The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “Those who take the most from the table, teach contentment. Those for whom the taxes are destined, demand sacrifice. Those who eat their fill, speak to the hungry, of wonderful times to come. Those who lead the country into the abyss, call ruling difficult, for ordinary folk.” —Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Buck stops over there: “Well, look, it was Mayor de Blasio’s skit. He has addressed it, and I will really defer to him because it is something that he’s already talked about.” —Hillary Clinton on her pitiful attempt at humor

Braying Jackass: “The president is committed to ensuring that individuals who are conducting criminal prosecutions do their work without influence from politicians or anybody that’s involved in politics.” —Obama spokesman Josh Earnest, cleaning up the mess his boss made by publicly influencing the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email

Friendly fire: “[Barack Obama] has factually been the least transparent administration probably in this nation’s history, certainly in modern time. It comes at a time when people are demanding to have more transparency in their government, when we need to have more transparency in our government and when we are losing all trust in our government.” —Leftmedia pundit Ron Fournier

Art of the whine: “You have to remember I’m leading. I’m more than 200 delegates ahead, so over all, I’m doing very well. … Don’t forget, I only complain about the [states] where we have difficulty.” —Donald Trump

Late-night humor: “House Speaker Paul Ryan … issued a formal statement ruling himself out as a potential replacement candidate if there is a contested Republican convention. And you know things are bad in the Republican Party when people who aren’t even running are dropping out of the race.” —Seth Meyers