The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.” —Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992)

Belly laugh of the week: “I consider myself a strong feminist. In fact, Gloria Steinem, everyone knows she is one of the leading feminists in America, made me an honorary woman many years ago. I don’t know what that meant, but I accepted it when she came to campaign for me.” —Bernie Sanders, getting in touch with his feminine side

From today’s “Flip-Flop File”: “Yeah, I guess [I’m for invading Iraq]. You know, I wish the first time it was done correctly.” —Donald Trump in 2002 (He now claims he was always opposed to the war.)

Good question: “Has any political party ever had a candidate who is such a wrecking ball, and who isn’t a fringe candidate, but a dominant one?” —Rich Lowry

Village Idiots: “There’s so much rancor in politics and partisanship that we allow ourselves to get drawn into different corners to the extent that some people actually want to use the funeral of a Supreme Court Justice as some sort of political cudgel.” —Obama spokesman Josh Earnest

Upright: “[T]his is the same government which had no problem with the IRS auditing Tea Party groups and their donors, and tried to prosecute a reporter in a leak investigation. It’s also the same government which had the DHS focus on ‘right-wing sovereign citizens,’ considers terrorism ‘damage to Government property’ (without giving a specific definition of what ‘damage’ means), and doesn’t care about actual facts when it comes to putting people on terrorist watch lists. It seems odd to me that those complaining about the IRS and tyranny of the current administration are perfectly fine with the fact the FBI is trying to get a backdoor created to get into ‘just one phone.’” —Taylor Millard

Late-night humor: “This email problem continues to dog Hillary, but she says it’s just an honest mistake. You ever notice the only time people in Washington are honest is when they make a mistake? Why is that? But, Hillary says she has been tested. Well I hope so, you never know what Bill might bring home.” —Jay Leno