The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “When more of the people’s sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government.” —Grover Cleveland (1837-1908)

For the record: “I do expect that the Durham report will be another scathing recounting of abuses — abuse of power at the FBI. And I say that because I have reviewed the intelligence with John Durham and Bill Barr. Last summer, we went over the intelligence, and we all unanimously agreed that there was no intelligence from the intelligence community that reflected actual, real Russian collusion with the Trump campaign — but there was intelligence that it was created by the Hillary Clinton campaign — and that there was no proper predicate for Crossfire Hurricane to begin.” —former DNI John Ratcliffe

Blue-state bailout I: “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the [COVID] bill ‘loots’ the red states to pay for Democratic governors who have locked down their economies. DeSantis has good reason to complain. Florida has a slightly higher population than New York, but New York gets $2,799 per person, or twice as much money as the $1,355 per person that Florida receives. In other words: Floridians are paying for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s incompetence. That is precisely what is happening because the main factor in determining how much money each state gets is not its population but how high its unemployment rate has risen. The three states that get the most significant share of the money are New York, California and New Jersey. These are three of the most liberal states with Democratic governors. That’s not a coincidence. … The way Congress passes out money is akin to assigning the highest performing students an F and the lowest performers an A. Maybe this is what the left means by ‘equity.’ The last shall be first.” —Stephen Moore

Blue-state bailout II: “California, [which] is predicted to have a $19 billion surplus, gets $40 billion out of the fund of $350 billion set aside for states who need help. If you don’t need help, you shouldn’t get it. … Bernie Sanders said … this is the most progressive piece of legislation to pass the Senate since he’s been a senator. That says a lot when you make Bernie Sanders blush over progressive policies.” —Senator Tim Scott

Observations: “The way [Biden’s open-borders policy] translates is: ‘Come to America. We’ll let you in, we’ll put you on a bus wherever you want to go, and we’ll pay for everything.’ I mean, this is a border crisis. This is the Biden border crisis. … [Democrats] don’t believe in borders. They don’t therefore think it’s a crisis. They think that this is a feature, not a bug, of their policy.” —Senator Tom Cotton

Friendly fire I: “Liberals need a Stand Your Ground law … for cancel culture. So that when the woke mob comes after you for some ridiculous offense, you’ll stand your ground, stop apologizing.” —Bill Maher, who further stated, “Cancel culture is real, it’s insane, it’s growing exponentially, coming to a neighborhood near you.”

Friendly fire II: “Memo to social justice warriors: When what you’re doing sounds like an Onion headline. Stop.” —Bill Maher

Don’t leftists usually call this cultural appropriation? “You know, I’m black on the inside.” —CNN’s Chris Cuomo when asked by Don Lemon how he knew the theme song to the 1970s TV show “Good Times”

Non compos mentis: “As attacks on Asian American communities continue, we’re asking New Yorkers to show up for their neighbors and intervene when witnessing hateful violence or harassment. I know that can be frightening when you aren’t sure what to do or say, but you can learn.” —New York City’s First Lady Chirlane “Defund the Police” McCray

Tone-deaf: “It is really troubling to see the Republican Party turn themselves into a cult and, you know, basically pledge allegiance not to the United States of America but to Donald Trump. … I’m hoping that the Republican Party will find its soul, will find its center again, and understand they can’t keep playing with fire.” —Hillary “Basket of Deplorables” Clinton

Alpha jackass: “Tried to watch Vanita Gupta’s confirmation hearing but got too angry Chuck Grassley survived COVID.” —ACLU editor Rebecca McCray

And last… “More kids have been separated from their parents at the border than ever, and yet the coverage seems strangely different than a few years ago.” —David Harsanyi