For the record, the front page, above-the-fold story in today's New York Times chronicled the terrorist attack on a hotel in Mali. So, progress?
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In other-ish news, members and supporters of Al Qaeda and ISIS are squabbling like Republicans and Democrats over which political party is superior. ISIS murders dozens in Paris, and Al Qaeda jeers the indiscriminate nature of the attacks; Al Qaeda, showing infinitely more restraint and decorum, attempts to weed out Muslims in its Mali killing spree, and no doubt ISIS rolls its collective eyes at the resulting minimized body count: Only twenty-something killed? You call that jihad? The bickering has reached such a point that one disgusted supporter tweeted a plaintive, can't-we-all-just-get-along message: “I just wish we could all be brothers again¬ argue."
Boys, boys, no need to fight: You're both a bunch of sociopathic barbarians.
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Speaking of sociopaths, Donald Trump is sort of backing off his call to create a national registry for Muslims. I don't see why. Sounds perfectly reasonable. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? We could keep it simple, too: Maybe just a little yellow crescent moon patch on the sleeve?
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Finally, let's end on a pleasant note. I just saw this commercial for Campbell's soup. I guess it's been out for awhile, but this is the first time I'd seen it--such are the perils of DVR'ing everything and fast-forwarding through commercials. Anyway, in the ad, two men take turns feeding soup to a toddler. As the first man brings the soup to the child's lips, he does his best Darth Vader interpretation, "Cooper, I AM your father." Then, the second man, also Vadering, says, "No, Cooper, I am your father." The image of an attractive gay couple raising an adorable child--and quoting "Star Wars," no less!--has predictably angered right-wing bluenoses, such as the activist "Million Moms" group, who fear the ad "normalizes" such an abhorrent lifestyle. Relax, Moms! The ad never explicitly states that the men are a gay couple: For all we know, the baby was conceived during a drunken three-way with the kid's coked out mother.
I'm here to help.
But I personally choose to think the ad does, in fact, "normalize" what to me has been perfectly normal for quite some time: The fact that same-sex couples are just as capable of being loving (if incredibly dorky) parents as their heterosexual counterparts. And maybe this commercial will help some people reach the same conclusion. So, progress.
I assume we are meant to conclude that this is a gay couple raising a child, and not that the child is the product of a drunken three-way.
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