There are signs, in Minneapolis, of signmaking. Many establishments sport newly minted placards declaring that they ban guns on the premises: a reaction, one can only speculate (if one is too lazy to look it up on Google), against recent legislative permissiveness regarding concealed weapons.

In other news, a local shopping center commissioned a hundred-foot monstrosity depicting a bald eagle, the Statue of Liberty, and a message in support of “our troops.” Forget for a moment that this juxtaposition coveys the idea that the country is being defended (or, in this instance, offended) by bald eagles and statues of liberty; wouldn’t a better way of supporting our troops be to use the money that went into this spectacle on something useful, such as USO packages or body armor?

Or, you know, not putting them in danger in the first place?