The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Let anyone who believes that a high standard of living is the achievement of labor unions and government controls ask himself the following question: If one had a ‘time machine’ and transported the united labor chieftains of America, plus three million government bureaucrats, back to the tenth century — would they be able to provide the medieval serf with electric light, refrigerators, automobiles, and television sets?” —Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

Upright: “[B]lack youths had lower unemployment during earlier times. How might that be explained? It would be sheer lunacy to attempt to explain the more favorable employment statistics by suggesting that during earlier periods, blacks faced less racial discrimination. Similarly, it would be lunacy to suggest that black youths had higher skills than white youths. What best explain the loss of teenage employment opportunities, particularly those of black teenagers, are increases in minimum wage laws.” —Walter E. Williams

Observations: “I don’t think we have anything to be ashamed about from reflecting on Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan. I think Obama’s speech [in Hiroshima] was, however, consistent with his apology tour across his seven and a half years of office. I don’t think he’s ever actually said in any of these occasions, ‘I apologize.’ It’s always more indirect, and it was indirect [in Japan].” —former UN ambassador John Bolton

Village Idiots: “I went back and reviewed [the ‘Under the Gun’ transcript] and agree that those eight seconds do not accurately represent [the gun advocates’] response. … I regret that those eight seconds were misleading and that I did not raise my initial concerns more vigorously.” —Katie Couric

The BIG Lie: “Had Secretary Clinton known of any concerns about her email setup at the time, she would have taken steps to address them. She believed she was following the practices of other Secretaries and senior officials.” —John Podesta, Clinton campaign chairman

And last… “With the right policies, we could stop that gorilla tragedy from happening again. Also, if we do nothing it most likely won’t happen again.” —Frank Fleming