Insight: “Freedom may come quickly in robes of peace, or after ages of conflict and war; but come it will, and abide it will, so long as the principles by which it was acquired are held sacred.” —Edward Everett (1794-1865)

For the record: “The Oregon State Police is continually reassessing our resources and the needs of our partner agencies and at this time we are inclined to move those resources back to counties where prosecution of criminal conduct is still a priority.” —OSP pulling out of Portland after the city refuses to prosecute rioters

Lack of self-awareness: “Under this administration, authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I, and my family, and many of yours, know the insidious way authoritarianism destroys democracy, decency and humanity. As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates, and, yes, with conservatives to preserve this nation from a threat that so many of our heroes fought and died to defeat.” —Bernie Sanders, admirer of Fidel Castro and honeymooner in the Soviet Union

Braying jackass: “Our nation is in crisis, and in many ways, COVID is just a metaphor. A virus attacks when the body is weak and when it cannot defend itself. Over these past few years, America’s body politic has been weakened. … Americans learned a critical lesson — how vulnerable we are when we are divided and how many lives can be lost when our government is incompetent.” —New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who’s overseen 20,000 more deaths than any other state

Alpha jackass: “If you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this. If you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don’t make a change in this election. If we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.” —Michelle Obama

The BIG Lie: “By tampering with the Postal Service, [President Trump] is in effect putting his knee on the neck of American democracy.” —Al Gore

And last… “Bill Clinton is speaking at Joe Biden’s Democrat Convention tonight. Are we all just supposed to forget that an alleged victim of Jeffery Epstein said she saw Clinton at Epstein’s ‘pedophile island?’ Will a single mainstream media reporter ask Biden’s campaign about it?” —Donald Trump Jr.