RandomNumbers
RandomNumbers's JournalThe bait was taken, now the switch. (Immigration - H-1Bs)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/musk-and-ramaswamy-ignite-maga-war-over-skilled-immigration-and-american-mediocrity/ar-AA1wA0T0The pair saw their conservative sway skyrocket throughout the 2024 election as they grew closer to Trump, but the wealthy businessmen now find themselves butting heads with Trump’s most ardent base that wants to see Trump make good on promises of immigration restrictions and promoting the U.S. labor workforce.
Trump restricted access to foreign worker visas during his first administration and has critiqued the H-1B visas program, which allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.
"There is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent. It is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley," Musk wrote on X, arguing the tech industry needs to "double" the number of engineers working in the U.S. today.
You fecking right wing morons, when you saw Vivek and Musk aligning with Trump, what did you THINK would happen?
As someone who works in a very specific skill area of the Information Technology sector, I can tell you that H-1Bs is the one and only area I know of Trump's policy that he is at least partly correct. There are entire skill areas - mine included - where it is getting hard to hire Americans because the talent pipeline was taken over by the H-1B process long ago. Companies prefer to hire visa holders because of the indentured-servant aspect which results from the regulations as currently written. The "high-skilled" moniker is complete bullshit - I could take a person with decent intelligence, work habits, and communication skills, and some foundational IT knowledge, and within 6 months of on-the-job training have them at least as productive as some of the so-called (but not actually) "high-skilled" workers who come via the H-1B program. (I will note however that SOME of the H-1B workers I've worked with are indeed very skilled, and also very good people. It is the program that is the problem, not the people who use it to get here honestly - and by accident a few actually high-skilled people do come through, and they are great.)
I don't have time to go into detail on all the ways H-1B program (as currently applied) is really, really bad. I have recently concluded that the focus on the southern border is a red herring to keep anyone from talking about the real immigration issues of these poorly conceived worker visa programs.
Well here now we have some chickens coming home to roost for the MAGA's that didn't pay attention to what was really going on in Trump world.
People like me were never going to win on this issue anyway - Democrats ignore this issue, at best. But at least Dems care about the environment and individual freedoms and treating people right and so many other important things. I am despondent that Trump won - for whatever imperfections I see in Harris's policies, on the whole her policies are infinitely better. But, I was hoping for at least a silver lining of this one, stopped-clock issue.
Oh well. At least it should be fun watching the MAGATs tear each other apart over it.
Anyone else wonder if controlling husbands oversaw their wives' votes?
(posted as a response on another thread but then occurred to me that I haven't seen this theory discussed here .... not that I see everything that gets posted )
One drawback of paper ballots (mail in or the ones you fill in at the polls) is that it is more likely that the husband knows how his wife votes.
A controlling husband could insist that she show her filled out ballot to him before she mails it.
A controlling husband could look over her shoulder when she is filling it out at the polling place. (He isn't supposed to but I'm going to bet that many election officials won't stop that unless it is too blatant).
I can't help but wonder if this contributed to the unexpected women's vote for TSF.
To be clear, I think paper ballots are the way to go - but we should at least consider whether spousal control of the vote is a real issue. (and yes, it could go both ways - but I'm sure like DV, much more prevalent in one direction than another.) One possible mitigation would be to counsel at-risk women to be prepared to use the assistive device (like have a bout of arthritis that morning or something). Since that is a little more like a traditional booth, it would be harder for the man to peek over her shoulder unless he was specifically authorized to assist her.
Thoughts?
(You will like this) "Bohemian Trumpsody" - Marsh Family adaptation of "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Well executed musically PLUS has many chilling reminders (images) of what really happened on Jan 6th, and why those locked up for their actions that day DESERVE to be there (and probably deserve longer sentences than they got).
For those getting the issue with YouTube not letting you see a video embedded in DU - in the upper right corner of the video, you should see an option to "Copy Link". Then you can open the video in your browser directly on YouTube.
Put the woman in charge.
I know this has been posted before, but I can't get enough of this song 
"Society" (Live) - Eddie Vedder ft. Liam Finn - Water on the Road
For a little Labor-oriented fun - Johnny Cash, One Piece at a Time
For a more serious Labor Day song, go on over to appalachiablues' thread, Sixteen Tons, Johnny Cash (I Owe My Soul to the Company Store)
That one has an important but somewhat depressing description of "company towns". And the video is, of course, excellent.
But being a Cash fan, I immediately thought of this somewhat more humorous tune. Enjoy!
A reminder that RFK Jr was always a GOP Op
A truly stupid gambit.— C. Robert Cargill (@crobertcargill.bsky.social) Aug 23, 2024 at 3:57 PM
https://bsky.app/profile/crobertcargill.bsky.social/post/3l2fwsiyfjp2m
ICYMI : full video of Josh Shapiro speaking at Philly rally
And there are other videos there from the rally and MSNBC's coverage.
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/full-video-gov-shapiro-rallies-democrats-in-philadelphia-216574021695
Anyone else catch "Higher Ground" as they were filing out of the rally? Very appropriate.
Not sure if it was this version, but it might have been. This is my fave. (PFC versions are often my fave versions of songs, even for Ripple by the Dead.)
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