The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “The last stage but one of every civilisation, is characterised by the forced political unification of its constituent parts, into a single greater whole.” —Arnold J. Toynbee (1889-1975)

Upright: “The success of a marriage nearly always depends on the expectations of the parties going in. If you believe marriage is going to be a rose garden of happy trips to the beach interspersed with moonlight dinners and foot massages, you’re more likely to end up cheating on your spouse when that doesn’t materialize. If you believe marriage is a mechanism for changing your potential spouse, you’re likely to end up estranged. If you believe that marriage is about a lifelong union devoted to self-improvement and the creation and rearing of children, you’re likely to make decisions that lead to that outcome. The same is true in politics.” —Ben Shapiro

For the record: “If you always end up arguing that one leader can do no wrong, you aren’t really a member of a party, you’re a member of a cult of personality.” —Jonah Goldberg

The BIG Lie: “We are far past collusion. That’s one of the charges of the Intel Committee, to seek out whether or not there was collusion with the Russian government with respect to the efforts to interfere in our 2016 presidential election. We are far past that, at this stage.” —Rep. Denny Heck

Braying Jackass: “I am delighted to see that the disastrous Republican health care plan will not succeed. This is a great victory for the millions of Americans who stood up and fought back against this dangerous legislation.” —Bernie Sanders, who advocates disastrous single-payer health care

Junk marketing: “Your Business Is Our Business.” —U.S. Post Office’s New Slogan (And we thought that was the IRS slogan…)

Late-night humor: “Over the weekend, it came out that President Trump’s approval rating is at 36 percent. But Trump defended the number, saying that it was ‘almost 40.’ Then he said, ‘And if you read 36 upside down, it looks like 93, which is almost 100. So I’m doing amazing. Almost 100 in Upside Down world.’” —Jimmy Fallon