“Chinks in special ops’ digital and physical armor poses challenges, experts say,” the tweet read, followed by a link to a news release about how terrorists’ using social media has left a hole — dare I say, a chink in  — our country’s defenses.

Originally, the release had a headline similar to the tweet, according to the Washington Post. It has since been changed, however, because apparently calling someone racist is an irrefutable argument even when the accusation is based on not knowing what words mean.

(source: Army Deletes Tweet About Chinks In Armor After People Cry Racism)

Specifically, as is so often the case, it’s all about which way the etymological arrow points.

I’m proud to be an adopted son of Oklahoma, today.  Glad to be invited among those who pray, those who keep reality firmly in view, those who admit no exceptions to the dignity of humanity, those who take costly stands in difficult times; to live in a place where steps can be taken, and improved on, to right the wrongs that blight our society.  To make us a little less like the evils we alternately reprehend and patronize in “others” kept safely at bay by TV screens, book covers, and oceans.  

To free ourselves from “subtle conspiracies of worldliness” a little at a time.  Even if the steps are small.

Happy, that is, to read this story:

Oklahoma has become the second state to ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.

Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed the legislation Monday after it was overwhelmingly approved by the House and Senate. The abortion measure prohibits doctors from using forceps, clamps, scissors or similar instruments on a live fetus to remove it from the womb in pieces. Such instruments are used in dilation and evacuation procedures performed in the second trimester.

The bill would ban the procedure except when necessary to save a woman’s life. Critics say the procedure is often the safest to terminate pregnancies during the second trimester.

(source: Oklahoma governor signs measure banning abortion procedure | News OK)

Sure, neither AP nor News OK can quite handle the amount of torque required to treat such an obvious and wholesome (and still wholly inadequate) limitation on the brutal and gruesome slaughter of innocents–note that “critics” are cited twice, with opposite valences, without clear referents, and yet in both cases the drift of the sentence is that actually dismembering babies old enough to have members to be torn apart and crushed is somehow less serious and more justifiable than one would think, given untutored access to reality.  Reality, however, shines through; Continue reading →

I’m really not going to have much negative to say about this.  Nothing wrong with trying to see how little you can get by on:

Gwyneth Paltrow is trying out a new kind of diet.

The actress and lifestyle guru [OK, I’m chortling a bit at that–PGE], who regularly champions high-end healthy eating, wellness tips and luxury items on her Goop website and in her cookbooks, will spend the next week living, and cooking, on a food stamp budget.

Paltrow accepted celebrity chef Mario Batali’s call to participate in the Food Bank NYC Challenge, and will spend the next week making meals from just $29 worth of groceries, or $1.38 per meal.

(source: Gwyneth Paltrow is living on food stamps for a week – CBS News)

And it looks like the selections are pretty good (incidentally, Paltrow obviously has access to a better produce section than most food stamps recipients–but let’s don’t be spoilsports):

But here’s the thing:  I’ve gotten by on less than that, Continue reading →

There are a lot of words to describe this exercise: shameful, irresponsible, misleading, inflammatory, exploitative. “Fair” and “balanced” don’t exactly leap to mind. Neither does “accurate.” The chyron alone, announcing that the restaurant denies service to same-sex couples, is patently false. As far as anyone knows, the restaurant has never done that. Ever.

It seems clear that the editorial process went something like this:

Producer: “Does anyone know of a business that might refuse to serve gay people? Any place that’s, you know, religious?”

Researcher: “Hey, I know a little pizza place about 20 miles from here that is very Christian.”

Producer: “Great! Alyssa, head over there and see what they think.”

The rest is history.

(source: Great moments in journalism: TV station fabricates a controversy, destroys local business)

We’re all very concerned about the lethal consequences of “extremism” these days.

Who, we might ask, are the extremists most responsible for millions of deaths, with the full knowledge and support of their government?

How about people who think no time, no method, no concern for safety, should limit those who make their living killing unborn babies?

“I support letting women and their doctors make this decision without government getting involved,” [Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz] volunteered in a statement. “Period. End of story.”

One day earlier, Kansas governor Sam Brownback had signed into law the “Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act,” which would, according to the Associated Press, “ban a common second-trimester procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus.”

“Dismemberment” is not a term of propaganda.

(source: Democrats Are the Real Abortion Extremists)

Indeed, it is not. (Read the article.)

I do not care for the notion that one party or another is the custodian of God’s will for Americans, or the world, or even any given issue. The politics of mass-market democracy, especially, are too duplicitous and corrupt to justify confidence–instead, we really must double down on “put not your trust in princes.”

But as I said months ago, and keep saying in various ways,  Continue reading →