SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

SAY IT AIN'T SO, JOE – FROM FOX:   EXCLUSIVE: Fox News has learned from a senior CBP source that a plan is under consideration for Border Patrol Agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) to begin releasing illegal border crossers who claim asylum without issuing a Notice to Appear (NTA) - meaning they will depart custody without a court date.  Such a decision would be unprecedented if enacted and would place the responsibility of seeking an asylum hearing on the migrants through Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or legal assistance.  The source says the reasoning for the decision is that the situation has "become so dire that BP [Border Patrol] has no choice but to release people nearly immediately after apprehension because there is no space to hold people even to do necessary NTA paperwork."  The process of issuing each migrant an NTA can take hours per individual or family. This would not apply to unaccompanied minors.  The RGV is ground zero for the surge in border crossings and is more than 700% overcapacity.  When migrants are released in the RGV, Border Patrol usually coordinates it with Sister Norma Pimentel and her Catholic Humanitarian Respite Center. Pimentel tells Fox News that she is aware and is "coordinating her response."  The controversial move allegedly on the table comes as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working to open another facility for unaccompanied child migrants in Pecos,Texas, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announced Saturday.  This administration has already become a national disgrace.  In some other countries, a prime minister would quickly lose a vote of confidence and be ejected from office.

MAJOR ANALYST ROASTS PRESS ON ATLANTA KILLINGS – FROM FOX:    Andrew Sullivan lambasted the media for their coverage of the recent deadly Atlanta-area shootings for pushing a "narrative" about the violence being driven by anti-Asian bigotry despite the lack of evidence that proves that it was a hate crime.  Much of the mainstream media and the Democratic Party have condemned racism against Asian-Americans after it was reported that six of the eight victims who died in a trio of massage parlors were of Asian descent even though an ongoing investigation has yet to determine racism as a motive.  In a piece published in his "Weekly Dish" Substack, Sullivan sounded the alarm on how "narratives" are replacing the news with the media's "grotesquely distorted" coverage of the shootings.  "This story’s coverage is proof, it seems to me, that American journalists have officially abandoned the habit of attempting any kind of 'objectivity' in reporting these stories," Sullivan wrote. "We are now in the enlightened social justice world of 'moral clarity' and 'narrative-shaping.'"  "Here’s the truth: We don’t yet know why this man did these horrible things... That’s why we have thorough investigations and trials in America," Sullivan explained. "We only have one solid piece of information as to motive, which is the confession by the mass killer to law enforcement: that he was a religious fundamentalist who was determined to live up to chastity and repeatedly failed, as is often the case. Like the 9/11 bombers or the mass murderer at the Pulse nightclub, he took out his angst on the source of what he saw as his temptation, and committed mass murder."  We write often about rushing to judgment.  This is one of the worst cases I've seen.  Some journalists went so far as to blame the killings on President Trump because he dared call the pandemic the "China virus," somewhat like the "Spanish Flu."  Surveys show that most of the public is fed up with the press, but the press, in its self-proclaimed wonderfulness, apparently doesn't care.

March 20, 2021