🎙️ The Weekly Zeitgeist

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"Politics, Kanye, Trump, Biden, Hitler, Extremism, and War" | Lex Fridman Podcast

Guest: Ben Shapiro | Conservative Political Commentator & Podcast Host
Time Saved: 2 Hours 33 Minutes

Selected Quote:

[29:25] BS: "I never blame people's politics for other people committing acts of violence unless they're actively advocating violence. So when a fan of Bernie Sanders shoots up a congressional baseball game, that is not Bernie Sanders' fault. I may not like his rhetoric, I may disagree with him on everything, but Bernie Sanders did not tell somebody to go shoot up a congressional baseball game. When a nutcase in San Francisco goes and hits Paul Pelosi with a hammer, I'm not gonna blame Kevin McCarthy, the House Speaker, for that. [...] We can play this game all day long. [...] If we remove agency from individuals and if we blame broad scale political rhetoric for every act of violence, [...] the people who are going to pay the price are actually the general population, because free speech will go away."

"Tech Layoffs Surge, Big Tech Freezes Hiring, Optimizing for Profits, Election Preview & More" | All-In

Hosts: Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg
Time Saved: 1 Hour 26 Minutes

Selected Quote:

[42:20] DS: "I think it really makes sense for founders to be conservative. Prioritize your survival above all else. This recession will probably last about two years. You want to make sure you survive it. And [...] if you survive it with lower growth, that's fine. You can keep growing on the other end of this thing. But if you go out of business, because you grew too fast, then you're not gonna get the chance to fix that problem when the recession is over."

"How Democrats Defied the Odds" | The Daily

Guest: Nate Cohn | Chief Political Analyst | The New York Times
Time Saved: 23 Minutes

Selected Quote:

[5:52] NC: "Our national poll showed that voters were caring a little bit less about abortion, or democracy as the most important problem facing the country, the issues that were seen as a favorable to the Democrats. While voters said that the biggest problem facing the country was the economy or inflation. [...] When you pour over the results, state by state, a really interesting pattern emerges, and one that I don't think we've seen in our era of deeply polarized national politics. The pattern is that the Democrats do very well in states where abortion and democracy really was on the ballot. And the Republicans do pretty well when it's not. And it all happens to cancel out and add up to a pretty even race overall."

Russia & Ukraine, China & Taiwan, and the US | The Pomp Podcast

Guest: Mike Shelby | Founder & CEO | Forward Observer
Time Saved: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

Selected Quote:

[19:21] MS: "I think the Russians look at Ukraine as the first step in a strategic war against the United States. China looks at Taiwan, probably as if they lose, then this may be the end of the "Chinese century". But for the Chinese, they look at this [as] a stepping stone to replacing US global hegemony. And they're right now doing this economically and trying to do it financially. I don't think they want to do it militarily. But one way or the other, they're going to take Taiwan. [...] This is about the next century. This is about which sphere is going to have global dominance."

"John Legend on Kanye, Music & the Midterms" | On with Kara Swisher

Guest: John Legend | Artist & Activist
Time Saved: 55 Minutes

Selected Quote:

[45:53] JL: "I think a lot of Americans think that our way of life is just kind of going to exist, and democracy is just going to carry on as it has in this country. But even that history is fraud. We weren't even allowing women to vote until the early 20th century and black folks weren't able to vote fully and freely around the country until the 60s. So we've barely even been a democracy for long. [...] A lot more people are realizing how fragile it is even now. And I'm really worried that we're going down a path that we're really going to erode and end democracy as we truly know it right now."