Alex Wellman
@WellmanAlex
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Yooper / Washington, DC 🇺🇸 / Interested in talent mobility, exchange programs, and immigration reform / Formerly @e_residents 🇪🇪. Opinions are my own.
Washington, DC
Joined January 2012
Someone said that the Estonian word for night "öö" looks like two tiny owls sitting next to each other, and I can't stop thinking about that now. 🇪🇪🦉🦉
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This would be amazing if they can pull it off in CA.
1/ 🇺🇸 Today, @CAForever submitted detailed plans for the next great American city, an hour north of Silicon Valley, including: Solano Foundry, America’s largest manufacturing park, Solano Shipyard, our largest shipyard, and walkable neighborhoods for 400,000 Californians.
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The United States is home to the most foreign-born AND the most native-born scientific Nobel laureates, both by large margins:
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Denmark buying more F-35s is kind of a narrative breaker on this site
Denmark plans to acquire another 16 F-35s, on top of the 27 on order or delivered, boosting their fleet to 43 aircraft...will also strengthen defence of Greenland.
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this is the most ludicrous take I have seen in many years. I have an Estonian ID and it's a tool of digital empowerment. I can prove who I am online, give a binding signature, and check whom I am dealing with. I can't do that with the UK broken ID system.
Estonia's digital ID system has been beset by blunders and security issues that allow hackers to steal data and help scammers take money. The digital ID system used by 1.4 million people in Estonia is said to be the blueprint for Keir Starmer's Brit Card mandatory digital ID.
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I'm sorry, but Estonia cannot afford to close its labor market to foreign talent. If you want those long family support benefits and Pillar I pensions to continue, you need people coming to work. https://t.co/oDt60LDerx
news.err.ee
The government wants to bring more foreign labor to Estonia, but the opposition calls the plan irresponsible. Employers say only specialists adding value would come.
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Nice boost for Estonian 🇪🇪 defense here.
HUGE!!! The Trump administration is notifying Congress of a dramatic expansion to an arms sale for Estonia, quadrupling long-range ATACMS munitions and doubling HIMARS launchers amid escalating Russian incursions. READ 👉
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Looks like another government shutdown is on the horizon. Here is a pic I snapped during the 2013 shutdown (with some Instagram filtering added for effect).
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Every 6 months, you read a story about somewhere in North America or Europe where they discovered the "world's largest deposit" of some critical resouce. Does this stuff ever actually enter the supply chain?
Germany has hit the Lithium jackpot They just found one of the biggest lithium reserves in the world, making fully sovereign European electric cars possible. Now is the time to scale, Europe must continue to build, build, build, and scale out high-tech production lines 🇪🇺
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The UK is primarily using its new digital ID for employment verification. Like an enhanced version of the US E-Verify system. I wouldn't be surprised if the Trump administration tried to do something similar. In which case Gov. DeSantis would probably praise it.
If digital ID is pushed in the US, it will run into a brick wall in Florida.
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Imagine what it would be without tariffs
On September 26, the #GDPNow model nowcast of real GDP growth in Q3 2025 is 3.9%: https://t.co/T7FoDdgYos.
#ATLFedResearch Download our EconomyNow app or go to our website for the latest GDPNow nowcast: https://t.co/NOSwMl7Jms.
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In a new piece for IFP, I use FOIA data from USCIS to simulate what the new H-1B proposal would actually do: -Winners: outsourcers, who'd gain 8% more H1Bs -Losers: students from US universities, who'd get 7% fewer H1Bs – Average wages would increase a measly +3%
The new Trump H-1B rule just dropped! It prioritizes DOL "Wage Levels," not real wages. DOL thinks an experienced acupuncturist making $40k is a higher "Wage Level" than an early-career AI scientist making $280k. That means more visas for outsourcers, fewer for real talent.
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One could argue that Trump and Zelenskyy made very similar points in their respective UNGA addresses.
🔴 Zelenskyy: "What can Sudan, Somalia or Palestine or any other people living through war really expect from the UN? For decades, just statements..."
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke yesterday with Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur for the first time since last week’s incursion by several Russian fighter jets into Estonia’s Airspace over the Gulf of Finland. Secretary Hegseth affirmed the U.S. War Department stands
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The H-1B has huge problems and high-skilled immigration supporters shouldn’t pretend it doesn’t. It’s been used far too much for middling talent, wage arbitrage, and downright fraud. But that doesn’t make the $100k fee a good solution: 1. Outsourcers can just avoid the fee by
.@Noahpinion multiple companies have been sued and found guilty of preferential hiring or just flat out not even offering the jobs to American (as they legally have to do). your smug comment is a clever quip but i just don't think you're living in the real world
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Either they bungled the announcement yesterday, or they are backtracking after getting calls from the tech companies.
To be clear: 1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It’s a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. 2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter. H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the
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Good piece explaining US military aid to the Baltics through the Baltic Security Initiative. Tldr: The Department of Defense/War can't simply zero this out. The Senate Appropriations bill for FY2026 includes $225 million for the initiative. https://t.co/5HPhQwgOEO
realcleardefense.com
The Administration plans to eliminate funding for the Baltic States. It’s not so simple. Earlier this month, press reports that the Administration is preparing to eliminate U.S. assistanc
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