Upright

“The career of a politician mainly consists in making one part of the nation do what it does not want to do, in order to please and satisfy the other part of the nation. It is the prolonged sacrifice of the rights of some persons at the bidding and for the satisfaction of other persons. The ruling idea of the politician — stated rather bluntly — is that those who are opposed to him exist for the purpose of being made to serve his ends, if he can get power enough in his hands to force these ends upon them.” —Auberon Herbert (1838-1906)

“There are those in our party who believe that … I possess unilateral authority to reject Electoral College votes. And I heard [last] week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election. President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone. And frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president. Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election.” —former Vice President Mike Pence

“It’s a pattern. As a result of President Biden’s weakness and appeasement, this administration gave Afghanistan to the Taliban, and 13 American service members were tragically murdered. As a result of President Biden’s weakness and appeasement, this administration is ramping up to give a nuclear arsenal to the Ayatollah in Iran. The very same Ayatollah who chants ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America,’ the Biden administration is preparing to facilitate that Ayatollah having the weapons of mass murder to carry out those pledges. As a result of President Biden’s weakness and appeasement, the Biden administration is in the process of ceding Taiwan to Xi. President Biden has even banned any Taiwanese official from displaying a Taiwanese military uniform or displaying a Taiwanese flag on U.S. government property. Why? Because it offends the communist government in China. And again, right now — today — as a result of President Biden’s weakness and appeasement, the Biden administration is in the process of abandoning Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. Putin didn’t just wake up one day and decide to invade Ukraine. He has wanted to invade Ukraine for years.” —Senator Ted Cruz

Credit Where It’s Due

“It’s time to do what a growing list of countries have done and announce we’re going back to something more like normal beginning with recognizing that what we’re doing to kids is unnecessary and horrible… But making kids who have a COVID survivability rate of 99.98% mask up like bandits? Unfortunately, the thing that’s getting stolen is their education, their sanity, and their social skills. A study this week from a professor at Johns Hopkins concluded that the lockdowns we all suffered through had little impact in reducing COVID deaths. Okay, that’s kind of a big one to get wrong. Last July, President Biden said, ‘You’re not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations.’ Well, I already knew that was wrong then, and now we all do. The former director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, believes COVID originated in a lab. And now our intelligence agencies agree: It might have. But for months on social media, it was banned to even discuss it. Look, I’m not saying the medical establishment isn’t trying to figure [stuff] out, or that they’re corrupt — although there is some of that. But how ‘bout just wrong? Wrong a lot. Wrong about HIV. Wrong about lockdowns. Wrong about kids. Wrong about how you couldn’t get it if you were vaccinated. Remember washing our packages? And there’s never been any research showing that outdoor transmission is likely or common, yet LA County says we’re still supposed to mask up for big outdoor events. … It’s all theater watching athletes mix it up on the court and then mask on the sideline. Not being able to touch a menu but watching them touch my food. Maskless at dinner while sitting but not standing. And by the way, if Applebee’s really cared about our health, they would make us cover out mouths after the food arrives. I’m just asking: How much wrong do you get to be while still holding the default setting for people who represent 'The Science’?” —Bill Maher

“While I strongly condemn what Joe [Rogan] has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer. We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope. Looking at the issue more broadly, it’s critical thinking and open debate that powers real and necessary progress.” —Spotify CEO Daniel Ek

Non Compos Mentis Awards

“Who are we to criticize China’s human rights record when we have ongoing attacks by the agents of the state against unarmed citizens and we’ve got assaults on the voting rights of our people of color in various states in this country?” —ESPN pundit J. A. Adande

“This [Freedom Convoy] group is a threat to our democracy. What we’re seeing is bigger than just a City of Ottawa problem. This is a nationwide insurrection.” —Ottawa Police Services Board chairwoman Diane Deans

Belly Laugh of the Week

“The people who say we’re lacking journalism, that we’ve become an all-talk channel, that we’ve run off and we’re all opinions all the time, that Jeff Zucker led us astray — those people aren’t watching CNN. … They’re watching complaints about CNN on other channels that don’t know what they’re talking about.” —CNN’s Brian Stelter

And Last…

“Billy Cosby and R. Kelly are still on Spotify, but tell me more about how Joe Rogan is the problem.” —Caleb Hull