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Immigration without assimilation is just invasion

Bobby Jindal, Alex Castellanos
The Federalist
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:00 UTC
New citizens
© NPS/Neal Herbert/Flickr
Applicants celebrate their new status as naturalized US citizens
To begin to fix immigration, we must agree the American identity is worth preserving and then work to build an immigration system that nourishes it. Can Washington discuss immigration without devolving into a debate about racism? If we lay down our Twitter weapons, perhaps we could discuss what kind of immigration we need.

Should we allow anyone, from anywhere, to come here at any time? Amid the political establishment's promotion of all immigration as virtuous and their relentless attacks on all things traditional or patriotic, we can demand something better: An immigration system that is good for America and requires that the immigrants we admit want to be Americans.

Immigration has long nourished our country. Our parents were immigrants, like those rooting nearly every American family tree, and we support legal immigration. Yet we also believe we ought to lock our national doors at night, not because we hate the people on the outside, but because we love the people on the inside.
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X

Twitter SUSPENDS progressive feminist author Naomi Wolf after slew of tweets opposing Covid-19 vaccinations


RT
Sat, 05 Jun 2021 15:52 UTC
Naomi Wolf
© AFP/Robin Marchant
Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf, a feminist author and former campaign adviser to then-president Bill Clinton who became an ardent critic of lockdowns and vaccines during the pandemic, has been banned from Twitter.

Wolf - who had nearly 150,000 followers - was suspended from Twitter on Friday evening following her repeated commentary against Covid-19 vaccinations. Though it's not clear exactly which post led to Wolf's suspension, the author had a history of making anti-vaccine comments and had published several on the day of her ban.

Comment: One person's 'vaccine disinformation' is another person's 'lifesaver'. Removing individual responsibility by banning information helps no one. It serves an agenda.

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Cross

Cardinal Marx submits resignation to Francis, citing church's 'systemic failure' on abuse

Joshua J. McElwee
National Catholic Reporter
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:00 UTC
Cardinal Marx
© CNS/Harald Oppitz/KNA
Cardinal Reinhard Marx in Frankfurt, Germany
German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of Pope Francis' closest advisors, has asked the pontiff to allow him to resign as the leader of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising as a sign of responsibility for the "systemic failure" of Catholic Church leaders over decades in responding to clergy sexual abuse.

In a shocking letter to Francis, which Marx released to journalists June 4, the cardinal says he wants to "share the responsibility" for the way priests and bishops mishandled abuse cases. He also admits he feels "personally guilty" for trying to protect the reputation of the church when dealing with victims.

Marx, in the letter, dated May 21, writes:
"To assume responsibility, it is ... not enough in my opinion to react only and exclusively if the files provide proof of the mistakes and failures of individuals. We as bishops have to make clear that we also represent the institution of the Church as a whole."
In resigning, the cardinal states:
"I may be able to send a personal signal for a new beginning, for a new awakening of the Church, not only in Germany. I would like to show that not the ministry is in the foreground but the mission of the Gospel. I therefore strongly request you to accept this resignation."
Marx has led his archdiocese since 2007. He also serves as one of only seven members of Francis' advisory Council of Cardinals and as the coordinator of the Vatican's Council for the Economy, which supervises the financial activities of both the Vatican city-state and the offices of the Holy See.
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Pirates

Bilal Abdul Kareem breaks silence over HTS detention in Syria

Simon Hooper, Mohamed Hashem
Middle East Eye
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 18:11 UTC
Bilal Kareem Aleppo suicide terrorist
© Twitter / @BilalKareem
US journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem has broken his silence to speak for the first time about his arrest and months-long detention by militant group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria's Idlib province.

Speaking exclusively to Middle East Eye, Abdul Kareem accused Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the HTS leader, of being "unfit to rule" and of lying about conditions in the organisation's prisons.

Jolani denied in an interview broadcast this week on the US PBS network that detainees held by the group were being tortured.

Abdul Kareem is currently banned by HTS from reporting, or appearing on social media, as a condition of his release from prison in February. He admitted he was putting himself in jeopardy by speaking out against the group, though he said he had left the territory under HTS control.

HTS is an alliance of Islamist militant factions which has controlled most of Idlib since 2017 and has been one of the most effective opposition fighting forces during Syria's decade-long civil war. But it is considered a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US and many other Western countries and has been accused of atrocities, executions and war crimes by human rights monitors.

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X

Facebook formally suspends President Trump for two years


Human Events
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 00:01 UTC
Donald Trump
Facebook announced that it will suspend Donald Trump for two years following its Oversight Board urging the company was wrong to keep the ban open-ended.

The Big Tech giant will revisit the suspension two years from the date of Trump's original ban, January 7.

Assuming he is then reinstated, Trump will face a "strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions" if he commits further violations, including a permanent ban on his account, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Comment: This is the exact opposite of the rumors that have been floating around. From Becker News:
Donald Trump's social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook appear to be restored. The header for Facebook was updated to his alert "Text Vote to 88022":

donald trump facebook
The president's Instagram account also appears to be restored:

donald trump instagram
Daily Caller's senior correspondent Henry Rodgers reported the news.
Trump is back on Instagram and Facebook. pic.twitter.com/EsohdQlSgo

— Henry Rodgers (@henryrodgersdc) June 2, 2021
Many of Trump's followers on Twitter wondered when the website will follow suit. But Twitter has made it a point that Donald Trump is never going to be allowed back on the website, which has stirred a great deal of controversy.

The news follows upon Donald Trump shutting down his "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump" website permanently, as reported earlier.

The website is now replaced with a page for subscribers to receive "alerts" from the president. Trump adviser Jason Miller told CNBC, which first reported the page's shutdown, that the blog is being shut down for good.

"It was just auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on," Miller told Axios.


...

Update: Facebook says Trump remains suspended, despite the recent changes to the accounts.

"No. Nothing about the status of President Trump's presence on our platform has changed. He remains indefinitely suspended," Andy Stone of Facebook said in a response on Twitter. It is unclear how the accounts were altered recently if Trump's team was locked out.


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Palette

The British elite lauded Ai Weiwei when he criticised China, but it's the opposite when he highlights their treatment of Assange

Chris Sweeney
RT
Thu, 03 Jun 2021 18:50 UTC
Ai Weiwei
© Getty Images / Matej Divizna.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in Prague, Czech Republic.
The Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei says he's hypocritically been removed from a British exhibition because he chose to design a piece that addressed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's incarceration in a London prison.

'One person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter' is a flowery way of saying actions can be interpreted differently, depending on your viewpoint.

It's a scenario acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has often encountered and, unfortunately, is in again.

Comment: Freedom of speech, freedom of expression - these are long dead and gone in the west, despite the fact that many still cling to their shadows and ghosts. These days, people are simply too fragile to want to be confronted with their own hypocrisy.

See also:

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Bug

Media bug-pushers REALLY want the public to eat 'delicious' cicadas, but FDA warns off allergic insect-lovers

Graham Dockery
RT
Thu, 03 Jun 2021 19:27 UTC
cicada nymph shell
© Reuters / Carlos Barria
A cicada nymph shell hangs from a tree at Rosemary Hills-Lyttonsville Local Park in Chevy Chase, Maryland, May 12, 2021
The emergence of the 'Brood X' cicadas from their underground lairs gave the media another shot at its apparent goal of converting the populace to an insect-based diet. But the FDA has warned diners to think before they bite.

Beady-eyed and wriggling, hundreds of billions of cicadas emerged last month from their underground hibernation across the eastern United States. This year's crop of bugs are one of 15 broods, each of which emerges every 17 years to screech, mate, and eventually die off after around three weeks.


The cicadas are hunted for food by bats, wasps and birds, but this time they faced a new predator: man, or more specifically, a certain subspecies of liberal dying to wean his fellow man off a traditional meat-rich diet and onto a repulsive nutritional regimen of limbs, antennae and exoskeletons.

Comment: All part of the new agenda.See also:

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Family

Virginia parents file lawsuit against school board over 'equity ambassador program'

Chrissy Clark
The Daily Wire
Wed, 02 Jun 2021 09:11 UTC
students outside
© Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images
A group of Virginia parents filed a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public School (LCPS) district's school board for allegedly "violating students' free speech rights."

According to a press release from the plaintiff, the school has created two programs that allegedly push a progressive ideology on all students. The first program is the "Student Equity Ambassador Program" and the second is a "bias reporting system." The plaintiffs consider both to be "illegal."

"Over the past two years, the board and administrators have incorporated controversial and radical political theory into school curriculum," the press release reads. "Now they are asking students to be vocal supporters of these political views or face being excluded from school leadership positions and reported through a new 'bias reporting' system."

The "Student Equity Ambassador Program" is a program designed for minority students to inform on their peers about potential racial insensitivity or "microaggressions." The "bias reporting system" falls under the purview of the equity ambassador program, though any student can anonymously report on a peer.

Comment: See also:

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Bell

It's madness that therapists are cultivating fear about leaving lockdown - most of us can't wait to escape our Covid-19 caves

Frank Furedi
RT
Sat, 05 Jun 2021 00:37 UTC
Freedom over fear
© AFP/Justin Tallis (file photo)
London, UK.
As restrictions start to ease, the MSM is full of alarmist stories from self-help quacks ramping up fear about a return to normality. But this determination to normalise lockdown constitutes a major threat to our freedom.

It seems that the therapy industry is determined to turn lockdown into a permanent lifestyle. Almost daily, we hear of yet another mental health professional warning about the psychological dangers associated with people's anxieties about returning to normal.

The headline in the New Yorker says it all: "Reopening anxiety: What if we're scared to go back to normal life?" You might have thought that what many people are most anxious about is the delay in getting back our normal freedoms. Not according to the New Yorker. The article cites numerous experts and therapists, who appear determined to highlight the mental turmoil facing people entering the post-Covid-19 real world.

According to Priya Parker, a so-called 'conflict resolution facilitator', "our social muscles have atrophied". She calls going back to normality the phase of "re-entry". She adds, "there's extraordinary anxiety in that phase, and it's not illogical or irrational anxiety".
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Bizarro Earth

Global food costs surge to decade high

Megan Durisin
Yahoo
Fri, 04 Jun 2021 06:08 UTC
food costs
Global food prices have extended their rally to the highest in almost a decade, heightening concerns over bulging grocery bills at a time when economies are struggling to overcome the Covid-19 crisis.

A United Nations gauge of world food costs climbed for a 12th straight month in May, its longest stretch in a decade. The relentless advance risks accelerating broader inflation, complicating central banks efforts to provide more stimulus.

Drought in South America has withered crops from corn and soybeans to coffee and sugar. Record purchases by China are worsening the supply crunch in grains and boosting costs for global livestock producers. Cooking oils have soared too on demand for biofuel. The surge in food costs has revived memories of 2008 and 2011, when spikes led to riots in more than 30 nations.


Comment: And, after a year of lockdowns, people are in a much more precarious position.


Comment: With increasingly erratic seasons and extreme weather events, lockdown's causing unprecedented waste, cattle and poultry disease outbreaks, political interference and mismanagement, and now there's suspicious cyberattacks to contend with, the past decade and more has decimated food stocks and production, and the possibility of food shortages in the near future is very real.

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