The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Observations: “Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) recently disclosed that a congressional investigation has found at least 72 employees of the Department of Homeland Security listed on the U.S. terrorist watch list. In other news, President Obama used a memorial service for the victims of the Orlando massacre to advocate for more gun control laws. Anyone else see a contradiction in these two items? … Truth is often a casualty in politics, but in a presidential election year it has become a mass casualty.” —Cal Thomas

For the record: “[T]he administration’s purpose … is not to frustrate terrorist propaganda but to further its own propaganda. As with Benghazi, a terror attack on President Obama’s watch could imperil Democratic prospects in November. Thus the administration has been at pains to pin the Orlando attack on armed Americans, not Islamic terrorism.” —James Taranto

Non Compos Mentis: “The assault rifle traces back to Nazi Germany. … Tuck that somewhere in the back of your mind. The first people to really utilize this weapon were Nazis. Not our forefathers. Not Thomas Jefferson. Not George Washington. No matter where we stand on the volatile gun control issue, we might think twice about that before boldly embracing assault rifles as part of our American heritage.” —Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom (It’s actually true that the Nazis invented the first assault rifle. They also invented the first jets, the first ICBMs and the first cruise missile. Perhaps the U.S. should stop using all these things, considering their origins.)

Braying Jenny: “The @SenateGOP have decided to sell weapons to ISIS.” —tweet from Sen. Elizabeth Warren following Monday’s failed gun control votes

Alpha Jackass: “Despite the media’s framing of [the Orlando massacre] as a terrorist attack, we are very clear that this terror is completely homegrown, born from the anti-Black white supremacy, patriarchy and homophobia of the conservative right and of those who would use religious extremism as a weapon to gain power for the few and take power from the rest. … The enemy is now and has always been the four threats of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, and militarism. These forces and not Islam create terrorism.” —Black Lives Matter statement

And last… “While President Obama is on a rant about gun control, please don’t interrupt him by asking why he’s allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest