The Corruption in Silicon Valley
Posted on Wednesday 29 January 2020, - - updated on 02/02/21 - NEWS - Permalink
- Article
- |
- Comments (0)
- |
- Attachments (0)
SHARE:
The Corruption in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley (SV) is located in the southern San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California and is known as the center for high technology, innovation, and social media. Though Silicon Valley originally earned its name due to the silicon chip innovators and manufacturers in the area, over the past few decades the technological focus has shifted; out of the 143 tech billionaires around the world, half of them live in Silicon Valley according to a report from Wealth-X. The area is home to some of the world’s largest high-tech corporations, such as Apple Inc., AMD (Advanced Micro Designs), Google, NETFLIX, Facebook, and TESLA Motors, to name a few. A grand total of 39 businesses have their headquarters located in the valley. Silicon Valley is also home to thousands of startups, making it a competitive region for scientific development. The area even employs about a quarter of a million information technology workers, as of 2013. Due to the massive amount of businesses located in Silicon Valley, SV accounts for one-third of all the venture capital investments in the United States. The startup ecosystem has allowed Silicon Valley to grow massively since the 1970s. Silicon Valley has become one of the most well known technological hubs world wide, but at what costs?
It cannot be ignored that the businesses in Silicon Valley have worked for their success and wealth; however, the means by which this has been achieved hasn’t always been ethical. The private sector has repeatedly taken advantage of their investors and public needs, shrouding their work in secrets and non-discloser agreements (NDA). For example, Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, raised more than 700 million dollars in capital from investors for her blood testing company. Holmes accomplished this impressive feat by using vague language and never clearly addressing her work. In an issued statement she said, “over time, we’ve been optimizing our clinical lab to bring up tests that are more commonly ordered, and in some cases move resources off the proprietary tests that are less commonly ordered to get to a point where the ordering patterns we are seeing can all be accommodated through our finger-stick technology.” Through the elementary use of diction, Holmes managed to gain investors by saying nothing notable. When people did question her for her vague language and secrecy, she could only say she was protecting trade secrets. Trade secrets are commonly used in business to gain an economic advantage over competitors or customers, so Holmes was able to conceal her work from the public. It has also been reported that the company went as far as keeping departments isolated to prevent employees from discussing projects with one another. However, when 700 million dollars are at risk, the investors should be entitled to transparency about what their money is being used for. When there were whistle blowers in the company, they were simply dismissed as disgruntled former employees, allowing Holmes to continue taking advantage of her investors. After years of slipping by undetected, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) exposed Holmes to the public. They charged her with “elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance.” In those few moments, Holmes went from a 9 billion dollar Silicon Valley elite to a disgrace that used fraud as a trade secret. Despite the corruption demonstrated in Silicon Valley by Holmes, both the other companies in SV and investors moved on rapidly, blindly running towards the next scandal waiting to happen.
Mike Cagney, a chief executive, was outed by the board of Social Finance, an online lending company, due to sexual misconduct. The board’s investigation found that Cagney was romantically involved with an employee. He had previously told them that he was not involved in any workplace relationships. This isn’t even the first time Cagney has been caught committing sexual misconduct; years prior, Cagney was found having affairs with employees. After he was caught, he promised he would never do it again, so obviously the problem was fixed, at least for a couple of years. The idea that all a rich man has to do is apologize for his behavior and promise not to do it again is undeniably ignorant. All the “boys will be boys” mentality really does is let immature and unhealthy behavior slide because of hegemonic masculinity, a practice that legitimizes men’s dominant position in society and justifies the subordination of women, and other marginalized ways of being a man, has become a social norm. The action, or lack thereof, that the board took the first time Mike Cagney was caught committing sexual misconduct only seemed to convince Cagney that he could get away with his harmful behavior again and all he had to do was hide it better, not change it. By letting Cagney get away with only a slap on the wrist, the board allowed the toxic culture of gender-related discrimination and harassment to continue. Claims from former SoFi employees have described the atmosphere to be like a frat-house, full of inappropriate behavior towards women. It was claimed that female employees had even reported to their superiors that sexual harassment had been occurring, but it was simply dismissed.
The Me Too Movement helped make it more comfortable for women to speak out about Mike Cagney and the environment of Social Finance, but nothing happened until a man spoke up. Former Social Finance employee, Brandon Charles, filed a law suit claiming he had witnessed coworkers sexually harassing female employees and had been fired for reporting it. The company had claimed they did investigate Charles’s report, but found it had “no merit.” Later in the month, Charles updated his claim, implicating Cagney for his actions in creating a “toxic corporate culture.” Part of the updated claim reads, “certain male-dominated startups have developed an unchecked arrogance with a laser focus on growth and financial success while ignoring workplace regulations. Mr. Charles quickly became aware of the corporate culture fostered at SoFi by CEO Michael Cagney and other executives at SoFi. The culture of male bravado filters down from the leadership team at SoFi headquarters in San Francisco throughout the company, empowering other managers to engage in sexual conduct in the workplace. Not only is sexual harassment permitted, but employees who oppose it, such as Mr. Brandon Charles, are vilified.”
It wasn’t until all of this that the board finally outed Cagney for his sexual misconduct. It is clear that they used him as a scapegoat for the toxic environment they helped create by failing to take action against Cagney the first time they found out about his sexual misconduct. The board of Social Finance put their interests above the safety of their employees by only taking action when it was the best option for them. Despite the massive amount of proof Cagney that committed numerous acts of sexual misconduct, it didn’t hurt him. Months after Cagney left SoFi, two venture capitalists invested 17 million dollars into Cagney’s new startup. Recently, he has gained an additional 41 million dollars in investments towards his lending startup. Cagney’s ability to quickly recover despite being out for his actions of sexual harassment and assault demonstrates a terrifying principle rooted deep in Silicon Valley: if you are an elitist in Silicon Valley, it doesn’t matter what you do wrong. You will be able to simply get away with your actions and move on with your life, while leaving your victims scarred.
Silicon Valley is known for being a technological hub that produces high-tech innovation and scientific development. However, with the constant scandals of the elitists in Silicon Valley that manage to hurt those around them and get away with it, such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, whom both have too many reported scandals to list, one must question the environment of Silicon Valley. Is being provided a new gadget to play with worth turning a blind eye to corruption and greed? At what point did societies wants allow us to ignore the basic needs of soon to be victims? What is the point of technological innovation and scientific development if our morals don’t improve as well?
Is there corruption in the Silicon Valley? What is the ...
Silicon Valley Corruption. Santa Clara County, California ...
Scott Largent Story Santa Clara County Corruption ...
Silicon Valley, CA - Police and DA corruption. by Timothy ...
santa clara county - Silicon Valley Corruption. Santa ...
todd rothbard - Silicon Valley Corruption. Santa Clara ...
Represent Silicon Valley - Congress won't fix corruption ...
Corruption allegations at Silicon Valley's Hispanic ...
The Corruption in Silicon Valley - Shark Attack
Will Judge Sharon Chatman be held responsible if Sheriff ...
“I’m not speaking to The Hill anymore. Sorry,” Rep. Jackie Speier announced to one of the site’s senior writers on Friday. Citing the site’s role in advancing baseless claims against former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch—who had just testified for hours—which were embraced by Donald Trump and other members of the right, the California Democrat offered a scathing indictment of how so-called “fake news” is spread.
“I just find it reprehensible that any newspaper would just be willing to put that kind of crap out that is not — has no veracity whatsoever, and not check to see if it had any veracity,” Speier said to Scott Wong, after he identified himself as a senior staff writer for The Hill. “And then it becomes a talking point. And he becomes a nonpartisan commentator. It’s corrupt. It’s just corrupt.”
But of what, and who, exactly, does Speier speak? That would be John Solomon, whom the New York Times calls “the man Trump trusts for news on Ukraine.” Solomon’s “work” came up a few times during impeachment inquiry testimony this week, most notably during the testimony of Yovanovitch and also former NSC official Fiona Hill.
So who exactly is John Solomon? A Washington-based reporter and Fox News personality who had until recently been working at the politics outlet The Hill, Mr. Solomon, 52, is not well known outside conservative media. But, according to interviews and testimony, his writing and commentary helped trigger the chain of events that are now the subject of the impeachment inquiry into Mr. Trump.
[...]
Mr. Solomon’s work has been endorsed by some of the most influential figures on the right like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and the president, who has highlighted Mr. Solomon’s articles on Twitter.
The spread of Solomon’s work, according to media experts who spoke to the Times, is a near-perfect example of how rightwing media isn’t actually an echo chamber … it’s an ecosystem. Here’s how it works.
“Sean Hannity talks about John Solomon, and then that gets picked up on Rush (Limbaugh) and (Mark) Levin,” explains Columbia University media historian Nicole Hemmer. “That gives it an authority when (conservative audiences are) hearing it from multiple sources every day.” Citing Solomon’s earlier work at the Associated Press, Hannity was able to present Solomon as “nonpartisan,” and an “investigative reporter.”
Solomon, of course, did little investigating. As Media Matters (MMFA) reported in October, this ecosystem model was fully exploited by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who essentially planted misinformation in service to his orange master.
Giuliani … pursued an “investigation” in Ukraine that he claimed showed both Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in 2016 and evidence that then-Vice President Joe Biden acted corruptly in Ukraine to benefit his son.
In March, Giuliani sent the results of his investigation to the State Department to be investigated and to conservative columnist John Solomon.
MMFA notes that, beginning in March, Solomon began publishing stories clearly fed to him by Giuliani—45 in a span of six months—which led to a stunning 72 appearances on Fox News—51 of them alongside Sean Hannity, who is easily the network’s loudest CT shrieker. Giuliani did his part to advance the scheme, even praising Solomon’s “reporting” as worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.
Meanwhile, as NBC News notes, the State Department was aware of Giuliani’s misinformation campaign—then-Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, who testified publicly on Wednesday, called the Solomon articles “poppycock.”
Solomon’s manipulative reporting didn’t just start with the massive partnership with Giuliani. Staffers at The Hill began to voice concern about Solomon and his “investigations” just months after he joined the outlet in late 2017, according to reporting from the Washington Post in January 2018. By May, Solomon was re-classified as an “opinion” contributor, which gave him AND The Hill additional legal cover to publish misinformation, much like Fox News hides Hannity—who responded to Yovanovitch’s testimony by mocking her on his radio show—and his ceaseless nonsense under that same umbrella.
The Hill, remarkably, reported on Yovanovitch’s indictment of Solomon and his “reporting,” without a trace of irony, much less remorse. The outlet did note that Solomon, in a statement, stands by all of his work for his former employer.
All of this brings us back to Friday, and Rep. Speier’s rebuke of Wong and The Hill as a whole. After Speier suggested the reporter run and tell the leadership of the site about their exchange, Wong pushed back at the congresswoman.
“The reporters themselves have made that clear to our leadership as well,” he told her. “There are a lot of dedicated reporters at The Hill who do not share John Solomon’s views.”
Bob Cusack, editor-in-chief of The Hill, has yet to comment on the allegations that his publication spread misinformation, possibly willfully, that undeniably contributed to the destruction of Yovanovitch’s career and the current political crisis that has consumed the nation.
A perusal of his Twitter feed shows he typically tweets pleasant farewells to staffers moving on from the outlet, as well as shares a variety of content from the site. No such good tidings or content promotion can be found for Solomon, who, again, departed the site in September after almost two years on staff. Seems a little scrubby, eh?
One of Cusack’s tweets, however, has not aged well at all.
Some folks on Twitter are challenging people to rethink their impressions of the website.
Meanwhile, The Hill’s front page, as of this writing, features another “opinion” column, equating resistance to the Trump administration with “unhinged behavior.”
A Culture of Corruption is being Exposed in Washington D.C.
The veil of deception is being lifted at our nations’ capitol. Rampant sex abuse scandals are being exposed in Washington D.C. as Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) revealed that $15 million dollars of taxpayer money has been used by members of Congress to settle sexual harassment claims during the last 10 to 15 years.
The status quo in the Washington D.C. swamp needs to be drained. More than 50 Washington D.C. insiders recently spoke to the media on condition of anonymity and said they experienced sexual harassment while working in Congress. Apparently, they are afraid to give the names of the predators or even to reveal their own personal identities for fear of reprisals. If this is true then where is the Congressional Ethics Committee that is supposed to hold our members of Congress accountable to the highest standards in conduct? Where have they been and why aren’t they doing anything about this?
Well, according to their published records, during the last ten years, the committee responsible for handling these sex abuse cases has received 676 accusation of sexual harassment against members of our US Congress. Shockingly, of these 678 cases there has been zero disciplinary actions taken.
676 accusations and not 1 person has been sanctioned? This is not acceptable. We don’t realize how deep the corruption in Washington D.C. really is. Instead of taking action and firing and/or prosecuting the perpetrators, Congress has been busy paying tax dollars to settle these cases. This is a “Cash for Misconduct” scandal. We have life-long, career politicians that are out of control and we are paying for their sick, perverted shenanigans.
That’s $15,000,000 in taxpayers dollars – money that doesn’t belong to them. The perpetrators of these crimes should be named and forced to reimburse these payouts. Why should we, the citizens of the United States, be paying for these settlements? More importantly, why haven’t we been told about it? Any member of Congress who has been engaging in this sort of shameful behavior has got to go and they need to reimburse the US Treasury for any and all monies paid to settle their indiscretions.
GIVE US THE LIST! We want to know who they are!
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” Colossians 3:5, 6.
SHARE:
