The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

For the Record

“So, Zuckerberg — the CEO of Facebook and Meta — admits that right-wing censorship exists on his platform, and some of you STILL deny it? If you won’t believe it straight from the CEO, there’s no helping you.” —Riley Gaines

“If Zuckerberg means even half of what he says … we may well be seeing a genuine shift in how Silicon Valley regards free speech, dissent, and pluralism.” —Charles C.W. Cooke

“The media, having lost the trust of the public, formed ‘fact-checkers’ to act as gatekeepers of information. The fact-checkers were not fact-checkers but ideological enforcers. They once bullied Facebook into embracing them. Now that Facebook is done with them, they are enraged that they can no longer serve as gatekeepers.” —Erick Erickson

“In no way should Zuckerberg be applauded for claiming to stop some of his draconian censorship that has nearly destroyed free speech in America. There need to be sincere apologies, massive restitution, transparency in the removal of filters that advantage left-wing press, etc.” —Mollie Hemingway

“Calling them ‘fact checkers’ has always been misinformation.” —Frank J. Fleming

Tongue-in-Cheek

“I didn’t realize Facebook was still on.” —Dave Rubin

Non Compos Mentis

“Meta Says Fact-Checkers Were the Problem. Fact-Checkers Rule That False.” —The New York Times

Hot Air

“The changes announced by Meta today are very much a MAGA makeover.” —CNN’s Brian Stelter

Coup de Grâce

“If those hostages aren’t back … by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone.” —Donald Trump

Spend-o-Rama

“We are three months into the 2025 fiscal year and on pace to spend an all-time-high $7 trillion and borrow $2 trillion. If we stay on this course, the federal budget could reach $10 trillion over the next decade.” —Stephen Moore

Political Futures

“Trump didn’t start a new party. He took over and remade America’s existing right-of-center vehicle. If some Trump-like future leader in Britain or Europe can do likewise, the result could be a generational realignment similar to the one America has seen.” —Daniel McCarthy

“We must never forget that the contrived prosecutions and lawfare against Trump were launched with the goal of putting him in prison where the left hoped he would die. And yet with God’s protection, he persevered and prevailed, giving us one more chance to save the country.” —Gary Bauer

Upright

“The iterations of Islam that prompt the murder of Westerners and seek to destroy our civilization are unacceptable. … It doesn’t make you intolerant to have no tolerance for those who wish to murder you.” —Victor Joecks

“The FBI should infiltrate and take down pro-terrorist groups and mosques, not parents at school board meetings. Stop allowing people who hate America to immigrate here.” —Victor Joecks

“The Old Testament model of restitution would not only force the offender to pay back the victim for money or property that was stolen, but in itself invokes the notion of personal responsibility for one’s crimes. The victim in these circumstances is not so much the state, as the individual.” —Cal Thomas