IMMIGRATION NATION. This flap about H1B visas is something that both right-wingers and left-wingers can agree upon. One group wants those jobs to go to Americans. So does the other group. Both want to block these immigrants from coming to America to help themselves and help businesses. Some oppose them simply because they are not Americans (see MAGA). Others oppose H1Bs because they fear competition but frame it as exploitation of immigrants (see Bernie Sanders, Lorena Gonzalez). These ideas are anti-American. We have always been a nation of immigrants. Those that fear that our culture will be changed by these immigrants lack a belief in American values such as our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We shouldn’t be fearing immigrants. We should be helping them assimilate. After all, they have come to America because the American spirit is something they desire. But there is a problem with H1B visas. They are limited to just one employer, so the worker does not have the freedom to get another job in America. This is anti-American. I say just give them green cards so they can legally switch jobs. In fact, every international graduate of an American university should get a green card stapled to their diploma. Brain Drain is also an effective foreign policy. Viva Libertad! Side bar comment… I remember when I worked for a Japanese company in San Diego back in the early 1990s. We were trying to get a worker from our Tokyo office relocated to San Diego, but it was excessively complex. We had to hire a lawyer to navigate the immigration law. It took us 9-12 months to finally get everything OK’d by the US Government. It shouldn’t be this hard.
RIP JIMMY CARTER. The passing of a former POTUS is always a moment that gets plenty of media attention. It gives us the opportunity to remember the good and the bad of his presidency. I remember being a tween/young teenager during the Carter years. My stepfather struggled getting work. Interest rates were nuts which created huge financial stress on our family. There were gasoline shortages. Of course, we all remember the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Jimmy Carter is an easy target. But now, looking at his presidency in the context of the last 50 years, I would argue that Carter may be the best president of my lifetime. Jimmy Carter, the Great Deregulator, opened up trucking, airlines, telecommunications and beer to a freer marketplace resulting in greater innovation and lower prices. He brokered an important peace deal with Israel and Egypt. But perhaps most of all, he did the least damage in his presidency than any of the others in my lifetime. Carter gets a (relative) thumbs up in my book.
OLD MAN SNIFFER. No, I’m not talking about President Biden. We just adopted a senior dog… a 10-year-old beagle named Sniffer. He’s a good boy but has his grumpy old man moments. We like him and he seems to be warming up to us too. It’s nice to adopt a senior dog. He’s not running around tearing things up like a puppy. He’s mostly chill. He likes to sleep. He likes to lay in the sun. He moves around slowly. Sounds like me and my wife! It’s been 2.5 weeks and things are going well. He’s had some trauma in his past, so we need to be gentle around him. He often sleeps in his bed in my man cave while ripping stinky farts. Welcome to the Riley Family, Sniffer.
CAPITALISM AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS. I really enjoy listening to Yaron Brook’s talks and podcast episodes. Brook is the former CEO and current Chairman of the Board of the Ayn Rand Institute. He speaks regularly on issues of morality, economics, art, culture, and our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. A fan of his created an X account showing short, 1-minute clips of his live talks and media appearances. It’s terrific. Check it out at @YaronBrookClips. “Controversial viewpoints you’ve probably never heard of.”
NEW PODCAST STUDIO. It finally happened. I got kicked out. I have to move the JRP podcast studio out of our living room. Now that we are empty nesters we transformed one bedroom into the new podcast studio. This should work out very well. Frees up space in the house and gives me a self-contained room with a door that I can close. I’ve already done about 4 episodes there with Hacksaw and will do a JRP episode with Pete Neild on Wednesday. It’s functional, but I realize how good the acoustics were in my living room. Our previous owners had made the living room a media room with black out curtains which really dampened the bouncing sound waves. My plan is to install similar curtains in the new studio and that should not only improve the sound but also the aesthetic. This new studio is a new project. I still need to get the ethernet internet cable installed through the attic. I am also considering using 2 curtain rods with the blackout curtains in front and a green screen in the back. With the green screen I can get creative with virtual backgrounds and even a modern virtual studio. That could be fun. This won’t happen overnight. Hopefully it’s mostly complete by the end of February.
WHAT IS AMERICA? I found this quote from Samantha Joy on X, and it sums up much of the disconnect that we see from the MAGA movement. “What conservatives can’t face, because they’ve abandoned these ideals long ago, is that ‘American culture’ is not genetics, not an ethnicity or race, not a religion or sect. Indeed, America is antithetical to that whole backwards and medieval way of thinking.” America is an idea that we have a right to our own life and to make our own life decisions as long as we respect others’ right to do the same. https://x.com/_samantha_joy/status/1873451111291731995