The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts
Insight
“The history of civilization is in considerable measure the displacement of error which once held sway as official truth by beliefs which in turn have yielded to other truths. Therefore the liberty of man to search for truth ought not to be fettered, no matter what orthodoxies he may challenge.” —Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965)
For the Record
“Words are important, and naming things is part of who we are as humans. But ‘gender’ is an example of a word that obfuscates rather than defines. The need to categorize and put people into boxes — to create an identity outside of who they were created to be — is leading people down paths that are not good for them. It’s not enough to be a girl who likes sports or is more of a tomboy. According to gender ideology, she must really be a boy. A young man may be more sensitive and artistic or gentle. Ergo, according to the gender ideologues, he must really be a girl. Ironically, gender ideology is more rigid on social norms than the binary ever was. … The sad reality is that people who believe in gender theory and gender ideology are constructing their own truth regardless of reality. This has real-world consequences and real-world costs.” —Emmy Griffin
“It is troubling that the attributes of womanhood are being stolen from us in a societal effort to give comfort and legitimacy to a very loud, very distinct minority of people who for whatever reason are uncomfortable in the bodies God and biology bequeathed to them.” —Christine Flowers
“I’ve often said that I doubt all the doomsday predictions of global warming are accurate, but if they are, we are goners. Because nothing the Left is doing on climate change is making even the tiniest bit of difference… What it is doing is giving politicians and activists a chance to virtue-signal. Does it even matter to them that none of their schemes are working?” —Stephen Moore
“California Governor Gavin Newsom says his state will boycott Walgreens over abortion pills. That’s funny because Walgreens is already boycotting parts of California thanks to rampant crime.” —Nate Jackson
Dog & Pony Show
“Fox News, Rupert Murdoch: Tell [Tucker] Carlson not to run a second segment of [January 6] lies. You know it’s a lie. … And Speaker McCarthy is every bit as culpable as Mr. Carlson. … Speaker McCarthy has played a treacherous — a treacherous — game by catering to the hard-Right. He’s enabled the Big Lie and has further eroded away at our precious democracy.” —Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer
Village Idiot
“All of these bills that [Ron] DeSantis and others are doing limit our ability to understand who we are and are not inclusive. They’re exclusive. … It feels like a Soviet system or, you know, the way the Nazis would build a Potemkin village. Tucker Carlson is doing the same thing with the footage from 1/6.” —filmmaker Ken Burns
The BIG Lies
“The president’s economic plan is working. We’re seeing inflation starting to moderate. Inflation has come down. … This is happening while the president has continued to grow the economy.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
“We are seizing fentanyl at record historic levels … because of … what the president has done to secure our border.” —Karine Jean-Pierre
“January 6th was the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” —Karine Jean-Pierre
“Five officers died [on January 6].” —Attorney General Merrick Garland
Facepalm
“How many 30-year-olds could travel to Poland, get on the train, go nine more hours, go to Ukraine, meet with President Zelensky?” —Jill Biden (“‘How many 30-year-olds could’ do that, asks Jill? Er, are there any that couldn’t?” —Charles C. W. Cooke)
Race Bait
“Let’s be clear what anti-woke means. It’s anti-black. And I think people are very reluctant to say it, but I don’t mince any words, and that’s the truth. That’s their way of, you know, sounding the dog whistle without being extremely explicit.” —Democratic National Committee (DNC) official Lindy Li