The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at The Wall Street Journal written by the editor, James Taranto.
News of the Tautological
“Workers Pay More for Health Care as Companies Shift Burden, Survey Finds”—headline, New York Times website, Sept. 14
Breaking News From Genesis 1:24-25
“Scientists Have Found a New Way to Create Mice”—headline, Time .com, Sept. 13
They Ain’t Got Rhythm
“U.S. officials cast doubt on Donald Trump’s claim he read the ‘body language’ of intelligence officials at a recent briefing,” NBC News reports:
A U.S. official pointed out that intelligence officers don’t give policy advice, so it would be inaccurate to say that Obama failed to follow the advice of the intelligence community. A second U.S. official said analysts are trained not to allow their body language to betray their thinking. . . .
Former CIA and NSA director Mike Hayden, who opposes Trump, told NBC News that in almost four decades in intelligence “I have never seen anything like this before.”
“A political candidate has used professional intelligence officers briefing him in a totally non-political setting as props to buttress an argument for his political campaign,” said Hayden. “And his political point was actually imputed to them, not even something they allegedly said. The ‘I can read body language’ line was quite remarkable. . . . I am confident Director [James] Clapper sent senior professionals to this meeting and so I am equally confident that no such body language ever existed. It’s simply not what we do.”
That’s a very credible denial, as long as you’re willing to believe that senior intelligence professionals don’t have body language.
(Note: “They Ain’t Got Rhythm” from the Sept. 9 BOTW archives.) For more “Best of the Web” from The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto click here.
