanic healing are not equally valid cancer treatments. ... " ... "They are being inducted in the cult of [Critical Race Theory]." —Christopher F. Rufo, October 9, 2022
• "SHOCK: ... The medical students swore an oath to wokeness. ... It appears the entire Class of 2026 is infected with a raging case of woke microaggressions. ... there is an effort afoot to jumpstart a race war in this nation ... " —Now Liberty
• "What arguably stands out most is the group’s denouncement of science." —Alex Parker, October 3, 2022]
'New England Journal of Medicine promotes racially-segregated teaching': "Racial Affinity Group Caucusing in Medical Education — A Key Supplement to Antiracism Curricula." —University of California San Francisco Medical School, NEJM, 2023 ["Do No Harm, called the idea of [racially] segregated [medical school] classes 'morally abhorrent.'"]
"There is nothing more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Americans' confidence in higher education has fallen to 36%, sharply lower than in two prior readings." —Gallop Poll, 2023
'Why I'm Leaving the University [of California]': "Signs of ... fear are omnipresent. ... UCLA as a whole is showing all the signs of Woke capture that typify the contemporary U.S. university. ... [colleagues] fired, all for dissenting ... from Woke orthodoxy ... Statements recounting one's activities on behalf of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion are mandatory in faculty job applications and in promotion dossiers. ... Also typical of elite U.S. universities, UCLA is awash in anti-Zionism, a.k.a. thinly disguised Jew-hatred [anti-semitism]. ... it's a good bet that the grip of Woke orthodoxy on the University of California, and most other U.S. universities, will tighten in the years to come. The younger faculty tend to be more Woke than their elders. Administrators and student 'protesters' perform elaborately choreographed routines that end with the former enacting policies that they wanted to enact anyway, for which the latter's public temper tantrums serve as a pretext. ... I strongly suspect that mainstream U.S. higher education is morally and intellectually corrupt, beyond the possibility of self-repair ... increasingly brazen rejection of two values ... meritocracy and free debate." —'Refugee' UCLA Professor Joseph H. Manson, July 4, 2022
'The University of California revives Cold War loyalty oaths as DEI statements': "Our institutions are being lost completely. You can either just passively sit by or you can push back." —John D. Haltigan, Ph.D.
"A former English writing professor at the Pennsylvania State University, is suing the institution after being subject to racially discriminatory policies at the campus for being white. Penn State has implemented a university-wide policy and so-called strategic plan, euphemistically labeled anti-racism, ... singles out white employees for harassment and discrimination under the label of white privilege, white supremacy, and other racial stereotypes that attribute negative values and characteristics to employees ... based upon the color of their skin rather than the content of their character." —Naveen Athrappully, July 1, 2023
Woke skies: "British Royal Air Force no longer offering pilot jobs to white men — only women and ethnic minorities may apply." —Jim Hoft, August 16, 2022
"Starbucks is paying its executives to make sure that the company discriminates against white people to keep white employment below a maximum established by the company. That is discrimination by race, flat out. It is very, very illegal." —Scott Shepard
Woke 'United Airlines Announces They Will No Longer Hire the Best Pilots': "United Airlines [the only major U.S. airline to own a flight school] is taking a bizarre business risk and announcing to the world that it will no longer hire the best pilots available but will instead make sure that 50% of their trainees for flying you around the world will be women and minorities—talent and skill be damned. I'm not making this up. I wish I were." —Megan Fox, April 7, 2021
Run on the bank: "Management incompetence rises as the square of DEI+ESG." —Lloyd Chambers
"Dozens of major investment houses embraced ESG proposals at the expense of shareholders. ... ESG investing strategies may be costing tens of thousands of dollars per client in lost retirement income." —PR Newswire, May 17, 2023
"ESG ... or environmental, social, and corporate governance ... is liberal activisim masquerading as corporate responsibility – and it's bad for investors ... for business and your retirement account ... If you're a middle-class American, chances are your retirement account quietly funds far-left priorities like climate alarmism, racial hiring quotas, and other Democratic hobby horses." —Sen. Tom Cotton and Rep. Andy Barr, July 25, 2023
"Florida is the place where woke goes to die." —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, August 16, 2022
"Diversity, equity, inclusion workers fret companies aren't hiring them anymore ... The high-priced jobs faced massive cuts in tech layoffs ... industries are letting go of these high-priced positions in 2023. Companies are gutting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) jobs while workers were leaving these fields at a higher rate than non-DEI positions ... " —Kristine Parks, February 20, 2023
'Removing Woke [Marxist propaganda] from High Schools': "We are also going to eliminate all DEI [diversity, inclusion, and equity] and CRT [critical race theory] bureaucracies in the state of Florida. No funding, and that will wither on the vine." —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), January 31, 2023
['DeSantis deals blow to woke takeover of education': "College Board removes CRT ['cultural Marxism'] topics from AP African-American studies course: Teachings on black lives matter, the case for reparations, and black queer studies."]
["Neo-Marxist ideas are not only false but dangerous."]
Affirmative action: "Just 20 percent of Black Americans said [Pew poll] they felt ... efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity... had put them at an advantage. And strikingly, significantly more — 35 percent — actually said they felt such policies had put them at a disadvantage." —Matt Vespa, July 6, 2023
Beijing Winter Olympics Athlete Censorship Warning: "Do not risk incurring the anger of the Chinese government because they are ruthless." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, February 3, 2022
War Censorship: "The United Nations has advised ... against using the terms 'war' or 'invasion' to describe Russia's attack on Ukraine. ... refer to the fighting as a 'conflict' or 'military offensive' — even as Russian troops target Ukrainian civilians and more than 2 million people flee to neighboring countries. ... Roskomnadzor, the agency that regulates Russian media, ordered local outlets to delete the words 'assault,' 'invasion' or 'declaration of war' two days after the attack was launched. The Russian parliament then passed a new law imposing prison terms of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $14,000 for spreading 'fake' news about the military, which led a number of international news organizations to go dark or suspend operations in Russia." —Mark Moore, March 8, 2022
Biden White House admits censorship collusion with social media companies: 
"We are in regular touch with the social media platforms and those engagements typically happen through members of our senior staff … This is a big issue of misinformation … We have increased disinformation research and tracking … We are flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation … " —Jen Psaki, President Biden's Press Secretary, The White House, July 15, 2021
"I make a special appeal to social media companies and media outlets, please deal with the misinformation and disinformation that's on your shows. It has to stop." —Joe Biden, January 13, 2022
Facebook confirmation: "We have partnered with government experts, health authorities and researchers to take aggressive action against misinformation [sic] about COVID-19 and vaccines to protect public health. So far, we've removed more than 18 million pieces of COVID misinformation, removed accounts that repeatedly break these rules … " —Facebook spokesperson, c. July 15, 2021
Advocating for Censorship: "The issue is not that the companies before us today are taking too many posts down. The issue is that they are leaving too many dangerous posts up." —Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), Capitol Hill, October 28, 2020
'FBI bragging about spying and censoring Americans': "The sophistication of the private sector is improving and particularly important, the level of cooperation between the private sector and the government, especially the FBI, I think, has made significant strides." —FBI Director Christopher Wray, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2023
["FBI influence was considerably more significant than just James Baker, the FBI’s former general counsel who later worked in the same role for Twitter."]
"To protect free speech, Congress must prohibit the government's collusion with Big Tech and other media organizations." —Senator Rand Paul, M.D. (R-KY)
"The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals found that … the White House … Surgeon General, FBI, and US Centers for Disease Control 'coerced or significantly encouraged social media platforms to moderate content' to curb COVID-19 disinformation, a move that violated the First Amendment." —Emily Price, September 10, 2023
Declining Academic Freedom at Universities: "Over the course of a long lifetime, I have witnessed a serious decline in tolerance and respect for freedom of speech in the academy." —Milton Friedman
Intolerance: "78.3% of millennials block family on Facebook over political posts." —Time2Play
Frightening that a growing majority of Americans now are against the first amendment guarantee of freedom of speech: "Most Americans say the U.S. government and technology companies should each take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. In 2018 39%, in 2021 48%, and in 2023 55%." —Pew Research Poll, July 20, 2023
'Young Dems more likely to despise the other party – College students who would not ____ someone who voted for the opposing presidential candidate': "5% of Republicans said they wouldn't be friends with someone from the opposite party, compared to 37% of Democrats. 71% of Democrats wouldn't go on a date with someone with opposing views, versus 31% of Republicans. 30% of Democrats — and 7% of Republicans — wouldn't work for someone who voted differently from them." —Generation Lab Poll, November 18–22, 2021
★ Viewpoint discrimination = Election Tampering: "One of the gravest threats to our democracy today is a powerful group of Big Tech corporations that have teamed up with government to 
censor the free speech of the American people. This is not only wrong—it is unconstitutional. ... Big Tech and government agencies are actively coordinating to remove content from the platforms ... The tech companies are doing the government's bidding, colluding to censor unapproved ideas. This coercion and coordination is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has held that Congress can't use private actors to achieve what the Constitution prohibits it from doing itself. In effect, Big Tech has been illegally deputized as the censorship arm of the U.S. government. This should alarm you no matter your political persuasion. It is unacceptable, unlawful and un-American. ... " —Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, 'Why I'm Suing Big Tech', Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2021
"To stop the spread of disinformation on the Internet, do away with the current advertising-driven business model and instead let consumers sell their own data. The crux of the problem is that model ... you encourage people to spread falsities to get advertising and make money ... " —Siavash Alamouti, winner of IEEE 2022 Marconi Prize
Paypal fine for promoting 'misinformation' or 'hate': "For each violation, PayPal says users are subject to ... 'liquated damages' of $2,500 per violation – with the money being taken directly from a person's PayPal account." —PayPal stock 'fined' 6% [$5 billion] after flood of users cancel over $2,500 'misinformation' debacle
Stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech: "We live in a world where the Taliban has a huge presence on Twitter, yet your favorite American President has been silenced. This is unacceptable. ... I am excited to send out my first TRUTH on TRUTH Social very soon." —Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, October 21, 2021
Biden White House demands total silencing on all platforms: " ... create robust enforcement strategies that bridge their properties ... You shouldn't be banned from one [social media] platform and not others for providing misinformation ... " —Jen Psaki, President Biden's Press Secretary, The White House, July 16, 2021
Once upon a time in America: "It's a free country." ... "Land of the free, home of the brave." —Anonymous
"War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" —1984
Disinformation Governance Board: "We have just established a misinformation and disinformation governance board in the 
Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat not only to election security but to our homeland security ... " —Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, testimony to the House Homeland Security Committee, April 27, 2022
["I confess, I at first thought this announcement was satire. Surely, no American administration would ever use the power of government to sit in judgment on the First Amendment speech of its own citizens. Sadly, I was mistaken. Rather than protecting our border or the American homeland, you have chosen to make policing Americans' speech your priority. This new board is most certainly unconstitutional and should be dissolved immediately." —Senator Josh Hawley, April 28, 2022]
"Truth Cops: Leaked documents outline DHS's plans to police disinformation." —Ken Klippenstein and Lee Fang, October 31, 2022 ["Facebook went as far as creating a special portal for the Department of Homeland Security and government partners where they could log in to report 'disinformation' directly to the company. In order to gain access to the back-door portal, a government or law enforcement email was required." —Marisa Herman, November 1, 2022]
Exploring legal action against Homeland Security: "It's just so un-American, so right out of Russia or China, that they would actually have an agency of disinformation headed up by someone who is one of the biggest propagators of this." —Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, May 4, 2022
["Nina Jankowicz [aka TikTok 'Scary Poppins'] ... the new 'disinformation czar' called Hunter's laptop Russian disinformation and pushed the debunked Steele dossier."; Forced to resign by public outcry.]
'Fundamentally un-American': "I wake up in the morning worried about my country. That is not an exaggeration. ... The government has no role defining what is true and false. This is a blatant violation of the first amendment. ... It is an attack on free speech ... and it is completely unconstitutional. ... This is a gross, extremely dangerous violation of free speech when the government sets up an agency to determine what's true and false. If we are not on our way to communism, we may be there. ... The incredible destruction this does to our fundamental values. ... These people ... want to destroy your form of government, and they want to destroy your way of life, and they want to completely destroy your fundamental values and make you an amoral, evil country, and they're doing it, and this is about as clear as it gets." —Rudy Giuliani, April 30, 2022
Ministry of Truth: "Unless you hear it from us it is not the truth>>. ... We will share with you the most up-to-date information daily ... otherwise dismiss anything else." —New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, March 19, 2020
Martial Law: "Australia's Victoria state to deploy military, impose A$5,000 fines to enforce coronavirus isolation." —The Straits Times, August 4, 2020
Reversal: "We've got to get past the heavy hand of government and we've got to treat Australians like adults ... We have to move from a culture of mandates to a culture of responsibility." —Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, December 20, 2021
"I'm going to shut down the virus." —Joe Biden, Wilmington, Delaware, October 23, 2020; Atlanta, Georgia, October 24, 2020; Wilmington, Delaware, October 28, 2020; Coconut Creek, Florida, October 29, 2020; Tampa, Florida, October 29, 2020; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 30, 2020; Des Moines, Iowa, October 30, 2020; St. Paul, MN, October 30, 2020; Broward County, Florida, October 29, 2020
"Look, there is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level." —Joe Biden, December 27, 2021
Center for Disease Control stalking entire population: "CDC used phone location data to monitor churches and schools to determine whether Americans followed Covid lockdown orders. ... The CDC monitored curfew zones, churches, schools, neighbor-to-neighbor visits and trips to pharmacies through SafeGraph, a controversial data broker. ... CDC paid $420,000 for access to one year of ... location data harvested from tens of millions of phones in the United States ... " —Cristina Laila, May 3, 2022
Shanghai Covid lockdown: "Control your soul's desire for freedom." —Orwellian propaganda being yelled at people locked in their apartments from Chinese Communist Party drones flying overhead, April 8, 2022
"Biden is giving control of our public health to [The] World Health Organization with [the] Pandemic Treaty." —Tucker Carlson, May 19, 2022
['Move on, nothing to see here.']
"America should NOT cede one inch of sovereignty to the World Health Organization. Not one." —Eric Schmitt, Missouri Attorney General, May 20, 2022
'Fauci openly admits Biden [airplane] mask mandate is about preserving AUTHORITY': "It's less about mandates on the plane than it is about who has the right and the authority and the capability of making public health decisions. ... decisions that are public health decisions belong with the public health agency, in this case, the CDC. So it's more of a matter of principle of where the authority lies than it is about whether or not there's gonna be a mandate on a plane or not." —Anthony Fauci, M.D., June 1, 2022
"Definitely choose to get the vaccination (if you are vulnerable)! Definitely don't destroy the U.S. Constitution's system of federalism, separation of powers, and checks and balances that preserves the freedom and protects the rights of Americans. Oppose executive branch overreach and authoritarianism: Presidents, governors, mayors, and executive agency officials at CDC, OSHA, EPA, SEC, DHS, DOJ, etc., DO NOT have the authority to pass laws, invent new powers, or ignore existing laws or the science. Additionally, do not permit politicians to cede U.S. sovereignty by treaty to any world government entity such as the Chinese communist controlled World Health Organization. Being on an unAmerican abusive power trip should cause the offender that is violating the law and their oath of office by denying rights and usurping powers denied to them by the constitution to be promptly fired, recalled, impeached, prosecuted, and/or voted out of office." —Ohana Dikranian
"He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." —Thomas Paine, 'A Dissertation on the First Principles of Government,' 1795
Free speech absolutist: "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated ... " —Elon Musk, upon purchasing Twitter, April 25, 2022
"If I am not for myself who will be for me? If I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when?" —Hillel the Elder
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Morality is doing what's right regardless of what you're told. Obedience is doing what is told regardless of what is right." —H.L. Menken
"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." —Albert Einstein
"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." —Edmund Burke
"The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing." —Edmund Burke
"Dispair is a sin." —Biblical
Rioting mob: "People do what they do." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Capitol Hill, July 9, 2020
"But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear?" —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1967
'Larry Fink's Blackrock Doubles Down on Woke Capitalism': "The retirement savings and investment accounts of millions of Americans are being used to pressure corporate Americans into adopting the left's climate agenda and divisive racial politics. Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, has been moving steadily leftward for years and has been putting pressure on public companies to comply ... " —John Carney, December 17, 2020
Blackrock Investments in China: "Larry Fink wanted the world to think he was woke until we called him out for violating his fiduciary duty to America's pensioners. ... He's using American investment dollars to cozy up to Chinese communists and woke politicians, betraying the American consumer in the process." —Will Hild, February 10, 2022
Former Twitter CEO tweets: "Me-first capitalists who think you can separate society from business are going to be the first people lined up against the wall and shot in the revolution. I'll happily provide video commentary." —Dick Costolo, October 1, 2020
■"Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to #ProtectOurDemocracy and #FollowTheFacts." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Twitter, May 16, 2017
★ Changing election laws to eliminate voting fraud protections = Election tampering: "Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud." —Bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, former President Jimmy Carter and former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, co-chairs, 2005
★ Scheduling vaccine results = Election tampering: "[The Pfizer Coronavirus vaccine] independent experts' committee, independent from Pfizer, that unblinded the data and reviewed, they met at 11 [AM] and they finished their meeting at 1:30 [PM on November 8, 2020, giving us a Covid-19 vaccine in 'Warp Speed' but announced less than 24 hours after the polls closed for the Presidential election.]" —Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla
"As I have long said, Pfizer and the others would only announce a Vaccine after the Election ... " —Donald J. Trump
"It seems clear Dems pressured the FDA to delay the COVID vaccine to hurt Trump ... and causing thousands of unnecessary deaths." —Dr. Joel Zinberg, September 12, 2022
"Facebook censored a claim in October [2020] by President Donald Trump that a covid vaccine was imminent, which it was." —Michael Shellenberger
★ Unconstitutional voting procedures (or in violation of state law) = Election Tampering: "Democrats and the liberal media have a shocking double standard when it comes to disputed elections." —Gerry Baker, Wall Street Journal at Large, July 9, 2021
Projection – Making the accusation of exactly what you are doing: "Today our freedom to vote is under assault. ... They are also working to interfere with our elections." —Vice President Kamala Harris (D), Alexandria, Virginia, January 17, 2022
Scott Rasmussen national survey, October, 2021:
• 85% want all voters to show photo ID before casting a ballot
• 82% want all ballots to be received by Election Day
• 81% of voters want all voting machines made in the United States
• 88% want ... states to remove ... from voter registration lists ... people who have died or moved
The Democrats' dark campaign master: "What is really extraordinary, as [Mollie] Hemingway points out ... [in her] important new book, Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections ... is that one man, [attorney Marc] Elias, was responsible for both the [Russia, Russia, Russia!!! Hoax] Steele dossier, which was the covert Democratic disinformation operation designed to bring down Trump during the 2016 campaign, and those wide-ranging changes in state election procedures, designed to make sure he did not win reelection in 2020." —Byron York, October 11, 2021
'Hillary Clinton Did It': "The Russia-Trump collusion narrative of 2016 and beyond was a dirty trick for the ages, and now we know it came from the top—candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. That was the testimony ... by 2016 Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook in federal court ... she approved a plan to plant a false Russia claim with a reporter." —Editorial Board, 'The Wall Street Journal', May 20, 2022
"Christopher Steele created the dossier. Glenn Simpson sold it to the press. Michael Sussman took it to the FBI. And Democrats and the media lied to you about it all." —Rep. Jim Jordan, May 16, 2022
"All true. Bet most people still don't know that a [Hillary] Clinton campaign lawyer [Marc Elias], using campaign funds, created an elaborate hoax about Trump and Russia. Makes you wonder what else is fake." —Elon Musk, May 20, 2022
Subornation of perjury: "FBI offered Steele $1 Million for proof of dossier claims." —Durham witness
["Igor Danchenko ... primary contributor to the ['Russia! Russia! Russia!' Hoax, fake] Steele dossier, was ... on [the] FBI Payroll." —Brittany Bernstein, September 14, 2022]
"Perkins Coie, the legal arm of the DNC and Hillary Clinton, admits they have been operating an FBI workspace in their Washington, D.C. office since 2012." —Response to a letter sent by Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Jim Jordan
"The Clintons represent the highest level of corruption, but no one has the courage to mention it. Instead they talk about Rudy Giuliani. Over a lifetime of excellent service, there's never been a hint of corruption in his behavior but everybody investigates him." —Jackie Mason
'Russia, Russia, Russia!!!' Collusion Hoax RICO Lawsuit: "In the run-up to the 2016 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot – one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nation's democracy. Acting in concert, the Defendants maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty. The actions taken in furtherance of their scheme—falsifying evidence, deceiving law enforcement, and exploiting access to highly-sensitive data sources - are so outrageous, subversive and incendiary that even the events of Watergate pale in comparison. ... [108 pages]" —Donald J. Trump v. Hillary Clinton, DNC, FBI conspirators, et al., March 24, 2022 [Dismissed]
'Endorsing fake news': "Newsrooms that move beyond 'objectivity' can build trust." —Leonard Downie, Jr., 'The Washington Post', January 23, 2023
"Legacy media lied and misinformed us for decades." —Ashley Rindsberg
"I don't trust words. I trust pictures." —Gilles Peress
Rough Time for Fake News: "Trust in media in the sewer – majority of americans now believe media intends to 'mislead, misinform or persuade the public' ... Only 26% of Americans view news media favorably overall." —Gallup and the Knight Foundation, survey of 5,593 adults, February 21, 2023
'Thirty ex-FBI agents stand up to support whistleblower': "The FBI has been collapsed into nothing more than a police agency for the Democratic Party." —Former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, Terry Turchie, the FBI's first head of counterterrorism
Threatening President Trump: "Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you." —Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader, told MSNBC's host Rachel Maddow, January, 2017
Threatening the Supreme Court: "I want to tell you Gorsuch, and I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. ... You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions." —Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader, standing in fromt of the Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C., c. March 4, 2020
"Russian collusion fraud is a hoax, the Steel dossier, another hoax, misleading FISA requests for this Carter Page, that was another hoax, the Mueller whitewash, another hoax, there's other hoaxes, the Muslim ban was a hoax, the WikiLeaks connection was a hoax, the Trump Tower Meeting with Russian lawyers was a hoax, the Russian server at the Trump Tower was a hoax, kids in cages was a hoax. There's a pattern here that people will say anything, the Democrats will say anything, and now that they've taken over the Justice Department, they're gonna say anything." —Larry Kudlow, August 12, 2022
"No one f***s with a Biden." —Joe Biden, Florida, October 5, 2022
Mar-a-Lago FBI Raid: "Nuclear weapons ['classified documents'] issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more. Same sleazy people involved. ... " —Donald J. Trump, August 12, 2022
'Tonight, the Democrats re-elected Donald Trump': "The country is in a very dangerous position. There is tremendous anger, like I've never seen before, over all of the scams, and this new one — years of scams and witch hunts, and now this ... People are so angry at what is taking place ... Whatever we can do to help — because the temperature has to be brought down in the country. If it isn't, terrible things are going to happen. ... The people of this country are not going to stand for another scam." —Donald J. Trump, August 15, 2022
["The FBI will be serving 50 approximately search warrants or subpoenas on Trump supporters." —Attorney Harmeet Dhillon, September 9, 2022]
'The Politicization of the Department of Justice': " ... from December 2020 through November 2021 the FBI conducted over 3.3 million U.S. person queries ... " —Jim Jordan, House Committee on the Judiciary and Michael R. Turner, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
" ... our Government, through the FBI, RIGGED the 2020 Presidential Election!" —Donald J. Trump, December 20, 2022
"The fact that nearly half of the country believes the [2020] election was stolen should come as no surprise. President Trump prevailed on nearly every historical indicia of success in presidential elections. For example, he won both Florida and Ohio; no candidate in history—Republican or Democrat—has ever lost the election after winning both States. And he won these traditional swing states by large margins—Ohio by 8 percentage points and 475,660 votes; Florida by 3.4 percentage points and 371,686 votes. He won 18 of the country's 19 so-called 'bellwether' counties—counties whose vote, historically, almost always goes for the candidate who wins the election. Initial analysis indicates that he won 26 percent of non-white voters, the highest percentage for any Republican candidate since 1960 ... Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, down to Republican candidates [at] the state and local level, all out-performed expectations and won in much larger numbers than predicted, yet the candidate for President at the top of the ticket who provided those coattails did not himself get over his finish line in first place. This, despite the fact that the nearly 75 million votes he received—a record for any incumbent President—was nearly 12 million more than he received in the 2016 election ... " —U.S. Supreme Court Motion
■ Demagogic and dangerous: "There's an unfolding assault taking place in America today, an attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections. An assault on democracy, an assault on liberty. An assault on who we are … We're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. This is not hyperbole. Since the Civil War." —President Joe Biden, July 13, 2021
Wisconsin 2020 election: "This is not the rule of law; it is the rule of judicial activism through inaction." —Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler, Wisconsin Supreme Court, dissent
"Wisconsin ... Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren ... bans ballot drop boxes, says election officials broke the law. ... ballot drop boxes and ballot harvesting violate state law. ... 'there is no statutory authority' to allow for either practice ... " —Dan O'Donnell, 'The Federalist', January 17, 2022
"Wisconsin Supreme Court says absentee voter drop boxes are illegal." —Erin Doherty, July 8, 2022
★ 'Granny Farming' = Election Tampering: " ... $8,800,000 Zuckerberg plan grant with the cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha and Green Bay (the Zuckerberg 5 Cities) ... violates Wisconsin law prohibiting election bribery. The motive for these grants was impermissible and partisan get out the vote efforts ... Government oversight has been obstructed by governmental and outside corporate collusion. ... Use of absentee ballot drop boxes ... violated Wisconsin law. The Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) unlawfully directed clerks to violate rules protecting nursing home residents, resulting in a 100% voting rate in many nursing homes in 2020, including many ineligible voters. WEC also unlawfully encouraged evasion of ballot security measures related to 'indefinitely confined' voters at the behest of outside corporations. Wards under guardianship orders (and legally prohibited from voting) voted unimpeded by Wisconsin's election officials ... Non-citizens voted unimpeded ... Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay election officials may have violated the Federal and Wisconsin equal protection clauses by not treating all voters equal in the same election." —Office of the Special Counsel, Wisconsin State Assembly, March 1, 2022
★ Bribery = Election Tampering: "Special counsel finds Mark Zuckerberg's election money violated Wisconsin bribery laws." —Margot Cleveland, March 1, 2022
★ Voting Machine Irregularities = Election Tampering: "Colorado hero Tina Peters releases report ... voting machines used in 2020 election were illegally certified and illegally configured." —Joe Hoft, March 7, 2022
"SQL software ... real-time manipulation of votes on ... Voting Software demonstrated. ... cybersecurity expert Mark Cook proved ... In a shocking real-time demonstration ... not only that the machines were vulnerable, but specifically a few easy ways they could be manipulated and, shockingly, without leaving a trace of the manipulation. ... not on the list of certified software used in the voting system. ... This software allows back-end access that bypasses any security and logging/tracking features ... " —Brian Lupo April 3, 2023
'Georgia can't produce over 17,000 [missing] 2020 election ballot images required by law; More than margin of error in Biden 'Win'': "All in-person ballot images are MISSING in Fulton County, GA ... 74 Georgia counties have been unable to produce all the original ballot images from the November 2020 election. ... GA election integrity non-profit VoterGA.org ... obtained admissions from 56 counties that most or all of the images created automatically by the ... voting system for results tabulation have been destroyed. ... election records that have long been required to be retained by federal and state law. Federal law requires a 22-month retention period for election records while state law requires a 24-month retention period ... [52 USC §20701, O.C.G.A. 21-2-73]" —'Georgia Record', November 9, 2021
Pennsylvania 2020 election: "Petitioners appear to have established a likelihood to succeed on the merits because Petitioners have asserted the [Pennsylvania] Constitution does not provide a mechanism for the legislature to allow for expansion of absentee voting without a constitutional amendment. Petitioners appear to have a viable claim that the mail-in ballot procedures set forth in Act 77 contravene Pa. Const. Article VII Section 14 as the plain language of that constitutional provision is at odds with the mail-in provisions of Act 77. Since this presents an issue of law which has already been thoroughly briefed by the parties, this Court can state that Petitioners have a likelihood of success on the merits of its Pennsylvania Constitutional claim." —Judge Patricia McCullough, Commonwealth Court, Pennsylvania
"On or after November 2020, Fulton County [Pennsylvania] became aware of severe anomalies in the ... Voting Systems due to the inaccuracy and/or inability to reconcile voter data with votes actually cast and counted, i.e., tabulated, by the System in Fulton County." —County of Fulton v. Dominion Voting Systems, Inc.
★ Ignoring both Federal and State Constitutional Requirements = Election Tampering: "Pennsylvania court declares state's mail-in voting law unconstitutional, in win for Republicans ... a constitutional amendment must be presented to the people and adopted into our fundamental law before legislation authorizing no-excuse mail-in voting can 'be placed upon our statute books.'" —Mariana Alfaro, 'Washington Post', January 28, 2022
"Over 5 million questionable, unlawful or spurious ballots identified in 2020 election in Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania ... " —Joe Hoft, February 10, 2022
" ... Extent of Vote Fraud with Absentee and Provisional Ballots in the 2020 US Presidential Election: The estimates for Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin combined indicate an average of 255,000 excess votes for Biden." —John R. Lott, Jr., Ph.D., December 21, 2020
Utilizing cellphone movement data, the motion picture "2000 Mules documents research from True the Vote, a conservative election intelligence organization that has compiled evidence of organized ballot trafficking in at least 6 states: Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Texas. In Georgia for example, True the Vote alleges there were 242 traffickers who made 5,662 trips to ballot drop boxes between the early morning hours of 12AM and 5AM, potentially unloading hundreds of thousands of illegally harvested ballots over the course of several weeks. ... more illegal votes from this strategy alone than Biden's winning margin [in Pennsylvania (275,000), Georgia (30,000), and Arizona(20,000) estimated illegal votes]." —'US 2020 Election Fraud at a Glance'
Georgia election fraud: "'True The Vote' has RICO Ballot Trafficking Evidence ... implications of the bombshell ... investigation ... in six counties in and around Atlanta, 552,987 cell phones came within a narrowly defined distance of ballot drop boxes during our study period. However, 242 unique devices made repeat trips to dropboxes averaging 23 trips each. These same 242 devices also went repeatedly, averaging eight trips each, to specific NGOs. These 242 individual devices went to dropboxes a total of 5,668 times, with approximately 40% of the visits occurring between the unusual hours of 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m." —Wendi Strauch Mahoney, May 2, 2022
'Ballot Bombshells': "20 episodes exposing fraud, illegalities and irregularities in 2020 election" —John Solomon, March 10, 2022
But you can't say 'stolen election':
● "Stolen emails, stolen drone, stolen election ..… welcome to the world of #unpresidented Trump" —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (D), Twitter, December 17, 2016
● "Remember Brian Kemp stole the gubernatorial election from Georgians and Stacey Abrams" —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (D), Twitter, April 2, 2020
Voters worry about election cheating, don't trust mail-in voting: "57% of Likely U.S. voters believe it is likely that the outcome of some elections this year will be affected by cheating." —Rasmussen Reports, November 14, 2022
"Here are 150 examples of Democrats denying election results. ... When I'm governor, we' re going to make sure we have honest elections." —Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, October 10, 2022
★ Ballot harvesting of fake voters at phantom addresses on voting roles = Election Tampering: "Anonymous Wisconsin heroes demonstrated how to collapse the Democrat ballot gathering apparatus. ... Democrats, leftist non-governmental organizations, Big Tech invented every conceivable way to manipulate the ballot process: collect ballots, drop into streetside bins, fill them out if the voter doesn't. That is a ballot-gathering strategy. It works!" —Joe Hoft, November 14, 2022
[" ... This is a very sad thing to watch. Mail in Ballots, long election counts, many day elections, machines that very few people understand, massive counting centers, and more, are an American disaster. Our elections have become an unreliable joke, and the whole world is watching!" —Donald Trump, November 14, 2022
Preemptively delegitimize the 2022 election:
■ "Oh, yeah, I think it [the election] could easily be illegitimate ... The increase in the prospect of [the 2022 election] being illegitimate is in proportion to not being able to get these reforms[sic] passed." —Joe Biden, January 19, 2022
'Crush the Coup' 2024: "Right-wing extremists already have a plan to literally steal the next Presidential election." —'Election Denier' Hillary Clinton, October 25, 2022
Biden vowed Trump would 'not take power': "We just have to demonstrate that he will not take power if he does run, making sure he ... does not become the next President again." —Joe Biden, The White House, November 9, 2022
"Our judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case."
★ Banana republic indictments of political opponent
= Election interference: "Trump New York 'business records' indictment;
Mar-a-lago classified papers indictment;
January 6 indictment;
Georgia election indictment." —Denial of due process and equal protection, with 91 trumped up felony charges, April - August, 2023
[Diagnosis: Z60.5] ["Greatest Mugshot Ever" {Photo Right}]
"Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law." —Alan Dershowitz, Professor of Law Emeritus, Harvard University
["Donald Trump is a maverick but jailing him could force a Civil War-like split in America ... An irrational hatred of Donald Trump is pushing America in a dangerous direction ... " —Nigel Farage, August 22, 2023]
"MUG SHOT – AUGUST 24, 2023; ELECTION INTERFERENCE; NEVER SURRENDER; DONALDJTRUMP.COM ... At the notoriously violent jail in Fulton County, Georgia, I was ARRESTED despite having committed NO CRIME. The American people know what's going on. What has taken place is a travesty of justice and ELECTION INTERFERENCE. The Left wants to intimidate YOU out of voting for a political outsider who puts the American people FIRST. ... " —Donald J. Trump, August 24, 2023
Can't believe that Democrats actually briefly admitted (alarmingly) what they truly believe:
"Elections are bad for democracy … trust in government is rivaling historic lows … we might be better off eliminating elections altogether." —Adam Grant, The New York Times, Opinion, Redacted headline, August 21, 2023
"Facebook has been spying on the private messages and data of American users and reporting them to the FBI if they express anti-government or anti-authority sentiments — or question the 2020 election — according to sources within the Department of Justice. 'It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause' ... 'Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena.'" —Miranda Devine, September 14, 2022
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." —Mark Twain, 'The Innocents Abroad'
"Americans will always do the right thing ... after they've exhausted all the alternatives." —Winston Churchill
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." —Ronald Reagan
"You showed me the manure, now where is the pony?" —Ronald Reagan, The Gipper
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." —Thomas Jefferson
"The rocket worked perfectly, except for landing on the wrong planet. " —Wernher von Braun, remark to a colleague after the first German V-2 rocket hit London, September, 1944
"This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." —President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
[Twelve American astronauts walked on the moon, 4 of whom are still living in 2021.]
"A lead – however earnestly and expensively won – once lost is nearly impossible to regain." —Neil Armstrong
"NASA won't launch a mission to hunt deadly asteroids." —Tim Fernholz, July 5, 2019 [Update]
"I've never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing." —Henri Cartier Bresson
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." —Dorothea Lange
"Photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth which can make them come back again."—Henri Cartier Bresson
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest" —Paul Simon
Summit tests freedom of press: "Obama's disregard for media reaches new heights ... putting on a clinic for some of the world's greatest dictators in how to circumvent a free press." —Dana Milbank, Washington Post
"Progressive" anti-capitalist mentality: "A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad. " —Theodore Roosevelt
"You will never correct by logic a man's error, if that error did not get into his mind by logic" —Mark Twain
"I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired." —North Korean "Supreme Commander" Kim Jong-il
"I believe in returning the nation's wealth to its rightful owners. ... I think when you spread the wealth around it's good for everybody." ... "I do think at some point you've made enough money." —Barack Hussein Obama, II, 44th President of the United States
Society's Lottery Winners: "If you've got a business—you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." —Barack Obama [The first President in U.S. history to never have GDP growth during his term reach at least 3%.]
"[Obama] is hostile to free markets, hostile to entrepreneurship ... he thinks that if you succeed in business it's because you are that Hollywood villain who exploits people, poisons people ... he has no conception of how you get new things for people." —Steve Forbes
"Spite and envy are not sound bases for public policy." —J.D. Foster, Heritage Foundation
"The American public overwhelmingly voted for Socialism when they voted for President Obama." —Rev. Al Sharpton
"For better or for worse we have a black muslim in the white house." —Madonna
"Obama is talking about how he is going to 'spread the wealth' and like most people who set out to spread the wealth he ends up spreading poverty." —Professor Thomas Sowell, Hover Institution, Stanford
"The federal government faces an unsustainable long-term fiscal future. ... the government spends more than it collects in revenue ... current fiscal policy is unsustainable over the long term. Debt held by the public is projected to grow at a faster pace than the size of the economy. ... Increasingly large deficits drive unsustainable debt levels." —'The Nation's Fiscal Health ... Unsustainable Debt Levels.' GAO-23-106201, May 8, 2023
"The biggest threat to our national security is our debt." —Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
"Everything Ronald Reagan did to the Soviet Union, Barack Obama is doing to America today." —Michael Reagan
"The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital… the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy." —President John F. Kennedy, February 6, 1963
Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump: "The best Republicans are former Democrats." —Larry Kudlow, January 13, 2022
"JFK was a tax-cutting pro-life anti-communist. … ■ Bill Clinton said 'The era of big government is over.' [and 'The end of welfare as we know it.']" —Pete Hegseth
Trump tax cuts: "Our message was that income inequality would go down. It did. That wage growth would be more than four thousand dollars per family. It was actually about six [thousand dollars]. We said that poverty would go down. About four million people left poverty. We said that even food stamp use would go down. It was down – about seven million folks came off food stamps, because tax cuts stimulated the economy." —Kevin Hassett, Former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, December 22, 2021
["Everything that Kevin Hassett said in that interview was correct. … Tax payments by the rich after the Trump tax cuts … went up. It happens every time. Same thing when Reagan cut taxes.… [Dr. Arthur] Laffer has a great study out showing over the last 75 to 100 years, every time we've cut tax rates, tax payments by the rich go up, and every time we raise the tax rates, the tax payments by the rich go down, because they find tax shelters. That's why raising the tax rates under the BBB [Biden Democrat $5.1 trillion reconciliation, 'Build Back Better' bill] to 50-55% would be a disaster for the country. I think it would be a total catastrophe. We would have the highest tax rates in the world. How are we going to compete with Japan, China, Germany, France, and all these countries if we have the highest tax rates in the world? … It makes no sense." —Steve Moore, Committee to Unleash Prosperity, December 30, 2021]
'The Trump Boom [due to cutting taxes and regulations, not wealth redistribution and racial preferences] Lifted Black Americans:' "Before the pandemic, the economy grew in ways that mostly benefited low-income and middle-class households. ... Between 2017 and 2019, median household incomes grew by 15.4% among blacks and only 11.5% among whites. ... pay for those at the lower end of the wage distribution rising at nearly double the rate of pay for those at the upper end. ... less-educated workers ... saw their wages rise at triple the rate of during Mr. Obama's second term ... The story of black economic advancement in the Trump years deserves wider notice. ... " —Jason L. Riley, 'Wall Street Journal', January 28, 2022
C'mon Man: "I'm going to get rid of the bulk of Trump's $2 trillion tax cut … and a lot of you may not like that but I'm going to close loopholes like capital gains and stepped up basis." —Joe Biden, Wall Street Journal, June, 2020
"Let me give you a tip on a clue to men's characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter." —Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
"Whenever legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further obedience·" —John Locke
"One of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was that the civil rights movement became so court focused, I think, there was a tendency to lose track of the political and organizing activities on the ground that are able to bring about the coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change." —Barack Hussein Obama {"I am not a dictator." ... will not use a "Jedi mind-meld [sic]" ... }
" ... I actually believe in redistribution. ... " —Barack Obama, Loyola University of Chicago, October 19, 1998
"We'll keep clinging to our Constitution and our guns and religion and you can keep the change. ... and when they say 'yes we can,' we'll say 'no you don't!' " —Sarah Palin
Malarkey! "Paying more taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans ... the people who do not need a tax cut ... We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people ... It's time to be patriotic ... " —Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States
"I've got a bad feeling about this." —Star Wars
"Top 40% Paid 106.2% of Income Taxes; Bottom 40% Paid –9.1%." —Congressional Budget Office, 2010 taxes
"Federal income tax system punishes high-earners while 61% of households pay no income tax." —Tax Education Foundation
"Distrust those in whom the desire to punish is strong." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"One of the nation's most expensive universities [NYU] tells students to eat fewer meals to save money." —Laurel Dugan, Daily Caller, December 27, 2021
High taxes on poor people are for their own good: "The problem is in people who don't have a lot of money, and so higher taxes should have a bigger impact on their behavior and how they deal with themselves. So I listen to people saying 'Oh we don't want to tax the poor.' Well, we want the poor to live longer. There's just no question, if you raise taxes on full sugary drinks for example, they will drink less." —Billionaire Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, May 22, 2018
"If you elect me, your taxes are going to be raised, not cut." —Joe Biden, March 2, 2020
☭ "The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation." —Vladimir I. Lenin
Gold versus Inflation: "Gold is not a Consumer Price Index tracker. It is a currency hedge." —000
"Gold functions more like a currency hedge than an inflation hedge." —vineviz
"But on a serious note, both sides of my family have living relatives that have had to use precious metals to escape various wars/conflicts." —kiwi123
Seltzer water: "For 2¢ plain now costs 36¢." —Giant
"In god we trust. All others pay cash." —Jean Shepherd ['You'll shoot your eye out!']
"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." —Albert Allen Bartlett
'Madness:' "It's time for the Billionaires Income Tax [on unrealised capital gains]." —Ron Wyden, (D-OR), Senate Finance Committee Chairman
'Priceless:' "Why does he hate us / the American dream so much?!?!?!?! ... Reality is: most legislators have never built anything … so I guess it's easier to mindlessly and haphazardly try and tear stuff down. Thankfully, I think I can compound faster than my dad and his cronies can confiscate it." —Son of Senator Ron Wyden, recently moved to Florida, hedge fund manager Adam Wyden, November 7, 2021
"... 'just a gimmick' ... taxing millionaires and billionaires ... I agree ... " —President Obama
"Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced extractions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant." —Judge Learned Hand, in his dissenting opinion to Commissioner v. Newman, 159 F.2d 848, 851 (2d Cir. 1947)
"Experience teaches us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficent." —Louis D. Brandeis
■ "Healthcare is not free." —Senator Bernie Sanders, 4/15/2019
Reality according to Obama's Nobel Prize winning economist: "Eventually we do have a problem. That the population is getting older, health care costs are rising ... There is this question of how we're going to pay for the programs. ... The year 2025, the year 2030, something is going to have to give ... We're going to need more revenue … Surely it will require some sort of middle class taxes as well. ... We won't be able to pay for the kind of government the society will want without some increase in taxes … on the middle class, maybe a value added tax. ... And we're also going to have to make decisions about health care, doc pay for health care that has no demonstrated medical benefits. So the snarky version, which I shouldn't even say because it will get me in trouble, is death panels and sales taxes is how we do this." —Paul Krugman, 2013
"Donald Trump is trying to kill you. [sic]" —Paul Krugman, New York Times, April 4, 2019
"You know what the President's handicap is? [Obama] doesn't understand economics." —Jay Leno
"I can resist everything except temptation." —Oscar Wilde
"The time is always right to do what is right." —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"All current Cisco IP phones, including the ones seen on desks in the White House and aboard Air Force One, have a vulnerability that allows hackers to take complete control of the devices. " —IEEE Spectrum
" ... What could go wrong? ... the wing [of the Boeing 787] is attached to the fuselage in the middle section of the plane using epoxy tape ... " —IEEE Spectrum
"I would definitely say that I am a Marxist." —Lee Harvey Oswald, the assasin who murdered President John F. Kennedy
We've been Obamboozled: "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what." —Barack Hussein Obama – "Lie of the year" 2013
"You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner." —Aristophanes, 424 B.C.E.
"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word." —Charles de Gaulle
"We need death panels. ... the [Medicare] Independent Payment Advisory Board ... We may shrink from such stomach-wrenching choices, but they are inescapable." —Steven Rattner
A liberal economist's view of how to balance the federal budget: "Some years down the pike, we're going to get the real solution, which is going to be a combination of death panels and sales taxes." —Paul Krugman, 11/14/2010
"Death panels are an Obamination." —A. Pauling
"We're going to have to, if you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It's too expensive ... so we're going to let you die." —Robert Reich
'Big Pharma Broke American Health Care': "In 24 percent of clinical trial agreements, the sponsor (meaning the drug company) 'may include its own statistical analysis in manuscripts [i.e., journal articles].' And even more outrageously, 50 percent of clinical trial agreements allow the sponsor to 'write up the results for publication and the investigators may review the manuscript and suggest revisions.' In other words, 50 percent of the contracts that academic medical centers make with drug companies allow the drug companies to ghostwrite the articles." —Professor John Abramson, M.D., Harvard Medical School, March 5, 2023
Our cancer drug: " … can cause your immune system to attack different parts of your body. This can happen during or after treatment, and may be severe and lead to death. See your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain or tenderness, severe nausea and vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst or urine, confusion or memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching or flushing. These are not all the possible side effects." —Keytruda TV Commercial
"The left destroys everything it touches." —Dennis Prager
Socialism = Mass Murder: "I think it would be a good thing to make everybody come before a properly-appointed board, just as they might come before the income tax commissioner, and say every five years, or every seven years, just put them there, and say, 'Sir, or madam, now will you be kind enough to justify your existence?' If you're not producing as much as you consume or perhaps a little more, then, clearly, we cannot use the big organizations of our society for the purpose of keeping you alive, because your life does not benefit us and it can't be of very much use to yourself ... I appeal to the chemists to discover a humane gas that will kill instantly and painlessly. In short, a gentlemanly gas – deadly by all means, but humane not cruel.[sic]" —George Bernard Shaw, 'The Listener' (BBC Magazine, London), February 7, 1934
☭ "Mao's great leap forward killed 45 million [Chinese] in four years." —Arifa Akbar, The Independent, October 23, 2011
Why don't students know about evil?: "Nearly all the genocides of the 20th century were committed by communists, and the Left, which runs virtually all educational institutions, has always had a soft spot for communism. If people were to recognize that communism has been the greatest source of evil in the modern age in terms of numbers murdered, number of lives destroyed, liberty stolen, and the sheer amount of human suffering inflicted (greater by those metrics than those of the Nazis before they were forcibly stopped), the Left would lose much of its appeal. ... " —Dennis Prager
"Live Free or Die." —New Hampshire
"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." —James Madison
"I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom." —U.S. President Calvin Coolidge
The title says it all ... "The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy – If We Let It Happen." —Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter Tanous
Higher taxes = lower profits: "Reconciliation is Armageddon. I do not want to transform America [and] end free enterprise." —Larry Kudlow, August 11, 2021
Gibberish clarifying the legislative process for the [$5.1 trillion] reconciliation 'Big Bad Bill': "Most of the product that we've done is now we may have added in the last day or so and some of what we added is Senate to the bill hearing Bernie doesn't like hearing excuse me Bernie loves hearing so we are getting some Byrd and privilege I think most people are getting privilege scrub 'cause privilege scrub is deadly to a bill. Byrdable is important you have to take it out … but you want to be sure that what we send it's not Byrdable or Byrdbath or privilege scrub. Those are the two proxysizes we're getting engaged bathing exercises we're engaged in." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, November for 2021, ['Economic glossolalia']
"The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance." —Albert Einstein
"Tax increases are highly contractionary. .... The large effect stems in considerable part from a powerful negative effect of tax increases on investment." —Christina and David Romer
"The great debate is still Keynes versus Hayek. All else is footnote." —Mario Rizzo
"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." —Benjamin Franklin
United States National Debt: [Debt Clock says >$31,000,000,000 on April 10, 2023!; >$32,000,000,000 on June 20, 2023!! ... ]
national debt
"True national debt, including unfunded entitlements, is at least $60 trillion – roughly three times the size of the entire US economy. Something has got to give." —Elon Musk, February 10, 2022
"Inflation: What causes the price of money to fall? The answer is very simple: an increase in the supply of money relative to other goods and services. As the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman explained, 'Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.'" —John Steele Gordon
'Modern Monetary Theory' Idiocy: "We are not broke as a nation. We are not bankrupt. We can't go bankrupt.[sic] We absolutely cannot go bankrupt because we have the power to create as much money as we need to spend to serve the American people." —Chairman of the Budget Committee, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) during Budget Reconciliation markup, September 30, 2021
["That's crazy, that's lunatic, and that's dangerous." —Economist Stephen Moore]
'Biden's flat out lies about the reality of inflation worldwide': —Maria Bartiromo
"Under my plan for the economy made extraordinary progress. It put America in the position to tackle a worldwide problem that is worse everywhere but here. … " —Joe Biden, AFL-CIO, Philadelphia, June 15, 2022
"Had we passed the Build Back Better bill that Biden wanted, my guess is that we would be Weimar Germany right now. We'd have 25% inflation rather than 9% or 10%." —Fred Smith, FedEx founder and CEO
"Inflation is a tax, and when we destroyed the Brenton Woods system back in the early ‘70s, guess what happened: Our average growth rate went down by a third. If we had maintained the postwar growth rates we had in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the average household income today would be $110,000 versus $66,000." —Steve Forbes, April 18, 2022
'A gathering storm of inflation:' "We're in more danger than we've been during my career of losing control of inflation in the U.S. ... " —Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers (D), Harvard University Professor, October 14, 2021
'The poor suffer more from inflation than the rich do': "Inflation is the cruelest tax of all." —John Maynard Keynes
Hundred Trillion German Marks, Weimar Republic, 1924,
hyperinflation banknote.
"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money." —Attributed to Everett Dirksen, Senate Minority Leader [R], c. 1961
[Update: A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon, you're talking hyperinflation.]
The seven comma club:
Hungary 1946 hyperinflation P1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 banknote
1 Milliard B-Pengő = One Billion Trillion Pengo = 1021 Pengő
"In the current [U.S.] Congressional Budget Office outlook for the next 30 years, we end up with more debt … relative to GDP … at the end … than Weimar Germany had before their hyperinflation." —Kevin Hassett, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and former senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, January 19, 2023
🇺🇸 "There's nothing quite like watching a blatant attempt to destroy America from the inside out to cause patriotic Americans to get up off the canvas ... " —Charlie Kirk, April 19, 2022
"Inflation is taxation without legislation." —Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economist
Q. "Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?" —Fox News White House Reporter Peter Doocy
A. "That's a great asset. More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch." —Joe Biden [Later: 'It's nothing personal, pal.']
"Don't ask an angry old man about inflation." —Stuart Varney;
"A 'nasty old man'." —Tucker Carlson; January 24, 2022
Rising interest rates will make overleveraged companies insolvent: "Companies that are highly levered ... the Russell 2000 has 40% of its companies could not service their debt. Forget pay off their debt, they can't service their debt and if interest rates rise, it's going to be a blood bath for the overlevered companies." —Capital Adviser CEO Leo Kelly, April 20, 2020
"I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution ... an article taking from the federal government the power of borrowing." ... "It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes ... " —Thomas Jefferson
"We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security." —Dwight David Eisenhower
"We don't have a spending problem." —Barack Obama, December, 2012
Really?: "President Biden thinks more spending will hold down inflation. He's emphatic about it. Only an Ivy League professor could have given him that advice. … " —Larry Kudlow, July 22, 2021
'Investors Are Losing Confidence in the Dollar': "Rises in gold and Bitcoin valuations anticipate a federal-debt disaster ... Fitch's shocking downgrade of the United States' credit rating ... The debt held by the public relative to gross domestic product ... is almost as high as it was at the end of World War II, and it's on track to almost double by 2053 ... [to] 194.6 percent ... roughly 75 percent higher than the peak of Weimar Germany's indebtedness before it experienced hyperinflation." —Kevin A. Hassett, August 10, 2023
["A U.S. issued $20 gold coin now contains $2,000 worth of gold, 100:1, i.e., the United States has already stolen 99% of the value of paper fiat currency by inflation." —Auric G.]
"To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." —George Mason
"The president [Obama] claims he can start secret foreign wars using the CIA, secretly kill Americans using drones, and now secretly spy on anyone anywhere using the NSA. Is the president an unwitting dupe to a secret rats' nest of uncontrolled government spies and killers? Or is he a megalomaniacal, totalitarian secret micromanager who lies regularly, consistently and systematically about the role of government in our lives?" —Judge Andrew Napolitano
"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." —Lily Tomlin
"We aught never to do wrong when any one is looking." —Mark Twain
"Biden's misleading deficit claim earns him a Bottomless Pinocchio." —The Washington Post, April 28, 2023
["Bottomless Pinocchio for false or misleading statements repeated so often that they became a form of propaganda."]
Biden White House's lies:
● Lie 1: The southern border is closed.—Miranda Devine, NY Post, September 26, 2021
● Lie 2: Border Patrol agents on horseback 'whipped' Haitian migrants.
● Lie 3: We will not leave Afghanistan until every American is evacuated.
● Lie 4: The drone attack on Aug. 29 in Kabul was a 'righteous strike' on ISIS-K terrorists.
● Lie 5: Hunter Biden's laptop is 'Russian disinformation.'
● Lie 6: The cost of the Democrats' $3.5 trillion [actually $5.1 trillion] social welfare bill is 'zero' dollars [sic]."
[Actually per CBO: 'would increase the deficit by $3.0 trillion over the 2022–2031 period']
"Ex-CIA chief [former acting CIA Director Mike Morell] spills on how he got [51] spies to write false Hunter Biden laptop letter to 'help Biden'." —Miranda Devine, April 20, 2023
["According to the sworn testimony of former acting CIA Director Michael Morrell, [current Secretary of State Anthony] Blinken – then a high-ranking Biden campaign official – was 'the impetus' of the false claim that the Hunter Biden laptop story was really Russian disinformation. Morrell then organized dozens of ex-national security officials to sign the letter claiming that the Hunter laptop story had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.' Morrell further admitted that the Biden campaign 'helped to strategize about the public release of the statement.' Finally, he admitted that one of his goals was not just to warn about Russian influence but 'to help then-Vice President Biden in the debate and to assist him in winning the election.'" —Jonathan Turley, 'The Hill', April 22, 2023]
Biden investigation: "FBI document accusing Joe and Hunter Biden of bribery scheme." —Ashley Oliver, July 20, 2023
'ABC, CBS and NBC focus on Trump, ignore Biden': "Coverage from June 8 – July 18, 2023: 527 minutes – Trump Indictment; 0 seconds – Biden bribery allegations. ABC News ignored IRS whistleblower hearing." —Geoffrey Dickens, Media Research Center, July 18, 2023
The Manchurian candidate: "This is all so dangerous, knowing that China has a plan to overtake the United States as the number one superpower. Whatever they have on Joe Biden is allowing them to move forward." —Maria Bartiromo, July 21, 2023
"Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks." —Doug Larson
'America Needs an Honest Adult Conversation': "If America is going to remain free, safe, and prosperous, we will have to elevate our national debate far above the current pattern." —Newt Gingrich, January 12, 2022
"You have the Midas touch. Everything you touch turns to a muffler." —Henny Youngman
"A computer scientist named Scott Fahlman proposed that a colon, hyphen, and close parenthesis: :-)
be used as a marker for jokes, and it became the first 'emoticon,' a word Fahlman coined for it." —Michael C. Johnston
"A gold mine is nothing but a hole in the ground with a liar at the bottom." —Mark Twain
Executive Order 6102: "All persons are hereby required to deliver on or before May 1, 1933, to a Federal Reserve Bank ... all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates now owned by them ... " —U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 5, 1933
"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible." —Vince Lombardi
"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." —Idiom
"Blessed are the flexible, for they shall never be bent out of shape." —Anonymous "old college professor"
"The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent." —John Maynard Keynes
"Most money management firms are parasites." —Paul Solman
"Using a minimum wage increase to create jobs is like using an oven to create ice cubes—it just doesn’t work." —Michael Saltsman, Research Director at the Employment Policies Institute
[Minimum wage laws do not require that anyone make more money, instead they require anyone not worth paying the new higher minimum wage to be fired (or not to be hired)!]
"Employer substitution of higher-skilled for lower-skilled workers is not the only effect of the minimum wage law. It also gives employers an economic incentive to make other changes: substitute machines for labor; change production techniques; relocate overseas; and eliminate certain jobs altogether. The substitution of automatic dishwashers for hand washing, and automatic tomato-picking machines for manual pickers, are examples of the substitution of machines for labor in response to higher wages." —Walter E. Williams, 'Race & Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?'
"Nothing I'm proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime." —President Obama, 2/12/2013 (after increasing the national debt by 58.6 trillion dimes)
"I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." —Thomas Jefferson
... "Where did you hear that?"
"The Internet."
"And you believed that?"
"Yeah."
"They can't put anything on the Internet that isn't true."
"Where did you hear that?"
"The Internet." —TV Commercial
Q. "How many lawyers does it take to change a lightbulb?"
A. "None, they'd rather keep their clients in the dark."
"If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff." —Jim Richardson
"If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been due more to patient attention, than to any other talent." —Sir Isaac Newton
Obamacare fiasco: "They were running the biggest start-up in the world, and they didn't have anyone who had run a start-up, or even run a business." —David Cutler, Harvard professor and health adviser to Obama's 2008 campaign
ObamaCare Turns Out to Be Affordable Only for the Healthy – It was supposed to help those with pre-existing conditions, but they pay dearly for bad options: "When Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act of 2010, President Obama and lawmakers made the same claim over and over: The act would make good, affordable health insurance available to people with pre-existing conditions. The actual result has been the opposite. Obamacare makes health insurance as good as possible for the healthy and as bad as possible for the sick. ... they will face [an annual] $9,100 deductible for each [ill family member] ... out-of-pocket exposure ... " —John C. Goodman and Beverly Gossage, 'The Wall Street Journal', September 12, 2023
The United States is "not blind, and I don't think we're stupid." —John Kerry, US Secretary of State
"Israel ... offered a two state solution in 1937, 1948, 1967, 2000, 2005, and 2008. Every time the Palestinians have rejected it. ... Will the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation state of the jewish people and stop incentivizing people to engage in terror? Until that happens there won't be a state." —Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz
False and despicable anti-semitism: "The government of Israel's laws, policies, and practices regarding the Palestinian people fulfill the international legal definition of apartheid."[sic] —Presbyterian Church (USA), biennial General Assembly, 2022
TRIGGER WARNING: Slavery
● "In the contest between the master and the slave, the Almighty has no attribute that can side with us. I tremble for my country when I think that God is just." —Thomas Jefferson
"Once slavery was legal everywhere in the world. Now it is officially illegal everywhere in the world." —Morgan Freeman
"Slavery didn't start in 1492 when Columbus came to the New World. And it didn't start in 1619 when the first slaves landed in Jamestown. It's not a white phenomenon. The real story of slavery is long and complex." —Candace Owens
Who ended slavery?: "In 1807, Congress outlawed the African slave trade effective on January 1, 1808 (2 Stat. 426), and in 1820 declared it to be piracy punishable by death (3 Stat. 600-601)." —U.S. National Archives
"The Republican Party was founded in 1854 as an abolitionist movement." —Elbert Guillory
The Democrat party, 1861: " ... seceding from the Union to form the Confederacy and causing the Civil War." —Terelle Jerricks
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. ... this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." —Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln, a founder of the Republican Party
[The December 6, 1865, 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery was passed with 100% Republican votes and 22% Democrat votes.
The July 9, 1868, 14th Amendment granting citizenship to freed black slaves was passed with 100% Republican votes and 0% Democrat votes.
The February 3, 1870, 15th Amendment granting blacks the right to vote passed with 100% Republican votes and 0% Democrat votes. In the infamous Supreme Court Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, overruling the two dissenting Republican Justices, the seven Democrat Justices ruled that slaves were property, not citizens, and that "the U.S. Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for black people, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free, and so the rights and privileges that the Constitution confers upon American citizens could not apply to them." Democrat President Woodrow Wilson reinstated race segregation. The first black U.S. Senator was Mississippi Republican, Hiram Rhodes Revels, in 1870, as was the first popularly elected U.S. Senator, Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, III, in 1996.]
"Redlining, the process of segregating [housing] was created by FDR [President Franklin Delano Roosevelt], who was a white Democrat." —Carrie Sheffield, Independent Women's Forum
"As recently as 1924, at the Democrat convention, at Madison Square Garden in New York, the [Ku Klux] Klan controlled the convention. People don't know that Franklin Roosevelt's first appointment to the Supreme Court was a member of the Klan in Alabama who had been a lawyer for the Klan." —Mark Levin
In Congress, 80% of Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but only 64% of Democrats; 87% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats voted for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. —Data from The New York Times
"Lyndon Johnson said: 'without Republicans, there is no passage' of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act. Future Democratic Leader in the Senate, Robert Byrd, [a KKK leader and Hillary Clinton's mentor] filibustered the bill; Al Gore's father wasn't there; Bill Clinton's mentor, segregationist J. William Fulbright – all of these men voted against it. Most people don't know this." —Sean Hannity
"I want you to know that I very much appreciate your help during this week's Committee meeting in attempting to bring my anti-busing legislation to a vote." —Joe Biden wrote to segregationist Sen. James Eastland, June 30, 1977
So why are black Americans mostly Democrats today?: "The States that succeeded in the Civil War were Democrat States. The racist states until the 1960's were Democrat States. The Democratic Party was the largest and most powerful institution supporting slavery in the English speaking world and it's the only one to have survived to the 21st century. Slave holding is very unusual among English speaking peoples – Canadians didn't do it, Australians didn't do it. The Democratic Party and the States they controlled did it. ... It's a party with an incredible century and a half history of institutional racism – there's nothing else like it on the planet. ... The Democratic Party has never come to terms with the evil of its past – the idea that it was a Party committed to the proposition that one human being can own another human being, and they have never said a word about that. They've never apologized for it – they have never atoned for it ... When is the Democratic Party going to apologize for being the biggest slave holding institution on the planet and sticking with racism for the century after the abolition of slavery? ... The Democratic Party ... history ... is uniquely virulently racist and pro-slavery to a degree unseen in the English speaking world ... " —Mark Steyn
"The Democrat Party Hates America." —Mark R. Levin
Texas: "I will point out as a proud Texas resident that the Republican Party was founded by black men. Think about that for a second." —Katrina Pierson ["Throughout Reconstruction, African Americans comprised about 90% of GOP membership, and 44 African Americans served in the Texas legislature as Republicans."]
"We must remember the history of the Democrat party. Its an amazing thing. …The Democrat party was the party of the confederacy. The Democrat party was the party of slavery. The Democrat party was the party of segregation. The Democrat party was the party of the Klan, and lynching. The Democrat party was the party of Jim Crow. The Republican party had no role in any of that. Period." —Mark Levin
"Americans who think that they are Democratic Socialists need to learn that the Democrat Party has a long shameful history of being the party of slavery and racism in America, and realize that Socialism is the modern version of slavery." —Sam Miller
"The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another." —Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist
"What's the other thing we know about this population ... [age] 18 to 24? They are stupid. ... They make really bad decisions." —Kamala Harris, 2015
"A lot of young people think they are invincible, but the truth is that young people are knuckleheads." —Michelle Obama, 2014
TRIGGER WARNING: Privilege, Culture
"Aspects and assumptions of whiteness and white culture:" [sic]
—Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture, 'Talking About Race'
[Deleted by Smithsonian]
Divisive, anti-American propaganda: " ... government ... employees ... have been required to attend trainings where they are told that 'virtually all White people contribute to racism' or where they are required to say that they 'benefit from racism.' ... that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job. ... we cannot accept our employees receiving training that seeks to undercut our core values as Americans and drive division within our workforce. ... cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions ... related to any training on 'critical race theory,' 'white privilege,' or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil. ... The divisive, false, and demeaning propaganda of the critical race theory movement is contrary to all we stand for as Americans and should have no place in the Federal government." —Federal Cease and Desist Executive Order, September 4, 2020 [OMB M-20-34] [" ... I'm rescinding the previous administration's ... ban ... " —President Joe Biden, January 26, 2021]
"Critical race theory … rejects equal opportunity, it rejects merit, [and] rejects objectivity. It's quite remarkable." —Larry Kudlow, July 21, 2021
Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate condemns Critical Race Theory: 'Billionaires' club pumping critical race theory into your child's classroom': "Philanthropic foundations are perhaps the most powerful and least understood force in American politics ... moving critical race theory from academic papers to society. Pick any radical racial initiative in your child's school, and it is likely to tie back to the Ford, Kellogg, Gates, Annie E. Casey, MacArthur, or Surdna foundations [$25 billion]." —Luke Rosiak, May 26, 2022
Un-American Express: "AmEx is tying executive bonuses ... to hire minorities, even if they are less qualified. AmEx instituted critical race theory training, teaching ... 'capitalism is racist' ... AmEx gave [race based] preferential contracts ... unconstitutional and illegal. ... Their 'anti-racism' program actually perpetuates racism and inequality among their customers and employees." —'Fight Divisive Woke Policies' Campaign at unamericanexpress.com
"I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally." —W. C. Fields
'Arguably one of the bigest threats to modern civilization': "At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a reason – it gives them a shield to be mean and cruel armoured in false virtue. ... Wokeness basically wants to make comedy illegal, which is not cool ... Do we want a humorless society that is simply rife with condemnation, and hate?" —Elon Musk, 'Babylon Bee' interview, December 21, 2021 (not a joke)
'Why Wokeism is a Religion': "Introducing the Taxonomy of Woke Religion ... [with] Original Sin, Guilty Devils, Myths, Sacred Victims, The Elect, Supernatural Beliefs, Taboo Facts, Taboo Speech, Purifying Rituals, [and] Purifying Speech, ... [encompasing] Racism, Climate Change, Trans, Crime, Mental Illness, Drugs, [and] Homelessness." —Michael Shellenberger, November 11, 2021 ["Such woke religious beliefs being inconsistent with the ten commandments." —Sandra Davis]
Asset managers accused of 'woke-washing': "Firms such as BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity Investments and J.P. Morgan Chase drove a wave of shareholder votes last year for environmental and diversity proposals at large publicly traded firms" ... "may be prioritizing their CEOs' personal policy views over retirees' financial security." —Tobias Salinger, January 6, 2022 Blackrock backing away from ESG investing: "Progressive activists are using ESG proposals to push the far-left's climate and social agendas. By injecting politics into corporate boardrooms and distracting from sound financial management, these initiatives, weaken economic growth and diminish investor returns." —House Financial Services Committee, August 23, 2023
"Vanguard is not a good brokerage so I don't understand the desire to fight so hard to use it. Their core competency is running quality funds cheaply, not running a brokerage." —KyleAAA
"The Democrat party has a hostility towards Americanism, unalienable rights, individual liberty, private property rights, wealth creation, opportunity, and all the great things that come in this country, And now it's the home of American Marxism, whether it's the degrowth movement, the war on capitalism with phony climate change, and the green new deal, which will reduce the quality of your life, whether it is critical race theory which is a racist ideology being pushed on all our little kids in elementary schools and middle schools." —Mark Levin
"IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE 'WOKE' PEOPLE – LEAVE FLORIDA. YOU WILL BE HAPPIER ELSEWHERE AS WILL WE." —Flyers placed on New York license plate car windshields in Palm Beach, Florida ["Very strong sentiment in Florida – Don't bring your politics down here – Don't mess this state up like you messed up the other." —Stuart Varney]
'Not welcome in the sunshine state': "Let me give you a travel warning: If you're a socialist, communist, somebody that believes in big government, I would think twice. Think twice if you're thinking about taking a vacation or moving to Florida. We're the free state of Florida. We actually don't believe in socialism ... Some people in our state lived under it. We know people lived under socialism; it is not good. It's not good for anybody. So, if you're thinking about it, if you're thinking about coming to Florida and you're a socialist or a communist, think twice. We like freedom, liberty, capitalism, things like that." —Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida), June 27, 2023
"Yes, men can have periods[sic] and we need to talk about them. Menstruation isn't just a 'women's issue.' It's time we opened up the conversation." —Zoyander Street, September 21, 2016
"I have seen a disturbing and frightening radicalization of the school curriculum, in which race became the central focus, with heavy emphasis on oppressor-oppressed narratives." —Ramona Bessinger, Providence, Rhode Island Public Middle School Teacher 'facing retaliation after blowing the whistle on critical race curriculum'
'A mind is a terrible thing to waste': "[Washington] DC elementary school gave 4-year-olds 'anti-racism' 'fistbook' asking them to identify racist family members. ... 'It's not your fault for having white privilege, but it is your fault if you choose to ignore it,' a presentation told kids in Pre-K through 3rd grade. ... 'white people are a part of a society that benefits them in almost every instance ... because they hold all of the power in America. ... white privilege is something you were born with' the Fistbook for Kids explains ... anti-racism 'requires being loud, uncomfortable, confrontational and visible ... '" —Jessica Chasmar and Kelly Laco, May 2, 2022
Supreme Court Confirmation Hearing: "Judge [Ketanji Brown] Jackson says she can't define 'woman' when pressed by [Senator Marsha] Blackburn. ... 'Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?' Blackburn asked, to which Jackson replied, 'Can I provide a definition? No, I can't.' 'You can't?' Blackburn pressed. 'Not in this context, I'm not a biologist.' ... 'The fact that you can't give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is, that underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about,' Blackburn said. 'Just last week, an entire generation of young girls watched as our taxpayer-funded institutions permitted a biological man to compete and beat a biological woman in the NCAA Swimming Championships.' The senator asked what message transgender swimmer Lia Thomas' victory sends to girls ... " —Nicole Silverio, March 22, 2022
"The left has become so extreme that we now have a justice being nominated to the Supreme Court who testified under oath that she could not say what a woman is ... If she can't even say what a woman is, how on earth can she be trusted to say what the Constitution is? ... a party that's unwilling to admit that men and women are biologically different in defiance of all scientific and human history is a party that should not be anywhere near the levers of power in the United States." —Donald J. Trump, Commerce, Georgia, March 26, 2022
'Stupid' remarks: "A woman is considered being in her prime in her 20's or 30's, maybe 40's." —Don Lemon, CNN
"A narcissistic classroom cosplay that involves two groups in the elite privilege class: White liberals seeking absolution for sins that they didn't commit, and Black liberals seeking empathy for injustices that they didn't endure." —Delano Squires, October 28, 2021
When We Tell You CRT Isn't Taught In Our Schools, We're Lying: "We can officially tell parents we are not teaching critical race theory. It's not in the Indiana academic standards. But all of a sudden the classroom door shuts and the teacher starts teaching through a lens of this race essentialism that pits students against each other based on their color. … We tell our teachers to treat our students differently based on color. We tell our students every problem is the result of 'white men' and everything western civilization built is racist. Capitalism is a tool of white supremacy. [sic]" —Tony Kinnett, Indiana School Administrator, c. November 5, 2021
'Highly toxic environment': "Schools come up short – nationwide teacher vacancies >380,000." —Wall Street Journal at large, August 12, 2022
"Critical race theory [aka 'social emotional learning' (SEL)] ... is just straight up anti-white racism. ... This stuff is so toxic, we have to get it out or our schools." —Blake Masters, Arizona Senate Candidate (R)
"We are all lucky to live in America where we have rights and the ability to become whatever we want if we put the work in. Stop celebrating victimhood and start allowing classes that allow students to be ready for the real world. All this critical race theory and mask garbage comes from big government and leaders abusing their powers. You have no power over me." —Kellyanna Brooking, at age 13, speaking before her local school board
'Critical Race Theory' = Communist Chinese 'Cultural Revolution': "I just want to let the American people know what's going on in our schools and our country is really a replay of the cultural revolution in China. I want people to see the similarities, and the similarities are terrifying. They use the same ideology, same methodology, even the same vocabulary, and with the same goal. The ideology is cultural Marxism and we were divided into groups of oppressor and oppressed. Here we use race and there they used class, and people here who have a different view are labeled 'racist' but in the cultural revolution the label was 'counter-revolutionary.' So it is a hat that fits all, and if that is on your head, your life is ruined and the methodology is also very similar, it's cancel culture. We basically canceled the whole Chinese civilization pre-communism … The vocabulary is even the same, 'wokeness' … Your level of wokeness determined your chance to get a promotion, or to get benefits, and who decides your level of wokeness – it's the party leaders." —Xi Van Fleet, who personally experienced Mao Tse-tung's murderous Chinese Cultural Revolution, for two decades, starting at age 6, June 10, 2021 'Occupy Woke Street': "Wokeism is a Marxist inspired movement that started off with well-intentioned people that wanted to stop racism and social injustice. It has now morphed into a cult that seeks to silence all of those that disagree. At first, using social humiliation, but now graduating to violence through Antifa and Black Lives Matter riots. Wokeism demands equity not equality." —Wokeism Encyclopedia Wiki
North Korea defector says 'even North Korea is not this nuts' after attending an Ivy League university: Equity ≠ Equality: "Equality is typically defined as treating everyone the same and giving everyone access to the same opportunities. Meanwhile, equity refers to proportional representation (by race, class, gender, etc.) in those same opportunities." —Winston–Salem State University
"Critical race theory, preferred races in classrooms, gender quotas ... are more than popular trends. They're creeping into public policy. They’re also unconstitutional. These policies reflect a collectivist movement to replace equality with equity. This brand of 'equity' requires discrimination against individuals for the sake of group outcomes. And it calls for government action based on forbidden classifications such as race and sex—a blatant violation of the Constitution's equal protection guarantee." —Pacific Legal Foundation, May 10, 2022
Equity is unAmerican and unconstitutional because it replaces individual rights with group rights: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." —George Orwell, 'Animal Farm'
'Equity' requires intentional discrimination and is contrary to the Declaration of Independence that 'all men are created equal' and violates the 14th Amendment guarantee of 'equal protection of the laws': 'Kamala Harris ripped for claiming government's Hurricane Ian relief will prioritize communities of color' ... 'causing undue panic among Floridians': " ... we have to address this in a way that is about giving resources based on equity ... " —Vice President Kamala Harris, c. October 1, 2022 Report Card on Race-Based School Admissions Schemes: "Equality is not equity—not by definition, nor as a measure of achievement. Yet a movement sweeping the country intentionally conflates these concepts to mask the use of race in school admissions and achieve a preferred racial makeup—equity—in the classroom. This is immoral and unconstitutional. The government must treat individuals as individuals, not as members of their racial groups. That is, schools cannot use skin color to determine student eligibility. Schools that try must be met with forceful pushback to defend equal treatment for all students. " —Pacific Legal Foundation, March 17, 2022
Woke Guide: " ... Americans ... Use caution with this word ... Avoid using the term 'Americans' ... Be cautious about messaging around Columbus Day, which NRPA does not celebrate because of its association with and connection to the genocide of Native peoples. ... be careful not to promote inaccurate cultural narratives about 'the first Thanksgiving.' ... When writing hypothetically about people, do not use 'him/her.' Instead, use 'they/their/them' even for singular pronouns. ... avoid 'homeless people' or 'the homeless' ... Poor is not recommended." —National Recreation and Parks Association Equity Language Guide, October 15, 2021 [Red color for emphasis in original.]
"Critical race theory, race-based school admissions, and gender quotas in corporate boardrooms are part of a growing collectivist push for equity across the country. But this so-called 'equity' doesn't pass the constitutional smell test—it relies on government discrimination against individuals—based on morally irrelevant characteristics like race or sex—for the sake of group outcomes." —Pacific Legal Foundation, May 19, 2022
"All men are created equal. It is what you do from there that makes the difference. We are all free agents in life. We make our own decisions. We control our own destiny." —Glenn Beck
Article II, §3 of the United States Constitution requires that: Premeditated lawlessness, abolishing private property rights: "President Biden [and] his Administration reissued a nationwide eviction moratorium after the White House had argued at length that it lacked legal authority to do so. ... the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its renewed eviction ban. ... Many Presidents have overstepped their authority, but this is premeditated lawlessness. ... extensively litigated ... Five federal courts ... ruled against it." —Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, August 4, 2021
The essence of the American Revolution is that 'We don't need a king' (then or now): ■ "People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), July, 2021
Border crisis in violation of federal immigration law: "By the end of the first term of Joe Biden, nearly 20% of all Americans will be here illegally. ... Joe Biden is going to let in about 30 million people in his first term." —Dan Patrick, Texas Lieutenant Governor, April 11, 2022
★ Open U.S. Southern Border = Illegal Immigration = Election Tampering: "Biden's border policies violate his obligations under the Constitution." —Andrea Widburg, March 3, 2021
"Wherever Law ends, Tyranny begins." —John Locke
"Critical race theory, the 1619 project, and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that if not removed will dissolve specific bonds that tie us together, [and] will destroy our country. That is why I recently banned trainings in this prejudiced ideology, from the federal government, and banned it in the strongest manner possible." —President Donald J. Trump, September, 2020 1619 Project: "One of the most diabolical, self-destructive ideas that I've ever heard." —Robert Woodson, longtime civil rights activist
"Slavery didn't start in 1492 when Columbus came to the New World. And it didn't start in 1619 when the first slaves landed in Jamestown. It's not a white phenomenon. The real story of slavery is long and complex." —Candace Owens
"I think we ought to study the good, the bad, and the ugly about American history. We ought to talk about slavery. We ought to talk about Jim Crow. But to talk about this as a notion that America was based on slavery, that the purpose of the American revolution was to maintain slavery, which is garbage: Just go to the Declaration of Independence, they can go through all their complaints against King George. At no point does it say we want to keep our slaves and you don't. No, that's no part of it. So there's this effort to just in a culturally Marxist way to pit blacks and whites against each other, and not in the old fashion class struggle which we had in the cold war, but racial struggle. This was what these people want and I'm glad to see people like Ron DeSantis and others are pushing against it and trying to put an end to cultural Marxism in American classrooms." —Deroy Murdoch, February 3, 2023
No, have never met such an individual: " ■ "A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." —Joseph Pulitzer
"Critical race theory should not be in education because it is a lie about the history and the foundation of this country. … critical race theory is racist and it's a lie." —Civil Rights Attorney, Leo Terrell
"This critical race theory … It's just garbage. It is a complete misreading of American history." —Larry Kudlow
"The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another." —Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize Winning Economist
Israel's rise on the ladder of nations: "Israel's GDP, because of the free market reforms that I enacted, has just surpassed, Britain, France, Japan, Canada, and most recently, Germany, because free markets work. … Israel with 1/10th of one percent of the world's population is ranked number eight in the world powers. ... That tells you that this thing works. ... " —Former Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, October 16, 2022
"Israel recycles 90% of its water. America 1%." —Riggs Eckelberry, CEO, Originclear, Inc.
"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe." —H. G. Wells
The left gets history and economics all wrong: "The goal and result of the free market has been steadily increasing superabundance, wealth, knowledge, technology, nutrition, health, cleanliness, safety, longevity, comfort, leisure, childhood, and privilege for all, through continual capital investment and innovation, while lifting billions out of poverty and misery. An enormous astounding accomplishment and success!" —Sven Matherson Thomas Malthus was wrong: "Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley found that resources became more abundant as the population grew. That was especially true when they looked at 'time prices,' which represent the length of time that people must work to buy something. ... resource abundance increased faster than the population―a relationship that they call 'superabundance.' On average, every additional human being created more value than he or she consumed." —Superabundance
The Best Time to Be Alive: "Marian Tupy, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and co-author of Superabundance, explains why it's a great time to be alive!" —PragerU
"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history." —Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950), better known by his pen name, George Orwell, '1984'
Virginia mom who survived Maoist China [cultural revolution] eviscerates school board's critical race theory push: "I've been very alarmed by what's going on in our schools. ... You are now teaching, training our children to be social justice warriors and to loathe our country and our history. ... To me, and to a lot of Chinese, it is heartbreaking that we escaped communism and now we experience communism here." —Xi Van Fleet chastising Loudoun County, Virginia School Board members
Concerned Parents ≠ Domestic Terrorists:
Child Rape Victim's Father is NOT a 'Domestic Terrorist' – the Loudoun County School Board (and News Media) Coverup: 'From a request by Secretary Cordona[sic]': "[National School Board Association] wrote parents-as-terrorists letter at behest of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, emails show." —Jeremiah Poff, 'Washington Examiner', January 11, 2022
Parents' concerns dismissed: "Phony trumped-up culture wars ... fake outrage." —Former President Barack Obama, Virginia, October 23, 2021
"Putting parents in charge ... so stupid." —Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), November 9, 2022
'Failing our Children': "64% of voters think public schools are on the wrong track ... fueled by how racism is addressed in the classroom." —Grinnell/Selzer Poll, March 15-20, 2022
"I don't really understand this idea that parents should decide what's being taught." —Nikole Hannah-Jones, who founded the '1619 Project' for 'The New York Times' in 2019 (that claims that America was founded on racism and that 1619, when the first slave ships arrived from Africa, should be considered America's true founding)[sic]
French physicist Andre-Marie Ampère, the-pioneer behind electromagnetism: "Because Ampère's father believed that young boys shouldn't attend a formal school, Ampère's education came from the books in his family's library. When he was 12 years old, he taught himself advanced mathematics. By the time he was 18, he had mastered the entire known field ... " —Joanna Goodrich
Why Americans need School Choice: "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." —Terry McAuliffe, (D), former Governor, defeated candidate for Virginia Governorship, September 28, 2021
Making the case for Educational Choice: "We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given [their children as] hostages to our cause."[sic] —Horace Mann, 1867
"Just 3% of public high school students in America can pass the U.S. citizenship exam ... by answering 6 out of 10 questions correctly." —PragerU
"If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war." —National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983
■ Educational Choice: "With fully funded vouchers, parents of all income levels could send their children—and the accompanying financial support—to the schools of their choice. ... Fully funded vouchers would relieve parents from the terrible choice of leaving their kids in lousy schools or bankrupting themselves to escape those schools. ... " —Elizabeth Warren, et. al., 'The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Parents Are Going Broke', 2003
"What happens in Virginia will, in large part, determine what happens in 2022, 2024, and on." —Kamala Harris, October 29, 2021
Federal 'muscle should never be used against protesting parents': "We are concerned about the appearance of the Department of Justice policing the speech of citizens and concerned parents. We urge you to make very clear to the American public that the Department of Justice will not interfere with the rights of parents to come before school boards and speak with educators about their concerns, whether regarding coronavirus-related measures, the teaching of critical race theory in schools, sexually explicit books in schools, or any other topic. ... heated encounters between concerned parents and school boards often involve speech that is clearly protected by the First Amendment. Federal law enforcement muscle should never be used against protesting parents. ... It is not appropriate to use the awesome powers of the federal government – including the PATRIOT Act, a statute designed to thwart international terrorism – to quash those who question local school boards. By even suggesting that possibility, important speech by American citizens will be chilled in school board meetings across this country." —Senate Memo rebuking Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, October 7, 2021 "Parents claim they have the right to shape their kids' school curriculum. They don't." —Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire, 'The Washington Post', October 21, 2021
"Parents absolutely should be telling their local schools what to teach. This is the very basis of representative government ... They do this both in elections and — as protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution — while petitioning their government for redress of grievance. Telling elected officials they're wrong is democracy, not intimidation." —Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Minority Leader, October 7, 2021 "The Patriot Act Wasn't Meant to Target Parents. The Biden administration is abusing federal laws and agencies as instruments of political repression." —F. James Sensenbrenner, 'Wall Street Journal', Oct. 12, 2021
Attorney General accused of 'perjury': "It's what we feared. Whistleblowers within the Department of Justice have reportedly confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is indeed investigating parents' rhetoric and behavior at school board meetings as potential terrorists. Attorney General Merrick Garland denied this in testimony before the Judiciary Committee." —
Jordan Sekulow, May 12, 2022
"The essence of tyranny is the enforcement of stupid laws." —Edmund Burke
Deprivation of rights under color of law: "Section 242 of Title 18 makes it a crime for a person acting under color of any law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. ... acts under 'color of law' include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official's lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. ... The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury, if any." —United States Department of Justice
"White House knew about [the] letter that compared parents to domestic terrorists ... emails show ... National School Board Association collaborated with Biden administration." —Chuck Ross, 'Washington Free Beacon,' October 21, 2021
National School Boards Association apologizes for likening parents to 'domestic terrorists' in letter - but AG Garland still plans to set FBI on 'intimidating' mums and dads: "On behalf of the NSBA, we regret and apologize for the letter. ... there was no justification for some of the language included in the letter." —National School Boards Association, October 22, 2021
'Religious Profiling': "Federal Bureau of Investigation Infiltrating Catholic Congregations." —Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General of Virginia, et. al.
NEA Resolutions passed adopting Marxist Critical Race Theory:
● New business agenda, item 39 (resolution adopted, as modified): That instructs teachers to provide already created in-depth study that "critiques empire, white supremacy, anti-blackness, anti-indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, capitalism, … and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society."
Proposed woke name change: "Let us trust God and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs." —Patrick Henry
"My six year old somberly came to me and asked me if she was born evil because she was a white person. Something she learned in a history lesson at school." —Mother during public comment period, Loudoun County Public Schools, Virginia, School Board Meeting, October 26, 2021
If only: " ... we are a nut-free classroom." —e-mail from granddaughter's 4th grade teacher
'Make America Sane Again': "McAuliffe's loss [in the Virginia gubernatorial election] is a victory for all Americans. Why? Because it was a resounding rejection of efforts to divide us by race, the stripping of parental rights, and arrogant, deaf leaders. This benefits us all." —Tulsi Gabbard, "Well, what went wrong is this stupid wokeness ... " —James Carville, Longtime Democratic strategist
"Education funding is meant for educating children, not for propping up and protecting a particular institution. We should fund students, not systems." —Corey DeAngelis
School Choice: "The only thing to do is have a mass exodus from the public school system. ... We've been at these school board meetings, we're voicing our opinions, we're writing articles, and they don't care!" —Quisha King, Duval County, Florida mother (reacting to School Board and DOJ threats in response to parent objections to schools indoctrinating their children with Marxism and racism), Family Research Council, Leesburg, VA, October 7, 2021
"I know if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." —Jeff Foxworthy
🇺🇸 "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done." —Ronald Reagan
'Propaganda:' "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of ... It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind." —Edward Bernays, 1928
"When you're lying and rewriting history with these bad faith gestures and the initiative like this [New York Times 1619 project] it's not education, it's propaganda … teaching bigotry and division. It's hateful. … fabrication fairytale like critical race theory." —Dana Loesch
"There are people in our country led by this President [Trump], for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, January 9, 2021
"When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: The freedom they're referring to is for white people. This land is stolen land and Black people still aren't free. [sic]" —Squad member, Congresswoman Cori Bush, (D-Missouri), July 4, 2021 Tweet
● Reply: "Hateful, divisive lies. The Left hates America. Believe them when they tell you this. ... " —Senator Ted Cruz, (R-Texas) "I'd like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free and wanted other people to be also free." —Rosa Parks
"Hear me clearly, America is not a racist country." —Senator Tim Scott
"I don't think America is a racist country." —Vice President Kamala Harris, April 29, 2021
'Battle tested conservative. Semper Fi': "In case you haven't noticed, I am Black and I have been Black [and a woman] all my life, but that's not what this is about. ... I am at a loss for words for the first time in my life ... When my father came to this country August 11th of 1963, he came at the height of the civil rights movement from Jamaica. ... And he only came with $1.75 ... When I joined the Marine Corps I was still a Jamaican, but this country had done so much for me I was willing, willing to die for this country. ... We have had a Black President elected not once, but twice. And here I am, living proof! ... What you are looking at is the American Dream. ... It's a historic night, yes it is ... But I didn't run to make history, I just wanted to leave it better than I found it. And with your help, we're going to do that. ... support policies that keep taxes low, reduce regulations, and promote small businesses ... that reduce the cost of living for Virginians ... THANK YOU, VIRGINIA! 🇺🇸" —Winsome Sears, (R). Virginia Lieutenant Governor elect, c. November 2, 2021
'Smear attacks against black conservatives': "The problem is here they want white supremacy by ventriloquist effect. There is a black mouth moving but a white idea through running on the runway of the tongue of a figure who justifies and legitimates the white supremacist practices. … So to have a black face speaking on behalf of a white supremacist legacy is nothing new." —Professor Michael Eric Dyson, Vanderbuilt University, MSNBC, 'The uninformed outrage over critical race theory', November 4, 2021
Disgusting name calling: "The absurdity of calling black conservatives 'white supremacists' would be amusing if it was not both so obviously untrue and appallingly racist." —Henry Jeffries
"People are objecting to ... separating children by race and describing them as 'oppressed' or 'oppressor'. There are children coming home who feel traumatized by this. That's what parents are objecting to." ... "If that's what critical race theory means — if it means separating 5-year-olds by race and telling some, 'You're oppressors,' and the others, 'You're the oppressed,' and giving up on a colorblind society and resegregation and racism is the essence of America — then I'm out." —Bill Maher
"Undermining his own life's work about supposed 'white privilege'": "More than a third of white students [34%] lied about their race on college applications, and about half of these applicants lied about being Native American. More than three-fourths [77%] of these students who lied about their race were accepted." —Ibram X. Kendi [aka Henry Rogers], Twitter, October 29, 2021 ["Kendi deleted his tweet after realizing that the study that he quoted illustrates that 'white privilege' is a lie."]
"I think we should be lifting up all ethnicities. I don't think we should say that one is an oppressor class and one is not oppressor class." —Randi Weingarten, President, America Federation of Teachers, May 10, 2021
"Caucasians are not villains, and they are not oppressors, and brown skin people are not victims, and we are not oppressed." —Ruth Edmonds, [R], Ohio Congressional candidate, July 15, 2021
'State sanctioned racism' —Ross Vought, former OMB Director: Socialist takeover: "Their goal is to destroy western civilization as we know it, and the American constitutional republic. The last firewall for that is the American family and their comments are very revealing in their attempt to try to destroy the family." —Charlie Kirk, October 2, 2021
Biden's choice for head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division: "Melanin endows Blacks with greater mental, physical and spiritual abilities ... " —Kristen Clarke, former President of the Harvard University Black Students' Association, Harvard Crimson, 1994
'Welcome, Comrade!': "Biden pick to oversee banks thinks Fed should 'end banking'[, detests cryptocurrencies,] and calls Wall Street an 'a**hole industry'. [Cornell Law Professor] Saule Omarova ... graduated from Moscow State University [USSR] in 1989 on the [Vladimir] Lenin Personal Academic Scholarship." —Elizabeth Elkind, 'Daily Mail', September 30, 2021 Fossil fuel companies: "we want them to go bankrupt" ... "we starve them of their access of capital" —Saule Omarova, November 10 & May 20, 2021 (Joe Biden's failed nominee for U.S.'s chief banking regulator)
Sarah Bloom Raskin would further wreck the American economy at the Fed: "[Joe Biden's Federal Reserve Bank nominee] Raskin has repeatedly urged regulators to force banks to starve America's domestic oil and gas industry of the funds they need to produce more energy." —Chuck Devore, February 14, 2022 [Nomination withdrawn March 15, 2022.]
George Soros supported globalist financial ('ESG') destruction of America's Energy Independence: "The Net-Zero Banking Alliance is a massive worldwide agreement by major banking institutions, overseen by the U.N., to starve companies engaged in fossil fuel-related activities of credit on national and international markets ... farmers, oil leasing companies, and other businesses ... will be unable to get a loan ... " —Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt
Military forced to end fossil fuel use?: "I would hate to see how long it would take to charge an electric tank." —General Robert Spalding, Retired, November 10, 2021
Q. "How are you going to get rid of racism?" —Mike Wallace, '60 Minutes'
"America's most precious ideal is what used to be known as the American Creed: People are not to be judged by where they came from, what social class they come from, or by race, color, or creed. They must be judged as individuals. The prevailing Progressive ideology repudiates that ideal, demanding instead that the state should judge people by their race, social origins, religion, sex, and sexual orientation." —Charles Murray Thank you, Johannes Gutenberg: "Global literacy rates have increased from around 10% to close to 100% in the last 500 years." —Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.
"Debate is a lousy way to change someone's mind." —The New York Times, email to subscribers
Misdirection: "Beyond the events themselves, the narrowing of our attention to one event elsewhere is a sort of sleight of hand, causing the public to ignore other things we should be focused on and concerned about. ... So, when the next great crisis hits, let's ask ourselves a couple of questions. First, what are our government and media hoping we'll focus on? And, the real question: what do they not want us paying attention to? ... " —Connor Boyack
"It is only on the battlefield of ideas that the best ones can be recognized and ultimately prevail. Only those afraid of the truth seek to silence debate, intimidate those with whom they disagree, or slander their ideological counterparts. Those who know they are right have no reason to stifle debate because they realize that all opposing arguments will ultimately be overcome by fact." —Glenn Beck
"In the U.S. in 1820, the average person received less than 2 years of education. These days, it's closer to 21 years of education, a 10x improvement." —Peter H. Diamandis, M.D.
You want to help African American living standards?: "Free enterprise, not woke welfare." —Larry Kudlow
African Americans and the Economy under Trump: "Democrats may not have noticed how the black community benefited from this economy, but black voters sure did. ... There are those who want you to believe, as President Biden said during the election, that Donald Trump was 'one of the most racist presidents' ever and that the Republican Party is just as bad. Nothing could be further from the truth. Simply take a look at the economic record of the last four years. Before COVID-19 severely impacted our social and economic lives, black Americans were seeing real benefits from lower taxes and lower regulation. The unemployment rate for blacks reached a record low of 5.2 percent and black labor-force participation reached 63.2 percent, the highest it had been since the 2008 recession. The poverty rate for black Americans also reached record lows, while a total of 1 million lifted themselves out of poverty between 2016 and 2019. Over the same period, real median household income for black families rose over $4,000 after actually falling over the previous 14 years (2002–2016). With incomes rising so fast, it should not be surprising that black home ownership skyrocketed to 47 percent ... " —Scott Turner, July 12, 2021
Coronavirus vaccination priority: "Older populations are whiter ... we can start to level the playing field a bit." —Harald Schmidt, PhD, University of Pennsylvania, New York Times, December 5, 2020
CDC chooses racial preferences for vaccination ahead of saving lives: "Strong agreement with essential workers (non-healthcare) in Phase 1b. Racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionally represented in many essential industries and live in communities that are disproportionally affected; offers an opportunity to really impact equity. ... All 14 ACIP voting members indicated agreement with essential workers as phase 1b. ... [ahead of] Phase 1c, Adults with high-risk medical conditions, Adults 65+" —Meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), November 23, 2020
"Leaked-emails-reveal ... non-white people are receiving priority from the [New York] state Health Department to receive monoclonal antibody treatments and Pfizer's new pills ... " —Melissa Koenig and Alex Hammer, 'Daily Mail', January 1, 2022
"The participation of contractors' employees in training that promotes race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating similarly undermines efficiency in Federal contracting ... Such requirements promote divisiveness in the workplace and distract from the pursuit of excellence and collaborative achievements in public administration." —President Donald J. Trump, Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, September 20, 2020
1776 Commission: "I will soon sign an executive order establishing a national commission to promote patriotic education. It will be called the 1776 Commission. It will encourage our educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history, and make plans to honor the 250th anniversary of our founding." —President Donald J. Trump Hint– King George III was the King of England in 1776: "Two in three young adults in Gen Z don't know who America declared its independence from." —Poll
"In workplaces, schools and college campuses across the nation, woke scolds make bank by falsely claiming that there is an epidemic of racism. There isn't. America is not a racist country. It's the most inclusive and diverse society in the history of human civilization. ... The Orwellian doctrines of 'diversity,' 'inclusion' and 'equity' have convinced many that they are ill and are guilty of spreading the sickness. It's fake. It's a hoax. ... Who brought this plague of Marxists upon us?" —Libby Emmons
"An equity-based form of government would mean the end not only of private property, but also of individual rights, equality under the law, federalism, and freedom of speech. These would be replaced by race-based redistribution of wealth, group-based rights, active discrimination, and omnipotent bureaucratic authority. ... —critical race theory prescribes a revolutionary program that would overturn the principles of the Declaration [of Independence] and destroy the remaining structure of the Constitution." —Christopher F. Rufo
Doesn't Anyone in the U.S. Government Like the U.S.?: "I leave aside the deeper concern that the primary role of mainstream economics in our society is to provide an apologetics for a criminally oppressive, unsustainable, and unjust social order." —Jeremy B. Rudd ['Hate America' 'woke culture' footnote in a Federal Reserve report.]
Message to America if they continue to go down this road: "I just want people to know that freedom is fragile and we can lose it [at] any time if we don't defend it. There [are] a lot of Chinese Americans who have the same experience and share my point of view. I know that more and more people will step up and share their stories and tell the American people. 'Critical race theory' is not anti-racism, it itself is racist. It is divisive, it is destructive, and it is dangerous." —Xi Van Fleet
"There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs." —Booker T. Washington, 'My Larger Education,' 1911
'Please Stop Helping Us': "How liberals make it harder for blacks to succeed." —Jason L. Riley
Disturbing ... 'Factcheck –
taken out of context': " ... We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population ... " —Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood founder, who was in favor of eugenics, December 10, 1939 letter 'advocating employing Black physicians and ministers to gain trust'
"The worst enemy that the Negro [has] is this white man that runs around here drooling at the mouth professing to love Negros and calling himself a liberal. It is following these white liberals that has perpetuated problems that Negros have. If the Negro wasn't taken, tricked or deceived by the white liberal, then Negros would get together and solve our own problems. I only cite these things to show you that in America, the history of the white liberal has been nothing but a series of trickery designed to make Negros think that the white liberal was going to solve our problems." —Malcolm X
'What the Black man wants': " ... this [Civil] war shall not cease until every freedman at the South has the right to vote." —Frederick Douglass, Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, April, 1865
Rise of Victimhood Culture: "Virtually all of the high profile, widely reported hate crimes over the past 2 to 3 years have been hoaxes. ... fake. ... In a fair number of cases money does change hands, if you're talking about insurance money… A broader motivation for these hoaxes is that the demand for bigots in America greatly exceeds the supply. ... lt is not much of a secret that in America we have a very well-funded grievance industry." —Dr. Wilfred Riley, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Kentucky State University, February 19, 2019 ' "The formula for achieving middle-class success is simple: Finish high school; don't have a child before the age of 20; and get married before having the child." —Larry Elder
Structural racism: "If ever there were a structure systemically keeping African-Americans from getting ahead, it would surely be America's big city public-school systems." —Bill McGurn, 'Wall Street Journal', September 6, 2021
Opportunity/Education: " ... it's also providing economic opportunity, which this administration has done. It's also giving them a meaningful education that allows them to seize that opportunity. I think there is systemic racism in this country, but I think the best example of systemic racism that I'm talking about is the educational system which is relegating our inner-city children to schools that are failing and fail them. And the President [Trump], as you know, is for school choice, to put the buying power in the parents' hands of every inner city kid so they can pick their education." —U.S. Attorney General William Barr
Culture of success: "Why [Black] Nigerian immigrants are one of the most successful ethnic groups in the U.S." —B. Joseph
"One of the big #FakeNews narratives is that 'institutional,' 'structural' and 'systemic' racism remain a major problem in America, when, in fact, race has never been a more insignificant barrier to success in America." —Larry Elder, later a candidate for Governor of California
"Larry Elder is the Black face of white supremacy.[sic]" —Erika D. Smith, Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2021
Doublethink: "The dumbest idea is that the same nation with minorities being mayors and police chiefs of its large cities could both still suffer from systemic racism and twice elect a black president, ['the world's first black leader of a predominantly white country.']" —John King
"From my standpoint as a black American, as far as I'm concerned, it is a high tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves." —Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court nomination Senate Hearing, October 11, 1991 "Last year there were 10 million arrests in the United States … Police officers were involved in fatal shootings 1,004 times … 41 of those were unarmed people … 19 white people unarmed were shot and killed by police last year, 9 were black … There were 89 cops killed ... in the line of duty last year." —Former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik, June 2, 2020 Looting by rioters: "I will not put an officer in harm's way to protect the property inside of a building." —Raleigh, North Carolina Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown, June 2, 2020 "They're not going to let up and they should not. And we should not." —Kamala Harris, CBS, June 17, 2020
"There needs to be unrest in the streets as long as there is unrest in our lives." —Rep. Ayanna Pressley, (D-MA), Squad member, MSNBC, August 15, 2020
"You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about." —Hillary Clinton, CNN, October 9, 2018
"People will do what they do." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, July 9, 2020
Arson during riots: "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity … Yes, America is burning, but that's how forests grow." —Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, June 2, 2020 Violent BLM riot, burning down Minneapolis police station: "I want to be clear on how I characterize this. This is mostly a protest. It is not, generally speaking, unruly but fires have been started and this crowd is relishing that." —Ali Veshi, MSNBC reporter live on the scene with flames of the police station conflagration visible in the background
"Show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful." —Chris Cuomo
"Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups." —George Carlin
Calling for mob rule: "I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country, maybe there will be." —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat, San Francisco, CA, C-SPAN, June 14, 2018
Who Funded BLM Riots: "Black Lives Matter Funding Database ... tracks corporate contributions and pledges to the BLM movement and related causes. ... one of the most successful grifts in American history, to the tune of $82.9 billion. ... the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM)-driven ransacking of some 200 American cities, which resulted in as much as $2 billion in property damage and at least 25 deaths. ... rioting and destruction. The BLM pressure campaigns, harassment, and moral blackmail ... the most lucrative shakedown of corporate America ... " —Claremont Institute, March 14, 2023
'The January 6 Insurrection Hoax' —Roger Kimball: "Acting 'to the best of [your] Ability, [to] preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States' ... 'against all enemies, foreign and domestic' is the opposite of 'insurrection.'" —Cheswell Wentworth ["False and exaggerated claims still being spread about the capitol riot." —Glenn Greenwald]
"The FBI comes up empty-handed in its search for a January 6 plot. ... They remain a couple insurrectionists short of an insurrection. ... Reuters's FBI sources said that, despite months of intense investigation, they could find 'scant evidence' of any 'organized plot' and instead found that virtually all of the cases are 'one-offs.'" —Professor Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law School, August 21, 2021
" ... peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard today." —President Donald J. Trump, Speech at Rally, Washington, D.C., January 6, 2021
"Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!" —Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, January 6, 2020
"I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!" —Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter, January 6, 2021 Protest leader,William Watson, speaking to the crowd using an amplified megaphone inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 [Video transcription]: ■ Among those who marched into the Capitol on January 6, 2021: An FBI Informant: " ... texted his F.B.I. handler during the assault, but maintained the group had no plan in advance to enter the Capitol and disrupt the election certification. ... largely following a pro-Trump mob consumed by a herd mentality rather than carrying out any type of preplanned attack. ... The F.B.I. also had an additional informant ... that took part in the sacking of the Capitol ... " —Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman, The New York Times, September 25, 2021 "Court documents claim at least 20 agents from FBI, ATF were embedded in crowd around capitol on Jan. 6." —OAN Newsroom, April 15, 2022
"FBI official repeatedly refuses to say if FBI agents/informants encouraged violent, criminal behavior on January 6." —Susan Jones, January 11, 2022
Fact-Check: "Biden Falsely Claims 5 Cops Were Killed by Trump Supporters on January 6 ... in fact no police officers died at the Capitol that day." —Warner Todd Huston, March 3, 2022
Lies about January 6, 2020: 'Ex-Capitol Police Chief Says Requests For National Guard Denied 6 Times In Riots': "Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund ... says he requested assistance six times ahead of and during the attack on the Capitol. Each of those requests was denied or delayed, he says." —Jaclyn Diaz, NPR, January 11, 2021
'Ex-Capitol Police Chief Sounds Alarm That Jan. 6 Was 'Cover-Up'': "Ex-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund ... believed officials were aware of the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection before it happened and covered it up. ... intelligence officials in power were aware of the attack in advance and covered it up by failing to disseminate the information to those who needed it. ... 'If I was allowed to do my job as a chief, we wouldn't be here. ... This didn't have to happen. Everything appears to be a cover-up.' ... he was denied National Guard service in advance of the attack and was denied access to National Guard troops for 71 minutes during the attack." —Anna Skinner, MSN, August 4, 2023
'Shocking double standards for bringing U.S. rioters to justice': " ... The January 6 riot involved no guns or fires among protesters ... In contrast, the [574] 2020 riots involved guns, incendiary devices, lasers, paint bombs, and fireworks that were used to torch buildings and cars, hurt police officers, and destroy meaningful parts of many U.S. cities. ... the left and the media continue to falsely claim law enforcement officers were killed on January 6." —Matt A. Mayer,
July 29, 2021
Democrats hiding video: "U.S. Capitol Police don't want all 14,000 hours of January 6 videos shown because they (1) show grotesque professional police misconduct and (2) demolish the 'thousands of armed insurrectionists' false narrative." —J. Michael Waller, January 7, 2022
Which is it? "Contradictory incompatible claims both that the January 6 capitol incursion was preplanned and that it was incited by a speech by the President on January 6th." —Democrat narrative
"'They lied about everything' – a 96-Page DC Police report ... According to attorney Joe McBride who uncovered the report, the government knew MAGA was coming to DC and so they entrapped them. It was all a setup. ... McBride notes that the report covered First Amendment protests ... the police knew Antifa was coming. ... 'it's more evidence that undercuts the idea that law enforcement was completely unprepared – They had no idea what was going to happen that day.'" —Joe Hoft, March 15, 2023
Why Did Pelosi Block the National Guard from Getting Deployed on January 6th?: "Former President Donald Trump authorized up to 20,000 National Guard soldiers to protect the Capitol two days before January 6th. After he did this, it was up to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Mayor of Washington D.C. Muriel Bowser to approve the ... request. They blocked this request on multiple occasions. Why?" —Sean Hannity
"New book [Courage Under Fire] by ex-capitol police chief [Steven A. Sund] confirms GOP's report on Pelosi's culpability for January 6, reveals FBI, DHS, and his own agency KNEW FOR WEEKS about planned attack." —Cullen Linebarger, January 2, 2023
January 6 Committee: "All I can think of is this is a Soviet-style propaganda trial, like a show trial ... They put this tape together using propaganda, selected words and clauses cut and pasted to smear the people they want to smear and to get the outcome." —Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., who spent time working in Communist Yugoslavia earlier in her career
Liz Cheney was resoundingly defeated (66.3% to 28.9%) in the August 16, 2022 Wyoming congressional primary election: "Congresswoman, I served with Abraham Lincoln. I knew Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a friend of mine. Liz Cheney, you're no Abraham Lincoln." —with apologies to Senator Lloyd Bentsen for reusing his ultimate putdown
"What terrifies the Left and the establishment is that everyone who sees ‘2000 Mules’ finds it convincing. Even Democrats! That's why its rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 100% ... " ... "The whole country did not see what happened on November 3, 2020. It was carefully concealed from them. That's why I made '2000 Mules.' It reveals the true insurrection." —Dinesh D'Souza, June 13, 2022
Storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 – ACQUITTED: " ... federal judge determined it was rational for the defendant to believe police were allowing the protesters to enter the Capitol building." —Liz George, April 8, 2022
Whitmer kidnapping acquittal, mistrial: "Two defendants acquitted in Michigan governor kidnapping case; mistrial declared for 2 others. ... Defense attorneys claimed federal law enforcement manufactured the alleged kidnapping conspiracy through confidential informants and undercover [FBI] agents." —Brian Vitagliano, CNN, April 8, 2022
'Cruz forces FBI director to admit agent who oversaw Whitmer kidnap plot investigation now in charge of DC office': "[Steven M. D'Antuono] The [FBI] Special Agent in Charge of that … disastrous [attempted kidnapping and murder of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer] case … {misconduct [entrapment] that led to every defendant being acquitted or having a mis-trial on every charge} … has now been sent to the Washington DC [FBI] Office and now leads the investigation regarding January 6th." —Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Senate hearing, August 4, 2022
In other news: "FBI arrests Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate on Jan. 6 charges." —NBC News, June 9, 2022
"It's too coincidental to be a coincidence." —Yogi Berra
Doth protest too much: " ... no basis ... cast the blame ... a favorite bogeyman ... a leftist false-flag operation ... made clear that the threat of violence from white supremacists and other domestic extremist groups far outweighs that posed by anti-fascist activists [sic] ... an all-purpose slur ... antifa barely exists [sic] ... baselessly blame these 'radical leftists' for any acts of violence or property damage that occurred during the largely peaceful wave of nationwide protests [sic] ... no legal authority ... baseless and conspiratorial voter fraud allegations ... false-flag narrative ... without evidence ... trying to divert the blame ... " —Caitlin Dickson, 'Yahoo! News', January 7, 2021
'January 6': "How Democrats used the capitol protest to launch a war on terror against the political right." —Julie Kelly, December 28, 2021
Domestic terrorism unit: "The U.S. Justice Department is creating a new unit to counter domestic terrorism following the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, a senior official said on Tuesday, as it faces a growing threat from white supremacists and anti-government activists." —Sarah N. Lynch, 'Reuters', January 11, 2022
Civil action for deprivation of rights: "Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress ... " —42 U.S. Code §1983
Seditious conspiracy: "According to the United States intelligence community, domestic terrorism from white supremacists is the most lethal terrorist threat in the homeland." … "We know now that we must confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism." … "Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists." … "White supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat."[sic] —Joe Biden, c. January, 2022 "Happy 4th of July aka Independence Day, our United States national celebration of the insurrection of 247 years ago." —Lloyd Chambers, July 4, 2023
"Freedoms of speech and press do not permit a State to forbid advocacy of the use of force or of law violation except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action·" —U.S. Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio, 1969
Chicago Mayor finally admits: " … the core of what happened [Michigan Avenue ‘Miracle Mile’ looting] – that's organized criminal activity … It was a planned attack." —Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, August 12, 2020
Causing a crime wave: "The number one problem in almost all the cities is George Soros-elected, left-wing, anti-police, pro-criminal [Democrat] district attorneys who refuse to keep people locked up." —Former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich 'George Soros-backed district attorneys are ruining America': "Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into [a] treatment program, who's going to go out and kill somebody?… You bet. Guaranteed. It's guaranteed to happen. It does not invalidate the overall approach." —John Chrisholm, Milwaukee County District Attorney, past comments on criminal justice reform efforts, 'Milwaukee Journal Sentinel', 2007
"Over 1/3 of shoplifting crimes in New York City last year involved just 327 people, collectively arrested over 6,000 times." —Rep. Mike Johnson, (R-LA), April 17, 2023
"[George Soros backed radical Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón] has implemented a lot of bad ideas. ... He is not charging obvious crimes. He is advocating on behalf of people to be released from prison sooner than they should. He is not meeting with victims. [Interviewer Lawrence Jones: Is he upholding state and federals laws right now?] No, absolutely not. Our District Attorney is nullifying important laws, and he is doing it explicitly and unapologetically." ... "We are not focused on victims, we are not focused on public safety, and in Los Angeles County you know, my boss, George Gascón, has a soft spot for criminals ... He has created an environment where crime thrives here in Los Angeles County by explicitly telling the criminal community you can commit crimes, certain crimes I will not prosecute you at all ... " —John McKinney, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney, c. January 30, 2022
'Soros-linked Manhattan District Attorney – No Incarceration Except for Homicide and a Few Other Cases': "Alvin Bragg ... plans to ensure jail release for all suspects accused of crimes in Manhattan except in homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, and felony sex crime cases." —Joel B. Pollak, January 4, 2022
["BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, which have used clients’ funds to 'exercise decisive influence over nearly every U.S. public company to advance political ideologies that many of their clients disagree with.'" —Brittany Bernstein, May 10, 2022]
["Vanguard backs down from ESG investing." —Stacey Lennox, December 8, 2022]
"Three out of four teachers do not recommend their profession." —American Federation of Teachers, August 2022
["The social dynamic has reminded some critics of the 'struggle sessions' of China's cultural revolution, but there's no need to invoke secular totalitarianism and mass murder. The comparatively smaller-scale terror of the Salem witch trials is a more apt analogy." —Damon Linker]
"Columbia [University] told us what we could not talk about. I am so concerned, if America is not free, there is no place else that is free." … "I expected that I was paying this fortune, all this time and energy, to learn how to think. But they are forcing you to think the way they want you to think … I realized, wow, this is insane. I thought America was different, but I saw so many similarities to what I saw in North Korea that I started worrying." ... "Eventually I had to shut up so that I could get a good GPA and graduate from the college." —North Korean refugee Yeonmi Park
[Also see: Escaping Oppression: North Korean Defector Yeonmi Park Interview]
"In contrast to equality, equity as defined and promoted by critical race theorists is little more than reformulated Marxism ... suspending private property rights, seizing land and wealth and redistributing them along racial lines." —Christopher F. Rufo
["Stopping Racial Bias ... Two courts block Biden ... from passing out benefits by race."]
"To achieve 'equity' you have to first take away equality for individuals who were born in the wrong identity group. Equity means treating individuals unequally so that groups are equal." —Andrew Sullivan
[Note that "the leftist propaganda useage is contrary to the correct definition of the word 'equity', reversing its meaning just as they earlier did to the word 'liberal'." —Ruth Miller]
["Kamala Harris blasted for pushing 'racist' policy in response to hurricane damage. ... Political commentator Ken Gardner tweeted: 'This has to violate at least a dozen federal and state anti-discrimination laws. Not to mention the 14th Amendment.' ... 'Again, it’s not that we have moronic, insane, despicable people. Every nation has those,' radio host Jesse Kelly tweeted. 'It’s that our worst people now lead all our institutions. Honestly not sure how a nation can survive that.' ... 'This is pretty much the definition of racism ... ' American Majority CEO Ned Ryun tweeted." —Ryan Saavedra, September 30, 2022]
" … [the President] shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed ... "
[" ... I'm rescinding the previous administration's ... ban ... " —President Joe Biden, January 26, 2021]
The white race is the biggest murderer, rapist, pillager, and thief of the modern world. ... barbaric devils ... savage people ... [sic]" —Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of the lead article for the New York Times' '1619 Project'
[Note: "These civilization elevating properties of free market economics do not require such laudable intentions by market participants."]
Silence the parents — Control the schools, and you control the future: "National School Boards Association [representing 90,000 school board members] declares conservative parents to be domestic terrorists[sic]." —Everett Piper, 'Washington Times', Saturday, October 2, 2021 ["Predicated on a verifiable lie, used to surpress speech." —Chris Rufo]
" ... on May 28 [2021] at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County [Virginia], a boy who sometimes dressed as a female, allegedly went into the girl's lavatory and raped a 9th grader. ... school officials did not report the sexual assault ... a rape kit confirmed the attack. ... the dad, plumber Scott Smith ... the poster boy for Virginia's 'progressives,' who have labeled him a domestic terrorist after he was dragged from a school board meeting ... That was the night the Loudoun County School board was discussing transgendered rights and he wanted to tell his story. Instead, he was charged with disorderly conduct. ['The cover-up allegedly allowed the perpetrator to sexually assault another victim.']" —Kerry Dougherty
["The National School Board Association included Scott Smith in its list used to deem parents 'domestic terrorists.'" —Luke Rosiak, October 11, 2021]
[Conflict of interest: "AG Merrick Garland's daughter married to co-founder of education company selling critical race theory resource material to school districts. ... Last month ... September 2021 ... Garland's son-in-law raised money, at least $60 million, to expand their business operation ... Panorama Education." —The Last Refuge, October 5, 2021]
● New business agenda, item 'A' (resolution adopted): "Supporting and leading campaigns that result in increasing the implementation of culturally responsive education, Critical Race Theory, and ethnic studies curriculum in pre-K to 12 and higher education."
—National Education Association, annual meeting, June, 2021
[Quoted by Larry Kudlow after this content was removed from the NEA website.]
"Mother" → "Birthing Parent" —National Education Association
(D), former Hawaii Congresswoman and Presidential candidate, November 4, 2021, [Lieutenant Colonel, first female combat veteran to ever run for President and the first female combat veteran ever elected to Congress, first Hindu member of Congress and also the first Samoan-American voting member of Congress]
● Reply: "Ridiculous … outlandish … Most Black people just don't agree, and most people don't agree. We live in the greatest country in the world. More Black people have accomplished and have achieved more wealth here in the United States than in any other country in the world. … We should celebrate the birth of the greatest country that man has ever known." —Representative Byron Donalds, (R-Florida), July 5, 2021
" ... in teaching ... it is reasonable and appropriate for curriculum to be informed by ... critical race theory." —The National Education Association, the largest teachers' union
[Biden's Soviet nominee: Intends as America's chief banking regulator to nationalise retail banks, 'effectively ending banking as we know it.' The Federal Reserve would set 'systemically important' prices, and become 'the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources,' and cut off credit to those deemed 'socially sub-optimal.' (According to Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA), October 6, 2021.)]
A. "Stop talking about it." —Morgan Freeman
["The American Creed is a statement of the defining element of American identity, first formulated by Thomas Jefferson ... that includes liberty, equality, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire."]
[The 1776 Commission was promptly abolished by President Biden.]
Frederick Douglass was a conservative': "The government can't save Black America. The only thing that can save Black America is ourselves. It's time to revolt against the media narrative of Blacks as perpetual victims. The revolution starts now." —The Douglass Society
[Hearing conducted by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joe Biden.]
Newspeak: "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests." —CNN Chyron graphic
["The Biden administration is completely corrupt, jailing political opponents just like the Soviet Union, now Russia ... The Biden administration has locked up dozens and dozens of political prisoners in horrific conditions — horrible horrible conditions in Washington." —Former President Donald J. Trump, Michigan, October 1, 2022]
[Presidential election legal strategy that was rejected by Vice President Mike Pence and not followed – stolen Privileged and Confidential memo by Trump attorney John Eastman regarding '7 states have transmitted dual slates of electors to the President of the Senate' and the draft of this memo.]
• "Everybody, listen up. The police are going to work with us and cooperate peacefully, like our First Amendment allows. Gather more Americans, under the condition that they will come and gather peacefully to discuss what needs to be done to save our country."
• Capital police Officer Keith Robishaw: "We are not against … You need to show … You understand?"
• William Watson: "Yes"
• Officer Robishaw: "Then show us no attacking, no assault, remain calm."
• William Watson: "We are not going to assault. We are going to be heard. Everybody, this must be peaceful."
• Jacob Chansley, aka 'Q Shaman': "This has to be peaceful. We have the right to peacefully assemble."
[False flag operation?: "And who is Capitol riot provocateur Ray Epps (with video showing the crowd responding by chanting 'Fed Fed Fed') and why has the FBI protected him?" —Nancy Davis; Epps denies FBI involvement on CBS 60 minutes, April 23, 2023.]
" … on that day. Five officers died." —Attorney General Merrick Garland
[Fact-check: No officers died on that day. Later, there was a death likely from a stroke, and four Capitol police officer suicides.]
"Officer Brian Sicknick died after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher during the fight." —Anderson Cooper
[Fact-check: No such assault with a fire extinguisher happened.]
—Congressman Andy Biggs, January 6, 2022
["Unconstitutional because Congress has no power to conduct criminal investigations (separation of powers), unprecidented, excluded minority Republicans, no rules of evidence, no due process, no defense allowed, no defense witnesses, violating priviledge, no discovery, no cross examination, no rebuttal witnesses, editing video to mislead, omitting exculpatory evidence, refusal to address what role did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have in preventing law enforcement from protecting the Capitol, and finally obstruction of justice by destruction of all the evidence collected, a TV prime time Stalinist show trial with dismal ratings staged by a former ABC News president, conducted with intent of future election interference." —Jennifer White]
['Most lethal?': "According to the FBI, white supremacists were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016 … more than any other domestic extremist movement."]
[Far left prosecutors backed by George Soros: Kim Foxx, Chicago; George Gascón, Los Angeles; Chesa Boudin, San Francisco; John Chisholm, Milwaukee; Larry Krasner, Philadelphia; Alvin Bragg, New York.]