The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Upright: “When we reduce people to their politics and we isolate ourselves from interacting with or appreciating anyone who doesn’t march in lockstep with our personal dogma, we will accomplish nothing more than depriving ourselves of encountering some truly extraordinary people that God has gifted with the ability and desire to bless our lives. Why would a sane person ever do that?” —Peter Heck

Food for thought: “When everybody is a white nationalist, nobody is.” —Victor Davis Hanson

For the record: “It is difficult to distinguish [Julian] Assange or WikiLeaks from The Washington Post.” —Washington Post editorial in 2011 … and still true today

Observations: “It’s amazing how the cable TV Left has totally moved past the Barr summary letter to believe once again that the Mueller report, or at least whatever parts of it might be redacted, contains a torpedo for Trump.” —Rich Lowry

Vilifying Barr, part I: “AG Barr admitted he had no evidence to support his claim that spying on the Trump campaign ‘did occur.’ AG Barr must retract his statement immediately or produce specific evidence to back it up. Perpetuating conspiracy theories is beneath the office of the Attorney General.” —Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer

Vilifying Barr, part II: “The chief law-enforcement officer of our country is going off the rails. … He is the attorney general of the United States of America, not the attorney general of Donald Trump.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Vilifying Barr, part III: “I’m amazed that the attorney general would make that kind of statement. I think it is in many ways disrespectful to the men and women who work in the Justice Department. And it shows, I think, either a lack of understanding or willful ignorance of what goes into a counterintelligence investigation.” —Sen. Mark Warner

Vilifying Barr, part IV: “I was very disappointed in what Attorney General Barr said. … He acted more like a personal lawyer for Donald Trump … rather than the attorney general.” —Ex-CIA Director John Brennan

Vilifying Barr, part V: “I thought [William Barr’s statement on spying] was both stunning and scary. I was amazed at that and rather disappointed that the attorney general would say such a thing.” —Ex-DNI chief James Clapper

Vilifying Barr, part VI: “Barr feels the need to curry favor with Trump and I don’t understand why a man of his standing and reputation would feel the need to kowtow to the president in such a way.” —MSNBC’s Cynthia Alksne

Braying Jenny: “Another telltale sign of dictators is they corrupt the people around them, so that people like Bill Barr, who had a reputation coming in as kind of a lawyer’s lawyer, is now in the position of really shading and pandering, and I would even say misrepresenting the facts. So, he is not acting as the attorney general, but he’s acting as the spinmaster for the president. … So when somebody like Trump gets people who have some competency, but he then corrupts them, he gets them to lie, to mismanage, or to really sort of sow chaos … then you have this perpetual cloud of confusion and misunderstanding.” —Jennifer Rubin

And last… “Eric Swalwell Campaign slogan: I see you. I hear you. I’m for you. I AM you. But if you don’t turn in your guns I’ll nuke you.” —Kyle Kashuv