August 9, 2017

Wondering on Wednesday (v98)

Sleep well, tonight, America. Rex Tillerson's got our back.  Fire and fury will rain down upon them, says Trump. Knock off actions that will lead to the end of your regime - and people, said Mad Dog Mattis. Is all of that causing you to wonder, this Wednesday, about our position on North Korea?

Many folks say no, this is all part of the plan, everything's OK, we're all on the same page; others say this is just more of the mixed messaging that comes regularly from the Trump administration. Me? When it comes to sleeping well, something I've had a lifetime of not doing - if the answer to that is all of this saber rattling between the unpredictable, petulant Kim Jong Un and the unpredictable petulant Donald Trump, I guess I shouldn't complain.

And it's good for #MadeinAmerica, too. The Rising S Company, a bunker manufacturer in Texas, is reporting a 90% jump in sales, according to Fox News. I wonder if a bunker is what I've needed all along to get that good night's sleep?

Of course, my bunker would only be a good deal if there were no illegal immigrants working for the company, right? Or unqualified legal immigrants, for that matter. The president, you'll recall, recently announced his support for the RAISE Act, a bill sponsored two Republican senators that, in addition to severely limiting immigration into the US, would institute a scoring tool to help prioritize the folks we let in. It's all about #MAGA and #PAFA, Trump tells us.
This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first and puts America first.
 Thankfully, we have Time magazine to help us understand how the point system will work. In an article titled Find out if President Trump would let you Immigrate to America, we learn that a person would need at least 30 points to even be considered, unless you were directly related to someone already here - no more extended family stuff.

The most impressive way to get to 30 points? Be a recent Olympic medal winning (15 points) Nobel laureate (25 points).  The most likely way to get to 30 points? Be 26 to 30 years old (10 points), fluent in English and able to prove it (12 points), and either have a big fat job offer with a $155K+ salary (13 points) or have at least $1.8M in foreign currency to invest (12 points).

When I took the test to see if I would be eligible to come here, the answer is no. I'm too old, not educated enough, not rich enough, and not 'impressive' enough. How many of you would be eligible, I wonder? Go ahead, take the test and let me know.

One thing that's missing from the discussion on immigration is any kind of affirmative action  (unless you count that medal winning thing).  And affirmative action, of course, is what we're talking about - you know, the kind of admission decisions that Harvard uses to discriminate against whites and Asian-Americans. We'll be hearing a lot more about that, I'm sure, but it does make me wonder about the proposed changes to our immigration plans.

If we are looking to invite wealthy, English speaking, highly educated young professionals to come here, who will those folks be?  And who is it that purchases E-2 work visas?  Likely candidates in both cases are folks who will come in to the US and take jobs away from our best and brightest.

And I have to wonder, how does that jive with "our compassion for struggling Americans" and putting America first?

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