The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Upright: “To make a man a protector is to give him purpose. To deny him the means of protecting his family is to undercut that purpose.” —David French

The BIG Lie: “The first amendment has restrictions. The second amendment has no restrictions. These weapons are not in the hands of ‘well-regulated’ militias. The changes the people are demanding do not desecrate the second amendment, they just make it a safe addition to our constitution.” —Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student and anti-gun grandstander Cameron Kasky on Twitter

Braying Jennies: “[EPA Chief Scott] Pruitt … said in an interview published in The Daily Caller last week that he would no longer allow the agency to use studies that include nonpublic scientific data to develop rules to safeguard public health and prevent pollution. … Don’t be fooled by this talk of transparency. He and some conservative members of Congress are setting up a nonexistent problem in order to prevent the E.P.A. from using the best available science.” —former EPA officials Gina McCarthy and Janet McCabe

Race bait: “[Republicans] want to change [the census] to count the number of U.S. citizens so that they can engage in very not subtle voter suppression. That is illegal and that is totally inconsistent with what the North Star of the census in Republican and Democratic administrations have been.” —DNC Chairman Tom Perez

Belly laugh of the week: “If I were gonna [run for president], I’d do it because I think I would have concluded that maybe I could unify the country.” —former Attorney General Eric Holder

And last… “We need a Disney princess who teaches basic statistical literacy to feminist writers.” —Ben Shapiro