I’ve mentioned this before, but here’s a peek into the life of the managing editor. I receive hundreds of emails a day, probably 99% of which I delete straightaway. The vast majority of what I receive is press releases.
I see scores of press releases announcing leadership changes at companies I’ve never heard of and introductions to products I don’t care about. (One firm sends me emails addressed to our own Rick Moran that offer him stories about hair extensions. No joke.)
Of course, I get tons of political press releases. Many of them involve stories that are already on our radar here at PJ Media and come from a perspective that our writers and readers largely agree with. But I get left-wing press releases, too. Some of them I just roll my eyes at, while I know that others would raise my blood pressure if I read past the subject line.
And then there are the ones that make me laugh. Here’s the subject line on one I received yesterday: “MEDIA ADVISORY: THURSDAY! Coalition of Human Rights Organizations Issues a Statewide Travel Alert for Florida Ahead of FIFA World Cup.” The headline and subhed inside the email read:
Coalition of Human Rights Organizations Issues a Statewide Travel Alert for Florida Ahead of FIFA World Cup
Travel alert forewarns of increased likelihood of racial profiling, unjust detention, and deportation of residents, visitors, and tourists
The theater kids are doing performative playtime — sorry, a press conference — outside of FIFA’s offices in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday morning. The organizations Florida Immigrant Coalition, American Friends Service Committee, Family Action Network Movement, and Semillas de Colombia are sending reps to virtue signal so earnestly about the dangers that people coming to Florida for the World Cup matches in the Sunshine State face.
Recommended: Chicken Funerals and Watermelon Rage: The Left’s Latest Cries for Help
Here’s a quote from the press release:
“Florida is no longer a safe destination for international tourists. When federal and local agents can detain anyone at anytime without cause and without identifying themselves, everyone is at risk. International visitors must ask themselves if a soccer match is worth the risk of being kidnapped and jailed until God-knows-when, in deplorable conditions, by a secret police who is using racial profiling, judging people for how they look or their accent, and getting away with literal murder in the streets of our country,” said Tessa Petit, Executive Director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “Such is the state of affairs in the United States and in Florida. We urge the international community to be aware of the risks before setting foot in Florida.”
And these people expect us to take them seriously?
The press release includes two cherry-picked stories of foreign travelers who had bad experiences. But it also tries to paint Florida as a police state where all “them fer’ners” get the “bad cops in a dark, dingy room” treatment at every turn.
“These incidents are not isolated,” the release reads. “They reflect a dangerous escalation where civil and human rights violations run rampant.” You can almost see the spittle flying from the typist’s mouth.
Tens of thousands of soccer fans will descend on Florida for the World Cup matches there. I can’t make guarantees, but I’d be willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of them will receive a warm welcome and have a grand time with no trouble whatsoever.
Those who make trouble will find it, but Florida will welcome this influx of tourists with open arms like it does the untold number of tourists who venture there every year, to the obvious consternation of the left’s theater kids.
The Left wants you to believe Florida is a dystopian police state where soccer fans are one step away from a secret detention camp. We live in the real world — and we cover it every day.
At PJ Media, we don’t just repeat press releases from professional activists and performance-art coalitions. We read them, laugh at them, fact-check them, and then tell you what’s actually going on.
If you’re tired of being told that sunshine, freedom, and personal responsibility are somehow “unsafe,” it’s time to become a PJ Media VIP. Right now, you can get 60% off an annual VIP membership with the promo code FIGHT.
Join us, support independent conservative journalism, and help us keep calling nonsense exactly what it is.
