After what happened in San Bernardino you’d think, now, down in the bowels of the Immigration Department they’d be hard at work fixing the problems with granting visas.

But, instead, they’re having a knock down drag-out fight over an odd bit of esoteric Orthodoxy: When it’s right and when it’s wrong to use social media to see if a Muslim wanting a visa is a terrorist.

Meantime over in the Department of Homeland Security they’re having their own argument over another bit of Orthodoxy: They’re trying to figure out how to balance Americans’ security against Muslim visa holders ‘ease of movement.’  That problem boils down to an inconvenient fact: If they add social media to background checks Muslims will have to wait longer for visas – curtailing their ‘ease of movement.’

If all that fretting over byzantine orthodoxies sounds like tail wagging the dog, it is – instead, as politely as possible, the visa-screeners and terrorist catchers should simply say: We’re sorry. We apologize. But you’ve got to bear with us awhile – we have this little problem to fix with ISIS before you get a visa.