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This is not an official count. It's some officials speaking through anonymity with their own personal estimates

*purported officials

I am very skeptical tbh seeing all this unfold. The propaganda push from media over this is off the charts on this.

A counter-perspective on these figures and their sources :

https://x.com/TheGrayzoneNews/status/2017089536686211440#m https://xcancel.com/TheGrayzoneNews/status/20170895366862114...


The Grayzone is also a propaganda outlet, for the other side: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grayzone

It would be unpopular in Iran to have a war. If you think otherwise you read too many Enlgish-language diaspora / filtered sources.

As an Iranian, nothing hurts me more than someone outside my country lecturing Iranians about Iran. Vast majority of Persians are waiting for the US and Israel to attack the regime and finish off this mafia that's kept us hostages for half a century.

I imagine war is always deeply unpopular!

But it was asked what else the West could do beyond what it’s already doing.

It might be possible to do a targetted kidnapping/assassination without provoking a war. Or it might not be. Such actions become unpredictable fast.


> come on, no action from the West?

Most action from the West is likely to make things worse. Can you give a scenario where that's not the case?

WWII did not happen because of the Holocaust and nations around the world being outraged at that. In truth, the US and many other countries rejected Jewish refugees from Germany


I mean, that's because the US and UK are doing that right now. I don't agree they cannot be compared

No they are not. Neither the UK nor the US are murdering protestors at any comparable scale at this point in time.

Do UK and the US import Iraqi militias to suppress local unrest?

You honestly cannot know and anyone who claims you can should be suspected. It's probably between what the government claims (which will tend to be lower) and what people estimate. Some groups are only logging confirmed deaths are around 12k+ probably increasing by the day.

But if it's 5-10-20 or even more k, how much difference does it make? The crime of mass killing and collective punishment is still as gruesome either way


The US economy is struggling heavily. Population shrank for the first time in a long time that will reduce economic demand. The USD has gotten a lot weaker in the past few years. The regulatory environment is unpredictable and so risk being priced in is high. Every company is chasing scarcer and scarcer energy and chip resources. And then add on top irrational and constantly changing tariffs.

This causes companies to constantly review costs and look for ways to trim, which they're doing.


Outsourcing happens when the economy forces companies to cut costs. When innovations return substantial growth, most companies don't think much about the costs. We have a rough economy, bad tariff policy, a weakening dollar, and immigration policy that's reducing the overall US population (and with it, spend in the economy). All those factors push companies to need to cut costs


Convenient how you absolve Amazon of responsibility. They were forced to do it!


They aren't the only company in their sector laying off. It stands to reason the economy as an outside factor is heavily involved


> If you really think that companies are moving out of country because "there's not enough talent", despite having some of the more relaxed tax codes and most talented universities here

The US has a huge delta between its great universities and its mediocre ones. There are some smart and sharp kids everywhere in even the lowest ranked schools. But altogether the amount of people who can pass a code screen in the US is pretty low. If you ever interviewed people for a software position in a big tech firm, you'd realize this.


>The US has a huge delta between its great universities and its mediocre ones. There are some smart and sharp kids everywhere in even the lowest ranked schools. But altogether the amount of people who can pass a code screen in the US is pretty low. If you ever interviewed people for a software position in a big tech firm, you'd realize this.

I'm convinced that the code screen functions as a somewhat arbitrary filter/badge of honor.

FAANG and equivalents get tens of thousands of applicants and they cannot hire them all

If too many pass the code screen, they will just make it harder, even though the job hasn't gotten any more difficult.

Or they get failed at system design. Which is BS in many cases.


It's a necessary filter. Again, you need to interview candidates for these jobs to understand. Our industry doesn't have any qualifications, any exam to pass to certify, so there are just a ton of people who can't do the basic job but think they are qualified because we don't have a good way to screen people for this work.


>Our industry doesn't have any qualifications, any exam to pass to certify,

By design of FAANG, yes. They put down any attempts to certify SWEs


>The US has a huge delta between its great universities and its mediocre ones.

Like any other country, yes.

>But altogether the amount of people who can pass a code screen in the US is pretty low. If you ever interviewed people for a software position in a big tech firm, you'd realize this.

Compared to India? Or is it fine to lower standards of quality when you are paying an 8th of the cost and it turns out most people don't need to be from MIT to contribute?

That's perfectly fine and dandy. But that's not what H1Bs are for.


H1Bs aren't paid 1/8 their counterparts in the same company.

And no, the same applies to India and to China but because the number is small here we pick the small numbers from the rest of the world as well. We don't only hire people from India and China in tech they are just more populous countries so their best workers are far more numerous.

Go to any FAANG in the US and you will see people on H1B from all over Europe, Africa, South America, etc. but Indians and Chinese are the largest group because they are the largest population countries with established pipelines from schools there to schools here to jobs here.


>We don't only hire people from India and China in tech they are just more populous countries so their best workers are far more numerous.

So we are talking H1Bs. Does that mean this small pool of "best foreign talent" also all happen to speak English and are able to communicate their ideas on a team?

>the same applies to India and to China but because the number is small here we pick the small numbers from the rest of the world as well.

Well you're already shifting your point:

> But altogether the amount of people who can pass a code screen in the US is pretty low.

You're criticizing America as an excuse to find people overseas and bring them in. Thanks for proving the fact that H1B is being abused. So you're telling me your fine taking the time to find the finest H1B workers but not Americans?


How am I shifting my point?

If we have say 1M job openings in a field, and only 250k American citizens can pass a screen for that job, then we need to find other people for it, no? Those people will be likely to most common from the most populous countries in the world...


Several of the links of yours are about PERM applications, not H1B.

I agree abusers (employers) should be put on he H1B visa blacklist which already exists.

H1B already mandates that employees be paid within the wage window of their peers. And anecdotally I know several who make more than their citizen peers in the same company same level


If you're homeless due to losing your job, then you'll be homeless whether your job goes overseas or to someone else in the US.

At least in the latter scenario the job is still here for you to get back one day


Based on the "Worst Case Housing Needs: 2025 Report to Congress" released in late 2025, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found that foreign-born population growth accounted for approximately two-thirds of the increase in nationwide rental demand between 2021 and 2024.


Of course. In any growing services-based economy you will have foreign born population growth. If you eliminate that population growth, economic growth will decline with it.

If we were a growing manufacturing-based economy that wouldn't be the case as much.

I'd also recommend you read this. Many government reports since Trump took over and fired long standing professionals and hired loons are suspect: https://www.nashville.gov/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025_1...


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