I'm curious how many of my followers—especially my younger followers—know about Václav Havel, the great Czech playwright and freedom fighter. He's one of my heroes. Read his essay "The Power of the Powerless"—it'll blow your mind and change your life!

People mock the idea of "the soft bigotry of low expectations," but it's true! Tell African Americans (or any group) that we don't expect excellence from them, and you're not doing them any favors. You're patronizing them—you're patronizing US. It disgusts me. Manhattan Institute

Like I told Ben Shapiro, if Obama truly wanted to take up the mantle of black leadership, he could have addressed the real threat to black lives in this country: gang violence and under-developed communities, not "racist white cops." There's no excuse for his failure.

Barack Obama can rep the South Side of Chicago all he wants, but I know that place. I'm actually FROM that place. And the folks who raised me there would have pegged him as a carpetbagger in two seconds flat.

I'm as proud to be black as anyone, but that pride doesn't come at the expense of my pride in America. Emancipation—not slavery alone—is what we should remember when we reflect on the history of African-descended people in this country.

I talked with Glenn Loury about his recent memoir, *Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative.* jimruttshow.com/glenn-loury/ We discussed the problem of self-regard, Glenn’s mentorship under Thomas Schelling, his upbringing in the South Side of Chicago, his matriarch aunt

If a poor Asian kid living in a 3-room apartment with 4 siblings can ace the test, black kids can do it, too. Anybody who thinks we can't is a racist. We just need to put our heads down and do the work. Pepperdine University

I absolutely love Rob Henderson's concept of "luxury beliefs." It cuts right to the core of so much liberal hypocrisy.

If we want our kids to develop their potential, we need to stop talking about race and start talking about class. What resources do parents have? What are the kids learning at home? There's nothing racist about asking these questions—in fact, they're necessary!

I used to think I was a "badass motherfucker," and it nearly ruined my life.

From my conversation with Glenn Loury:

If our identity—ethnic, racial, sexual, whatever—is so intrinsic to who we are, and so meaningfully different from other identities, why would we expect to see proportional representation across our society? If these identity-based and cultural differences matter, then it makes

I want to tell young black kids: You're so much more than your race. You're part of a wildly diverse, rich, vibrant society. That's your real inheritance, take all that you can from it.

Regrettably, too many self-styled conservatives see troubled black communities as "them" not us. "They" are failing. "They" are dangerous. "They" need to fix "their" own problems. But the failures of the ghetto are not a "black problem," they're an American problem. "Those"

If you want to have an argument about "racial equity," fine, let's debate. But no, "racial disparities" are not ipso facto proof of racism. if you're not willing to look at the data underlying racial inequality—who's scoring what on which test, who's studying how hard after

This is a terrific interview of me revealing the thinking behind my recently published memoir. I share fyi: thehub.ca/podcasts/every…

Everybody comes from somewhere, but you can't let it define and consume you. The world is big, so live big. Get outside yourself. A fine lesson from a fine writer, James Joyce! Lex Fridman

We have to take responsibility for our freedom rather than complaining about our supposed oppression. Frankly, it's far more difficult to do the former than the latter, but we must if we're going to make all we can of our lives. MargaretHoover Firing Line with Margaret Hoover

My guest this week is the distinguished labor economist Harry J. Holzer. He and I met back in my Kennedy School days at Harvard, and since then he’s done a lot of impressive, ground-breaking work on low-wage labor. He served as the chief economist in the US Department of Labor