For the Record

“An entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It’s not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the ‘right’ to education, the ‘right’ to health care, the ‘right’ to food and housing. That’s not freedom, that’s dependency. Those aren’t rights, those are rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle. There’s only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.” —P. J. O'Rourke (1947-2022)

“There’s a difference between being a president and being a leader. Maybe the process, the political environment and the media have made it such that the real leaders do not want this job. So we’re left with those who covet the title while we as a nation are left to covet real leaders. I don’t know if George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan would seek the job today, or be nominated for the job today or win the job today. Great people should have great leaders. And if those great leaders aren’t even running, we should ask why not.” —Trey Gowdy

“Imagine being the father of a female athlete and just sitting there passively and watching while a male athlete makes a mockery of your daughter and her sport. Where are the fathers? Mothers? Does anyone have even the slightest bit of courage anymore? It’s pathetic.” —Matt Walsh

Re: Canada

“Canada is unilaterally making crowd funding platforms supporting Canadian truckers the subject of money laundering terrorism laws. Justin Trudeau’s government is now a dictatorship with his emergency powers declaration. Imagine the reaction if Donald Trump had done this during the BLM protests. The media would have lost its mind. But Trudeau does it to the truckers and the media pretends it doesn’t exist. Or cheer him on. This should be terrifying to anyone who supports democracy and freedom.” —Clay Travis

“Justin Trudeau is living proof that annoying-but-harmless wokeism can quickly evolve into dangerous authoritarianism. Never underestimate the force with which the self-righteous will act to suppress the freedom of others, especially under the guise of compassion.” —Congressman Dan Crenshaw

“Treating [Freedom Convoy protestors] with prejudice, suspicion, and illegal repression is not care. Protesting something that deeply, deeply concerns you in our society is not terrorism. It is the civic duty of every Canadian. It is our job as the people to hold our leadership accountable if they are infringing on our inalienable rights, if we suspect that they have become corrupted or compromised in any way, or simply if we think they’re wrong in monumental decisions they are making on behalf of their people. But you [Justin Trudeau] are treating my brothers and sisters, your constituents, like terrorists without ever speaking to their leadership. There are no riots. This is not a violent protest. There is only a mass of deeply concerned citizens at your doorstep who you refuse to acknowledge for what they are: Your people. … Don’t let the press brainwash you into division and hatred. The antidote to prejudice is knowledge. Because of the algorithmic way your Google searches are filled, it can be very hard to find good information on the other side. Ask someone you know. … Listening is the only way out of the ideological mess the media has broiled us all into.” —Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly

A trip down memory lane: “The Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau has become a dictatorship. The leader of that party does what he wants, when he wants, and no one dares question him. Now that we know that Trudeau runs his party like a dictatorship, we must ask ourselves: is there any indication he wouldn’t do the same as the leader of Canada?” —Daniel Dickin in a December 2014 op-ed titled, “Why Canada Will Become a Dictatorship Under Trudeau”

Credit Where It’s Due

“The Olympics pretends to only be about sports, but of course, the Games have always been a bit of a proxy war for which country has the best system. And by choosing Team China, Eileen Gu became a living symbol of China’s triumph over the West, which wouldn’t bother me so much if I thought China had triumphed over us in the ways that really matter. But they haven’t. … They are an authoritarian surveillance state based on ‘How’d you like to disappear for a few months?’ Like that tennis player [Peng Shuai] who recently vanished for a while when she said she’d been raped by a government official. … In America, we’re supposed to root for democratic government, not apologize for it. But the NBA has a television deal with China worth a billion and a half dollars. … ‘Kowtow’ is a Chinese word, but boy, Americans have gotten good at it. … That’s the deal China offers American companies and celebrities: We’ll give you access to our billion-plus consumers as long as you shut up about the whole police-state-genocide thing. John Cena took that deal. Well, c'mon. China accounts for 34% of global box office, and he’s a movie star now. So, like the Uyghurs, last year he learned he needed to get some reeducation. You see, John referred to Taiwan as a country, as if it was a separate country from China. Which it is. But China would like to do to Taiwan what it did to Tibet and what it’s now doing to Hong Kong.” —Bill Maher

Non Compos Mentis Awards

“The hypocrisy of The New York Times here is off the charts. If you look at what they did with Hillary Clinton and her alleged ‘email scandal,’ versus how they basically buried the story of Trump eating classified documents, it’s off the charts, and shows you just how much bias we have in the media for Trump.” —The Nation legal correspondent Elie Mystal

“Happy Presidents day to the three or four dead Presidents who aren’t burning in Hell.” —Elie Mystal