Thou shalt not yank Jim Kenney's chain

Jim Kenney has been getting praise and criticism for speaking out against Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy's comments that gay marriage is "inviting God's judgment on our nation."

Kenney notes that unlike politicians in some other cities, he has not called for the fast-food chain to leave Philadelphia. Kenney says he just wants customers to know what they are paying for when they order their chicken sandwich and waffle fries.

He also thinks comments such as Cathy's inspire bullying against gay men and women. Some of Kenney's detractors have tweeted comments too crude to reprint. But Kenney, never one to back away from a fight, has been having a little fun toying with his critics, especially those who note that the Bible condemns homosexuality.

Remembering a West Wing episode in which the fictional president notes that the Bible also condones slavery and stonings, Kenney responded to one of his critics with this tweet:

"Sorry, I can't go into detail now. I am selling my daughter into slavery and attending a stoning this AM, cause the Bible told me so!"

- Miriam Hill

And speaking of tweeting . . .

The Fire Department issued some "social-media and networking guidelines" last week. They contain many smart and commonsense bullet points, such as prohibiting the posting of photos from incident scenes and of patients, and banning any content that could be deemed discriminatory, racist, sexist, etc.

But a couple of the guidelines are more open to interpretation, such as one that prohibits posting anything "that may adversely affect the efficiency or effective operation of the department," and another that bans "inaccurate information, personal attacks, or rumors."

Like everything these days, when the Nutter administration and the firefighters are virtually at each other's throats, the firefighters saw the social-media policy through the prism of their long contract fight.

Bill Gault, president of Local 22 of the firefighters' union, said the rules were sent down merely to silence those who have been critical of Nutter on social media. He likened the rules to a "gag order."

"I got to take the beating, why don't they?" he asked. "You don't have to agree with somebody, but they should be allowed to say whatever dumb [stuff] they want."

Gault said the union would file a grievance.

The administration didn't exactly see it the same way.

Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison said Mayor Nutter signed an executive order in April creating a "code of conduct for city employees who use social media."

"The administration is always working to improve effectiveness and promote best practices in every department," Gillison said, in less than 140 characters.

- Troy Graham