Insight: “The secret of liberty is to enlighten men, as that of tyranny is to keep them in ignorance.” —Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (1758-1794)

“I think our greatest national security threat, at least in the short term, is Joe Biden.” —former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe

“I think that the Taliban winning the war in Afghanistan and then the way our exit happened has absolutely inspired jihadists all over the world. The Taliban is saying we just didn’t defeat the United States. We defeated NATO. We defeated the world’s greatest military power ever. So there’s a celebration going on. … I think not only will jihadists be inspired, but a lot of them are going to come to Afghanistan to be part of the celebration, to be part of jihadist central. So after 9/11, they all scattered from Afghanistan. I think we’re going to see a flow back in, and that’s one of the things that makes Afghanistan more dangerous than other spots on the planet.” —Obama-era CIA Acting Director Michael Morell

“It’s insane how we’re just pretending natural immunity doesn’t exist. Science tells us that prior infection grants better protection than the vaccine. And yet all unvaccinated people are lumped together, even if they are LESS of a threat to spread than vaccinated people. Madness.” —Matt Walsh

“So DeSantis is authoritarian for telling companies they can’t make their employees get vaccinated, but Biden is a hero for telling companies they must. Got it.” —Allie Beth Stuckey

“The President has the power, acting alone, to set health policies for private employers, forcing them to fire their workers who don’t comply? We’ve allowed presidential powers to become virtually limitless — well, Congress has — but this is quite a power.” —Glenn Greenwald

Grand delusions: “I think the president is, you know, being somewhat moderate in his demand, if you want to call it that.” —Dr. Anthony Fauci

The BIG Lie: “Vaccination requirements have been around for decades for diseases like polio, smallpox, and measles.” —White House COVID Response Coordinator Jeff Zients

Non sequitur: “Remaining unvaccinated & going out in public is equivalent to driving under the influence. You want to be intoxicated? That’s your choice, but if you want to drive a car, that endangers others. No one should have the ‘choice’ to infect others with a potentially deadly disease.” —former Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen

Famous last words: “We have no information to suggest that ISIS has come into the United States through the Afghan national population that has been admitted under our legal authorities.” —Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

Dezinformatsiya : “Newly passed laws in Texas mean that people cannot have an abortion after six weeks — the point where a ‘fetal heartbeat’ appears, and the point before most people know they’re pregnant. However, doctors are coming forward to say that the ‘fetal heartbeat’ isn’t a real medical point in fetal development, casting doubt on the credibility of the Fetal Heartbeat Bill.” —Business Insider

Non compos mentis I: “The flickering that we’re seeing on the ultrasound [at six weeks] of the pregnancy is actually electrical activity, and the sound that you ‘hear’ is actually manufactured by the ultrasound machine.” —Dr. Nisha Verma

Non compos mentis II: “The term ‘fetus’ certainly evokes images of a well-formed baby, so it’s advantageous to use that term instead of ‘embryo’ — which may not be as easy for the public to feel strongly about, since embryos don’t look like a baby. So those terms are very purposefully used [in pro-life laws] — and are also misleading.” —Dr. Jennifer Kerns

What’s up is down: “Many employers are alarmed about the current labor shortage — the phenomenon of a labor market with more job openings than unemployed workers. … The labor scarcity we’re experiencing is real. But this is an opportunity, not a crisis.” —MIT professor David Autor in a New York Times column titled, “Good News: There’s a Labor Shortage.”

A despicable comparison: “We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home.” —George W. Bush on 9/11

Nope: “On 1/6/2021, 9/11/2001 ceased being the worst thing that happened to America in my lifetime. It’s really weird and painful to process and say that. But it’s the truth. And quite frankly… it’s not even close.” —Fight 4 Florida’s Future executive director Pamela Keith

Dumb and dumber: “White Americans might not have really felt true fear before 9/11 because they never felt what it meant to be accessible, vulnerable, and on the receiving side of military violence at home. But, white Americans’ experiences are not a stand-in for ‘America.’ Plenty of us Americans know what it’s like to experience fear and we knew before 9/11. For a lot of us, we know fear because of other Americans. We have to be more honest about what 9/11 was and what it wasn’t. It was an attack on the heteropatriarchal capitalistic systems that America relies upon to wrangle other countries into passivity. It was an attack on the systems many white Americans fight to protect.” —Syracuse University professor Jenn M. Jackson

And last… “The Taliban have killed thousands of American troops, but Joe Biden has empathy for them. He thinks they’re going through an existential crisis. For his fellow Americans who may be hesitant to get the vaccine? Biden despises them. That’s who Joe Biden is.” —Senator Tom Cotton