The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state!” —Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850)

Clearly: “We have no tolerance for points of view that aren’t inclusive.” —ESPN President John Skipper (We find his lack of self-awareness disturbing.)

The BIG Lie: “Donald Trump [used the] word [rape] unprompted during an interview … bringing up a discredited and long denied accusation against former President Bill Clinton dating back to 1978 when he was Arkansas attorney general.” —NBC’s Andrea Mitchell (The allegation has indeed long been denied, but never discredited.)

Braying Jenny: “I have concluded [Donald Trump] is not qualified to be president.” —Hillary Clinton, who should be disqualified

Non Compos Mentis: “Climate deniers are not about a lack of data. They’re … deniers as to whether or not the solutions, once you recognize the problem, are going to be to their advantage or not.” —EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (This coming from the woman who admitted in March 2015, “I do not know what the models actually are predicting,” and further conceded in July, “What percentage of the atmosphere is CO₂? I don’t have that calculation.”)

Upright: “[E]ven if the existence of global warming is ‘settled,’ the policies for how to best respond to it are not. But in the political debates about climate change, activists say that their climatological claims are irrefutable and so are their preferred remedies. If climate change is the threat they claim, I’d rather spend billions on geoengineering to fix it than trillions on impoverishing economic policies that at best slightly delay it.” —Jonah Goldberg

Late-night humor: “In Kentucky, Hillary Clinton declared victory after winning by less than 1 percent. So there’s another 1 percent for Bernie to be mad at.” —Stephen Colbert