The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Nothing whatever but the constitutional law, the political structure, of these United States protects any American from arbitrary seizure of his property and his person, from the Gestapo and the Storm Troops, from the concentration camp, the torture chamber, the revolver at the back of his neck in a cellar.” —Rose Lane (1886-1968)

Observations: “One glaring conclusion of the [debate last] night is that the GOP nominee, whoever he or she is, has a golden opportunity and the country desperately needs a Republican president. … The country needs to change direction from the Obama administration’s path, and no Democrat can be counted on to do that.” —Jim Geraghty

For the record: “[CNN moderator] Wolf [Blitzer] posed a question about Syrian refugees, and specifically about ‘orphans under the age of five’ or something like that. It’s fine, but it’s worth noting that just a few weeks ago, Democrats and their allies in the media were talking about why the GOP was so scared of women and children who were Syrian refugees. They immediately dropped the ‘women’ portion of that question in the aftermath of a female immigrant slaughtering 14 Americans in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, but apparently they’re keeping the ‘you’re scared of children’ suggestion.” —Mollie Hemingway

You are a flip-flop: “The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change, as it is known, in Syria. What we have said is that we don’t believe that Assad himself has the ability to be able to lead the future Syria” —John Kerry

Hey, the system’s working, ya know: “We know who’s coming into our country for the most part.” —John Kerry (Can you image a parent saying, “We know who’s babysitting our kids for the most part”?)

The BIG Lie: “I do see in [Raul Castro] a big streak of pragmatism. In that sense, I don’t think he is an ideologue.” —Barack Obama

“The vast majority of Americans support universal background checks, for example, a simple step we could start implementing tomorrow if Republicans would drop their worship of the NRA and their agenda and pick up the mantle of doing the right thing.” —DNC chief Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Late-night humor: “The international climate talks in Paris wrapped up this weekend with 195 countries reaching a landmark agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. And then they all drove to the airport in 195 cars.” —Seth Meyers