The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Do not hold the delusion that your advancement is accomplished by crushing others.” —Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)

Upright I: “We are challenged again today to take to heart and reach for [MLK’s] vision of a brighter future together as Americans. The best way to do this is through community — not a social media community, but a real community made up of real people. … While it’s easy to feel outraged and to blame others, and it may make us feel better and even feel superior to others, outrage does not lead to action that creates hope. We need positive, hopeful action which spurs even more action and is contagious to others. Just as outrage is easily spread to others, so too is hope. You get to decide every day where you focus your energies and what your impact on others will be at the end of the day. You can choose to harbor hope or outrage within you.” —Jackie Gingrich Cushman

Upright II: “A free and civilized society cannot survive at all without a firm commitment to the truth, deeply ingrained in and exemplified by its most fundamental institutions, including government, law enforcement, educational institutions and the national media (broadcast, social and otherwise). The conflict, anger and widespread resentment we are seeing now are the consequences of abandoning honesty in favor of hyperbole, hypocrisy and hysteria for political gain. Contrary to the popular narrative, this is not recent and did not originate under President Donald Trump or because of him. But it has escalated since his inauguration in 2017 and is now at a dangerous fever pitch.” —Laura Hollis

For the record: “There is no limiting principle when it comes to the current trend of political deplatforming by tech giants that have enormous market power. It’s one thing for companies to control content on their own platforms. It’s another to use their tools to deny service to rivals.” —The Wall Street Journal

Strike while the iron’s hot: “Why did Big Tech, the media, the publishing industry, a host of corporations and a growing number of campuses double down on censoring some free speech? Why now blacklist, censor and cancel thousands of people? True, Trump gave them an opening when some rogue supporters vandalized the Capitol. But the real reason is that the left has long been eager to curtail the speech of those it opposes. Last week simply offered members of the left the sort of perfect crisis that they determined should never go to waste.” —Victor Davis Hanson

Alpha jackass I: “Osama bin Laden did not enter U.S. soil on September 11, but it was widely acknowledged that he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country. And the president, with his words … inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol.” —Rep. Eric Swalwell

Alpha jackass II: “[Trump] incited a riot. He incited an insurrection. He’s arguably, at least in the 21st century, you could say Timothy McVeigh for the 20th century, but he is the domestic terrorist of the 21st century.” —Anthony Scaramucci

Dezinformatsiya: “I am never on the side of the Klan. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Klan side. Principled people, conservative or liberal, never on the Nazi side. Principled people who are conservative or liberal, never on the side that treats their fellow Americans as less than. … If you voted for Trump, you voted for the person who the Klan supported. You voted for the person who Nazis support. You voted for the person who the alt-right supports. You voted for the person who incited a crowd to go into the Capitol and potentially take the lives of lawmakers.” —CNN’s Don Lemon (“Telling 75 million Americans they’re on the same side as the Klan may get the left nodding, but further alienates 75 million Americans at a pretty critical time in American history.  The media is sowing more division.” —Erick Erickson)

And last… “The antithesis of the Proverb ‘a soft answer turns away wrath’ is that a hard answer increases wrath. It can be argued that all of Trump’s personal insults of others have now circled back to attack him.” —Cal Thomas