The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive… To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not even regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals. For if crime and disease are to be regarded as the same thing, it follows that any state of mind which our masters choose to call ‘disease’ can be treated as a crime; and compulsorily cured. Even if the treatment is painful, even if it is life-long, even if it is fatal, that will be only a regrettable accident; the intention was purely therapeutic.” —C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

For the record: “Baltimore was one of the best places to visit when I broke into the league in ‘95. And, at the end, we didn’t really, like, enjoy going back. I could tell toward the end it started getting a little scarier.” —former Major League Baseball star Johnny Damon

Re: The Left: “You’d think someone [on the Democrat debate stage] would pop out with, 'Jake, let me tell you why America doesn’t constantly make me want to throw up in my mouth.’ Or, ‘Dana, I’ve actually met a few Americans and we’re painting them a little darkly here.’” —Peggy Noonan

Observations: “Hands down, Joe Biden’s greatest accomplishment is creating the justification to block Merrick Garland from being appointed to the Supreme Court.” —Eddie Zipperer

Non Compos Mentis: “President Trump has turned it upside down economically. People are hurting badly. There’s no response. We faced a different problem ten years ago when the economy collapsed because of Republican policies. Now we face a problem that the economy, as well as the soul of this country, is collapsing because of this presidency.” —Joe Biden

The BIG Lie: “I hope the next debate we can talk about how we can fix the things Trump has broken, not how Obama made all these mistakes. He didn’t.” —Joe Biden

Race bait: “Have you ever noticed the popularity of white robots? … The reason for these shades of technological white may be racism, according to new research.” —CNN

And last… “There are no good Democrat politicians. Not Tulsi. Definitely not Marianne. Not any of them. They are all members of the most morally and intellectually deranged political party in the country. There is not one good apple in the bunch.” —Matt Walsh