According to research published this week by Microsoft, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) is one of several targets of a Chinese influence operation trying to affect elections in the U.S.

“Chinese influence operations have focused on down-ballot Republican candidates and members of Congress that advocate for anti-Chinese policies,” said the report.

The group known as Taizi Flood, which has been previous connections to China’s Public Security Ministry, has been deploying an army of Chinese-controlled social media bots to try and influence voters in Alabama. Other lawmakers targeted include Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

Rubio said in a statement that he believed China’s goal was to “shape American opinion on critical issues and target specific candidates, especially those they view as anti-China.”

The troll network has “parroted anti-Semitic messages, amplified accusations of corruption and promoted opposition candidates,” according to Microsoft.

It’s not exactly clear why this operation has targeted these specific candidates, but the group often posts anti-Semitic statements against support for Israel. Moore has been a well-known supporter of Israel, which may be why the groups focused on that issue specifically.

“We know that the CCP is antisemitic, so it isn’t surprising that they are targeting me and other politicians who support Israel to try sow division in advance of the most important election in our lifetime,” Rep. Barry Moore said in a statement to Yellowhammer News. 

“China has made it clear they will use every weapon in their arsenal, including offensive cyber capabilities, to try and destroy democracy across the world. The United States must be prepared to stand against Chinese aggression and continue to stand with Israel and Taiwan.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee

Microsoft Philanthropies is teaming with the Randolph County Economic Development Authority (RCEDA) on a program that helps job seekers and professionals gain new skills for in-demand roles in the digital economy.

The RCEDA received funding from Microsoft Philanthropies to launch the Community Skills Initiative Alabama Region program. A suite of online training and resources, accessed through the Community Skills Initiative Alabama website, offers access to free online training courses that boost digital skills.

The RCEDA said it is one of only nine organizations across the country to get funding for the program.

“I am beyond excited and grateful for the opportunity to do this work,” RCEDA Executive Director Bryant Whaley said. “We’ve already started to partner with local agencies and businesses to ensure not only are our communities made aware of the CSI program but also that everyone has equal access.”

The cornerstone of the Community Skills Initiative is an Up-Skill-A-Thon competition that drives participation in Microsoft’s Skills for Jobs initiative and helps the workforce become more prepared for in-demand roles in the digital economy.

The competition, which runs from Oct. 17 through Nov. 16, will include $10,000 in prize money.

“Today’s job market is driven by in-demand skills, so innovative programs that build those skills at the community level are a must,” said Brenda Tuck, Rural Development Manager for the Alabama Department of Commerce.

“It’s great to see that Randolph County is getting to take the lead on a high-impact up-skilling initiative like this.”

IN-DEMAND SKILLS

In 2020, Microsoft launched a global skills initiative to provide job skills training for unemployed and underemployed workers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused massive economic disruptions.

“The RCEDA has not been immune from financial and organizational challenges brought on by the pandemic,” Whaley said. “When Microsoft approached us about a digital skilling grant for non-profits, we jumped at the opportunity to pivot.

“The CSI program will bring valuable online resources to our members, community, and those impacted by COVID-19. The RCEDA is a natural fit to lead this initiative as it aligns with our non-profit mission to bring people and technology resources together,” he added.

The RCEDA will be the program lead for CSI Alabama, and Whaley will serve as the point of contact for the program. In his role with the RCEDA, Whaley has built relationships with regional economic and workforce development stakeholders as well as economic development professionals around the state.

Local employers, teachers, and workforce development agencies are encouraged to share the CSI website as a resource for online training and up-skilling opportunities. Employment agencies can tap into the program and offer the tools to individuals who need new skills for the digital economy.

Comprehensive information can be found at www.communityskilling.org/rceda.

Microsoft Philanthropies provides grants to nonprofits that are working to increase access to digital skills and computer science education for youth around the globe. The company awards cash grants to nonprofit organizations through an invitation-only application process.

(Courtesy of Made in Alabama)

Industry-leading security and compliance provider Summit 7 Systems has been recognized as the 2022 Microsoft US (MSUS) Compliance Partner of the Year.

According to a release, the award recognizes partners that have extensively utilized Microsoft’s Compliance product portfolio, which leads to the formulation of solutions that enable long-term customer success.

Summit 7, which supports the operations of more than 600 U.S. Department of Defense contractors, was selected from a competitive list of Microsoft Partners for its security and compliance solutions and services focused on the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC).

The cybersecurity regulations affect aerospace and defense organizations as well as higher-level academic institutions in the defense industrial base and require third-party assessments of their respective information systems.

In a statement, Summit 7 CEO Scott Edwards asserted that the company would continue its efforts to be the industry’s “first line of defense” in compliance and security.

“We are extremely excited to receive this award in recognition of our extensive work with the Microsoft Government Cloud platforms and our specific focus on critical infrastructures,” expressed Edwards in a release. “We understand that compliance is a key focus area for Microsoft, and we will continue to strive to be known as the first line of defense for the Defense Industrial Base.”

Summit 7 developed its portfolio of CMMC Compliance Solutions by mapping the security practices and regulatory controls to the Microsoft 365 GCC High and Azure Government cloud platforms, the company advised.

Utilizing the M365 E3/E5 Security Suite and Azure Government infrastructure, Summit 7 has expanded its portfolio of services and solutions to become the leading provider for Microsoft’s Agreement for Online Services-Government (AOS-G) licensing program.

Summit 7 chief technology officer Ben Curry touched on the industry leader’s work toward implementing solutions that support the American warfighter.

“The Summit 7 team has always led the way by developing solutions that protect our customers and their sensitive data, and ultimately the United States Warfighter,” proclaimed Curry. “To be recognized as the US Compliance Partner of The Year displays the fact that our team has worked extremely hard to provide an industry-leading portfolio built on Microsoft’s Government Cloud.”

(Courtesy of 256 Today)

7. Gov. Kay Ivey continues to strip Alabama sheriffs autonomy on inmate feeding program and the money that comes with it

— Ivey had the state comptroller draw up agreements the sheriffs must sign by September 1st that will force the sheriffs to spend the funds preparing food, serving food and other services related to the feeding of prisoners.

— While most will applaud the move because there have been many controversies over the last couple of years including sheriffs using the money for beach houses and to invest in car dealers, State Auditor Jim Ziegler says the decision could cause issues.

6. Democrat Congressman jokes about the president drowning, and no one cares (more…)

The latest on developments in financial markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged nearly 670 points, erasing nearly half the ground it lost last week and marking the biggest gain since August 2015.

(more…)

By Ike Pigott

Lost amid the sound and fury of the upcoming SlossFest is a fairly clear signal that Birmingham and Alabama are poised for great things. Technology sage Robert Scoble would agree – as long as we keep the geeks from leaving.

“You have to find a way to keep the nerds in your town,” Scoble said. “You’d better have world-class internet connections, and fiber. But you also have to have something for your workers to do, particularly the new workers coming out of college. Keeps the nerds from leaving. Find out what makes nerds stick.”

The “brain drain” is not an issue just for Southern cities like Birmingham, but it is one hurdle to overcome. Another problem is how to showcase the opportunities that do exist. While the internet has brought great focus on tech-heavy cities like Palo Alto, Austin and Boston, it also enables remote workers to have more choice.

The son of a Lockheed engineer, Scoble has always surrounded himself with technology, and the people who drive its adoption. He was one of the first internal bloggers for Microsoft, and cultivated that corporate culture known for information sharing and video. He’s now embedded within a virtual reality startup, and is looking at the world through a lens we will probably be taking for granted in a few years.

As of the time of our interview, Scoble had been in 11 countries over the preceding five weeks. He says he learns more by being in the labs and strategy sessions of up and coming companies. Some of which you will eventually know – many of which will fail and try again.

“The world has really flattened when it comes to startups,” Scoble added. “It’s so much cheaper to start a company today than it was 15 years ago. Back then, you had to have a rack of computers and servers. Today, you go to amazon.com and swipe your card and you have infrastructure.”

Scoble will be one of the featured speakers for Sloss Tech, a one-day technology conference on July 15 at the Lyric Theatre that will be a companion lead-in to SlossFest. SlossTech is the work of TechBirmingham, with a stated mission of “becoming a hub for our technological community to network, share ideas and push their boundaries of innovation.”

Ike Pigott interviews futurist Robert Scoble, in advance of the 2016 Sloss Tech Conference

Other top speakers include Gary Vaynerchuk and Andy Grignon. For full details, visit sloss.tech.

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Software giant Microsoft announced 7,800 layoffs on Monday adding to the total of 18,000 that have been announced so far this year. Counting the new reductions, the company has reduced its labor force by about 20 percent over the past few years.

Microsoft has claimed that there is a shortage of American workers to justify its increasing use of H-1B foreign workers. The H-1B is a visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.

Sen. Sessions, who recently announced a Congressional investigation of companies replacing Americans with foreign workers, did not hesitate to call out Bill Gates’ company for what he believes to be an apparent contradiction.

“As Microsoft’s layoffs show, there is a surplus—not a shortage—of skilled, talented, and qualified Americans seeking STEM employment. Each year, universities graduate twice as many students with STEM degrees as find STEM jobs,” he wrote in a press release on Thursday.

Sessions pointed to a number of national statistics to show why Microsoft’s decision is alarming given the number of qualified STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) workers here in America. “According to the Census Bureau, more than 11 million Americans with STEM degrees are not employed in STEM jobs—or 3 in 4 STEM degree holders. Among recent graduates, about 35 percent of science students, 55 percent of technology students, 20 percent of engineering students, and 30 percent of math students are now working in jobs that don’t require any four-year college degree—let alone their area of specialty.”

Microsoft has repeatedly lobbied Congress over the past decade emphasizing the need for more American STEM workers because it did not believe there were enough. Gates testified that “our higher education system doesn’t produce enough top scientists and engineers to meet the needs of the U.S. economy,” and that because of the “shortage” companies should be allowed to hire an “infinite” number of H-1B workers.

Pure number of laborers in the U.S., Sessions argues, is not the true motive, but rather the wages those workers make. Professor Ron Hira of the Rochester Institute of Technology testified, “the H-1B visa has become a highly lucrative business model of bringing in cheaper H-1B workers to substitute for Americans… Most of the H-1B program is now being used to import cheaper foreign guestworkers, replacing American workers, and undercutting their wages.”

“There is no shortage of talented Americans,” Sessions concluded, “Only a shortage of politicians willing to stand up to special interests demanding low-wage guest workers to hire in their place.”

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) took to the mic on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Friday and unleashed one of his most passionate rebukes of billionaire big businessmen who are attempting to push so-called comprehensive immigration reform through Congress.

Specifically, Sessions took exception to the tech executives’ push for more guest workers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Sessions earlier this week cited data from the U.S. Census Bureau revealing that a stunning 74 percent of American STEM workers currently aren’t working in a STEM field at all, but have had to find work elsewhere.

“Rutgers Professor Hal Salzman has documented that the U.S. graduates two STEM workers for every one STEM job opening,” he told Yellowhammer. “This may be a surprising statistic, but evidence confirms this trend. A new U.S. Census Bureau report shows that 3/4 of America’s STEM graduates don’t have STEM jobs. There is a surplus of STEM-trained Americans who can’t find employment in their chosen field. Yet the President wants to double the number of temporary guest workers who are allowed to enter the country to take jobs in these fields. These guest workers are brought into the U.S. at lower wages for the specific purpose of filling jobs for which Americans are applying. These are not ‘jobs Americans won’t do’ – these are jobs Americans are trained to do but which President Obama’s policies are denying them.”

In his Senate floor speech today, Sessions hammered the tech executives by name. A partial transcript of his remarks can be read below, and a video can be seen above.

Three of our greatest ‘Masters of the Universe,’ I like to refer to, have join in an op-ed in the New York Times just last week to share their wisdom from on high and to tell us in Congress how to do our business and to conduct immigration reform that they think should be pleasing to them.

I’m sure other super billionaires would have been glad to join with these three super billionaires and could agree on legislation that would be acceptable to them.

Sheldon Adelson… Warren Buffett… and Bill Gates… all super billionaires, aren’t happy, apparently. They don’t have much respect for Congress, and by indirection the people who elect people to Congress, it appears by the tone of their article.

‘You know, the American people — that great unwashed group of nativists, narrow minded patriots, possessors of middle-class values — they just don’t understand like we know, we great executives and entrepreneurs.’

So they declare we need to import more workers in computer science and technology and engineering because they country is quote, ‘badly in need of their services.’

[…]

But this is the headline from Microsoft today, ‘Microsoft to cut up to 18,000 jobs next year.’ …[That’s] part of the tech titan’s efforts to streamline its business under its new CEO.’ That is a significant thing… And the company laid off 5,000 in 2009. Yet their founder and former leader, Mr. Gates, says we’ve got to have more and more people into our country to take those kind of jobs.

‘Watching American corporations fire American workers while appealing for more immigration, is a disheartening spectacle,’ Mr. Byron York (of the Washington Examiner) says. I think that’s true…

[Bill Gates] questions whether the members of Congress who don’t pass laws like he wants on immigration are honoring their duty to the 300 million Americans that we collectively represent. I feel a deep duty to the millions of Alabamians I represent and the whole country, and I do my best every day to ask what’s in their interest. And as far as I’m concerned… those three billionaires [Gates, Buffett, Adelson] have three votes. The individual who works stocking the shelves at the grocery store, the barber, the doctor, the lawyer, the cleaners operator, [and] the person who picks up our garbage are every bit as valuable as they are. So I know who I represent. I represent citizens of the United States of America…

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

Executives from major U.S. tech companies like Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, YouTube, Netflix and Instagram have joined forces — and finances — to help the Obama administration push through so-called comprehensive immigration reform and boost the number of foreign worker visas.

Their argument is that the the U.S. economy is in desperate need of more skilled workers from overseas to fill jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

To fill those jobs, the tech companies are calling for the expansion of the nation’s H-1B visa program.

The Associated Press explains:

The H-1B program allows employers to temporarily hire workers in specialty occupations. The government issues up to 85,000 H-1B visas to businesses every year, and recipients can stay up to six years. Although no one tracks exactly how many H-1B holders are in the U.S., experts estimate there are at least 600,000 at any one time. Skilled guest workers can also come in on other types of visas.

An immigration bill passed in the U.S. Senate last year would have increased the number of annually available H-1B visas to 180,000 while raising fees and increasing oversight, although language was removed that would have required all companies to consider qualified U.S. workers before foreign workers are hired.

The House never took up the Senate’s bill, and immigration reform is considered dead in Congress, at least for this year. But that’s not stopping President Obama, who announced recently that he will change U.S. immigration rules via executive action.

Critics of the plan say there is no evidence that there is a shortage of STEM workers in the U.S., because if there were, wages would be rising, when in reality wages have actually fallen for programmers in recent years.

The lack of wage growth combined with the influx of foreign labor has led to a backlash among American STEM workers who are frustrated with their inability to land jobs in their chosen fields.

As a matter of fact, data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that a stunning 74 percent of American STEM workers currently aren’t working in a STEM field at all, but have had to find work elsewhere.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has been the most outspoken critic of the administration’s immigration policies, contending that millions of American STEM workers without jobs should take precedent over bringing in even more foreign labor.

“Rutgers Professor Hal Salzman has documented that the U.S. graduates two STEM workers for every one STEM job opening,” Sessions told Yellowhammer today. “This may be a surprising statistic, but evidence confirms this trend. A new U.S. Census Bureau report shows that 3/4 of America’s STEM graduates don’t have STEM jobs. There is a surplus of STEM-trained Americans who can’t find employment in their chosen field. Yet the President wants to double the number of temporary guest workers who are allowed to enter the country to take jobs in these fields. These guest workers are brought into the U.S. at lower wages for the specific purpose of filling jobs for which Americans are applying. These are not ‘jobs Americans won’t do’ – these are jobs Americans are trained to do but which President Obama’s policies are denying them.”

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

(Above: Yellowhammer News CEO Cliff Sims interviews Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle)

Craig Perciavalle kicked off 2013 by becoming President of Austal USA, America’s largest aluminum shipbuilding company, with roughly 4,000 employees in Mobile, Ala. A little over a year later, he’s leading the company through a period of unprecedented growth and cranking out the most advanced ships the U.S. Navy has ever had in its fleet. Austal is currently building Joint High-Speed Vessels (JHSV) and Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), both of which are so fast that their top speed is classified.

Mr. Perciavalle sat down with Yellowhammer CEO Cliff Sims this week for The Exchange, a regular feature in which Yellowhammer discusses current events and other topics with a state or national business leader or political figure, or notable Alabamian.

RELATED: The Exchange ft. Special Guest Steve Forbes

Is there someone you would like to see featured in The Exchange? Send us an email HERE with “Exchange Guest” in the title.

Did you know Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tried to kill the Littoral Combat Ship, but Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., saved it? Did you know the most advanced ships in the Navy are being run on Microsoft Windows? Find out about that and so much more — including what’s making Alabama so attractive to companies around the world — by watching the video above.

Here are some of the top quotes from this week’s sit-down with Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle.

On what it’s like to operate the Navy’s most advanced ships:

The command infrastructure on the ship is Windows based. It basically looks like you’re looking at your desktop in your office. It’s got all the permissions and all the security features that are necessary to be in a military environment. But at the end of the day, it enables us to upgrade the systems on the ship, or ‘plug-and-play’ other weapons or other mission packages on the ship much more easily than a traditional Navy ship has been able to do in the past.

On working with Alabama’s Congressional delegation:

It’s phenomenal… I’ve been in this position for a little over a year now and the appreciation that I have for what they do has just gone beyond my imagination… They provide a tremendous amount of support for us — both with state support with supporting the operations, as well as support on the Hill.

On an Alabama-built ship making it into a Disney movie that made a half-billion dollars at the box office:

It’s the LCS Independence. It’s Tony Trihull in the Cars 2 Movie. We didn’t know it was going to happen. We had some employees that were sitting in the movie theater and they were like, ‘Holy cow, that’s our ship!’

On what’s making Alabama so attractive to companies right now:

First and foremost is the support the state gives industry here. They realize they need to provide support for companies to have them move to the area and grow the economics of the state. That’s been tremendous for us with AIDT training. We get a lot of support with that. We’ve had some support in the facility growth that we’ve had — both from the county, the City of Mobile and the State of Alabama. That partnership between the State of Alabama and industry is really second to none from what I’ve seen… That’s the main reason why people are attracted to come into the state… That’s just going to make the state of Alabama grow into an incredible economic powerhouse going forward.

On Austal employees rejecting unionization 3 times and Alabama’s status as a right-to-work state:

That’s probably the second leading attractive part of being in the State of Alabama — a right to work state… We focus on treating our employees right and creating a very good work environment for them.

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About six months ago, the United States Treasury had roughly $150 billion cash on hand after collecting annual taxes for 2012. According to some analysts, that was unusually high as Americans did whatever they could to avert the higher taxes coming in 2013.

But just days before the shutdown saga ended, the Treasury had been depleted down to a little over $30 billion in its operating accounts. The folks over at qz.com did some quick number crunching and realized that nine Standard & Poor’s 500 companies had more cash than the U.S. government. As a matter of fact, one company (General Electric) had nearly three times as much readily accessible cash than Uncle Sam.

But it’s not all bad news for the gubment, y’all. Even though the taxpayers are set to lose about $10 billion from the fed’s $49.5 billion bailout of General Motors, the U.S. Treasury has about $4 billion more cash on hand than the resurgent auto maker.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

People are mad at Apple.

No, not the hundreds of millions of people who have their iPhone attached to them literally everywhere they go, or the tens of millions of people who have abandoned their laptop for an iPad, or the countless number of people who haven’t had to hit control-alt-delete since acquiring an Apple laptop or desktop computer, or even their competition — all of those people are fine.

But the D.C. political class is not.

As a matter of fact, the K Street lobbyists and career politicians whose livelihoods depend on America’s most successful entrepreneurs having to come to D.C. and kiss their… rings… have been frustrated at Apple’s refusal to play their game for a long time, and they think it’s about time Apple paid the piper.

Apple has historically spent comparatively little money on lobbying, choosing to out-innovate their competition rather than trying to get a leg up through favorable regulation or legislation.

According to POLITICO, Apple “spent less than $2 million on lobbying in 2012 — less than in 2011 — despite its being an election year. By contrast, Google spent $18.2 million, Microsoft spent $8.1 million and even Facebook laid out $4 million. After the first quarter of 2013, Apple’s lobbying expenditure was $720,000, a fraction of the $4 million by Google or the $2.45 million by Facebook.”

Apple doesn’t have a Political Action Committee and made no federal corporate campaign contributions during the entire 2011-2012 campaign cycle.

A federal judge recently ruled that Apple orchestrated a plan with other e-book publishers to “fix” the price of books sold in Apple’s iBooks store in an attempt to keep rival e-book seller Amazon from undercutting the market. Apple had previously refused to settle the case with the government even though the five other companies allegedly involved in the scheme opted to settle rather than going to trial. Apple ended up losing the case.

But apparently it didn’t have to go down like that. According to so-called experts interviewed by POLITICO, if Apple had spent more time and money building a lobbying presence in Washington, the government would have backed off.

“Politics is always in the background of these big cases,” University of Michigan law professor Dan Crane said. “In theory, the Department of Justice is supposed to be the law enforcement arm and separate from the White House, but just look at the amount of money being invested in Washington by Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel. There’s a game to be played there that’s important. … Maybe because of this, Apple will realize the need to revamp their lobbying strategy and be a bit more calculating in that way.”

I’m not commenting on Apple’s guilt or innocence or any of the legal issues they’re involved in, but has it really come to the point that America’s most innovative companies have to come hat in hand to Washington if they want to be “allowed” to be successful?

“[Apple shows] a lack of respect for what happens in Washington,” corporate image consultant James Lukaszewski told POLITICO. “Being there expresses respect for the process and, as a matter of fact, for the country.” Lukaszewski went on to say that it is a “suicide strategy” for companies to ignore the D.C. political class.

Here’s what Rand wrote:

“When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed.”

Earlier this year Apple CEO Tim Cook did something his predecessor Steve Jobs never did — he testified before Congress. In his opening remarks Cook said, “You can some up Apple’s success in just one word: innovation.”

Unfortunately, it looks like innovation is not going to be enough for Apple and other companies to succeed in the U.S. marketplace in the future.