The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.” —Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

For the record: “The House bill is a messy, complex compromise, but then the GOP has inherited a messy, complex failure in ObamaCare. The House Freedom Caucus’s claim that repeal alone would produce some free-market wonderland is a fantasy. The health market of 2009 no longer exists, and even then it wasn’t great. Repeal without replace would lead to market chaos and patient horror stories that discredit free-market reform.” —The Wall Street Journal

Upright: “It would be a mistake to suggest that originalism turns on the secret intentions of the drafters of the language of the law. The point of originalism [or] textualism … is to strive to understand what the words on the page mean. Not import words that come from us, but apply what you, the people’s representative, the lawmakers, have done.” —Neil Gorsuch

Braying Jackass: “There’s nothing fundamentally changed in the Republican Party in the last 12 to 15 years, except they got a president now who’s a little more colorful. That is polite, but it’s about time we’re polite.” —Joe Biden

Accolades from the Left: “I actually believe that Donald Trump has the potential to be a great president in sort of the Nixon-goes-to-China way, or Reagan-goes-to-the-Soviet-Union way, if he can find a way to rein in some of the more unhealthy impulses, listen to his staff, bring on a full complement of political appointees who will help him govern.” —former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson

Dezinformatsiya: “We’ve seen this rise of a kind of a right-wing movement here and throughout Europe. And [the attack on the UK Parliament] is only going to put wind in the sails of those who would say that this is an issue that needs to be looked at, that needs to be examined in terms of refugees.” —NBC’s Matt Bradley

And last… “Chelsea Clinton getting a lifetime achievement award is like a guy with military actions in 7 nations getting a Nobel Peace Prize.” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor