The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at WSJ written by the editor, James Taranto.

Out on a Limb

  • “Obama’s Tough Talk May Not Be Enough to Beat ISIS”–headline, Fiscal Times, Sept. 24
  • “The weather there will eventually change again, but it’s hard to say when.”–Richard Emanuel, National Weather Service meteorologist, quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 26

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
“Health Officials Check 250 Babies in El Paso and New Mexico, 36 Are Negative for TB”–headline, El Paso Times, Sept. 26

Problem and Solution–III

  • “Montgomery Elks Liquor License Renewal Denied by State”–headline, Mercury (Pottstown, Pa.), Sept. 25
  • “No Proof That Elks Get Drunk”–headline, SverigesRadio.se, Sept. 24

Diversity School Pushes Divinity–Now That Would Be News
“Divinity School Pushes Diversity”–headline, Yale Daily News, Sept. 26

The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands
The New York Times has a war update from Washington:

Warplanes from the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday attacked what military officials believe were the majority of the Islamic State’s oil refineries in Syria as part of the continuing effort to target sources of the terrorist group’s financing, Pentagon officials said.

The strikes on the 12 small refineries came on the third day of the American-led air campaign in Syria, and early reports indicated that the attacks had crippled the plants in the eastern provinces of Deir al-Zour and Hasakah, Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said at a news conference. . . .

Still, Admiral Kirby and other military officials acknowledged shortcomings in the budding effort to roll back gains by the Islamic State, particularly given that there were no plans to send in American troops to capitalize on airstrikes.

“We get caught up in the immediacy of these airstrikes,” Admiral Kirby said, “but this is going to take time, and nobody here in this building is not unaware of that.”

How was he able to mention it if everybody in the building is unaware of it? It must be one of those known unknowns.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”