Stanford University forced my wife out without ..., said Silicon Valley's most-prominent venture capitalist Marc Andreessen in a group chat with US government officials
Prominent venture capitalist
Marc Andreessen
, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has reportedly launched a scathing attack on leading universities, including Stanford and MIT, and the National Science Foundation. According to screenshots viewed by the Washington Post, Andreessen, in a private group chat with AI scientists and officials of the Donald Trump administration, characterized
MIT
and Stanford as "mainly political operations fighting American innovation." He reportedly further said that Stanford "forced my wife out [as chair of its Center on Philanthropy and Civil society] without a second thought, a decision that will cost them something like $5 billion in future donations."
Stanford and MIT have "declared war on 70% of the country"
In a separate message, Andreessen reportedly declared that universities "declared war on 70% of the country and now they're going to pay the price," specifically targeting "DEI and immigration" as "two forms of discrimination" that are "politically lethal." These remarks align with Andreessen's previously stated support for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, alongside a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz. Allies of Andreessen have since taken roles within the Trump administration. TechCrunch has reached out to a16z for comment.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years
IC Markets
Learn More
Undo
Meanwhile, venture giant
Sequoia Capital
is grappling with the fallout from controversial comments made by partner Shaun Maguire concerning
Zohran Mamdani
, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor. In a July 4th tweet on Twitter, which has garnered over 5 million views, Maguire labeled Mamdani an "Islamist" who "comes from a culture that lies about everything."
In his tweets, Maguire stated: "Mamdani comes from a culture that lies about everything. It's literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way." He further elaborated, "People have lost the plot Islamist != to Muslim Hezbollah, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, The Taliban, The Ayatollahs in Iran, etc are Islamists Mamdani — a man who started an SJP chapter and defended Anwar al-Alawki — is an Islamist He's doing his best to hide this but it's clear."
Sequoia Capital has maintained a "hands-off approach" to the controversy, a strategy now being tested as the company finds itself in the eye of a public storm. The incidents once again shows increasing political polarization within the tech sector and raise questions about the role and responsibilities of influential figures in shaping public discourse.
AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
Toughen Up: Barack Obama's brutal advice for Democrats - if they want to beat Donald Trump
It wasn't exactly a "Come to Jesus" moment, but it might have been the closest thing Democrats have had since 2016. In the well-manicured backyard of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy—complete with hedge-sculpted virtue and Chardonnay socialism—Barack Hussein Obama, the once and forever liberal messiah, had something sacramental to say: Toughen up. The setting was genteel, the donors elite, and the cheese likely organic. But the message? Unfiltered, almost harsh in its delivery, and soaked in disappointment. The 44th president, now more Netflix than Nixon, called out his party's navel-gazing, defeatism, and general air of performative paralysis. If anyone expected soaring prose about hope and change, they got a verbal boxing glove instead. 'It's going to require a little bit less navel-gazing and a little less whining and being in fetal positions. And it's going to require Democrats to just toughen up," Obama said, delivering a rhetorical slap to the Democratic intelligentsia who have responded to Trump's second coming with a blend of despair, hedging, and awkward silence. In other words, the man who once asked you to dream big is now begging you to grow a spine. From Messiah to Godfather There's something almost Godfather-esque in the way Obama now looms over the Democratic Party. He doesn't run things—at least not directly. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like An engineer reveals: One simple trick to get internet without a subscription Techno Mag Learn More Undo He isn't the candidate, or the DNC chair, or even a regular fixture on the Sunday shows. But when he speaks, it echoes. And this time, it echoed like Vito Corleone reminding the family that business is business—even when it's personal. Like Vito, Obama's power lies not in what he does, but in what he chooses not to do. The Democrats' Don has been largely absent from the battlefield. No rallies. No marches. A few carefully-worded statements. Some Zoom calls and podcast cameos. But now, stepping back into the spotlight with his tan suit replaced by a dark sport coat and a sharper tongue, he's making it painfully clear: the family is embarrassing itself. He didn't name names, but the metaphors were loaded. Democrats, he said, were acting like they feared losing a kitchen renovation in the Hamptons. He invoked Nelson Mandela—not to inspire, but to shame: Nobody's asking you to spend 27 years in a cell. Just show a little courage. For a party constantly torn between its performative wokeness and its policy timidity, this was the equivalent of a consigliere flipping the table. The Cult of Civility Is Dead. Long Live the Fight Obama's critique was surgical in its targets. Law firms that chose convenience over constitutionality. Progressives who once marched for justice now retreating into the shadows. Democratic elites who whisper about free speech but go mute when it's inconvenient. The implication was brutal: the party that once fancied itself the last firewall against fascism can't even organise a coherent rebuttal without collapsing into a committee. He didn't mention Columbia University, but he didn't need to. Everyone in the room knew what he meant. The elite institutions—the ones that feed, fund, and flatter the Democratic machine—have chosen survival over principle. When facing Trump 2.0, they offer settlements, not statements. Deals, not defiance. And yet, Obama saved his sharpest rebuke for the rank-and-file liberal who uses disappointment as an excuse for apathy. 'Don't tell me you're a Democrat, but you're kind of disappointed right now, so you're not doing anything.' That wasn't just a line—it was a verdict. In the age of Trump, silence isn't neutrality; it's surrender. Watch Obama roast Trump Post-Trump PTSD and the Case of the Missing Backbone To be fair, there's context to this caution. The Trump presidency—both versions of it—has been a meat grinder for institutions and ideals. Civil servants fired en masse. Journalists smeared. Judges intimidated. It's not irrational that many Democrats are shell-shocked. But Obama's point is that trauma is not a strategy. You don't win back the country by wallowing in your own loss. Locked out of the White House and struggling to hold the Senate, Democrats have become a party of internal memos and circular firing squads. They argue over pronouns while Trump reshapes the federal judiciary. They debate housing policy in think tanks while average Americans get priced out of owning a front door. And they fundraise like it's 2012 while fighting a candidate who's weaponised 2024 like it's Mad Max. Obama, who spent most of his post-presidency mixing cultural cachet with corporate discretion, now seems acutely aware that Democrats are mistaking moral clarity for mere branding. His reminder was subtle but deadly: 'You want to deliver for people and make their lives better? You got to figure out how to do it.' Translation: Don't just be right. Be useful. Moderates, Leftists, and the Existential Middle In the undercurrent of Obama's critique is a deeper civil war—one that's been bubbling since Bernie Sanders turned Medicare into a religion and AOC made Instagram the new House chamber. The party's progressive wing often accuses moderates of cowardice. Moderates, in turn, see progressives as electoral poison. Obama's message was meant to split the difference. He didn't scold the left or scorn the centrists. He scorned inaction. He praised Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey—both pragmatic Democrats with centre-left profiles. But his warning could've just as easily applied to the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezes of the party. 'Love working people all you want,' he said, 'but they still can't afford a house.' In classic Obama fashion, it was policy cloaked in poetry. This is the part where Democrats struggle most. They love the what. They falter on the how. Obama was reminding them that you can't Netflix your way to power. You have to govern—and be seen governing. Obama, the Philosopher in Golf Shoes It's easy to mock Obama's newfound urgency. After all, this is a man who's spent more time in the director's chair than the rally podium. He speaks of courage while commissioning Netflix documentaries and building a multimillion-dollar Hawaiian compound. But maybe that's precisely why he sees the danger now. Obama came of political age in an America that still broadly believed in institutions. But he now warns of 'sliding into autocracy,' of the post-war liberal order crumbling under TikTok nihilism and algorithmic outrage. 'It was easy to stand for equality,' he said of the past. 'You didn't really have to make a lot of sacrifices.' But those days, he warned, are over. This is no longer about the poetry of politics. It's about the blunt-force trauma of power. The Godfather's Last Word For a generation raised on Obama's idealism, his latest turn may feel jarring. But for those paying attention, this is simply the next phase of his evolution: from prophet to pragmatist. He's no longer the inspirational speaker who promises a more perfect union. He's the grizzled elder who knows that unions, perfect or otherwise, don't just happen. They're fought for. Brick by brick. Vote by vote. Statement by statement. Barack Obama 's maxim isn't complicated. It doesn't require a masterclass in political theory. It's not a Harvard lecture or a TikTok soundbite. It's one sentence that Democrats ignore at their peril: Toughen up.
Indian Express
37 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Gandhi portrait sells for £152,800
Believed to be the only oil portrait that Mahatma Gandhi sat for, British-American artist Clare Leighton's 1931 canvas featuring the national leader sold at an online Bonhams auction for £152,800, inclusive of premium. Part of Bonhams 'Travel and Exploration Sale,' the canvas was estimated to fetch £50,000-70,000. Leighton was arguably introduced to Gandhi through political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford in 1931, when he was in London to attend the Second Round Table Conference. A note by Bonhams states, 'She was given the opportunity to sit with him on multiple occasions to sketch and paint his likeness.' In a pre-sale release, Rhyanon Demery, Bonhams' Head of Sale, stated: 'Not only is this a rare work by Clare Leighton, who is mainly known for her wood engravings, it is also thought to be the only oil painting of Mahatma Gandhi which he sat for.' In the collection of the artist until her demise in 1989, the oil painting was later passed down through her family. The details note that the canvas was exhibited in November 1931 at the Albany Galleries in Sackville Street, London. Journalist Winifred Holtby, who attended the opening, wrote about the event in the trade union magazine The Schoolmistress. Though Gandhi reportedly did not attend the party, Holtby described Leighton's work in detail. The Bonhams website quotes him writing: 'The little man squats bare-headed, in his blanket, one finger raised, as it often is to emphasise a point, his lips parted for a word that is almost a smile. That is very much as I saw him when he came as guest to a big luncheon in Westminster at which I was present a little while ago. He was the political leader there, the subtle negotiator, the manipulator of Congress, the brilliant lawyer, the statesman who knows just how to play on the psychology of friends and enemies alike.' Later, Gandhi's personal secretary, Mahadev Desai, also wrote a letter to Leighton, a copy of which is attached to the backing board. It reads: 'It was such a pleasure to have had you here for many mornings doing Mr Gandhi's portrait. I am sorry I didn't see the final result, but many of my friends who saw it in the Albany Gallery said to me that it was a good likeness. I am quite sure Mr Gandhi has no objection to it being reproduced.' Also exhibited at the Boston Public Library in 1978, the Bonhams note mentions that Leighton's family recalls the portrait being displayed in 1974, 'when it was attacked with a knife by an RSS activist'. It further states that though there is no documentation to corroborate this event, the painting does show signs of restoration at several places and has a label attached to the backing board that confirms that the painting was restored in 1974 by the Lyman Allyn Museum Conservation Laboratory.
India.com
37 minutes ago
- India.com
Trump Goes Soft On China As He Allows Nvidia To Sell High End AI Chips, Nvidia Stock Soar 5%
New Delhi: Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang has announced that the company got the green light from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips, key for artificial intelligence, to China. This is a big turnaround—just a few months ago, the government had blocked these chips from China as part of its ongoing tech restrictions meant to limit China's access to the most powerful AI technology. The approval follows intense lobbying by Nvidia, which warned that the ban would cost it an extra $5.5 billion and cut it off from a huge chunk of its business in China and Hong Kong (which brought in nearly $17 billion in sales last year). The U.S. move is also seen as a response to worries that companies outside the U.S. might fill the gap and that American companies like Nvidia could lose their competitive edge globally if they lost China as a customer. Jensen Huang, now in Beijing to meet Chinese officials and attend a supply chain expo, said the company has already started the process to file for licenses and hopes to start shipping H20 chips soon. He stressed on Chinese state TV that China is highly innovative and that it's important for American tech giants to be able to serve this market. Ever since the export ban was announced in April, Nvidia designed the H20 chip specifically to fit within U.S. rules, but still had its shipments frozen. Now, with the approval, Nvidia's stock shot up nearly 5 percent in early trading as investors cheered the return to the Chinese market. This reopening is good news not just for Nvidia, but for many Chinese tech firms waiting for these chips—especially as rivals like Huawei try to catch up in AI hardware. However, the back-and-forth shows just how uncertain the tech business can be when global politics are involved, and both U.S. and Chinese companies are watching closely to see what happens next.
