Jill and I continue to pray for the families and communities facing unimaginable loss and destruction caused by the severe flooding in Texas, North Carolina, and New Mexico. The road to recovery will be long but know that people across the nation stand with you. During our toughest moments, Americans always come together. If you’re able, please consider supporting relief efforts.

Happy birthday my best bro！I can’t believe you’re turning 18 right now! Still remember the little cute Maki when we first met but look at you right now you’re already this big!? I’m really glad that we became this close and always having fun together! wishing you all the best and all the happiness in the world! #HAPPY_MAKI_DAY# #andTEAM# #NICHOLAS#

At Meta, 90% of my coworkers were Chinese, and non-Chinese were routinely excluded, disadvantaged, and targeted for layoffs. 6 out of the 7 layoffs I observed targeted non-Chinese despite non-Chinese being the vast minority. Certain orgs like ads and MRS are notorious for being Chinese dominated. I think Americans would be outraged if they knew that their own citizens were getting marginalized and laid off at their own companies, while Chinese promote themselves up, conquer entire orgs, and reap millions. Imagine if Huawei in Shenzhen had entire orgs and leadership chains completely dominated by Japanese people who brazenly spoke Japanese at work without a care in the world that their Chinese coworkers don't understand, imposed their own work culture without respecting Chinese culture, excluded the Chinese, and laid off Chinese people while promoting their own. I imagine Chinese citizens would be outraged, and never allow that to happen in the first place. The most blatant and obvious way that non-Chinese are excluded is that Chinese primarily speak Mandarin at work. I'm not talking about one-off conversations, I'm talking about every single conversation. Loudly and brazenly with no respect for others. 10+ teammates and leaders having a group conversation in Mandarin while the 2 non-Chinese don't understand and feel excluded from the team. Although everyone at least has the decency to speak English during formal meetings with a non-speaker present, it was common that right after the meeting ended everyone would immediately switch to Mandarin. Funny I'm in Korea right now and was just on a double date with 3 other Koreans, and I was shocked that when the conversation would split into two, the other couple would speak to each other in English in my presence just out of respect. A Korean couple on a double-date had the courtesy to speak to each other in English in front of me even though I'd never expect that from them, but my Chinese coworkers did not. Lunch was another place where non-Chinese were blatantly excluded. Recall that the team I joined was an all Chinese team with only one other non-Chinese person. The Chinese would always get lunch together and never invite us (except for one of them who occasionally would, though at some point stopped). Me and the non-Chinese person would invite them, they'd always refuse, and then shortly after they'd disappear and get lunch together. As a result, it was usually just the two of us getting lunch. (caveat, some of the newer Chinese who joined afterwards also experienced similar treatment. So it's moreso a clique thing than a Chinese vs. non-Chinese thing, though 100% of the clique was Chinese) On Wednesdays and Fridays I'd often be the only non-Chinese person on my team in the office, and they'd all get lunch together without inviting me. It was depressing, and made me not want to come into the office on those days. One team dinner we went to a Korean BBQ. I arrived with a non-Chinese coworker and the first table was full, so we sat at one end of the next empty table. Shortly after one of the Tech Leads walked in, and sat at the complete opposite end of our table, alone and not in talking distance to anyone. We invited her over, and she declined. Later another Tech Lead came in and sat across from her. Non-Chinese and Chinese at opposite ends of a long table at a team dinner, and they refused to sit with us. Eventually more people came and the TLs joined our side because I guess maybe it was too obviously anti-social, and they spent the entire dinner speaking speaking Chinese to each other. These were our tech leads. I could not understand how Meta could have "Tech Leads" that so blatantly excluded teammates. I thought Tech Leads were supposed to uplift the team, and that Meta would hold tech leads to a higher standard. Now someone might say that it's just lunch or a one-off team dinner, who cares? To that I vehemently disagree. Lunch is extremely important for team bonding, and so much information is transferred through informal socializing. I'm not saying that everyone needs to get lunch together everyday, but if a minority of people are excluded from getting lunch with the rest of the team, and especially the most tenured and senior employees, then naturally that minority is going to feel alienated, disadvantaged, and excluded from opportunities. And the very fact that they're excluded from lunch is reflective of being excluded in general. When 90% of an org and the entire leadership chain is dominated by one ethnicity, naturally their work culture is going to spill through. Chinese culture is completely different from American work culture, and learning to navigate that was a huge obstacle for me. For example I'm the type that tends to question everything and isn't afraid to challenge a "superior", but I quickly realized that my TL seemed to take offense to that, and would punish/retaliate me for it. I want to make it clear - I have nothing against Chinese people. Most of them are very kind (strong correlation between kindness and not engaging in the kind of exclusionary behavior I mentioned above), and I have many good friends who are Chinese. I get that some barely speak English (though I question how they got hired). I do genuinely believe that most are good people, and not deliberately trying to exclude others. But regardless of intent, the result is that non-Chinese get excluded. The fact that 6 of the 7 layoffs I observed were not Chinese in a 80-90% Chinese dominated org is testament to this. The fact that 90% Chinese dominated orgs even exist in the first place is testament to this. I might not even be posting about this given the sensitivity of the topic if not for the fact that I've seen and/or heard stories of some very toxic people who I do not believe would otherwise survive if not for their ability to exclude others, throwing others under the bus for the next layoff. The same people do this over and over again, and get away with it because they're part of the "clique" that essentially has immunity. I think the company needs to take this more seriously. Some ideas would be enforcing English at the office (I've heard of other teams that do this), raising leaders to a higher bar when it comes to team inclusivity (eg. under the "People" axis), investigating potential discrimination cases (eg. layoffs and/or mistreatment disproportionally affecting certain groups) and having a zero tolerance policy around that, having a zero tolerance policy around injustice in general (eg. lying or deliberately throwing somebody under the bus), ensuring more diverse teams, etc. But to be honest, I don't have faith that much would change so long as the entire leadership chain up to the VP level is dominated by the same ethnicity, language, and culture. Nor does it seem that leadership even remotely cares given that this has been happening in the HQ for probably at least the last decade, and is obvious to anyone who's stepped foot in the office.

jim henson was 19 years old when he made kermit the frog out of his mother's old green coat. 35 years later he signed a 150 million dollar deal with disney and didn't get to see it close. how much he built in between is easy to forget… september 24 1936, greenville mississippi. born james maury henson. his family moves to maryland when he is a boy 1954. freshman year at university of maryland. he starts building puppets for fun. may 11 1955. sam and friends premieres on WRC-TV in washington dc. he is 19 years old. the show runs 6 years 1955. he sews kermit the frog out of a light green coat his mother no longer wears. ping pong balls cut in half for eyes. he performs with this same puppet for the next 35 years november 10 1969. sesame street premieres. his muppets are in the very first episode. he invents a new style of tv puppetry where only the puppet's head appears on screen and the performer stays below the frame september 18 1976. the muppet show premieres. 120 episodes. syndicated to more than 100 countries. 4 emmy wins. june 22 1979. the muppet movie. 79 million dollars worldwide december 17 1982. the dark crystal. first feature film in history with no human actors on screen. january 10 1983. fraggle rock debuts. 96 episodes february 17 1990. he signs a 150 million dollar acquisition deal with disney. it is the peak of his career and his business life may 16 1990. he is 53 years old. the disney deal falls apart overnight. disney does not own the muppets until 2004, 14 years later may 21 1990. memorial service at the cathedral of st john the divine in new york. over 2000 people attend. the muppet performers sing the song "just one person" together he always said he preferred the word performer over puppeteer. a puppeteer hides. a performer gives you something. which jim henson moment, muppet, or movie still lives in your head the loudest?

Circle Current Session Recap: Always-On Settlement Rewrites the Bank Operating Model Circle Current is a series from Circle that brings together industry leaders to explore what’s next in the internet financial system. Always-on settlement is moving from pilot to production, with stablecoin rails giving banks a practical path to move funds 24/7. What’s changing: → Settlement is moving beyond banking hours → Liquidity can move with less delay → Prefunding requirements can start to shrink → Treasury and operations teams need to adapt to continuous money movement Visa’s rollout shows this is no longer an edge case. For banks, the shift is bigger than faster payments. It is an operating model change. Read the blog for more details:

I have always believed that Africa should be seen for what it is: a continent of immense richness & promise. Today, the partnership between the @_AfricanUnion & the @UN is stronger than ever Together we continue to strive for peace & security, sustainable development & human rights.

I’m always inspired by the young people I meet through our @ObamaFoundation Voyagers and Scholars programs. Together, they’re creating change and tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges.