The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “The champions of socialism call themselves progressives, but they recommend a system which is characterized by rigid observance of routine and by a resistance to every kind of improvement. They call themselves liberals, but they are intent upon abolishing liberty. They call themselves democrats, but they yearn for dictatorship. They call themselves revolutionaries, but they want to make the government omnipotent. They promise the blessings of the Garden of Eden, but they plan to transform the world into a gigantic post office. Every man but one a subordinate clerk in a bureau. What an alluring utopia! What a noble cause to fight!” —Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)

Braying Jenny: “The stakes of the vote on Kavanaugh? Deciding whether we’re a country that listens to and believes women. Each of my colleagues in the Senate needs to determine if women’s voices, traumas and stories matter to them. I’ve made my decision.” —Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who isn’t going to let facts get in the way of her agenda

Belly laugh of the week: “Admittedly my opposition [to Kavanaugh] is kind of rooted in policy, but I now am even more intense in my feelings because of how political he’s become.” —Chelsea Clinton

Speaking of being tone-deaf and political: “After 9/11, [if] George W. Bush said, ‘Well, I don’t have time to meet. I don’t have time to worry about this. It was terrible. We feel sorry about it. We’ll rebuild New York and the Pentagon, but we’re not going to worry about it.’ Well at a certain point, that’s what [Trump’s approach to Russian meddling] is turning into.” —Hillary Clinton

Inconvenient outing: “Ana Maria Archila is from our district, is from Queens. In fact, she is an immigration activist, which just goes to show intersectionality and how interwoven all of these fights are. Because she is putting everything on the line and risking deportation … not even for a direct immigration action but for the action of all survivors.” —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the woman who accosted Sen. Jeff Flake in the halls of Congress over the accusations against Brett Kavanaugh

Non Compos Mentis: “A few minutes ago, Trump gave us a preview of the state of emergency he is creating to justify the end of democracy as we know it. RESIST!” —Michael Moore on yesterday’s FEMA emergency alert test

And last… “CNN’s ratings would be in the toilet without Donald Trump.” —ABC’s Ted Koppel