Insight

“In all countries where personal freedom is valued, however much each individual may rely on legal redress, the right of each to carry arms — and these the best and the sharpest — for his own protection in case of extremity, is a right of nature indelible and irrepressible, and the more it is sought to be repressed the more it will recur.” —James Paterson (1823-1894)

For the Record

“[The J6 dog-and-pony show] was absolutely extraordinary because the normal way in which you conduct a hearing, whether in court or in the halls of Congress, is that you have members of both sides of different viewpoints. And the witnesses are put on to do their testimony, and then their testimony is challenged by cross-examination. There were no such witnesses last week except for a couple. What there was was really kind of a televised press release with soundbites. I’ve never seen anything quite like it in my life.” —Fox News political analyst Brit Hume

“There is virtually non-existing transparency of the environmental degradation and the human rights abuses occurring in developing countries with yellow, brown, and black skinned people. Both human rights abuses and environmental degradation are directly connected to the mining for the exotic minerals and metals that are required to manufacture wind turbines, solar panels, and EV batteries. … America’s obsession for green electricity to reduce emissions must be ethical and should not thrive off human rights and environmental abuses in the foreign countries providing the exotic minerals and metals to support America’s green passion. … EV buyers should be aware that they may be contributing to the pursuit of ‘blood minerals’ to achieve their efforts to go green. If you feel comfortable supporting the environmental degradation and humanity atrocities occurring in those developing countries, then proceed with your purchase.” —energy expert Ronald Stein

Upright

“Obviously I’m not giving up my AR-15. That’s mine. Not happening.” —Congressman Dan Crenshaw

“I’m really not for red flag laws. There’s good arguments and bad arguments about this, and there’s a lot of misconceptions on both sides of this argument, but fundamentally with a red flag law you’re trying to enforce a law before it’s been broken, and that’s a really difficult thing to do. If you take somebody’s word for it and then you confiscate someone’s property and their right to self-defense as a result, this is a really difficult thing to enforce by any practical measure, and I don’t think it will have the outcome either that a lot of Democrats hope that it will.” —Dan Crenshaw

Race Bait

“[Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] tells me she is worried about the criminalization in the gun framework: ‘particularly, the juvenile criminalization, the expansion of background checks into juvenile records, I want to explore the implications of that and how specifically it’s designed and tailored. After columbine, we hired thousands of police officers into schools and while it didn’t prevent many of the mass shootings that we’ve seen now, it has increased the criminalization of teens in communities like mine.’ When I asked if she was worried if the mental health aspects would increase stigmatization, she said ‘absolutely. Because what people are blaming on mental health are really deeper issues of violent misogyny and white supremacy.’” —The Independent’s Eric Michael Garcia

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

“According to CBS News out of the Top 10 deadliest cities in America, 7 of them are in Republican-run states.” —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (“Who runs those cities?” —Seth Dillon)

Non Compos Mentis Award

“[Football coach Joe Kennedy is] a human embodiment of a country that’s deeply divided; a religious movement that’s surging with momentum, even as organized religion becomes increasingly less popular; and, most of all, a powerful right-wing machine many say is employing a timeless division tactic: us vs. them. All morphed a man’s unremarkable existence into an extraordinary one and imbued Kennedy with elusive, far-reaching purpose. He’s no longer just a man. He’s now a symbol, for what his supporters term ‘religious freedom.’ To them, he’s a hero, David slaying an anti-faith Goliath. To others, he’s a sledgehammer aimed at a bedrock of democracy: the separation of church and state.” —Sports Illustrated senior writer Greg Bishop

Intraparty Squabbles

“The presidency is a monstrously taxing job, and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.” —former Obama adviser David Axelrod 

“To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality. [Joe Biden] should announce his intent not to seek re-election in ‘24 right after the midterms.” —Democratic National Committee (DNC) member Steve Simeonidis

“Democrats need fresh, bold leadership for the 2024 presidential race. That can’t be Biden.” —DNC member Shelia Huggins

“The generation after me is just a complete trash heap. We need to have specific examples of how we’re dealing with things; it can’t just be pie-in-the-sky and kumbaya” —former Vermont Governor Howard Dean

And Last…

“Whether it’s pandemics or shootings or warm weather, both parties always seem to agree that the problem is you having too much freedom.” —Jesse Kelly