Welcome back, folks! Whether you celebrated Christmas or are still enjoying the last few nights of Hanukkah, I hope everyone has had a blessed holiday with family and friends.

Today, we’re going to catch you up on the biggest stories of the past few days, including a beef in the MAGA universe between the Tech Right and America First Right.

• 💔 Jimmy Carter, 39th President, dies at 100

• ✝️ Bible sales are up 22% in 2024

• 🛍️ Holiday season retail sales rose 3.8% in 2024

• ✅ 71% of investors: Trump will be great for economy & markets

• 🚘️ Ford, GM, and Toyota each donated $1M to Trump inauguration

^{Sources: The National Pulse, CBN, Axios, CNBC, NY Post}

H-1Beef: America First and Tech Right split on Visas

A heated debate over H-1B visas erupted during the holiday break, pitting some of President-elect Donald Trump’s staunchest America First allies against the newly-aligned "Tech Right," led by Elon Musk.

What are H-1B visas? They were created under the Immigration Act of 1990 to allow U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in specialized fields like tech and engineering.

• They’re controversial because many companies abuse them to pay foreigners below market value, which displaces American workers and drives down wages.

• Back up: Last year Apple agreed to pay $25 million to settle to the U.S. Department of Justice after it was caught discriminating against American workers in its hiring and favoring foreign workers.

The debate began when Trump appointed Sriram Krishnan as an AI advisor after some conservatives pointed out his past support for removing caps on green cards. It boiled over on Christmas day when Elon Musk and other advisors to Trump from big tech voiced their support for increasing the use of H-1B visas.

• Musk, responding to a post about a need for 160,000 new engineers by 2032 in the semiconductor industry, wrote: "The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low."

• Vivek Ramaswamy piled on the following day in a long post, which said, in part: "A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers."

• Musk doubled down a day later, writing: “Take a big step back and F*CK YOURSELF in the face. I will go to war on this issue the likes of which you cannot possibly comprehend.”

MAGA disagrees: A wide-ranging coalition of America-first political figures reacted to the Tech Right’s comments on H-1B and American culture.

• Ann Coulter wrote: “American workers can leave a company. Imported H1B workers can’t. Tech wants indentured servants, not ‘high-skilled’ workers."

• Nicole Shanahan [RFK Jr.’s running mate & Silicon Valley CEO] wrote: “I take issue with some of the discourse I've read online today suggesting ‘lazy American culture’ is the main driver for why we need to continue the H-1B program. Let's be real: tech companies getting massive breaks on cheap labor at the expense of the American way of life is predatory. Blaming our culture for why American STEM grads won’t take underpaying jobs is ridiculous and insulting.”

• Mike Cernovich responded directly to Vivek’s characterization of American culture, writing: “Underlying your post is that we were all living in squalor until being rescued by H-1B’s. Then why did everyone want to come here?"

• Steve Bannon responded to Musk’s December 27 post, writing: “Someone please notify ‘Child Protective Services’— need to do a ‘wellness check’ on this toddler”

Who uses H-1B? Some of the U.S. companies that use the visas include Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple.

Tech Right course corrects: After days of conservatives highlighting government data that shows how tech companies have been abusing H-1B’s, Musk and the Tech Right backtracked.

• Musk called for "raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically. I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform."

• David Sachs, the venture capitalist who will serve as Trump's AI and Crypto Czar, followed up on Musk's post, writing: "This is not to say there aren’t still differences but less than it first appeared. Time to move forward as one team.”

Real talk from G: We welcome all newcomers to the new Republican party coalition that Trump put together. But newsomers have to recognize that America is the operative word in the phrase ‘Make America Great Again.’ Improving the lives of the men and women who work, bleed, love, and sacrifice for this country is the mission, above all else.

[Source: Politico, The National Pulse, Washington Examiner]

📝 A federal judge blocked Joe Biden from selling off any more border wall material before President-elect Trump is sworn in. Read more.

🦅 Joe Biden signed a bill officially designating the bald eagle as the national bird of the U.S. Read more.

🐦️ Bird flu samples collected from a severely ill patient show signs of mutations that may make the virus more transmissible to humans. Read more.

📱 President-elect Trump asked the Supreme Court to block a Biden law requiring that TikTok either be sold or shut down. Read more.

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨 Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Ainsley Earhardt announced they are engaged. Read more.

🏈 Netflix paid Beyonce $20 million for her 13-minute NFL halftime performance on Christmas Day. Read more.

🎄 The iconic house featured in the 1990 Christmas classic 'Home Alone' is being sold for $5 million. Read more.

🚇️ The illegal alien who torched a sleeping woman on an NYC subway was officially indicted for murder and arson. Read more.

✈️ Russian President Putin apologized to Azerbaijan for a plane downing that killed 38 but avoided admitting responsibility for the incident. Read more.

🤡 Joe Biden regrets pulling out of the 2024 race and endorsing Kamala Harris, according to White House sources. Read more.

📝 Imane Khelif — the 'female' Olympic boxer who tested positive for male DNA — came in third place for Female Athlete of the Year, behind only Caitlin Clark and Simone Biles. Read more.

🏀 The home of Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic was burglarized — the latest in a series of high-profile athlete robberies. Read more.

🥚 The FDA recalled Costco's pasture-raised organic eggs due to a high risk of salmonella exposure. Read more. Details on affected products are in the article. I have these eggs in my fridge and had to check, too.

🎥 Leaked video shows China's 6th-generation stealth fighter jet. Watch.

📸 Photos show then-VP Joe Biden meeting Hunter's Chinese business partners in 2013, something he has vehemently denied. See it.

🎥 China launched the world's largest amphibious warship. Watch.

🎥 Jet carrying 181 people crashes during landing in South Korea. Watch. Just two survive.

🎥 In-N-Out owner says she has to close her Oakland, California location due to crime. Watch.

🎥 Eco-terrorists vandalize a Christmas tree in Germany because cLiMaTe cHaNge 🥴 . Watch.

🎥 Pizza delivery driver stabbed a pregnant woman over a $2 tip. Watch.

🎥 Viral video shows a customer attacking Chipotle employees behind the counter. Watch.

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