Insight: “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.” —Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Upright I: “The message we get today from the Biden administration is that the government needs to save people — that people are unable to help themselves. When people believe this message, they begin to lose their own agency, which can ultimately lead them to become helpless as a learned belief, and therefore always dependent on the government. While we should help those who need it, we need to do so in a way that leads to a productive outcome, as well as a strengthened belief in oneself and one’s ability to move forward under one’s own agency. We do need to work together, but not with the government in the lead or in control.” —Jackie Gingrich Cushman

Upright II: “We often hear or read arguments from the left about inner cities, such as Baltimore or Chicago, being examples of violence run amuck that highlight the need for more gun control. However, proponents of these measures don’t always want to deal with poverty, family breakdown, education or economic opportunities. When people are better educated, financially secure and are happy with their family life and their community outlook, they are more likely to be constructive members of society and less likely to go down a dangerous path. Today, there is clearly a lack of pride, security, belonging and ownership that is so fundamental to continued success of any society.” —Armstrong Williams

Upright III: “People who dwell on grievances are going to dwell on grievances for the rest of their lives. People who advocate a racially based curriculum are not teaching peace but a long line of complaints that can only increase hostility among the citizenry.” —R. Emmett Tyrrell

For the record: “Once they began to charge exorbitantly, educate poorly, politick continuously, indebt millions of people and act hypocritically, universities turned off Americans. Just as a sermonizing Hollywood grates when it no longer can make good movies, a once-hallowed but now self-righteous university seems hollow when it charges so much for so little.” —Victor Davis Hanson

The BIG Lie: “Operation Warp Speed didn’t do anything to get a needle in the arms.” —MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace

Race bait: “Our country’s foundation is one of genocide, capitalist inhumanity, and exploitation. We need to transform our country, uproot that foundation, and rebuild on our shared values of love, care, and equality.” —Congressman Jamaal Bowman

Lack of self-awareness: “Will our Republican colleagues start to listen to their constituents as well as the rest of the country? Or are they still the party of Donald Trump? A party that opposes the other side at all costs.” —obstructionist Senator Chuck Schumer

D'oh! “Biden could be as transformative a president as FDR. But FDR didn’t have to contend with a paranoid, xenophobic, racist opposition drenched in lies and extremist propaganda from right-wing media.” —former Labor Secretary Robert Reich (“More than 110,000 Japanese American prisoners were imprisoned during World War II in FDR’s internment camps, which opened in 1942.” —Mediaite)

Non compos mentis: “A rising group of right-wing U.S. Catholic bishops is colliding with a very Catholic president who supports abortion rights.” —The Washington Post

And last… “Isn’t America the least racist country? Who even competes? We’re by far the most integrated of any. America is becoming a land of spoiled rich kids who would rather die than admit how good they have it.” —Frank J. Fleming