Steamy sex and righteous violence

Did my headline grab you? That's the function of headlines. Especially in big media, headlines exist to tease, not to inform. Like much of the rest of their content.

So a story titled New Mexico candidate for governor says Republicans 'outnumbered' sounds pretty dull. What, is Susana Martinez trying to paint herself as the underdog, striving nobly against all odds like some Ayn Rand heroine?

No, it turns out that CNN took a dive on hooking readers into a sensational story. Martinez wore her concealed weapon to a media appearance! Apparently more than once, probably all the time.

Couldn't CNN think of a better headline?

Armed New Mexico Republican feels 'outnumbered'
or
Republican for N.M. governor: 'Outnumbered' but never outgunned

The gun has got to be in the headline. Unless someone wants to hide a little teabag craziness...

One-eyed man

People believe whatever they want to believe, based on supposition, rumor, happenstance, and gossip. When even the priest doesn't believe it, his parishioners still do - even if they have to make shit up to believe.

“I think the dirt gets blessed by the priests, doesn’t it?”

Uh, no. Tens of thousands of people come to a shrine for "healing" dirt that the priest buys and has trucked in so that everyone can have a little holy mud in their reliquaries.

As a piece of journalism, though, the story is clearly thought, well written, and pithily illustrative.