Pun Salad

Bryan Caplan writes E(X)>0: An Open Letter to Elon. He contrasts two Elon tweets: one, from 2023, says "we should greatly increase legal immigration of anyone who is hard-working, honest, and loves America".

The second, from 2024, says "Immigration should be limited to those who will obviously contribute far more than they take."

Bryan, being an open-borders guy, prefers the former take. He has a 15-point numbered list in response, and here are just the first two items:

Bryan's post is a real tour de force and I strongly recommend it. (I recommend reading everything I link to here, but this is above average.) It includes a couple pages from Open Borders, the comic book he did with Zach Weinersmith.

Also of note:

• I'm in favor of more imaginary strikes. Sean Higgins tells the tale of The Teamsters’ Imaginary Strike against Amazon.

  There was a historic strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters workers at Amazon facilities over the Christmas holiday, yet it didn’t appear to slow Amazon’s deliveries, and actual Amazon employees on picket lines were few.

  That is to say, the strike was more of a publicity stunt by the Teamsters than an actual grassroots revolt by Amazon workers. These holiday season strikes are an old public relations ploy by unions, who are good at creating a narrative and selling it to reporters.

  The unions know that the holidays are a tough period for news outlets. Not a lot is happening, because most people are on vacation. Many of the outlets’ own reporters are angling for time off. A news story that seems serious, like a labor strike, and that comes with all of the details provided by the union’s media team is something news outlets will usually jump on. Following up on the union’s claims can wait until after the holidays . . . by which time the strike is usually over and everyone has moved on.

  The Teamsters announced, just prior to Christmas, the “largest-ever strike against Amazon.” Stories in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and CNN, among others, reported on the walkout. “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” declared Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien. Having gotten the headlines they wanted, the Teamsters officially called it off on Christmas Eve.

  'Twas fake news. Even my sainted Wall Street Journal was taken in, their headline reading "Thousands of Amazon Workers Strike During Pre-Christmas Rush". Article written by Gareth Vipers, whose author page says is based in London. England, I presume.

• It's a full-time job. Wilfred Reilly is visited by The Three Holiday Ghosts of Taking Responsibility.

  Now that we Westerners know we mostly do have free will, no one seems to like using it. A few days before New Year’s Eve, writing for a — nay, the — conservative magazine, this strikes me as a point worth discussing.

  That "free will" link goes to Scientific American. Which I would be a lot happier about (since I'm a free will fanboy) if Scientific American hadn't befouled itself by publishing a lot of woke claptrap recently. Ah well.

  But Wilfred's three ghosts are exemplified by recent newsmakers: Lily Phillips, Jordan Neely, and…

  On X and Facebook, we are currently seeing a broader example of the same trend of personal responsibility denial — and one which may hit closer to home for tax-paying readers of this article. Monorail salesman, likely genius, and of-late GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy just began a major conversation and attracted an apple-throwing mob by — while defending most recipients of H-1B foreign “talent” visas — pointing out that white and black American youth may not be the hardest working imaginable occupants of the classroom.

  Quoth he: “The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born & first-generation engineers over ‘native’ Americans isn’t because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy & wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture. Tough questions demand tough answers & if we’re really serious about fixing the problem, we have to confront the TRUTH: Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long That doesn’t start in college, it starts YOUNG.”

  As you might imagine, that plain-talking spurred a tsunami of Vivek-hatred. It's what happens when you speak some unvarnished truth.

  ("Monorail salesman"? Probably explained here, a post which includes a video of the funniest one minute and fifty-six seconds of The Simpsons.)

  But Wilfred's bottom line is:

  As New Year’s Day approaches, it’s always worth remembering that the person responsible for probably 95 percent of what you do is you. Let us all work on ourselves, each other, and the country.

  Amen.