The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.” —Plato (429-347 BC)

Upright: “We’ve got to do better as black people. The cops have made some mistakes, but there’s a lot of blame to go around.” —former NBA player Charles Barkley

A blind squirrel finds a nut: “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg needs to drop the political punditry and the name-calling. Three times in the past week, Justice Ginsburg has publicly discussed her view of the presidential race, in the sharpest terms. … [J]ust imagine if this were 2000 and the resolution of the election depended on a Supreme Court decision. Could anyone now argue with a straight face that Justice Ginsburg’s only guide would be the law? … Washington is more than partisan enough without the spectacle of a Supreme Court justice flinging herself into the mosh pit.” —New York Times editorial

You think? “On reflection, my recent remarks in response to press inquiries were ill-advised and I regret making them. Judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. In the future I will be more circumspect.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Demo-gogues: “[T]here will be more people killed by guns and people who ought not to have those weapons because a thorough background check was not in place to [stop] people who have mental incapacity, that have terrorist thoughts, who have criminal thoughts or records, or behavior that would lead law enforcement to deny them access to those weapons.” —Rep. Joe Crowley

Non sequitur: “Two black men were needlessly gunned down by police; 5 Dallas police officers were slain by a demented man, and on Friday I had to appear in federal court. … I’m not the first black elected official to be persecuted and, sad to say, I won’t be the last.” —Rep. Corrine Brown, who earlier stated, “[My indictors] are the same agents that was [sic] not able to do a thorough investigation of [Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen], and we ended up with 50 people dead.”

Late-night humor: “People are now saying that Hillary Clinton has narrowed her list of potential vice presidents down to five people. I’m sorry, she’s ‘deleted’ the list down to five people.” —Jimmy Fallon