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Sunday, September 30, 2018

( Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren News Report ) Patcnews September 30, 2018 The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Reports Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews









This is Way Too Funny Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren


 




Warren Releases DNA Analysis Showing Evidence of Native American Heritage


Democratic senator refutes President Trump’s assertion that she has been lying about family history




WASHINGTON—Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) released the results of a DNA analysis Monday indicating “strong evidence” she has Native American heritage in a high-profile effort to refute President Trump’s assertion that she has been lying about her family history.
In a sign of intensifying preparation ahead of a possible 2020 presidential run, Ms. Warren on Monday unveiled a website and video highlighting an analysis from Carlos Bustamante, a professor of biomedical data science and genetics at Stanford University, that found.
 








 Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren addressed claims of her Native American heritage at an American Indian policy summit on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, The Daily Caller reported that Warren was conspicuously not scheduled to speak at the Tribal Nations Policy Summit in Washington, DC, despite being the only Senator to claim a Native American heritage.

Warren apparently changed her mind about appearing at the summit and made a surprise appearance on Wednesday, addressing allegations that she has lied about her ancestry. Cherokee genealogists have traced Warren's family tree and found no evidence to support her claim of minority status.
Warren kicked off her speech by bashing President Donald Trump for jokingly referring to her as "Pocahontas," asserting that the real Pocahontas is "far darker" than the Disney movie and is routinely "twisted" to serve political purposes.

"The joke, I guess, is supposed to be on me," she said. "I get why some people think there's hay to be made here. You won't find my family members on any rolls, and I'm not enrolled in a tribe."
"And I want to make something clear. I respect that distinction. I understand that tribal membership is determined by tribes and only by tribes. I never used my family tree to get a break or get ahead. I never used it to advance my career," she continued, addressing criticisms that she listed herself as Native American in law school directories.

Still, Warren insisted that her mother's family was part Native American and that it was always a part of her history.
She went on to address the problems in the Native American community and promised that she would share their stories in Congress.





 


Senator Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren V.A. Shiva, an Indian-born entrepreneur and scientist, recently publicly challenged Elizabeth Warren to submit a DNA test to prove that she is Cherokee as she has so frequently claimed. President Donald Trump has nicknamed Warren, “Pocahontas” in response to her claims to be Native American. On top of V.A. Shiva’s call to action, which you can watch below, he also put a video up with a handful of Cherokee Indians commenting on the disrespect they feel due to Warren’s lies or exaggerations of her heritage.
​      
One of the first speakers brings up a number of good points: “Elizabeth Warren, being someone that has a professorship should have some type of ethics. How can you trust a person like that? If they’re willing to lie about themselves and where they’re from and who they are, you know? My name is Dale French, I was born and raised here on the Cherokee Indian reservation, and I just don’t approve of that . . .”
      John Grant, another Cherokee Indian commented: “That’s not right at all, she’s lying to the American public by running for public office and claiming a race that she’s not. If she’s claiming that she’s Native American, prove it.” Johanna Martin, one of the last Cherokee Indians featured in the video remarked: “In a way it feels like they’re making fun of our heritage because they don’t have any realization of what we went through as a people.”
      Complete phony Elizabeth Warren's next words will be...What difference at this point does it make. Now if Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren declines this DNA test to prove her Native American Background...I guess that will just prove to America one more lying Democrat in Washington. Elizabeth Warren claiming to be Cherokee when she's one of the most white leaders that America has, is just another Democrat plot against President Trump and really just for voter support. If Native Americans get proof that this bitch is a fraud when claiming to be Cherokee when white...Maybe Democrats will lose Native American support for the upcoming 2018 mid-term election for the House? 

      Elizabeth Warren is just prime example number one that Democrats in Washington claim to be for things when their really against them...Like Hillary Clinton being in full support of black Americans during the 2016 campaign cycle, when she once called blacks all over America Super Predators. Sorry Warren but you're whiter than most white Americans. It will be hilarious if Warren takes a DNA test and actually shows her roots to the pilgrims who eventually destroyed  Native Americans.







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( Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing ) Patcnews Sept 30, 2018 The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Reports Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews

 


Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing
























Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy, left, sat two rows behind Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh at his testimony in Congress last week. They are longtime friends.CreditCreditPool photo by Jim Bourg


















SAN FRANCISCO — “I want to apologize,” the Facebook executive wrote last Friday in a note to staff. “I recognize this moment is a deeply painful one — internally and externally.”
The apology came from Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy. A day earlier, Mr. Kaplan had sat behind his friend, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, when the judge testified in Congress about allegations he had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in high school. Mr. Kaplan’s surprise appearance prompted anger and shock among many Facebook employees, some of whom said they took his action as a tacit show of support for Judge Kavanaugh — as if it were an endorsement from Facebook itself.
The unrest quickly spilled over onto Facebook’s internal message boards, where hundreds of workers have since posted about their concerns, according to current and former employees. To quell the hubbub, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, last Friday explained in a widely attended staff meeting that Mr. Kaplan was a close friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s and had broken no company rules, these people said.
Yet the disquiet within the company has not subsided. This week, Facebook employees kept flooding internal forums with comments about Mr. Kaplan’s appearance at the hearing. In a post on Wednesday, Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook executive, appeared to dismiss the concerns when he wrote to employees that “it is your responsibility to choose a path, not that of the company you work for.” Facebook plans to hold another staff meeting on Friday to contain the damage, said the current and former employees.




















Advertisement
The internal turmoil at Facebook — described by six current and former employees and a review of internal posts — illustrates how divisions over Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court have cascaded into unexpected places and split one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
Mr. Kaplan’s show of support for Judge Kavanaugh hits a particularly sensitive spot for Facebook. It has been weathering claims from conservatives and Mr. Trump that Facebook is biased against right-wing websites and opinions. The company has denied this, saying it is a neutral platform that welcomes all perspectives. By showing up at Judge Kavanaugh’s side, Mr. Kaplan essentially appeared to choose a political side that goes against the views of Facebook’s largely liberal work force.
Many employees also viewed it as a statement: Mr. Kaplan believed Mr. Kavanaugh’s side of the story rather than Dr. Blasey’s testimony. That felt especially hurtful to Facebook employees who were also sexual assault survivors, many of whom began sharing their own #MeToo stories internally.
The tensions add to a litany of other issues that have sapped employee morale. In the past few weeks alone, the company, based in Silicon Valley, has grappled with the departures of the co-founders of Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, plus the disclosure of its largest-ever data breach and continued scrutiny of disinformation across its network before the midterm elections.
“Our leadership team recognizes that they’ve made mistakes handling the events of the last week and we’re grateful for all the feedback from our employees,” Roberta Thomson, a Facebook spokeswoman, said in a statement on Thursday.
Advertisement

The latest trouble began a week ago, with the testimony of Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh in Congress. As Judge Kavanaugh testified, one face stood out to Facebook employees: Sitting two rows behind the judge was Mr. Kaplan, a former senior adviser to George W. Bush who had joined the company in a policy role in 2011 and heads up the social network’s Washington office. He had been hired to help counterbalance Facebook’s perception as left-leaning.
Tweets about Mr. Kaplan at the hearing immediately began circulating among Facebook message boards such as “Women @ Facebook,” a communications chat room called “Just Flagging,” and a group called “Wait, what?” where employees can ask public relations questions. Many employees had one query: Why was Mr. Kaplan there, front and center?
“Let’s assume for a minute that our VP of Policy understands how senate hearings work,” one program manager said in a post about Mr. Kaplan that was reviewed by The Times. “His seat choice was intentional, knowing full well that journalists would identify every public figure appearing behind Kavanaugh. He knew that this would cause outrage internally, but he knew that he couldn’t get fired for it. This was a protest against our culture, and a slap in the face to his fellow employees.”
“Yes, Joel, we see you,” the employee added.
Facebook executives knew they had a serious problem on their hands, said the current and former employees. That led to last Friday’s apology from Mr. Kaplan, a former Marine who once clerked for two conservative justices.


























Judge Kavanaugh as he was sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.CreditPool photo by Jim Bourg


In the note addressed to his policy group, Mr. Kaplan wrote, “I have known Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh for 20 years. They are my and my wife Laura’s closest friends in D.C. I was in their wedding; he was in ours. Our kids have grown up together.”
“I believe in standing by your friends, especially when times are tough for them,” Mr. Kaplan added in a later post.


He also said, “Laura and I felt it was important to be with them at the hearing to express our love and support for our friends during a very difficult time for all involved. I took a personal day to be there.”
Some Facebook employees noted that according to the company’s internal human resources software, Mr. Kaplan had not taken a personal day to attend the hearing. Only later last Thursday did someone at Facebook update the system to say Mr. Kaplan had taken a personal day, said the current and former employees.
At last Friday’s staff meeting, Mr. Zuckerberg defended Mr. Kaplan’s appearance as a personal decision that did not violate company rules. Mr. Zuckerberg also said he trusted Mr. Kaplan’s judgment, even though he himself would most likely not have chosen to attend the hearing, said two people who were at the meeting.
The messaging backfired. Some employees — particularly women — said it came across as if Mr. Zuckerberg was shrugging off Dr. Blasey’s comments about sexual assault, saying that the chief executive’s remarks had caused “stress and trauma” and were “painful to hear.”
Many female employees were also upset that Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, who has made women’s issues a personal platform and project, did not publicly say something about Dr. Blasey and sexual assault. Mr. Kaplan is known as a friend of Ms. Sandberg’s, with the two having gotten acquainted at Harvard, which both attended.
Ms. Sandberg posted internally last Friday, writing, “As a woman and someone who cares so deeply about how women are treated, the Kavanaugh issue is deeply upsetting to me.” She added, “I’ve talked to Joel about why I think it was a mistake for him to attend given his role in the company.”
In one internal Facebook group that is aimed at supporting female employees, dozens of women this week posted accounts of their own struggles with sexual assault. Mr. Kaplan’s attendance at the hearing made them uncomfortable, they wrote, according to posts reviewed by The Times. Several said they would not feel comfortable working in the Washington office under Mr. Kaplan.






















Advertisement
Other employees began criticizing Mr. Zuckerberg directly in recent days.
“I appreciate your desire to avoid taking sides, but please don’t insult our intelligence by declaring that this act did not violate our policies, or that it was only an honest lapse in judgement,” one engineer wrote in a post addressed to the chief executive. “Please don’t tell us that you know how hard it is for us when it is very clear from your words, your actions and your tone that you don’t.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Bosworth, a 13-year veteran of Facebook and close friend of Mr. Zuckerberg’s, weighed in in an internal post.
“If you need to change teams, companies or careers to make sure your day-to-day life matches your passions, we will be sad to see you go, but we will understand,” Mr. Bosworth wrote. “We will support you with any path you choose. But it is your responsibility to choose a path, not that of the company you work for.”
Mr. Bosworth backpedaled after facing opposition — including from Lori Goler, Facebook’s head of human resources — who said he was dismissing legitimate employee concerns, said the current and former employees. On Thursday afternoon, he posted, “I spoke at a time when I should be listening and that was a big mistake. I’m grateful to employees who shared feedback and very sorry that my actions caused employees pain and frustration when what they needed was better support and understanding from leadership.”
By that point, it was clear the tensions were not fading. Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer and the sponsor of the group “Women @ Facebook,” scheduled a meeting on Friday to deal with staff concerns. Mr. Zuckerberg, Ms. Sandberg and Mr. Kaplan are all expected to attend to field questions, said the current and former employees.


















Follow Mike Isaac on Twitter: @MikeIsaac.
Kate Conger and Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting.
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Content and Programming Copyright 2018 By Patcnews The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network © LLC UCC 1-308.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE All copyrights reserved By Patcnews The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.  © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network

( Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing ) Patcnews Sept 30, 2018 The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Reports Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews

 


Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing



























Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy, left, sat two rows behind Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh at his testimony in Congress last week. They are longtime friends.CreditCreditPool photo by Jim Bourg





















SAN FRANCISCO — “I want to apologize,” the Facebook executive wrote last Friday in a note to staff. “I recognize this moment is a deeply painful one — internally and externally.”
The apology came from Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy. A day earlier, Mr. Kaplan had sat behind his friend, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, when the judge testified in Congress about allegations he had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in high school. Mr. Kaplan’s surprise appearance prompted anger and shock among many Facebook employees, some of whom said they took his action as a tacit show of support for Judge Kavanaugh — as if it were an endorsement from Facebook itself.
The unrest quickly spilled over onto Facebook’s internal message boards, where hundreds of workers have since posted about their concerns, according to current and former employees. To quell the hubbub, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, last Friday explained in a widely attended staff meeting that Mr. Kaplan was a close friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s and had broken no company rules, these people said.
Yet the disquiet within the company has not subsided. This week, Facebook employees kept flooding internal forums with comments about Mr. Kaplan’s appearance at the hearing. In a post on Wednesday, Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook executive, appeared to dismiss the concerns when he wrote to employees that “it is your responsibility to choose a path, not that of the company you work for.” Facebook plans to hold another staff meeting on Friday to contain the damage, said the current and former employees.




















Advertisement
The internal turmoil at Facebook — described by six current and former employees and a review of internal posts — illustrates how divisions over Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court have cascaded into unexpected places and split one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
Mr. Kaplan’s show of support for Judge Kavanaugh hits a particularly sensitive spot for Facebook. It has been weathering claims from conservatives and Mr. Trump that Facebook is biased against right-wing websites and opinions. The company has denied this, saying it is a neutral platform that welcomes all perspectives. By showing up at Judge Kavanaugh’s side, Mr. Kaplan essentially appeared to choose a political side that goes against the views of Facebook’s largely liberal work force.
Many employees also viewed it as a statement: Mr. Kaplan believed Mr. Kavanaugh’s side of the story rather than Dr. Blasey’s testimony. That felt especially hurtful to Facebook employees who were also sexual assault survivors, many of whom began sharing their own #MeToo stories internally.
The tensions add to a litany of other issues that have sapped employee morale. In the past few weeks alone, the company, based in Silicon Valley, has grappled with the departures of the co-founders of Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, plus the disclosure of its largest-ever data breach and continued scrutiny of disinformation across its network before the midterm elections.
“Our leadership team recognizes that they’ve made mistakes handling the events of the last week and we’re grateful for all the feedback from our employees,” Roberta Thomson, a Facebook spokeswoman, said in a statement on Thursday.
Advertisement

The latest trouble began a week ago, with the testimony of Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh in Congress. As Judge Kavanaugh testified, one face stood out to Facebook employees: Sitting two rows behind the judge was Mr. Kaplan, a former senior adviser to George W. Bush who had joined the company in a policy role in 2011 and heads up the social network’s Washington office. He had been hired to help counterbalance Facebook’s perception as left-leaning.
Tweets about Mr. Kaplan at the hearing immediately began circulating among Facebook message boards such as “Women @ Facebook,” a communications chat room called “Just Flagging,” and a group called “Wait, what?” where employees can ask public relations questions. Many employees had one query: Why was Mr. Kaplan there, front and center?
“Let’s assume for a minute that our VP of Policy understands how senate hearings work,” one program manager said in a post about Mr. Kaplan that was reviewed by The Times. “His seat choice was intentional, knowing full well that journalists would identify every public figure appearing behind Kavanaugh. He knew that this would cause outrage internally, but he knew that he couldn’t get fired for it. This was a protest against our culture, and a slap in the face to his fellow employees.”
“Yes, Joel, we see you,” the employee added.
Facebook executives knew they had a serious problem on their hands, said the current and former employees. That led to last Friday’s apology from Mr. Kaplan, a former Marine who once clerked for two conservative justices.





























Judge Kavanaugh as he was sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.CreditPool photo by Jim Bourg


In the note addressed to his policy group, Mr. Kaplan wrote, “I have known Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh for 20 years. They are my and my wife Laura’s closest friends in D.C. I was in their wedding; he was in ours. Our kids have grown up together.”
“I believe in standing by your friends, especially when times are tough for them,” Mr. Kaplan added in a later post.


He also said, “Laura and I felt it was important to be with them at the hearing to express our love and support for our friends during a very difficult time for all involved. I took a personal day to be there.”
Some Facebook employees noted that according to the company’s internal human resources software, Mr. Kaplan had not taken a personal day to attend the hearing. Only later last Thursday did someone at Facebook update the system to say Mr. Kaplan had taken a personal day, said the current and former employees.
At last Friday’s staff meeting, Mr. Zuckerberg defended Mr. Kaplan’s appearance as a personal decision that did not violate company rules. Mr. Zuckerberg also said he trusted Mr. Kaplan’s judgment, even though he himself would most likely not have chosen to attend the hearing, said two people who were at the meeting.
The messaging backfired. Some employees — particularly women — said it came across as if Mr. Zuckerberg was shrugging off Dr. Blasey’s comments about sexual assault, saying that the chief executive’s remarks had caused “stress and trauma” and were “painful to hear.”
Many female employees were also upset that Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, who has made women’s issues a personal platform and project, did not publicly say something about Dr. Blasey and sexual assault. Mr. Kaplan is known as a friend of Ms. Sandberg’s, with the two having gotten acquainted at Harvard, which both attended.
Ms. Sandberg posted internally last Friday, writing, “As a woman and someone who cares so deeply about how women are treated, the Kavanaugh issue is deeply upsetting to me.” She added, “I’ve talked to Joel about why I think it was a mistake for him to attend given his role in the company.”
In one internal Facebook group that is aimed at supporting female employees, dozens of women this week posted accounts of their own struggles with sexual assault. Mr. Kaplan’s attendance at the hearing made them uncomfortable, they wrote, according to posts reviewed by The Times. Several said they would not feel comfortable working in the Washington office under Mr. Kaplan.

























Advertisement
Other employees began criticizing Mr. Zuckerberg directly in recent days.
“I appreciate your desire to avoid taking sides, but please don’t insult our intelligence by declaring that this act did not violate our policies, or that it was only an honest lapse in judgement,” one engineer wrote in a post addressed to the chief executive. “Please don’t tell us that you know how hard it is for us when it is very clear from your words, your actions and your tone that you don’t.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Bosworth, a 13-year veteran of Facebook and close friend of Mr. Zuckerberg’s, weighed in in an internal post.
“If you need to change teams, companies or careers to make sure your day-to-day life matches your passions, we will be sad to see you go, but we will understand,” Mr. Bosworth wrote. “We will support you with any path you choose. But it is your responsibility to choose a path, not that of the company you work for.”
Mr. Bosworth backpedaled after facing opposition — including from Lori Goler, Facebook’s head of human resources — who said he was dismissing legitimate employee concerns, said the current and former employees. On Thursday afternoon, he posted, “I spoke at a time when I should be listening and that was a big mistake. I’m grateful to employees who shared feedback and very sorry that my actions caused employees pain and frustration when what they needed was better support and understanding from leadership.”
By that point, it was clear the tensions were not fading. Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer and the sponsor of the group “Women @ Facebook,” scheduled a meeting on Friday to deal with staff concerns. Mr. Zuckerberg, Ms. Sandberg and Mr. Kaplan are all expected to attend to field questions, said the current and former employees.





















Follow Mike Isaac on Twitter: @MikeIsaac.
Kate Conger and Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting.
Interested in All Things Tech? Get the Bits newsletter delivered to your inbox weekly for the latest from Silicon Valley and the technology industry.

 Email us 

 patcnews.patriot@aol.com

 patcnewsconservative1@aol.com



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Content and Programming Copyright 2018 By Patcnews The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network © LLC UCC 1-308.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE All copyrights reserved By Patcnews The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.  © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network

Saturday, September 29, 2018

( Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing ) Patcnews Sept 29, 2018 The Patriot Conservative News Tea Party Network Reports Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing © All Copyrights Reserved By Patcnews

 


Rifts Break Open at Facebook Over Kavanaugh Hearing
























Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy, left, sat two rows behind Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh at his testimony in Congress last week. They are longtime friends.CreditCreditPool photo by Jim Bourg


















SAN FRANCISCO — “I want to apologize,” the Facebook executive wrote last Friday in a note to staff. “I recognize this moment is a deeply painful one — internally and externally.”
The apology came from Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president for global public policy. A day earlier, Mr. Kaplan had sat behind his friend, Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, when the judge testified in Congress about allegations he had sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford in high school. Mr. Kaplan’s surprise appearance prompted anger and shock among many Facebook employees, some of whom said they took his action as a tacit show of support for Judge Kavanaugh — as if it were an endorsement from Facebook itself.
The unrest quickly spilled over onto Facebook’s internal message boards, where hundreds of workers have since posted about their concerns, according to current and former employees. To quell the hubbub, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, last Friday explained in a widely attended staff meeting that Mr. Kaplan was a close friend of Judge Kavanaugh’s and had broken no company rules, these people said.
Yet the disquiet within the company has not subsided. This week, Facebook employees kept flooding internal forums with comments about Mr. Kaplan’s appearance at the hearing. In a post on Wednesday, Andrew Bosworth, a Facebook executive, appeared to dismiss the concerns when he wrote to employees that “it is your responsibility to choose a path, not that of the company you work for.” Facebook plans to hold another staff meeting on Friday to contain the damage, said the current and former employees.




















Advertisement
The internal turmoil at Facebook — described by six current and former employees and a review of internal posts — illustrates how divisions over Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court have cascaded into unexpected places and split one of the world’s biggest tech companies.
Mr. Kaplan’s show of support for Judge Kavanaugh hits a particularly sensitive spot for Facebook. It has been weathering claims from conservatives and Mr. Trump that Facebook is biased against right-wing websites and opinions. The company has denied this, saying it is a neutral platform that welcomes all perspectives. By showing up at Judge Kavanaugh’s side, Mr. Kaplan essentially appeared to choose a political side that goes against the views of Facebook’s largely liberal work force.
Many employees also viewed it as a statement: Mr. Kaplan believed Mr. Kavanaugh’s side of the story rather than Dr. Blasey’s testimony. That felt especially hurtful to Facebook employees who were also sexual assault survivors, many of whom began sharing their own #MeToo stories internally.
The tensions add to a litany of other issues that have sapped employee morale. In the past few weeks alone, the company, based in Silicon Valley, has grappled with the departures of the co-founders of Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, plus the disclosure of its largest-ever data breach and continued scrutiny of disinformation across its network before the midterm elections.
“Our leadership team recognizes that they’ve made mistakes handling the events of the last week and we’re grateful for all the feedback from our employees,” Roberta Thomson, a Facebook spokeswoman, said in a statement on Thursday.
Advertisement

The latest trouble began a week ago, with the testimony of Dr. Blasey and Judge Kavanaugh in Congress. As Judge Kavanaugh testified, one face stood out to Facebook employees: Sitting two rows behind the judge was Mr. Kaplan, a former senior adviser to George W. Bush who had joined the company in a policy role in 2011 and heads up the social network’s Washington office. He had been hired to help counterbalance Facebook’s perception as left-leaning.
Tweets about Mr. Kaplan at the hearing immediately began circulating among Facebook message boards such as “Women @ Facebook,” a communications chat room called “Just Flagging,” and a group called “Wait, what?” where employees can ask public relations questions. Many employees had one query: Why was Mr. Kaplan there, front and center?
“Let’s assume for a minute that our VP of Policy understands how senate hearings work,” one program manager said in a post about Mr. Kaplan that was reviewed by The Times. “His seat choice was intentional, knowing full well that journalists would identify every public figure appearing behind Kavanaugh. He knew that this would cause outrage internally, but he knew that he couldn’t get fired for it. This was a protest against our culture, and a slap in the face to his fellow employees.”
“Yes, Joel, we see you,” the employee added.
Facebook executives knew they had a serious problem on their hands, said the current and former employees. That led to last Friday’s apology from Mr. Kaplan, a former Marine who once clerked for two conservative justices.


























Judge Kavanaugh as he was sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.CreditPool photo by Jim Bourg


In the note addressed to his policy group, Mr. Kaplan wrote, “I have known Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh for 20 years. They are my and my wife Laura’s closest friends in D.C. I was in their wedding; he was in ours. Our kids have grown up together.”
“I believe in standing by your friends, especially when times are tough for them,” Mr. Kaplan added in a later post.


He also said, “Laura and I felt it was important to be with them at the hearing to express our love and support for our friends during a very difficult time for all involved. I took a personal day to be there.”
Some Facebook employees noted that according to the company’s internal human resources software, Mr. Kaplan had not taken a personal day to attend the hearing. Only later last Thursday did someone at Facebook update the system to say Mr. Kaplan had taken a personal day, said the current and former employees.
At last Friday’s staff meeting, Mr. Zuckerberg defended Mr. Kaplan’s appearance as a personal decision that did not violate company rules. Mr. Zuckerberg also said he trusted Mr. Kaplan’s judgment, even though he himself would most likely not have chosen to attend the hearing, said two people who were at the meeting.
The messaging backfired. Some employees — particularly women — said it came across as if Mr. Zuckerberg was shrugging off Dr. Blasey’s comments about sexual assault, saying that the chief executive’s remarks had caused “stress and trauma” and were “painful to hear.”
Many female employees were also upset that Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, who has made women’s issues a personal platform and project, did not publicly say something about Dr. Blasey and sexual assault. Mr. Kaplan is known as a friend of Ms. Sandberg’s, with the two having gotten acquainted at Harvard, which both attended.
Ms. Sandberg posted internally last Friday, writing, “As a woman and someone who cares so deeply about how women are treated, the Kavanaugh issue is deeply upsetting to me.” She added, “I’ve talked to Joel about why I think it was a mistake for him to attend given his role in the company.”
In one internal Facebook group that is aimed at supporting female employees, dozens of women this week posted accounts of their own struggles with sexual assault. Mr. Kaplan’s attendance at the hearing made them uncomfortable, they wrote, according to posts reviewed by The Times. Several said they would not feel comfortable working in the Washington office under Mr. Kaplan.






















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Other employees began criticizing Mr. Zuckerberg directly in recent days.
“I appreciate your desire to avoid taking sides, but please don’t insult our intelligence by declaring that this act did not violate our policies, or that it was only an honest lapse in judgement,” one engineer wrote in a post addressed to the chief executive. “Please don’t tell us that you know how hard it is for us when it is very clear from your words, your actions and your tone that you don’t.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Bosworth, a 13-year veteran of Facebook and close friend of Mr. Zuckerberg’s, weighed in in an internal post.
“If you need to change teams, companies or careers to make sure your day-to-day life matches your passions, we will be sad to see you go, but we will understand,” Mr. Bosworth wrote. “We will support you with any path you choose. But it is your responsibility to choose a path, not that of the company you work for.”
Mr. Bosworth backpedaled after facing opposition — including from Lori Goler, Facebook’s head of human resources — who said he was dismissing legitimate employee concerns, said the current and former employees. On Thursday afternoon, he posted, “I spoke at a time when I should be listening and that was a big mistake. I’m grateful to employees who shared feedback and very sorry that my actions caused employees pain and frustration when what they needed was better support and understanding from leadership.”
By that point, it was clear the tensions were not fading. Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer and the sponsor of the group “Women @ Facebook,” scheduled a meeting on Friday to deal with staff concerns. Mr. Zuckerberg, Ms. Sandberg and Mr. Kaplan are all expected to attend to field questions, said the current and former employees.


















Follow Mike Isaac on Twitter: @MikeIsaac.
Kate Conger and Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting.
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