The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Leftist Babble

“Gun violence has terrorized and traumatized so many of our communities in this country. And let us be clear, it does not have to be this way, as our friends in Australia have demonstrated.” —Vice President Kamala Harris

“I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.” —President Joe Biden

Belly Laugh of the Day

“I understand the Constitution.” —Joe Biden

Non Compos Mentis

“In celebration and recognition of Intersex Awareness Day, we affirm the United States’ commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of Intersex persons globally. … Intersex persons often face stigma and discrimination in accessing education, healthcare, and legal recognition, and are subjected to medically unnecessary surgeries. These harmful practices, which can cause lifelong negative physical and emotional consequences, are a medical form of so-called conversion therapy practices in that they seek to physically ‘convert’ Intersex children into non-Intersex children.” —Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller

The BIG Lie

“I was not trying to disrupt any, you know, official government proceeding, so I’m glad, you know, the investigation found that that was the case. The misdemeanor charge of pulling the alarm, I admitted that from the very beginning. So, you know, gotta take responsibility.” —Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-NY)

Spend-o-Rama

“Vacations from history never work out. We thought we were enjoying one with the federal budget: Interests rates were low and would always stay that way, so why not keep spending money we don’t have? … Interest payments have roughly doubled to $650 billion. That’s beginning to approach what we spend on the Department of Defense — except, of course, we don’t get one tank or airplane from making interest payments. At this pace, payments on the federal debt are on track to become the second biggest federal program after Social Security.” —Rich Lowry

A Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut

“What’s harsh is the way Hamas is using people as human shields. What’s harsh is taking a couple of hundred hostages and leaving families anxious, waiting, and worrying to figure out where their loved ones are. What’s harsh is dropping in on a music festival and slaughtering a bunch of young people just trying to enjoy an afternoon. I could go on and on. That’s what’s harsh.” —National Security Council spokesman John Kirby responding to a reporter asking for Joe Biden to apologize for being “harsh” in saying he doesn’t trust Hamas information

For the Record

“The ‘Minister of Health’ in Gaza might as well be the chief medic for terrorists.” —Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR)

Observations

“Israel has a right to exist; a right to defend itself. We have members in this body that do not believe that. Members in this body that cannot muster the courage or the strength to condemn the slaughtering of babies but have the audacity to repeat a vile and disgusting lie that Israel bombed a hospital. They are not worthy of serving in this body. … Those members should resign in disgrace.” —Congressman Michael Lawler (R-NY)

“The easiest moral place to stand is in the middle. Standing in the middle is comforting. It grants you the illusion that you are being evenhanded, that you see nuance and complexity where others see black and white. It is flattering to be in the middle — no one hates your viewpoint enough to make you their opponent, and yet you get to stand apart from everyone, tut-tutting both sides. When it comes to Israel and its terror-backing enemies, the West has, for some decades, taken precisely that position.” —Ben Shapiro

“Israel is at a moral disadvantage because it cares about preserving human life, while its enemies celebrate death in the pursuit of eliminating the Jewish state and ultimately the best-case scenario for them, which is martyrdom.” —Cal Thomas

“How many young people working as engineers or carpenters or starting a new business or at home tending to a new family support Hamas? Very few, one imagines. What about the literature majors or those pursuing international relations degrees or Ph.D.s in one of the social pseudosciences? There is little hope for those who attend hermetically sealed ideological laboratories of higher ‘learning,’ where identitarianism, intersectionality and other iterations of Marxism — most contingent on some form of antisemitism — are taught.” —David Harsanyi

“At its core, Marxism is a philosophy rooted in resentment, devoted to the abolition of religion and the replacement of God with government. For the diehard Marxist, there is no ‘truth,’ no ultimate arbiter of ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ no natural law, no divine source of fundamental human dignity or inherent individual rights. There is only power and whatever it takes to wield it to bring about the ‘revolution.’ It is no coincidence that antisemitism festers in this climate.” —Laura Hollis

“The job of universities is to pursue truth. But this is impossible when they do not believe truth exists. Thinking that the point is bringing together people rather than pursing truth is an exercise in ideology, not scholarship, and leads only to the social, cultural and spiritual degeneration we are experiencing. If we want to save our country, let’s save our places of learning.” —Star Parker

“If you really want to change the institutions, you have to stop hiring from the Ivies when there are plenty of fine, capable and academically gifted graduates … from Middle American families who raised these kids with a work ethic and whose values align with the nation, not the Nazis. Hire the kids who worked part time at Chick-fil-A instead of the kids whose fathers got them fellowships at liberal elite institutions.” —Erick Erickson