So this week Gohmert, the chair of the oversight and investigations subpanel of the U.S. House of Representatives' Natural Resources Committee, held a hearing to explore "the consequences of politically driven science."

You have to understand that when he says things like "politically driven science" he is intending, not to communicate, but to bamboozle and deceive. This has been pointed out before:

"The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies “something not desirable.” The words democ- racy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the case of a word like democracy, not only is there no agreed definition, but the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are praising it: consequently the defenders of every kind of regime claim that it is a democracy, and fear that they might have to stop using that word if it were tied down to any one meaning. Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different. "

(Politics and the English Language, 1946.)

If it's OK with you, I'm going to pretend they're all in the same folder.

That response is pretty combative and runs the risk of earning a black mark against oneself, easily done in the small-ish community that is IT. Not necessarily the best strategy when starting out. May not necessarily be the best strategy even when established.

When contracting, both the end user and the placement company are one's customers. I know nothing of matters legal in the States but my general sense of caution suggests taking a deep breath and maybe a short walk before giving serious thought to taking one's customers into litigation.

Judging from the context of your post I'd gently advise you to be careful with those linguistic gymnastics, you might injure yourself. :-p

I'm sorry you've copped a bit of flak over your past role. I can only guess at how many people are hurting because of this practice and I feel for them. Personally I'm grateful for you having shared your experience.

I'm not in the US but like many western nations, NZ is only a decade or so behind North America on a lot of matters social, commercial and otherwise. It seems wise to keep an eye on the US mood, naturally for myself but also because of my general nerdly concern for geeks in need. Nobody who appreciates skills can easily witness good knowledge workers lose much or all of what they've achieved financially for no good reason. I feel quite sad when I think of those forced to sit on their hands while third parties do a poor job of the work they used to take pride in performing themselves.

The first way to combat this 'corporate capture' of the H1B programme is a general understanding of its premise and mechanisms amongst the IT community. We're more than capable of understanding the legislation, although it is admittedly rather tedious reading. Anecdotes such as yours help us appreciate a little of the legal process, the administrative dodge and the half-truths that keep this race-to-the-bottom operation running.

Can we get this AI to test Slashdot summaries?

I'm not seeing the "well-reasoned" part. You don't like what they say and you spewed a poorly reasoned explanation for why you don't see local delivery happening. I'm not in love with Uber either, and I don't approve of all their actions. But my dislike for them doesn't preclude me from seeing the possibility of package delivery.

Look, those things are really flimsy, and while they may have barely held the Super Big Gulp in 2001, cups today are more robust. I daren't put my Double Gulp in there anymore, as it's barely hanging on. Heck, even the X-Treme Gulp came out in 2001! Microsoft should replace all the cup holders with ones not only capable of holding the Team Gulp, but also those Gulps anticipated to come out in the next 5 years.

You're right, although he grew up Catholic, so I expect he gets the concept.

You don't need a global logistics chain to deliver a parcel in a store in Wichita to a person in Wichita. Which is what it sounds like they're doing.

The owner of the car seems largely irrelevant.

Which is unnecessary to drive said mother's car.

Boy, that doesn't sound solvable at all. Like, by making drivers have and prove they have the right insurance?

TBD, lawsuits aren't over, laws may change.

If you stopped your irrational hate for a second and used your imagination, maybe you could.