The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “Our society — unlike most in the world — presupposes that freedom and liberty are in a frame of reference that makes the individual, not government, the keeper of his tastes, beliefs, and ideas; that is the philosophy of the First Amendment; and it is this article of faith that sets us apart from most nations in the world.” —William O. Douglas (1898-1980)

Upright: “In totalitarian societies, cities change their names regularly. Statues go up and are torn down. Words, as the historian Thucydides warned 2,400 years ago, habitually change their meanings to reflect passing political orthodoxy — and thugs, commissars and brownshirts oversee the charade. For an antidote to these statue-smashers and name-changers, Americans seek just one honest public official who dares to say ‘no more’ — and arrests rather than appeases those who destroy public property, or shames those who ruin people through guilt by association.” —Victor Davis Hanson

Non Compos Mentis: “Banning individuals from serving based on gender identity is shameful and wrong — and it makes America less safe.” —Sen. Elizabeth “Identifies as Native American” Warren

Wrong prescription: “The Confederate flag represents some evil, represents secession and slavery and sedition and segregation. The Confederate flag must come down. The statues must come down. Electoral college must come down. We want a one person, one vote democracy.” —Jesse Jackson

Friendly fire: “Antifa activists’ deeds hardly promote the moral clarity necessary to isolate right-wing hate groups. Over time, such violence only benefits the very forces antifa purports to oppose. In terms of objective political impact, the group is badly misnamed: ‘Profa’ would be more accurate.” —Washington Post editorial board

And last… “It’s remarkable in retrospect how much people freaked out about the Tea Party, which had no organized violence to speak of.” —Washington Free Beacon’s Alex Griswold