News Burst: August 02, 2017 (Patreon)

How’s life? Good, I hope. It’s time for one of your twice-weekly News Bursts!

I just want to say how heartened I am by the response to the new goal I’ve placed here on Patreon to perhaps launch a ~20 minute podcast a week, if we can sustain 5,000+ subs from month to month. We’re really close to our goal already, and if we can sustain that number into September, I will produce four podcasts, and so on and so forth. So, that’s ~80 minutes worth of new content to look forward to... maybe. =)

Also, as I posted on Twitter, the 9/11 episode with my dad (which is likely to be two episodes) is all but confirmed. We’ll be recording in early September here in LA. =)

And now, for the news.

Chaos in Venezuela: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKBN1AI1WT

My Take: There’s been surprisingly heavy demand for me to cover this story -- and, really, the absolute collapse of Venezuela generally -- but I honestly don’t have a strong enough foundation in the country’s history and politics to really deliver something authoritative. At least, not yet. But I'm learning more, and I’ve been watching with great interest, finding myself increasingly more intrigued by what’s going on over there. Not to sound callous, but it’s not everyday that you get to witness the collapse of a country from an almost anthropological point of view.

The story above is really just the most recent story in a string of stories; the reality is that the socialist government of Venezuela, which many in the west once pointed to as something worth learning from and emulating, has completely disintegrated. Opposition leaders are being jailed, the federal constitution is being re-written, and, as you can see, the vote tallies cannot be trusted or relied upon. When it comes to Venezuela right now, everything is all fucked up.

Of course, it’s the Venezuelan economy that’s really tanking, largely because so much of its success was predicated upon nationalized oil exports. The economy simply wasn’t diversified. Now that oil prices are in the gutter -- and have been for a while, compared to recent norms -- Venezuela cannot sustain its socialist, cradle-to-grave government. Add to that inflation, add to that crime, and add to that inherent political instability, and well… you have a complete mess. I wanted to lead with this story today for one reason, really: To tell you to keep an eye on this mess.

Trump’s Approval Numbers Fall Again: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_aug2

My Take: I know that I just did an episode on Donald Trump, and I also recognize that Trump fatigue is starting to set-in everywhere (including with me), but the last two stories here today are going to revolve around him, anyway. Hey, I don’t make the news! The story here is that Trump’s approval ratings -- already in the gutter -- are somehow, some way finding a way to go even lower. Rasmussen, which is actually a pollster with a reputation of leaning somewhat to the right, is tracking Trump at 38%. Shockingly, this is lower than Rasmussen ever tracked Barack Obama in his eight years as president.

In a way, it’s easy to not take approval ratings too seriously. They’re fickle, and they can actually be gamed pretty easily by savvy administrations that have historically timed announcements and rollouts around boosting those very numbers. Remember: Politics is an optical game, first and foremost. A strong jobs report can send numbers higher, for instance, while a terrorist attack could send them lower. These numbers swing up and down constantly. But for Trump, the numbers seem to just sink, every single time. In just over half a year, Trump is officially more unpopular than Obama ever was. That’s pretty mind-boggling.

And what makes this entire ordeal even more interesting is that there are certain metrics that should be helping Trump, but aren’t. The economy is doing well. Jobs are being added. The market is roaring. Illegal immigration numbers are down. Trump is failing on a lot of fronts, but not every front is a loss for him. But it doesn’t matter. This reinforces what I said in Monday’s video, that, ultimately, Trump isn’t going to be able to turn this thing around. Indeed, if and when things get worse with the economy in particular, he’s going to start to eat shit.

Legal Immigration Changes May Be Coming: https://www.apnews.com/25a55faa3c254c8197116115fb991731/Trump-backs-GOP-plan-to-push-legal-immigration-changes

My Take: I promised you two Trump-related stories, and by God, you’re going to get two Trump-related stories. The gist is this: Senator David Perdue and Senator Tom Cotton are pushing legislation that will change the dynamics of our legal immigration system. Right now, America’s legal immigration system is predicated largely on two things: A person’s connections to America, and a person’s patience. If a prospective immigrant has, say, a brother who is here legally, and he waits a few years, going through all of the hoops, he can probably get in. If a person expects to get in quickly, however, especially with no firm connections to America, the situation becomes more difficult.

Still, America has, in recent years, let in around a million legal immigrants per year, which is a gigantic number. This legislation aims at keeping numbers high (though not that high), but basing the system on the merit of a person, and on the skills that person may have. In other words, not just anyone can come here under this new legislation. Spots will be reserved primarily for those that have something tangible to add to our economy and our culture, whether that’s a skill, or a degree, or a business, or whatever else. According to statistics, as it stands now, only 1 in 15 immigrants to the US come toting actual skills we need. The other 14 are coming here for other reasons.

I need to read more about it, but this sounds perfectly reasonable to me at first blush. The United States is too often looked at as a nation that has to live one way, while everyone else lives another. No other country lets in more people than the US. No other country has a vibrant immigrant community spanning back hundreds of years. But we need to put controls on things so that people are adding something, and not just coming to come. With our social network already crumbling under its own weight, with so many Americans without a job, and with a ton of other problems that we have to deal with here, it makes perfect sense to me that we’d let in fewer people, and only the best and brightest at that. The opposition to this, in particular, makes little sense to me.