The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

“In my judgment the people of no nation can lose their liberty so long as a Bill of Rights like ours survives and its basic purposes are conscientiously interpreted, enforced and respected so as to afford continuous protection against old, as well as new, devices and practices which might thwart those purposes. I fear to see the consequences of the Court’s practice of substituting its own concepts of decency and fundamental justice for the language of the Bill of Rights as its point of departure in interpreting and enforcing that Bill of Rights.” —Justice Hugo L. Black (1886-1971)

“Vaccines prevent one from becoming infected with a disease and prevent the transmission of the disease to others. … A significant portion of those now testing positive for the virus has been ‘vaccinated’; a sizeable fraction has been boosted as well. Moreover, additional millions have contracted omicron in an intensity below what warrants testing. So, whatever shots we took earlier in the year were not vaccines, at least not as that term is understood by native English speakers everywhere. Consequently, all of the judging and anger that the ‘vaccinated’ directed at their fellow unvaccinated over the last year was largely pointless and misguided. The simple truth is that we have all been unvaccinated, whether we got the shots or not. … Without a true vaccine, it is not clear why anyone other than your doctor and your loved ones should care about what course of therapy you choose for any medical condition.” —Michael McKenna

“It is America’s proud boast to have made the transition of power through peaceful, lawful means a norm for modern republics. One needn’t buy the Democrats’ politicized ‘insurrection’ distortion to grasp that something precious is forever tarnished.” —Andrew McCarthy

“In truth, [Chuck] Schumer, because of his power, is a bigger threat to the constitutional order than any rando who showed up to riot on January 6th. Unlike their actions, his attacks on the system would live on in perpetuity.” —David Harsanyi

Non sequitur: “Certain dates echo throughout history, including dates that instantly remind all who have lived through them — where they were and what they were doing when our democracy came under assault. Dates that occupy not only a place on our calendars, but a place in our collective memory. December 7th, 1941. September 11th, 2001. And January 6th, 2021.” —Kamala Harris

Grand delusions: “After four years of chaos, cruelty and incompetence, culminating in a pandemic and the once-unthinkable trauma of Jan. 6, most Americans were desperate for some peace and quiet. On the surface, we have achieved that. Our political life seems more or less normal these days, as the president pardons turkeys and Congress quarrels over spending bills. But peel back a layer, and things are far from normal. Jan. 6 is not in the past; it is every day.” —The New York Times

Bulk-mail ballot fraud deflection: “[Donald Trump’s] not just a former president. He’s a defeated former president. Defeated by a margin of over seven million of your votes, and a full and free and fair election. There is simply zero proof the election results were inaccurate.” —Joe Biden

Race bait: “Unbelievably, [Joe Biden] has become for Republicans as much of a sort of figure of hatred, a hate object, as President Obama was. You know, the black president. Like, he was his vice president, maybe that’s part of it.” —MSNBC’s Joy Reid

Belly laugh of the week: “This is the like the most sort of norm, core Democrat ever. He’s a moderate, you know, sort of ordinary Democrat. There’s nothing outrageous about him, but they have cast him as some sort of demonic character.” —Joy Reid

Friendly fire: “I will not allow [the teachers union] to take our children hostage. I will not allow them to compromise the future of this generation of [Chicago Public Schools] students. That is not going to happen.” —Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

Facepalm: “2022 is the first year women’s faces will appear on U.S. quarters. It’s about time.” —Hillary Clinton (“Helen Keller was displayed on the Alabama state quarter issued in May 2003, and Queen Isabella of Spain’s image was featured on an 1893 special commemorative quarter.” —Washington Examiner)

Fake news: “Kyle Rittenhouse … used his semiautomatic weapon to kill two Black men in Kenosha, Wisconsin while waging a glorious war on behalf of his inherited White power.” —National Geographic author Kara Cooney

Science illiteracy: “I’ve done everything I was supposed to do. Yeah, it doesn’t stop omicron, and that’s the problem with a variant, because it gets stronger and does different stuff to you, so, you know, unless everybody gets vaccinated this is what we’re going to be facing for the next, you know, little while.” —COVID-positive “The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg

Theater of the absurd: "When I hear people say our first value is autonomy, and liberty, and I don’t want to get vaxed, and I don’t want to do anything to help my neighbor, or help people who are weak or vulnerable, one of the important things we can do is shift the moral ground. … We can penalize them more. We can say, ‘You’re going to pay more on your hospital bill if you weren’t vaccinated. You can’t get life insurance or disability insurance at affordable rates if you aren’t vaccinated.’” —NYU professor of (ahem) bioethics Arthur Caplan

And last… “BLM riots of 2020: 25 people killed. Dozens injured. 2 billion dollars in damage. Whole communities left in ruins. Sparked a violent crime wave across the country. And the Democrat Party openly supported all of it.” —Matt Walsh