Insight: “The career of a politician mainly consists in making one part of the nation do what it does not want to do, in order to please and satisfy the other part of the nation. It is the prolonged sacrifice of the rights of some persons at the bidding and for the satisfaction of other persons.” —Auberon Herbert (1838-1906)

Upright: “The laity is the church. They have sacrificed finances to give their children a catholic education, have tithed, followed church tradition, looked for guidance. To have any moral authority, [Pope Francis] must release any reports of abuse. Period. … I don’t care if every previous Pope is exposed. My allegiance is not to any man or institution, but only to Christ crucified and risen, who warned that it would be better to drown with a millstone around your neck than to cause his little ones to stumble.” —actress Patricia Heaton

Dezinformatsiya: “There’s a new kind of campaign underway — one that most of my colleagues and I have never publicly reported on, never fully analyzed, and never fully acknowledged: the campaign to destroy the legitimacy of the American news media. … Some of the wealthiest members of the media are not reporters from mainstream outlets. Figures such as Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and the trio of Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham have attained wealth and power by exploiting the fears of older white people. They are thriving financially by exploiting the very same free-press umbrella they seem determined to undermine.” —Chuck Todd

Non Compos Mentis: “The #NFL season will start this week, unfortunately once again [Colin Kaepernick ] is not on a NFL roster. Even though he is one of the best Quarterbacks in the league.” —former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

And last… “Social media co’s should simply have to decide btwn being a publisher or a platform. If a publisher, theyre liable for everything published on their site — libel, etc. If a platform, they should be neutral. They want to be both: a publisher to censor & a platform to deny liability.” —Allie Beth Stuckey