The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.” —Justice Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954)

Upright: “Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.” —White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on the flap over Confederate monuments

Dezinformatsiya, part I: “ISIS claims responsibility for NYC truck attack, without evidence.” —NBC News headline, despite the fact that the attacking jihadi claimed Islamic State inspiration

Dezinformatsiya, part II: “As with any attack like this, there is no single reason Mr. Saipov [the NYC Islamist] reportedly decided to kill innocents.” —New York Times

Non Compos Mentis: “President Trump, instead of politicizing and dividing America, which he always seems to do at times of national tragedy, should be focusing on the real solution — anti-terrorism funding — which he proposed cutting in his most recent budget.” —Sen. Chuck Schumer, who politicizes every incident that involves a gun

Just sayin’: “Pocahontas just stated that the Democrats, lead [sic] by the legendary Crooked Hillary Clinton, rigged the Primaries! Let’s go FBI & Justice Dept.” —Donald Trump on Elizabeth Warren’s comments

Late-night humor: “Facebook says it shut down nearly six million accounts in the U.S. last October. Five million were Russian agents, while the rest were people who kept posting ‘so ready for the weekend.’” —Jimmy Fallon