The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should serve the state is essentially a Communist notion. In a free society these institutions must be wholly free — which is to say that their function is to serve as checks upon the state.” —Alan Barth (1906-1979)

Upright: “The great political irony is that Mr. Obama is the main cause of his own Guantanamo failure. If he hadn’t let Islamic State rise in Syria and Iraq, if he hadn’t let Libya become another terror incubator, and if he hadn’t let al Qaeda make a comeback via multiple local franchises, the American people might feel more relaxed about closing the terror prison. As the tide of war keeps rising, Americans know they need it.” —Wall Street Journal

A broken clock is right twice a day: “Sixty-eight percent [of my followers] would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder, I think it means anything, okay?” —Donald Trump

We’re wondering the same thing: “Why is there one standard for me and not for everybody else?” —Hillary Clinton responding to pressure to disclose her Wall Street speech transcripts

“Look, we look like hypocrites and fools to the entire world. What we have done is locked up people in a way that is causing all kinds of repercussions around the world. People say, ‘Oh, you’re a democratic society, we have locked people up in an island.’ And I think that has hurt us all over the world. … I think we should shut down Guantanamo. I think in the long run it will help us significantly.” —Bernie Sanders

Non Compos Mentis: “The real problem that we have when it comes to debt is very simple. It is that our population’s getting older, and we use a lot of health care. … The accident of how our health care system evolved means that we got private-sector involvement, and they’ve got to make a profit, and they’ve got overhead, and so forth. So there are a whole bunch of reasons, but essentially, we spend about 6 to 8 percent more than our wealthy nation counterparts, per capita, on health care. That delta — that difference — is our debt.” —Barack Obama

The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting: “We have a bunch of, you know — we’ve got assault weapons, all kinds of things you wouldn’t use to kill a white-tailed deer out there and they’re being used to kill people. So listen … we’re not living in the Middle Ages. My view on gun legislation is this: You will not solve this problem state by state. You need a 50-state solution, and we better come up with one fast.” —Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin

Late-night humor: “After doing poorly in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Jeb Bush announced that he’s dropping out of the race. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are both hoping to pick up Jeb’s supporters. Then Jeb said, ‘Joke’s on you — I didn’t have any supporters!’” —Jimmy Fallon