Upright

“There is nothing so unruly, so insubordinate and disobedient, as a fallen human heart. It is deep, ethereal, and irrepressible; the subtle poison of sin has vitiated all its fountains, and many of the streams it has been sending forth since the Fall, have been deep and black as hell. Human power cannot touch it, law cannot reach it, force only increases its activity, and the grace of the gospel alone can subdue it to the sceptre of Christ. Warriors and kings may subjugate nations and empires, but the Lord alone can rule the heart.” —Irish minister William Graham (1810-1883)

“The main thing is to have a soul that loves the truth and harbours it where he finds it. And another thing: truth requires constant repetition, because error is being preached about us all the time, and not only by isolated individuals but by the masses. In the newspapers and encyclopedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error rides high and basks in the consciousness of having the majority on its side.” —German novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Observations

“Every mass shooting in the United States must fit into one of two media boxes: gun control or white supremacy. If it does not fit into those boxes, it simply disappears from the national scene. This is not a recipe designed to promote actual solutions.” —Ben Shapiro

“The only solution the Left truly believes will work is total gun confiscation. They refuse to argue on behalf of that. So instead, they simply use phrases like ‘common sense gun reform,’ and then refuse to specify what such reform would be or how it would stop mass shootings. Then they lie and say that you oppose ‘common sense gun reform’ because you are either being paid by the gun lobby or because you don’t care enough about slain children. It’s despicably dishonest.” —Ben Shapiro

“Policies that enable & encourage people to abort or abandon their kids & their responsibilities are immoral and contribute greatly to the cultural rot that’s eating us from the inside. The government cannot raise your sons, but they can do a great deal that enables fathers to walk away. Stop foisting the hard work of raising young men on moms & grandmothers. Stop electing people who enable this deplorable behavior.” —Anna James Zeigler

Au Contraire

“The U.S. has no monopoly on fatherlessness, vice, lonely men, the internet; it is also a country with an already outsized christian population relative to its peers. A vague, mass ‘moral revolution’ — strictly conservative in character — as a ‘solution’ is such utter bulls**t.” —Florida Times-Union columnist Nate Monroe (“Mass shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon in this country, while gun possession is not. If you think that fact isn’t correlated to the precipitous decline of religious affiliation, which parallels the rise of depression & loneliness, I don’t know what to tell you.” —Allie Beth Stuckey)

Non Compos Mentis Awards

“As we grieve the children of Uvalde today, we should take time to recognize that two years have passed since the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer. His killing stays with us all to this day, especially those who loved him.” —Barack Obama

“F**k your prayers. They haven’t worked for the last 20 mass shootings how about passing laws that will stop these killings.” —Congressman Ruben Gallego

“These massacres aren’t natural disasters, acts of God, or random. They are totally predictable, direct consequences of the choices made by Greg Abbott and the majority of those in the legislature.” —Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke

“Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend’s NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas.” —Beto O'Rourke

Dog & Pony Show

“Governor Abbott … signed 22 bills this year making it easier for mass shooters to buy, carry, and own guns in his state. Let’s apply his abortion laws to guns by deputizing citizens to sue anyone involved in gun violence. So you sold an AR-15 at the gun show? See you in court. Does your neighbor have too big an arsenal? Call the cops. Actually, let’s invoke some Supreme Court logic too. [Samuel] Alito says abortion’s not in the Constitution. Well neither are AR-15s. So I guess the Constitution doesn’t cover them either. Life is so sacred? Then stop using guns to abort young lives. … They’re going to come for those AR-15s, and you better get ready to give them up. … I think it’s time for the people to say, ‘We’re going to take this to the courts and we’re going to make you give these guns up because you don’t need to have them.’” —"The View" cohost Whoopi Goldberg

Yellow Journalism

“Arkansas already struggles to support vulnerable children. Nearly 1 in 4 children in Arkansas lives in poverty. … Do you really think that your state is prepared to protect and care for even more children if abortion does become illegal there?” —CNN’s Dana Bash to Governor Asa Hutchinson

Sexism Bait

“This is just the way that our politics has become. It’s become extremely personalized… And I think I’m a great main character for them. I have been opinionated, I’m a young woman, I have expressed myself online authentically, including, you know, posting videos, singing and things like that. It’s easy for them to attack me and to belittle me and to make fun of me.” —erstwhile Disinformation Czar Nina Jankowicz

And Last…

“An adult man that wants to dress up like a female is a glaring symbol of mental disease. A society driven by cowardice prevents this topic from being discussed honestly and openly. ALL of our children are at risk [because] we refuse to acknowledge — and instead encourage — mental illness.” —Candace Owens