Write Trump Now

Professional Mariner Forum
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This is the time write to President Trump about replacing foreign workers and crew on drill rigs and construction vessels working in the US OCS. No more bullshit USCG waivers and no more OCS Visas. Trump is on a roll to create and protect American jobs. We need to bring this issue to his attention. We will never have a better opportunity.

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Jody doesn’t discriminate against color, race, religion. I’ll visit everyone wife.

-Jody

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this today from Workboat.com

[B]Industry applauds US Customs closing Jones Act ‘loopholes’[/B]

By Kirk Moore on January 31, 2017

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are poised to revise nearly 30 Jones Act related rulings dating back 40 years affecting the offshore oil and gas industry.

Maritime industry groups that have long criticized those rulings as “loopholes” that opened the Gulf of Mexico to foreign shipbuilders and workers praised the Jan. 18 notice issued by CPB under the outgoing Obama administration.

Tom Allegretti, chairman of the American Maritime Partnership, asserted the move will “rightfully restore over 3,200 American jobs to the American economy and close loopholes that gave preference to foreign workers and foreign shipbuilding.”

The agency’s move to reverse those earlier findings hinges in large part on how it translates federal law governing the coastwise transport of oilfield equipment in U.S. waters.

Starting in 1976, a series of rulings came on use of foreign-built vessels, and whether energy-related equipment counted as “vessel equipment” or “merchandise” subject to Jones Act restriction.

The 1976 case dealt with offshore construction vessel operations, and culminated in 2009 with the so-called “Christmas tree” case, when a subsea valve assembly was determined to be vessel equipment when transported by a construction vessel with the mission of installing it.

Industry groups protested the Customs ruling was too broad, and led the agency to start reconsidering. The new notice, with its public comment period open until Feb. 17, could put the issue to rest.

It comes after years of skirmishing between the U.S. maritime industry and Jones Act critics, who say the 1920 statute and associated law is obsolete and puts the U.S. economy at a disadvantage. Many maritime advocates see an ally in the new Trump administration, with its avowed aim of reviving domestic heavy industries.

“We applaud President Trump’s commitment to ‘buy American and hire American,’ and the correct and lawful interpretation of the Jones Act will ensure the preservation of American jobs and maintenance of the U.S. shipyard industrial base, both of which are critical to our economic security and national security,” Allegretti said in a statement.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the Republican majority whip in the House of Representatives, even offered a backhanded compliment to the recently departed Obama administration.

“This corrective action is the right thing to do for Louisiana workers and will also benefit the American economy,” Scalise said in a joint statement with the American Maritime Partnership. “In addition, unlike so many job-killing regulations and rules the Obama administration issued on its way out the door, this agency ruling from Customs actually reverses some of the economic damage the Obama Administration allowed to take place on its watch.”

“The Offshore Marine Service Association applauds the Administration’s strong step to restore the congressional intent of the Jones Act. This Notice opens a domestic market to U.S. mariners on U.S.-built vessels, owned by U.S. companies,” said OMSA president Aaron Smith. “The offshore service industry is ready, willing, and capable of completing this work, having recently invested $2 billion in U.S. shipyards on vessels tailored to safely completing this work.”

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I told my son, “you will marry the girl I choose.”

He said, “no.”

I told him, “she is Bill Gates daughter.”

He said, “yes.”

I called Bill Gates and said, “I want your daughter to marry my son.

”Bill Gates said, “no"

I told Bill Gates, “my son is the C.E.O. of the World Bank.

“Bill Gates said, “ok”

I called the president of world bank and asked him to make my son the C.E.O.

He said, “no”

I told him, “my son is Bill Gates son-in-law"

He said, “ok”

This is exactly how politics works.

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His “popularity” doesn’t stretch to his ancestral Bavaria: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-38814077

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Why would we care what Bavaria thinks? It’s like caring what you think about our gun rights.

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[QUOTE=captaint76;194807]Why would we care what Bavaria thinks? It’s like caring what you think about our gun rights.[/QUOTE]

Bavaria and me are not alone. The world agrees with us.

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We already fought the most successful empire in its time for the right to self-determination. Other countries can mind their own business.

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[QUOTE=LI_Domer;194811]We already fought the most successful empire in its time for the right to self-determination. Other countries can mind their own business.[/QUOTE]

I could agree with you if it were just that simple. We still share the world with other countries, so their opinions do, in fact, matter.

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In our foreign policy, I'll give that to you. When it comes to some domestic issues. As long as we're not violating human rights or committing atrocities, I don't see why anyone else should think their say matters. Everyone's entitled to an opinion though.
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I don’t give a rat’s ass what a German province thinks. Nor do I give a rat’s ass what other countries think. We are the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. Despite our faults and blemishes, no one comes close. Fuck the world and fuck the UN.

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let’s make this very simple and ask every foreign national here if they feel they have a “right” to their OCS-B1 visa and by corollary, if they feel US citizen mariners have the same “right” to get visas to work in their national waters offshore activities?

I am specifically asking all our Norwegian brother mariners participating in this forum this question and I expect answers from them for the record.

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[QUOTE=LI_Domer;194814]In our foreign policy, I’ll give that to you. When it comes to some domestic issues. As long as we’re not violating human rights or committing atrocities, I don’t see why anyone else should think their say matters. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion though.[/QUOTE]

You, sir, are very right - in my humble opinion. I do think we are one of the greatest nations on the earth. Of course, that doesn’t give anyone solid ground to say “Fuck the world” <cough> Seadog6608 </cough>. Fuckwads like ISIL/ISIS say “Fuck the World - do it our way”. I think we’d be wise to listen to other nations opinions and use those opinions to help shape our own. The wisest among us usually listen more than they speak.

“No man is an island; but some are peninsulas.” - Robin Williams

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[QUOTE=seadog6608;194815]I don’t give a rat’s ass what a German province thinks. Nor do I give a rat’s ass what other countries think. We are the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. Despite our faults and blemishes, no one comes close. Fuck the world and fuck the UN.[/QUOTE]

That is a very weighty and well considered opinion, to which I totally disagree.
You may be the largest single economy (after the EU and soon China) and have the most powerful military force in the world by far, but that is something that has to be used with wisdom.

Your illustrious President has just managed to insult one of your best allies (Australia) and your nearest neighbour (Mexico) in a matter of two phone calls: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/no-gday-mate-on-call-with-australian-pm-trump-badgers-and-brags/2017/02/01/88a3bfb0-e8bf-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trumpaustralia-815pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

Now watch for him to manage to do the same to the rest of the world that you so despise and don’t give a “rat’s ass” about.
Will that “Make America Great again”, or get you pulled into wars nobody can win??

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[QUOTE=c.captain;194816]let’s make this very simple and ask every foreign national here if they feel they have a “right” to their OCS-B1 visa and by corollary, if they feel US citizen mariners have the same “right” to get visas to work in their national waters offshore activities?

I am specifically asking all our Norwegian brother mariners participating in this forum this question and I expect answers from them for the record.[/QUOTE]

The right to work in a foreign country is not a human right, its a legal right. Different countries have different laws. Is this suddenly controversial?

You’d have a cow if you had to work in Norwegian waters: they make you pay their taxes.

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[QUOTE=c.captain;194816]let’s make this very simple and ask every foreign national here if they feel they have a “right” to their OCS-B1 visa and by corollary, if they feel US citizen mariners have the same “right” to get visas to work in their national waters offshore activities?

I am specifically asking all our Norwegian brother mariners participating in this forum this question and I expect answers from them for the record.[/QUOTE]

The answer is YES to both questions; Yes foreign nationals have a “right” to a visa to board a foreign flag vessels in US ports, or that is lawfully working in international waters within the US OCS.

Likewise, US citizens have the right to work on[U] US-flag or foreign flag vessels[/U] in other country’s EEZ/OCS, incl. in EU countries and in Norway, as long as they meet the qualification requirement specified by those countries.

Only a few countries are restricting foreign nationals, notably Australia and Brazil.

It would be illogical to restrict specialized vessels that work world wide from keeping their crew if the should spend a few weeks/months in the GoM, like the SSCV Balder and Thialf: http://www.offshore-mag.com/articles/print/volume-70/issue-3/engineering_-construction/installation-of-the-world-s-deepest-spar.html
I believe they kept even their Iban Riggers that they bring with them worldwide.

PS> Watch another GoM job by the SSCV Thialf: http://gcaptain.com/hereema-sscv-thialf-installs-lucius-topsides/

Some countries have restrictions on lower ranking crews, but only Australia has tried a blanket ban on foreigners working on vessels in the offshore industry. Incl. Masters on foreign flag ships, which ends up with an awkward system where there are two “Masters” on the same ship, one being the “flag state Master” and the other the “MUA Master”. (Some may recognize this system from the American flag Factory Trawlers in the Bering Sea earlier)

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Gorbachev has warned that the world is stepping up for war, and I certainly hope he is wrong. But with all the rhetoric being espoused, that is certainly a deep concern. We are still mired down in the Bush/Cheney led war. Of course, Halliburton has done well by it.

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[QUOTE=Emrobu;194819]The right to work in a foreign country is not a human right, its a legal right. Different countries have different laws. Is this suddenly controversial?

You’d have a cow if you had to work in Norwegian waters: they make you pay their taxes.[/QUOTE]

Yes if you work in Norway you have to pay Norwegian taxes, but you also get rights to the protection offered by the Norwegian welfare system. (I.e. free healthcare, sick-leave or unemployment benefits, disability and pension payment etc.)

A young Canadian got injured while working on a Norwegian flag Drilling rig back in the early 1980’s He was declared permanently disabled and received full Norwegian disability pension for the rest of his life, incl. child support payment for his children until they reached 18.

If he had still been working on an American rig at the time, you tell me what he would have got??

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[QUOTE=BilgeRat42;194817]You, sir, are very right - in my humble opinion. I do think we are one of the greatest nations on the earth. Of course, that doesn’t give anyone solid ground to say “Fuck the world” <cough> [B]Seadog[/B] </cough>. Fuckwads like ISIL/ISIS say “Fuck the World - do it our way”. I think we’d be wise to listen to other nations opinions and use those opinions to help shape our own. The wisest among us usually listen more than they speak.

“No man is an island; but some are peninsulas.” - Robin Williams[/QUOTE]

With all due respect there are more than one of us here that use “Seadog” as a part of our user ID. When you direct your post towards someone please make sure it is directed towards the correct party.

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[QUOTE=Chief Seadog;194825]With all due respect there are more than one of us here that use “Seadog” as a part of our user ID. When you direct your post towards someone please make sure it is directed towards the correct party.[/QUOTE]

Very sorry about that, Chief. I have edited that post for clarity.