PLEASE COME TO BOSTON FOR THE SPRINGTIME: Boston puts San Francisco to shame in terms of clean streets, welcoming vibe.

There are a variety of factors at play here. San Francisco has more homeless people than Boston. The weather is temperate, so it attracts more people year-round. Boston shuffles its homeless population to the outskirts, leaving places like Roxbury to deal with the crisis. There’s a place they call “Methadone Mile” here that sure sounds familiar. So, don’t get me wrong. This is not Shangri-La on the banks of the Charles River.

But Boston seems to understand a core fact that appears lost on San Francisco’s civic leaders. If you’re going to be a world-class city that attracts the best and brightest business travelers and competes with destinations like Paris and Rome for tourist dollars, you can’t let your downtown core be an open air drug market. You just can’t. It should be clean and policed and free of threatening elements. Boston clearly believes this. Same can be said for New York City. A recent trip to Dallas revealed the same. Society’s problems remain, but they’re not front and center.

I’m sure plenty of people will find that sentiment callous. That sweeping the problem to other areas doesn’t solve the root issues. And I’d agree with some of that. But we can’t let our city decay because we don’t have the political will to address the issue. We can’t continue to project this image to the world and expect good things to happen. It’s long past time to clean up downtown and put our best face forward.

There are certainly lessons to be learned from Boston.

Narrator voice: But those lessons won’t be learned by San Francisco politicians anytime soon.

TRAINWRECK: Ratings Are in for Jan. 6 Committee Production. “‘Context: The evening newscasts on CBS, NBC & ABC average anywhere from 18 to 20 million viewers combined on a typical night,’ Concha explained. ‘Those newscasts do not air in primetime. The January 6 hearings airing in primetime Thursday took in just 11+ million viewers on those three same networks.’ According to Newsbusters, ‘evening newscast audiences on any given night last week were 1.6 times larger than the total number of broadcast viewers who tuned into the hearings on Thursday.’ Of course, one of the issues is that it wasn’t ‘new’; most people have seen most of it and it’s from a year-and-a-half ago. Not to mention that many don’t view it as a legitimate committee, but as a political show trial.”

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Loudoun County School District Announces Summer Enrichment Program For Kids Who Need Extra Grooming.

OUT ON A LIMB: ‘Not beautiful either:’ Jordan Peterson not impressed by transgender NFL cheerleader.

THE POWER LINE WEEK IN PICTURES: Carownervirus Edition.

QUESTIONS NOBODY IS ASKING: What is ‘white gay privilege?’

IT’S COME TO THIS: Jack Del Rio Fined $100,000 For Comments on Jan 6 and George Floyd Riots; Washington Commanders Issue Ridiculous Statement.

REVEALED: DHS disinformation board pushed for partnership with social media platforms.

GOODER AND HARDER, CALIFORNIA:

● Shot: ‘Game over:’ The tiny Central Coast town of Cambria is about to run out of water.

—SF Gate, Monday.

● Chaser: Residents celebrate as California Coastal Commission rejects plan for Huntington Beach desalination plant.

—The L.A. Times, May 12th.

OLD AND BUSTED: “Yellen expects high inflation rates to be temporary.”

The New Hotness? U.S. Inflation Hit 8.6% in May. Energy, groceries, shelter costs drive fastest rise in consumer-price index since December 1981.

Related: Treasury secretary concedes she was wrong on ‘path that inflation would take.’

More: Real Wages Have Declined This Much Under Biden, New Inflation Data Show.

ANDREW SULLIVAN: THE SCOLDS ARE IN RETREAT.

Sullivan’s latest piece on Substack is titled “The Vibes They Are A-Shiftin’” and that actually undersells the case he makes that the woke left (or whatever you prefer to call them) appear to be in retreat. He opens by noting that it was only 2 years ago that the world was figuratively and sometimes literally on fire. Activists were demanding police be defunded and Ibram Kendi and Robin DiAngelo were seemingly anointed as our foremost public intellectuals. Jump forward two years and things look very different.

Last year, Eric Adams became mayor of New York City, propelled by minority voters horrified by surging crime and chaos. This past week, DA Chesa Boudin, scion of leftwing terrorists, was ousted by minority voters in San Francisco…

Elite imposition of the new social justice religion — indoctrinating children in the precepts and premises of critical race and gender theory — has also met ferocious backlash as parents began to absorb what their kids were being taught: that America is a uniquely evil country based forever on white supremacy; that your race is the most important thing about you; that biological sex must be replaced by socially constructed genders of near-infinite number; and that all this needs to be taught in kindergarten. Yes, some of this was politically exploited or hyped by the right. But if you think there is no there there in this concern about schooling, you’re dreaming…

The Washington Post this week was convulsed by public infighting — initiated by a reporter, Felicia Sonmez, whose crusade to dismantle the “oppressive systems” she endures at the WaPo went on for a week of public name-calling, vitriol, and victim-mongering…

And yet even in this wokest of woke newspapers, the editor finally had enough. Sonmez was fired yesterday for “misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violating The Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity.”…

In the popular culture, the scolds are retreating.

Talk about change: “[P]erhaps the clearest sign yet that the world is finally waking up and turning against rote wokery comes from  . . . Starbucks.  Remember how Starbucks ostentatiously opened its bathrooms to the general public after a racial incident caused Starbucks to close down for a whole day of racial sensitivity training back in 2018? Well: Starbucks’s C.E.O. Howard Schultz: ‘I don’t know if we can keep our bathrooms open.’”

OKAY, GROOMERS: The Milwaukee Brewers hosted a drag show before Wednesday night’s game against the Phillies.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Will January 6 Make Americans Forget Our Wallets Are Shrinking and Libs Want to Assassinate Half the Supreme Court?

THE IRAN CRISIS IS HERE: “Iran has enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon. Last week, David Albright and Sarah Burkhard of the Institute for Science and International Security (the good ISIS) wrote that ‘Iran’s breakout timeline is now at zero.’ Swell. How does President Biden respond? He says there is still time to make a deal that even his lead negotiator, State Department official Robert Malley, admits is ‘tenuous at best.’ The complacency is maddening. The other day, when a reporter asked National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan for his thoughts on Iran’s dispute with the IAEA, Sullivan said, ‘From our perspective, we have to view these on separate tracks, and that’s how we’re going to proceed.’ Translation: We won’t let Iran’s hostile behavior get in the way of appeasement.”

QUESTION ASKED: Why Did the Star Wars Hotel Flop? Disney Is Desperate To Find Out. Disney is pouring money into focus groups all about the Galactic Starcruiser hotel.

A year ago, in August, word got out that Disney was about to launch a fully immersive Star Wars experience at Disney World. It sounded like the perfect getaway for a Star Wars superfan—but that’s not what ended up happening.

Now, Disney is trying to figure out why the incredibly expensive hotel flopped, and the company is spending even more money to try and find out why.

According to Disneyland News, the company is looking to understand why their first fully immersive hotel experience was so bad that no one wanted to book a stay. Now, some guests who had previously stayed at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and completed a survey after their stay are being asked to join a paid focus group so Disney can learn more about their experiences.

Essentially, they’re paying even more money to try and find out why their Star Wars hotel was, seemingly a flop.

Perhaps retconning the hotel into Star Wars “canon” didn’t help matters:

An official new Star Wars book will retcon Walt Disney World’s new Star Wars hotel as the site of Leia and Han’s honeymoon.

No, this isn’t some “The Onion”-style spoof or an especially crazy attempt at fan fiction. Beth Revis’ “Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel” drops this August, and the official press release on StarWars.com today included this nugget about the book’s plot:

“Set just after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the story begins on the forest moon of Endor, where Han proposes in the elation of the rebel victory against the Empire. After a ceremony at the site of the victory celebration at the end of the film, the newlyweds depart for a honeymoon aboard the Halcyon starcruiser, the luxury vessel at the heart of the new Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience at [Walt] Disney World Resort.”

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

STOPPED CLOCK DEPARTMENT:What Joy Behar’s Anti-2nd Amendment Racism Rant Accidentally Gets Right. While Behar’s implication that racists don’t want black people to have guns is correct, I don’t think she realizes that she is on the same side as those very same racists in the gun control.

OLD AND BUSTED: Democrats Looking for Dead Voters.

The New Hotness? Democrats Looking for Dead Talk Show Guests:

To be fair, Young seems like a perfect fit to discuss the January 6th hearings:

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Miley Cyrus To Perform Halftime Show At Jan. 6 Committee Hearings.

IT’S A STUTTER! Making off-the-cuff comments and occasional gaffes is a feature of Biden’s authenticity, not a bug.

PAULA BOLYARD: The Real Reason Why Fox Isn’t Airing the J6 Show Trial (and Why CNN and MSNBC Must).

The dirty little secret that Bump and others of his ilk refuse to admit is that Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are all partisan networks. Every one of them. Anyone who can’t see that is being willfully ignorant or outright lying. CNN and MSNBC want the Democrats and their leftist ideology to prevail, and Fox wants the same for conservative ideals. Yet left-wing media outlets like the Washington Post, CNN, and MSNBC continually perpetuate the myth that they are pure as the newly fallen snow and would never, ever, EVER stand for biased news, all the while laughing at their dwindling number of viewers who fall for the ruse.

And they really get the vapors when they’re called out for their partisanship on air: LOL: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell Says ‘We’re Not Democrats, We’re Journalists.’

The lone Republican on the panel, Danielle Pletka, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, finally had a chance to weigh in. “I think President Trump’s judgment on Russia and on Putin has not been awesome. I think Mike Pompeo misspoke,” Pletka said briefly before being cut off by Mitchell who took issue with what she said. “He said it several times,” Mitchell claimed.

Pletka replied: “I know Andrea, but I don’t think that’s what he believes.” Then the entire panel erupted and started shouting at Pletka as Todd failed to do his job as the “moderator.”

Clearly flustered from being shouted at and not allowed to get a word in, Pletka put her foot down: “Hang on. First of all, there are four of you and one of me. I’m the only Republican sitting here. Hang on a second.”

Mitchell did not like being outed as a Democrat even though she outs herself every day on national television, including numerous times on the panel moments before.

She snapped back: “We’re not Republicans or Democrats, we’re journalists.” Todd then followed up gesturing towards Mitchell, Welker, and himself “well, three of us are.”

Fortunately, fewer and fewer viewers are buying the act.

DC LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN TO COMBAT ANTI-TRANS HATE ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: There’s Been One Incident in the Past Two Years.

BURIED LEDE: NEW YORK TIMES OBTAINS FELICIA SONMEZ’S TERMINATION LETTER. Felicia Sonmez Is Fired by The Washington Post.

Felicia Sonmez, a reporter for The Washington Post who in recent days has been at the center of a debate over the organization’s social media policies and the culture of the newsroom, was fired on Thursday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.

In an emailed termination letter, which was viewed by The New York Times, Ms. Sonmez was told that The Post was ending her employment, effective immediately, “for misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violating The Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity.”

The email also said Ms. Sonmez’s “public attempts to question the motives of your co-journalists” undermined The Post’s reputation.

“We cannot allow you to continue to work as a journalist representing The Washington Post,” the letter said.

Reached by email, Ms. Sonmez declined to comment. Her internal Slack account was deactivated by Thursday afternoon, according to a screenshot viewed by The Times.

Hmmm….Is it possible Sonmez herself leaked her termination letter and screenshot of her Slack account to the Times?

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): My favorite take so far:

NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Hours After Kavanaugh Threat, Biden Predicts ‘Mini Revolution’ If Roe Overturned.

Earlier: Is Chuck Schumer Culpable for the Death Threat Against Justice Kavanaugh?

REPORT: Felicia Sonmez Fired by the Washington Post.

Prior to Sonmez being fired, the New York Post had this headline: Washington Post ‘clusterf–k’: Staffers fume at reporter Felicia Sonmez for ‘pouring gas on the fire.’

21st CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Aaron Rodgers Has A New Girlfriend ‘Blu Of Earth’ Who Claims To Be A Witch.