The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 912 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Hughes: Most slaves brought to America were enslaved by African tribes first
“Most, all the slaves that were brought here were already slaves in Africa. Okay. They weren't captured like Kunta Kinte. They were slaves enslaved by other African tribes and then sold for goods to Europeans.”
Hughes: Barnard banned Columbia student over viral pro-white civilization speech
“So this was caught on video, went viral throughout campus. He was actually banned from Barnard's campus as a result. Though it didn't actually happen on Barnard's campus.”
Pahlavi: Only 4,000 to 5,000 of Iran's 180,000 Clerics Supported 1979 Revolution
“There were approximately a 180,000 clerics in Iran at the time from ranging from the simple mullah all the way to the highest rank. Out of that 180,000, only four or 5000 were really part of the revolutionary groups. Most of them were opposed to what Khomeini …”
Baker: Global economic recovery is causing goods inflation to accelerate again
“And now goods is accelerating again because the rest of the world is recovering.”
Lomborg: Top 12 global aid policies return $52 per dollar spent
“So we find 12 amazing things that the world should be doing. We find an average, they will give you 52 dollars back per dollar spent.”
Lomborg: Cold kills 170,000 annually in US and Canada, versus 20,000 heat deaths
“Every year in Canada and the U.S., about 20,000 people die from heat. That, we should absolutely recognize that. But every year, a 170,000 people die in Canada and the U.S. From cold.”
Lomborg: Cheaper gas prevents 12,500 cold deaths annually in the US
“We estimate cheaper gas Meant that 12,500 people did not die from coal every year in the US.”
Emil Michael: Uber has paid roughly $100B to drivers over time
“Uber over time has probably paid a hundred billion dollars to drivers. A hundred billion dollars.”
Lonsdale: Marc Andreessen is spending $75M on D.C. tech policy lobbying
“I know Marc Andreessen and his team spending seventy-five million dollars for the first time hiring people in D.C. To fight for these values”
Perry: Most Surprise Medical Bills Stem From Provider Submission Errors
“In most of those cases, the provider submitted the claim wrong.”
Gallagher: CCP operated an undeclared police station in Manhattan
“The CCP via an innocuous sounding nonprofit that was basically a United Front Work Department entity set up on a police station in the heart of Manhattan that was being used to surveil, harass, and in some cases physically assault people on American soil.”
Gallagher: BlackRock and MSCI funnel US capital to blacklisted Chinese entities
“We've done an investigation of BlackRock MSCI, and we've only scratched the surface. We've investigated some other some venture capital organizations, and we are, we're, Capital continues to flow even to companies that are on various federal government blackli…”
Slat: Ocean Cleanup technology will be ready to scale by late 2024
“And yeah, I think in about nine months time, we should be at the point that we can say, Hey, we're ready. We're ready for this. The technology is ready. Now it's just up to the willingness of the world to make this happen and make it scale.”
Gerstner: More compute will be deployed in 2024 than all previous history
“We're gonna deploy more compute in twenty-twenty-four than in all previous years combined.”
Gerstner: 44% of Americans Aged 18–29 Prefer Socialism Over Capitalism
“Joe, among the age group, 18 to 29, 44% of that group believe socialism is a superior form of organizing government than capitalism.”
Gerstner: Ukraine Aid Could Fund Invest America for 20 Years
“What we've spent in Ukraine to date would pay for this program for 20 years and seventy five million children touching almost every American household.”
Gerstner: 10-year yields are peaking and rate cuts are coming in 2024
“We're nearing the top of tenure, if not at the top. We're gonna see rate cuts next year, and importantly, we're at the beginning of what may be the most important super cycle, accelerant, to our economy in a long time.”
Andreessen: Europe fell from ~15 of top 50 tech firms to just Spotify
“25 years ago, if you did a list of the 50 biggest tech companies in the world, like a pretty significant number of them were European. It's like, I don't know, probably 15 of the top 50 or something. You know, today you're basically down to Spotify which is gr…”
Karp: Palantir AI identifies adversary positions across large land masses
“The most powerful use of our product currently, and again, of one of our products is Being able to identify an adversary over a large lying mass using AI, and that obviously it's been reported has led to a different level of ability to acquire the adversary's …”
Gee: Pharma hired three lobbyists per legislator during her Louisiana tenure
“In Louisiana, when I, my first year as secretary, when I started to take on this issue, There were three lobbyists hired for every legislator in my state. Pharma.”
Lonsdale: India is now producing more annual unicorn startups than China
“There's now more unicorns per year recently in India than China, as China falls, and India seems to be rising there.”
Balaji: China is flexing new diplomatic muscle via Saudi-Iran deal
“What they have flexed over the last couple of months is the new diplomatic muscle. Right. They've managed to get France and Brazil and a bunch of neutral countries, formerly neutral countries. They have peace between Saudi and Iran.”
Mintz: California spent $20B on homelessness as homeless population rose 20%
“The state has spent twenty billion dollars on homeless services in the last five years. Twenty billion dollars. The number of homeless people in the state's gone up 20% in that time.”
Attia: Centenarians on average exercise less, smoke more, and eat worse
“If you look at, you know, Tom Pearls and Nir Barzilai, who probably run the two largest cohorts of studying centenarians and their offspring. I mean, on average, centenarians exercise less, smoke more, eat worse.”
Attia: A balanced exercise portfolio can add a decade to lifespan
“It means if you're paying attention, To a portfolio approach of strength, stability, aerobic training, anaerobic training, all those things, you know, it can add up to a decade to the length of your life.”
Israel's Unit 8200 encourages departing soldiers to commercialize non-classified military tech
“If you're at 8200, of course, which is the most famous of the Israeli military units in tech and in cyber, although there are many when you leave the military, believe it or not, you're actually encouraged to take that technology with you. Now, I don't mean if…”
Pompeo: Congress repeatedly rejected State Department budget cuts from $70B to $45B
“We proposed a budget, Joe, about two-thirds of the State Department budget think Forty five billion instead of seventy billion. And each year, both Republican and Democrats alike on Capitol Hill said, nope, we're going to give you a seventy billion.”
Lonsdale: Over 40% of Coke is bought through welfare benefits
“Right now our government actually gives like money for people to buy like soda, soda drinks, like over 40% of Coke is bought apparently through welfare benefits and stuff.”
Aboyeji: Africa will have the majority of the global workforce by 2035
“In fact, just in the next 15 years, Africa is already majority of the world's working population.”
Caliri: Chinese State-Owned Enterprises Ship Fentanyl Precursors to Mexico
“There are state-owned enterprises in China that are shipping fentanyl and fentanyl precursors to Mexico.”
Berdichevsky: Graphite-metal oxide battery chemistry has completely flatlined
“This graphite metal oxide chemistry went through an S curve and flatlined, totally flatlined. And that's sort of when I started to see it flatlining at Tesla as part of the, was part of the impetus for starting Sela.”
Berdichevsky: Automotive scale will make lithium-ion dominate electrical grid storage
“Being somebody who's in lithium ion, I actually think the scale of automotive will also lead lithium ion to dominate most of the grid.”
DeWitte: No Plant Applying Directly to the NRC Has Ever Come Online
“Since the NRC was formed no plant that has submitted its initial original application to the NRC has ever come online. All the plants that are operating today submitted their applications, their initially, their initial application, sorry, to the Atomic Energy…”
Glock: California Cities Are Exceptionally Dense Yet Suffer Far Higher Housing Prices
“California has
Actually, exceptionally dense cities.
They have cities about 7008 thousand people per square mile, which is very high relative to the rest of the U.S., which is more like three to 4000 people per square mile.
and yet it has housing prices that …”
Glock: CA Supreme Court blocked UC Berkeley student enrollment increases under CEQA
“The Berkeley ruling of the California Supreme court where they said you couldn't increase even the number of students at the university of Berkeley. Because of this California lawsuit system where you're allowed to sue just about anything.”
Glock: 40% of Land in Nine-County Bay Area Is Reserved for Cattle
“The 40% of that land in that nine county Bay Area is reserved for cattle.”
Glock: Skid Row camping enforcement cut crime and violence by 40%
“A study done right afterwards showed that crime and violence in the area, mainly against the homeless themselves, went down 40%, and it didn't seem to spill over to these other neighborhoods.”
Glock: LA and SF audits show subsidized housing costs reach $800K per unit
“They recently did an audit in LA and in San Francisco that found these things cost about 700 dollars per square foot and around 800,000 dollars maxed out per apartment.”
Glock: Roughly 40% of subsidized housing spending goes to soft costs
“About 40% of this money went to what's called soft costs in the construction industry. This is the paperwork, the financing, all these other little things in it.”
Craft: China sanctioned former UN Ambassador Kelly Craft for speaking out
“You know, I'm sanctioned by China because of literally speaking out, and making certain that the world knows.”
Sprowls: Florida state colleges must offer money-back job guarantees on three programs
“So now if you go to a state college in Florida, they have to offer at least three certifications or technical degrees where they say, if you come and you get this certificate, And you are not working in that field in six months. We'll give you your money back.…”
Sprowls: Only 14% of Florida State Prison Inmates Are There for Drugs
“Only 14% of the people in state prison in Florida are there for drugs.”
Khanna: Facebook Knows Instagram Causes Teen Depression and Anxiety
“Facebook has information that Instagram is causing depression and anxiety about teenagers.”
Khanna: Nine of the top ten sites on Facebook are conservative
“I mean, I looked the top nine out of the top 10 sites on Facebook are conservative sites with Donald Trump and Hannity and Ben Shapiro and others.”
Lonsdale: US spent nuclear fuel could power the country for 100 years
“There's enough of that spent fuel to power the whole US for a hundred years.”
Churi: Oklo Reactor Reduces Waste Half-Life from 100k to 100 Years
“But when it comes out of the Oklo reactor at the end of 20 years it's only got about a hundred year half-life as opposed to about a 100,000”