re: #589 Occasional Reader

“Confirmed”, to my mind, means something is objectively confirmed, beyond dispute.

The web page of the conference confirmed his commitment to attend. The the headline had said “Spencer Confirms Attendance” then it would be clear that Spencer is confirming.

The current headline, “Robert Spencer Confirmed to Attend Eurofascist Conference”. Is grammatically and factually correct and does not imply that Spencer is doing the confirming.