The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Upright: “In a cancel culture, you have some people who believe that they are special, that they are superior, that they have the power to be able to shut down those who have ideas and views that are different. … You see the final expression of cancel culture in Islamist terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaida who basically go and behead those who … they deem to be infidels or heretics.” —former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

Re: The Left: “Singing about sexual acts of the highest raunch factor is considered artistic expression and yet a children’s book that has served up timeless stories that have been read to hundreds of thousands of children is now verboten? On what grounds? Let’s not forget that some of Dr. Seuss’ books have been converted into movies … which have made the liberals of Hollywood millions of dollars.” —Armstrong Williams

Political futures: “Liberal Christians like to speak of other issues, such as immigration (how’s that going for them?), the environment and helping the poor, along with personal character qualities as having equal importance — and for some, greater importance — than abortion. The problem with that argument is that the right to life is the most fundamental of rights. It is mentioned first in the Declaration of Independence. If you can’t be born, nothing else matters.” —Cal Thomas

Re: the “American Rescue Plan”: “Look back a year — the CARES Act was roughly $2 trillion. That was the heart of the pandemic. We had just shut down the economy. We were sending people home. And here we are a year later [with] the Democrats acting as if nothing has changed. … We’re on the way out of this. We’re about to have a boom. And if we do have a boom it will have absolutely nothing to do with this $1.9 trillion. … What we should have been doing — and would have been doing had this been a bipartisan discussion instead of a jam-the-other-side approach — is $500 or $600 billion directly targeted at the problem.” —Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

For the record: “When I was President, our Southern border was in great shape – stronger, safer, and more secure than ever before. We ended Catch-and-Release, shut down asylum fraud, and crippled the vicious smugglers, drug dealers, and human traffickers… Our country is being destroyed at the Southern border, a terrible thing to see!” —Donald Trump

Friendly fire: “[Andrew Cuomo] can no longer serve as governor. It’s as simple as that.” —Mayor Bill de Blasio

Dumb… “I trust the Biden administration’s policy to be based on humanitarian and love of children rather than political points or red meat … for their Republican base.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

and dumber… “I think the difference between this administration and one before is great in terms of how we meet the needs of these children, placing them as much as possible with family, but in other safe homes and in the meantime, to have a humanitarian reception for them wherever they are.” —Nancy Pelosi

Re: the Royal whine-a-thon: “I said I didn’t believe Meghan Markle in her Oprah interview. I’ve had time to reflect on this opinion, and I still don’t. If you did, OK. Freedom of speech is a hill I’m happy to die on. I’m off to spend more time with my opinions.” —Piers Morgan

Non compos mentis: “When this pandemic ends — and it will end soon — we’re not going back to normal. Normal was never good enough. Normal accepts inequity.” —California Governor Gavin Newsom

And last… “[New York] requires ID for COVID vaccinations — a driver’s license, passport or other proof of residency. Why is it ok to require ID to save someone’s life, but not ok for voting?” —Ari Fleischer