Insight: “Those in power need checks and restraints lest they come to identify the common good for their own tastes and desires, and their continuation in office as essential to the preservation of the nation.” —Justice William O. Douglas (1898-1980)

Missing the forest for the trees: “Despite the healing sound of his voice, Springsteen is ultimately preaching reconciliation without reckoning — which after January’s Capitol siege is no longer an acceptable path toward progress. Plus, this is Bruce Springsteen. Isn’t he the guy who’s supposed to know everything about hard work? Suggesting that we should all swiftly and metaphorically travel to the nucleus of White, rural America to make up and move along feels insulting and wrong.” —The Washington Post’s Chris Richards regarding Springsteen’s hypocritical Super Bowl ad

Observations: “For a celebrity so identified with one party to go to the other side’s turf after his side has won the election and call for unity is not really an effective tactic. People see it for what it is: We won, now get together behind us.” —Dan McLaughlin

For the record: “Congress has already set aside a staggering $3.2 trillion dollars for COVID relief. And even that money hasn’t all been spent! Now … Biden wants another $1.9 trillion dollars, which would bring the grand total to an astounding $5.1 trillion dollars. To put that money in perspective, [Terry Jeffrey] says, 158.7 million people in the U.S. had jobs in December 2019 just before the pandemic hit the US. If Democrats pass the package Biden wants, ‘the COVID relief spending alone in less than one year — that $5.1 trillion — will equal $32,129 per worker. And the money that’s already been spent — the $3.2 trillion dollars — is worth more than $20,000 per worker.’ Americans have to ask themselves, he insisted, ‘Did they get $20,000 worth of benefits from the federal government last year from this bill? I don’t think so.’” —Tony Perkins

Non compos mentis: “[Chinese President Xi Jinping is] very bright, he’s very tough, he doesn’t have, and I don’t mean it as a criticism, just a reality, he doesn’t have a democratic … bone in his body [emphasis added].” —Joe Biden

Race bait: “Tom Brady was happy to talk politics until he wasn’t. The Make America Great Again hat in his locker, the flippant endorsement of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Only when those ties became inconvenient did Brady decide he wanted to ‘stick to sports,’ and that he preferred to be a beacon of positivity rather than delve into society’s thorny ills. How mighty white of him. Brady’s ability to enter and exit the debate at his choosing, to shield himself from accountability, is the height of white privilege.” —USA Today’s Nancy Armour

Upright: “Scripture says it is more blessed to give than to receive. That is meant to be personal. When government gives, it becomes a curse for the giver as well as the receiver and ultimately a curse on the nation.” —Cal Thomas