The Patriot Post® · Tuesday Short Cuts

Insight: “Socialism means equality of income or nothing… Under socialism you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught, and employed whether you like it or not. If it were discovered that you had not character enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly manner; but whilst you were permitted to live you would have to live well.” —George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“Instead of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, policymakers should focus on providing more clear and timely data on vaccine risks and benefits so Americans can make their own informed decisions along with the help of their doctors. Freedom means trusting the American people and equipping them with information to assess risks and make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Instead of presenting a coherent strategy, including metrics that define the end of the pandemic, President Biden introduced counterproductive and divisive rhetoric and policies based on fear and control.” —Kay C. James

“The problem I have with Joe Biden, more than anything, [is that] this guy doesn’t take responsibility for anything. He’s always trying to blame other people, blame other states. This is a guy that promised when he ran for president that he would shut down the virus. If you look now there’s 300% more cases in this country today than a year ago when we had no vaccines at all. So his policies are not working.” —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Friendly fire: “If one party could do it, I guess another party could do it. It seems to me you start changing all these things around and people will lose trust in the court." —Justice Stephen Breyer regarding court-packing

Not exactly: "Democrats can either abolish the filibuster and expand the court, or do nothing as millions of people’s bodies, rights and lives are sacrificed for far-right minority rule.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Another BIG Lie? “My wife, deceased wife and I wanted to move to Idaho because we — not a joke — it’s such a beautiful, beautiful state. And I interviewed for a job at Boise Cascade.” —Joe Biden (“We have no record of President Biden’s application or of him having worked for the company.” —Boise Cascade spokeswoman Lisa Tschampl)

Hot air: “We can’t ignore the reality that these wildfires are being supercharged by climate change. It isn’t about red or blue states. It’s about fires. Just fires.” —Joe Biden

The Party of Science™: “By vaccinating the unvaccinated, increasing our testing and masking, and protecting the vaccinated, we can end this pandemic. That’s exactly what we are committed to doing.” —Kamala Harris (“If being vaccinated is not protecting the vaccinated, then what the hell is it even for?” —Joe Cunningham)

Missing the forest for the trees: “We didn’t anticipate that when there was a vaccine approved under a Republican president — that the Republican president took — that there would be such opposition, vehement opposition in some cases, from some people in his own party.” —White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

Big Brother: “Unfortunately, as a country, we have experience in dealing with [vaccine] exemptions, but we’ve got to be vigilant there and make sure that people are using them, you know, in the spirit that they’re intended and not abusing them or asking for exemptions when they don’t apply. That’s an area that we continue to monitor in the days and weeks ahead.” —Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

Vaccine non sequitur: “No one wants to go to force someone to do something, right? You prefer people do it voluntarily because they’ve been educated and it’s been made easy. But we’re beyond that point.” —so-called bioethicist Zeke Emanuel

Dezinformatsiya: “[Pro-life Republicans are] actually running over the specifically enumerated constitutional rights that have been in place for half a century.” —MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough

Grand delusions: “I’m still flabbergasted that [Biden] pulled this off with such grace and precision and safety. Everything that we’ve been told by the media, the mainstream media, by pundits who did nothing but spend weeks criticizing his exit from Afghanistan — I don’t get it.” —filmmaker Michael Moore

And last… “So Navy fires offensive coordinator after losing to Air Force and starting season 0-2, meanwhile nobody has been fired over losing Afghanistan.” —Lucas Tomlinson