Sometimes there just are no words. And sometimes there are just too many. I’ll let Hot Air readers decide which is which when it comes to PennLive/Patriot-News in central Pennsylvania. Overjoyed by the Obergefell decision today, the paper’s editorial board announced immediately afterward that as far as they were concerned, it was the End Of Discussion:

On Friday, the United States crossed a similar threshold, continuing a long road to acceptance of same-sex unions.

And this news organization now crosses another threshold.

As a result of Friday’s ruling, PennLive/The Patriot-News will very strictly limit op-Eds [sic] and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage.

These unions are now the law of the land. And we will not publish such letters and op-Eds [sic] any more than we would publish those that are racist, sexist or anti-Semitic.

Got that? The science is settled, haterzzz! Suddenly, a view of marriage that was not only the prevailing legal status in the US prior to this morning but one that had been the only definition until the last few years in the country has become That Which Shall Not Be Spoken in PennLive/Patriot-News’ pages. Those professing even a respectful dissent from a Supreme Court decision to defend, say, their religious principles — or the political positions taken by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton until 2012 and last year, respectively — is presumed to be on par with racism.

Say, the Patriot-News must have been a hell of a read after Plessy and Dred Scott, eh? THE COURT HAS SPOKEN AND NONE MUST GAINSAY, I’m sure they argued. This sets up the argument that, contra most other publications, everything published by PennLive/Patriot-News has been endorsed by the editorial board. They are excluding any contrary thoughts on their pages, which is certainly their right, but we can now explicitly assume that every single passage of every single column published by PennLive/Patriot-News has the imprimatur of the editors.

That makes this column, also published today, hilariously ironic, no?:

Rogette Harris advises PennLive/Patriot-News readers that “safe spaces prevent growth”:

Students can enter these “safe places” to take their minds off of whatever they just saw or heard. These rooms contain items often found in daycare centers, including coloring books, bubbles, play-doh, and videos of puppies.

I may sound inconsiderate, but if you really need to blow bubbles or play with play-doh to handle a different opinion, then my suggestion would be to not attend the event, and furthermore, maybe college isn’t the place for you either.

An educational setting should be a place where people are free to express their viewpoints without fear that someone might need to relapse back to childhood in order to deal with an opinion.

These safe spaces prevent growth. If you are attending a university, then you should expect to encounter different opinions and viewpoints. If not, then in reality it is you who is small-minded.

The editors of PennLive/Patriot-News should stick to Play-Doh. Its readers should find a publication that exhibits intellectual honesty and an open forum for debate. Maybe they should hire Rogette Harris, one of their regular columnists (and currently the chair of the Dauphin County Democrats) to run the paper instead.

This is a perfect example of what Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham argue about the media and the culture in End of Discussion. Expect to find this in its second edition.