America First Legal Launches Investigation into Microsoft Prioritizing Hiring H-1B Visa Holders Over American Workers

America First Legal has launched a government-wide investigation into Microsoft’s apparent prioritizing hiring H-1B Visa holders over American workers.

The legal organization has fired off Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the Department of Labor, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of State, and the Department of Justice.

According to AFL, “the government and the private sector continue to put the American people last to propel their open borders agenda – accountability is long overdue. America First Legal is determined to expose any government involvement in this anti-American hiring scheme.”

“It is despicable for a company to fire its own workers and then turn around and hire foreigners as replacements, all just to save a few dollars. The letter and the spirit of the law forbid such practices. American companies that engage in this appalling behavior need to be held accountable. It’s time for them to start following the law and respecting the rights of American workers.“ said James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel, in a press release about the effort.

The organization cited a recent report from the New York Post that found Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and Salesforce are hiring cheaper foreign workers after laying off Americans.

“In theory, our immigration laws should protect American workers from unfair competition from foreign H-1B visa holders,” AFL’s press release explained.

“In practice, however, employers frequently abuse the H-1B visa program to cut costs by hiring cheaper foreign workers,” the statement continued. “For example, one study found that nearly 80% of all approved H-1Bs were for jobs below market rates. And employers do not have to pay payroll taxes for H-1B holders from dozens of countries because of special agreements the United States has signed with those aliens’ home countries. In October 2021, the Departments of Justice and Labor settled a longstanding Trump Administration investigation into Facebook (now part of Meta) related to its use of foreign workers instead of U.S. workers, resulting in Facebook paying millions of dollars in civil penalties.”

Since taking office, Joe Biden has rolled back many of former President Donald Trump’s H-1B reforms that were protecting American workers.

For example, AFL points to “the prior practice of allocating H-1Bs by lottery and instead set up a system to allocate them by wage level, a crucial reform that made it virtually impossible for companies to hire low-wage foreign workers to replace their American employees.”

AFL stated, “The Biden Administration delayed the implementation of this needed rule and then revoked it entirely. The Trump Administration also tightened up a number of definitions and program requirements to stop H-1B abuse. On President Biden’s first day in office, he withdrew important elements of this reform, and then later revoked it entirely. Now, Microsoft and other woke corporations are taking advantage of these destructive rollbacks.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/america-first-legal-launches-investigation-microsoft-prioritizing-hiring/

“Teacher of the Year” Arrested and Charged with Statutory Rape of a Student – Police Say There May Be More Victims

A California teacher who was once named “teacher of the year” has been arrested for allegedly having sex with an underage student.

As Fox News reported, Law enforcement authorities arrested 38-year-old Tracy Vanderhulst, a math teacher at Yucaipa High School, on Thursday night around 11 PM. Vanderhulst was charged with statutory rape.

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said the arrest came following an investigation into allegations she had sex with a minor.

“Investigators and the Yucaipa Calimesa Joint Unified School District worked cooperatively to ensure a thorough investigation into this matter was completed,” the San Bernardino’s Sheriff’s Department said.

Police said the alleged victim is a 16-year-old male student at Yucaipa High School. It is unclear whether he is still a student there according to the New York Post.

Police detectives believe there may be additional victims.

Vanderhulst was hired by Yucaipa High School back in 2013, according to a Facebook post.

In a since-deleted tweet uncovered by the Blaze, the high school claimed Vanderhulst “offers up a rigorous mathematics curriculum and deep caring for her students.”

Vanderhulst won Yucaipa High school’s “teacher of the year” award in 2017. Here is how the school described the now-disgraced instructor:

Tracy Vanderhulst is Yucaipa High School’s Teacher of the Year as she epitomizes the educator so many desire to be- she is the kind and innovative teacher from whom we hope our children will grow; the educator who strives to engage all of her students from her intervention classes to her honors classes.

The Sheriff’s Department said Vanderhulst was booked into Central Detention Center in San Bernardino. Her bail was set at $30,000.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/teacher-year-arrested-charged-statutory-rape-student-police/

Supreme Court: IRS Can Obtain Bank Records Of 3rd Parties Not Under Investigation

In a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court ruled last week that it's legal for the IRS to secretly obtain the bank records of third parties who are not under investigation, when seeking a summons for banking records believed to be relevant to the tax delinquency of another person.

The new ruling gives the IRS "startlingly broad authority to pry into the financial records of people who may be only remotely connected to a delinquent taxpayer," according to one lawyer briefed on the decision, the Epoch Times reports.

The ruling, a victory for the Biden administration, came after the administration’s attempts to strengthen IRS enforcement efforts became an issue in the midterm congressional elections. The Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022, allocated almost $80 billion to the IRS to hire an extra 87,000 agents. Democrats say the IRS has long been underfunded, but Republicans say the extra money will be used to harass taxpayers.

At oral arguments on March 29 the justices had seemed sympathetic to the claim of the wife of a man who owed substantial taxes that the IRS went too far in pursuing her bank records without prior notice. At the same time, they acknowledged the agency needs effective tools to attempt to collect delinquent accounts. -Epoch Times

In the court's May 18 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in Polselli v. IRS (court file 21-1599) sided with the Biden administration, which argued that the IRS does not need to provide notice to third parties, and that having to do so would give delinquent taxpayers "a head start in hiding assets."

The administration also argued that people involved in the process have access to the courts to combat alleged abuses.

In an earlier decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit split from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit over the matter, requiring the Supreme Court to decide the matter. In their decision, Roberts wrote that the Court disagreed with Polselli - affirming the 6th Circuit's ruling.

"Congress has given the IRS considerable power to go after unpaid taxes," wrote Roberts.

"One tool at the Service’s disposal is the authority to summon people with information concerning a delinquent taxpayer. But to safeguard privacy, the IRS is generally required to provide notice to anyone named in a summons, who can then sue to quash it. Today’s case concerns an exception to that general rule."

The IRS can now request the production of "books, papers, records, or other data" from "any person" who may possess information regarding a delinquent taxpayer, Roberts wrote.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/supreme-court-irs-can-obtain-bank-records-3rd-parties-not-under-investigation

Ukraine Admits Murdering "Quite A Few" Russian Civilians Who Back Putin And His Invasion

A senior Ukrainian official has admitted that his country has assassinated "quite a few" Russian civilians who support Putin and his war to assert control of the Donbas region. In interviews first reported by The Times of London, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine's military intelligence service, also promised more attacks are to come.

"We've already successfully targeted quite a few people," said Budanov. He didn't name any of the victims, but said "there have been well-publicized cases everyone knows about, thanks to the media coverage."

Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, several prominent Russian supporters of the invasion and many innocent bystanders have been killed or wounded in the campaign.

One of the most prominent such attacks happened last August, when a car bomb killed journalist Darya Dugina – in a possible attempt to kill her father, the political scientist-philosopher Aleksandr Dugin.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-admits-murdering-quite-few-russian-civilians-who-back-putin-and-his-invasion

These Are The World's Top 50 Endowment Funds

What do Harvard, the Church Commissioners for England, the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an entity on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah all have in common? They all have endowment funds.

An endowment fund is the investment arm of nonprofit institutions like universities, charities, and churches. The purpose of the fund is to invest the organization’s assets to fuel future operations and other important projects.

The world’s largest endowment funds have billions in investable assets, making them sizable players in the finance sector. Here, using data from Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, we take a closer look at the world’s largest endowment funds by total assets.

Types of Endowment Funds

Overall, there are four main types of endowment structures.

Unrestricted Endowment: A fund structure where assets are used at the full discretion of the institution

Term Endowment: A fund structure with a fixed term time period before the principal can be spent

Quasi Endowment: A donation to an endowment with a specific purpose to deploy that capital

Restricted Endowment: A fund structure where the principal value from donations is held forever and only returns generated on the principal can be used

In addition, each endowment fund has different structures in regards to withdrawals, use of funds, and their general investment philosophy.

The Largest Endowment Funds

The largest endowment funds can be compared on a grand economic scale, in terms of assets.

To put it all into perspective, the largest 50 endowment funds represent over a trillion dollars in assets. Or for a more singular example, look at Harvard’s fund, which has an endowment greater than the entire GDP of countries like Serbia, Bolivia, or Slovenia.

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/these-are-worlds-top-50-endowment-funds

Ukraine Expands Weapons Training For Children As Bakhmut Reportedly Falls

Only two months ago the mainstream media widely circulated a video which they said showcased "shocking footage" of Russian school children training with military weapons in programs designed to prepare them for the military. The programs were widely criticized as "indoctrination."

Of course, Ukraine has also been involved in weapons training for children and these efforts have only increased in recent months as the city of Bakhmut, an epicenter of the fighting for many months, has reportedly fallen to Russia's Wagner Group. CNBC has briefly reported on the “Defense of Ukraine” program at the military-patriotic center for schoolchildren in Lviv. The center was opened this month with plans to open dozens of other training facilities for children across the country in the near future.

The western city of Lviv has been a primary relocation point for children escaping the war in the east, so it's not surprising that the Ukrainian government would seek young recruits for the war effort there.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-expands-weapons-training-children-bakhmut-reportedly-falls

Dominion CEO Says Company Will Soon Collapse, ‘We’re Not Worth the Hassle’.

John Poulos, the CEO and founder of Dominion Voting Systems, has mysteriously predicted the company’s collapse as the “damage Dominion has endured [following the 2020 presidential election] is just too severe,” despite their Fox News payday.

Poulos believes that regardless of the recent Fox News defamation victory, which saw the news outlet pay Dominion $787.5 million, the public outcry against the company will result in contractors opting to go elsewhere for their voting systems in the future.

He believes: “Whenever the next time a customer chooses to buy a new system—because every eight years or so, you replace your voting system for obsolescence and for certification issues—they’ll just say, ‘Man, it’s just not worth going through the hassle just to buy Dominion.’”

One example of this loss of confidence was the recent decision of Shasta County, California, to abruptly end its contract with Dominion.

Poulos told Time magazine, “by accusing us of the greatest American crime in history, it turned us, as one of our customers has described, as the most demonized brand in the United States.”

“Eventually, I suspect all of our customers will go a different direction… it’s just a matter of time,” he added.

The company had originally demanded $1.6bn from Fox, a figure 42 times larger than what its parent firm Staple Street Capital paid to acquire it in 2018. Dominion revenues for 2022 were forecast at $98 million.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/05/21/dominion-ceo-says-company-will-soon-collapse-were-not-worth-the-hassle/

Biden claims he’s ‘blameless’ if US defaults on debt, points finger at ‘MAGA Republicans’

President Biden declared himself free of any blame should the country default on its debt, shifting the responsibility on “MAGA Republicans” and claiming they have derailed negotiations.

Discussing the infighting over the debt ceiling during a news conference in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden claimed far-right Republicans are hoping to cause a default and weaken the US economy ahead of his 2024 re-election campaign.

“I’ve done my part,” Biden said of negotiations with Republicans after months of insisting there would be no debate over the debt ceiling. “It’s time for the other side to move their team positions because much of what they were proposed is simply quite frankly, unacceptable.”

When asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy if the president is “blameless” should America default on its debt, Biden agreed.

“Of course no one will blame me, I know you won’t,” he joked. “You’ll be saying, ‘Biden did a wonderful job.’

“On the merits, based on what I’ve offered, I would be blameless,” Biden added.

The president, however, said that the politics behind the negotiations means that no one would really come out “blameless,” claiming that MAGA Republicans would use it to hurt his image.

“I think there are some MAGA Republicans in the House who know the damage that it would do to the economy and because I am president, and presidents are responsible for everything, ‘Biden would take the blame,'” he said. “‘And that’s the one way to make sure Biden’s not re-elected.'”

The potential plunging of the US economy has plagued much of Biden’s trip to Japan during the G-7 economic summit, where he told a reporter on Saturday to “shush up” when pressed on the matter.

Despite the president’s insistence that he will broker a deal between Republicans and Democrats over the debt ceiling, negotiations remain deadlocked.

https://nypost.com/2023/05/21/biden-claims-hes-blameless-if-us-defaults-on-debt/

Former Solomon Islands official ousted from post ‘after turning down Chinese bribes’

Daniel Suidani, an outspoken critic of the Solomon Islands’ closer ties with China, was ousted as premier of Malaita in early February after refusing “huge” bribes from Chinese businesses who threatened to have him removed, he told Radio Free Asia in a recent interview.

Suidani, who is now in the United States, said his ouster was directly orchestrated by agents of the Chinese state after he proved uncooperative.

“It seems to be a normal thing for them to come to my office with huge money,” he said. “One time I closed down a Chinese shop in my province for not following the procedures to operate in the province, and they gave me lots of money, saying … ‘This money is for you and your children, to allow our business to continue, because we employ more of your people.’”

The Chinese business owners also told Suidani: “You know you will be here for only four years and you will finish,” he said.

“I said no … I cannot allow dishonesty in my province,” he said, adding that one bribe he was offered had amounted to a million Solomon dollars, or about US$120,000.

“After I refused this … and [went] against their will, they tried their best to get me out of being premier of Malaita, bringing three motions of no confidence against me.”

The first motion was still OK because the people stood very strong, and the second was still OK, but [before] the third one, the central government used patrol boats and firearms and police to calm down the people’s protest,” he said.

“Even before the motion, the police … closed down the roads.”

He added: “[Now], there is no one in the province who have the heart to stand for democracy, for freedom.”

Undermining democracy

According to Suidani, Beijing’s growing financial and political influence in the country is undermining his country’s democracy, press freedom and extending its influence into all areas of economic and political life.

He said Chinese companies have “changed their behavior” since Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019.

“There are so many changes that happened after … what we call the Switch,” Suidani said. “When China came in, they … supplied apparatus like computers and other things to the media.”

He said one media organization in Honiara has a Chinese liaison official installed at its headquarters to ensure coverage is in line with Beijing’s propaganda goals.

“So the news has been is not neutral … They already give biased information,” he said. “They talk about something not true [and] everything about China always comes to the front page.”

The Chinese Embassy’s official website showed examples of several articles signed by its Ambassador Li Ming in recent years, published in Solomon Islands newspapers.

A news release dated March 29 marked the meeting between Li and Suidani’s replacement, Malaita Premier Martin Fini, in which Li “acknowledged [the provincial] government’s firm support to the national government’s China policy.”

“He assured the delegation that the Chinese Embassy would support and encourage provinces and companies of China to conduct goodwill and mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation with Malaita province,” the report said.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/05/former-solomon-islands-official-ousted-from-post-after-turning-down-chinese-bribes/