The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “Our life is what our thoughts make it. A man will find that as he alters his thoughts toward things and other people, things and others will alter towards him.” —James Allen (1864-1912)

Observations: “Practically speaking, the micromanaging of the economy under the diktats of a progressive ‘climate emergency’ would be far closer to the definition of fascism than the ones casually thrown around by contemporary liberals.” —David Harsanyi

Setting the record straight: “What happened on Jan. 6 was not an ‘insurrection.’ There was no serious attempt to ‘overthrow’ the United States government. Was there a riot? Yes. Was it deliberately disruptive of government business? Definitely. But an attempted coup? Ridiculous on its face. … The target of the ‘insurrection’ propaganda campaign is not so much Donald Trump as it is the 74 million-plus people who voted for him. Americans were stunned when Hillary Clinton referred to only half of Donald Trump’s supporters as a ‘basket of deplorables’ in 2016. But Trump had millions more supporters in 2020, and now all of them are being demonized by Democrats and their mouthpieces in the media as threats, as ‘seditionists’ and ‘white supremacists’ who need to be ‘deprogrammed,’ ‘reprogrammed,’ imprisoned in ‘reeducation camps’ or subjected to ‘Nuremburg trials.’ … This is beyond political difference. It is a sickness.” —Laura Hollis

For the record: “This ‘systemically racist’ nation has elected a black president and a black vice president. We have had a black attorney general and black Supreme Court justices. Many of our major cities, including our nation’s capital, are led by black mayors, police chiefs, and city councils. Yet to the left, this progress is never seen as evidence that America is a good and decent country. It is continually doubling down on the idea that America is racist to its core.” —Gary Bauer

Upright: “Being a good citizen is not going along to get along, nor it is making fun of those you disagree with, or exploding in anger. Being a good citizen means focusing on what is good about this country and emphasizing that while ignoring any attempts to ridicule or engage in a personal attack. If the only attack they have is personal, you know you’re on target. Just smile and refocus on the issue at hand.” —Jackie Gingrich Cushman

Braying jackass: “The enemy is within the House of Representatives.” —Nancy Pelosi, who added, “It means we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”

Alpha jackass: “[Ted Cruz] almost had me murdered 3 weeks ago so you can sit this one out. Happy to work w/ almost any other GOP that aren’t trying to get me killed. In the meantime if you want to help, you can resign.” —AOC (“AOC’s incessant claim that Cruz not voting to certify the Electoral College vote was tantamount to trying to murder her makes almost as much sense as her Green New Deal.” —Tom Elliott)

Then: “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask. When you’re in the middle of an outbreak, wearing a mask might make people feel a little bit better and it might even block a droplet, but it’s not providing the perfect protection that people think that it is. And, often, there are unintended consequences — people keep fiddling with the mask and they keep touching their face.” —Anthony Fauci (March 8, 2020) | Now: “If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective.” —Anthony Fauci (January 25, 2021)

Friendly fire: “Ease Up on the Executive Actions, Joe.” —NY Times editorial board

And last… “Biden has reverted to an old and meaningless excuse when he says he doesn’t want to ‘impose’ his faith on others. The question then becomes why have a faith at all, if he won’t apply what his church teaches as truth? How is Biden different from a person who is about to witness a murder but doesn’t try to stop it, or call the police, because he doesn’t want to impose his moral views about the value of life on a man about to commit an illegal and immoral act?” —Cal Thomas