Zero Hedge

Signs that we were once a truly great nation are all around us.  Previous generations of Americans handed us the keys to the most magnificent domestic infrastructure that the world had ever seen, but now it is literally falling apart all around us.  Thousands of bridges are structurally deficient and there have already been some very high profile collapses.  Hundreds of thousands of miles of highways and roads in the United States are in very poor shape.  Aging sewer systems are leaking raw sewage all over the place, and children are being slowly poisoned by lead pipes that desperately need to be replaced.  The power grid is hopelessly overloaded and is extremely vulnerable.  Meanwhile, our ports, our dams, our subway systems, our bus terminals and our airports are crumbling right in front of our eyes.  The truth is that our nation’s infrastructure says a lot about who we are.  

So what does America’s crumbling infrastructure say about us?  Sadly, it says that we are a rusting, crumbling, decaying leftover from a better, more prosperous time.

When Joe Biden took office in 2021, his administration told us that “investment in U.S. infrastructure as a share of GDP has fallen by more than 40 percent since the 1960s”…

Public investment in U.S. infrastructure as a share of GDP has fallen by more than 40 percent since the 1960s. The World Economic Forum now ranks the United States 13th when it comes to the overall quality of infrastructure.

So Congress passed a bill that gave the Biden administration more than $100,000,000,000 to spend on fixing our infrastructure.

Honestly, I have no idea what they did with all that money.

In 2021, the official White House website was reporting that 45,000 bridges and 20 percent of our roads were in poor condition…

More than 45,000 U.S. bridges and 1 in 5 miles of roads are in poor condition, per the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2007, the I-35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour, killing 13 and injuring 121.

Well, fast forward a few years later and the Department of Transportation is still telling us that “over 40,000 bridges” are in poor condition…

The Department of Transportation considers 6.8% of the over 600,000 bridges it tracks and rates to be in “poor” condition. That doesn’t sound too bad on a percentage basis, but it’s over 40,000 bridges in total.

And it appears that the condition of our roads has actually gotten worse in many states.

For example, Consumer Reports says that almost half of all urban roads in the state of California are not currently in acceptable condition…

Despite an enormous yearly disbursement for highways that tops $21 billion, the Golden State manages to keep just a little more than half their urban roads in acceptable condition. However, this is an outsized job since, in addition to 840 miles of coastline, California boasts more miles of urban roads than any other state and has the second-highest mileage of rural roads in the country.

Data from the National Highway Administration shows California’s roads are the most traveled in the U.S., so it makes sense that the state also has the second-highest number of motor vehicle-related fatalities in the country.

Back in 2021, the Biden administration also made a big deal out of the fact that millions of Americans were getting their tap water through lead pipes…

Millions still get water from lead pipes, despite the fact that exposure to lead has irreversible health effects; in 2015, a state of emergency was declared in Flint, Michigan as citizens learned that their water supply contained toxic levels of lead.

So why didn’t the Biden administration fix this problem?

An article that was published late last year revealed that the EPA is estimating that “more than 9 million service lines” are still made out of lead…

The EPA estimates that more than 9 million service lines are made of lead, a neurotoxin that can cause nervous system damage, learning disabilities and other health problems, especially in children. If lead pipes corrode, as in the infamous case of Flint, Michigan, they can poison drinking water.

While no amount of lead exposure is safe, the federal rule now requires utilities to notify the public and improve corrosion treatment if lead in their water exceeds 10 parts per billion. Some homes in Syracuse, New York, recently tested at 70 parts per billion.

Our politicians are constantly telling us that they just don’t have enough money to get everything done.

Personally, I would really love to see exactly what the Biden administration spent more than 100 billion dollars of infrastructure money on.

Have you traveled through any of our airports lately?

Compared to other industrialized nations, they are a complete and utter joke.

Why can’t we have beautiful airports, modern subway systems, functional roads and bridges, and safe water coming out of our taps?

More tax revenue is collected in America than anywhere else in the world, and so we certainly deserve the best infrastructure.

When I bring up the topic of taxes, most people immediately think of the federal income tax.  But the truth is that there are literally dozens of different taxes that they use to extract wealth out of us…

• Building Permit Tax
• Capital Gains Tax
• CDL License Tax
• Cigarette Tax
• Corporate Income Tax
• Court Fines (indirect taxes)
• Dog License Tax
• Federal Income Tax
• Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
• Fishing License Tax
• Food License Tax
• Fuel Permit Tax
• Gasoline Tax
• Gift Tax
• Hunting License Tax
• Inheritance Tax
• IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
• Liquor Tax
• Local Income Tax
• Luxury Taxes
• Marriage License Tax
• Medicare Tax
• Payroll Taxes
• Property Tax
• Real Estate Tax
• Recreational Vehicle Tax
• Road Toll Booth Taxes
• Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
• Sales Taxes
• School Tax
• Septic Permit Tax
• Service Charge Taxes
• Social Security Tax
• State Income Tax
• State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
• Telephone federal excise tax
• Telephone federal universal service fee tax
• Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
• Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
• Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
• Telephone state and local tax
• Telephone usage charge tax
• Toll Bridge Taxes
• Toll Tunnel Taxes
• Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
• Trailer Registration Tax
• Utility Taxes
• Vehicle License Registration Tax
• Vehicle Sales Tax
• Watercraft Registration Tax
• Well Permit Tax
• Workers Compensation Tax

When you take all forms of taxation into account, some Americans actually end up handing over more than 50 percent of their incomes each year.

So our politicians have no excuse for not fixing our infrastructure.

But even though they extract money from us in dozens of different ways, our infrastructure crisis just seems to keep getting worse.

In some areas of the country, roads that were once paved have actually been transformed into gravel roads because they are cheaper to maintain.

[…]

Via https://www.zerohedge.com/political/truth-about-americas-crumbling-infrastructure

Mike Whitney

One Plan To Guide Them All: “…..The dissolution of Syria and Iraq... into ethnically or religiously unique areas… is Israel’s primary target… while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short-term target. Syria will fall apart in accordance with its ethnic and religious structure… Oded Yinon, A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, voltairenet

Israeli military forces have moved to within 15 miles of the Syrian Capital of Damascus. The IDF has seized large tracts of land in southern Syria it intends to occupy and where it will eventually build checkpoints, military outposts and settlements. The “lightening” invasion has been accompanied by a massive bombing campaign that has obliterated numerous military bases, weapons depots and research labs eliminating any hope that Syria will regain the ability to defend itself or to reestablish its sovereign independence. For all practical purposes, Syria no longer exists; the persistent attacks of foreign enemies have left the country vanquished and splintered. The carve-up of the critically located nation-state has already begun.

At the same time the IDF is closing in on Damascus, US Forces along the Turkish border have started building a military base in the city of Kobani.The move is intended to provoke Turkey into a confrontation that will pit Washington’s Kurdish proxy militia against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA). The situation is fraught with danger as it increases the likelihood that two NATO members will soon clash in northeastern Syria.

Here’s more from an article at the Daily Sabah:

The United States is reportedly building a military base to help its ally the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, in northern Syria where the terrorists have been cornered by the Türkiye-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) since the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime.

Local journalists said 13 trucks with U.S. flags and carrying concrete construction blocks arrived in the PKK/YPG’s stronghold Ain al-Arab, also known as Kobani, early on Thursday morning. The U.S. military has emptied a base in neighboring Iraq and the concrete blocks and other materials are being shipped to Ain al-Arab for a Syrian base, according to local sources. Earlier this week, the U.S. military transferred dozens of Bradley armored vehicles to the region and supplied air defense systems and other armored vehicles to the YPG….

The PKK is proscribed as a terrorist group by the European Union, the U.S. and Türkiye. It is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths in Türkiye, including women and children. It maintains strongholds in northern Iraq and Syria to create a self-styled “Kurdish state.”

The U.S. has dispatched troops along with military equipment and weapons to Syria’s northeast during the Syrian civil war to help the PKK/YPG under the pretext of the fight against Daesh. Ankara says the YPG/PKK is on par with Daesh and should have no presence in the new Syria. US said to set up military base in Syria as SNA corners PKK/YPG, Daily Sabah

The excerpt above helps to show just how tense the situation in Syria is at the present time. While Washington applauded Turkey’s support for the jihadists who just toppled Assad and seized power in Damascus, the Biden administration is deliberately provoking President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on a critical matter of national security. (Turkish leaders regard US support for the Kurds (YPG) as a threat to their security.) This duplicitous behavior is not uncommon for the US which operates on the theory that allies are only allies for as long as they serve Washington’s overall interests.

The US will continue to support the Kurds (aka—The Syrian Democratic Forces or SDF) in order to preserve access to Syrian oil in the East, and to further reinforce its support for Israeli policy in the region. Israel’s affection for the Kurds is purely pragmatic as this excerpt from an article at CNN explains:

…there is one regional power that has thrown its weight behind the Kurds’ drive for independence: Israel….Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement ahead of the referendum saying Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to attain a state of its own.”… “Israel would welcome another state in the region that shares its concerns about the rising power of Iran, including the threat of Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq,” says Frantzman. “Reports have also indicated that oil from Kurdistan is purchased by Israel.”CNN

So, aside from getting cheap oil from Kurdish-controlled area in east Syria, Israel also sees the Kurds as a natural ally in their fight against Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, all of whom oppose an independent Kurdish state. Here’s more background from an article at Al-Monitor:

The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria has signed an agreement with an American oil company... One of the sources said the agreement to market oil in territory controlled by the US-backed entity and to develop and modernize existing fields was inked last week “with the knowledge and encouragement of the White House.”…..

Oil is the autonomous administration’s principal source of income.... The Kurdish-led entity controls most of Syria’s oil wealth, which is concentrated in and around the Rmelain fields close to the Turkish and Iraqi borders and in the Al-Omar fields further south.

Ankara is every bit as sensitive about the oil as it’s seen as the vehicle for cementing the Syrian Kurds’ self-rule project. Turkey has since 2016 been launching military operations against the SDF to disrupt its perceived attempts to establish a contiguous zone of control from the Iraqi border all the way to Afrin to the west of the Euphrates river and beyond. Turkey claims the SDF and its affiliates are “terrorists” because of their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the rebel group that has been fighting for Kurdish self rule inside Turkey since 1984 and is on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

Sources told Al-Monitor the agreement to market oil in territory controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces was signed “with the knowledge and encouragement of the White House.” Al-Monitor: US oil company signs deal with Syrian Kurd, justiceforkurds.org

Some readers may recall that President Donald Trump boasted many times how he “took the oil” in Syria. Here’s what he said:

I left troops to take the oil. I took the oil. The only troops I have are taking the oil. They’re protecting the oil. I took over the oil… We have the oil. Right now, the U.S. has the oil.

Bottom line: Washington’s support for the Kurds (aka- the SDF) has allowed a US proxy to control both the oil-rich parts of Syria as well as Syria’s breadbasket where most of its wheat is harvested. This loss of revenue—along with onerous US economic sanctions—pushed the country into bankruptcy which greatly accelerated the collapse of the state and the removal of Assad. This was a big “win” for the US, Turkey, Qatar and other western allies, but mostly for Israel upon whose regional aspirations the overall strategy is based. Keep in mind, that everything that has taken place aligns closely with a strategic blueprint produced by a Zionist intellectual (Oded Yinon) more than four decades ago who concocted “an accurate and detailed plan….for the Middle East which is based on the division of the whole area into small states, and the dissolution of all the existing Arab states.” According to political analyst Khalil Nakhleh:

The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must

1) become an imperial regional power and

2) must affect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states.

Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state…. Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel’s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation…What they want and what they are planning for is not an Arab world, but a world of Arab fragments that is ready to succumb to Israeli hegemony…

Every Arab state…. is a real target sooner or later …

There is no indication that Arab strategists have internalized the Zionist plan in its full ramifications. Instead, they react with incredulity and shock whenever a new stage of it unfolds…. The sad fact is that as long as the Zionist strategy for the Middle East is not taken seriously Arab reaction to any future siege of other Arab capitals will be the same. Khalil Nakhleh, The Zionist Plan for the Middle East, powerbase.info

A rehash of these same ideas emerged more than a decade later under the title of “A Clean Break: A Strategy for Securing the Realm,” authored by neocon Richard Perle who outlined Israel’s strategic vision for remaking the Middle East. Here’s a clip:

Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq – an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right – as a means of foiling Syria’s regional ambitions.”

“Most important, it is understandable that Israel has an interest supporting diplomatically, militarily and operationally Turkey’s and Jordan’s actions against Syria, such as securing tribal alliances with Arab tribes that cross into Syrian territory and are hostile to the Syrian ruling elite.” US Caught Faking It in Syria – fulfilling the Yinon and Clean Break Plans, cnionline.org

The similarities between the two documents are obvious, as is the fact that this is the operational strategy that is shaping events in the Middle East. The role of vital resources, pipeline corridors and even regional security are all secondary to Israel’s ambitious plan for regional hegemony which is the primary impetus for the escalating conflagration. Having eliminated six of seven rivals in the last two decades, we should expect that a war with Iran is now unavoidable. Iran remains the last obstacle to the realization of the Zionist dream which is to become a world power via regional domination.

It’s worth noting, that even though Israel is within striking distance of Damascus, it does not intend to invade or occupy the city. As one astute analyst on Twitter put it:

Israel had a standing policy never to attempt capturing an Arab capital city. The repercussions of such an act far exceed the propaganda value. That’s why Israel never attempted to get to Damascus, or Cairo, during the 1973 war….

The only time Israel strayed from this policy was in 1982 when the IDF entered the suburbs of Beirut. That was a dumb move and ended badly for the war goals.

IMHO, the Israeli leadership will probably remain on the outskirts of the city and avoid the urban warfare that would ensue if they attempted to occupy Damascus itself. That way the IDF can continue its relentless airstrikes on targets within Damascus without engaging in endless door-to-door fighting that would send casualties soaring. In any event, there is currently no sign that the IDF plans to march on Damascus.

On Friday, Syria’s new leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, (aka—Ahmad al-Sharaa) “demanded that the United States tell Israel to pull its forces out of the border buffer zone and the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.”

According to an article in Israel Today:

Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Syria’s Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group and the country’s de facto leader, has asked the United States to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Golan buffer zone and the peak of Mount Hermon….

Sources in Israel said that they did not receive any demand from Washington with regard to Syria, adding that the Jewish state will not compromise on its security, according to the report…

Israel’s “excuses have run out, and they have crossed the lines of engagement” for striking the Assad regime’s military infrastructure, as well as for deploying troops to several demilitarized zones in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, The New York Times quoted al-Sharaa as saying. Israel Today

[…]

Via https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-syria-carve-up-creates-a-de-facto-israel-turkey-border-ensuring-a-broader-me-war/

The following is on the hell of the “new Syria” ruled by al-Qaeda/ISIS terrorist Joolani, where his co-terrorist thugs run around hunting down minorities, torturing & killing them.

There are countless such videos, and worse, being shared on Telegram & social media, from Syrians who film these terrorists’ attacking civilians (because media in Syria is now under control of HTS/al-Qaeda, you won’t see reports there…nor from the influencers chirping about how great & free Syria is now, and hey, ISIS are very helpful people…)

Following are just some examples of the lawlessness and pure terrorism that has been unleashed on Syria, on Syrian civilians. This is what the idiots who cheered the toppling of the former Syrian government have endorsed.

Alawites in Syria are facing genocide at the hands of jihadists targeting their sect. The lie about holding so-called war criminals accountable is clear to anyone who understands Arabic and isn’t a jihadist—videos speak for themselves. In this video, they openly say, “You are Alawite,” as they torture their victims. The sole reason for this brutality is their faith. Do not stay silent. There is a sectarian massacre happening in Syria! [source]

January 4, 2025, 6:00 PM

Location: Western Talkalakh countryside, Kherbet Al-Ashari Incident: At 6:00 PM today, unarmed Alawites were brutally attacked, beaten, insulted, and cursed by HTS , with the participation of some local residents affiliated with them.” [source]

“In the Homs countryside, young Alawites are being arrested and murdered without any valid reason.” [source]

“Al-Tall – Damascus Countryside

The Commission’s members continue their crimes. Yesterday, an operation took place to liquidate Samer Daas and another person on charges of belonging to the former regime. They were shot in the car and their bodies were burned near one of the ovens, without being subjected to the judiciary or the courts.

In the second video, the car is documented after it was burned and the bodies were removed from it.” [source]

**By the way notice (in 2nd video) the White Helmets cleaning up after terrorist murder a civilian, just like they did throughout their existence, hand in hand with the terrorists.

“HTS accounts shared videos of civilians being tortured in Homs countryside, accusing them of collaborating with the former regime or being Alawite or Christian, framing it as “revenge.”” [source]

“Horrific Crime in Latakia: HTS killed a man and dragged him publicly, with the crowd cheering. This brutal act highlights the absence of justice and accountability in Syria.” [source]

“The blessings of revolution and freedom in Syria…” [source]

“Homs – Dallal Nashiwati St., Wadi al-Dahab, January 2, 2025

Hundreds of unarmed civilians were beaten, humiliated, arrested, and tortured by HTS due to sectarian motives. Their fate remains unknown.” [source]

“Jubb al-Jarrah, Homs: Mass arrest of Alawite villagers by what appears to be HTS terrorists.” [source]

[…]

Execution! This is what the internationally wanted Al-Julani gangs do.” [source]

*Btw, @ 0:49, one man replies he is from Harem, the terrorist curses him and says everyone from Harem are pigs! He curses another man from Harem and repeats his cursing against people from Harem.

In Syria, in 2014, I met a man from Harem, right near the Turkish border, who spoke of (in 2013) being kidnapped by terrorists for 3 months and 5 days…and of them kidnapping others, murdering them, and sending their decapitated heads back to the families.

“They had tanks and guns, like an army, just like an army. They killed around 110 people, and kidnapped around 250… children, civilians, soldiers. Until now, we don’t know what’s happened to them.” This list is not complete, sadly, it is a glimpse into what hell Syrians are enduring now, to the criminal silence of global media.

For continued updates, please follow Syr Doc on their Telegram

Meanwhile, in the ancient town of Maaloula, the only town in Syria where inhabitants still speak the ancient Christian language of Aramaic, has been under siege for two weeks, reducing its population from 1,000 to just 200. [source]

Maaloula was occupied by terrorists from September 2013 to May 2014. I visited exactly two months after it was liberated by Hezbollah, the Syrian army, local defenders and allies. The destruction the West’s terrorists meted out was horrific, devastating.

See one of my prior posts for my writings on Maaloula, based on my 2014 and 2016 visits there. There are many photos and testimonies to highlight the destruction and terrorism of this cherished historic town.

In 2018, I went back there during the Festival of the Cross, during which time I attended a moving mass and saw the enthusiastic celebrations afterwards.

From my overview of this:

I asked Abdo Haddad to summarize the importance of the Festival of the Cross. He said (video):

“Tonight we are celebrating the finding of the cross that happened 1700 years ago. This celebration is represented by putting fire on top of the mountains, from Jerusalem to Constantinople, to tell the people in Constantinople that the cross was found.

Maaloula is the only place in the world that is still celebrating this custom.

The only time that this custom stopped is when the so-called rebels and other “revolution” people in Syria invaded Maaloula, and instead of putting fire on top of the mountain, they put our houses on fire. But since we are sons and daughters of life, we kept on celebrating it since Maaloula was liberated by the Syrian army in 2014.

So we celebrate life now, and we celebrate the cross.

We were born here 3,000 years ago and we’ll keep existing until the end of time.”

[…]

Via https://substack.com/@evakarenebartlett/p-154382925

Paul Craig Roberts

Divisions are already appearing in MAGA ranks. President-elect Trump and Elon Musk have aligned with the H-1B work visas  that allow foreigners to be brought in to fill American jobs.  This disappoints the Trump working class that believed making America great again meant they were going to get their jobs back.

American corporations, universities, and non-profit organizations like H-1B work visas for a variety of reasons.  A H-1B visa recipient is an indentured  servant. He or she is paid substantially less but cannot leave the employer for higher pay as the visa is tied to the specific employer. This also has the result of denying the indentured servant employment or protest rights as the indentured servant’s presence in the US is tied to the visa that is tied to the employer. For example, a H-1B visa holder cannot file a discrimination complaint.

As Senator Bernie Sanders puts it:

“The main function of the H-1B visa program is not to hire ‘the best and the brightest,’ but rather to replace good-paying American jobs with low-wage indentured servants from abroad. The cheaper the labor they hire, the more money the billionaires make.” https://www.rt.com/news/610400-bernie-sanders-elon-musk-visas/   

The case for H-1B visas is fraudulent. The claim is that America’s huge numbers of universities are incapable of producing enough American graduates to meet America’s need for “highly educated individuals with skills critical to our country’s economic future,” to use the words of Todd Schulte, president of an immigrant advocacy organization with ties to big tech.  Or as Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas disguised the scam, “American businesses rely on the H-1B visa program for the recruitment of highly-skilled talent, benefitting communities across the country.”

Imagine, the United States relies on the Third World, not on its many world prestigious universities,  to supply its need for “highly-skilled talent.”  The communities are not benefitting.  The American residents are losing the jobs.  Wages and salaries are being paid to foreigners who have displaced Americans.  The difference between the US wage and the H-1B wage goes to corporate profits and executive “performance bonuses.”

[…]

It is a fairy tale told by shills to enhance corporate profits and executive bonuses that Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, University of California, University of Chicago,  and the large numbers of private and state universities cannot turn out enough educated people to fill the economy’s needs.

If Americans are not studying for careers in high tech it is because they know the jobs will be given to foreigners on visas. Moreover, Americans who prepare for these careers are hit again by the offshoring of many of the jobs.

During the early years of the 21st century when the “skills shortage” was being concocted to serve corporate profits, Business Week reported a 12.7% decline in computer science pay, a 12%decline in computer engineering pay, a 10.2% decline in electrical engineering pay.  Professor Norm Matloff at the University of California, Davis, found that between 2001 and 2005 starting pay for master degrees in computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering fell 6.6%, 13.7%, and 9.4% respectively.

As I wrote at the time, “Obviously, if these skills were in short supply, as corporations [and their economist shills] allege, the shortage would result in rising salaries as employers bid for scarce human resources.” How can economics account for a shortage of skills and a fall in pay?

H-1B visas have a statutory cap of 85,000 annually. The number consists of 65,000 visas plus 20,000 for foreigners who have an advanced degree from a US university.  Over ten years, that comes to 850,000 foreigners brought into the US to take Americans’ jobs.  These visas are sought by foreign students studying in America, because it is a way of staying in the country. At the end of the visa, H-1B holders can apply for a green card or permanent residence.

As few of the 85,000 per year return home to their countries, the obvious consequence is that some American occupations are being de-Americanized.  This is also true of university faculties where H-1B visas are used to meet DEI quotas while large numbers of Americans with Ph.D. degrees are denied an academic career“`.  Recently the Biden regime expanded or removed the limit on H-1B visas for universities and non-profits. Soon a student will be able to have the same professors at Harvard as he would have if he went to university in India. What does Harvard care? It trades on its name.

In addition to H-1B visas there are L-1 visas that allow multinational companies to bring foreign employees to the US for “training.” With extensions the visa can be good for seven years.  Between 1997 and 2019 the US Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 1.5 million L-1 visas, according to Wikipedia. Citizens of India are the largest recipients of L-1 visas.

Allegedly, the H-1B visas were not to be used to replace US workers and are supposed to be paid the same amount as an American employee. But there are easy ways around these restrictions. Law firms are employed to advertise job openings in ways that disqualify Americans. You can read about that in my book. In 2007 the law firm, Cohen & Grigsby explained in a marketing video how the firm evades the restrictions for its clients. The firm’s marketing manager, Lawrence Lebowitz said, “our goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested US worker.”

There are many ways around the various “restrictions” on the visas. During the bank bailout Congress forbade banks that received bailout money from hiring foreigners to replace Americans, but the H-1B lobby had a loophole inserted into the legislation.  The loophole let banks hire contractors to supply “contract labor.” Consequently, the banks paid the contractor, and the contractor, not the banks, hired and paid the foreign workers. In 2009 Computerworld reported that the H-1B visas were becoming the property of Indian contract labor firms.

The American Immigration Council, a lobby for H-1B visas, alleges that multiple studies have found that bringing in foreign workers on H-1B visas increases the employment opportunities for American workers. I exposed the fraudulent nature of these “studies” when they came out.

Matthew J. Slaughter, a member of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, mistakenly found an increase in American employment in an increase in multinational corporation employment that resulted from the multinational corporations’ purchases of smaller firms. Multinational corporation employment rose from the purchases of existing firms, not from jobs offshoring and H-1B visas causing more Americans to be employed.

Harvard professor Michael Porter concluded that America’s lead in GDP per capita, household wealth, and falling poverty rates were proof that the US was benefitting from jobs offshoring and all other foreign employment practices associated with globalism. What Porter did was to use a 20-year period so that the deterioration from globalism was softened by the stronger performance from earlier times.

My exposure of the fraudulent claims had no effect on policy. My voice was no match for the power of campaign contributions and the lobby groups. American corporations and “the people’s representatives” could not care less about the fate of Americans. The American corporations want profits and their executives want their “performance” bonuses.  Congress wants campaign contributions and friends to look after them if they lose an election.

There is no one to look after the American worker, not even Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Trump and Musk think of greatness in terms of profits. If profits are great, the country is. Thus their policy will continue the shift in the distribution of income from the working class to the one percent.  Really it is the one-tenth of one percent that benefits while all the rest lose.

The question America needs to face is how is there unity and a nation when economic prospects are limited to one-tenth of one percent of the population, when democracy represents only the elite and never the people, when the people’s protections guaranteed by the US Constitution are discarded by law schools, the US Department of Justice (sic), bar associations, and by judges themselves, when racial, gender, and sexual preference privileges overturn the Constitution’s requirement of equality under the law, when the Constitution’s requirements of due process, free speech, the right of assembly and protest are suspended because of false claims of “terrorism” and “misinformation.”

Terrorism and misinformation are Washington’s products.  Terrorism originates not from Russia, China, Iran, Arabs; it originates from Washington. Just ask the Palestinians, the Libyans, Syrians, Iraqis. Misinformation comes from a domestic intellectual class that hates America. Misinformation is a domestic product from self-serving agendas and presstitutes that support the agendas. Official misinformation keeps Americans in a muddle so that they lack realization of their dispossession  of their rights.

Tell me, how can a country in which the people have no voice be made great again.

Trump’s supporters believe that his election has solved the problem. They could not be more wrong. Indeed, when it comes to American employment, it looks like Trump is part of the problem.

If Trump demoralizes his supporters, the result will be a demoralized population. Where will the resistance to tyranny come from?

Andrew Anglin claims ( https://www.unz.com/aanglin/pyramid-schemer-patrick-bet-david-continues-deluge-of-shit-campaign-with-fraudulent-statistics/ ) that the statutory cap on H-1B visas is not enforced and that the US government “issues hundreds of thousands of exemptions” that resulted in 755,020 H-1B visas in 2023, 72.3% of them going to citizens of India. He attributes the data to the Department of Homeland Security but does not provide the source or URL.  

My opinion based on what I know at this time is that Anglin was misled by reports on H-1B visa approvals and concluded that all of the annual approvals were for new H-1B visas, which would be a number in violation of law.  As I understand it, the visas are good for six or seven years and must be annually approved to continue. If we take the annual approval for continuation of, say, 6 years of visas, it would come to 85,000 times 6 which comes to 510,000 visa approvals + the 85,000 newly approved visas for a total of 595,000. In other words, not all H-1B visa approvals are annual approvals of new visas. Most are continuations of the old. The articles are not clear about this, and I think misled Anglin.

There are other approvals associated with the visas. I forget what they all are, but perhaps for example a visa holder needs to go home for reasons, say, the death of a parent, and wants to return; a visa holder wants at the end of his six years to apply for a green card; a holder wants his visa extended to 7 years. I am confident that if the government was breaking the cap of H-1B visa issuance, H-1B opponents would have brought a law suit.

The H-1B legislation does not provide the executive branch with authority to override the law limiting the visas. If the US government is actually issuing almost 9 times the number of H-1B visas permitted by law, it would seem to be strong grounds for H-1B opponents to bring a law suit.  I also wonder why Congress would stand aside while the government ignores the law. Is Congress that unconcerned with its authority? It is not characteristic of Washington for people to piss away their power. If Congress wants to make 755,020 H-1B visas annually available, it can do so and collect more campaign contributions as its price.  The caps have been adjusted over the years reaching 195,000 annually during the presidency of George W. Bush, 2.3 times higher than under the open borders Biden regime.

The issue is the existence of the H-1B visa, not its numbers.  The case for the visa is fraudulent.  The visas benefit corporate executives and shareholders at the expense of the prospects of native-born American citizens and change the country’s cultural and racial character.  H-1B visas are helping to transform the United States into a Tower of Babel with an economy dependent on cheap foreign labor for its profits.

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Via https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2025/01/05/where-is-trump-when-working-americans-need-him/

Sputnik International

TEHRAN – US threats to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities are a gross violation of international norms, the UN Security Council must hold the US accountable internationally, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said.

Three days earlier, US media reported, citing three informed sources, that incumbent US President Joe Biden had discussed with his team, in particular with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, plans to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. Biden ultimately made no final decision on the issue. The discussion was not prompted by new intelligence, but was aimed at working out possible scenarios, the publication’s sources noted.

“This issue has been raised repeatedly. From the point of view of international law, threats to use force by any country are a gross violation of international law and the UN Charter. This issue is doubly a violation of international agreements,” Baghaei said.

This US threat is a threat against the country’s peaceful nuclear infrastructure, he stressed.

“The UN Security Council should intervene and hold the United States internationally accountable for these statements,” Baghaei added.

On January 4, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the Iranian authorities were ready to immediately enter into constructive negotiations with Western countries on their nuclear program if they lead to a new agreement. According to Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi, a new round of consultations between Iran and Europe on the nuclear deal will take place on January 13.

[…]

Via https://sputnikglobe.com/20250107/iran-accuses-us-of-violating-un-charter-over-nuclear-facilities-strike-discussions-1121375656.html

By Dmitry Orlov

Trump’s presidential entourage (the term “cabinet” seems rather limited in scope) includes quite an assemblage of billionaires. The list includes Elon Musk ($363 billion), Donald Himself ($6.3 billion), Warren Stephens ($3.4 billion), Linda McMahon ($3 billion), Jared Isaacman ($1.7 billion), Howard Lutnick ($1.5 billion), Doug Burgum ($1.1 billion), Vivek Ramaswamy ($1 billion), Steven Witkoff ($1 billion) and Scott Bessent (fortune unknown, assumed huge). This assemblage of very wealthy individuals seeing political appointments is completely unprecedented in the annals of US presidential administrations.

Musk is the obvious outlier, since he is wealthier than all of the rest combined by a huge margin, but it is notable that they are all billionaires. Why are giant overstuffed bags of money drawn to Trump like moths to the flame? What might motivate them to pick up the fallen flag of government service and march forth? What do they hope to gain? What do they fear to lose?

But first we must answer an even simpler question: Who are these people? Answer: they are filthy rich bastards. Why bastards? That’s simple too: they gained their fortunes over the course of this century — a century during which the US has continuously lost ground. So far over the course of the 21st century China’s industrial production has increased by a factor of 10, along with the fortunes of the Chinese population as a whole, while US industrial production has increased by a factor of 1, growing by a fraction of a percent. If we exclude from consideration the top 1% of Americans (by wealth and income) as an uncharacteristic aberration (they are a country within a country, if you will), the US has grown significantly poorer.

This becomes immediately and abundantly clear to anyone who flies into the US from one of the modern, glittering megalopolises such as Beijing, Moscow or Dubai. The place is old — simply outdated and unfashionable, rather than antique or classic, having been cheaply and hastily put together to start with. It is run down and dirty. The people are cheaply and carelessly dressed and are vulgar, slovenly, often pushy and rude, quick to anger and violence and generally abusive. The food that is widely available to them is too low-quality even for the pig trough. Unsurprisingly, many of them look ill: sallow or pasty-faced and obese to an astounding extent.

Obscenities fly about in public places whether or not there are children present. The children are a special case. They are not like normal children — curious, full of wonder at the amazing world around them and eager to explore it and to make contact with anyone they meet. Rather, they are fearful of strangers, estranged even from their own parents whose parenting often seems half-hearted and disingenuous, and sunk into the meaningless abyss of some digital device that has been thrust into their hands practically from birth as a sort of electronic pacifier. They are poised to remain blinkered, infantile and digitally addicted for the rest of their sad little lives.

And then there are the actual addicts, flopped out inside tents that stretch for many kilometers along major roads, stumbling zombie-like along the sidewalks in search of their next dose of fentanyl or standing slouched over, flopped over on the sidewalk or stumbling about some more once they find it. They are the living dead of American society — people for whom that society no longer finds a purpose except as fodder for government corruption. The government keeps the borders open, giving the drug cartels free reign. The government also prints and hands out money to the addicts which filters back to the drug cartels. The drug cartels then bribe government officials to keep the scheme in operation. The victims of this scheme are not missed: according to government statistics, they barely exist. They are not even unemployed, you see; they are a different category altogether called “not in labor force” and there is over 100 million of these — an entire third of the US population!

Lost Kingdoms of Africa – The Zulu Kingdom

BBC (2013)

Film Review

King Malendela founded the Zulu dynasty in the 17th century. He named his son Zulu (heaven), and their subjects became known as Aman Zulu or people of heaven. Historicaly KwaZulu-Natal, the historical home to the Zulu nation, was a rich grasslands, ideal for pasturing cattle and raising cultivated crops. With the arrival of Europeans, they became heavily involved in trade with the Portuguese, which greatly increased their wealth and power. For the most part they traded ivory and captured slaves for copper, brass, textiles and beads.

Shaka, the 19th century Zulu nation founder, transformed a small network of chieftains into a massive military force. Born in 1780 the oldest son of a Zulu chief, he was sent to a neighboring chiefdom as a child to be trained in statecraft and soldiering.

When inter tribal conflict erupted in the early 1800s, he returned to his family’s tribe, seized the chieftaincy and unified the Zulu tribes. He then enacted compulsory conscription for all males at age 14. At 35, they were allowed to marry as a reward for a successful military career. Zulu society was patriarchal and polygamous.

Under Shaka, the Zulu invented “horns of the buffalo” formation they used to surround their enemies and substituted throwing spoons (daggers), which were more suited for hand to hand contact, for their longer spears. During four years of aggressive regional expansion, the Zulus drove many neighboring tribes off their land. Those who chose not to join the Zulu nation fled to the foothills.

By 1816, Shaka had expanded the area of the Zulu nation from 10 to 12,000 square miles and its population from 3,000 to 250,000. By 1824, the British had settled Durban, the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal and traded textiles and metals for Zulu hides and ivory. In 1828, Shaka was  assassinated by his half-brothers, one of whom (Dingane) seized the throne. In 1836 Dingane and his men clubbed 100 Boer settlers to death for stealing cattle. In the Battle of Blood River,  420 armed Boers retaliated and defeated 25,000-30,000 Zulus. The latter’s short daggers were no match for the Boers’ firearms.

In 1867, the discovery of diamonds and gold in southern African created an insatiable need for labor. Heavy recruitment of Zulus to work in Kimberly’s diamond mines was devastating to their traditional way of life. Driven off their land by Dutch and British settlers, many Zulu natives were forced to leave their families to live in miners barracks 800 miles away.

The Battle of Isandlwana in 1879 was the first major Anglo-Zula military encounter. After invading Zulu territory without consent of the British government, their High Commissioner for Southern Africa suffered a humiliating defeat when the Zulu successfully employed a horn of the buffalo formation to destroy the British camp and kill 1200 troops. Despite having only a few archaic firearms, the Zulu used their superior numbers to overwhelm the British before they could mount a defense.

At their second encounter, the Battle of Rourke’s Drift, 25,000 British troops returned to Zulu territory, where they used a block formation similar to that used by the Boers in the Battle of Blood River. This time 1500 Zulus died, with only 13 British losses. The British supported rivals of the Zulu king, leading to civil war and his capture.