The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “A free man is as jealous of his responsibilities as he is of his liberties.” —Historian Cyril James (1901-1989)

Non Compos Mentis: “We can’t continue to frame law enforcement and the police forces in America as simply a bunch of good natured people and there happen to be a few bad apples among them. That’s not the right analysis. … [I]t’s something about the job itself and the structure of law enforcement in America itself that becomes an occupying force and — they’re an occupying force in the hood.” —Morehouse College professor Marc Lamont Hill

Demo-gogues: “Excessive police force and staggering unemployment work together because what we’ve done in the United States is that we’ve said that the affluent part of our society is going to demand more tax breaks, more wealth, more privilege, leaving less for the less fortunate. The way we keep the less fortunate in control is policing and prisons — that’s the unfortunate formula that we’ve constructed. … Our society is going to have to decide if are we going to just pay the police and the prisons to keep the poor under control or we can invest and include everyone in this economy. We are connected here; we are all Americans; we’ve got to say that, look, you can make good money, but do you have to make so much that whole neighborhoods have nothing, not even any hope?” —Rep. Keith Ellison on what precipitated the Baltimore riots

Village Idiots: “Here’s my demand: I want every African-American currently incarcerated for drug ‘crimes’ or nonviolent offenses released from prison today. And the rest who [are] imprisoned — I don’t believe 50% of them did what they’re accused of. Lies. Greed. A modern day slave system…. Next demand: Disarm the police. We have a [quarter] billion 2nd amendment guns in our homes [for] protection. We’ll survive til the right cops [are] hired.” —filmmaker Michael Moore

Dezinformatsia: “Just be careful, because you know how [the police] are. If you seem like you’re being provocative towards them, you know how things can go.” —CNN’s Chris Cuomo to a Baltimore demonstrator

And last… “It’s really hard to take seriously any criticism of capitalism that’s instantly shared worldwide through the internet. … What did people do with opinions before the internet?” —Frank Fleming