By: Diane Benjamin
1)
The Vidette finally published a story late yesterday on Charlie Kirk’s ISU rally: https://www.videtteonline.com Charlie Kirk Creates a Stir at Illinois State University with Open Discussion
The reporter included comments from students who attended as well as Kirk’s opening remarks.
Also included was the proverbial “racists” label that gets thrown at every conservative by anyone who doesn’t agree with the left.
The story is worth reading because it captures some of what people who actually attended thought. Charlie told the students AI is going to eliminate many of the jobs they are training for at ISU. I hope his comments spark on campus discussions.
2)
WGLT did a story on some ISU students getting their foreign student visas yanked by the Trump Administration: https://www.wglt.org Trump Administration Revokes Visas for Some ISU Students
ISU couldn’t provide the exact number, so the story says “a few”. That could mean 2. They lost their visas for participating in on campus protests. Quote from the story:
Imagine attending college in a foreign country, like Russia, and protesting Putin! The American that was just released by Russia committed the crime of donating $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity on the day Russia invaded. She had been jailed since February of 2024: https://www.usatoday.com Prisoner Swap
You might have missed this 2016 story: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/17/your-taxes-import-labor-isu-u-of-i/
ISU wanted diversity on campus so they paid the legal expenses of foreign students. The University of Illinois did the same thing.
Did ISU pay the expenses of these foreign students to attend? Are they paying more expenses now? We don’t know and probably never will.
Miss this story? https://blnnews.com/2025/04/06/what-the-protestors-got-wrong-and-dont-know-they-got-wrong/
Hamas bragged to hostages in GAZA about the operatives they planted in the US. Were these students some of them? “Student privacy” means we will never know either.
If students come for an education – great. If they come to America with an agenda I’m fine with them getting kicked out. I’m not fine with tax dollars being used for “diversity”.
I thought the Vidette report was well written. Aguilar and Serrano are journalists. The WGLT “reporters” Bolinger and Denham are lazy story tellers.
It continues to be unbelievable that institutions (ISU for example), regular people, and journalists (?) think that the Constitutional protections that American citizens have, somehow spill over to non-citizens. ISU is not required by any statute to keep foreign students’ information unavailable. The right to privacy laws are for CITIZENS!
It’s not worth getting jazzed up about. Even in conservative states, the local media is pretty worthless. In Indianapolis, the meteorologists are the only news people that tell you the truth about anything. The Pantagraph reporter that wrote the Kirk story said “hundreds” were there to downplay the crowd that was well over a thousand and probably closer to 2,000 based on the overhead pictures. At the U of I, he filled a 5,000 seat venue and turned another 2,000 away according to campus news sources. Probably did well at Purdue today too though Indy TV will never cover it. Most news people are pathetic jokes. They are lazy and far left to the core.
This is a common misunderstanding. The US constitution applies to all people in the US, citizenship is not a requirement. If you are subject to US jurisdiction, you have full rights just as a citizen would. That said, I am not against visas being revoked for foreign nationals who incite support and sympathy for terrorist groups. It’s a national security issue.