The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “[N]othing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.” —Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Upright: “The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has analyzed about 70% of total global development aid and found that about one in four of those dollars goes to climate-related aid. In a world in which malnourishment continues to claim at least 1.4 million children’s lives each year, 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty, and 2.6 billion lack clean drinking water and sanitation, this growing emphasis on climate aid is immoral. … Providing the world’s most deprived countries with solar panels instead of better health care or education is inexcusable self-indulgence. Green energy sources may be good to keep on a single light or to charge a cellphone. But they are largely useless for tackling the main power challenges for the world’s poor.” —Bjorn Lomborg in The Wall Street Journal

Alpha Jackass: “[Tea Partiers] come from states that used to own slaves. They come from states that the Confederate Army was pledged allegiance to. They come from states that the Ku Klux Klan and voters rights and all of those things came into play. … It is their view that if they can bring down the government they can rebuild in their image.” —Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)

Demo-gogues: “Republicans are wasting the American people’s time with a partisan vote on the Donald Trump Act. That’s what we’re going to vote on at 2:15. That’s what the House members have called it, and I think it’s a pretty good description of what we’re doing out there.” —Harry Reid just before Democrats blocked a bill reigning in sanctuary cities

Village Idiots: “[W]hen I hear a United States senator say, ‘I’m not a scientist so I can’t make a judgment,’ or a candidate for president for that matter, I’m absolutely astounded. … [W]hen more than 6,000-plus peer-reviewed studies of the world’s best scientists all lay out that [global warming] is happening and mankind is contributing to it, it seems to me that [climate skeptics] disqualify themselves fundamentally from high public office with those kinds of statements.” —John Kerry

Wrong prescription: “I want to see our post office be reinvigorated. … I think that the postal service, in fact, can play an important role in providing modest types of banking service to folks who need it.” —Bernie Sanders

And last… “Hillary’s physician says her 2012 concussion has no lingering effects, except for possible one day memory lapses every 3 years.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest