The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

The Gipper: “‘Trust me’ government asks that we concentrate our hopes and dreams on one man; that we trust him to do what’s best for us. My view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs — in the people. The responsibility to live up to that trust is where it belongs, in their elected leaders.”

Non Compos Mentis: “Scripture doesn’t say anything about LGBT bathrooms or anything like that.” —PBS’s David Brooks

The 84 murdered victims in Nice are unavailable for comment: “[T]oday we can say that the tide has turned. Our coalition and partners on the ground have driven [ISIL] out of nearly 50% of the territory that it once controlled in Iraq and 20% of the territory in Syria. … They have only shrunk and moved backwards.” —John Kerry

The BIG Lie: “[T]he world has never been less violent, healthier, better educated, more tolerant, with more opportunity for more people, and more connected than it is today.” —Barack Obama

Braying Jenny: “[T]he verbiage that’s bothering me is that they call the police ‘the fallen.’ Now, first of all, that’s military terminology. … [N]ow we’re applying it to police officers. That’s just stupid. That’s not good. That’s wrong. This whole militarization thing has gotta end and one of the cool things you could do right away, media, is to stop calling police officers who are killed in the line of duty ‘the fallen.’ And then the people who are shot by the police … should be called the executed — because that’s what they were, they were executed.” —radio talk-show host Randi Rhodes

And last… “[T]he dark portrait of America in Trump’s speech was an argument: an argument that the state of the country has gone terribly wrong, and that the status quo must change. It is simple and largely accurate; soon we’ll see if the public agrees Trump is the man who can change the country for the better.” —Jim Geraghty