The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “The dichotomy between personal liberties and property rights is a false one. Property does not have rights. People have rights… In fact, a fundamental interdependence exists between the personal right to liberty and the personal right in property.” —Justice Potter Stewart (1915-1985)

“The same people who whine about Joe Rogan having a platform to talk about COVID-19 despite him not being a doctor are currently looking to Big Bird for medical advice.” —Caleb Hull

“I realize it is in the realm of conspiracy talk, but Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are all expanding their offices in Atlanta. How much of that is about tipping the state left? I wouldn’t put it past woke tech giants to do that.” —Erick Erickson

Friendly fire: “Terry McAuliffe represented the fomenting of divisiveness [and] racialization, and Virginia voters rejected that intent — regardless of political party. This is what I hope we see more of in the country — that voters take a stand and make a choice, Democrat or Republican. We want leaders who sincerely care for our people and care for our country and who will serve putting those interested in service above self. … It’s an intentional strategy to tear us apart based on the color of our skin because there’s some political gain to be had.” —Tulsi Gabbard

“You’ve been really prolific over the past few years being the head of the Intel Committee, and you defended, promoted, you even read into the Congressional Record the Steele dossier. And we know last week, the main source of the dossier was indicted by the FBI for lying about most of the key claims in that dossier. … You’ve … spread disinformation yourself for years by promoting this. I think that’s what Republicans and what people who entrusted you as the Intel Committee chair are so confused about — your culpability in all this.” —former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus to Congressman Adam Schiff

The BIG Lie: “It’s one thing to say allegations should be investigated, and they were. It’s another to say that we should have foreseen in advance that some people were lying to Christopher Steele, which is impossible, of course, to do. But let’s not use that as a smokescreen to somehow shield Donald Trump’s culpability for inviting Russia to help him in the election, which they did; for trying to coerce Ukraine into helping him in the next election, which he did; into inciting an … insurrection, which he did. None of that is undercut, none of that serious misconduct is in any way diminished by the fact that people lied to Christopher Steele.” —Adam Schiff

No sugarcoating it: “Kamala Harris has a comically bad approval rating.” —San Francisco Chronicle on Harris’s record low 28% approval rating for a VP

Famous last words: “In the 1970s, we saw supply shocks turn themselves into endemic inflation. Wages increased, prices increased as a consequence. We’re not seeing that now. I don’t believe we will. But if that were the case, the Federal Reserve would have a role to play to keep it under control.” —Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen

Race bait: “If you’re not black and started using ‘woke’ pejoratively sometime post-2018 or so (or worse, don’t know anything about the earlier iteration of the term), I think it’s fair to consider it a racial slur.” —Slate’s Joel D. Anderson

Letting the cat out of the bag: “A lot of the smaller players in [the oil] industry are going to probably go bankrupt in short order. At least we want them to go bankrupt if we want to tackle climate change.” —Office of the Comptroller of the Currency nominee Saule Omarova

Hot air I: “Globally, women are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than men, as they make up a majority of the world’s poor and depend most on natural resources. In the United States, one subgroup of women are particularly at risk: pregnant women.” —CBS News

Hot air II: “[Climate change] is the existential threat of our time. It’s a threat multiplier that amplifies and accelerates existing inequities. Eighty percent of people displaced by climate change globally are women.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

And last… “People need to learn to be more like Gen X and not care so much about everything. I mean, when I was growing up, the Commies could have nuked us at any second and we just shrugged and lived our lives. Really, I grew up with nuclear incineration hanging over my head and I’m supposed to panic because it could be a degree hotter in fifty years. Whatever, man.” —Frank J. Fleming