The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Observations: “Perpetual warfare on all fronts doesn’t mean you’re winning, just that you have a lot of enemies. Counterpunching doesn’t always mean you’re hurting your adversary, just that you may be fighting on his terrain. Chaos doesn’t mean you’re draining the swamp, just that you’re wasting political capital. The adage is that if you’re taking flak, it means you’re over the target. In Trump’s case, it may mean that he decided on a whim to change the flight plan in the middle of the mission to divebomb some out-of-the-way, well-defended target. Normality won’t mean anything until it reaches all the way to the top.” —Rich Lowry

For the record: “Democrats would filibuster Ruth Bader Ginsburg if President Donald Trump nominated her. There is simply no principled reason to oppose this exceptional, exceptional Supreme Court nominee.” —Mitch McConnell

Braying Jenny: “You know in any campaign there’s so many different cross-currents and events and some have greater impact than others. But it is fair to say … certainly, misogyny played a role. I mean that just has to be admitted.” —Hillary Clinton on the blame for her loss

Wait, did Hillary just agree with Trump on something? “I really believe that we should have and still should take out [Assad’s] airfields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people.” —Hillary Clinton before Thursday’s missile strike on Syria

Non Compos Mentis; “I like to be close to the children. And in this administration, they need us all to stay close to them.” —Nancy Pelosi (Unless they’re in the womb, of course…)

Late-night humor: “North Korea conducted a missile test, which escalated tensions in the region. But don’t worry — things settled down when Kendall Jenner stepped in and handed them a Pepsi.” —Jimmy Fallon