The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Upright: “Speech is not violence — and violence is not speech. Equating the two is the hallmark of a tyrannical worldview: If I can treat your speech as violence, then I am justified in using violence to suppress your speech. And yet that obvious fallacy has become the rallying cry in defense of execrable Rep. Ilhan Omar.” —Ben Shapiro

Non sequitur: “There are charities that we’ve donated to that we’ve recorded and itemized, others that we’ve donated to that we have not. I’ll tell you, I’m doing everything I can right now, spending this time with you, not with our kiddos, not back home in El Paso, because I want to sacrifice everything to make sure that we meet this moment of truth with everything we’ve got.” —Beto O'Rourke on why he gave less than 1% to charity in 2017

Braying Jenny: “Our GND [Green New Deal] rollout was really difficult. And it was done in a way that … it was really easy to hijack the narrative around it. It was, like, too fast. … I actually think the resolution itself is very solid, but … there were, like, competing documents that were rolled out, some prematurely, that muddied the waters. … It was just frustrating. Just intensely frustrating.” —Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Braying Jackass: “I think ‘Abolish ICE’ is a call to action on several levels. One is the literal interpretation of all abolishing ICE, which I support… I don’t believe that an agency that systematically and repeatedly violates human rights … can be reformed.” —Ocasio-Cortez

Demo-gogues: “Most Americans don’t want the conservative agenda that we’re now seeing, the extreme agenda that we’re seeing in Washington. In fact, it is precisely for that reason that they have to interfere with democracy, with things like voter suppression or clinging on an Electoral College that overrules the will of the American people. It is precisely because the American people, by and large, don’t want what they’re selling. … They are relying on manipulations of our political structure in order to keep their agenda in play.” —Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Race bait: “I’m saddened that the beautiful cathedral in France was damaged. But this is a prime example of privilege. … I’m also saddened that Black churches in Louisiana were burned down. I’m sure they held significance as well. They were barely acknowledged.” —Cincinnati councilwoman Tamaya Dennard

And last… “Where’s the outrage for the pressure that we put on a 17-year-old to borrow $100,000 [for college]? So much of that pressure comes from their mom and dad. It’s well-intended, but it’s kind of tragic. And where’s the outrage for the guidance counselors who continually say the best path for the most people just happens to be the most expensive? And the politicians and the lobbyists who exacerbate the same myth and the employers who still insist on only interviewing people with a four-year degree? … College is expensive because we’ve freed up an unlimited pile of free money and told an entire generation they were doomed to fail if they didn’t borrow it, and that’s happened in every single tax bracket, not just the top one. … Seven million jobs are available now. Most of them don’t require a four-year-degree. They require training. And yet we’re obsessed, not really with education, you know. What we are obsessed with is credentialing. And so people are buying diplomas. And they’re buying their degrees. It’s a diploma dilemma, honestly. It’s expensive. It is getting worse. It’s not just the kids holding the note. It is us.” —Mike Rowe