Politics

[jeanes]

I really love the Babylon Bee's satire, but the left seems to keep taking it as a challenge.

 

[Hunt anything]

Oscar you make real points. Many don't want to hear that we need immigrants to do certain jobs, but we do. Are there citizens who can do that work? Yes there are, but not enough of them. No where close. It has always been this way. The Chinese and Irish built the railroads. That's one example. It is not just the type of work but also the reliability of the workers. Let me tell you when you have cows to be milked, it just doesn't work to have people not show up for work on time!

As for the Orchard farm you speak of, I'm sure they are using H2A workers. We use them (South Africans mostly) to help with field work, mostly truck driving but also tractors. However that is a seasonal work visa effectively good for 9 months. The rules for that visa are that the jobs be seasonal. If that roofing company you speak of does roofing year round, they do not qualify. And any year around farm job does not either. We can use H1B visas to get veterinarians and herdsman (professionals). But there is no good available option for full time year round positions other than work permits such as Reagan issued.

The country desperately needs reformed immigration laws. Something as simple as making a modified H2A visa for year around positions doing basic labor woukd suffice. However every time something gets offered up in congress, it immediately becomes a hot potato and muddled up with both parties differing agendas. It is politics at it's worst.

The H2A visa is a wonderful thing, we could not operate our farm as efficiently as we do now without them. We were told that our guys could apply for a 30 day extension, we haven’t had any of them apply yet but a neighboring farm has and said it wasn’t too difficult. I’ll be losing my guys next week and it’s always a sad time on the farm as they have almost become family.

 

[Brent in Az]

The first billion dollar campaign......and she lost.

I guess those Ukrainian kickbacks didn't help.

 

[ActionBob]

I really do not understand why this is such a hot potato for both side of the aisle. I know from the right it might be xenophobia coupled with not wanting ANY immigrants as seen by some posts here and the media. The left wants open borders, but is resistant to qualified and vetted immigrants, maybe they only want immigrants that would be dependent on government largesse and hence vote Democrat in the future once they get citizenship?

Either way, it needs to be fixed.

The closest it came to resolution was under Bush the Younger right before 9-11.... but of course it quickly was forgotten.

I'm convinced Trump would have happily signed such a law as long as border security was addressed prior or consecutively. But the Left was against the wall so it didn't happen.

Issues like this have been unsolvable because they make such great political fodder. It feeds the beasts on both sides. Solve it and the populous happily moves on leaving the politicians with nothing to feed on.

I dearly hope we get a Republican House and they do something over the next two years!

 

[ActionBob]

The H2A visa is a wonderful thing, we could not operate our farm as efficiently as we do now without them. We were told that our guys could apply for a 30 day extension, we haven’t had any of them apply yet but a neighboring farm has and said it wasn’t too difficult. I’ll be losing my guys next week and it’s always a sad time on the farm as they have almost become family.

I'm told the extension can bite you in the rear. Theoretically it should be all good. But if you want the same guys back it takes the full 3 months for the paperwork to be processed. So get a 30 day extension but you may get a 30 day delay next spring.... I don't work directly with that and haven't quizzed the young Partner who does that for us so perhaps I'm mistaken but this is what I've heard.

Our challenge is we have few jobs that qualify. Most are year around.

 

[Saul]

I genuinely do not understand anyone wanting the party in power to fail.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

I genuinely do not understand anyone wanting the party in power to fail.

Depends on what they’re failing at I suppose. And the ramifications of that failure. Both long and short term.

 

[Wheels]

Not sure why some polls get quoted so often.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1854548395853046092

 

[Rocked and Loaded]

Pretty wild. TikTok may hurt the left more than it helps.

 

[Brent in Az]

Swamp getting a little nervous?

 

[Tanks]

In line with Harris not doing better than Biden in 2020 on a state-by-state basis. I was surprised by the swing in solid blue states. Wonder how much of a difference in the House this will make.

 

[Wheels]

In line with Harris not doing better than Biden in 2020 on a state-by-state basis. I was surprised by the swing in solid blue states. Wonder how much of a difference in the House this will make.

View attachment 645838

Wonder what the talking heads in Sacramento are saying about this today. Good to see Orange County change back. Not sure if the votes are in yet but do you know if Orange County has returned to more Republican Congressmen than Democrats this election.

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

2016: A New Hope

2020: Empire Strikes back

2024: Return of the Jedi

Not mine lol

 

[Brent in Az]

2016: A New Hope

2020: Empire Strikes back

2024: Return of the Jedi

Not mine lol

Perfect analogy

 

[Wheels]

Don’t get me started. Ted Stevens was convicted because the US attorneys hid exonerating evidence. He was cleared, posthumously, and the attorneys kept their jobs, albeit with discipline. That illegal fiasco cost us the senate.

+1

The Obama DOJ had to get rid of Stevens to get Obamacare passed is the probable reason for the prosecution. If I recall, Stevens democrat replacement ended the filibuster giving us Obamacare.

 

[Wheels]

The first billion dollar campaign......and she lost.

I guess those Ukrainian kickbacks didn't help.

Plus from what I have read her campaign is 20+ million in the hole. Good luck getting donors to fund her now.

 

[DillonG]

Swamp getting a little nervous?

View attachment 645837

Which Dem group did his daughter work for?

 

[deewayne2003]

Absolutely agree. Before Europe went collectively and insanely woke, almost all EU states had very effective and efficient guest worker programs. There are plenty of models for the US to review.

I would look to Australia - If I would have known about some of the guest worker programs that are available I would have taken advantage of them.

One such program allows people under the age of 30 and without criminal convictions to enter the country and be permitted to do agricultural work. This allows young people from all over the world to visit and travel Australia while earning good wages.

This allows young people from around the world to travel and see a large country while earning enough money to sustain themselves while doing so; and in turn those workers will spend the lions share of their money in the country where they earned it..... instead of allowing them to send it out of country and thus leave our economy like we do in the USA.

@Tanks

It's not about xenophobia, its about exploitation plane and simple...... on both ends.

First -If you let people in your country and give them money, housing, jobs and eventually citizenship - then those people will vote for you and most likely continue to vote for your party for generations to come.... Ballot exploitation.

Second - When you have an unregulated illegal labor market you have accomplished 2 things....

1. You have destroyed the upward mobility/ bargaining power of your domestic labor market and if anyone complains then management will say "If you don't like it go work somewhere else!" or

"Well we pay what the market is"..... Yeah in a market held back by a glut of cheap desperate people living in conditions reminiscent of their original 3rd world home.

2. When you have true illegal labor... you can make them work in conditions that are simply unacceptable; from both a safety standpoint and general working conditions. Being born and raised in Texas I can tell some stories about construction sites that would set your hair on fire. Not to mention the attitudes of some employers in a "right to work state".

Examples of things I've heard from company owners....

"Well these spanish boys don't mind the hours!".... yeah because they have chemical assistance to help keep alert; how would you like to be checking grade on the ground while you watch a D8 operator snort a line of powder off the dash board of the dozer?

"Well these spanish boys don't mind driving 80miles round trip to jobsites without pay".... Yeah because they are running their personal vehicles on red diesel stolen from your jobsite tanks.

"Well these spanish boys DECLINE insurance so we save money by hiring them!"...

Yeah because when their girlfriends water breaks, they take her to the emergency room at Parkland hospital in Dallas and show them the same fake ID they get hired with and leave with ZERO financial obligation.
FYI - Parkland hospital in Dallas is the busiest birthing center in the country and 50% of babies born there are to illegal parents.

 

[Hunt anything]

I would look to Australia - If I would have known about some of the guest worker programs that are available I would have taken advantage of them.

One such program allows people under the age of 30 and without criminal convictions to enter the country and be permitted to do agricultural work. This allows young people from all over the world to visit and travel Australia while earning good wages.

This allows young people from around the world to travel and see a large country while earning enough money to sustain themselves while doing so; and in turn those workers will spend the lions share of their money in the country where they earned it..... instead of allowing them to send it out of country and thus leave our economy like we do in the USA.

I’ve never heard of that program but it sounds like a good one.

I think we should levy a 15% tax/fee on money being sent to Mexico, earmark it to the border wall and then the Mexicans will pay for the wall.

 

[Brent in Az]

Which Dem group did his daughter work for?

I dont know?