The Patriot Post® · Monday Short Cuts

The Gipper: “We must always ask: Is government working to liberate and empower the individual? … Or does it seek to compel, command and coerce people into submission and dependence?”

Great question: “Businesses must ‘follow the law’ and bake a cake but cities can ignore law and be ‘sanctuaries’ for those who enter illegally?” —Dana Loesch

“I absolutely do believe that [the Center for Medical Progress has] violated laws in terms of how they secured these videos. But the fraud is also in how they have presented them and in the editing. … I’m not a lawyer — but everything is on the table when you look at these videos and the fraud and the conspiracy behind it.” —Planned Parenthood Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens

We’re all just one big happy family: “Islamic State’s goal isn’t primarily about money or sex, but about sending the message that they are creating an Islamic utopia, following the practices of the era of the Prophet Muhammad. … Our horror at this self-conscious neo-medievalism should teach us a lesson about the evolution of our beliefs and what it means to be modern. Begin with the sober acknowledgment that we aren’t light years ahead of Islamic State — more like a century and a half.” —Harvard University professor Noah Feldman

Village Idiots: “[The Hillary Clinton email scandal] is, in fact, manufactured partly by a press that’s bored and partly by the Republicans. Here’s the deal. She did not break any rules, she did not break any policy. … She can’t be blamed for this. So I look at this as the usual press frenzy, the pack journalism, and I think it’ll go away, because there’s no sense to it.” —Howard Dean

Missing the point: “We pretend with the election of Barack Obama that we’re in some kind of post-racial society, and, of course, you know, we’re not! The Onion magazine got it right when he was inaugurated. It said ‘Black man given worst job in world.’” —documentary filmmaker Ken Burns

Late-night humor: “According to a new survey, 17 percent of adult smartphone owners use auto-deleting apps like Snapchat and Wickr. ‘Yeah, uh, that’s what happened!’ said Hillary Clinton.” —Seth Meyers