Flashback: Biden in 2006 tells MSNBC's Chris Matthews 'illegal aliens' must 'learn to speak English,' 'earn their way' in



Last week, Democrats spent quite a bit of energy criticizing President Joe Biden for daring — amid his State of the Union address — to characterize Laken Riley's suspected murderer as an "illegal."

You know, as opposed to being outraged over the murder itself — and for policies that allowed the suspect to roam across the U.S. border in the first place.

Biden, of course, dutifully walked back his "illegal" characterization during an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart over the weekend: "I shouldn’t have used 'illegal.' It’s 'undocumented.'" When Capehart asked Biden if he regretted using the "illegal" term, Biden replied, "Yes."

It wasn't always that way.

Let's flash back to another MSNBC clip that's been making the rounds on social media since left-wing undergarments got in a twist over Biden's ghastly "illegal" utterance.

It's a 2006 video of then-U.S. Sen. Biden telling MSNBC's Chris Matthews that "illegal aliens" need to "learn to speak English," among other requirements for getting to reside in the U.S.

In the clip, Matthews kicks things off with — count 'em — three "illegal" references in one question as he asks Biden if there's "a Democratic Party position which accommodates the need to stop illegal entry, punish people who hire people with cheap wages illegally, and also gives hope to people who live here illegally and people who want to come here right now?"

After some back and forth, Matthews asks Biden if you can "scare an employer in this country, whether he's an agricultural worker or a housewife, into not hiring an illegal because the punishment's so high that if you get caught, it's a huge embarrassment to your family, and you may just ... get hit with a fine that'll kill you?"

Biden replies, "Absolutely you can, and that's what we should do. I think we should do that."

From there, Biden remarks that Democrats understand that "illegal aliens ... have to have a way to earn their way into the deal. This isn't amnesty." He also says that "they pay a fine, they gotta learn to speak English, they gotta pass tests."

Matthews chimes in on the importance of encouraging illegal immigrants to learn English, even adding that "English is gonna unite this country potentially. It always has in the past."

Biden then observes that "I can't think of a country that has two languages as their accepted languages that is doing all that well, including Switzerland and/or Canada."

Matthews says that having multiple languages in the U.S. "divides us. You can't talk to each other."

Oh, how times have changed. Check it out:

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Election 2022 : John Fetterman vs. English Language | 10/26/22

Election 2022 : John Fetterman vs. English Language | 10/26/22

Joss Whedon mocks Israeli-born Gal Gadot after she claimed he threatened her career: 'English is not her first language' — but Gadot slaps back, 'I understood perfectly'



Famed director Joss Whedon hit out at Gal Gadot's claims that he "threatened" her career during the filming of "Justice League," saying that English is not the actress's native tongue, and that she likely didn't understand his remark.

Israeli-born Gadot, however, fired back with a thundering response: "I understood perfectly."

Whedon has been at the center of lurid entertainment industry allegations over the past several years, which have seen him accused of misogyny, racism, verbal abuses, sexual harassment, and more.

How did this all play out?

In May, Gadot said Whedon threatened her career during the filming for 2017's "Justice League."

"[He] said that if I do something, he will make sure my career is miserable, and I took care of it on the spot," she said at the time.

During a later interview, Gadot addressed the exchange again and said that she was "shocked" by Whedon's remarks.

During a recent interview with New York Magazine, Whedon addressed Gadot's claims and said, "I don't threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech."

Whedon clarified that the exchange he believes was at the crux of problem was a joke that Gadot would have to tie him to a railroad track and cut a scene from the film over his dead body. He added that she must have misinterpreted his response to being over her dead body rather than his own.

Gadot in response to Whedon's claims said, "I understood perfectly."

Anything else?

In 2020, actor Ray Fisher — who portrayed Cyborg in "Justice League" — accused Whedon of "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable" behavior toward the cast and crew during filming of the movie.

At the time, he did not delve into the specifics of Whedon's purported behavior.

Fisher — who is black — later went on to complain that Whedon used color correction to lighten his complexion.

In the New York Magazine interview, Whedon insisted that he'd brightened the coloring of the entire movie.

"Whedon was stunned," the report said. "He had given the whole movie a lighter look, brightening everything in postproduction, including all the faces. He said the claim that he had disliked a character’s skin tone ... was false and unjust."

Whedon suggested that Fisher wasn't much more than a troublemaker, and that the Cyborg thespian was a "bad actor" in more than just one sense and a "malevolent force."

Fisher hit back at Whedon's defense and on Monday tweeted, "Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all... Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today—I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Tomorrow the work continues."

Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all\u2026\n\nRather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today\u2014I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\n\nTomorrow the work continues.\n\n#MLKDay \n\nA>E
— Ray Fisher (@Ray Fisher) 1642446331

By Tuesday, Fisher added, "Before I get started today, I want to thank you all for lifting and supporting EVERYONE that has been negatively affected by Joss Whedon. I was not the first to speak out about him, but I hope to be one of the last that has to."

Before I get started today, I want to thank you all for lifting and supporting EVERYONE that has been negatively affected by Joss Whedon.\n\nI was not the first to speak out about him, but I hope to be one of the last that has to.\n\nA>E
— Ray Fisher (@Ray Fisher) 1642520832

He later continued, "I’m starting a team called 'The Malevolent Force.' Who wants in? *Joss Whedon’s need not apply*"

I\u2019m starting a team called \u201cThe Malevolent Force.\u201d\n\nWho wants in?\n\n*Joss Whedon\u2019s need not apply*
— Ray Fisher (@Ray Fisher) 1642532520

10 Politically Correct But Factually False Words And Phrases To Stop Using Immediately

To counter the left’s lies, conservatives have to use words that accurately reflect the truth — not words that actively mean the opposite.

Ivy League school's English department actually votes to change name so it's not conflated with 'English as a nationality'



The Department of English at Cornell University recently voted by a wide margin to change its name to the "department of literatures in English" in order to eliminate — as one faculty member put it — the "conflation of English as a language and English as a nationality," the Cornell Daily Sun reported.

Huh?

The Daily Sun — the college's student newspaper — said faculty members of color proposed the name change during the English department's first faculty meeting of the fall semester. The paper said a significant majority of the department approved the name change, and now all that awaits is an OK from the administration.

Director of Undergraduate Studies professor Kate McCullough, English, indicated to the paper that the change would help do away with the "conflation of English as a language and English as a nationality."

More from the Daily Sun:

The decision to demand such a change was spurred by this summer's resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement following George Floyd's death, according to Prof. Carole Boyce-Davies, English, one of the original proposal writers. As a result, the faculty felt a sense of obligation to react in their own department.

"Faculty around the country — not just faculty of color, but faculty in general — began to look at the institution to see how we can help advance a discourse that challenges structural forms of racism which get reproduced in students and in teaching over and over again," Boyce-Davies told the paper.

She added to the Daily Sun that there was worry about how the department as a whole would react.

"What surprised us was the fact that so many of the white faculty of the English department signed on — we were amazed," Boyce-Davies told the paper. "By the time we were ready to officially take it to the department as a whole, we had over 75 percent of the faculty signed on."

Department chair Prof. Caroline Levine added to the Daily Sun that smaller discussions about anti-racist changes have been happening for years, but current events gave faculty confidence to take concrete, unified action.

"I think leadership matters," Levine noted to the paper. "This isn't just us doing a symbolic gesture; this is in keeping with the University's call to have us really rethink our everyday practices around racism."

(H/T: The College Fix)

Merriam-Webster adds 'offensive' to definition of 'sexual preference' amid controversy over Barrett using phrase during Senate hearing

Merriam-Webster changed the definition of “preference” to include that it is an “offensive” term when used to describe someone’s sexual orientation.