The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

Insight

“No one understood better than Stalin that the true object of propaganda is neither to convince nor even to persuade, but to produce a uniform pattern of public utterance in which the first trace of unorthodox thought immediately reveals itself as a jarring dissonance.” —historian Alan Bullock (1914-2004)

Re: Postmodernism

“The truth is that Satan is so in right now. After all, Satan’s message has become our society’s: personal ‘authenticity’ requires the destruction of all traditional mores and the trashing of all intermediate institutions of Western civilization. To be ‘free’ means to live without rules or boundaries. … God makes demands of us. God suggests that there is a higher Truth to which we are subject, rules and roles we ought to obey for purposes of societal strength, spiritual durability and personal fulfillment. Satan makes no demands of us beyond the surrender of our reason, our higher aspirations and our souls. … Today, those of Godly bent are increasingly fighting a rebellion against the truly dominant spiritual power of a narcissistic culture that prizes self above all, celebrated by a transgressive monolithic culture.” —Ben Shapiro

Political Futures

“The most striking thing about a Biden 2024 effort, if in fact there is one, is that it is a race few Americans want him to run. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that just 31% of Democrats want Biden to be the party’s nominee in 2024. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats want the party to find another candidate. … Democrats are led by a remarkably unpopular president who most Americans, even those in his own party, do not want to run for reelection. Don’t be fooled by Democratic elected officials’ enthusiasm for Biden at the State of the Union. In fact, the party has a serious Joe Biden problem.” —Byron York

Observations

“How can Joe Biden even begin to talk about national security after he allowed a Chinese surveillance balloon to fly across our country for one week before taking action?” —Senator Marsha Blackburn

“Biden says he’s gonna eliminate hidden fees. He should start by going after the folks who snuck $500 billion on climate change in a bill called THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT.” —Jimmy Failla

The BIG Lie

“Folks, I hate to disappoint them, but the Biden economic plan is working.” —Joe Biden

Non Compos Mentis

“A whole hearing about a 24-hour hiccup and a right-wing political operation. … We could be talking about healthcare. We could be talking about bringing down the cost of prescription drugs. We could be talking about abortion rights, civil rights, voting rights. But instead we’re talking about Hunter Biden’s half-fake laptop story. I mean, this is an embarrassment.” —Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)

“There’s [sic] issues of Big Tech. There are serious issues we need to litigate. Hunter Biden’s laptop is not one of them.” —Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL)

“Unrestricted free speech paradoxically results in less speech, not more.” —former Twitter Head of Trust & Safety Yoel Roth

And Last…

“I’m a single-issue voter now: whatever the rest of your agenda, if you promise to abolish the State of the Union, I’m with you. Throw in a drink, and we’ll be friends for life.” —Charles C.W. Cooke

“The Great Depression ended three years before Biden’s birth, but he’s trying to bring it back.” —Daniel Greenfield

“I’ll be the first to admit, President Biden and I don’t have a lot in common. I’m for freedom. He’s for government control. At 40, I’m the youngest governor in the country. At 80, he’s the oldest president in American history. I’m the first woman to lead my state. He’s the first man to surrender his presidency to a woke mob that can’t even tell you what a woman is. … The dividing line in America is no longer between right or left. The choice is between normal or crazy.” —Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders