OLD AND BUSTED: Hide the Decline.

The New Hotness? Hide the Surge! How the AP Slanted Border Coverage to Hide the Crisis:

Typically, news organizations rush to cover crises, real or perceived. The Associated Press has taken a different tack, using its influential style guide to play down the human drama unfolding at the southern border.

While internal Customs and Border Protection documents repeatedly refer to an immigration “surge” at the border, according to records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, the AP recommends journalists no longer use such descriptions to avoid offense and maintain supposed “neutrality.” Other documents, circulated internally throughout Customs and Border Protection in May, instruct officials on processing “the surge of undocumented individuals as efficiently as possible.”

The move by AP, a response to left-wing activists who demanded gentler language from reporters when covering immigration, fundamentally changed how newsrooms across the country covered the Biden administration’s response to a historical influx of migrants in the president’s first 100 days in office. A range of outlets, from local newspapers to national publications like the Washington Post, look to the AP for language guidance.

The AP pressed news outlets in March to “avoid imagery conjuring war or natural disaster, which could portray migrants as a negative, harmful influence. Avoid emotive words like onslaught, tidal wave, flood, inundation, surge, invasion, army, march, sneak, and stealth.” But Customs and Border Protection officials told the Free Beacon that they hold weekly meetings they call “surge meetings” to discuss ways to process the thousands of migrants flooding into the country.

The use of the word “surge” in immigration-related stories was commonplace across a multitude of publications, including the AP itself, in the early days of the border crisis but drew criticism from activists as the Biden administration sought to dispel the idea that it is grappling with a full-blown crisis. America’s largest wire service—and the standard-bearer for journalistic style through the AP Stylebook—bowed to the pressure campaign.

Evergreen:

I HAD BEEN ASSURED BY ALL THE SMARTEST PEOPLE THAT RIFLES WERE USELESS IN THESE SITUATIONS: Man With Rifle Stops Mass Shooter.

WHY IS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SUCH A CESSPIT OF RACISM? Vaccine passports are white supremacist. “Passports will inevitably privilege white people over people of color. Whites will be advantaged for travel, for attendance at sporting events or even government functions open only to passport holders. And as CNN’s report above indicates, whites will be massively over-privileged also for employment and job assignments. Jim Crow could not have thought of a better way to widen the income and social inequality gaps between whites and POCs. But at least there are no more mean tweets, so all is well.”

A HAPPIER, MORE JUST AMERICA DEMANDS MORE SHAMING OF MIDDLE-SCHOOL BOYS: “‘Racist, Sexist Boy’ lunges with sludgy fury and a throttling bass tone, turning on a dime at the speedy power-pop chorus; it’s a vicious take-down of closed-minded boys.”

Also, you’re not punk at all when the entire Establishment — including NPR and the public library — endorses your views and congratulates you for them. I don’t blame the girls for this, as boys are icky is a traditional middle-school-girl theme. I blame the Establishment for acting like a bunch of middle-school mean girls.

DOUBLE STANDARDS ARE THE BEST BECAUSE YOU GET TWICE AS MANY: Whitmer Caught Violating Her Own COVID-19 Rules; Still Won’t Lift Them.

TIM MURTAUGH: All Biden Needed To Not Screw Up The Presidency Was Stay In His Basement, And He Failed.

The biggest issue facing the nation for the past year obviously has been the coronavirus, which has killed more than 600,000 Americans, infected nearly 34 million, and forced the economy into a near standstill last year.

As he entered office, however, the good news for Biden was that multiple vaccines already had been developed and with doses ramping up, thanks to former President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed. The economy was rebounding, and millions of jobs had returned. What was required of the new president was to not screw things up.

But at the four-month mark of his administration, Biden has badly mismanaged things, contributing to a cluster of problems that are increasingly spiraling out of control. Punchbowl News, an inside-the-Beltway email newsletter, downplayed Biden’s predicaments as mere “brushfires,” as though they were minor headaches to be addressed without much concern. But the nation is facing serious problems either immediately or lurking around the corner.

It feels like it’s been a long four years already.

THIS DEAL KEEPS GETTING WORSE ALL THE TIME: Iran Defies UN Inspectors, Refuses to Allow Access to Images From Nuke Sites.

WELL, YES: America’s Foreign Policy ‘Experts’ Are Projecting Their Own Failures Onto Jared Kushner.

Kushner-era policies—on Jerusalem, UNRWA, and regional diplomacy—were promised again and again to lead to an “explosion,” but didn’t. The return of the experts was supposed to improve lives and prospects for Israelis and Palestinians alike, but hasn’t. In fact, it was the foreign policy intelligentsia’s values and vision that have led to disaster.

Back in March, mere weeks into the new Biden administration, a leaked internal State Department memo outlined the contours of a new direction on American policy toward the Palestinian issue. The document called for renewed diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority, restoring aid that had been cut, renewing American contributions to UNRWA, putting pressure on Israel for moves in Jerusalem that would make a new Palestinian Authority election possible, and pursuing a two-state arrangement based roughly on the pre-1967 lines.

These were all priorities of the smart set miffed by a previous administration that was too close to Israel for their tastes. But they were also terrible ideas. Take the renewal of UNRWA funding. UNRWA is the U.N. agency dedicated to perpetuating, rather than solving, the Palestinian refugee problem. By cultivating the myth of a non-existent “right of return” rather than rehabilitating displaced persons and their descendants, UNRWA ensures that a negotiated two-state deal cannot be reached.

What possible U.S. interest is served by rescuing an institution that actively works against U.S. policies and interests?

Leftism is inherently hostile to America’s interests and institutions abroad and at home.

SPACE (OR VERY NEARLY): Virgin Galactic spaceplane makes it to boundary of space on third test flight.

The VSS Unity, one of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo models, launched from Spaceport American in New Mexico on Saturday, May 22. VSS Unity is carried to altitude by a mothership, VMS Eve, from which it was released and hit a speed of Mach 3. Piloted by CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay, Unity reached an altitude of 55.45 miles, then glided down back to Earth and landed on a runaway at Spaceport America.

Virgin Galactic shared a video, showing the Unity being released from the mothership and gaining altitude, and you can see it gliding along at the very edge of space.

Great video, and not only because there’s something inherently cool about spaceplanes.

KEEP YOUR LAWS OFF MY RIBEYE: High Steaks for U.S. Agriculture: Biden’s Climate Goals Collide With the Reality of the Meat Industry.

I’M SURE THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WILL HANDLE THIS SMOOTHLY AND COMPETENTLY: Belarus Forces Down Plane to Seize Dissident; Europe Sees ‘State Hijacking.’

Or maybe Biden sympathizes with Lukashenko. “Mr. Protasevich is a co-founder and a former editor of the NEXTA Telegram channel, one of the most popular opposition outlets in Belarus. Most independent media organizations in the country were forced to shut down after large-scale protests erupted over a disputed presidential election in 2020. The social network Telegram was left as one of the only means of uncensored communication.”

After all, disputing elections is now doubleplusungood, and shutting down media outlets that do so is the done thing here in America, too.

SALENA ZITO: This Small Town’s Sense of Community is No Accident.

WHITE SUPREMACY IS SO ESSENTIAL TO THEIR POLITICS THAT IF IT DOESN’T EXIST IT MUST BE INVENTED: Team Biden keeps hyping a basically phony ‘domestic violent extremism’ threat.

Though if they keep this up they may create a domestic threat.

THE BAT THEORY IS BASICALLY OVER: 3 Wuhan researchers ill before first cases revealed in 2019, report says.

HMM: DOJ Seizes $90,000, Charges Black Lives Matter Supporter Allegedly ‘Stormed Capitol,’ Sold Footage to News Outlets. “John Earle Sullivan, a political activist who reportedly attended Black Lives Matter protests last year and who allegedly agitated rioters inside the Capitol, was also charged with new weapons charges, according to the documents unsealed last week. According to the court documents, Sullivan portrayed himself as an independent journalist who was reporting on the chaos, but he actually encouraged other participants to ‘burn’ the building and engage in violence. Sullivan is accused of having a conversation with others who breached the building and allegedly told them: ‘We gotta get this [expletive] burned,” according to court documents in his case.'”

I dunno, doesn’t sound that different from CNN. . . .

Plus: “Sullivan in July 2020 was arrested in Utah for alleged rioting, making a threat of violence, and criminal mischief because he engaged in a riot that resulted in the shooting of a motorist amid nationwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations last year. He was named as an organizer in a police affidavit.”

I’m kind of surprised at these charges, though, as they don’t advance the “MAGA White Supremacist Insurrection” narrative.

NOT BY ACCIDENT OR BY COINCIDENCE: BLM’s aggressive tactics and rhetoric have led to attacks on Jews.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEF: New East Berlin Alert—Oregon Requiring Vaccine Passports. “Many might dismiss this by saying that it’s only one state, but I think we all know how this story plays out. There are many people in this country who’ve fallen in love with COVID oppression and it’s a safe bet that we’ll see liberal states and cities turning into New East Berlins and requiring citizens to show their papers to enjoy basic freedoms in public. As we are all painfully aware, liberals aren’t exactly known for governmental restraint.”

AN IMPORTANT KNIFE RIGHTS BILL IS held up in the Texas State Senate.

More here.

CHANGE (IT BACK): Bill Proposing New Marijuana Restrictions Passes First Vote. “After an eight-hour hearing at the State Capitol, the thirteen representatives on the House Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services Committee unanimously approved a bill proposing stricter rules for medical marijuana patients and physicians, as well as new packaging requirements for commercial marijuana concentrate and state-funded research into the mental-health effects of potent marijuana products.”

BUT STRANGELY, HARDLY ANYONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT: The ‘Wuhan lab leak’ theory looks more credible than ever.

AT LEAST THEY ADMIT IT: Critical Race Theory Backers: ‘Our Constitution Should Be Burned.’

SUNDAYS, WHEN I’M NOT ON THE ROAD OR OTHERWISE PREVENTED I DO AN INDIE PROMO THING: Book Promo And Vignettes by Luke, Mary Catelli and ‘Nother Mike.

ANDREW MCCARTHY: We Don’t Need a Commission to Investigate the Capitol Riot: This Democrat-driven project would be hopelessly politicized.

An honest investigation would destroy the Democratic/media narrative. Which is proof enough that they don’t intend to have an honest investigation.

TURNS OUT YOU CAN’T PUT LIPSTICK ON A T-REX:  New Dinosaur Found in Montana Reveals Tyrannosaurs’ True Face (They Didn’t Have Lips).

Of course it is from 2017, but it’s new to me.

THE BABYLON BEE — AMERICA’S PAPER OF RECORD — BRINGS YOU THE NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS:  Hamas Calls For An Israeli ‘Cease-To-Exist-Fire’.