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Monday, January 20. 2014

So Hip It Hurts - Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen looks back.

Philomena and the back story of a D.C. insider

Pretty good movie

1 In 20 US Households Has Over A Million In Assets: This Is Where They Are

A guy who owns a gas station or two, or a dry-cleaners or two, has a million in assets right there, not including his equity in his cabin.

The Working Rich - The wealthiest Americans work for their money, and the poor could learn from them.

Eagle Scout. Idealist. Drug Trafficker?

California’s drought situation in pictures – what a difference one year makes

ObamaCare gets outsourced amid unemployment crisis

At Dartmouth, Conservative Students Barred From Campus MLK Meeting

People forget that MLK was a liberal Republican

You Might Not Know Your City Is Going Broke

Censors on Campus - Hundreds of colleges have unconstitutional speech codes. (Paywall)

Liberal journalist both decries lack of competition in news and makes a case for government monopolization of news

The man is confused

Hillary Clinton: Triumph of the Mediocre

Taxpayers on the hook for 9/11 Memorial & Museum

A plaque at the site would have been sufficient.

Broken windows and stop-and-frisk weren’t “devastating” to “communities of color” — they saved countless lives in those communities.

Florida Universities Change Policies to Allow Guns on Campus

A book: Restoring Valor: One Couple’s Mission to Expose Fraudulent War Heroes and Protect America’s Military Awards System

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:03 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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here's how the H1b fraud works:
- US company hires US subsidiary of Indian company to supply labour at below market rates (mind, not illegal, just a business contract)
- Indian company tries to hire Americans at those below market rates and fails
- Indian company now has a case to bring in Indians at those below market rates (technically maybe legal) and does so.
- Indian company charges its Indian workers above market prices for lodgings, food, transportation, and training expenses.
- Indian company confiscates the passports and other travel documents of their Indian workers in the US under the excuse of "safekeeping", effectively holding them hostage.
- (possibly) Indian company shares the profit with their US customer (I've no evidence for this, only rumours, but it seems plausible)

The Indian workers know they're working at below US rates, will be evicted from the country if they lose their jobs, but despite living in dorms under horrible conditions still make more money than they likely would at home.
So they put up with it in fear of being sent back to the Indian slums or ending up in a TSA prison without rights or legal representation (they're not US citizens so have no constitutional protection what so ever) on charges of visa fraud.

#1 J.T. Wenting on 2014-01-20 09:38 (Reply)

This might be shady, inhumane, or a lot of other things, but as a non-lawyer I see no evidence of fraud.

#1.1 BillH on 2014-01-20 10:28 (Reply)

The fraud is that they're paid below US wages for the same job in practice, yet on paper get US wages.
They get paid Indian wages, and board and lodging are listed as part of their wages at excessive rates to make it look like they get US wages.

They're say listed as receiving $5000 a month when they get only $1500, the other $3500 being "rent" on a 10x10 feet room.

#1.1.1 J.T. Wenting on 2014-01-20 12:34 (Reply)

There is so much more to this. I worked in a field with H1b workers. The reason that American companies want H1b workers is because they can work them 80 hours a week for the same or less then it would cost for an American worker. The American workers also work well past their 40 hours a week for the same salary but generally will not work 80 hours with some exceptions. What the company does then is one by one they find reason to let the American workers go and repace them with H1b's. The federal government is complicit in this because a lot of their contractors who work for the feds do this. Once the H1b's get into management they won't even hire Americans unless they happen to be from their country. That is an Indian who is a citizen will be hired in preference over a non-Indian citzen by a Indian H1b.

#1.2 GoneWithTheWind on 2014-01-20 11:34 (Reply)

Steely Dan: Don't lose that number... Well, I lost it and decided I had no reason to try to look it up.

Philomena: Not my cup of shade-grown, free-trade, peasant friendly unfermented tea.

1 in 20: It would really help to have a color code block to tell us what those colors represent.

Dartmouth: Can't be surprised by this. Dartmouth is so down in the mouth.

Government News: NYT and CNN are not the same as Fox and WSJ. And Rush!!!!1111!!!!! never stops talking to let just anybody call in and talk to him. And Walmart is the deepest undercover megacorp, getting NYT, WaPo, and the alphabets to hate, hate, HATE them (they are founding members of the Bilderbergs, Masons, Bohemians, and groups so secret I can't even hint they exist, let alone name them. I get the strong impression that this "Fred Jerome" is one of the Zachriels.

911 Memorial: Build it now, go crazy on it, figure out how to get the money/kick that can down the road. Maybe NOT "Only in NYC.

#2 Sam L. on 2014-01-20 10:32 (Reply)

There is an association of black republicans that keeps putting up billboards saying MLK Jr. was a Republican, and there seems to be no better way of getting up the noses of some on the left than to suggest that.

Unfortunately, there just isn't any documentation to say that he was or he wasn't. We know that his father, MLK Sr., was, at least until the Kennedy election.

There seems to be people close to MLK Jr. on both sides of the question, who are rather vehement that in their "yes he was" or "no he wasn't" view.

#3 Douglas2 on 2014-01-20 11:15 (Reply)

There is documentation that he met with Richard Nixon in 1957 to discuss how to get around Democratic opposition to Republican Civil Rights laws (http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/01/happy-martin-luther-king-jr-day-2013/). His father, Martin Luther King, Sr. was a lifelong Republican and endorsed Nixon.

#3.1 mudbug on 2014-01-20 23:33 (Reply)

Doug Sterner is a great American. Not only is the book about stolen valor hugely important, the Military Hall of Valor site is a very reliable record of awards. I was in contact with Doug and able to supply the documentation for a DFC awarded in 1970 that was otherwise not noted on the web.

#4 MissyW on 2014-01-20 12:28 (Reply)

On this stolen valor tempest in a tea cup. Oh, I guess I tipped my hand about how I feel about that overblown emotion laden canard. Nevertheless, I may as well expound a bit. So, 600 some people got paid some 'benefit' money pretending to be POW's? Big frackin deal. It's not like the VA makes people rich or that those payments represent more than a very small fraction of one percent of the total fraud, waste and abuse at that agency. Simple solution, make sure the bureaucrats at the VA verify documentation. Which, by the way, they pretty much always do. Now move along and start bitching about texting and driving. Not satisfied yet? Good, I have more. The folks making stupid alarmist claims about false valor claims are charlatans. And those snake oil salesmen are selling books and making money on the gullibility of Americans. And if a bigger group of gullible people ever came along when the topic is about 'patriotic' stuff, I dare you to tell me about it. Do you really think that a person pretending to be a war hero detracts from the valor of real heroes? How can that be? Simple answer, it can't and it doesn't. Anyway, when I see veterans wearing partial uniforms and hats and ribbons and other bright and shiny things on patriotic occasions I don't worry much about it. If they really earned all of those awards or just polished a chair while in service doesn't concern me. If any among them is a fraud, I don't care. I have a few simple thoughts on the parade marchers. First, they are all out of uniform. Second, I hope they are as proud of their service as I am of mine, or maybe even a bit more, but not too much. Third, if any are frauds, I feel sorry for them. I feel sorry for them because they are too stupid to pretend to be something more useful and more difficult to pretend to be; like a doctor or lawyer. Which, come to think about it, may be an actual, real problem with actual, real consequences.

#5 W. C. Taqiyya on 2014-01-20 12:55 (Reply)

I need to correct an error in my previous comment. I said valor frauds were too stupid to pretend to be something useful like lawyers. CORRECTION: It would be an improvement to the so-called profession if valor frauds pretended to be lawyers. It would have to be. Thank you.

#6 W. C. Taqiyya on 2014-01-20 19:22 (Reply)

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Monday, January 20. 2014

Monday morning links