The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “The strongest argument for free enterprise is that it prevents anybody from having too much power. Whether that person is a government official, a trade union official, or a business executive. If forces them to put up or shut up. They either have to deliver the goods, produce something that people are willing to pay for, are willing to buy, or else they have to go into a different business.” —Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

Upright: “House Democrats want to try to use their slim majority to unilaterally rewrite and nationalize election law itself. They want to use the temporary power the voters have granted them to try to ensure they’ll never have to relinquish it. … House Democrats have looked at the division and the disunity of the last several months and decided that what American elections really need is a one-size-fits-all partisan rewrite by one side here in Washington. In this country, states and localities run elections. Those of us in the federal government do not get a stranglehold over the ways in which voters decide our fates. House Democrats want to change that. … House Democrats do not get to take their razor-thin majority — which voters just shrunk — and use it to steamroll states and localities to try and prevent themselves from losing even more seats next time.” —Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on HR 1

Observations: “It is still astounding to witness the contempt and disdain politicians and the press have toward the lives and livelihoods of people who aren’t like them, people who don’t live in their ZIP codes or attend the same universities they did. People who work with their hands don’t start a conversation by asking you where you work.” —Salena Zito

The BIG Lie: “One of the lowest points of Donald Trump’s presidency … was his disgraceful statement that there were ‘very fine people on both sides’ when white nationalists and Nazis marched on the University of Virginia’s campus.” —Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber in a letter in which he writes a few paragraphs beforehand, “We impoverish our discourse and ourselves if we are quick to ostracize speakers who say things that offend us. Our University’s core value, however, is truth-seeking." 

Leftist babble: "I now understand that my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my comments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended. I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that.” —Governor Andrew Cuomo

Friendly fire I: “These stories [regarding Andrew Cuomo] are difficult to read, and the allegations brought forth raise serious questions that the women who have come forward and all New Yorkers deserve answers to.” —Hillary Clinton (Now do Bill’s accusers…)

Friendly fire II: “The women who have come forward with serious and credible charges against Governor Cuomo deserve to be heard and to be treated with dignity.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Non compos mentis: “It takes time to build out of the depths of cruelty that the administration before us established. … We are not saying, ‘Don’t come.’ We are saying, ‘Don’t come now.’” —DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

Braying jackass: “I’m increasingly embarrassed to be a white male these days.” —former CIA Director John Brennan

Nihilist: “What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.” —Rep. Jerry Nadler

And last… “We’ve been called all kinds of names. They try to cancel us. The New York Times even called me the ‘worst Secretary of State in history.’ I wear it as a badge of honor. I will never stop speaking the truth and fighting to defend our freedoms. Neither should you.” —Mike Pompeo