#h1b-visas — Public Fediverse posts

Trump Administration Cuts Off Access to a Major Immigration Program for Workers at Microsoft and Adobe

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/trump-administration-crackdown-microsoft-adobe-immigration/

Trump Administration Cuts Off Access to a Major Immigration Program for Workers at Microsoft and Adobe

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/trump-administration-crackdown-microsoft-adobe-immigration/

https://www.europesays.com/people/259121/ Microsoft H-1B visas, green cards suspended as Trump honours Satya Nadella at White House #AIInvestment #DonaldTrump #GreenCards #H1BVisas #ImmigrationCrackdown #JDVance #Microsoft #SatyaNadella #WhiteHouseAwards

https://www.europesays.com/3298611/ Trump plans to honor Microsoft CEO after Vance drops H-1B visa hammer #DonaldTrump #H1BVisas #JamesDavidVance #JdVance #Microsoft #MicrosoftGreenCardProgram #SatyaNadella #vance #VicePresident #VP

https://www.europesays.com/3298611/ Trump plans to honor Microsoft CEO after Vance drops H-1B visa hammer #DonaldTrump #H1BVisas #JamesDavidVance #JdVance #Microsoft #MicrosoftGreenCardProgram #SatyaNadella #vance #VicePresident #VP

😂OMG, a Y Combinator partner said something mildly controversial about H1B visas, and the internet went full Sherlock Holmes without any actual evidence! 🔍 But don't worry, folks, we can rely on the ever-trustworthy echo chamber of social media rumors. 🎭 Where would we be without complete and utter chaos?
https://www.ababnews.com/news/a626cd7e-5749-414f-a159-d204f221e2be #H1Bvisas #YCombinator #SocialMediaRumors #Controversy #InternetChaos #SherlockHolmes #HackerNews #ngated

Bill Gates Is Warning Us About AI. Before We Panic, Remember Bill Gates.

By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News

BAYBAY CITY, Philippines — August 27, 2026

Bill Gates is worried about artificial intelligence taking people’s jobs.

There is a certain historical irony in that sentence that should not be ignored.

The Microsoft co-founder has published a nearly 6,000-word warning arguing that artificial intelligence could eliminate enormous numbers of jobs, destabilize society, enable cybercrime and biological threats, damage childhood development, and produce what he describes as either an extraordinary equalizer or an extraordinary source of injustice (Gates, 2026).

Some of those concerns are legitimate.

But before anyone appoints Bill Gates the patron saint of endangered American workers, there is some history worth remembering.

Bill Gates Wasn’t Always This Worried About Replacing American Technology Workers

During the 2000s, Gates became one of corporate America’s most prominent advocates for dramatically expanding the H-1B visa program, which allows American companies to employ foreign workers in specialized occupations.

In congressional testimony in 2007 and 2008, Gates argued that the existing 65,000-visa base cap was inadequate and that American technology companies needed greater access to foreign scientists and engineers. In 2007, he said he favored essentially unlimited access to highly skilled foreign workers, although he acknowledged that such a policy might not be politically achievable (Gross, 2007; Gates, 2008).

Gates and Microsoft argued that this was about finding talent unavailable in sufficient numbers domestically.

Critics saw something considerably less benevolent.

They argued that H-1B expansion gave technology companies access to workers who could sometimes be employed for less than comparable American professionals, depressing wages and increasing competition faced by American programmers and engineers. Contemporary reporting noted that critics in Congress explicitly accused the program of displacing Americans and suppressing technology wages (Kessler, 2008).

Senator Chuck Grassley challenged Gates directly after his 2008 congressional testimony, arguing that expanding the program without reform would not adequately protect qualified American workers (Grassley, 2008).

And there was another uncomfortable fact.

Microsoft was simultaneously expanding overseas.

In 2003, Microsoft acknowledged that it was shifting some technical support and development work from the United States to India as part of an effort to reduce costs. The company was increasing its Indian workforce while considering reductions in the United States (Wired, 2003).

That does not prove that Bill Gates personally embarked upon some campaign to destroy American information-technology employment.

It does establish something much less sensational and considerably more important: Gates spent years advocating labor and corporate policies that many American technology workers believed threatened their jobs and wages.

That history matters when the same man now warns us that technology may replace workers.

Now Gates Wants to Protect Human Jobs

Gates’ latest proposal is almost breathtaking when placed beside that history.

He suggests governments may eventually need to designate certain occupations or tasks as “Human Reserved”—work that machines would deliberately be prevented from taking over even if artificial intelligence became capable of performing it.

He has also proposed taxing robots and AI usage partly to reduce the financial incentive for companies to replace human labor with machines and partly to finance retraining and social protections for displaced workers (Gates, 2026; Fried, 2026).

Read that again.

One of the men who spent years arguing that American technology companies needed access to a much larger international labor pool is now suggesting that government may need to intervene to prevent technology companies from replacing human workers.

Perhaps Gates has changed his mind.

People are allowed to do that.

Perhaps artificial intelligence genuinely presents a labor-market threat fundamentally different from globalization, outsourcing or immigration.

There is considerable reason to believe that it does.

But skepticism is not unreasonable.

And Then There Is the Money Question

There is another question WPS News believes readers are entitled to ask:

Why now?

One possible cynical interpretation is that Gates has concluded that the economics of artificial intelligence are not developing the way he expected and is now discovering the virtues of restraint.

There is presently no evidence establishing that explanation.

In fact, the available evidence complicates it substantially. Microsoft remains deeply invested in artificial intelligence and maintains a major strategic and financial relationship with OpenAI. Microsoft’s latest annual filing says it continues making significant investments in AI products and services and remains entitled to revenue-sharing payments through its OpenAI partnership (Microsoft, 2026).

Gates himself is no longer running Microsoft day to day, so Microsoft’s corporate interests should not simply be treated as Gates’ personal financial interests.

Nevertheless, the question of incentives is legitimate.

When enormously wealthy technology figures warn society about technologies produced by the industry that made them enormously wealthy, journalists should examine both the warning and the interests surrounding the person delivering it.

That isn’t conspiracy theory.

That’s journalism.

Some of Gates’ Warnings Are Still Right

None of this means Gates is wrong about artificial intelligence.

He may be spectacularly right.

AI can automate cognitive work in a way earlier machinery generally could not. Gates specifically identifies law, medicine, customer service, software and manufacturing among the fields likely to experience disruption. He believes AI-driven robotics will eventually extend that disruption further into physical occupations (Gates, 2026).

He is also warning about AI-assisted cyberattacks, biological weapons, fraud and other deliberate misuse.

Those are real problems.

And Gates’ argument that society should consider protecting certain human occupations rather than blindly accepting every economically efficient automation deserves serious discussion.

But so does Gates’ record.

Technology Billionaires Don’t Suddenly Become Disinterested Observers

Silicon Valley has spent decades telling workers that disruption is progress.

Your factory closes? Progress.

Your job goes overseas? Progress.

Foreign labor can perform your job for less? Global competitiveness.

Software eliminates your department? Innovation.

An algorithm eliminates your profession?

Suddenly we’re discussing protecting human employment.

American information-technology professionals who lived through outsourcing, offshoring and the H-1B battles of the 1990s and 2000s could reasonably be forgiven for raising an eyebrow.

Bill Gates deserves to be heard.

He does not deserve to be heard without context.

The Warning May Be Correct Even If We Distrust the Messenger

That is ultimately where this story becomes more interesting than “Bill Gates says AI is dangerous.”

Artificial intelligence is potentially dangerous.

Massive employment displacement is possible. Cybersecurity threats are real. Biological misuse deserves serious government attention. Children probably should not be raised primarily by artificial companions. And governments are nowhere near adequately prepared for the economic transformation that increasingly capable machines could produce.

Gates may therefore be right about the problem.

But being right today does not erase yesterday.

His history of championing expanded access to foreign technology labor—and Microsoft’s history of shifting some American technical work overseas—belongs in any serious assessment of his newfound concern about protecting human workers.

And the possibility that economic interests influence the changing positions of billionaires should always be investigated rather than politely ignored.

We cannot presently establish that Gates is warning about AI because he has decided he cannot make enough money from it. The evidence does not support stating that as fact.

We can, however, ask the question.

We can examine his interests.

We can remember his history.

And we can refuse to accept either Silicon Valley’s AI evangelists or its newly worried elder statesmen as unquestionable authorities on what is best for everybody else.

The machines deserve scrutiny.

So do the men who built the industry that created them.

References

Fried, I. (2026, August 26). Bill Gates wants to keep some jobs off-limits to AI. Axios.

Gates, B. (2008, March 12). Written testimony before the Committee on Science and Technology, United States House of Representatives. U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology.

Gates, B. (2026, August 26). The turbulent AI era is here: The choices we make now are critical. Gates Notes.

Grassley, C. (2008, March 12). Grassley to Gates: Solution isn’t importing more foreign workers. United States Senate.

Gross, G. (2007, March 7). Gates: Tech needs more immigrant visas. InfoWorld.

Kessler, M. (2008, March 13). Bill Gates urges more visas for tech workers. USA Today.

Microsoft Corporation. (2026). Annual report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wired. (2003, July 3). Microsoft cuts U.S. jobs. Wired.

https://www.europesays.com/3103274/ Immigrant Founders’ Summit in San Francisco to Spotlight Innovation Amid H-1B Visa Decline and Restrictive US Immigration Policies #F1Visas #H1BVisas #ImmigrantEntrepreneurship #ImmigrantFounders #Immigration #InternationalStudents #J1Visas #NetNegativeMigration #OneWaySummit #SanFranciscoSummit #StartupEcosystem #TechInnovation #UsImmigration #USUnicorns #USCISPolicies #VisaRestrictions

🚨 BREAKING: A judge just blocked a $100K fee on H1B visas, ensuring Silicon Valley can continue importing their favorite commodity: cheap labor! 💼💸 Meanwhile, the rest of us are left wondering if there's any fee high enough to save us from this endless cycle of economic brilliance. 🙄🌍
https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2026/06/08/federal-judge-blocks-h1-b-visa-100k-fee/ #H1Bvisas #SiliconValley #cheaplabor #economicbrilliance #technews #HackerNews #ngated

https://www.europesays.com/3049206/ Federal judge strikes down Trump’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas #H1BVisas #Immigration #TrumpVisas

https://www.europesays.com/?p=3017295 ICE impersonators exploit fear during Trump immigration crackdown #DiasporaSafety #H1bVisas #ICEImpersonators #ICERaids #immigrant #immigrants #ImmigrationEnforcement #IndianAmericans #NBCNews #TrumpImmigrationPolicy #VisaHolders

https://www.europesays.com/3010456/ Immigration Service May Significantly Restrict Green Cards In The U.S. #H1BVisaNews #H1bVisas #Immigration #ImmigrationNews #NewImmigrationMemo #NewUSCISMemo #StateDepartment #TrumpImmigration #USCISNews #VisaWaitTimes #VisaWaitTimesIndia

Pook-Emu Bee: Links For 04-03-26

https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/pook-emu-bee-links-for-04-03-26/

Your Job Was Stopping CSAM? Trump Says No Visa For You!

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2025/12/08/your-job-was-stopping-csam-trump-says-no-visa-for-you/

Your Job Was Stopping CSAM? Trump Says No Visa For You!

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2025/12/08/your-job-was-stopping-csam-trump-says-no-visa-for-you/

The comments come amid growing scrutiny over H-1B visas and concerns that foreign labour could displace domestic jobs in key industries. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/ultimately-president-trump-wants-to-see-american-workers-in-those-jobs-white-house-press-secretary-on-h-1b-visas-xawzjhvp?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #DonaldTrump #H1BVisas #ForeignLabour #WhiteHouse

Crush the H-1B program: MTG's proposed bill aims to stop companies from depressing American wages with foreign workers

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.theblaze.com/news/crush-the-h-1b-program-mtg-s-proposed-bill-aims-to-stop-companies-from-depressing-american-wages-with-foreign-workers

#MarjorieTaylorGreene takes her BIGGEST swing yet at Trump with MULTIPLE posts calling out his plans and MOCKING HIM as MAGA backlash ERUPTS over Trump's recent comments on bringing in international talent through #H-1BVisas #JohnIadarola breaks it down on #TheDamageReport youtu.be/m4gEP21_M1I?...

Marjorie Taylor Greene Brutall...

Apparently it was always a scαm; a way for private businesses to undercut American wages and reduce the American labor force.🤷🏿‍♀️
#h1b #h1bvisas #jobs #economy

China’s new K visa aimed at attracting foreign tech talent has triggered backlash, revealing public frustration with job scarcity and a faltering property market. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/10/15/world/china-visa-deepseek-illusion/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #china #tech #immigration #jobs #h1bvisas #kvisas

China Rolls Out Its First Talent Visa as the US Retreats on H-1Bs

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.wired.com/story/china-talent-immigration-visa-h1-b-policy/

ICE operation uncovers fraud in half of immigration cases

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.theblaze.com/news/ice-operation-uncovers-fraud-in-half-of-immigration-cases

Every fifth person pursuing a STEM career in the U.S. is foreign-born. Many will be already weighing rival offers pitching for young talent. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/09/26/world/us-h-1b-visa-reset-to-hurt-colleges/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #commentary #worldnews #donaldtrump #immigration #h1bvisas #workers #useconomy #india

The #Trump administration’s new $100,000 fee for #H1Bvisas, a significant increase from the previous $2,000 to $5,000, could hinder #startups’ ability to secure top foreign talent. While some tech executives support the changes, experts warn that it could drive talent to other countries, potentially benefiting competitors like #China and #India. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/24/trumps-h-1b-visa-changes-could-kneecap-startups-experts-say.html?eicker.news #tech #media #news

Ah, the classic "less immigrants, more jobs" #fallacy 🤦‍♂️. Turns out blocking H-1B visas didn't magically create jobs for locals—shocking! Who knew that complex economies don't adhere to simplistic nativist fantasies? 😂
https://www.nber.org/digest/dec17/fewer-h-1b-visas-did-not-mean-more-employment-natives #lessImmigrantsMoreJobs #H1Bvisas #economicComplexity #nativistMyths #jobMarketReality #HackerNews #ngated

‘If you care for motherland, fight for it’: Tharoor slams Indian diaspora for silence on adverserial moves by US https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/if-you-care-for-motherland-fight-for-it-tharoor-slams-indian-diaspora-for-silence-on-adverserial-moves-by-us-ic96e6tk?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #India #US #trade #H1Bvisas #USTariffs

Interesting discussion about #h1bvisas

https://youtube.com/shorts/uzQNdEEXlgY?si=JKXYZP1oh4Rqcro5

India-US tensions over trade, H-1B visas take center stage as Jaishankar meets Rubio at UNGA. Goyal`s trade delegation also in US. https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/world/jaishankar-rubio-talks-today-can-india-and-us-mend-growing-rifts-over-tariffs-and-h-1b-eijsrban?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=mastodon #India #US #trade #H1Bvisas #USTariffs

Tech giants Amazon, Google, Microsoft reportedly tell H-1B workers to stay in the U.S. after the White House announced a $100K fee for applications. Read more from @Techcrunch:

https://flip.it/DGoy8M

#Tech #Google #Amazon #Microsoft #H1BVisas #Trump

Lazy Caturday Reads: Another Horrible Week Under the Trump Regime

Good Morning!!

By Leonid Kiparisov

It has been another horrible week under the Trump regime. Almost no one who is paying attention still believes that we still live in a democracy. We retain a few of the trappings–the courts (except the Supreme Court, of course), a few Congresspeople, some courageous journalists, citizens protesting in the streets.

The “president” who would be king is busy slapping gold on the walls of the oval office and talking to architects about his planned $200 million golden ballroom, while Stephen Miller runs the country. Oh, and he’s still signing executive orders prepared by Project 2025 and throwing tantrums when anyone dares to criticize or make fun of him.

Andrew Perez, Nikki McCann Ramirez, Asawin Suebsaeng summarize the latest dictatorish happenings at Rolling Stone: Donald Trump’s Most Authoritarian Week Yet.

It was clear Donald Trump and his allies would ramp up their crackdown against any and all opposition in the wake of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk — and this week, the president’s second administration unleashed its most authoritarian blitz yet.

The Trump administration got late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s show taken off the air by threatening companies’ broadcast licenses if they continued to run his show. Trump and his team threatened to strip the tax-exempt status of liberal nonprofit groups, while the president called for left-wing activists to be jailed for protesting him at dinner. Trump announced he’ll once again try to designate “antifa” — America’s disparate anti-fascist movement — as a terrorist group, with no legitimate basis, clarifying once again where he stands on the whole fascism question.

Meanwhile, the administration worked toward its goal to deport a legal U.S. resident for speaking out against Israel’s relentless assault on Palestine. Reports trickled out that Trump would fire a U.S. attorney for failing to bring charges against one of his enemies, before Trump publicly called for his departure and he quit.

This ugly, authoritarian week didn’t happen in a vacuum. Trump just last month mused about how Americans want a “dictator,” and the administration now appears to be using Kirk’s shocking murder as an excuse to escalate Trump’s ongoing campaign for total power.

The ramp-up began on Monday, as Vice President J.D. Vance hosted Kirk’s podcast from the White House and huddled with Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy White House chief of staff and the man responsible for leading his mass vengeance campaign.

“You have the crazies on the far left who are saying, ‘Stephen Miller and J.D. Vance, they’re going to go after constitutionally protected speech. No, no, no,” Vance said, before immediately pledging to go after a network of liberal nonprofits that supposedly “foments, facilitates, and engages in violence.”

During the discussion, Miller repeatedly invoked Kirk’s death to justify the effort to shut down liberal groups.

On the Jimmy Kimmel firing:

…[O]n Wednesday, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Brendan Carr, began issuing explicit threats, demanding that broadcasters take Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air.

Speaking with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson, Carr pressured broadcasters to tell ABC: “‘Listen, we are going to preempt, we are not going to run Kimmel anymore, until you straighten this out because we, we licensed broadcaster, are running the possibility of fines or license revocation from the FCC.’”

By Diya Sanat

Carr added, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Within hours, ABC had indefinitely suspended Kimmel’s show and two large broadcast companies, Nexstar and Sinclair, announced they wouldn’t run it. (Note: The companies all have regulatory matters before the FCC.) Sources told Rolling Stone that while multiple executives at ABC and its parent company, Disney, did not feel that Kimmel’s comments merited a suspension, they caved to pressure from Carr.

“They were terrified about what the government would do, and did not even think Jimmy had the right to just explain what he said,” a person familiar with the internal situation said on Thursday, calling the decision “cowardly.”

Throughout Trumpland and the federal government, there was a heightened sense of glee over their silencing of Kimmel. Administration officials feel emboldened by the multiple scalps they’ve now collected — first Stephen Colbert, now Kimmel — to the point that they’re confident they have momentum to pressure corporate bosses to get rid of Trump’s late-night nemeses over at other networks.

Trump has gotten so full of himself after this big win that he’s now claiming that criticism of him is illegal.

Luke Broadwater at The New York Times: Trump Says Critical Coverage of Him Is ‘Really Illegal.’

President Trump said Friday that news reporters who cover his administration negatively have broken the law, a significant broadening of his attacks on journalists and their First Amendment right to critique the government.

A day after asserting that broadcasters should potentially lose their licenses over negative news coverage of him, Mr. Trump escalated his condemnations of the press, suggesting such reporters were lawbreakers.

“They’ll take a great story and they’ll make it bad,” he said, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. “See, I think that’s really illegal.”

He added: “Personally, you can’t take, you can’t have a free airwave if you’re getting free airwaves from the United States government.”

Mr. Trump did not cite a specific law he said he believed had been violated. It remained unclear Friday why Mr. Trump believed negative news coverage, which every president has faced and is protected by the Constitution, would be “really illegal.”

Asked for comment, the White House did not cite a specific law Mr. Trump believed was being violated, but a White House official pointed to settlements that media companies, including ABC, have agreed to pay after Mr. Trump’s legal team filed lawsuits against them, and suggested Mr. Trump was attempting to rein in “extreme left-wing bias in television.” [….]

Mr. Trump’s comments on Friday came a day after he suggested that protesters who called him “Hitler” to his face inside a Washington restaurant should be jailed.

The president, who has accused the protesters of being paid agitators and said such people “should be put in jail,” told reporters on Air Force One that he believed the protesters were “very inappropriate” and “a threat.”

Trump got some pushback from a surprising source. NBC News: Ted Cruz rips FCC chair’s Jimmy Kimmel threat as ‘unbelievably dangerous.’

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on Friday for threats he made this week related to Jimmy Kimmel’s show, calling the Trump administration official’s actions “dangerous as hell.”

“I think it is unbelievably dangerous for government to put itself in the position of saying we’re going to decide what speech we like and what we don’t, and we’re going to threaten to take you off air if we don’t like what you’re saying,” Cruz said on his podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.”

Girl with Cat – Augusta Oelschig , 1945 American, 1918–2000

“I like Brendan Carr. He’s a good guy, he’s the chairman of the FCC. I work closely with him, but what he said there is dangerous as hell,”Cruz said.

Cruz is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC. He warned Carr’s actions could have long-term consequences.

“It might feel good right now to threaten Jimmy Kimmel, yeah, but when it is used to silence every conservative in America, we will regret it,”Cruz said….

Cruz went on to say Friday: “I hate what Jimmy Kimmel said,” but likened Carr’s comments about Disney taking the easy way or the hard way to a classic mob movie.

“I gotta say, that’s right out of ‘Goodfellas.’ That’s right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going, nice bar you have here, it’d be a shame if something happened to it,” Cruz said.

Of course Kimmel never said anything critical of Charlie Kirk. What he did do was make fun of Trump blowing of a question about how he was recovering from the loss of his friend to brag about his White House ballroom construction:

Kimmel has also mocked Trump for a specific comment he made in response to being asked by a reporter how he was personally “holding up” after the assassination of Kirk, who he has said was a friend.

Trump had replied saying he was “very good” and then immediately started boasting about the new ballroom he is building at the White House.

Kimmel said after the clip: “This is not how an adult grieves the murder of somebody called a friend. This is how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish.”

There’s also no evidence of involvement of left wing groups in the Kirk assassination. NBC News:

The federal investigation into the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has yet to find a link between the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, and left-wing groups on which President Donald Trump and his administration have pledged to crack down after the killing, three sources familiar with the probe told NBC News.

One person familiar with the federal investigation said that “thus far, there is no evidence connecting the suspect with any left-wing groups.”

“Every indication so far is that this was one guy who did one really bad thing because he found Kirk’s ideology personally offensive,” this person continued.

In addition, two of the people familiar with the probe said it may be difficult to charge Robinson at the federal level for Kirk’s killing, while the third source said there is still an expectation that some kind of federal charge is filed against Robinson.

Factors that have complicated the effort to bring charges at the federal level include that Robinson, a Utah resident, did not travel from out of state; Kirk was shot during an open campus debate at Utah Valley University. Additionally, Kirk himself is not a federal officer or elected official.

Disney (and perhaps even right wing Sinclair) apparently regret the sudden firing of Jimmy Kimmel.

Screen Rant: Disney Is Scrambling After The Backlash To Jimmy Kimmel’s Cancellation Blew Up.

Wholly unsurprising to anyone paying attention, the backlash over the abrupt cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel Live! is only continuing to grow and spread, and Disney is now scrambling to fix a situation quickly spiraling out of its control. After far-right podcaster Charlie Kirk was shot and killed, reactions have been intense, but it’s Disney’s knee-jerk reaction that has drawn the most ire.

Carl Wilhelmson, Svarta Katten (Black Cat).

There has been considerable pressure from the right to crack down on anyone saying anything even remotely controversial about Kirk, and media companies have acquiesced to this pressure. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, Disney announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel from the air indefinitely after a monologue in which he didn’t hold back about Trump’s seeming indifference to Kirk’s murder. [See the quote from Kimmel that I posted above.] You can watch the video at the link.

The media is generally framing it as Kimmel being indefinitely suspended for his comments about Charlie Kirk. If you just watched the above, however, and are now wondering why, as Kimmel’s jabs weren’t aimed at Kirk, but Trump, then you’ve hit on precisely why the backlash against Disney’s Jimmy Kimmel decision is growing – and why it’s not likely to stop any time soon.

The fallout from the decision to pull Kimmel off the air was immediate; the Jimmy Kimmel suspension is already so much worse than Stephen Colbert’s cancellation. On Thursday, hundreds of union writers and actors protested Kimmel’s suspension outside Disney’s Burbank studios (via Deadline). On-air and off-air talent have made their anger clear; mega-successful producer Damon Lindelof, for example, has stated he will not work with Disney unless it reinstates Kimmel.

Read more at Screen Rant.

In more First Amendment news, Trump’s lawsuit against The New York Times isn’t going well.

This story made my day. Madiba K. Dennie at Balls and Strikes: Federal Judge Strikes Trump Defamation Lawsuit For Being Too Annoying to Read.

On Friday, September 19, a federal district judge in Florida struck President Donald Trump’s complaint in his $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, four Times reporters, and Penguin Random House, describing the complaint as “decidedly improper and impermissible.” Under Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint is supposed to include “a short and plain statement” alleging enough facts that, if true, could warrant legal relief. The complaint Trump filed on Monday, by contrast, is 85 pages long and reads more like an anthology of his Truth Social posts, with slightly better punctuation.

By Leonid Kiparisov

Most complaints filed in federal courtrooms do not get tossed under Rule 8, but most complaints filed in federal courtrooms do not spend dozens of pages recounting, as Trump’s does, the plaintiff’s “singular brilliance” and “history-making media appearances” in programs like Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson. Trump’s complaint is also crowded with boasts about his purported magnificence (for example, “President Trump secured the greatest personal and political achievement in American history”) and snipes about legacy media’s anti-Trump bias (for example, “Defendants baselessly hate President Trump in a deranged way”).

Friday’s order, in turn, is full of the judge’s unmasked exhaustion. “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective,” wrote Steven Merryday, a judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. “This complaint stands unmistakably and inexcusably athwart the requirements of Rule 8.” Merryday gave Trump 28 days to amend the complaint and come back with something less ridiculous, and not exceeding forty pages. “This action will begin, will continue, and will end in accord with the rules of procedure and in a professional and dignified manner,” he wrote.

Read the rest at the link.

In immigration news, ICE is ramping up their activities in Chicago.

AP: ICE arrests nearly 550 in Chicago area as part of ‘Midway Blitz.’

PARK RIDGE, Ill. (AP) — Immigration enforcement officials have arrested almost 550 people as part of an operation in the Chicago area that launched a little less than two weeks ago, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday.

The updated figure came hours after a senior immigration official revealed in an interview with The Associated Press that more than 400 people had been arrested in the operation so far. The figures offer an early gauge of what is shaping up as a major enforcement effort that comes after similar operations were launched in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

The figures released by Homeland Security include arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as other federal agencies assisting in the operation.

ICE launched its Chicago area operation dubbed “Midway Blitz” on Sept. 8, drawing concern from activists and immigrant communities who say there’s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement agents. That has deepened dread in communities already fearful of the large-scale arrests or aggressive tactics used in other cities targeted by President Donald Trump ’s hardline immigration policies.

The operation has brought allegations of excessive force and heavy-handed dragnets that have ensnared U.S. citizens, while gratifying Trump supporters who say he is delivering on a promise of mass deportations.

A political candidate was roughed up. The Washington Post: Congressional candidate thrown to ground during protest outside ICE facility.

Federal agents clashed with protesters and threw a congressional candidate to the ground Friday morning during a protest outside a Chicago-area Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.

The chaotic scene unfolded in Broadview, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old Democratic candidate running for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District seat, was thrown to the ground by an armed and masked federal agent outside the ICE facility, according to video footage posted on her social media.

Abughazaleh said about 100 demonstrators were at the facility to protest what the Trump administration has labeled “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, a drastic ramp-up of immigration operations and ICE raids that began in early September.

Chic Woman with a Cat, Robert Bereny, 1927

In an interview with The Washington Post, Abughazaleh described arriving to the protest about 4 a.m. as a van was entering or exiting the facility. During one clash, officers pushed protesters back and dragged one individual by the hood of his sweatshirt, she said, before she also was picked up and thrown to the ground.

A later incident, which Abughazaleh described as “more aggressive” and which was captured on video, occurred about 9 a.m., when an officer she described as an ICE agent pulled her away and threw her on the ground again as another ICE vehicle was leaving the facility.

Video depicts what appears to be a mix of ICE agents and Customs and Border Protection officers on the scene….

“They had dragged a protester into the facilities. … They put this person in chains, in a van, and they had the van come out, and ICE tried to drive through us,” Abughazaleh told The Post. “My friend was on the hood of the car. They started shooting pepper balls at us. A man got shot in the face with one, a guy almost fell into the wheel of a car. Then they teargassed us, and the van drove away with the protester in there.”

More violations of the First Amendment, but what else is new?

Trump wants to put more restrictions on legal immigration unless you’re a billionaire. The Washington Post: Trump unveils $100K yearly fee on H-1B visas in clampdown on legal immigration.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced an annual $100,000 fee on successful applicants for a high-skilled worker visa program that is widely used in Silicon Valley, constraining a key path to legal immigration.

The president also signed an executive order that would allow wealthy foreigners to pay $1 million for a “gold card” for U.S. residency and companies to pay $2 million for a “corporate gold card” that would permit them to sponsor one or more employees.

“The main thing is we’re going to have great people coming in and they’re going to be paying,” Trump said. “We’re going to take that money and we’re going to be reducing taxes and we’re going to be reducing debt.”

Self portrait with Cat – Charlotte ‘Sarika’Góth, 1934. Hungarian , 1900 – 1992

Both moves probably will face legal challenges. If upheld, however, they would dramatically tighten legal immigration systems while opening access to the United States for wealthy foreigners. That would deliver a win to outspoken members of Trump’s nationalist base who have argued for years that the H1-B program takes jobs from American workers. Left-leaning critics also have faulted the program, which they say can be used to exploit workers from overseas….

The $100,000 payment for an H-1B visa could be made each year for six years, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an Oval Office ceremony unveiling the actions. Roughly half a million people in the U.S. work through H-1B visas, and most renew their status every three years. A significant number apply for green cards through their employer to receive legal permanent residency but confront significant delays because of backlogs in processing.

“The company needs to decide … is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American,” Lutnick told reporters. “Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on visas that were given away for free. The president is crystal clear: valuable people only for America.”

This will just drive skilled workers to other countries.

Three more stories, before I wrap this up:

Trump murdered three more people in a fishing boat. CNN: Trump announces another lethal strike on alleged drug-trafficking vessel in international waters.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced another lethal military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in international waters that he said was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.

In a social media post, Trump said the strike targeted a vessel operating in US Southern Command’s area of responsibility – which includes Central America, South America and the Caribbean – and killed three male “narcoterrorists” onboard….

“On my Orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans.”

“STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!,” the president said.

Trump attached a video of the strike to his post.

The third grade “president” has spoken.

The New York Times: U.S. Attorney Investigating Two Trump Foes Departs Amid Pressure From President.

The U.S. attorney investigating New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey said he had resigned on Friday, hours after President Trump called for his ouster.

Erik S. Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, had recently told senior Justice Department officials that investigators found insufficient evidence to bring charges against Ms. James and had also raised concerns about a potential case against Mr. Comey, according to officials familiar with the situation. Mr. Trump has long viewed Ms. James and Mr. Comey as adversaries and has repeatedly pledged retribution against law enforcement officials who pursued him.

By Ruskin Spear, 1911

Mr. Siebert informed prosecutors in his office of his resignation through an email hours after the president, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he wanted him removed because two Democratic senators from Virginia had approved of his nomination.

“When I saw that he got two senators, two gentlemen that are bad news as far as I’m concerned — when I saw that he got approved by those two men, I said, pull it, because he can’t be any good,” Mr. Trump said. The president did not mention that he nominated Mr. Siebert only after the two senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, had already written Mr. Trump praising him.

When asked if he would fire Mr. Siebert, Mr. Trump responded, “Yeah, I want him out.”

Ms. James, he told reporters, was “very guilty of something.”

Mr. Trump later disputed that Mr. Siebert had resigned, saying in a late-night social media post, “He didn’t quit, I fired him!”

Mr. Trump’s comments came after a high-stakes internal debate raged on Friday over the fate of Mr. Siebert — with Mr. Trump’s own appointees at the Justice Department and key Republicans on Capitol Hill arguing to retain the veteran prosecutor.

Another childish tantrum. It’s so embarrassing for our country.

The New York Times: Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access.

The Pentagon said Friday it would impose new restrictions on reporters covering the Department of Defense, requiring them to pledge not to gather or use any information that had not been formally authorized for release or risk losing their credentials to cover the military.

The new mandate, described in a memorandum circulated to the press on Friday, was the latest in a series of actions by the Trump administration to limit the ability of the media to cover the federal government without interference.

The Department of Defense said in the 17-page memo that it “remains committed to transparency to promote accountability and public trust.” But it added that “information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.”

In addition, the document constrains the movements of the media within the Pentagon itself, designating large areas of the building off limits without escorts for the roughly 90 reporters credentialed to cover the agency. Although many offices and meeting rooms in the Pentagon are restricted, the Pentagon press corps had previously been given unescorted access throughout much of the building and its hallways.

The move could drastically restrict the flow of information about the U.S. military to the public. The National Press Club called the policy “a direct assault on independent journalism” and called for it to be immediately rescinded.

#ABC #authoritarianism #BrendanCarr #CharlieKirk #Chicago #dictatorship #Disney #DonaldTrump #ErikSSiebert #extraLegalBoatStrikes #fascism #FCC #firstAmendment #H1BVisas #ICE #immigration #JimmyKimmel #KatAbughazaleh #MidwayBlitz #PentagonReporterRules #TedCruz #TylerRobinson

https://www.europesays.com/2426839/ Return to U.S. immediately or risk getting stranded: immigration attorneys, companies tell H-1B workers #AbuseOfH1BVisas #H1BVisas #immigrant #ImmigrationAttorneysOnH1BVisasFee #TrumpH1BVisaFee #TrumpImmigrationLaw

https://www.europesays.com/2426535/ U.S. President Trump says abuse of H-1B programme a ‘national security threat’ #000FeeOnH1BVisas #100 #AbuseOfH1BVisas #DonaldTrump #H1BVisas #POTUS #PresidentDonaldTrump #PresidentOfTheUnitedStates #PresidentTrump #trump #TrumpH1BVisaFee #TrumpRestrictsEntryOfNonImmigrantWorkers

💸💻 Behold the true cost of H1B visas: $100k/year... if you can ever access the information behind an impregnable wall of cookies and #Cloudflare blocks. 🛑🔒 Clearly, the tech world is under attack by vicious SQL commands, or maybe just a few too many broken web pages. 😂🙄
https://www.boundless.com/blog/trump-administration-to-propose-new-100000-fee-for-h-1b-visa-applications/ #H1Bvisas #TechIndustry #WebSecurity #SQLInjection #HackerNews #ngated

https://social.emucafe.org/naferrell/salesforce-layoffs-09-02-2025/

From a report on KRON4 by Alex Baker (September 1, 2025):

Speaking to The Logan Bartlett Show on Friday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the use of AI agents had enabled him to “rebalance” his headcount in the customer support division by trimming 4,000 jobs.

This sounds like an exciting time for Salesforce! I was pointed to this story by Pixy Misa of Ambient Irony, who highlighted a quote from Mr. Baker describing the most recent eight-month period as “eight of the most exciting months of my career.” Since Salesforce is doing so well with “an agentic sales that is calling back every person that contacts us” (another quote from Mr. Benioff), I assume that all of this excitement should mean that Salesforce will soon no longer need to rely on thousands of H-1B visa petitions to bolster its workforce (the AI can do it all I hear).

(PS: I have known of Salesforce for a while but have never been totally clear on what it does. I could resolve my ignorance on that matter but I have been getting along well enough despite my lack of knowledge.)

#ai #h1bVisas #layoffs #salesforce

Above the fold👆
You know about the #H1BVisas which the US uses to allow educational staff, tech and corporate workers, into the country, right?

This author at naked capitalism say the reason those #H1B holders are being #deported now is to allow them back into the US labor pool on #H2A #Visas. The "#SlaveLabor/Indentured #Labor" visa used to bring in workers on terms that are as close to #HumanTrafficking as can be, but 'legal'. #H2AVisas #Deportation

Tech companies are telling immigrant employees on visas not to leave the U.S.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/31/immigration-h1b-fear-siliconvalley/

#HackerNews #TechImmigration #VisaIssues #SiliconValley #EmployeeRights #H1BVisas #ImmigrationPolicy

@shantini
Just wanted to chime in on behalf of TechHub Moderation.

H1B Holders are PEOPLE, not policy.

Simply being against the POLICY of issuing #H1Bvisas is not something we can do anything about as moderators: discussion of immigration law is protected political speech, and legitimate conversation. However, it is NOT ok for anyone to attack #H1B Holders themselves, and especially not to refer to them as "H1Bs".

H1B holders are just workers trying to get by, following the rules and getting a legal #visa through legitimate means. Even if the government is issuing too many, and even though companies will always try to exploit them, these people do not have power here and this is in no way their fault.

"They" are not "actively harming" anyone. The System is.

Hate Speech against H1B holders themselves, or ANY group of #immigrants, is not allowed on TechHub, or the mainstream Fediverse in general, and will be dealt with accordingly.

Just wanted to make that clear.

- #TechHub #Moderation

> H1B visas are "non-immigrant" visas, meaning that they are designed not to offer any path to permanent residence or citizenship. You can live in the US for a long time on an H1B, but you are bound over to your employer like a serf bound to a feudal estate: if you lose your job, you lose your right to abide in the country. That can mean losing your house, your car, your kids' school and friends.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/01/06/how-the-sausage-gets-made/#governing-is-harder
/HT @pluralistic
#H1BVisas #H1BWorkers

Stay AWOKE! Don’t be dumbed down and surfified by Elmo and Donnie: #H1Bvisas

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yxicpy4gt2i2kpak4ikclmk6/post/3lelduc2tfc2t

Liar-In-Chief strikes again.

As a businessman, Trump just praised the visa program. "I have many H-1B visas on my properties, I've been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It's a great program."

As a politician, he has criticized it. In 2016, #Trump called the program “very bad” and “unfair” for U.S. workers. Three months after taking office, he issued an executive order that directed changes to ensure that #h1bvisas were awarded to “superior” candidates.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-backs-immigration-visas-skilled-154005820.html

Donald Trump Shares View on H-1B Visas Amid MAGA Civil War https://www.byteseu.com/604382/ #Conflicts #DonaldTrump #ElonMusk #H1BVisas #HPTopStories #Immigration #LauraLoomer #MAGA #SteveBannon #U.S.Politics #VivekRamaswamy

»#Conservativecritics of #ElonMusk are alleging #censorship and claiming they were stripped of their verification badges on #XTwitter after challenging his views on #H1Bvisas.« https://www.axios.com/2024/12/27/musk-x-loomer-h1b-maga-verification?eicker.news #tech #media

»#Indianimmigration is great for #America: The new #MAGA coalition has officially had its first internal debate, and it’s over #H1bvisas.« https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/indian-immigration-is-great-for-america?eicker.news #tech #media

"In 2013, a billboard was erected in Silicon Valley with a blunt invitation to immigrant STEM workers:

“H-1B Problems?” it stated.

“Pivot to Canada.”

"The billboard was part of a targeted campaign by the Canadian government to attract disaffected immigrant STEM workers to Canada.

"The campaign worked."

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/3843282-canada-regularly-poaches-us-immigrant-tech-talent-mexico-could-be-next/

"From 2006 to 2012, Mexico opened 120 tuition-free specialist technology universities."

| #CanadianImmigration #CanadianTech #Canada #H1BVisas #H1BVisa #H1B #Mexico

Alcion.ai is #hiring engineers and someone to lead growth marketing!

For those looking for #jobs and/or impacted by #layoffs, we are still hiring! We are a remote-only and well-funded #startup, are looking for backend and distributed systems engineers around the globe, we sponsor and transfer #h1bvisas for folks in the US, and would love to have you apply!

https://jobs.lever.co/alcion