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She flipped off President Trump - and got fired from her government contracting job
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Nov 7, 2017, 1:29:36 AM11/7/17
to
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/she-flipped-off-president-trump--and-
got-fired-from-her-government-contracting-job/2017/11/06/4cf1af9a-c2da-
11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?tid=pm_local_pop&utm_term=.6c04683fc3c6
It was the middle-finger salute seen around the world.
Juli Briskman’s protest aimed at the presidential motorcade that roared
past her while she was on her cycling path in Northern Virginia late last
month became an instantly viral photo.
Turns out it has now cost the 50-year-old marketing executive her job.
On Halloween, after Briskman gave her bosses at Akima, a government
contracting firm, a heads-up that she was the unidentified cyclist in the
photo, they took her into a room and fired her, she said, escorting her
out of the building with a box of her things.
“I wasn’t even at work when I did that,” Briskman said. “But they told me
I violated the code-of-conduct policy.”
Her bosses at Akima, who have not returned emails and calls requesting
comment, showed her the blue-highlighted Section 4.3 of the firm’s social-
media policy when they canned her.
“Covered Social Media Activity that contains discriminatory, obscene
malicious or threatening content, is knowingly false, create [sic] a
hostile work environment, or similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct
will not be tolerated and will be subject to discipline up to an [sic]
including termination of employment.”
[A cyclist flipped off Trump’s motorcade and entered the annals of
presidential protests]
But Briskman wasn’t wearing anything that connected her to the company
when she was on her ride, nor is there anything on her personal social-
media accounts — where she wordlessly posted the photo without identifying
herself — to link her to the firm.
She identifies herself as an Akima employee on her LinkedIn account but
makes no mention of the middle-finger photo there.
Wait. It gets even more obscene.
Because Briskman was in charge of the firm’s social-media presence during
her six-month tenure there, she recently flagged something that did link
her company to some pretty ugly stuff.
As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by
a senior director at the company in an otherwise civil discussion by one
of his employees about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“You’re a f------ Libtard a------,” the director injected, using his
profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee of
the firm.
In fact, the person he aimed that comment at was so offended by the
intrusion into the conversation and the coarse nature of it that he
challenged the director on representing Akima that way.
So Briskman flagged the exchange to senior management.
Did the man, a middle-aged executive who had been with the company for
seven years, get the old “Section 4.3” boot?
Nope. He cleaned up the comment, spit-shined his public profile and kept
on trucking at work.
But the single mother of two teens who made an impulsive gesture while on
her bike on her day off?
Adios, amiga.
Her mistake, said Bethesda lawyer Bradley Shear, who specializes in
social-media issues, was her honesty.
“You can’t see her face; she is totally unidentified in that picture,” he
said. “But once she identified herself to her employer, they had to
consider that information.”
The company takes into account how the image of an employee flipping off
the president looks and whether it may draw negative attention or threats,
said Shear, who has a blog devoted to such matters.
But what about the First Amendment?
That will save you from being punished by the government for your words,
but it doesn’t protect your paycheck, he said. “You can say whatever you
want,” he said. “You might not get jailed for what you say, but you might
not get the job you want.”
Briskman is not a strident activist.
In fact, after years of working all over the world as part of the nation’s
diplomatic corps, she’s usually pretty reserved.
“I think I gave money for clean water once,” she said.
During the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, she couldn’t
make it into Washington. Instead, she said, she stood in somber protest
outside the CIA headquarters with a “Not My President” sign.
That day on her bike, she wasn’t planning to make a statement.
She was feeling much like many other Americans who are frustrated with
Trump’s behavior and the way he has performed as president.
“Here’s what was going through my head that day: ‘Really? You’re golfing
again?’ ” Briskman said.
She had been pounding out her daily exercise, a little shorter than usual
because she was still recovering from running the Marine Corps Marathon,
when the phalanx of black cars passed her.
She’d been chewing on the state of the nation during her ride — imagining
the devastation in Puerto Rico, furious that young immigrants brought to
the United States as children could be deported, despondent over the
deaths and devastation in Las Vegas, concerned about her friends in the
diplomatic corps who said their daily job is now being the laughingstock
of the world — when the presidential golfing procession interrupted her
meditation.
“I was thinking about all this, tooling along, when I see the black cars
come and I remember, oh, yeah, he was back on the golf course,” she said.
So she did what millions of Americans do on the road every day.
Hail to the chief, resist-style.
But she couldn’t just ride off. Or watch it whoosh away. The motorcade
stopped, bisecting her usual route. She knew it wouldn’t be wise to cut
between the cars. And she didn’t want to stay with her routine and look
like she was stalking the motorcade when it turned where she usually
turned. So she decided to change her route, and punctuated the final
insult with another one-fingered salute.
She had no idea the sentiment had been snapped by photographer Brendan
Smialowski for Agence France-Presse and Getty Images. And that night, it
started popping up all over.
A few of her friends thought they recognized her, tagged her on the photo
and asked.
“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me. Isn’t it funny?’ ” she said. Ha ha. And she
posted it as her Facebook cover photo and her Twitter profile picture, so
now her 24 Twitter followers could guess that it was her.
The next few days, though, it started getting nasty at the yoga studio,
where she is a part-time instructor — something she does mention on
Facebook. Some threatening emails came, Briskman said.
“They told the owner of the studio she should fire me,” she said. So
Briskman quickly removed mention of the studio and it was all back to ommm
at the yoga place and in her life. She wasn’t a celebrity. Only the back
of her head and her hand were.
But knowing that connection had been made, Briskman wanted to make her
bosses at Akima aware of the situation.
“It was just a heads-up,” she said.
It didn’t take long for her head to roll.
And now, heads are shaking.
Briskman has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union about the case.
Her bosses told her that they do support her First Amendment rights. But
they wanted her to “be professional,” she said.
Does Briskman regret that middle finger, that reflexive moment that wasn’t
all pussyhats and protest signs, that wasn’t calculated resistance, but
rather a totally relatable plain-old, working-woman, living-my-life, what-
the-heck-is-going-on-in-our-world reaction?
Nope. “I’d do it again,” she said.
Resist, sister.
Whine louder, we can't hear you. Typical stupid left-winger.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
got-fired-from-her-government-contracting-job/2017/11/06/4cf1af9a-c2da-
11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?tid=pm_local_pop&utm_term=.6c04683fc3c6
It was the middle-finger salute seen around the world.
Juli Briskman’s protest aimed at the presidential motorcade that roared
past her while she was on her cycling path in Northern Virginia late last
month became an instantly viral photo.
Turns out it has now cost the 50-year-old marketing executive her job.
On Halloween, after Briskman gave her bosses at Akima, a government
contracting firm, a heads-up that she was the unidentified cyclist in the
photo, they took her into a room and fired her, she said, escorting her
out of the building with a box of her things.
“I wasn’t even at work when I did that,” Briskman said. “But they told me
I violated the code-of-conduct policy.”
Her bosses at Akima, who have not returned emails and calls requesting
comment, showed her the blue-highlighted Section 4.3 of the firm’s social-
media policy when they canned her.
“Covered Social Media Activity that contains discriminatory, obscene
malicious or threatening content, is knowingly false, create [sic] a
hostile work environment, or similar inappropriate or unlawful conduct
will not be tolerated and will be subject to discipline up to an [sic]
including termination of employment.”
[A cyclist flipped off Trump’s motorcade and entered the annals of
presidential protests]
But Briskman wasn’t wearing anything that connected her to the company
when she was on her ride, nor is there anything on her personal social-
media accounts — where she wordlessly posted the photo without identifying
herself — to link her to the firm.
She identifies herself as an Akima employee on her LinkedIn account but
makes no mention of the middle-finger photo there.
Wait. It gets even more obscene.
Because Briskman was in charge of the firm’s social-media presence during
her six-month tenure there, she recently flagged something that did link
her company to some pretty ugly stuff.
As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by
a senior director at the company in an otherwise civil discussion by one
of his employees about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“You’re a f------ Libtard a------,” the director injected, using his
profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee of
the firm.
In fact, the person he aimed that comment at was so offended by the
intrusion into the conversation and the coarse nature of it that he
challenged the director on representing Akima that way.
So Briskman flagged the exchange to senior management.
Did the man, a middle-aged executive who had been with the company for
seven years, get the old “Section 4.3” boot?
Nope. He cleaned up the comment, spit-shined his public profile and kept
on trucking at work.
But the single mother of two teens who made an impulsive gesture while on
her bike on her day off?
Adios, amiga.
Her mistake, said Bethesda lawyer Bradley Shear, who specializes in
social-media issues, was her honesty.
“You can’t see her face; she is totally unidentified in that picture,” he
said. “But once she identified herself to her employer, they had to
consider that information.”
The company takes into account how the image of an employee flipping off
the president looks and whether it may draw negative attention or threats,
said Shear, who has a blog devoted to such matters.
But what about the First Amendment?
That will save you from being punished by the government for your words,
but it doesn’t protect your paycheck, he said. “You can say whatever you
want,” he said. “You might not get jailed for what you say, but you might
not get the job you want.”
Briskman is not a strident activist.
In fact, after years of working all over the world as part of the nation’s
diplomatic corps, she’s usually pretty reserved.
“I think I gave money for clean water once,” she said.
During the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, she couldn’t
make it into Washington. Instead, she said, she stood in somber protest
outside the CIA headquarters with a “Not My President” sign.
That day on her bike, she wasn’t planning to make a statement.
She was feeling much like many other Americans who are frustrated with
Trump’s behavior and the way he has performed as president.
“Here’s what was going through my head that day: ‘Really? You’re golfing
again?’ ” Briskman said.
She had been pounding out her daily exercise, a little shorter than usual
because she was still recovering from running the Marine Corps Marathon,
when the phalanx of black cars passed her.
She’d been chewing on the state of the nation during her ride — imagining
the devastation in Puerto Rico, furious that young immigrants brought to
the United States as children could be deported, despondent over the
deaths and devastation in Las Vegas, concerned about her friends in the
diplomatic corps who said their daily job is now being the laughingstock
of the world — when the presidential golfing procession interrupted her
meditation.
“I was thinking about all this, tooling along, when I see the black cars
come and I remember, oh, yeah, he was back on the golf course,” she said.
So she did what millions of Americans do on the road every day.
Hail to the chief, resist-style.
But she couldn’t just ride off. Or watch it whoosh away. The motorcade
stopped, bisecting her usual route. She knew it wouldn’t be wise to cut
between the cars. And she didn’t want to stay with her routine and look
like she was stalking the motorcade when it turned where she usually
turned. So she decided to change her route, and punctuated the final
insult with another one-fingered salute.
She had no idea the sentiment had been snapped by photographer Brendan
Smialowski for Agence France-Presse and Getty Images. And that night, it
started popping up all over.
A few of her friends thought they recognized her, tagged her on the photo
and asked.
“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me. Isn’t it funny?’ ” she said. Ha ha. And she
posted it as her Facebook cover photo and her Twitter profile picture, so
now her 24 Twitter followers could guess that it was her.
The next few days, though, it started getting nasty at the yoga studio,
where she is a part-time instructor — something she does mention on
Facebook. Some threatening emails came, Briskman said.
“They told the owner of the studio she should fire me,” she said. So
Briskman quickly removed mention of the studio and it was all back to ommm
at the yoga place and in her life. She wasn’t a celebrity. Only the back
of her head and her hand were.
But knowing that connection had been made, Briskman wanted to make her
bosses at Akima aware of the situation.
“It was just a heads-up,” she said.
It didn’t take long for her head to roll.
And now, heads are shaking.
Briskman has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union about the case.
Her bosses told her that they do support her First Amendment rights. But
they wanted her to “be professional,” she said.
Does Briskman regret that middle finger, that reflexive moment that wasn’t
all pussyhats and protest signs, that wasn’t calculated resistance, but
rather a totally relatable plain-old, working-woman, living-my-life, what-
the-heck-is-going-on-in-our-world reaction?
Nope. “I’d do it again,” she said.
Resist, sister.
Whine louder, we can't hear you. Typical stupid left-winger.
--
Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.
Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the
Obama presidency.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp.
ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its
supporters can dispute that.
Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum
wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
it is.
Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
liberal democrat donors.
eb...@post.com
Nov 7, 2017, 1:46:23 PM11/7/17
to
On Tue, 7 Nov 2017 06:29:33 -0000 (UTC), "Leroy N. Soetoro"
<leroys...@bho-rejected.com> wrote:
>https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/she-flipped-off-president-trump--and-
>got-fired-from-her-government-contracting-job/2017/11/06/4cf1af9a-c2da-
>11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?tid=pm_local_pop&utm_term=.6c04683fc3c6
>It was the middle-finger salute seen around the world.
>
>Juli Briskman’s protest aimed at the presidential motorcade that roared
>past her while she was on her cycling path in Northern Virginia late last
>month became an instantly viral photo.
>
>Turns out it has now cost the 50-year-old marketing executive her job.
Go Trump!
<leroys...@bho-rejected.com> wrote:
>https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/she-flipped-off-president-trump--and-
>got-fired-from-her-government-contracting-job/2017/11/06/4cf1af9a-c2da-
>11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?tid=pm_local_pop&utm_term=.6c04683fc3c6
>It was the middle-finger salute seen around the world.
>
>Juli Briskman’s protest aimed at the presidential motorcade that roared
>past her while she was on her cycling path in Northern Virginia late last
>month became an instantly viral photo.
>
>Turns out it has now cost the 50-year-old marketing executive her job.
>
>As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by
>a senior director at the company in an otherwise civil discussion by one
>of his employees about the Black Lives Matter movement.
>
>“You’re a f------ Libtard a------,” the director injected, using his
>profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee of
>the firm.
>
>In fact, the person he aimed that comment at was so offended by the
>intrusion into the conversation and the coarse nature of it that he
>challenged the director on representing Akima that way.
>
>So Briskman flagged the exchange to senior management.
>
>Did the man, a middle-aged executive who had been with the company for
>seven years, get the old “Section 4.3” boot?
>
>Nope. He cleaned up the comment, spit-shined his public profile and kept
>on trucking at work.
So he was smart about it.
>As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by
>a senior director at the company in an otherwise civil discussion by one
>of his employees about the Black Lives Matter movement.
>
>“You’re a f------ Libtard a------,” the director injected, using his
>profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee of
>the firm.
>
>In fact, the person he aimed that comment at was so offended by the
>intrusion into the conversation and the coarse nature of it that he
>challenged the director on representing Akima that way.
>
>So Briskman flagged the exchange to senior management.
>
>Did the man, a middle-aged executive who had been with the company for
>seven years, get the old “Section 4.3” boot?
>
>Nope. He cleaned up the comment, spit-shined his public profile and kept
>on trucking at work.
>But the single mother of two teens who made an impulsive gesture while on
>her bike on her day off?
on her.
>Adios, amiga.
>
>Her mistake, said Bethesda lawyer Bradley Shear, who specializes in
>social-media issues, was her honesty.
>“You can’t see her face; she is totally unidentified in that picture,” he
>said. “But once she identified herself to her employer, they had to
>consider that information.”
>
>The company takes into account how the image of an employee flipping off
>the president looks and whether it may draw negative attention or threats,
>said Shear, who has a blog devoted to such matters.
>
>But what about the First Amendment?
>
>That will save you from being punished by the government for your words,
>but it doesn’t protect your paycheck, he said. “You can say whatever you
>want,” he said. “You might not get jailed for what you say, but you might
>not get the job you want.”
>
>Briskman is not a strident activist.
>In fact, after years of working all over the world as part of the nation’s
>diplomatic corps, she’s usually pretty reserved.
>
>“I think I gave money for clean water once,” she said.
>
>During the Women’s March the day after Trump’s inauguration, she couldn’t
>make it into Washington. Instead, she said, she stood in somber protest
>outside the CIA headquarters with a “Not My President” sign.
>
>That day on her bike, she wasn’t planning to make a statement.
belonged.
>She was feeling much like many other Americans who are frustrated with
>Trump’s behavior and the way he has performed as president.
>“Here’s what was going through my head that day: ‘Really? You’re golfing
>again?’ ” Briskman said.
>
>She had been pounding out her daily exercise, a little shorter than usual
>because she was still recovering from running the Marine Corps Marathon,
>when the phalanx of black cars passed her.
>
>She’d been chewing on the state of the nation during her ride — imagining
>the devastation in Puerto Rico, furious that young immigrants brought to
>the United States as children could be deported, despondent over the
>deaths and devastation in Las Vegas, concerned about her friends in the
>diplomatic corps who said their daily job is now being the laughingstock
>of the world — when the presidential golfing procession interrupted her
>meditation.
>
>“I was thinking about all this, tooling along, when I see the black cars
>come and I remember, oh, yeah, he was back on the golf course,” she said.
>
>So she did what millions of Americans do on the road every day.
>
>Hail to the chief, resist-style.
>But she couldn’t just ride off. Or watch it whoosh away. The motorcade
>stopped, bisecting her usual route. She knew it wouldn’t be wise to cut
>between the cars. And she didn’t want to stay with her routine and look
>like she was stalking the motorcade when it turned where she usually
>turned. So she decided to change her route, and punctuated the final
>insult with another one-fingered salute.
>She had no idea the sentiment had been snapped by photographer Brendan
>Smialowski for Agence France-Presse and Getty Images. And that night, it
>started popping up all over.
>
>A few of her friends thought they recognized her, tagged her on the photo
>and asked.
>
>“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s me. Isn’t it funny?’ ” she said. Ha ha. And she
>posted it as her Facebook cover photo and her Twitter profile picture, so
>now her 24 Twitter followers could guess that it was her.
>
>The next few days, though, it started getting nasty at the yoga studio,
>where she is a part-time instructor — something she does mention on
>Facebook. Some threatening emails came, Briskman said.
>“They told the owner of the studio she should fire me,” she said. So
>Briskman quickly removed mention of the studio and it was all back to ommm
>at the yoga place and in her life. She wasn’t a celebrity. Only the back
>of her head and her hand were.
>
>But knowing that connection had been made, Briskman wanted to make her
>bosses at Akima aware of the situation.
>
>“It was just a heads-up,” she said.
>
>It didn’t take long for her head to roll.
>
>And now, heads are shaking.
>
>Briskman has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union about the case.
>
>Her bosses told her that they do support her First Amendment rights. But
>they wanted her to “be professional,” she said.
>
>Does Briskman regret that middle finger, that reflexive moment that wasn’t
>all pussyhats and protest signs, that wasn’t calculated resistance, but
>rather a totally relatable plain-old, working-woman, living-my-life, what-
>the-heck-is-going-on-in-our-world reaction?
>Nope. “I’d do it again,” she said.
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