The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “No man who has not occupied my position in Washington can fully realize the constant battle which must be carried on against incompetence, corruption, tyranny of government expanded into business activities… Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.” —Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)

Braying Jenny: “[W]e witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line. His casual cruelty to a Gold Star family, his casual suggestion that more countries should have nuclear weapons and now his casual inciting of violence. Every single one of these incidents shows us that Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander in chief of the United States.” —Hillary Clinton, continuing her “unfit” argument

Hypocrisy alert: “[It] is so bizarre. It’s reminiscent of demagogues who want to be in the press no matter what they have to say. They make their verbal poo-poo anyplace to get attention.” —Nancy Pelosi on Donald Trump, though few have as much experience at “verbal poo-poo” as Pelosi

Non Compos Mentis: “JetBlue turbulence puts 24 in hospital” —headline of a CNN article, which concludes: “It’s believed that weather played a role in creating the bumpy flying conditions.” (In other news, water is wet.)

The truth slips: “We couldn’t help [Hillary Clinton] any more than we have. I mean, she’s got just a free ride so far from the media. We’re the biggest ones promoting her campaign.” —CNN’s Chris Cuomo

Gun grabbers: “[W]e are facing at least four major public health crises in this country and … Congress hasn’t done anything about it.” —Rep. Donna Edwards, who describes “the scourge of gun violence” as one of those crisis

Food for thought: “I have never made and will never make the argument that it is immoral for people to vote for Trump to stop Hillary. I understand that argument completely, and sympathize with it. But lying for Trump is immoral. Pretending his boo-boos aren’t boo-boos is immoral. Pretending he’s something he’s not, and lying to your audience about it — that’s immoral. And most of all, pretending that those who make a different risk-reward calculation from yours are immoral — even while those people hold supposedly similar principles — is immoral.” —Ben Shapiro