The Politics Thread

[Juliajms]

I'm pretty sure he just turned 11.

 

I hope the rumors of Steve Bannons fall from grace are true.  

[DRW50]

I know a lot of you have mentioned the H1B program and whether Trump would do anything about it. I imagine he will change it for the worse, but apparently he is going to try to change it...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/17/donald-trump-temporary-worker-h1b-visa-executive-order

[DramatistDreamer]

Yes, I'm being petty here.

 

[GregNYC]

Gay porn mogul Michael Lucas calls Muslims ‘Barbarians’

 

https://unicornbooty.com/michael-lucas-muslims-barbarians/

 

Discussing the reports of gay men being kidnapped and tortured in Chechnya and gay guts being thrown off of buildings by Daesh/ISIS, Lucas replied:

We can’t change their society…. We have to make peace with that fact. What I always recommend is when you see how these people live, what they do, start appreciating more our society. And protect our society from those barbarians as vigorously as they protect their society, their way of living, their way of thinking.

When asked who “barbarians” referred to, Lucas replied, “I am referring to the Muslim world. To the world of Islam.” He then reiterated his support for U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies of extreme vetting and banning of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries — the likes of which have been declared unconstitutional by U.S. courts.

[Juliajms]

I hate to agree with a single thing that man does, but if I do, this is it. If tech needs more workers maybe they should solve their rampant sexual harassment issues that chase women out of STEM jobs (particularly tech) in droves.

[Roman]

Not being petty at all IMPO. it is what it is. 

[DramatistDreamer]

The Trump self-enrichment train doesn't stop. On the same day Ivanka Trump dines with Chinese President Xi, her trademarks are approved. What a coincidink!

 

Ivanka Trump got Chinese trademarks approved, then dined with China’s president

 

 

Despite the fact that, until March of this year, very little had changed economically, A majority of Republicans polled are now convinced that the economy has been in a much better place for the past 12 months.  In October, the same poll found that the majority of Republicans believed that the economy was in a worse place. 

Odd. Very. odd.

What else to say except, now I know why the Consumer Confidence Rating reports were up over the last few months.

 

One poll shows Trump's stunning impact on the way Republicans feel about the US economy

 

 

 

Edited April 18, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[JaneAusten]

As someone who worked and still works in the technology industry occasionally(I work on STEM curriculum and programs for girls now in the education field) this is still a huge problem. But much of it still lies at our educational system which still does a very poor job of encouraging girls to pursue science, engineering, mathematics, and technology degrees. The old stereotypes still exist. It doesn't help that the technology industry in particular treats women poorly IMO. I had my own challenges throughout my career but I think ultimately succeeded where many others got discouraged and turned away.

 

But this is not just about lack of skills, it's about cheaper labor. I have worked with a lot of Indian and Asian tech workers(all great by the way). The Asians had an interest in coming here and building a life here while many of the Indian folks came here to earn money to send home and ultimately move back. I have no issue with either other than seeing American workers displaced for cheaper labor. It's not so much sexism or misogyny, its the desire for many in the industry try to use H1B talent to turn the industry from white collar to blue collar. And don't think this is not their objective. And the gvmt just increases the H1B quotas each year due to the "alleged" lack of talent. Yeah and that's why all those Disney tech workers got axed last year and replaced with H1B's.

[Juliajms]

I'm well aware it is, since it's a point I've made several times in this thread, including the Disney example. My point is women leave the industry due to the rampant sexism, both in education and in the actual work place. There are so many women coming out and speaking about it that it seems indisputable.  If tech dealt with that, they couldn't even pretend to have a lack of workers, except maybe at he very high end. They would also have more workers and a cheaper labor pool without even having to go abroad to get it. One of the many reasons I'm against the H1B visa program is that I have exactly zero sympathy for tech companies as long as they are allowing women to get frozen out of these jobs.

[DramatistDreamer]

Housing starts are declining

 

US housing starts total 1.215M in March vs. 1.25M starts expected

 

"Single-family starts in the Midwest declined 35 percent, the largest drop since January 2014, to their lowest level since August 2015."

 

The irony is that, at the same time, emerging markets are experiencing a "boomlet" (not a full-on boom since countries like Brazil continue to have political instability that affects their markets).  

 

Emerging Markets Are Bouncing Back From a Six-Year Slowdown

 

The Mexican peso, which plummeted immediately after Trump's election, is now back up to its full value.  

China has surpassed its growth expectations, mainly due to a surge in orders in shipping containers, in their domestic markets as the Chinese now have the largest shipping/port industry in cities like Shanghai.

 

It will be interesting if other BRIC countries begin to see their markets rise again. Whoa be unto the U.S. if/when Russia begins to emerge from recession- they will be flexing big time!

[Vee]

Why God? Trump thinks Kim Jong-Un and Kim Jong-Il are the same person.

 

[JaneAusten]

Didn't mean to sound condescending.  I just had my neighbor a couple of weeks ago whose daughter is in fifth grade, working hard to improve her math skills, get told by the teacher(a 30 year old woman) that she shouldn't worry too much about it since girls don't have a natural math aptitude anyway . I've been working with her and needless to say my neighbor went to the school to have a long talk with the teacher. Fact is the teacher herself is not confident in her own math skills to be teaching it in grade school and told the mother that.

 

It's interesting that when I was consulting at my last tech consulting employer, D&T, the triage team we had who went out to clients to help them put out fires were 75% women. Women are better problem solvers, seem to have a knack at getting to the center of a problem, and also were far better at keeping clients calm as well as providing reasonable temporary workarounds to immediate problems while working on solving the core problem.

 

I'm also interested what happens to the H2B Visa's that Trump himself uses to hire people at his resorts, to work on construction projects he has had in the past, and if he will pass the whole "America First" mantra onto his own businesses. Including bringing his mftg facilities back here.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

 

It's interesting, so far, I'm hearing words like "shift" rather than decrease and I think this is intentional.  Perhaps the numbers won't drastically change but the fields where the visas are issued might.  Call me cynical, but with the way the Trump administration moves, it wouldn't surprise me if the visas are shifted in favor of industries where the Trump family has a stake and therefore a possibility for financial gain.

 

Here is what Blooberg has to say on the  matter.

 

Trump Seeks Shift in Visa Allotments Key to Tech Outsourcing

[DramatistDreamer]

Somehow I forgot to post this when it was speculation but it looks like we are closer to seeing this happen now.

 

Sources: The Murdochs Are Turning Against Bill O’Reilly

[Eric83]

Nate Cohn with the NYT says Ossoff early vote is much better than expected in Georgia.

 

He has outperformed Hillary in the precincts that have finished counting so far. Outperforming her in Cobb County which is where many "educated whites" live, Hillary also flipped this county from red to blue in November. 

Edited April 19, 2017 by Eric83