Mark Anstice

[Wolf of X @WolfofX]

After spending years in foster care and moving through four different homes, 7-year-old Mary entered a second-grade classroom in Bentonville, Arkansas, where she met teacher Lexi McClelland.

Mary had been removed from her biological family due to neglect and substance abuse issues and had already experienced years of uncertainty.

But Lexi quickly noticed something special about her student. The two formed a strong bond through Mary's love of books, learning, and her bright personality.

In 2021, a planned adoption for Mary unexpectedly fell through. Rather than watch her return to an uncertain future, Lexi and her husband, Max, stepped forward and welcomed her into their home through a kinship placement.

On Christmas Eve 2021, they surprised Mary with a children's book that contained a life-changing question: would she become part of their family forever? She said yes.

In April 2022, the adoption was officially finalized, giving Mary the permanent home she had always deserved.

Many people have compared their journey to a real-life "Matilda" story, where a caring teacher becomes the loving parent figure a child never had.

[Igor Sushko @igorsushko]

Given the scope of corruption in Ireland - aiding and abetting Russia, the enemy of Europe, it's abundantly clear the entire government in Ireland, from top to bottom, is bought and paid for by Russia.
Sanctioned Putin mafia member Deripaska is the literal owner of the refinery.

[Euromaidan Press @EuromaidanPress]

From the first day of the full-scale war, Colonel Korenchuk was in the air

Over his service, he flew more than 80 combat missions, personally destroying dozens of Russian targets, such as aircraft, cruise missiles, and drones.

One episode stands above the rest. Korenchuk forced a Russian Su-25 ground-attack aircraft to crash on the approaches to Kyiv through maneuver alone without firing a single round. The Russian pilot broke.

He defended Kyiv from the first hour. He was killed doing the same work two years later, in 2024

[Omid Djalili @omid9]

Once again we ask:
Why has the UK STILL NOT designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation? It was embarrassing before, it’s off the scale now. Great article by @potkazar https://t.co/quRRGykrfO

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

👻Remember the “Spirit of Anchorage” that Putin and Lavrov spoke about so warmly? Well, it seems to have evaporated in Washington

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a new Ukraine aid package and fresh sanctions on Russia. The bill passed 226–204, with 18 Republicans joining Democrats — meaning part of Trump’s own party broke ranks with its leadership.

The package includes more than $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, up to $8 billion in defense loans, and tariffs of up to 500% on Russian goods. In practical terms, selling Russian products in the U.S. would become nearly pointless.

But don’t pop the champagne just yet.

The bill still has to pass the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. As the Associated Press notes, without Trump’s personal approval, the legislation is likely to stall there.

Even the bill’s authors barely hide the fact that the vote was meant as a signal: support for Ukraine in Congress is still very much alive.

Whether that signal reaches its intended recipient is now up to one notoriously unpredictable man in the White House.

[The Lincoln Project @ProjectLincoln]

Happy 1 year anniversary to this tweet.

[British Army 🇬🇧 @BritishArmy]

Drones overhead. Live intelligence on the ground. Decisions made in seconds ⏱️

Exercise Northern Star is giving 3 RIFLES the chance to test emerging battlefield technology alongside Finland’s armed forces in one of @NATO’s most strategically important regions 🇬🇧 🇫🇮

Read more ⬇️
https://t.co/OrpnWwx1A2

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

"Rusal, the company that owns the Co Limerick industrial plant Aughinish Alumina, continues to be controlled by sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, according to a confidential report by Swedish tax authorities." https://t.co/PrnRailzii

[Martin Lewis @MartinSLewis]

THEY ARE BASTARDS!

We just got an email sent to MSE. The spelling was awful, and it was quite tough to understand. Lower down, the writer later explained she was 78 and her disability had stopped her being able to spell. So perhaps it is a stroke, or something similar.

I've tidied it and summarised below, changing some identifying details. In a nutshell, it was this...

"I invested, Martin, with Quotum when you first announced it on TV. What an opportunity for me to buy my own flat. My manager there passed me through to a nice man who asked me for £350 more. He showed me it was growing. I did what he told me to do."

She then goes on to explain how she really wanted her flat and she gave more and more money. And she has nothing left to help with her disability.

I'm honestly in tears typing this. These types of scam ads have now been going on for a decade. I have spent my career trying to help people with their finances. It feels visceral to get this, and to feel that this reputation has been perverted by criminals to steal from someone who is clearly so vulnerable leaves me feeling nauseous.

So many people, both vulnerable and not, lose money and see their lives and wellbeing destroyed. It's now seven years since I sued Facebook. And yet still nothing is being done.

Big tech makes £3bn a year from these scammers. We have a law in place to make them responsible for these ads they're paid to publish, yet it isn't implemented. How many more of these do I have to receive - and far worse, how many more people have to go through this?

This is relentless. It is wrong. Government has to take action! I wrote to the PM just two weeks ago on this very issue. I've not heard back yet.

(We are, of course, going to try and point her in the right direction to get help, but that will be stressful for her too)

[BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ @mmpadellan]

Holy shit, trump's approval in farm-heavy states has plummeted to 42%, with over 55% disapproval from those voters because he won't admit his economy SUCKS for them and everyone else.

At least Clinton empathized, with "I feel your pain."

[Mykhailo Rohoza @MykhailoRohoza]

Would you support President 🇺🇦 Zelensky receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?

YES or NO?

https://t.co/SIUXu8ybVB

[Vanguard WWII by Cadet - bringing history to life! @Vanguard_WW2]

André Le Duc's luck had run out ten days earlier.
Said to have been denounced, some Germans arrived at his garage in Remilly-sur-Lozon and shot him in the head in front of two of his children.
It would not be until 2015 that his daughter Jeanne, who was 3 years old in the summer of 44, was able to obtain official recognition of her father's role in resisting the Germans.
André Le Duc was awarded a posthumous Medal of Freedom by the Americans and the French Resistance Medal.
6/6

[Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ @RepDonBacon]

This vote was about standing up for freedom and a victim of an invading thug. I know how Ronald Reagan would have voted. He told Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. If alive today, he’d demand that Putin “get the hell out of Ukraine.”
https://t.co/JU6WQduslX

[Olena Rohoza @OlenaRohoza]

🇨🇦 Tomorrow marks another anniversary of D-Day, and Canada's role in those events deserves far more than a brief mention.

On June 6, 1944, approximately 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed on Juno Beach, overcoming fear, intense enemy fire, and extraordinary pressure to help open the path to the liberation of Europe.

Many of them were barely older than teenagers. Many never made it home.

Their courage, selflessness, and sacrifice became part of the great victory over Nazism and helped lay the foundations of the freedom that millions of people enjoy today.

We remember their bravery. We honor their memory. 🇨🇦🌺

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

I’ve taken a lot of hits, and I’ve deserved some of them. I beat myself up over them more than you can imagine.

But the grace people have shown me here is truly humbling.

Some of the kindest words have come from the people you’d least expect.

And for that I am so grateful.

This isn’t about me. It’s about every person in recovery who shows up and tries again.

And to everyone still in the fight tonight: you are not alone, I see you.

[Boris Johnson @BorisJohnson]

Putin's defeat will be a wonderful moment. We just need the guts to help Ukraine win faster.

https://t.co/a612L7fIkA

[The Free Speech Union @SpeechUnion]

Police community support officer (PCSO) sacked after asking questions about Islam during a diversity training session.

Luke Salmons lost his job with North Yorkshire Police and was barred from policing after a conversation about Gaza with a Muslim officer at a training day on race, religion and culture.

Staff were encouraged to ask questions in what they were assured was a “safe space”. Salmons said the day turned into an “indoctrination” session, with trainers chanting “Islam is a religion of peace” and discussions about white privilege taking place.

He asked a Muslim officer for his views on terrorist attacks carried out by groups such as Hamas. The officer was happy to discuss the issue and even invited him for a coffee afterwards to continue the conversation. Within two days, Salmons was suspended for gross misconduct by an inspector who told him: “I don’t like your beliefs.”

Mr Salmons said: “I loved my job and I was good at it. I was well respected as a PCSO and my colleagues said they loved working with me and couldn’t understand what was happening.”

Speaking about the events of October 2024, he said: “The whole day was pretty much about Islam. At one point the trainers walked up and down the room for several minutes saying ‘Islam is a religion of peace’ over and over again. It was bizarre.

“Then, a Muslim sergeant spoke about his faith and invited questions. It was made clear that there was no such thing as a bad question and we could speak freely.

“Someone asked him about why it was bad to depict images of Mohammed, then I asked him what, as a peaceful Muslim, he thought about the situation in Gaza, with Hamas and other terrorist groups carrying out atrocities in the name of Islam.

“We had a really good discussion and I asked him what he understood jihad to mean. There was no problem, I spoke to him privately at lunch and he asked me what books I had read about Islam. He said he would love to speak to me more, so we arranged to meet for a coffee at his police station.

“I believed I was on safe ground when the training sessions invited open discussion. I quickly discovered that questioning Islam is now treated as ‘wrongthink’ within North Yorkshire Police.”

“But an overzealous inspector took against me and that was the end of my career, even though I had done nothing wrong.”

He later won an appeal against his dismissal but never received an apology from the force, where he said a “culture of fear” existed among officers who were scared of saying the wrong thing.

There is an Islamic blasphemy law being enforced by police forces across the country.

Read more below in @Telegraph 👇

[ALASTAIR CAMPBELL @campbellclaret]

The real two-tier scandal in the UK is the relentless double standard approach of a media which lets one party leader get away with financial dodgery that would drive them into a frenzy if it involved someone their billionaire owners didn’t want in power because they believed in things like fairness and equality

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

PM Nikol Pashinyan's final campaign rally is taking place in central Yerevan, Armenia.

A few days before Sunday's pivotal elections in Armenia, the European Commission said it "stands firmly" behind PM Pashinyan and announced that it is preparing a package of measures aimed at mitigating the growing Russian economic sanctions imposed on Yerevan over its pro-Western, pro-European course.

[Westminster Abbey @wabbey]

'Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.'
Luke 11: 9-10