Insight

“Unrestrained political authority, though it be confided to masses, cannot be trusted without positive limitations, men in bodies being but an aggregation of the passions, weaknesses and interests of men as individuals.” —American writer James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

For the Record

“If you needed any more evidence of the political weaponization of the Biden Justice Department, we got it Monday night. Crypto kingpin Sam Bankman-Fried, aka ‘SBF,’ has been giving public interviews for weeks. He was scheduled to testify under oath before Congress [Tuesday]. Everyone knew he would be asked about his financial partnership with the Democrat Party. The bankrupt billionaire is second only to George Soros in his lavish gifts to progressive causes and candidates. Well, we wouldn’t want SBF testifying to that in public now, would we? So, he was arrested in the Bahamas Monday night at the request of the Biden Administration. Presumably, he will be tried for securities fraud and money laundering related to his failed crypto currency exchange, FTX. His political donations won’t be relevant in those legal proceedings. So, by arresting him the day before he was to testify, the Biden Justice Department once again blocked information that would be embarrassing to Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. Just like the FBI suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story.” —Gary Bauer

Re: Twitter

“A group of Democrats showing preference for a Democrat and suppressing Republicans, it’s just not breaking news. … I mean, The New York Times has been doing it for decades. So, I mean, shame on us for becoming so reliant on social media. If there is entanglement between government or law enforcement or intelligence community and Twitter, that’s a different story. But The New York Times has not endorsed a Republican since Dwight Eisenhower.” —former Congressman Trey Gowdy on the Twitter revelations

“[Twitter] had become a progressive playpen. Woke writers and activists expected it to be run according to their worldview and by rules favorable to their interests — for good reason. Not anymore. The fearless, shoot-from-the-hip Musk is, like Trump before him, a barbarian at the gate and a heretic. His takeover of Twitter is like the Vikings sacking the famous English monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the 8th century. Questioning Fauci is like the Albigensians challenging monotheism in the 13th century. Mocking pronouns is like questioning divine-right kingship in the age of absolute monarchies. This is why the fight over Twitter, which is itself not that important — 'Twitter is not real life,‘ as the cliche has it — is so heated and bitter. It’s ultimately over whether progressive ideology will maintain its default status in elite precincts of America, and whether a high-profile dissenter can survive and thrive.” —Rich Lowry

“I’ll start with the principles I’ve come to believe … based on everything I’ve learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead. 1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control. 2. Only the original author may remove content they produce. 3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice. The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. … The biggest mistake I made was continuing to invest in building tools for us to manage the public conversation, versus building tools for the people using Twitter to easily manage it for themselves. This burdened the company with too much power, and opened us to significant outside pressure (such as advertising budgets).” —Jack Dorsey on censorship at his former company

Belly Laugh of the Week

“Liberals struggle to find viable Twitter alternative after Musk takeover.” —headline in The Hill

Friendly Fire

“Just showing up at the border would send a strong signal to the communities that … [Biden] cares about the border communities — just show up. It doesn’t take much to just show up at the border.” —Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar

Junk Science

“People who skipped their COVID vaccine are at higher risk of traffic accidents, according to a new study.” —Fortune headline

Braying Jenny

“There are extremist conservatives who appear bent on taking away fundamental rights, including marriage equality. [The Respect for Marriage Act] provides an important measure of security and … stability for LGBTQI+ families. But their children … will also get … attacked, right, as we know, sadly.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

And Last…

“Far right now means saying things that you aren’t supposed to say — not racist things or extreme things — but things that have been deemed unsayable only recently. Several years ago, no one would have thought it was terrible offense to refuse to adopt the weird obsession with pronouns gaining traction at some liberal-arts colleges; now, it’s practically a hate crime.” —Rich Lowry