Deep State Passive Voice

Annoying as hell, the passive voice as an impunity finesse might seem like one of those tiny constant bothers, like the Do Not Disturb tag constantly falling off the room lever. It is not a good thing, but it can be a tell. We know not to comment much right after shocking events, what with the normal errors and falsehoods of early reports. Still, a headline aggregated in Citizen Free Press citing the New York Post just really chapped my cheek. Secret Service blames local police, says it was tasked with securing properties surrounding Trump’s Pa. rally (nypost.com) The offending expression appears a few times. For instance, “The Secret Service blamed local police for failing to secure the rooftop from which gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, insisting it was outside of the perimeter the federal agency was tasked with protecting.” The whole excuse seems ludicrous on its surface, but the sad tell is the “was tasked” part. Who the heck makes these was tasked things? How does a reporter let a spokesperson get away with such? Secret Service tasks just fall off the doorknob now.