Insight: “In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so? Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism — including, of course, legal despotism? Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organizing the right of the individual to lawful self-defense; of punishing injustice?” —Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850)

Upright: “You cannot be the leader of the free world if you want to appease socialism and communism.” —House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

For the record: “Today, China is already carrying out the biggest illegal wealth transfer from one nation to another in the history of mankind. Today, the Chinese Communist Party has more control over what Americans can say, what we can hear, what we can read, what we can watch, than any foreign government has ever had in our history. And they have weaponized our openness, they have weaponized our decency, and they have weaponized a corporate lust for profits against us. And if we don’t wake up, and we don’t address this now, the America our children are going to inherit very soon could very well be one where the sanctimonious preachings of a genocidal communist tyranny will be the only thing that Americans will be allowed to hear or say about China.” —Senator Marco Rubio

Pretty much: “Joe Biden is the Olympic badminton competition after a WWE match; he’s elevator music after a heavy-metal concert; he’s the sparkler after a fireworks display.” —Rich Lowry on Biden post-Donald Trump

Friendly fire: “Putting your hand up a woman’s shirt and touching their breast is not generational. … Talking to 20-something-year-old women, asking them if they’d date an older guy and then leering at them — this is not acceptable behavior.” —NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio regarding Governor Andrew Cuomo

Why would you think that? “I thought maybe [Andrew Cuomo] would have … a conscience and step down.” —Democrat Congresswoman Kathleen Rice

Non sequitur: “The president has been clear and outspoken about the importance of women being respected and having their voices heard and being allowed to tell their stories and people treating them with respect.” —White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Handsy Joe Biden

Hypocrisy Award: “I’m going to make sure I have [personal] security because I know I have had attempts on my life. … And defunding the police has to happen. We need to defund the police.” —Congresswoman Cori Bush (“She also thinks private property owners should be forced by the government to allow people to squat in their homes, forever, without paying rent. She’s a piece of work.” —Katie Pavlich)

Non compos mentis I: “VACCINE MANDATES and PASSPORTS protect our public health. Glad to see them sweeping the nation. VOTING RIGHTS protect our democratic health. Hope to see that getting the same action.” —Dan Rather

Non compos mentis II: “As long as we’re banning masks in schools, let’s ban helmets in football and paint without lead.” —Dan Rather

D'oh! “Let me clarify the masking message that I garbled… Vaccinated parents who live in communities with high COVID transmission rates should mask when out in public indoor settings to minimize risks to their unvaccinated kids. No need to mask at home.” —NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins

Huh? “I actually define racism as a powerful collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity, and are substantiated by racist ideas.” —Ibram X. Kendi (Racism is racism that leads to racism substantiated by racism. Got it.)

And last… “Why don’t you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t want to hear a blip about COVID from you.” —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis telling Joe Biden to zip it