The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Nothing can be more readily disproved than the old saw, ‘You can’t keep a good man down.’ Most human societies have been beautifully organized to keep good men down.” —John W. Gardner (1912-2002)

Upright: “We are supposed to believe that [Russia] bought the American presidential election last year with $100,000 in Facebook ads and some other digital activity. Frankly, if American democracy can be purchased this cheap — a tiny fraction of the $7.2 million William Seward paid to buy Alaska from the Russians back in 1867 — it’s probably not worth having. … Much of the Russian Facebook activity was peddling online tripe indistinguishable from indigenous American online tripe — in fact, it was ripped off from content produced by Americans. If the Russians are going to decide our elections on social media, one assumes it will require at least a little originality.” —Rich Lowry

The BIG Lie: “[The Uranium One allegations are] the same bologna they’ve been peddling for years, and there’s been no credible evidence by anyone. In fact, it’s been debunked repeatedly and will continue to be debunked. … Trump and his allies, including Fox News, are really experts at distraction and diversion. So the closer the investigation about real Russian ties between Trump associates and real Russians … the more they want to just throw mud on the wall. And I’m their favorite target.” —Hillary Clinton

Non Compos Mentis: “Am I mad at God? Yeah, I’m mad at him. I wish I had more protection. I wish this stuff didn’t happen. I can’t explain it to you. Yeah, I’m mad at him.” —Bill O'Reilly

For the record: “Bill O'Reilly can keep being mad with God, blaming victims and everyone else, and denying he did anything wrong, but the inescapable fact is that much money does not change hands without something having happened. Until Bill O'Reilly repents and shows some level of contrition, we should keep him at arm’s length for his own sake. He needs to get right with God and his apologists are keeping that from happening.” —Erick Erickson

Village Idiots: “[The punishing of protestors] reinforces institutionalized white supremacy — and other oppressive forms of systemic power — by criminalizing the self-advocacy undertaken by the most vulnerable populations in our nation’s colleges and universities.” —USC professor Charles H.F. Davis

And last… “How can something be Trump’s Benghazi if the real one didn’t belong to Hillary or Obama?” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor