The dispute of the moment centers around the AP’s refusal to adopt the president’s executive order to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. I have no dog in that particular hunt. They could call that body of water the Gulf of Swordfish for all I care (reference to the great Marx Brothers film “Horsefeathers” deliberate).
Nevertheless, the Biden Administration made similar executive order changes galore, many of them considerably more fraught, to which the AP evinced not one objection and adhered to like well-trained circus animals.
They also did not object to years of acts of “woke” destruction as disgusting (and terroristic) as “militants”—the term they used— pulling down the statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of New York’s Museum of Natural History when Roosevelt was the man responsible for our national parks. BLM were “militants” to them as well, not terrorists, as they attempted to burn down Minneapolis for their political purposes (also personal gain). The Associated Press linguistically normalized almost every extremist action of recent years, foreign and domestic.
But current rhetorical decisions of the AP are far worse with consequences that enable evil in its most extreme forms.
Most disturbing is their inability to use the word “terrorism” to apply to, well, real terrorists. They claim they rely exclusively on Merriam-Webster for their definitions but there is reason to be skeptical. MW defines terrorism as “the unlawful use or threat of violence especially against the state or the public as a politically motivated means of attack or coercion.”
Wouldn’t that perfectly define Hamas that breaks into a neighboring country, shoots as many random civilians as possible, blows up their cars, destroys their buildings, abducts their citizens, including children and tiny babies, killing many, torturing or raping others, male and female, or starving them to death, in hidden tunnels for now over 500 days. How much “attack” and “coercion” do you need? And it hasn’t stopped.
But no, Hamas are not terrorists. In AP parlance they are “militants.” But because it is the Associated Press, this appellation spreads, surprisingly often even to conservative media. AP journalism, according to its website, is read by 4 billion people a day globally.
Hamas=Gestapo=Terrorists that simple!
They are of their father the devil and the lusts of their father they will do.
(To slightly paraphrase Jesus Christ.)
“He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
John 8:44
The U.S. Federal Government has no right to regulate the vocabulary of private individuals or institutions. That’s about as Orwellian as it can get. That’s the kind of thing the Directorate in the French Revolution did. In my opinion, Trump is doing a good job so far, but he gets carried away sometimes. The Gulf of Mexico will remain the Gulf of Mexico, and the U.S. is not going to seize Greenland, either.
He isn’t regulating the AP or any other institution; they can continue as they like.
By the same token, Trump is under no obligation to allow them to participate in White House press conferences, or pay much attention to the corrupt media (except to troll and laugh at them of course).
As the lifeless bodies of those young children were paraded out of Gaza this am, the terrorists cheered, offered sweets, sipped tea…
https://x.com/VividProwess/status/1892568688810750035
However on a different level, I am fine with “Gulf of Swordfish” as well…
I think the definition of “terrorist” was someone who brought a fight to civilians while not wearing military garb, and without a prior declaration of hostilities. I saw it in Red Cross or similar website, and they would know…
Almost always agree with Roger Simon as well.. here too
The reason for Mr. Simon’s criticism is because the Associated Press has become corrupt. The once-respected new service purposely violates its own stated ethics guide.
There once was a website called The Augean Stables, a reference to the Labors of Hercules. The history of the AP was detailed there and was instructive. At one point the main source of funding was Al Jeezera, which paid for press stories and underwrote TV news presentations for consumption in Muslim countries. THis severely distorted the coverage and choice of stories, since less funding was coming from the “associated Press” in the US.
Today’s Liberal loves double standards, which their Soviet comrades perfected.
They pretend to ignore it while gleefully shoving it up everyone’s butt with plausible deniability.
It’s transparent and tiresome.
The same can be said for every single policy Liberals pursue;
it’s never for the people, it’s always for control.
When they trot out their latest, and progressively more grotesque policy,
one can be certain that no more thought went into it beyond,
… “what will upset the Right?”
Evil, nothing less.