{"id":120421,"date":"2024-12-27T18:17:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T18:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/maga-backlash-as-elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-defend-visa-program-for-skilled-workers-live-updates-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2024-12-27T18:17:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T18:17:36","slug":"maga-backlash-as-elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-defend-visa-program-for-skilled-workers-live-updates-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/maga-backlash-as-elon-musk-vivek-ramaswamy-defend-visa-program-for-skilled-workers-live-updates-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGA backlash as Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy defend visa program for skilled workers: Live updates – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MAGA supporters clash with top Trump lieutenants as they laud the benefits of H-1B visa program for American companies
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Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump<\/a> are bashing two of his top lieutenants, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, after they both defended a visa program for skilled workers.
Ramaswamy, who will lead the outside commission known as the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Musk, blamed a number of 1990s sitcoms for emphasizing the wrong values.
\u201cA culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers,\u201d he wrote<\/a> in a post on X.
\u201cThere is a permanent shortage of excellent engineering talent,\u201d Musk wrote<\/a> on Wednesday on X. \u201cIt is the fundamental limiting factor in Silicon Valley.\u201d
The \u201cnumber of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low,\u201d he later added<\/a>. \u201cThink of this like a pro sports team: if you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be. That enables the whole TEAM to win.\u201d
That triggered pushback on social media.
\u201cNobody should come from another country taking American citizens\u2019 jobs,\u201d responded one user<\/a>, who said they worked in the internet technology field and had witnessed American workers lose status. \u201cThis needs more vetting as a policy prior to going ahead with it as it is not America Citizens First.\u201d
There are \u201cindications\u201d that Russia took down the Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, the White House has said.
\u201cWe have seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems,\u201d John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters, according to The Washington Post. <\/em><\/a>
He added that the evidence goes beyond the images shared online.
The investigations\u2019 preliminary findings revealed that the plane crashed \u201cdue to external physical and technical interference.\u201d
Azerbaijani Minister of Digital Development and Transport Rashad Nabiyev told his country\u2019s media, \u201cThis is evidenced by the appearance of the plane\u2019s wreckage on the ground and eyewitness testimony.\u201d
\u201cThe type of weapon used for the interference will be established by the investigation,\u201d Nabiyev said.
Taylor Cagnacci moved from California to Tennessee with hopes of starting a new chapter in a state that touts a low cost of living and natural beauty.
But she\u2019s infuriated by Tennessee\u2019s meager social services, which leave her and many other moms struggling in a state where abortion is banned with limited exceptions.
\u201cI was going to have my child no matter what, but for other women, that\u2019s kind of a crappy situation that they put you in,\u201d said Cagnacci, a 29-year-old Kingsport mom who relies on Medicaid<\/a> and a federally funded nutrition program. \u201cYou have to have your child. But where\u2019s the assistance afterward?\u201d
Read more:
Tennessee has nearly total abortion ban and a porous safety net for mothers and young children
Former Freedom Caucus chair Rep. Scott Perry has said that he wants to keep his \u201coptions open\u201d before committing to voting for Rep. Mike Johnson for speaker for another term in the House.
\u201cI think that Mike has done an admirable job under tough conditions, but I\u2019m going to keep my options open,\u201d Perry said during a Friday morning appearance on Fox Business. \u201cI want to have a conversation with Mike.\u201d
This comes after the current chair of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Harris, said Thursday that the GOP has to consider if the leadership in place is \u201cwhat we need.\u201d
He added that he\u2019s \u201cundecided\u201d on who should lead the Republicans in the coming year, according to Politico<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to make sure that we get the best person for the job under the circumstances,\u201d Perry added. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll tell you the one that might be able to make the difference is, quite honestly, President Trump. Whoever the president backs is likely to be the speaker, regardless.\u201d<\/p>\n

President-elect Donald Trump congratulated Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt on their engagement in a post on Truth Social.
\u201cGreat news about Sean and Ainsley. They are officially engaged to be married! There are no finer people than these, and there will be no finer couple. Congratulations to both – A deal made in HEAVEN!!!\u201d Trump wrote on Friday morning. <\/a>
Read more:
Hannity popped the question at their home church over the holiday, the couple announced
After nearly three years of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion<\/a> of Ukraine<\/a>, the future of the country\u2019s fight<\/a> against Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s forces is more uncertain than ever.
Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s sweeping victory in the US presidential race, off the back of promises to end the war<\/a> in eastern Europe in 24 hours, seemingly even if that means forcing Kyiv to cede territory to Russia, <\/a>seems to spell the end of the West\u2019s long-held policy of helping Ukraine defeat Vladimir Putin\u2019s forces entirely. Negotiations with Russia, after years of silence<\/a>, are back on the agenda.
This is causing significant stress in Ukraine\u2019s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. As Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian opposition leader, puts it: \u201cThe world needs to understand how crucial it is not to end the war on any idea of negotiating with Russia.\u201d
Read more:
Ukraine is facing an array of issues heading into 2025, underscored by the anxiety of what the re-election of Donald Trump could mean for the country\u2019s future. Tom Watling speaks to politicians, military experts and aid workers to discover what next year could look like
Elon Musk<\/a> started 2024 as the controversial owner of a social media platform, but ends it as one of the most powerful individuals in the world and a key adviser to the incoming US president.
The debate around the billionaire has moved on dramatically over the last 12 months, from whether the way he was running X, formerly Twitter, would be viable or sustainable in the long-term, to whether Mr Musk\u2019s own influence over global politics through his wealth and social media megaphone made him a threat to democracy.
The biggest story of 2024 around Mr Musk has been has dramatic swing behind the US President-elect Donald Trump<\/a> ahead of the November election and how Mr Musk effectively reconfigured X into a vehicle to support the Republican candidate, alongside his personal fortune.
Read more:
The billionaire\u2019s control of X, formerly Twitter, has helped him expand his impact offline over the last 12 months.
Russia<\/a> has warned it \u201crules out nothing\u201d regarding nuclear testing in response to Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s \u201cradical\u201d position on the issue during his first term as president.<\/a>
Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees arms control, warned the United States that its nuclear arsenal is intended to \u201csober up\u201d countries on the \u201cbrink of direct armed conflict\u201d with Russia.<\/a>
Russia, the US and China are all undertaking major modernisations of their nuclear weapons just as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) of the Cold War era between the Soviet Union and the US is starting to fall apart.
Read more:
Ministers warned the US that its nuclear arsenal is intended to \u2018sober up\u2019 countries on the \u2018brink of direct armed conflict\u2019 with Russia
Elon Musk<\/a>, the world\u2019s richest man and President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a>\u201cfirst buddy,\u201d<\/a> revealed on Christmas night that he was using the medication Mounjaro for weight loss while dubbing himself \u201cOzempic Santa\u201d in a holiday-themed social media post.
The revelation also comes just a couple of weeks after he clashed with Trump\u2019s designated Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a> over the widespread use and long-term benefits of GLP-1 inhibitors in battling obesity.
Posting to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Musk shared an image of himself dressed as Santa Claus next to a Christmas tree alongside the caption \u201cOzempic Santa.\u201d The post quickly went viral, gathering over 200,000 likes and 26 million views.
\u201cLike Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!\u201d Musk added in a separate tweet.
Read more:
The world\u2019s richest man has clashed with incoming Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the role weight-loss medications should play in making Americans healthier and thinner.
The Trump administration is planning to jail immigrant families together in detention centers before they are removed from the country.
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need to construct family facilities,\u201d Tom Homan told The Washington Post<\/em> in a recent interview. \u201cHow many beds we\u2019re going to need will depend on what the data says.\u201d
Trump and Homan have repeatedly said that even U.S. citizen children of non-citizen parents are expected to be deported along with their families.
\u201cHere\u2019s the issue,\u201d Homan told The Post.<\/em> \u201cYou knew you were in the country illegally and chose to have a child. So you put your family in that position.\u201d
Tom Homan says the administration will construct \u2018family facilities\u2019 for mass deportation plans, including removing citizen children with undocumented parents <\/p>\n

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