The Awesome Diversity of Team USA

Here's something you might not know! 48 members of Team USA were born in 30 different countries on 6 different continents. The melting pot is in the hunt for medals in Rio!

LOL: SNL vs. Obama's Immigration Executive Order

Tiger Nation: Thoughts on Asian-American Success

Take a look.  Personally, I don't get why so many Asian-Americans vote left.  You'd think the age-old inculcated emphasis on education and hard work and personal responsibility would lead to more voting on the right or libertarian.  I can't believe that's just me, yeah?  I'll add too that race-based school admissions and affirmative action tends to harm Asian-Americans.  (You'll remember the latest go-round here.)

Startup Hopes to Hack the Immigration System with a Floating Incubator

Um ... what?   Hmmm ... Is it so crazy that it just might work?   I'm intrigued.  Blurb after the fold.

6 Ideas for the Ash Heap of History

Here's an interesting list from Foreign Policy. 

Quote of the Day: Tea Party Immigrants

Some immigrants are joining the Tea Party.  Here's a quotation by one such fellow, Tito Muñoz, originally from Colombia and now owner of a construction company in Virginia:

“Why do immigrants leave their country? Because they don’t have opportunity and they don’t have freedom, because politicians control everything,” he said. “We come to America and we are going to have the same crap? Then we might as well go back there.”

Euro Notes: the End of Passport-Free Travel?

Hmmmmm.  Watch the return of national passport controls.

Paper Tigers? Thoughts on Being Asian American

Here is an interesting read (link via Eric's Learning Curve).

A Few More Thoughts on State Multiculturalism

Here's a follow-up (or two) on the ongoing recent discussions about state multiculturalism (last post here).  Seriously now -- who is really that surprised that the ghetto-ization of foreign people groups has blown up in all our faces?  

Canada: the Failure of State Multiculturalism

Blurb:

A prominent voice in Canada’s Muslim community said British Prime Minister David Cameron was “spot on” when he insisted British multiculturalism has failed. 

And just like Britain, Canada’s will fail, said Muslim Canadian Congress founder Tarek Fatah. 

He said Monday that, like Britain, Canada has been too tolerant in allowing Muslim immigrants to settle into closed communities, some of which preach Islamic values and a hatred toward the West. 

“The Canadian multicultural model has failed, as the British model has,” said Fatah. “When first generation (Muslims) are more loyal to Canada than the second generation, then we have sufficient evidence to say that multiculturalism has failed.” 

Citing the Toronto 18 terrorist plot as an example of the extremism that can result from ethnic isolation, Fatah said he hoped Canada can “pick up on” the points Cameron made in a controversial speech on Saturday. 

Well, DUH.  At least more people are realizing the perils of this practice.


RELATED POST: UK's Cameron: State Multiculturalism Has Failed.

UK's Cameron: State Multiculturalism Has Failed

Angela Merkel said the same thing in Germany some time ago.  Now it's David Cameron of the UK.  Well, you'll recall how the capital of the UK is "Londonistan."

Has Multiculturalism Failed in Germany?

Hmmmm.  Integration issues?

Quote of the Day: The American Spirit or, "America Is An Optimistic Country Because That's Where All the Optimists Went"

Here is how one perceptive Brit describes it:

What is unique about the US – and indispensable to the understanding of it – is that it is a country of the displaced and dispossessed: a nation which invented itself for the very purpose of permitting people to reinvent themselves, to take their fate into their own hands, to be liberated from the persecution and the paternalism of the old cultures they had left behind. Almost every American either is himself, or is descended from, someone who made a conscious decision to pull up his roots and take his chances in a land he had almost certainly never seen and which, until quite recently, offered no protection or security if the gamble failed.

Quote of the Day: Culture Clash in Domestic Politics

A Brit looks at current American politics and compares it to class-based portions of British politics.  It's an interesting read, and the following is our quote of the day:

The president's determination to transform the US into a social democracy, complete with a centrally run healthcare programme and a redistributive tax system, has collided rather magnificently with America's history as a nation of displaced people who were prepared to risk their futures on a bid to be free from the power of the state.

BINGO.  Look at how succinctly and piquantly he has identified one of the core problems of the Obama Administration's domestic policy initiatives: we don't want European-style big government statism.

Even more quotable goodness after the fold below:

Checking IDs for Illegal Immigrants: Is This Arizona Or Mexico?

I haven't posted on the flap over the new Arizona law because everybody else has been frothing about it. But this is worth a look. The article appears in USA Today here.

Hypocritical much, Felipe Calderón? I'm just SAYIN'. You come to the US and criticize the Arizona law, and what are you doing at home?

Nerd News: Professor vs. Graduates at University of Arizona Commencement

I absolutely hate it when graduation speakers use their speech as a time to gab about whatever personal political hobbyhorse they like. Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Commencement speakers should simply say congratulations and step aside, not turn their speech into a political harangue.

Cuban Immigrant Emilio Estefan's American Dream

Add this to your reading list.

Nerd News: Campus Invasion of the European Free-Market Economists

Welcome! Come on in; sit a spell.

I think I've mentioned before how the nerd scuttlebutt says that European universities are increasingly not a great place to work if you have any new ideas.

Euro Notes: the New Mayor of Rotterdam

Meet the new boss, Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb, whose rise to power is being hailed as a groundbreaking victory for the integration of immigrants into Dutch politics.

Cool Video of the Day: Coming To America, 1820-2007

Take a look at this neat video! My family is one of the little yellow dots during the 1960s. (Hmmm, who thought of using yellow dots for Asian immigration? I'm OFFENDED! *giggle*)



Immigration to the US, 1820-2007 v2 from Ian S on Vimeo.