Insight

“Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.” —Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Upright

“Someone told me that there’s even people in Hollywood that are opposed to providing protections for parents and enforcing parents’ rights. The one thing I’ll say about that is, if the people who held up degenerates like Harvey Weinstein as exemplars and as heroes and all that, if those are the types of people that are opposing us on parents’ rights, I wear that like a badge of honor. … I don’t care what corporate media outlets say. I don’t care what Hollywood says. I don’t care what big corporations say. Here I stand. I’m not backing down.” —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

The Rainbow Mafia

“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law. Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.” —The Walt Disney Company

“This cruel legislation is an affront to our Nation’s cherished values and sends a harmful message to our children. @GovRonDeSantis and Florida Republicans have chosen to needlessly bully, isolate and demean LGBTQ students.” —House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Belly Laugh of the Week

“Budgets are statements of values, and the [$5.8 trillion] budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility.” —Joe Biden

World’s Smallest Violin

“When the president of the United States uses the world’s largest megaphone and platform to target you personally, terrible things happen. And [Donald Trump] not only blew a dog whistle, he pointed really evil and dangerous people right at my doorstep.” —Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

And Last…

“So weird how this Will Smith/Chris Rock thing is falling along left/right lines, with lots of leftists defending the slap. We all know if this were two white dudes we would be having a national conversation about white privilege and toxic masculinity.” —Allie Beth Stuckey

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen the media cover black-on-black crime so I’m actually quite surprised by this. If Mel Gibson had done this, Nancy Pelosi would be kneeling in the Capitol right now. He would’ve been the only guy not being allowed out on bail in LA County.” —Jesse Watter