The Patriot Post® · Thursday Short Cuts

For the Record

“In 2020, the number of reported hate crimes across the country was 8,052. In 2021, that number rose to 10,840. … There is an argument to be made that the numbers in these hate crime statistics aren’t giving us the whole picture. The rhetoric promoted by and coming from Team Biden excoriates conservatives, allows targeting against Christians, and even seeks to promote Marxist-based ideologies such as critical race theory, radical gender theory, and anti-religious secular relativism. Hate crimes and their qualifiers are becoming more subjective and political than reality-based and truthful. This state of affairs hurts everyone.” —Emmy Griffin

Upright

“It is not ‘sinful’ to prohibit the mutilation of minors. It is not acceptable for the federal government to mandate that procedures like sex change operations be allowed for kids.” —Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

Observations

“The amazing story that emerges behind [Silicon Valley Bank] is its violation of principles that any undergraduate student in business learns. That is, banks make a profit by lending, investing at higher rates of interest than they pay on deposits. So, managing interest rate risk is finance 101. Yet mismanagement of risk — the bank ignoring huge problems they would have if interest rates increased — is what brought it down. How can it be that people who are allegedly smart do things that are incredibly stupid? I attribute it to a detachment from reality. Detachment from reality is a direct symptom of a lot of government and politicization of our lives.” —Star Parker

“Three days before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautioned that climate change puts the banking industry at risk. Yellen was in la-la land, speculating that future storms and tornadoes could diminish the value of banks’ assets. … Banking’s first rule is that assets should match deposits. If depositors can demand their money back anytime, then using their money to buy long-term bonds is risky. SVB had to sell $21 billion worth of bonds at a fire sale, taking a $1.8 billion loss.” —Betsy McCaughey

“One has to wonder if Silicon Valley Bank had specialized in lending to oil and natural gas companies instead of ‘Big Green’ whether the Biden Administration would have moved so quickly to entirely cover all depositors. I strongly suspect the answer is ‘no.’” —Gary Bauer

And Last…

“Inflation is still 6% (10.2% for groceries), employers are still understaffed, banks are still too big to fail, migrants are still flooding across the border, and fentanyl is still killing roughly 200 people per day. But Joe Biden’s got a fever, and the only prescription is more gun control.” —Nate Jackson

“The ONLY WAY for America to grow is for DC to shrink. Massive federal overspending causes inflation. It’s happened in every country at any time in world history & it’s happening here now.” —Congressman Byron Donalds