EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: Rising costs erode buying power of Social Security earnings by 36%, report says. “Older Americans that retired before 2000 would have to earn an extra $516.7 more per month or $6,200 more this year than what they are currently getting to maintain the same level of buying power as in 2000, according to the study.”

JEFF GOLDSTEIN: I’ve got your ‘white fragility’ right here, my brother: Faux white guilt has led to real black complicity in the deterioration of US race relations.

Covington Catholic High School’s Nick Sandmann never tried to stare down a phony Native American activist. Smugly or otherwise. And we all should have known it.

Morgan Bettinger never threatened to run over BLM protesters, nor did she make any of the supposedly racist remarks Zyahna Bryant claimed she did. Bryant — a “social justice” activist and Marxian race hustler — can perhaps be trusted to review a new Applebee’s dessert pie, but on all other subjects, the wise move would be to adopt a skeptical pose when engaging with her, if not simply dismiss out of hand anything spilling from her mouth save maybe a tasty fruit filling.

Michael Brown never said “hands up, don’t shoot!” Jacob Blake is not a hero or a civil rights icon — nor should be George Floyd or Trayvon Martin.

Christian Cooper did indeed threaten to take Amy Cooper’s dog. Justin Neely was a crazed homeless man and career criminal who absolutely threatened people on a subway train. Daniel Penny has never been a white supremacist.

Time and time again, the left creates its own mythology, then repeats it until the rest of us just kind of accept it as at least somewhat fairly described. And that’s a fatal mistake, both intellectually and practically.

True. Always remind them that they don’t hold the intellectual or moral high ground. Garbage people never do, and the left is garbage.

DEAL OF THE DAY: Cuisinart CGS-5020 BBQ Tool Aluminum Carrying Case, Deluxe Grill Set. #CommissionEarned

OLD AND BUSTED: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

The New Hotness? These two Democrat senators want to create a federal agency that regulates what you can say on the internet. What could possibly go wrong?

LIFE IN THE BLUE ZONES: Detectives Rep: New York Cops Are Too Busy With Red Flag Gun Confiscations to Arrest Violent Criminals.

VICTORIA TAFT: Why Didn’t Durham Talk to the Liars Who Pushed Fake Trump-Russia Collusion? The Answer’s a Stunner.

DESANTIS GROUP PLANS $200 Million Ground Game.

The group is already taking on many tasks often reserved for the campaign itself: securing endorsements in early primary states, sending mailers, organizing on campuses, running television ads, raising small donations for the campaign in an escrow account and working behind the scenes to build crowds for the governor’s events. Hiring is underway in 18 states and officials said plans were in the works to assemble various pro-DeSantis coalitions, such as for voters who are veterans or those focused on issues like abortion, guns or agriculture.

“No one has ever contemplated the scale of this organization or operation, let alone done it,” said Chris Jankowski, the group’s chief executive. “This has just never even been dreamed up.”

In Iowa, the group has opened a boot camp on the outskirts of Des Moines, giving the facility the code name “Fort Benning,” after the old Army training outpost, with 189 graduates of an eight-day training program the first wave of an organizing army to follow. Door knocking begins on Wednesday in New Hampshire.

That’s been a weakness of Trump’s campaign, so let’s see how it works. Personally, I’m more interested in seeing Republicans beat Democrats than each other, but primary season is primary season.

EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: “Target said that customers knocked down Pride displays at some stores, angrily approached workers and posted threatening videos on social media from inside the stores.”

JOHN HINDERAKER: Woke Capitalism Gone Wild. “So, what is going on here? I don’t get it. We obviously are not dealing with traditional assumptions about corporate behavior. These companies are not appealing to a substantial customer segment. They evidently don’t mind incurring the puzzlement, if not wrath, of much of their customer base. They can’t possibly be profit maximizing, as economists tell us they do, and ought to do.”

Well, we live in the Crazy Years.

OPEN THREAD: Have fun, kids!

THE RETURN OF THE WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM? Commanders’ trademark application is denied.

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION: Three Companies to Buy Most Virgin Orbit Assets. “The auction results rule out any attempt to keep the company intact and bring it out of bankruptcy under new ownership. Virgin Orbit said May 9 it had heard from ‘multiple’ parties who were interested in buying the entire company and resuming launch operations. It did not identify any of those parties, which were among more than 30 ‘indications of interest’ in the company’s assets it fielded.”

RUN ALL THE CANDIDATES! CNN To Hold Nikki Haley Town Hall In Key Early Primary State.

SALENA ZITO IN FLORIDA: The DeSantis They Know.

IT’S COME TO THIS: NAACP Warns Blacks Not to Travel to Florida — Which Ranks #2 for Black-Owned Businesses.

RON DESANTIS BUSTS MEDIA STRANGLEHOLD, ANNOUNCES PRESIDENTIAL BID: ‘I Am Running to Lead Our Great American Comeback.’

I EAT FRUITS, BUT I ALSO TAKE A QUERCETIN SUPPLEMENT: An Apple a Day Keeps Frailty at Bay: The Power of Quercetin Flavonol-Rich Foods.

WELL: DeSantis Campaign Announcement Crashes Twitter. “At one point, there were nearly 700,000 users in the Space. ‘We’re just reallocating more server capability to be able to handle the load here. It’s really going crazy,’ Sacks said.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Q: What Does It Take To Fire A Black Female SJW Professor? A: Holding A Machete Against A Reporter’s Neck. “We’ve found the line!”

BREAKING: DeSantis Campaign Announcement Crashes Twitter.