The joke used to be that it was a holiday created by the greeting card industry, but does anyone send greeting cards anymore in this digital age—even on Mother's Day? You'd never know that the holiday actually has subversive anti-war roots if it weren't for periodic efforts by pacifists to rescue this inconvenient historical fact from oblivion. The latest such effort is an editorial on the lefty website Nation of Change, entitled "The Radical Roots of Mother's Day." We give them creds for serving the cause of historical memory—but, alas, we have the odious duty of calling them out on their own insidious revisionism, which sheds light on the weakness of a pure pacifist position. Here's the critical chunk of the text:

The US is to resume military sales to Bahrain, suspended last year due to human rights concerns, the State Department announced May 11. The Obama administration notified Congress that certain sales would be allowed for Bahrain's defense force, coast guard and national guard, although it would maintain a hold on TOW missiles and Humvees. "We have made the decision to release additional items to Bahrain mindful of the fact that there are a number of serious unresolved human rights issues that the government of Bahrain needs to address," the State Department statement said. A scheduled $53 million sale was halted in October when members of Congress voiced concern about arming the dictatorship. At that time, the State Department assured Congress that it would take into account progress of human rights reforms in Bahrain before proceeding with the sale.

Isn't it interesting how different news outlets can take exactly the same facts and come up with completely opposite headlines? It seems that the US military advisors in Yemen, pulled out last year due to human rights abuses by the crumbling regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, are set to return now that Saleh has been ousted and (sort of) democratic elections held. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, questioned whether this could be a prelude to a greater commitment of ground troops, said: "There's no consideration of that." So The Hill, in its portentously named "defense blog" DEFCON Hill, heds its story, "Panetta guarantees no US troops headed to Yemen." The Christian Science Monitor, perhaps hoping an alarmist hed will result in more hits, opts for, "US sends troops to Yemen as Al Qaeda gains ground." Cute, huh? We hope both these publications will emulate the example of World War 4 Report in future, and give heds that accurately represent the facts. We note with chagrin that neither account actually bothers to tell us how many advisors are being dispatched, what branch of the armed forces they are from, or any other such details.

The Pentagon is this week leading the largest multinational military exercises in the history of Jordan, with maneuvers planned along the Syrian border as well as in the Gulf of Aqaba, across from Israel. The "Eager Lion 2012" exercises are bringing together army units from 17 countries, including Jordan, the United States, France, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. In response to the obvious question from journalists, officials said that the war game scenarios are not directed at any particular enemy, and that Operation Eager Lion was planned three years in advance. Maj. Robert Bockholt, public affairs officer at US Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT), said: "Execution of Eager Lion 2012 is not connected to any real-world event. It has nothing to do with Syria. It is just a coincidence."

The New York/Hong Kong-based Human Rights in China (HRIC) reports that You Minglei, a bank employee and independent activist in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, was taken into police custody last month on suspicion of "inciting subversion of state power" after distributing political leaflets. He is apparently being held at Nanchang Municipal No. 2 Detention Center. Jiangxi-based independent election candidates Liu Ping and Li Sihua told HRIC that on April 27, You Minglei distributed the leaflets at Jiangxi Normal University, with the slogans, "Oppose communism and love our country; reinstate China; human rights are innate; freedom and democracy" (爱国反共、恢复中华、天赋人权、民主自由), as well as opposition figure Zhu Yufu's poem "It's Time." Hangzhou dissident Zhu Yufu was sentenced to seven years in prison for this poem and other activities in 2012.

Bahraini authorities on May 7 arrested prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, according to the country's Interior Ministry. According to his lawyer, Rajab was arrested for messages he posted on Twitter criticizing the Interior Ministry. Rajab is the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), a group that has been critical of the Bahraini regime's response to protests and demonstrations in Bahrain which have been ongoing since February 2011. Following Rajab's arrest, the BCHR expressed concern that "[t]he authorities in Bahrain have used many methods in attempting to prevent and/or limit human rights defenders in Bahrain from carrying out their work of documenting and reporting on human rights violations in the country." Rajab was charged with insulting a statutory body and will be detained for seven days.

Colombia's National Police on May 7 announced the surrender of Javier Antonio Calle Serna AKA "Comba"—supreme leader of the country's most powerful drug gang, "Los Rastrojos." But Colombia’s deputy police director Gen. José Roberto León told the reporters that Calle Serna had turned himself in to US Drug Enforcement Administration officials in Aruba three days earlier, and was flown to New York City, where he faces a federal indictment. DEA chief Michele Leonhart told Bogotá's W Radio that Colombian police did not collaborate with US authorities in securing Calle's surrender. She made clear that Colombia played a role only by pledging to extradite Calle Serna if captured. "If the [Colombian] authorities continue to extradite criminals, they will continue to surrender," she told the broadcaster. Furthermore, she did not explicitly confirm that Calle Serna had turned himself in, and the US Attorney's Office for New York's Eastern District also declined to comment.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants were arraigned May 5 in a military tribunal at Guantanámo Bay on charges of organizing the 9-11 attacks. Mainstream accounts are emphasizing the defendants' refusal to respect the court, and the outraged response of 9-11 survivors. Few journalists have been allowed to observe, so this report from AP is all over the Web and has run in several newspapers: