California Supreme Court strikes down ‘independent contractor’ scam

Updates

1. Originally published, May 1, 11:46 pm.
2. May 2, 2:10 pm:
  - The U.S. Department of Labor alleged that Cloudwick brought workers from India on H-1B visas, promising wages of $8,300 per month, but paid them only $800 per month.^[1]
3. May 2, 8:53 pm:
  - Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined Donald Trump’s legal team admitted that Trump had reimbursed Michael Cohen for the $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels but claims that the payment was entirely legal.^[2] I did look on Michael Avenatti’s Twitter feed for a comment. In essence, he says he told us so.
4. May 3, 4:35 am:
  - Elie Mystal thinks that Donald Trump’s “legal team has always, always, always been more concerned with the campaign finance violations. Paying hush money to a porn star is just gross. The campaign finance violation is a crime.” This explains Rudy Giuliani’s admission that Trump repaid Michael Cohen, but Mystal doesn’t think it gets Trump off the hook.^[3]

Ridesharing

A California Supreme Court ruling may force Uber, Lyft, and other ‘gig’ economy companies to treat workers in the state as employees rather than as so-called ‘independent contractors.’^[4] It looks to me like it should apply even more to taxicab companies.

Lydia DePillis, “California ruling puts pressure on Uber, Lyft and other gig economy employers,” CNN, May 1, 2018,http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/01/news/economy/california-gig-employer-ruling/index.html

Donald Trump

Staci Zaretsky, “Porn Star Stormy Daniels Files New Defamation Suit Against President Donald Trump,” Above The Law, April 30, 2018, https://abovethelaw.com/2018/04/porn-star-stormy-daniels-files-new-defamation-suit-against-president-donald-trump/

Jacqueline Thomsen, “Giuliani: Trump reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels,” Hill, May 2, 2018, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/385965-giuliani-trump-reimbursed-cohen-for-payment-to-stormy-daniels

Elie Mystal, “It’s Giuliani Time! Rudy Ritualistically Suicides One Case To Try To Save Trump From Another,” Above The Law, May 2, 2018, https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/its-giuliani-time-rudy-ritualistically-suicides-one-case-to-try-to-save-trump-from-another/

James Comey

Andrew C. McCarthy, “Comey Confirms: In Clinton Emails Caper, the Fix Was In,” National Review, April 28, 2018, https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/comey-confirms-in-clinton-emails-caper-the-fix-was-in/

Unauthorized migration

Cindy Carcamo, Alene Tchekmedyian, and Sandra Dibble, “The migrant caravan arrives at California’s doorstep, amid protests, cheers and questions,” Los Angeles Times, April 30, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-caravan-migrants-border-20180430-story.html

Brexit

Andrew Rawnsley, “Mrs May’s attempt to muddle through Brexit is fast approaching crunch time,” Guardian, April 29, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/29/theresa-may-attempt-to-muddle-through-brexit-fast-approaching-big-crunch

H-1B visas

Jessica Mendoza, “Right to work? In Silicon Valley, visa fight as symbol of blocked American dream,” Christian Science Monitor, April 27, 2018, https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2018/0427/Right-to-work-In-Silicon-Valley-visa-fight-as-symbol-of-blocked-American-dream

Ethan Baron, “H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say,” East Bay Times, May 1, 2018, https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/05/01/h-1b-abuse-bay-area-tech-workers-from-india-paid-a-pittance-feds-say/

^[1]Ethan Baron, “H-1B abuse: Bay Area tech workers from India paid a pittance, feds say,” East Bay Times, May 1, 2018, https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/05/01/h-1b-abuse-bay-area-tech-workers-from-india-paid-a-pittance-feds-say/↩
^[2]Jacqueline Thomsen, “Giuliani: Trump reimbursed Cohen for $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels,” Hill, May 2, 2018, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/385965-giuliani-trump-reimbursed-cohen-for-payment-to-stormy-daniels ↩
^[3]Elie Mystal, “It’s Giuliani Time! Rudy Ritualistically Suicides One Case To Try To Save Trump From Another,” Above The Law, May 2, 2018, https://abovethelaw.com/2018/05/its-giuliani-time-rudy-ritualistically-suicides-one-case-to-try-to-save-trump-from-another/↩
^[4]Lydia DePillis, “California ruling puts pressure on Uber, Lyft and other gig economy employers,” CNN, May 1, 2018,http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/01/news/economy/california-gig-employer-ruling/index.html ↩

Irregular Bullshit