The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Upright: “If your first response to Democratic nut-jobbery is to get defensive about Republican blowback, you’re no longer a journalist. You’re merely a hack. You are, as President Trump would put it, ‘fake news’ — an activist masquerading as a journalist. I suppose this means I’m pouncing on the media, though.” —Ben Shapiro

Predictions: “Even if the special counsel regulations did not mandate confidentiality, ordinary Justice Department guidelines against public commentary about uncharged persons would do so. … There is thus a very good chance that … Mueller’s report will not result in any statement about the president other than that the investigation is closed.” —Andrew McCarthy on the likelihood of a “nothingburger” report

For the record: “I understand the Democrats that proposed [the Green New Deal] immediately tried to retract that white paper that went along with their resolution. And too many people in the media have been complicit in the Stalin-like or 1984 technique of disappearing it, sending it down the memory hole.” —Sen. Tom Cotton

Friendly fire: “I am for a jumpstart of the [Green New Deal] discussion and a framework. … I’m not for reducing air travel.” —Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Moon shot: “There’s a lot of people now going back on the Green New Deal. They’re like, ‘Oh, it’s impractical. Oh, it’s too expensive. Oh, it’s all of this.’ If we used to govern our dreams that way, we would have never gone to the moon.” —Sen. Cory Booker

Sounds like you’ve already boxed yourself in: “I’m not going to box myself in, but should I become [the Democrat nominee], you know I’ll be looking to women first.” —Cory Booker

And last… “As I’ve said many times, abolish the withholding system and make people actually write a check to the government. America will be transformed for the better overnight. People will finally realize how much the government is really taking. True accountability will follow.” —Matt Walsh