While I am in the world, I am the Light (John 9:5)
Live and proclaim the Gospel.
Author: Siberhusk
The Importance of the Panama Canal
President Trump is indicating the United States should take back control of the Panama Canal. Why would Trump do this? The Panama Canal is of vital interest to the United States as it plays a critical role in America’s Economy and National Security. The French attempted to build the Panama Canal beginning excavation in 1880, but after nine years and 20,000 deaths due to tropical diseases, the project went bankrupt. The United States took on the project in 1903 after negotiating with the newly independent Panama that Panama provide a 10-mile-wide strip of land for the United States to build the Panama Canal for a one-time payment of $10 million and an annual annuity of $250,000. The United States also agreed to guarantee the independence of Panama. The 51-mile-long Panama Canal joined the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans when it opened in 1914. It shortened the journey by 22 days for ships that previously had to sail around the southern tip of South America. The Panama Canal allows for ships to travel from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans in 10 hours. The majority of the 517 million tons (2021) of shipping going through the Panama Canal is U.S. shipping accounting for 74% of all traffic. The United States fully controlled the Panama Canal from 1914 until 1979. In 1979, the Panama Canal Commission, a joint agency of the United States and the Republic of Panama, managed control of the canal until December 31, 1999 when Panama assumed full control of the Panama Canal. President Jimmy Carter, in a grave error, signed the Carter-Torrijos Treaty of 1977 giving the Panama Canal to Panama after being convinced by a communist in his administration, Robert Pastor, that United States capitalism was the culprit and not the solution to pervasive poverty in Latin America. China’s current management of ports at both ends of the Panama Canal is stirring alarms for the United States over ambitions seen as endangering the neutrality of the Panama Canal. The increase of China’s control over transshipment cargo operations is a point of contention. There is one treaty still in effect, the Neutrality Treaty between Panama and the United States, which guarantees the neutrality of the Panama Canal. The treaty maintains that Panama operates the Panama Canal and the United States maintains the right to intervene militarily in defense of any threat to the neutrality of the Panama Canal. Trump wants to maintain the secure and efficient running of the Panama Canal and does not want it to come under the influence of other countries like China who would not have U.S. interests in mind. Are Trump’s statements regarding the Panama Call all bluster? I don’t think so. It sounds like a good move – Let it be known that the U.S. is not playing when it comes to the U.S.’s economy and security. The Americas are of vital interest to the U.S. and other countries have been warned to back off. Trump is invoking an update to the Monroe Doctrine which in 1823 was a policy framework addressing America’s security and commercial interests in the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine addressed how the United States would conduct foreign relations with nations in Central and South America while curbing European ambitions in the Western Hemisphere. The United States’ Republican led Senate is now looking into Panama’s alleged violations (excessive fees and foreign influence) of the Panama Canal treaties.
What is the Panama Canal and why has Trump threatened to take it over?
We Built it; China Controls it; Trump Will Take it Back!
The Communist Who Convinced Jimmy Carter to Give Away the Panama Canal
The US is right to be concerned about China’s influence over the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal Treaties Were ‘Mush From the Wimp’
GOP-Controlled Senate Launches Official Hearing into Panama’s Canal Treaty Breach
Siberhusk
The H-1B Visa Scam
Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk have stepped in it with the MAGA America First Movement after statements that the H-1B visa program needs to be expanded because of a lack of qualified/motivated Americans to fill the needs of tech companies. Don’t believe this crap for a second because this is just another play for cheap labor by tech oligarchs at the expense of Americans that the overlords believe are too stupid and preoccupied to notice. Many Americans are not buying it. I work in tech for a large corporation which has operations globally. Tech companies bring foreign workers to the US at lower wages to slave away with the payoff for indentured servitude being a green card and ability to bring extended family to the U.S. through chain migration. Some Americans are also currently facing issues in the job market because large corporations with DEI policies pass over whites of European ancestry to meet quotas. My son ran into this issue after he graduated with honors from a state university in Ohio in 2020. He is a strapping 6’4’’ white dude and had a tough time landing an initial interview for posted jobs in his field of finance – Covid made times tough. DEI made things worse for my son. Are there issues in the American education system? Absolutely. There needs to be more emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) instead of all the woke garbage being pushed in schools. There are also massive financial incentives baked into the university system that actively selects against American students as up to 25% of students in some STEM undergraduate programs are foreign nationals owing to a combination of DEI and greed as foreign students pay much higher tuition rates because of their non-residency status. Instead of complaining about the lack of skilled talent, the tech gurus need to ask themselves why would someone in the US suck up education debt in an area of suppressed wages and employment opportunities because of H-1B expansion? Don’t be part of the problem by looking for short-term quick fixes but be part of the solution. If the tech gurus want the “cream of the crop” then go the O-1 visa route. O-1 visas are just that – visas for exceptional talent. The H1B visa program needs to be revamped so foreign workers who are paid less can’t come in and displace American workers. The H-1B visas are valid for up to six years and are subject to employer sponsorship and regulatory requirements. Visas are highly sought after in tech, healthcare, higher education, finance, and engineering. The H-1B classification has an annual numerical limit (cap) of 65,000 new statuses/visas each fiscal year. An additional 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education are exempt from the cap. Additionally, H-1B workers who are petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education or its affiliated or related nonprofit entities, a nonprofit research organization, or a government research organization are not subject to this numerical cap. Estimates are that about 150,000 H-1B visas are issued each year with roughly 600,000 total H-1B visa holders in the country at any given point in time. The tech gurus are not getting a uniquely American part of the equation – when the chips are down and nobody else can do it, American ingenuity gets shit done. Simple as that.
Steve Bannon Warns Elon Musk’s ‘True Colors’ Showing Amid H-1B Visa War
Darren Beattie Warns War Room; H-1B Visas Will Lead to Chain Migration (VIDEO)
A Highly Toxic Silicon Valley Meltdown Over Well Documented H1B Visa Fraud Explodes
Nicole Shanahan X Post on H-1B Visas
Majority of Americans Believe We Do Not Need Any More Foreign H-1B Visa Workers
Siberhusk
Unintended Consequences
Will AI lead to Utopia?
There has been a lot written about AI (artificial intelligence) and how it is going to transform and improve our lives. Our jobs will be enhanced by AI assistants. There doesn’t seem to be much thought about the consequences of AI and what it could mean for humanity down the road. Many discussions are all upside and with virtually no mention of possible downsides. How would AI enhance our jobs? It will most likely eliminate many jobs once employers figure out that a significant portion of our jobs are being performed by AI assistants. How does eliminating jobs enhance our well-being or add more meaning to our lives? If anything, AI implemented en masse will most likely lead to enslavement and disillusionment. Humans need meaningful work and purpose to thrive. AI en masse will lead to further destruction of the middle class and increase the gap between the rich and the not so rich. There are other dangers just as ominous and fraught with pitfalls including The AI Hive Mind (the AI algorithms lead everyone to the same conclusions – there is no independent thought), The Dead Internet Theory (AI bots spread across the internet stifling discourse and the search for the truth) and The Library of Babel (AI usage and the quest for ultimate knowledge leads us to the abyss – just because we CAN does not mean we SHOULD). Relying too much on AI and believing it will lead us to mastery of our existence can lead to bad decisions and laziness and ultimately to our destruction.
The Road to AI Utopia, Paved with (Empty) Splendors
Three Horrifying Consequences Of AI That You Might Not Have Thought About
Siberhusk
What is the Biden crime family really hiding?
Election Integrity
Our voting system in the United States is broken and here is a prime example: Democrat candidates in California win U.S. House seats against Republican incumbents THREE WEEKS after the November 5, 2024 election. This is unacceptable and there must be a way to fix it. There are many problems in how elections are conducted across the United States: 1. extended voting periods, 2. unsolicited mass mailing of ballots, 3. no ID required in some jurisdictions, 4. flimsy or no signature verification in some locales, 5. unsecure drop boxes, 6. voting machines with proprietary software and connectivity to the internet and 7. sloppy, inaccurate voter rolls – absolutely ridiculous that many ballots are being mailed out in bulk based on inaccurate voter rolls. We don’t accept these standards in our banking system. Why is it ok in our voting system? There should be standards in place such as voter ID, accurate voter rolls and no unsolicited mass mailing of ballots. Voting in America is a hard earned right and every registered voter should be expected to do a little work in exercising this right – show up at the polls on election day or if you need to vote absentee, personally request the ballot. Humans, being human, will break the rules and cheat if they think they can get away with it every time. Now is the time for Congress and the incoming Trump Administration to act on federal elections and close the security gaps in the election system. The American people deserve better.
Siberhusk
The Ballot Fairy
Scott Presler to Bucks County Commissioners: “If You Don’t Resign Today, I Am Coming for Your Seat”
The Steal Continues in 2024 – Update 2
The Democrats are still engaged in election shenanigans in Pennsylvania. Incumbent Senator Bob Casey still will not concede the contest to David McCormick. Casey has enlisted lawyer Marc Elias to assist in dragging out the process. The recount starts today, November 20th, and will conclude November 26th. After the hullabaloo and eventual PA State Supreme ruling smacking down Election Boards in counties deciding to count undated and improperly dated ballots, defying the PA State Supreme Court and ignoring election law, it remains to be seen how the result will play out for the recount. Will it be any surprise if somehow Casey “wins” in the recount? There are some on the left that see the deviousness and corruption. Finally, the Washington Post and PA Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro have called out Casey and Pennsylvania Democrats for trying to steal the election and concede. Perhaps some on the left are wising up and are trying to set the table for elections down the road (Josh Shapiro running for president in 2028). Perhaps the realization on the left is that the left has overplayed its hand and its agenda has gone too extreme for most Americans and Democrats have to tone down the rhetoric and appear to show some moderation. This is not the time to engage in shenanigans. Everyone is watching and brazenly defying election laws is not a good look. Stay tuned.
PA Supreme Court to Dems: The Steal Ends Now
Josh Shapiro Lies About Election Laws To Make Excuses For Counties Counting Invalid Ballots
Could We Please Talk About ’28 Dem Frontrunner Josh Shapiro Helping to Try and Steal a Senate Seat?
PA Dems Attempting to Steal Senate Election May End Up in Some Serious Legal Trouble
Siberhusk