By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives February 1, 2017
Comments | Print This | Subscribe | Email Us
“We’re concerned about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that create barriers to bringing great talent to the U.S.,” the company wrote in an official statement. “We’ll continue to make our views on these issues known to leaders in Washington and elsewhere.” (TechCrunch, Jan. 28, 2017)In the meantime, Google sent 2000 employees protesting on the streets yesterday, including co-founder Sergey Brin who joined the protests at San Francisco International Airport. Then there’s Facebook, which like Google, goes out of its way to suppress conservative news sites but provides room for the ongoing Fake News of the mainstream media.
"Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, too, yesterday noted in a Facebook post that he is “concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump” though he also added that he was “glad” that Trump was willing “to ‘work something out’ for Dreamers” and that the President “believes our country should continue to benefit from ‘people of great talent coming into the country.’” (TechCrunch) Facebook added in a statement today, “We are assessing the impact on our workforce and determining how best to protect our people and their families from any adverse effects.”Microsoft? Count them in on the fight to stop Trump.
“Microsoft told us that it is already providing legal assistance to its employees affected by this: “We share the concerns about the impact of the executive order on our employees from the listed countries, all of whom have been in the United States lawfully, and we’re actively working with them to provide legal advice and assistance.”() “Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke out in favor of immigration in a post on LinkedIn. “As an immigrant and as a CEO, I’ve both experienced and seen the positive impact that immigration has on our company, for the country, and for the world. We will continue to advocate on this important topic,” Nadella said. “Nadella also shared a memo from Microsoft’s chief legal officer Brad Smith, in which Smith revealed that at least 76 Microsoft employees are affected by Trump’s order. “But there may be other employees from these countries who have U.S. green cards rather than a visa who may be affected, and there may be family members from these countries that we haven’t yet reached,” Smith added. Smith said he and Nadella would answer employee questions during a question-and-answer session on Monday. In a memo obtained by TechCrunch, Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company has reached out to employees affected by the order. “In my conversations with officials here in Washington this week, I’ve made it clear that Apple believes deeply in the importance of immigration — both to our company and to our nation’s future,” Cook wrote. “Apple would not exist without immigration, let alone thrive and innovate the way we do.” Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk added his comments via Twitter late on Saturday afternoon. They were not very strongly worded.The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2017In a statement to TechCrunch, a Tesla spokesperson added, “We hope that this temporary action by the Administration transitions to a fair and thoughtful long-term policy.” A small number of Tesla employees are affected by the order.The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 29, 2017
In an emailed statement, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard said that he believes that “The immigration ban imposed by Friday’s executive order is overly broad and its implementation is highly disruptive to fostering a culture of innovation and economic growth.” He added the he believes that “The ban will have an unnecessary negative impact to the health and safety of those affected and their families, not to mention rejecting refugees fleeing persecution, terror and war.”Other tech companies and individuals have jumped in as well including; Uber, LinkedIn, Adobe, Twilio, Postmates, Netflix, Salesforce, OpenStack Foundation, Box, Twitter, Square, Airbnb, Red Hat, Pinterest, Dropbox, Y Combinator, AppNexus, Fog Creek, investor Chris Sacca, Former Facebook CTO and founder of the Salesforce-acquired Quip Bret Taylor, Stripe, Etsy, Lyft, VC Fred Wilson, Atlassian, Intel, Amazon, Yelp, Reddit —(To see the full list please visit Tech Crunch) Lost to the tech world is that some the 63 million people who voted for Trump see his immigration ban as an attempt to keep America safe. The response from columnist Marilyn MacGruder Barnewall to Mozilla CEO Chris Beard, who sent out an anti-Trump message to web browser Firefox users bears repeating, “We have got to start standing up for our President. People like this need to be made aware that the majority of Americans agree with President Trump's stand on immigrants from terrorist nations.” A Canada Free Press pundit adds to this: “Hey, Chris, okay with you if me and a few of my friends use your backyard for our pro-Trump protests?”
Copyright © Canada Free Press
RSS Feed for Judi McLeod
Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.