Blame-Shifting

“We’re grateful and relieved that the congressman [Henry Cuellar, who was carjacked at gunpoint] is unharmed. We understand what communities are going through across the country, not just in DC. That’s why the president took action very early on in his administration to get the American Rescue Plan done, without the help of Republicans. That’s why every time he puts forward his budget, he makes sure there are billions of dollars to deal with crime. That’s just a fact.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

Belly Laugh of the Day

“That’s what the president’s gonna do. He’s gonna continue to figure out how we’re gonna lower costs for the American people. That’s Bidenomics.” —Karine Jean-Pierre

Upright

“America is not a country in decline, but under President Biden, we have been a country in retreat. The last time we saw this movie was in the 1970s when Jimmy Carter had us retreating from our values and retreating from hard work. Ronald Reagan restored our work ethic, and he inspired this nation.” —Senator Tim Scott (R-SC)

Kangaroo Courts

“It’s a tentative Western law that the punishment is supposed to fit the crime. And if you wanted to tell me that Trump should be fined a couple of million dollars for a pattern of exaggerating his assets, I don’t really think I’d have a big problem with that. If you want to tell me they should ruin a $2-3 billion real estate empire that’s done business for decades in New York and was regarded as an iconic business before Trump became a political enemy of Democrats, and now they’re trying to ruin this guy, over this? I think that’s way, way out of whack.” —Andrew McCarthy

For the Record

“It’s a good thing Merrick Garland never got that lifetime appointment as a justice on the Supreme Court. Perhaps some of the two-tiered justice Garland is meting out as attorney general for Joe Biden’s Social Justice Department is retribution for being denied that seat. Or perhaps he’s just proving to be unworthy of authority.” —Nate Jackson

Sad but True

“Trump defenders and apologists like to say the reason they support him is that he’s a ‘fighter.’ But even fighters are constrained by rules, like not hitting below the belt. Trump seems to spend all his time below the belt, and not just rhetorically, if you include his behavior with women and what he has said famous men (like himself) ought to be able to do to them.” —Cal Thomas

Re: The Left

“[Preferred pronouns] are only used to reinforce the lie that a person tells him or herself, and the preferred pronoun enforcer is denying physical reality. … There is a difference between being polite and going along with a lie. Forcing someone to lie in the name of politeness … is against many people’s religious and moral beliefs. In other words, it is a violation of religious liberty.” —Emmy Griffin