Christmas Break: GOP Infighting, H1Bs, Ukraine Money Laundering, More!

Checking in from my self-imposed news and tech break. The right wasted no time in declaring war on itself over Christmas with various Trump factions fighting publicly over everything from workweek hours to immigration. Here are some highlights I’m watching:

Trump backs Johnson for Speaker, again

No one should act surprised. The Kevin McCarthy clone with less seniority and weaker grasp of procedure required to navigate House fights is staying. The excuse is that we need to hit the ground running, but we’ve hit the ground by falling on our faces, caving on immigration, the debt ceiling, and now leadership. Maybe I’m missing something and this is just an elaborate, Olympic gymnastic fall into something positive. I will let the influencers who are new to the right after being hardcore leftists just a few years prior fight over the narrative.

Remember, we got Johnson due to an ill-timed Speaker fight orchestrated by Matt Gaetz as punishment to McCarthy for not stopping the ethics investigation into the former. The narrative promoted was that it was about replacing a RINO but we replaced him with a more incompetent, equal RINO because the GOP were wholly unprepared with candidates for a Speaker fight. It was a worthless exercise that drove resentment within the party, gobbled up goodwill, and time.

The time to change the Speaker starts now. Excuses like “we have a slim majority, it doesn’t matter” are unoriginal Bush-era defenses of why we have to continually suck it up and accept establishment GOP leadership. By signaling Johnson will stay on into Trump’s second term, party leaders are broadcasting a more-of-the-same approach. Sure, we can wait and see, but don’t expect any dramatic changes. This is less Javier Milei and more George W. Bush.

The H1B visa fight

I would think that “America first” means promoting “Americans first.” I’m not opposed to admitting a small percentage of truly brilliant and hardworking people into certain fields with caveats like ten year residencies. Illegal immigration isn’t the only issue, legal immigration (we accept over a million people a year and skill evaluation isn’t a priority) is also an issue and the U.S. is the only nation on earth not afforded to approach it in a more sustainable manner. As much as I like what Elon Musk has done lately, this isn’t helpful:

The average H1B entrant isn’t more capable or skilled than the American worker. However, one thing Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy do get correct is the dumbing down of American education. This isn’t a problem you solve by broadly pumping up H1Bs, it’s an issue you tackle by reforming American education from something that values merit rather than identity politics and DEI. That is a harder task and only those serious about the issue will approach it as such.

The 80 hour workweek fight

The right and some of the grifters within it are arguing over 80-hour workweeks. To get it over with and state the obvious: Some people choose to work 80 hours per week and devote themselves endlessly to professional advancement. That’s fine. Some people choose to balance their work life with family because family is the building block of this free society. To choose a balanced work life over total devotion to work does not make one a “DEI hire” or “lazy.” But you cannot have a healthy society without promoting both family and self sufficiency. The end.

Oklahoma’s Governor and mandatory service

A couple of days ago OK Governor Kevin Stitt proposed an either-or scenario for high school grads: Go to trade school, go to college, or join the military. Apparently simply joining the work force isn’t an option:

Stitt announced Friday that he wants to prepare every student for success in the workforce.

"It's incumbent upon us as leaders to really set that stage, and expectations for people that they can accomplish whatever they set their mind to."

He has some ideas to make this happen, like requiring students to graduate from Oklahoma high schools.

Stitt also wants students to have to be accepted into a college.

If not college, he says kids should be accepted into a CareerTech.

Otherwise, Stitt says a student would have to be going into the army.

"You have to have some kind of plan post-graduation to go get a great job."

So college, trade school, or the military? It’s a big government proposal for what is a societal problem. Furthermore, it ignores a host of other variables contributing to this issue. How are we prioritizing Americans first with the H1B visa fight? How are we incentivizing Americans to enter the workforce when Washington — Republicans included — are complicit in entitlement spending? How many Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling, thereby consigning us to more and more debt, a move championed by our own incoming President? It’s easy to say there are only three choices — trade, college, military — when your party’s own record helped create the problem. It’s a fascinating game of hurt and rescue. The proposal is very FDR-esque.

Jimmy Carter is dead

I’m not about to wax nostalgic over one of my least-favorite elected officials in modern history, a guy whose pretend virtue was accepted as a distraction for his move to destabilize the entire middle east for several generations. The press wants to make Carter’s legacy a Habitat for Humanity project when it’s really the Iranian regime, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Even after he exited elected office he refused to stop meddling in world affairs, undermining U.S. strategy and playing useful idiot for every despot from North Korea’a regime to Arafat. There isn’t a single positive word I could utter about the guy that isn’t pure fructose ********, so I’ll stop here, not for his sake, but mine.

Joe Biden gives more money to Ukraine — but not student loans

Merry Christmas! We all got to unwillingly shower more money on Ukraine for the holidays. Very important for those Ukrainian pensions to be paid. January can’t come fast enough.

The second one is a bit of a surprise and a giant blank-you:

The Biden administration has withdrawn two major plans to deliver student loan forgiveness.

The proposed regulations would have allowed the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education to cancel student loans for several groups of borrowers, including those who had been in repayment for decades and others experiencing financial hardship.

The combined policies could have reduced or eliminated the education debts of millions of Americans.

Buys their votes but takesies-backsies. We told them so.

I’ll be back behind the mic on January 6th, 2025. Until then!

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