Upright

“By age 14 John Quincy Adams had mastered 5 languages, had an astonishing command of European History, and was serving as private secretary to the American ambassador in St. Petersburg. Teenage boys are capable of so much more than fast food and video games.” —Jeremy Wayne Tate

For the Record

“There are three levels of classification: Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. The levels are established by executive branch directives based on the sensitivity of the information — and how much damage to our national security/interests would be likely if that information is disclosed to our enemies or potential adversaries. Access to view/hold classified documents and electronic files is limited by the level of security clearance granted to those who have a ‘need to know.’ And those individuals are obligated to ensure proper security for the information — e.g., a government-approved safe or repository. There are also special ‘categories’ or ‘compartments’ for sensitive information. For example, very limited access is granted for documents labeled ‘Top Secret Sigma’ — dealing with nuclear weapons programs. … Old Joe may no longer remember what documents he kept, nor why or where he kept them. But he and his handlers need to hope none have a cover sheet labeled TOP SECRET.” —Oliver North

Observations

“At this point in the proceedings, President Joe Biden resembles nothing so well as a cheap, faux-interactive children’s toy from the early 1990s. Pre-loaded with a small handful of vacuous stock phrases, and programmed to repeat them at random whenever the conversation meanders onto familiar ground, Biden has become so predictable, monotonous, and dull that one occasionally wonders whether his doctor is ever tempted to search his lower back for a double-A-battery compartment and a row of rudimentary activation buttons.” —Charles C.W. Cooke

Delusions of Grandeur

“It’s pretty extraordinary that we [the World Economic Forum], a select group of human beings … are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet.” —climate czar John Kerry

Non Compos Mentis

“The oligarchy helped finance Trump. In return, they got richer with lower taxes. Even though Trump is gone, the oligarchs continue to siphon off the economy’s gains while the GOP uses culture wars to keep us divided and distracted. Pay attention. They’re playing us.” —former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich

Race Bait

“There’s a certain segment of white people in America who would rather have their own lives inconvenienced than run the risk of black people being on an equal plane. Because frankly, all these voter suppression laws, they hurt white people too. Right? The intention is to keep black people from voting, but it inconveniences everybody.” —MSNBC political contributor Jason Johnson

Snowflakes Gonna Snowflake

“Language is too critical to our culture, that we can’t just casually use language in ways that might offend and/or even harm, do harm to certain groups of people." —Jeffrey McCune, director of the Frederick Douglass Institute of African & African-American Studies at the University of Rochester

And Last…

"China bans Google; they ban Twitter; they ban Facebook. They don’t let our big tech companies have access to their consumers. I don’t understand why there wouldn’t be a equal treatment here in the United States.” —Clay Travis

“Anybody who tells you the Dems would never do something as petty and pointless as banning gas stoves has never drank out of a paper straw.” —Jimmy Failla