Insight: “No danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is an opportunity for full discussion. Only an emergency can justify repression.” —Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941)

Touché: “The best way to raise money is just let Nancy Pelosi and AOC talk.” —House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

Nothing to see here… “@realDonaldTrump has made it abundantly clear he’s more interested in pandering to his neo-nazi base than being @POTUS for all Americans.” —Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in 2017

For the record: “[The U.S.] electoral system is the most archaic of all that exist in countries of at least some importance around the world.” —Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, hoping for a Biden win

The BIG Lie: “What Joe Biden got in this election was a mandate — a mandate to address the challenges that our country faces as well as to have a positive initiative on how to grow the economy in a fair way.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Tone-deaf: “Stop the circus and get to work on what really matters to the American people.” —Nancy Pelosi lecturing Republicans after leading the collusion circus for three years only to switch to the impeachment circus and then the postal-mail suppression circus when it suited her purposes

Alpha jackass: “We’re all human beings with people we love that we want to see. But increasingly the entire Republican Party has basically taken the side of the virus and are actively trying to spread it.” —MSNBC’s Chris Hayes

Race bait: “[Trump] promised an elixir for the racial anxiety [of] millions of Americans spooked by a black man in the White House.” —Barack Obama

Non sequitur: “We need to require every K-12 school in America to include digital civics — how to determine and crosscheck if something you read on the internet is true — in their curriculum. You should not be able to graduate without it.” —NYT columnist Thomas L. Friedman (No doubt Friedman’s characterization of “truth” is as pure as his rag’s stories are factual.)

Non compos mentis: “I hope everybody moves to Georgia, you know, in the next month or two, registers to vote, and votes for these two Democratic senators.” —NYT’s Thomas Friedman encouraging voter fraud

Who needs the Constitution, anyway? “Please do not make the same mistake an otherwise well-meaning President Obama made in his first two years. … Charge in on January 20th like FDR on steroids. … Eliminate the Electoral College through the National Popular Vote Act! … Ratify the Equal Rights Amendment for women! … Send in the Army Corps of Engineers to Flint to replace the poisoned water pipes! … And none of the above needs a single vote of the United States Senate!” —Michael Moore to Joe Biden

And last… “Defund the police? Defund, my butt. I’m a proud West Virginia Democrat. We are the party of working men and women. We want to protect Americans’ jobs & healthcare. We do not have some crazy socialist agenda, and we do not believe in defunding the police.” —Senator Joe Manchin