3. What I remember of the Carter Presidency – 1. Gas lines. I learned how to siphon gas from my mother’s woody wagon to my father’s beater so pops could get to work on time. 2. A country in Asia called Iran had a mullah who really hated America. Iran held 52 Americans from the U.S. embassy in Iran hostage for over a year. 3. My mother, who had voted for Jimmy Carter in the 1976 U.S. Presidential Election – caused quite a stir at the dinner table in my parent’s household as my father had voted for Gerald Ford – voted for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 Presidential Election and peace and tranquility were restored on the home front at meal time.
What I have learned since the Carter Presidency – history revisionists are extraordinary Marxist tools.
As I reflect on 2024 and the roll into 2025, I want to do better next year by being more caring and compassionate towards those in my life – particularly those I consider to be a pain in my rump. The issue prompting me to write this post is the F-line subway immolation that occurred on a Coney Island, NYC subway platform on Sunday 12/22/2024. A woman who was asleep on the train was set on fire by a man in the country illegally. The woman died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. The perpetrator was purportedly stoned out of his mind on K2 (a synthetic cannabinoid) and Satan’s brew (alcohol). I worked in New York City in the mid 1980s and often found myself on a subway car on Sunday morning if I got called into work from my Jersey perch. I worried about being mugged, but I never gave consideration to becoming a roman candle. In all my years of medical training and practice, I found the burn unit the worst. The man who did this is demonic. Equally disturbing is the fact that a person could be burned beyond recognition on a subway car in a city with over 8 million people. Why were at least three individuals filming the event with their cell phones instead of helping the woman by putting the fire out? Why did a transit cop walk by the open car door with a standing human being engulfed in flames? Typing this makes me sick to my stomach. Is this where we are at in 2024? This woman died horrifically and ALONE in one of our country’s most populous cities. Identification of the body took over a week. The woman had been homeless. Will anyone be claiming her remains? As a civilized nation, we have to do better.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us. Ephesians 1: 7-8 (RSVCE).
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.
4. The 2024 Dingleberry of the Year Award goes to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union gets an honorable mention.
5. Watching the H1B Visa kerfuffle unfold has been enlightening. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are wrong and are revealing an elitist stripe that is not wearing well. H1B Visa holders are willing to work for less than Americans because the end game is a green card. H1B Visas screw middle and upper middle class Americans who spent a lot of cash to obtain undergraduate and graduate degrees. The United States of America has the world’s THIRD largest population behind China and India. If we TRULY cannot mint enough high tech workers, then let’s address that problem via our muffed up education system.
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9: 6-7 (NKJV
