The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight: “Without deviation, without exception, without any ifs, buts, or whereases, freedom of speech means that you shall not do something to people either for the views they express, or the words they speak or write.” —Justice Hugo L. Black (1886-1971)

Observations: “[Governor Kristi Noem] has yet to lay out the alleged legal hurdles that would constrain her from signing [the ‘Women’s Fairness in Sports’ bill]. Other states, including Arkansas, have very similar laws. Noem won’t even admit that she vetoed the bill. Even if we concede that lawsuits would be in the offing, so what? At worst, South Dakota would be back where it started after a very public debate on an issue Noem claims is vitally important to her. At best, Title IX protections are restored. It’s tough to read Noem’s insincere rationalization a week after writing about someone like Jack Phillips, who stood up to an entire state to protect his religious liberty even after most people told him he would lose.” —David Harsanyi

For the record: “The language on voter IDs for absentee ballots in the new Georgia law is … identical to the language in federal law, promulgated through the Help America Vote Act. And guess who voted to approve this federal law in 2002? Why, then-Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. In fact, the vote was 92 to 2, and included in the ‘yes’ votes were Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Were they all imposing ‘Jim Crow’ on American voters? I don’t seem to recall the Major League Baseball Players Association boycotting any of the states of these senators — or any of the other senators who voted in favor of the Help America Vote Act. Or boycotting its own stadiums, which require IDs to pick up will call tickets.” —Hans von Spakovsky

Upright: “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.” —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

No kidding: “I will never understand how so many people can look at our politicians and think, ‘Yes, they know better how to run my life than I do, and I think I will give them nearly-unlimited power.’” —Ben Shapiro

The BIG Lie: “The evil gun dealers, pushed by the NRA, have used gun shows as a major way to get guns into the hands of people without a background check.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (“He knows all commercial sales of firearms, whether at a brick-and-mortar store, at a gun show or initiated online, must be completed in a face-to-face-transfer with the required background check forms and verification from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Sen. Schumer is lying. That’s evil. Yet, he casually slings insults to those small business owners who follow the law and sell firearms to law-abiding citizens.” —Larry Keane)

Gaslighting: “Anyone who’s using the term ‘surge’ around you consciously is trying to invoke a militaristic frame. And that’s a problem because this is not a surge. These are children and they are not insurgents and we are not being invaded, which, by the way, is a white supremacist idea [and] philosophy.” —AOC

Dezinformatsiya: “It’s not possible to know a person’s gender identity at birth, and there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.” —CNN (“Remember when the propaganda outlet CNN ran an ad campaign about ‘facts’ called ‘this is an apple, this is a banana’? Maybe they should work on ‘this is a penis, this is a vagina.’” —Mollie Hemingway | “A belief is not a fact. When CNN takes the position that we should believe the science behind COVID, more and more people will not believe the network if it makes statements so contrary to science that it employs a reporter who believes ‘there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.’” —Erick Erickson)

Now do abortion: “The death penalty is cruel, ineffective and morally repugnant. America needs to join most of the rest of the world and eliminate it.” —NY Times editorial board

And last… “Teaching our children that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country is the most un-American ‘lesson’ there is. Critical Race Theory should NEVER be taught in our classrooms.” —Mike Pompeo