The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “You can’t give the government the power to do good without also giving it the power to do bad — in fact, to do anything it wants.” —Harry Browne (1933-2006)

For the record: “When the Obama administration proposed regulations and emissions reduction targets in response to the Paris Agreement, Heritage Foundation economists estimated it would cost the average family of four more than $20,000 in lost income by 2035, an annual average loss of nearly 400,000 jobs and an aggregate GDP loss of over $2.5 trillion. Although the energy landscape has changed since then, Biden’s stringent emissions targets would likely impose similar drastic consequences.” —Kay C. James

Upright: “The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently released a chart showing the latest official data on U.S. energy production sources from the Department of Energy. Some 80% of all our energy comes from oil, gas and coal. Less than 5% comes from wind and solar. … Perhaps over the next several decades, wind and solar power will be cheap enough to meet most of our energy needs. But are we to starve ourselves of energy in the meantime? Are Americans willing to pay $4 or $5 a gallon to fill up the tank with Saudi oil or Russian gas? Wouldn’t it be smarter, safer and, yes, more virtuous to get the energy we need from Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota or even Alberta, Canada, than from countries that hate us?” —Stephen Moore

Alpha jackass: “The largest threat to U.S. national security are U.S. cops. Not ISIS, not Russian hackers, not anyone or anything else.” —State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter in September 2016

And last… “If you are working on the #KeystonePipeline you can just find another job? Okay. If you are a teacher afraid to teach in person because of #COVID you too can just find another job.” —Kimberly Klacik