Oracle employees have been laid off as part of a “broader organizational change,” with data revealing that the company has looked to hire thousands of foreign workers.

The software company, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is going through a huge transition as it prepares to back its infrastructural push toward artificial intelligence — reportedly at the cost of thousands of jobs.

‘We are grateful for your dedication.’

Oracle cut thousands of jobs this week, a number that has not been narrowed since CNBC confirmed with insiders on Tuesday. The company may have already been looking ahead, however, as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data shows that Oracle has already filed thousands of petitions for H-1B visas in the past two years.

According to immigration services, the H-1B program allows employers to “temporarily employ foreign workers” for specialized skills. The federal data hub shows that Oracle America Inc. filed for 2,690 visas for fiscal year 2025, which covers Oct. 1, 2024 to Sep. 30, 2025.

At the same time, for fiscal year 2026, the company appears to have made 436 requests. If that number holds, the total through September 2026 will be 3,126.

Immigration services says petitioners can file for H-1B visas “no more than six months before the employment start date.”

RELATED: Texas first: Gov. Abbott freezes H-1B visas after damning report from BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales

Oracle reportedly began layoffs on Tuesday, sending out a letter that stated the company was eliminating roles as part of a broader company shift.

“As a result, today is your last working day,” the letter read, per Business Insider. “We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us,” it added.

Employees were also offered a severance package in line with their “severance plan.”

RELATED: When the AI bubble bursts, guess who pays

CHRIS DELMAS/AFP/Getty Images

Reports from March suggested that the company was allegedly preparing to lay off between 20,000 and 30,000 employees, which would have represented upwards of 18% of its workforce, Yahoo reported.

Blaze News did not receive an immediate response from Oracle regarding its H-1B numbers, the jobs the visas are to replace, and how many would replace American workers.

Oracle has not provided public comment on the matter either.

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​News, Oracle, H-1b, Visas, Tech sector, American jobs, Job market, Foreign workers, Politics 

Yet again, public officials have failed to mention a Christian holiday by name. In this case, the City of Houston has avoided referring to one of the most important Christian holidays of all, opting for a strange replacement in its stead.

On Thursday, the City of Houston account posted a graphic on social media, now seemingly deleted, explaining an office closure ahead of the Triduum.

The graphic seemed to emphasize the words ‘Spring Holiday,’ since they were both capitalized and written in a different color.

In an otherwise unremarkable announcement, the city said, “Due to the Spring Holiday, City of Houston offices will be closed on Friday, April 3.”

RELATED: Mamdani claims NYC is broke as his office reportedly plans to blow $10 million to hire woke activists

Source image of City of Houston X post

The graphic seemed to emphasize the words “Spring Holiday,” since they were both capitalized and written in a different color.

This vague messaging, however, stood out all the more in contrast to another post on Thursday from an associated account.

On the page for the office of Mayor John Whitmire (D), the most recent post, containing a detailed message, wished everyone a happy Passover, one of Judaism’s important holidays.

The lengthy post read: “On this second night of Passover, Mayor Whitmire wishes a meaningful and peaceful Passover to all those who celebrate. May this season of reflection and renewal bring strength, gratitude, and time well spent with family and friends.”

The City of Houston has likewise celebrated Muslim holidays like Eid Mubarak and Eid al-Adha stretching back several years, a review of the page’s timeline revealed.

After facing some scrutiny online, the city appears to have deleted the “Spring Holiday” message. No replacement message has been posted.

Whitmire’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Politics, Easter, Houston, City of houston, Triduum, Mayor john whitmire, Christianity, Catholic, Holy week, Christian 

How much would you pay for a TED Talk interrupted by classic rock tracks?

Bruce Springsteen fans are answering that question in real time. The Boss’ current tour is No Kings on steroids, letting the rocker rage at President Donald Trump at every step of his 20-date slate.

The left’s attempt to cancel JK Rowling suffered yet another humiliating defeat. Two, actually.

He’s calling it the “Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour.” Sure — if by “dreams” you mean the kind of overheated persecution fantasies that regularly drive the ladies of “The View” into a frenzy.

Boss-aholics are shelling out thousands to hear Springsteen crank it up to 11 on the orange man bad meter. Normal folks can simply go on Bluesky or watch “Morning Joe.” The true-blue Springsteen fans get lectures, plus songs honoring Renee Good, the woman who allegedly steered a car into an ICE agent.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for songs honoring Laken Riley or Sheridan Gorman, though …

‘Cannes’-do attitude

It can’t be worse than “Battlefield Earth,” right?

John Travolta shocked Hollywood this week by getting his directorial debut into next month’s Cannes Film Festival.

Travolta, whose career has sunk to direct-to-VOD titles in recent years, will screen “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” at the august film festival.

The film is based on his 1997 book about the glories of aviation. Travolta, a pilot himself since his early 20s, drew upon his own memories of flight for both projects.

Travolta’s film will touch down May 29, not in theaters, but on Apple TV+.

RELATED: Netflix ‘Manosphere’ doc: Virtuous voyeurism and dull TV

Netflix

‘Steeled’ for success?

If at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again.

Milly Alcock, taking a page from the Rachel Zegler playbook, just put Geek Nation on notice. Watch “Supergirl” at your own peril.

The rising star plays the Girl of Steel in the June release, a project hot on the heels of last year’s “Superman” reboot.

And she’s making sure to attack potential fans weeks before the film’s debut. Here, she tells Vanity Fair why working on “House of the Dragon” made her a target for the very people who consume her content.

“It definitely made me aware that simply existing as a woman in that space is something that people comment on. … We have become very comfortable having this weird ownership of women’s bodies. I can’t really stop them. I can only be myself.”

Worst sales pitch ever? Maybe not. We’ve already seen Zegler mock anyone who actually liked the iconic Disney film “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” and look how that turned out. Bombs away!

Before that, those Lady “Ghostbusters” made the 2016 reboot a culture war battle, and that movie dramatically underperformed.

More recently, the creator behind “The Acolyte” attacked fans for not loving the show’s uber-woke storytelling.

Keep it up, Hollywood. At some point, putting the consumer on blast will no doubt pay off …

Wake up, Streeple!

Stephen Colbert isn’t content personally twisting the truth from his “Late Show” perch. This week, he teed up Oscar winner Meryl Streep to do the honors.

The “Devil Wears Prada 2” star visited the soon-to-be-history show, and at the end of the chat Colbert asked her if there was anything else she wanted to share.

Late-night shows routinely do “pre-interviews” where the guest sketches out the stories and anecdotes he or she will share when the cameras click on.

So Streep launched into a fake news scare tactic, saying the GOP’s SAVE America Act would disenfranchise female voters.

If that passes, all the married women that have changed their names are going to have to go to the registrar and prove that they are who they are. In other words, to your voting registrar. This is what I understand.

Streep, needless to say, understands incorrectly. That final “Late Show” broadcast can’t come soon enough, can it?

Rowling canceled? JK!

The left’s attempt to cancel J.K. Rowling suffered yet another humiliating defeat. Two, actually. Last month, the first trailer for the upcoming “Harry Potter” series shattered records for the streaming giant.

Now, we’re getting a “behind-the-scenes” peek at the December release coming April 5. “Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic” will air at 3 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

It’s a brilliant way to build anticipation for the series and get some serious eyeballs. It also points to the utter failure of the left’s smear campaign against all Rowling-related projects.

Progressives have been raging against the British author since she defied the trans movement’s agenda on select issues. She’s all for the trans community but not a fan of trans women competing against biological women, for example.

For that, she’s faced a six-year cancellation attempt, often hyped by the legacy media. Will somebody tell them it’s not 2020 anymore?

To paraphrase 1982’s “First Blood” … “It’s over, wokies. It’s over.”

​Entertainment, Lifestyle, Culture, Movies, Supergirl, Stephen colbert, Music, Bruce springsteen, John travolta, Hollywood, Toto recall 

A 40-year-old Florida male is accused of hitting a woman in the head with a hammer and killing her in a horrific attack recorded on surveillance video outside a Fort Myers gas station convenience store Thursday morning.

Rolbert Joachin is charged with homicide and criminal mischief for damaging property in the 8 a.m. incident, WINK-TV reported.

‘Very gut-wrenching … very sad. That’s someone’s mom, daughter, sister.’

Several gas station employees told Gulf Coast News the victim was a clerk at the business.

Store surveillance video shows the suspect smashing a car windshield, Gulf Coast News said, adding that store employees said the vehicle belonged to the victim.

Video then shows the woman coming outside — and the suspect approaching her and hitting her in the head with the hammer, Gulf Coast News said.

The below video report from Gulf Coast News shows the surveillance video but blocks out the hammer attack on the victim.

RELATED: Concealed-carrying motorcyclist fatally shoots alleged road-rage driver who charged at him with hammer, police say

The suspect then ran from the scene, after which three nearby schools were placed on brief lockdown, WINK said.

After a multi-hour search, police captured Joachin about a mile from the convenience store, the station said, adding that an arrest photo shows two officers detaining him in a neighborhood.

Arrest video also shows officers walking Joachin in handcuffs and placing him in the back of a police cruiser, WINK said. Joachin was taken to the Lee County Jail where he remained Friday morning. His jail record lists no bond and refers to Joachin as a transient.

Joachin’s court appearance was set for 8:30 a.m. Friday but was postponed to Monday after Joachin’s public defender requested a date change, which the judge granted, WINK reported.

The Gulf Coast News video report said the victim was the mother of two teenagers.

Andre Harris, a gas station regular, told Gulf Coast News the incident was “very gut-wrenching … very sad. That’s someone’s mom, daughter, sister.”

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​Convenience store, Criminal mischief, Florida, Fort myers, Hammer, Homicide, Killing, Lee county sheriff’s office, Physical attack, Property damage, Rolbert joachin, Woman killed, Crime 

There is a particular pleasure in watching a film that understands its own premise so completely that it never needs to raise its voice.

“Project Hail Mary” is that kind of film. It is about the end of the world, or rather the quiet prevention of it, and it proceeds not with spectacle but with curiosity. You lean in. It also shows that Hollywood can still make films that put storytelling first.

Clarity is one of the rarest virtues in modern filmmaking, too often filled with giant robot explosions and woke speechifying.

The story, based on Andy Weir’s novel, follows Ryland Grace, played with a careful, disarming humanity by Ryan Gosling. He wakes alone on a spacecraft, far from Earth, with no memory of who he is or why he is there. The film reveals its answers slowly, trusting the audience to keep up. It is a confidence rarely seen in big studio science fiction, which tends to mistake noise for intelligence.

Quiet wonder

Grace is not a hero in the usual sense. He is a schoolteacher, a man more comfortable explaining than commanding. The film is built on problem-solving, on the steady accumulation of knowledge, on the small victories of understanding how things work. It recalls the best passages of Weir’s “The Martian,” where survival depends on smart people overcoming impossible odds.

What distinguishes “Project Hail Mary” from “The Martian” is companionship. Without giving too much away, Grace does not remain alone. The relationship that develops is one of the most unusual and affecting in recent science fiction.

It is built not on corny sentiment but on shared necessity. Two radically different minds find a way to communicate. The scenes have a kind of quiet wonder that science fiction used to trade in more often, before it became preoccupied with destruction. It’s not really a spoiler because it’s in the trailer, but Grace befriends a spider-like rock alien who is also trying to save his planet. They must learn to communicate and work together.

Hail competence

Gosling understands the tone. He avoids the temptation to play the material for easy laughs or grand emotion. Instead, he lets the humor arise from confusion and discovery. There are moments of genuine comedy, but they grow out of character rather than being cheap jokes. You believe him as a man who is scared, then curious, then determined.

The direction, handled with precision and restraint by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, resists the urge to turn every crisis into a set piece. Space here is not a battlefield; it’s a problem to be solved. The visuals are clean and intelligible. You always know where you are, what is happening, and why it matters. This may sound like faint praise, but it is not. Clarity is one of the rarest virtues in modern filmmaking, too often filled with giant robot explosions and woke speechifying.

There is also an undercurrent in the film that feels old-fashioned. It takes seriously the idea that competence is a moral good. That cooperation, even across impossible boundaries, is preferable to conflict. These are not fashionable ideas, but the film does not argue for them. It simply demonstrates them.

If the film has a weakness, it lies in its structure. The gradual revelation of Grace’s past, while effective, occasionally interrupts the forward motion of the central story. Some of the Earthbound sequences feel less vivid than the material in space. They serve the plot, but they lack the same sense of discovery.

RELATED: Commentary: ‘Barbie’ is for the boys

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Rare success

Still, the film succeeds where it matters most. It creates a world, poses a question, and then answers it honestly. It respects its audience. It believes that people will follow an idea if it is presented clearly enough.

I left the theater thinking not about explosions or villains, but about communication. About the fragile, stubborn act of trying to understand something that does not speak your language. That is a rare thing for a film to leave you with. It is rarer still for a film of this scale to have a competent, straight white male who is the hero and isn’t lectured about leftist ideology. What a novel idea. And the fact that this movie has been a runaway success at the box office and with audiences proves there’s been a longing for movies like this.

“Project Hail Mary” is not loud. It does not need to be. It knows what it is about, and it trusts that to be enough. In the end, saving the world with heroism and smarts will resonate more than bloated CGI.

​Project hail mary, Movies, Film, Ryan gosling, Science fiction, Entertainment, Culture, Andy weir, The martian, Books, Review 

As the Iran war nears its sixth week, reports emerged Friday morning of a developing situation with a U.S. fighter jet having allegedly been shot down by Iranian forces.

Axios reported Friday morning that a U.S. fighter jet was shot down by Iran, citing two sources familiar with the incident.

The aircraft reportedly appears to be an F-15.

Iranian state media published videos and photos allegedly showing parts of the downed plane and an ejection seat, according to Axios.

The aircraft reportedly appears to be an F-15.

RELATED: Iran outright rejects Trump’s peace plan, calling it ‘excessive’ and a ‘ploy’

AFP/Getty Images

A search and rescue mission for the crew is reportedly under way. An F-15 is designed for two crew members.

Blaze News has reached out to the White House and Department of War for comment.

This is a developing story.

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​Politics, Iran, United states, F-15, Axios, Us fighter jet, Iranian state media, War in iran