The Patriot Post® · Friday Short Cuts

Insight

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.” —Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Observations

“You or I would never be allowed to go into a classroom with a Bible and preach to the kids about the joys of Christianity — or even free-market capitalism. But apparently a lot of people think it’s perfectly OK to spread the Gospel of Transgenderism to third graders. Now our military is catching up on wokeness — and letting itself be weakened by a bunch of bad ideas that appeal to a minuscule percentage of Americans. But instead of telling the Woke mob to get lost and leave the armed services alone, the military leadership of today is enabling and welcoming them.” —Michael Reagan

“To [the media], traditional roles are themselves fascist institutions; those who promote such roles suggest that human happiness can’t be found in atomistic individualism, supplemented by collective social welfare schemes. And so true freedom requires that those like [Italian Prime Minister Giorgia] Meloni be fought. Unfortunately for the Left, anti-traditionalism is the privilege of the frivolous — and after the failure of totalitarian COVID-19 policy, the collapse of green utopianism and the decay of societal solidarity, frivolity is no longer the order of the day. Which means that Meloni and those who agree with her are only the beginning.” —Ben Shapiro

“Why has the president not declared an end to the public-health emergency associated with COVID? If the pandemic is no more, as he said on ‘60 Minutes,’ so is the emergency. Right? Well, think back to the Solomonic pronouncement uttered by good old Rahm [Emanuel] in 2009. Said he, ‘You never let a crisis go to waste.’ The administration must continue to extend the public-health emergency that the government declared in 2020. And there are other laws associated with COVID that allow the president to throw money around despite rising inflation. … On and on the Democratic government goes expanding the welfare state at a time when inflation is gnawing at pocketbooks all over the country. … So, yes, there is something very odd about the government’s campaign against COVID. Joe wants to have it both ways. He wants to declare the pandemic over. He wants to continue the emergency so he can continue to expand the welfare state. Perhaps this foolishness will end on Nov. 8.” —R. Emmett Tyrrell

“We basically had inflation under control for 40 years. … We lost the thread … about a year and a half ago with massively expansionary policies relative to the size of the GDP gap.” —former Obama economic advisor Larry Summers

The BIG Lie

“Because of Americans’ resilience and the economic strategy that we have pursued for the past 19 months, the United States of America is [in] a stronger position than any other country to navigate these global challenges. And that’s just period. That’s the way we see it. That’s the way [Biden’s] economic team sees it. And that’s because jobs are up, incomes are up, people are back at work. … And let’s not forget the legislation wins that you have seen … from the Democrats in Congress, when you think about the Inflation Reduction Act that is going to help us … lower prices for the American people.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre

Schoolyard Bully

“I also want to say again to the oil and gas executives: Do not, do not, do not use [Hurricane Ian] as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouge the American public. … America is watching and the industry should do the right thing.” —President Joe Biden

Non Sequitur

“I’ve met with Xi Jinping over 78 hours, 68 of which are in person, over the last 10 years. And he makes the case straight up that democracies can’t be sustained in the 21st century. You just saw what’s happened in Italy in that election. You’re seeing what’s happening around the world. And the reason I bother to say that is we can’t be sanguine about what’s happening here either.” —Joe Biden

Non Compos Mentis

“Men can have pregnancies, especially trans men.” —Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Dr. Bhavik Kumar

“Abortion is an economic issue. Forcing poor and working-class people to give birth against their will, against their consent, against their ability to provide for themselves or a child is a profound economic issue and it’s certainly a way to keep a workforce basically conscripted.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“The same folks who tell us and told us that COVID’s just a flu, that climate change isn’t real, that January 6th was nothing but a tourist visit are now trying to tell us that transgender people are not real.” —Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“I think what it really shows is that this country is so ageist. This country has a problem with age. You know, you go to other countries and our elders are revered. They’re revered because of the knowledge that they have acquired and this is a man who has worked in government his entire life.” —"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin regarding unease toward Biden’s “Where’s Jackie?” imbroglio

And Last…

“In this era of lawlessness, the best life insurance policy is one tucked into a holster. Should we be forced to choose a thug’s life or our own, we should have the means to make the right decision.” —Armstrong Williams