Insight: “Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.” —Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1859)

Re: Afghanistan: “[Biden’s] current determination to remove American troops over the objections of military commanders, including the Joint Chiefs chairman, General Mark Milley, is evidence of his desire to prove retroactively the wisdom of his position in 2009. His rejection of a conditions-based withdrawal underscores his disagreement with the generals. … ‘I’m now the fourth United States president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats,’ Biden said. ‘I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth.’ No, he won’t. What Biden will pass on instead is the responsibility for cleaning up his mess.” —Matthew Continetti

Observations: “It’s the left that is attacking our norms, traditions, and our freedoms — just as it always does. It’s the left that wants to fundamentally transform America! All these actions are more reminiscent of communist China than they are of American traditions. In fact, if a previously free nation anywhere else in the world started doing these things, we would denounce them and put them on a watch list of nations threatening the freedom of their people.” —Gary Bauer

Narrative troubleshooting: “The president does not feel that children coming to our border seeking refuge from violence, economic hardships, and other dire circumstances is a crisis.” —White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki after Biden finally admitted it’s a border crisis

Race bait: “Law enforcement uses unnecessary force too often, resulting in the death of black and brown Americans.” —Jen Psaki throwing a Chicago police officer under the bus after he shot an armed gang recruit

For the record: “I have never personally dealt with BLM Louisville and personally have found them to be [a] fraud.” —Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor

Non compos mentis: “Shootings, gun laws, access to weapons? Oh, I know when they’ll change. Your kids start getting killed. White people’s kids start getting killed.” —CNN’s Chris Cuomo

Dumb and dumber: “It’s almost paradoxical that, on the one hand, [Republicans] want to be relieved of the restrictions, but on the other hand, they don’t want to get vaccinated. It just almost doesn’t make any sense.” —Dr. Anthony Fauci

Culture commissar: “Myself, as a public health person, I think you can’t run away from [gun violence]. I mean, when you see people getting killed — I mean, in this last month it’s just been horrifying what’s happened. How can you say that’s not a public health issue?” —Anthony Fauci

Grand delusions: “The problem with academia today is that it has too many conservatives. They run the university. They sit in admin & on university boards enforcing manufactured austerity, combating unionization, & casualizing most of the professoriate.” —University of Massachusetts professor Asheesh Kapur Siddique

And last… “Climate change has really done a job on the typically stable societies of Central America.” —David Harsanyi