The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Upright: “The restoration of the Mexico City policy is a great start, but Trump should take a much bolder step: Stop all non-emergency foreign aid now. … Just as the welfare state here at home has created cycles of poverty in families, aid abroad fosters dependency, not self-sufficiency. Local initiatives don’t take shape, because the attitude is that the foreigners will take care of the busted pipe or the downed power lines. … The best way to promote prosperity abroad is to fix America’s problems first. Then we can serve as a beacon of freedom and opportunity for nations around the globe. If we lead, the rest of the world will follow.” —Stephen Moore

Tread carefully: “The rocky rollout of the Trump [immigration] policy means that the administration is expending political capital on its executive order that would best be preserved for more important immigration-related causes, like getting Congress to pass a mandatory e-verify system to stop employers from hiring illegal labor and to emphasize skills in the legal immigration system — you know, other alleged betrayals of America.” —Rich Lowry

For the record: “Despite the real legislative and electoral accomplishments it helped achieve, the Tea Party was painted by Democrats and the media as a treasonous wing of racist insurrectionists. … Now that Democrats have been kicked out of the White House (and both chambers of Congress), liberals are attempting to create a Tea Party of their own.” —Stephen Miller in “How Liberals Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Tea Party”

Braying Jackass: “The fact is, Donald Trump loves the NRA. And during his campaign he embraced them and they embraced him. The city of Chicago had some of the most stringent gun control laws. How were they eviscerated? Because the NRA funded lawsuits against our gun control measures.” —Rep. Luis Gutierrez

Non Compos Mentis: “I would argue that we should go towards a discussion about a pathway in which there’s absolutely no screening. … And then maybe, let’s just make sure that if folks get to this country, and we suspect them of having connections to terrorism, that they shouldn’t be able to get an assault weapon.” —Sen. Chris Murphy

And last… “Surprisingly, open-minded Hollywood has not yet agreed to allow unvetted refugees to mill freely about their heavily guarded film studios.” —Twitter satirist @weknowwhatsbest