FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—Sen. Rick Scott introduced a bill designed to end the Optional Practical Training visa program, which incentivizes employers to hire foreign students.

The Florida Republican’s Prioritizing American Talent Act would prohibit Department of Homeland Security funding from being used to help foreigners secure employment in the U.S.

The Optional Practical Training program, created in 1992, allows international students to remain in the United States to work for nearly four years after graduation. Employers receive a tax break for hiring the graduates under the program, which some say gives foreign nationals an advantage over U.S. citizens. 

Scott has said the OPT program creates a national security risk by allowing Chinese students to access sensitive technology and cutting-edge research at top U.S. companies and universities before returning home.

“We need to make more jobs available for hardworking Americans, not foreign workers who come over to exploit the system—including thousands from Communist China,” Scott said in a statement to the Daily Signal. “This is why we need to end the Optional Practical Training Program, which has allowed employers to import foreign labor under the guise of job training. That’s why I am proud to introduce this bill to end it.”

While the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to end the program by issuing a new rule, President Donald Trump’s administration has not publicly begun the rulemaking process, leading some conservative members of Congress to propose their own bills to end the program.

“We need to make sure that Americans who work hard and play by the rules still have the chance to live their American dream,” Scott said.

Scott told the Daily Signal that people are “shocked” whenever he talks about OPT.

“It makes you mad,” he said. “We all pay our taxes, and then we create incentives for our companies in our country to hire foreign workers.”

“This should happen today, one, to help Americans get jobs, and number two, we got to get rid of this for the fraud,” he said. “Number three, we’ve got a lot of people here from Communist China, they’re spying on us and stealing things from our companies.”

Scranton Mayor and congressional candidate Paige Cognetti (D-PA) promoted a violence intervention program involving a “safe space” for people who had entered the justice system or were recently coming out of it after a gang-related shooting wounded a city detective, months after photos were posted showing her with operators of a Crips-linked hookah lounge that authorities had repeatedly associated with criminal activity.

The post Dem Mayor Running for Congress Posed with Crips-Linked Lounge Operators Months After Scranton Detective Shooting appeared first on Breitbart.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics provided to Breitbart Texas show that total apprehensions at the southwest border in May were lower than the single-day rates at the peak of the Biden border crisis. As Border Patrol apprehensions remain under 10,000 for the month, CBP tells Breitbart the release of illegal aliens at the border to pursue asylum remains at zero for the 13th consecutive month.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Trump Delivers 13 Straight Months of Zero Illegal Alien Releases at U.S.-Mexico Border appeared first on Breitbart.

The SAVE America Act must be passed by the Senate as soon as possible, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts said on Wednesday.

Roberts appeared on “The VINCE Show,” hosted by Vince Coglianese, and said he supports President Donald Trump pushing for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to include the SAVE America Act.

“We’ve been saying for months it may be the only way to get the SAVE America Act passed is to attach it to FISA, and so I applaud the president for what he’s doing,” Roberts said.

FISA allows the government to surveil foreigners without a warrant, and it expired last Friday after Congress failed to pass an extension of the bill.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., called it “unrealistic” to bundle the two bills, and said he will only move to pass FISA once he’s confident there are enough votes.

“How Thune described the situation and the rules of the Senate yesterday are wrong—it’s just utterly wrong,” Roberts said. “The way you do this is to actually force debate. And ultimately, as Mike Lee has outlined so well for so many months, there is a way forward.”

Vice President JD Vance told the Daily Signal today that the Senate should at least attempt to pass the legislation.

“Why don’t we try, and at least force people to vote against it,” he said. “One of the things that sometimes frustrates me about the legislative process is that people will go into it saying this isn’t possible, therefore we’re not even going to try. Well, let’s actually see, let’s try it, and if it’s not possible, then let the people put their name on it.” 

The SAVE America Act should not be so highly debated, according to Roberts. It’s necessary to secure election integrity.

“All this is is voter identification and making sure that you’re a citizen to be voting in our elections,” Roberts said. “It’s not controversial.”

Voting to pass the SAVE America Act will only help senators who are up for reelection, according to Roberts.

“The great thing about this is—just to paint a positive picture for senators who may be worried—is, it’s really popular. The conservative base will turn out in the midterms if you go do this,” Roberts said. “This is one of the reasons we need to do it.”

Heritage is “working feverishly” to pressure the Senate into voting on the SAVE America Act alongside FISA, according to Roberts.

“We’re totally with the president,” Roberts said. “We need to get this done. We need to get it done this summer.”

A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release a Palestinian green card-holder, convicted decades ago of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli Armed Forces, whom officials accused of lying on his immigration paperwork to cover up his criminal past.

The post Judge Orders ICE to Release Immigrant Convicted of Hurling Molotov Cocktail at Israeli Forces appeared first on Breitbart.

Why isn’t anyone else writing about this? On Wednesday, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the presidents of the United States and Iran. Meanwhile, major disasters were breaking out all over America. Is this just some sort of really bizarre coincidence, or is something else going on here? Read the evidence that I have compiled below and decide for yourself.

On Wednesday, the very first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Arthur, suddenly formed and slammed into the Texas coastline…

Tropical Storm Arthur made landfall along the coast of Texas on Wednesday, and as the first storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, it is bringing significant flooding and severe weather to the Gulf Coast.

Arthur formed on Wednesday after a sprawling area of showers and thunderstorms over Texas tracked over the warm waters of the Gulf, which helped it organize and strengthen. Hours later, the center of the storm moved inland over the Texas coast.

In 2025, only one named storm hit the U.S. the entire year.

And it is very rare for a named storm to make landfall this early.

As this storm travels east, it is expected to bring “extreme” flooding to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle…

As many as 40 million people across eight states are in the deadly path of Tropical Storm Arthur after the first named storm of hurricane season made landfall Wednesday night.

Arthur, which has been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Thursday, slammed into the Texas Coast last night, and is now projected to barrel across the South, bringing severe flooding from Louisiana to the Carolinas.

Meteorologists with AccuWeather warned that Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle will see ‘extreme’ levels of flooding along the coast and in urban areas throughout Thursday, with as much as 12 to 18 inches of rain falling.

Then on Friday, it is being projected that this storm will bring “life-threatening flooding” to Georgia and the Carolinas…

Georgia and the Carolinas are expected to be impacted on Friday, as forecasters say Arthur will continue to bring ‘life-threatening flooding, property damage and disruptions to commerce and travel.’

AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Duffus warned in a statement: ‘Heavy rainfall will be fueled by tropical moisture, delivering rainfall rates of 2-4 inches per hour across portions of the Gulf Coast.’

However, flooding is not the only concern tied to Arthur, as the National Weather Service has also issued a widespread tornado watch across coastal areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

Tropical Storm Arthur formed and made landfall on the exact same day that the Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the presidents of the United States and Iran.

This storm is going to cause a massive amount of damage all the way from Texas to the Carolinas.

Is this just a coincidence?

I don’t think so.

Also on Wednesday, a series of extremely violent tornadoes suddenly broke out in the Midwest and the Southeast…

At least seven tornadoes broke out Wednesday night across the Midwest and Southeast, as severe weather descended on a large swath of the country.

According to the National Weather Service, a confirmed tornado was reported near the small northeast Iowa community of Harpers Ferry at 5:10 p.m., while a second confirmed tornado rolled through Charleston in central Illinois at about 6:40 p.m. local time.

Both tornadoes were flagged by the weather service as a “particularly dangerous situation,” a rare designation used by the weather service for environments in which “strong and violent tornadoes” are possible.

The town of Charleston, Illinois was hit particularly hard.

At one point, a trailer was actually picked up and torn away from its foundation…

Photos and videos obtained by CBS News showed extensive damage to homes and buildings in Charleston, where a mess of downed trees and power lines covered the streets. Emergency responders in the city could also be heard in dispatch audio describing some of the treacherous scenarios they encountered, including multiple overturned semitrucks and a trailer that had been torn from its foundation, possibly with someone inside.

Hail measuring between 2.75 and 3 inches was also reported in Charleston and surrounding parts of Illinois, where powerful winds at times climbed as high as 78 mph, according to the weather service.

Is it just another coincidence that this also occurred on Wednesday?

As you can see, the “coincidences” are starting to pile up.

Let me give you another one.

An enormous wildfire in eastern Washington state that is being driven by very high winds caused all sorts of chaos on Wednesday…

High winds drove a wildfire into an eastern Washington neighborhood, forcing the evacuation of about 1,500 people and destroying at least 15 homes, officials said Wednesday.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that its forensic unit found what appeared to be human remains inside a home destroyed in the fire. A family member had requested a wellness check because one of the residents had refused to evacuate and could not be reached, officials said in a news release.

Of course the skeptics will insist that this is yet another coincidence.

Meanwhile, the screwworm plague that just broke out in the Southwest just continues to pop up in even more Texas counties…

Screwworm cases are rising in the US as the outbreak spreads beyond the initial contamination zones.

Twelve animal cases have been confirmed so far, a significant increase from the first case detected in a calf in south Texas on 3 June. The growing number of infections has alarmed agricultural experts, who warn that a wider outbreak could have serious consequences for the Texas beef industry.

Of the 12 reported cases, 11 remain active and one is inactive, according to an update issued last Thursday by the US Department of Agriculture’s animal and plant health inspection service. The most recent case was reported on 12 June in Sutton countyin west Texas, where a sheep was discovered with the infection. Other cases have been identified in the Texas counties of Edwards, Tom Green, Gillespie, La Salle and Zavala, as well as in Lea county, New Mexico.

And just within the last 24 hours, we have officially hit “tank bottoms” in Cushing, Oklahoma…

As I discussed yesterday, once we get below 20 million barrels of oil at Cushing, there won’t be enough pressure in the pipelines to keep operating.

So this is it.

At the same time, fish are literally being cooked to death in lakes and rivers all over the country…

A team of contractors spent their weekend hauling thousands of dead fish carcasses from the waters of Minnesota’s Como Lake, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Tuesday. Located in a suburban park in St. Paul, the lake is now down about 1,000 bluegill and crappies, which died en masse as a result of low oxygen — a side effect of a rapid influx of heat.

Down south in Arizona, state wildlife officials closed public access to San Carlos Lake indefinitely after drought conditions and a nearby dam release “resulted in a major fish kill affecting approximately 100 percent of the fish population.” Across the country in Massachusetts, the Charles River was the site of a massive die-off of carp after a pre-summer heat wave baked fish exhausted from spawning.

This is happening even though summer has not even officially begun yet.

That is certainly not a good sign.

And now a “Super El Niño” has begun…

The forecasted El Niño—a mysterious but well-documented climate phenomenon—has officially begun, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on June 11. Meteorologists expect it to evolve into one of the most powerful ones on record, and the event will likely bring about extreme weather worldwide and consequently affect the economy.

If you believe that it is just a “coincidence” that all of the things that I have shared in this article are happening simultaneously, that is okay.

We will just have to agree to disagree.

Personally, I am convinced that what we are currently experiencing is yet more evidence that history is taking us in a very particular direction.

So many prominent voices are crying out “peace and safety”, but the truth is that apocalyptic times are upon us.

Global events have been spinning out of control for quite some time now, but what we have been through so far is not even worth comparing to what is eventually coming.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Is It Just A Coincidence That So Many Disasters Are Suddenly Hitting The United States The Same Week The Memorandum Of Understanding Was Signed? appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is in Brussels, Belgium, for a NATO summit and meeting of all NATO defense ministers. As noted by Secretary Hegseth, “going forward, our annual NATO dues will be contingent on other countries meeting their defense spending targets; where other allies do not spend with urgency, our dues contributions will go […]

The post Hegseth Announces Six-Month Review of U.S. Posture as Part of NATO 3.0 appeared first on The Last Refuge.