CHEERS!

Entertainment 10 Minutes

Today is Ted Danson’s birthday!  I found an article on Mental Floss detailing fun facts about CHEERS.

FROM MENTAL FLOSS:

CHEERS ALMOST DIDN’T MAKE IT THROUGH SEASON ONE.

Like many of television’s greatest success stories (e.g. Seinfeld), Cheers was not an immediate hit. It premiered on September 30, 1982 to dismal ratings—77th place out of 100 shows that week, according to Nielsen. It was NBC’s entertainment president at the time, Brandon Tartikoff, who saved the show from cancellation during its first season.

THE BULL & FINCH PUB, ON WHICH CHEERS IS MODELED, IS NOW CALLED CHEERS

Talk about life imitating art. After it was decided that the series would be set in a bar instead of a hotel, co-creators Glen and Les Charles decided the locale should be moved to New England. “Boston was chosen partially because only five short-lived television shows claimed the city and the East Coast pubs were real neighborhood hangouts,” wrote Dennis A. Bjorklund in his book, Toasting Cheers.

As the show’s popularity rose, it didn’t take long for word to spread that the Beacon Hill tavern was the “real” Cheers (though only the exterior shots were filmed there), turning the neighborhood hangout into a tourist attraction. To satisfy the masses, a second location—this one actually called “Cheers” and featuring a replica of the bar viewers were used to—was opened in nearby Faneuil Hall in 2001. One year later, the Bull & Finch officially changed its name to Cheers.

SAM MALONE WAS ORIGINALLY A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER.

In the script’s earliest incarnations, Sam Malone was an ex-football player, which made sense considering that Fred Dryer—the former NFL defensive end who would go on to star in Hunter—was a top choice to play the role of Sam (opposite Julia Duffy as Diane; William Devane was also a strong contender). Ultimately, it was the chemistry between Ted Danson and Shelley Long that led to them getting the gigs. Once the casting was finalized, the creators swapped out football for baseball, based on Danson’s body type.

TED DANSON ATTENDED BARTENDING SCHOOL.

Danson spent two weeks at a bartending school in Burbank, California as part of his training to play Sam.

NORM AND CLIFF WEREN’T INTENDED TO BE REGULAR CHARACTERS.

Both George Wendt and John Ratzenberger auditioned for the same role in the pilot, a minor character named George who had a single line: “Beer!” The character’s name was changed to Norm Peterson when Wendt was cast. But Ratzenberger wasn’t about to give up so easily. “As I was leaving the office after the audition, I turned around and asked them, ‘Do you have a bar know-it-all?,’” the Bridgeport, Connecticut-born Ratzenberger recalled to Ability Magazine. “None of the creators was from New England. They were all Hollywood-centered. And I said, ‘Well, every local bar in New England has got a know-it-all—someone who pretends to have the knowledge of all mankind between his ears and is not shy about sharing it.’” Thus, Cliff Clavin was born.

NORM PETERSON IS BASED ON A REAL GUY.

In 2012, co-creator Les Charles told GQ that Norm was based on a real person. “I worked at a bar after college, and we had a guy who came in every night. He wasn’t named Norm, was always going to have just one beer, and then he’d say, ‘Maybe I’ll just have one more.’ We had to help him out of the bar every night. His wife would call, and he’d always say, ‘Tell her I’m not here.’”

NORM’S NEVER-SEEN WIFE VERA IS VOICED BY GEORGE WENDT’S REAL WIFE.

Though she’s only credited in one episode, George Wendt’s wife, Bernadette Birkett, provided the voice for Norm’s wife, Vera. Birkett did make one appearance on the show—as a love interest of Cliff’s—in season three.

JOHN RATZENBERGER IMPROVISED MANY OF CLIFF’S FUN FACTS.

Many of the random (and untrue) facts that Cliff Clavin offers up were ad libbed by Ratzenberger. “After a couple of years on the show they realized they could trust me not to mess it up,” Ratzenberger told Deseret News in 1993. “So little by little they’ve let me just sort of run off. Because I know when to stop … It’s easy to improvise comedy. It really is. But the art is knowing when to shut up and let other people talk. That’s a hard thing to learn.”

SOME OF THE DIALOGUE CAME FROM REAL BAR CONVERSATIONS.

In order to nail the bar talk aspect of the series, the creators regularly visited bars in the Los Angeles area to eavesdrop on patrons’ conversations. In the series premiere, there’s an argument about the sweatiest movie ever made, which was lifted from one of these overheard conversations.

CHEERS WASN’T AFRAID TO TACKLE SOCIAL ISSUES.

Cheers’ writers never shied away from taboo topics such as alcoholism or homosexuality, though they always had a sense of humor about them. The season one episode “The Boys in the Bar,” in which one of Sam’s former teammates announces that he is gay, earned writers Ken Levine and David Isaacs a GLAAD Media Award.

PLANS FOR AN HIV SCARE FOR SAM HAD TO BE ABANDONED.

In 1988, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, which meant that several planned episodes of the series were never filmed. Among them was a season six cliffhanger in which Sam learns that a former girlfriend is HIV positive.

RHEA WASN’T THE ONLY PERLMAN ON THE SET.

Rhea Perlman wasn’t the only member of her family to grace the set of Cheers. Her younger sister, Heide, produced more than two dozen episodes between 1985 and 1986 and wrote several episodes throughout the show’s run. Perlman’s father, Phil, played one of the bar regulars (named Phil).

JAY THOMAS MURDERED EDDIE LEBEC.

When character actor Jay Thomas wasn’t portraying Carla’s Bruin-turned-ice-show-performer husband Eddie LeBec, he was the host of a popular morning radio show in Los Angeles. Which is exactly what led to his character being killed off rather prematurely by way of Zamboni. “A few episodes of recurring bliss and then one day on Jay’s radio show, a caller asked him what it was like to be on Cheers,” recounted writer Ken Levine. “He said something to the effect of, ‘It’s brutal. I have to kiss Rhea Perlman.’ Well, guess who happened to be listening … Jay Thomas was never seen on Cheers again.”

A CHEERS MINI-EPISODE WAS PRODUCED FOR THE U.S. TREASURY.

Early in Cheers’ run, its creators were contracted by the U.S. Treasury to create a special mini-episode to promote the purchase of U.S. savings bonds. Titled “Uncle Sam Malone,” the episode never aired on television nor is it included on any of the DVDs; it was intended to be screened for promotional purposes at savings bond drives only.

A “LOST” SCENE ALSO AIRED AS PART OF THE 1983 SUPER BOWL XVII PREGAME SHOW.

Back in early 1983, writers Ken Levine and David Isaacs wrote a special one-off scene to air before Super Bowl XVII in which Sam, Diane, Carla, Norm, Cliff, and NBC announcer Pete Axthelm bet on who will win the big game. “They ran it just before game time and it was seen by 80,000,000 people,” Levine recalled of the spot on his blog. “Nothing we’ve ever written before or since has been seen by that many eyeballs at one time. But the scene was never repeated. It never appeared on any DVDs. It just disappeared.” (Until now: You can watch it at the link above.)

TED DANSON WORE A HAIRPIECE TO PLAY HAIR-OBSESSED SAM

A fact that became apparent when he accepted the Emmy—sans hairpiece—in 1990. In the 1993 episode “It’s Lonely on the Top,” Sam shares his follicular challenge with Carla.

VIEWERS FREQUENTLY COMPLAINED ABOUT THE VOLUME OF THE LAUGH TRACK, EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS NO LAUGH TRACK.

In 1983, a quick disclaimer—spoken by one of the regular cast members—was added to the beginning of each episode: “Cheers was filmed before a live studio audience.” This was a direct response to viewer complaints that the “laugh track” was too loud.

THE PART OF FRASIER WAS WRITTEN FOR JOHN LITHGOW.

After recent roles in All That Jazz, Blow Out, and The World According to Garp (for which he received his first of two consecutive Oscar nominations), Lithgow was not interested in working on the small screen. “I just said, ‘No,’” Lithgow recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. “I barely even remembered that … It was like swatting away a fly … I just wasn’t going to do a series.”

KELSEY GRAMMER PLAYED FRASIER CRANE FOR 20 YEARS.

Grammer made his Cheers debut in the third season premiere in 1984. Though he was intended to be a short-lived character, Crane’s popularity with audiences led to him becoming a series regular. Four months after Cheers ended in May of 1993, Frasier made its debut (on the redesigned Cheers stage, no less) and ran for its own 11 seasons. Grammer’s two-decade run as the pretentious psychiatrist is a record-breaking one for an American comedy actor.

TONY SOPRANO’S MOM PLAYED FRASIER’S MOM, TOO.

Nancy Marchand’s character threatened to kill Diane. The role of Frasier’s mom was played by Tom Hanks’s wife Rita Wilson in a 2001 Frasier flashback.

KIRSTIE ALLEY IS THE ONLY MAIN CHARACTER WHO DIDN’T MAKE A GUEST APPEARANCE ON FRASIER.

Throughout Frasier’s 11-season run, Kirstie Alley was the only one of Cheers’ main actors to not make an appearance on the popular spinoff, possibly because the psychiatric profession conflicts with her beliefs as a Scientologist. “Kirstie once said … she’d never do a show about a psychiatrist,” Kelsey Grammer told Entertainment Weekly in 2002.

FRASIER’S DAD WAS MAGICALLY RESURRECTED FOR THE SPINOFF.

When Frasier talked about his family on Cheers, he noted that his father—also a well-respected psychiatrist—had passed away. Yet his ex-cop dad, played by John Mahoney, is a main character in Frasier. Incidentally, Mahoney made a one-off appearance in Cheers’ eleventh season, as a fast-talking jingle writer named Sy Flembeck:

NORM’S FIRST NAME IS HILLARY.

His full name is Hillary Norman Peterson.

THAT WOODY PLAYED WOODY WAS A TOTAL COINCIDENCE.

Though many of the non-regular bar patrons’ real names were used in filming, that Woody Harrelson ended up playing Woody Boyd is by sheer coincidence. The character’s name was written into the script long before any actors had auditioned for the role.

NORM DRANK “NEAR BEER.”

The bar on the set may have been fully functional, but that doesn’t mean the cast got to spend the day throwing back cold ones. Norm may have had it the worst. As the bar’s resident lush, he’s rarely seen without a sudsy glass of beer in his hand. But what’s really in that glass is “near beer,” a weakened strain of ale mixed with a bit of salt to keep a perfect head on the glass at all times. Which Wendt unfortunately had to consume on more than one occasion.

THE SHOW HELPED PROMOTE THE IDEA OF A DESIGNATED DRIVER.

It was important to the producers of Cheers that no tipsy bar patron ever drove him or herself home, so there are frequent references to calling cabs and designated drivers. The Harvard Alcohol Project had a hand in spreading this message.

SAM AND DIANE DID GET MARRIED AT THE END OF SEASON FIVE.

Because Cheers was filmed in front of a live studio audience, the producers had to occasionally trick the audience so that show developments weren’t leaked. In order to keep Shelley Long’s departure from the series a secret, the live audience saw Sam and Diane get married at the end of season five. The real ending—which sees Diane leaving for six months to finish her book, only to return for a guest appearance in the final season—was filmed on a closed set.

CHEERS HABLA ESPAÑOL.

In September 2011, a Spanish version of the series—also called Cheers—made its debut. It starred Alberto San Juan as a former soccer player turned Irish pub owner and ran for just one season.

THE END OF THE SHOW IS ALL TED DANSON’S FAULT.

Though understandably so. When Danson announced that he’d be leaving the series at the end of the 1992-1993 season, producers decided that Woody could take over the bar. But Woody Harrelson wasn’t interested in continuing the show without Danson, and so its series finale was set.

THE CAST AND CREW GOT REALLY, REALLY DRUNK FOR THEIR SENDOFF.

NBC made a major event of the series finale, with cast and crew celebrating at Boston’s Bull & Finch Pub, where thousands of fans gathered outside to watch the show on two Jumbotrons. Then the drinks started flowing … and flowing … and flowing. “The show ended at eleven,” Ken Levine wrote in a 2013 remembrance of the evening for Vulture. “The next half-hour was an emotional tsunami. Everyone was hugging and crying and doing a lot of drinking. We were all completely wrecked.”

Then it was time for the cast to make an appearance on The Tonight Show. “The cast, in no condition to face anybody, much less 40 million people, dutifully trooped downstairs to do the live show,” Levine continued. “Us non-celeb types stayed back and watched on TV … in horror. They were so drunk they needed designated walkers. They giggled like schoolgirls over nothing, fired spitballs into each other’s mouths, squirted water guns, Woody Harrelson implied he gave oral sex to both Ted Danson and Oliver Stone, and Kirstie Alley sang a song where the only lyric was ‘dick, dick, dick.’”

SOURCE: MENTALFLOSS.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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166 thoughts on “CHEERS!”

    1. Me neither, never saw one episode.

      Good morning, Pat and Filly – today is supposed to be stormy at the Village. Very powerful storms moving across the deep South. Many tornadoes through yesterday and last night. Tornado warnings in Tallahassee, but not at the Village, though it’s supposed to be gusty. Hope we have power.

      Liked by 2 people

        1. We are learning every day, how to cope and manage. Yesterday, I unloaded my minivan. The foam fold out chair/mattresses arrived and I unboxed them. I will use them for sleeping and naps, topped with a cot mattress, if Sally becomes bedridden toward the end.

          Also unloaded and put our bed patient supplies in the closet of the apartment the Village is letting me use on an unlimited basis rent-free. They have let me use empty apartments to sew, and for the wheelchair repair technician to work on Sally’s chairs. In return, I donate money for tax deductions. Sally’s Dad also donated money for his end of year donation.

          The Village does a wonderful job of caring for helpless, indigent elderly – there are two apartment towers for subsidized housing for people who can’t pay rent. The Village nursing facilities are excellent – taught the UFL hospital how to prevent bed sores – when they got tired of patients coming back from a stay in the hospital with putrid infected bed sores.

          The Village nursing and rehab facilities did an excellent job with Sally’s Dad.

          And – they have been so tolerant and good to Sally!

          Liked by 2 people

            1. I’m having my times of crying and dealing with family ‘issues’ – it helps to know that our Lord was ‘rejected of men’ and knew disdain, ridicule, mocking and cruel betrayal.

              Liked by 1 person

              2. The best thing about that spare apartment – I can get away. I can move my chair bed from apartment to apartment for a nap when Sabrina, Sally’s aide is here and rest. Only thing – that apartment may be too far from her router to connect. I can use Village Guest internet but it’s slow as molasses.

                Liked by 1 person

              4. Hmmm. Good idea – Maybe next time I go home, I can bring back my art pencils, good paper drawing pads and draw some pictures of Sally Q, Jesus, Mary, etc.

                Liked by 1 person

              5. that’s a great idea!
                I didn’t realize you draw. My son did a pencil drawing of pine cones on a table in art class in high school. when he went off to college he was going thru his things and found the drawings he saved. he was going to throw them out. I framed it and it still hangs in the hallway.
                he learned to paint–from Bob Ross, lol–and i have one of his paintings hanging in the great room.
                I adore hand made gifts. this year at Thanksgiving he brought me a wooden pumpkin taker that he made. it looks like this only in wood

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              10. You are so sweet. I keep copies of that one and this one in my Bible:

                Christ The Savior Is Born – !

                Feel free to print and share anything you like, that might speak to you.

                Liked by 1 person

      3. Good morning, GA! I think I only watched one or two episodes. I did watch Frasier, tho. Bright sunny day here so far but we’ve got lowering temps and some precip headed our way this next week. Single digits at night, teens during the day, but not substantial moisture. Then again, that can all change in a nanosecond!

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              1. Well, they seem to be losing their impact – when no-one reads what you post or comments or even likes the post, it becomes an exercise in futility.

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              12. I really enjoy the pictures and I share the memes that really make me laugh. hubby loves the trucks.
                we have a woman who liked all the opens for a few months, but she hasn’t commented at all. and i’ve been keeping track of all the “new likes” we’ve gotten since the site was taken down last year. 132 of them. but none have commented.

                Liked by 1 person

              13. I’ve looked at that before, too – I always have to wonder why none of them comment. I try to post according to various peoples’ preferences.

                Liked by 1 person

        1. he was going to marry Dianne…then she leaves and he reverts to his old self and falls for Kirsty. ok the guy’s a dog…lol. nothing we didn’t know. BUT then Kirsty changes from a strong, business oriented woman to a twinkie–neurotic mess. sad remake of the Kirsty in her first appearance.

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  5. Morning All!

    what a day yesterday! we loaded up the truck with firewood and i mean LOADED. hubby and i threw the wood on, then hubby climbed in the truck bed and moved some of the wood around so we could stack more wood in the truck–it was a heaping mound of wood. then we came in and got warmed up and he moved the vehicles around so he could back into the garage where we unloaded and unloaded and stacked it higher than me!

    hopefully we have enough firewood for a while now.

    then we came in showered and had lunch and headed out to walmart. crappy weather on the drive there but i called mom and got to chat with her. on the exit ramp onto the main drag in town, we spotted a new construction site and guess what? they’re putting in a Burger King! (The only BK around here is about an hour away in NY) AND they just opened a taco ball in that same town. I didn’t capitalize it because i don’t like tacos…lol. BUT guess this–they didn’t finish the parking lot before they opened so there’s enough room for maybe a dozen cars and the rest HAVE to go thru the drive thru. the cars were lined up all along the side of the road creating a mess.

    But Walmart? walmart was EMPTY! it was a pleasure shopping…no kids, no scooters jamming up the aisles. we brought home some kfc…ate and fell asleep on our chairs…lol

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Glad you got some wood stocked up. My WM wasn’t empty by any means – very busy – and I noticed quite a few new Hispanic families….speaking Spanish and avoiding making direct eye contact. TBH, I’m glad I don’t live in Norfolk any more…I can only imagine how many are in the Omaha/Lincoln area!

      EXCERPT: “Members of the violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), continue to expand criminal operations nationwide, including in the midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

      In Illinois, Chicago has long been plagued with illegal border crosser crime, serving as a major hub for drug trafficking operations run by the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel and transnational criminal organizations working with street gangs, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has reported.

      As the border crisis escalated over the past few years, a record number of Venezuelan illegal border crossers, more than one million, were reported under the Biden administration. As hundreds of thousands were released into the U.S., including TdA members, violence spread nationwide, including in the so-called sanctuary city of Chicago.

      Tren de Aragua gang members are known for violence, murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking and are linked to more than 100 law enforcement investigations nationwide.

      An investigation by America First Legal found that Chicago law enforcement learned that TdA members were perpetrating human trafficking, sex exploitation, drug trafficking, and retail theft rings, also using extreme brutality – including dismemberment – to threaten their rivals.

      TdA members have embedded themselves in South American migrant communities, with Chicago Police Department records revealing at least 30 arrests were of confirmed TdA members between Jan. 1, 2023, and Sept. 10, 2024, according to records obtained by AFL through Freedom of Information requests….”

      https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/violent-venezuelan-gang-members-expanding-operations-midwest

      Liked by 1 person

      1. we burned thru the entire stack except for the end logs that keep the stack from collapsing. so we really needed the wood.
        gees stay SAFE!!! we have a few spanish speaking families that avoid eye contact as well, but others that are smiling happy families. makes you wonder.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. TheseTruths

    TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

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    Wolf

    December 29, 2024 00:46

    EXCLUSIVE: Mike Lee calls on Trump to bring back incandescent bulbs banned by Biden

    …The Utah senator told The Post Millennial, “Americans should be able to buy and use the lightbulbs they want, and certainly shouldn’t be limited to a range of choices chosen by unelected, federal bureaucrats.” This comes after Lee posted on Friday, “Who else wants to bring back real light bulbs in 2025?”

    Also:

    He posted on Friday, “Share & follow if you think the federal government shouldn’t regulate shower heads & household appliances to limit water & energy use.”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Why not go to the originating problem and make the light bulb companies stop restricting bulb longevity intentionally?!? Had they not done that, bulbs would have lasted for up to 50 years or more! I prepared an open about that at M’s some time ago.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

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    Wolf

    December 29, 2024 00:51

    [video src="https://media.scored.co/scale/vwCxbeYYDsNnKpFk.mp4" /]

    Here’s the text of that. The video is just Pepe.

    Media: MAGA meltdown! Elon declares war against Trump supporters!

    Reality: THOUSANDS of patriots are scouring the H1-B database and making the worst offenders go viral, giving Trump the easiest crackdown ever without a single dollar spent.

    Me (caught in the BEST “civil war” ever!)

    Liked by 1 person

      1. TheseTruths

        TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

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        Wolf

        Reply to  TheseTruths

        December 29, 2024 00:58

        Elon, at 8:19 p.m. on Saturday:

        Easily fixed by 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.

        Liked by 1 person

  12. I do not understand a whole bunch of this, but I’m bringing it because it’s a hot button issue. I am dismayed that a lot of accounting firms like the visa thing–and colleges?? wth? but the biggest takeaway in this thread (for me) is that the companies aggressively using the visa program are INDIAN owned.
    Robert Sterling
    @RobertMSterling
    12h • 20 tweets • 8 min read •
    Read on X

    H-1B DATA MEGA-THREAD 🧵

    I downloaded five years of H-1B data from the US DOL website (4M+ records) and spent the day crunching data.

    I went into this with an open mind, but, to be honest, I’m now *extremely* skeptical of how this program works.

    Here’s what I found 👇



    Before I start, one note: All charts in this thread are for applications that were “certified” (in other words, approved for entry into the H-1B lottery). I filtered out applications the gov rejected.

    All numbers here are therefore for visas employers actually and realistically attempted to obtain.
    To start with, this program is MASSIVELY popular with employers. The program has a statutory limit of 85,000 visas per year, but employers routinely receive approval for more than 800k applications per year (868k, or 10x the limit, in 2024).
    Contrary to what I expected, the average salary for an H-1B is relatively low—slightly under $120k this year.

    Given that much of the H-1B debate pertains to tech workers, I (incorrectly) assumed the average would be higher. But this is the beauty of data, right?
    You can see that salaries are disproportionately weighted toward the lower bands:

    17% are < $75k (blue)
    21% are $75-100k (orange)
    22% are $100-125k (pink)
    15% are $125-150k (teal)

    In other words, ~75% are jobs paying < $150k. Only 25% are $150k+, and, of those, only 2.5% are $250k+ (purple).
    I (roughly) categorized job descriptions into computer/software/IT-related roles (teal) and everything else (gray).

    Almost all the prominent job categories are tech-related. The two top categories, for software developer roles, are 1.1M over five years by themselves.
    Basically every role with 30k+ H-1B applications is for a STEM field, with the exception of accountants and auditors (49k). Most of them IT-related, at that.

    There’s a little more variety in roles with smaller numbers, but the overall tilt towards STEM remains throughout.
    Let’s review applications by employer (again, with teal representing IT roles and gray being everything else).

    There are some HUGE numbers here. 15 companies alone received approval for 20k+ applications each.

    We’ll go back to employers momentarily.
    Looking at applications by employer NAICS code, 5415 (computer systems design) absolutely dwarfs everything else: 1.2M applications over five years.

    The next two largest are 6113 (universities) and 5416 (consulting).

    As consultants like to say, let’s double-click into this.
    NAICS code 5415 (computer systems design) is the category for many of the larger employers we saw above. Some of the companies here—Google, IBM, Salesforce—are household names.

    But what about the other large applicants here, which aren’t as familiar (Cognizant, Infosys, Tata)?
    As it turns out, these are ALL Indian companies that import H-1B tech workers en masse:

    Cognizant (93k)
    Infosys (61k)
    Tata Consultancy Services (60k)
    Wipro
    Capgemini
    HCL
    Compunnel
    Tech Mahindra
    Mphasis

    These aren’t American companies that needed international talent to fill critical roles. They’re foreign companies that appear to have been founded to place overseas tech workers into US companies as contractors.



    What jobs are these companies seeking visas for?

    A metric f**k ton of IT and software roles. Over the past five years, 80k+ computer systems analysts (Cognizant is the big player here). 50k+ systems engineers/architects (Cognizant + Tata). Programmers (looks like Wipro and Mphasis concentrate here) and IT project managers (Infosys).
    The chart here shows each company’s average salary for each role. I’ve added a shaded gray band between $80-120k to highlight where the preponderance of salaries fall.

    I’ve spent my career in M&A and corporate finance, and I’ve been involved in a lot of budget and hiring decisions. Unless we’ve overpaid every developer and IT person at every company I’ve ever worked for, $80-120k for roles like this is NOT market.
    The H-1B program isn’t just Indian companies requesting visas for IT workers, though.

    The list of companies seeking visas for accountants is a who’s who of Big Four and other prominent accounting firms. EY is crushing the competition with 16k+ applications.
    EY also has the largest share of employers seeking visas for finance-related jobs, followed by investment banks Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank.
    Here are the roles for which EY sought visas, along with average salaries. Everything from accountants (16k) to computer systems analyst (7k) to actuaries (600 or so).

    EY isn’t even a major player in the world of actuaries! There’s zero reason why they couldn’t hire these people domestically.
    Here’s Amazon’s main H-1B LLC:
    Google, not surprisingly, had 45k applications for software developers alone.
    You can see where I’m going with this. A casual perusal of the data shows that this isn’t a program for the top 0.1% of talent, as it’s been described. This is simply a way to recruit hundreds of thousands of relatively lower-wage IT and financial services professionals.
    America needs to be a destination for the world’s most elite talent. But the H-1B program isn’t the way to do that.

    I’m going to stop posting for now, but let me know if there are any other visualizations that would be helpful.

    If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I can bring them, I expect, but there are a LOT of charts! Most don’t make the slightest bit of sense to me either. Regardless, the motives are the same: power and money!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. He brings up the comparison of Tesla (for whom Musk named his company) and Edison (who was responsible for the light bulb issue) “…who [Edison] was his [Tesla] mortal enemy.” Bannon claims Musk is more like Edison than Tesla.

      Liked by 1 person

  16. Just The News: “Former Arizona GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake confirmed on Saturday that she would not be running for office again after two attempts.

    We know the movement that we have in Arizona, and I will never take that for granted,” Lake wrote on the social media platform, X. “But there is a corrupt machine here that is hellbent on making sure I never hold office.”

    Earlier this month, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Lake would be the next director of the U.S. government’s “Voice of America” (VOA) news agency.

    Lake worked as a news anchor for more than two decades before running for office in 2022 and 2024.

    “So, I won’t put my family (and myself) through the torture of running again,” Lake’s post continued. “I will go to Washington, D.C., return @VOANews to its glory days, and help President Trump Make America Great Again.”

    Lake unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2022 against current Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and for the U.S. Senate in 2024 in which she lost to Arizona Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.”

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Well, finally the Huskers have won a bowl game – 20 to 15 – against Boston College. Last time was in 2015. Huh – never heard of this but, then, I haven’t been paying attention for a long time.

    “HUSKERIGAMI ALERT — 20-15 is the 580th unique final score combination in Nebraska Football history. 30 of NU’s 54 bowl games have ended in a Huskerigami.”

    https://x.com/Huskerigami/status/1873102342247350381

    Liked by 1 person

  18. whoa…

    Gail Combs

    Gail Combs(@gailcombs)

    Online

    Wolf

    Reply to  pat frederick

    December 29, 2024 09:55

    There is more over here:

    https://nitter.poast.org/tickerguy

     💯 Tickerguy retweeted

    Aesthetica @Anc_Aesthetics

    Funny you should ask, I’ve been investigating the fraud in the F-1 Student Visa system too.

    It’s just as big of a rabbit hole as the H-1B stuff and the two are very interconnected. Buckle up because this one is something.

    Here’s the game. Students from India fake their undergraduate degrees and just apply straight to Masters programs. The reasons for this relate to H-1B reqs and other things but also because colleges have gone full woke and stupidly don’t have any way to verify the undergraduate certificates. So they just accept them most of the time. Canada is much worse btw, they have actual diploma mills with like 80k Indian students.

    Once the student has been accepted for their masters the fun part begins. They pay people with masters degrees in India to do the work for them and they have people within the masters programs themselves who are complicit (that whole nepotism thing again) to help them. This means they can skate through the masters program without getting caught. While they are “at school” they drive for uber/doordash for money.

    Once they “graduate” and finish their masters they are now here illegally so it’s time to defraud the H-1B system. Enter the Indian H-1B consultants.

    The grift is basically this. The employee is a “subcontractor” working for the consulting firm and being subcontracted out to one of their clients. The problem is they don’t have a Visa. So the consulting firm just fakes an H-1B Visa. Since it’s the consulting firm’s job to check, the company is none the wiser that they are actually using illegal labor.

    Obviously the “contractor” has no idea what they are doing so this work is also outsourced back to someone in India that the H-1B consultant has set up.

    The payment is made to the consulting firm and the worker is paid under the table. From what I’ve been told these are very predatory agreements so it usually means the worker has to still drive uber etc.

    Once the first contract is finished. They now have real experience to put on their resume with a real reference and everything. So they begin the process of actually applying for their H-1B.

    The consultant once again manages the whole process, commits a ton of fraud to get through the lottery system. Finds a company who needs a permanent IT hire. Company then sponsors the candidate and voila. They’ve committed like 10 instances of fraud but the person is now legit, has an H-1B and can work in the US.

    Maybe we should rethink that whole “staple a green card to every diploma” idea.

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    Daniel Friedman @DanFriedman81

    Why is the right concerned about H1B visas instead of student visas? We issue half a million student visas per year, they provide a firehose of money to woke universities, many of which would shut down if they couldn’t sell visas to foreigners, and the students are mediocre.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. “Sunday Strip: The End of an Error –The swamp monsters are hiding in plain site.”

    Robert W Malone MD, MS, Dec 29, 2024

    Was the “1984” crisis of the past five years – averted with the election of President Trump? In my opinion, we aren’t out of the woods yet. Until we can “Make Europe Great Again”, and stop the EU-led censorship-industrial complex in their quest for worldwide dominance, we aren’t.Then there is The deep state, the Blob, and the administrative state –

    President Trump has a big job ahead of him, a job that he failed at in his last presidency. That is specifically, finding a way to muzzle the deep state, the Blob, and the administrative state turning against “we the people.”

    The cartoon below is fascinating – dated Oct 2020 – just prior to the election. This was published in the “The Week” – a leftist publication.

    The truth is that the deep state, the Blob, and the administrative state – which includes the alphabet agencies and the Senior Executive Service, won the last Trump Administration go around from 2016-2020. Can a future President Trump accomplish what past President Trump failed at?

    The cartoon below was produced and published by Ben Garrison in 2017…

    The swamp didn’t get drained, and then, during the Biden administration – it morphed into something much more sinister, complex, and dangerous. It expanded the censorship-industrial complex. The joining of the EU and the US into a globalized censorship cabal became a fait accompli. The swamp learned to use PsyWar against its people—the people it is meant to serve. Now, it is Trump’s job to learn to untie that Gordian knot.

    Will Trump have the smarts and the stamina to finish the job this time around?”

    Liked by 1 person

  22. I had to test the above – so I did a search on Google News for “drones.” Yep- MSM has decided no more “drones over the night skies” news stories for us! Here are the top ‘“drones” search results on Google News:

    “Nothing to see here folks, move on…”

    Liked by 1 person

  25. NF: This guy seems to be well-versed in Constitutional law!

    “A New Dawn for American Justice: Healing the Wounds of Political Persecution: A Roadmap For Restoring the Rule of Law and Public Confidence at the Department of Justice.”

    Paul Ingrassia, Dec 29, 2024

    EXCERPT: “Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice has arguably the most important agenda for any agency within the executive branch of the incoming administration. Over the last four years, Americans have observed justice be systematically desecrated and attacked by vengeful actors, working shamelessly in tandem with Merrick Garland’s corrupt DOJ, with an agenda to censure – and even imprison – those with opposing or dissident political views.

    At the same time, they ran roughshod over those timeless constitutional guardrails necessary for preserving justice in the United States, such as the presumption of innocence and due process of law. These nefarious actors got away with their lawfare with virtual impunity. The protections granted to people like Fani Willis, Jack Smith, and Alvin Bragg originate ultimately in the example set by Garland’s DOJ who dutifully carried out the marching orders of his commander-in-chief.

    Lawfare became the rule of the day, and America’s legal institutions paid a mighty price for it. Americans witnessed their next President be ruthlessly prosecuted in a banana republic show trial in Manhattan, Washington, and Fulton County. Marxist district attorneys, with the financial backing of George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and other leftist radicals, eroded the rule of law in this country by launching the first all-out political persecution (which also stood as the most brazen form of election interference in American history) of a major party politician in the history of the United States, bookending the darkest chapter in the history of American justice.

    In a phrase, justice was put on the chopping block. Had it not been for the political miracle that was November’s historic election victory, the United States would be in a much bleaker place; for all intents and purposes, the light of American freedom would have been vanquished for good.

    No fundamental constitutional rights would have been guaranteed under a regime led by Kamala Harris, including the unassailable rights to speak, assemble, and worship God, as enumerated in the First Amendment, or the protections of due process, like the right to a fair and impartial tribunal, as enshrined in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

    Accordingly, much of the department’s resources must be allocated to restoring public confidence in the rule of law and integrity to our judicial institutions over the next four years. Paramount among these considerations will include both reforms that will facilitate public trust that justice is being carried out fairly and impartially.

    Additionally, DOJ should embrace its electoral mandate to advocate for concrete policies that will help guide jurisprudence throughout the federal government with respect to how prosecutors, courts, and even administrative agencies manage important constitutional issues presented before them.

    The latter might include, for example, recommendations for courts to apply a broad construction of presidential power, one that respects the Supreme Court’s recognition of broad-based immunity for presidential actions, a decision that is perfectly consistent with a unitary executive.

    The latter might also include recommendations to the civil rights division, as but one example, for courts and prosecutors to retain a rigorously originalist construction of constitutional law, one that does not freely submit to innovations, like substantive due process, or a spirited understanding of equal protection with its innumerable manufactured “protected classes,” which has no basis in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment or any other provision in the Constitution itself…..”

    https://paulingrassia.substack.com/p/a-new-dawn-for-american-justice

    Liked by 1 person

  26. this is wild and weird. if the House cannot elect a speaker by Jan 6, there’s no one to declare President Trump the winner. If there’s no speaker as of the 20th, Grassley (???) becomes Preisident?

    FTA

    On “Sunday Morning Futures” on the Fox News Channel, host Jason Chaffetz quoted Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram who said:

    “The House absolutely, unequivocally cannot do anything until it elects a speaker, period. This also means that the House cannot certify the results of the Electoral College, making trump the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 6. What happens if the Electoral College isn’t sorted out by Jan. 20? Well, President Biden is done, so he’s gone. The same with Harris. Next in the presidential line of succession is the speaker of the House.

    “Well, there’s no speaker, so who becomes the president? If the House is still frittering away time trying to elect a speaker on Jan 20, [president pro tempore of the Senate Chuck] Grassley, likely becomes ‘acting president.’ I write likely because this gets into some serious, extra-constitutional turf. These are unprecedented scenarios. Strange lands never visited in the American political experience.”

    U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the House Oversight Committee chairman, addressed the concern, saying: “No one ran against Mike Johnson. To this day, and here we are inside a week of the speaker’s vote, there is still not a single declared candidate.

    “But as you know, we have five Republicans that won’t commit to voting for Mike Johnson, and he can only lose one or two votes. So I sure hope we don’t repeat this, and I’m strongly encouraging my colleagues and go ahead and elect Mike Johnson, and let’s get started on passing President Trump’s agenda.”

    https://americafirstreport.com/unprecedented-will-chuck-grassley-really-become-u-s-president-if-theres-no-house-speaker-to-certify-trump-victory/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I saw that earlier on Fox and, IMO, they ALL MUST support Johnson, like him or not!! He can always be replaced at a later date!

      Liked by 1 person

  27. The Vigilant Fox 🦊
    @VigilantFox
    NEW: CNN host abruptly ends segment after her defense of Joe Biden’s crimes completely falls apart.

    ABBY PHILLIP: “I’m still waiting to see the proof of Joe Biden enriching himself. I take his brother and his son, perhaps.”

    REP. MIKE LAWLER: “I’ll give you the direct line. A Chinese company transferred money to a shell company owned by Hunter and Jim Biden that then transferred money directly to Jim and Sarah Biden’s shell company that then transferred the money to Jim and Sarah’s personal account, who then immediately wrote a check for $40,000 to Joe Biden. So to say that there was no evidence is not true.”

    ABBY PHILLIP: “Trump was president for four years. He wanted to charge Joe Biden. Why did the charges not come? And I think that still remains an open question. If there is something illegal happening here, there should be charges on the basis of what you’re saying, and there have not been.”

    REP. MIKE LAWLER: “Well, he just pardoned Hunter for an 11-year time period.”

    SCOTT JENNINGS: “He just wiped the slate! Jim will be next.”

    ABBY PHILLIP: “Hang on, guys.” (Ends segment)

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Rest in Peace, Sir

    FTA
    Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack died Wednesday at age 105.

    Upton died after suffering from pneumonia, Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors told the Associated Press (AP). The Pacific Historic Parks said on Facebook the 105-year-old died after a short hospital stay surrounded by his family. Upton was also the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah.

    https://dailycaller.com/2024/12/28/warren-upton-oldest-living-pearl-harbor-survivor-dies-105/

    Liked by 2 people

  29. “Now ya know perfectly well this had something to do with TikTok or Fakebook or Instagram or some other nonsensical ‘influencer’ bullshit. It’s getting to the point where damn near every day there’s another news blip about some jerkoff dying doing something stupid while being filmed for their ‘followers’. As far as I’m concerned, it’s two less idiots on the planet. I call that a good start…”

    Liked by 1 person

    1. wasn’t there some nonsense years ago– the blair witch crap?

      these are attention whores. the internet made stars out of any idiot who had a phone. smh. wasn’t it andy warhol who said everyone in the future will be famous for 15 minutes? enter the internet and narcissists.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. all of a sudden, i started getting email notices that people have posted on my timeline (i haven’t been on fb in 15 years more or less. so i hit unsubscribe every time and every time it tells me it can’t complete the action. scam

      Liked by 1 person

        1. i didn’t get banned but i tried removing my account and they wouldn’t let me, so i just stopped opening it up.
          when my sister passed, my BIL tried closing her account–they wouldn’t let him. now that he’s passed, my nephew can’t close either.

          Liked by 1 person

  37. leik
    December 29, 2024 4:28 pm

    Before I ran for office, I was an Emmy Award-winning journalist.

    President Trump has granted me the honor of returning to my roots with the biggest platform possible.

    A chance to be the “Voice of America.”

    I can’t wait to get started.https://t.co/k0h2Oqq4RF

    — Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 29, 2024

    Like

  47. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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