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CEO 'Jokes' ICE Is Watching Salesforce Employees Who Traveled to the U.S.

86 points by felineflock 8mo ago

fyrn_ 8mo ago
About as funny of a joke as Trump 'joking' about canceling the midterms. I think we should frame these kind of things more like "so and so said they would do x to gauge if they could get away with it or not". Calling either of these a joke doesn't make sense. Not funny.
- finkstein 8mo ago
  It's the gaslighting politics era. Anyone who points this out is insulted because they are insecure and can't take a joke. Once the joke becomes real they will insult you for not getting with the program. This is White House policy at this point, so you can't blame Marc Benioff for playing along.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 8mo ago
    You can blame Marc for playing along. Marc made a conscious decision to be a fuckwad, and he should not get a pass for making that decision
- kelseyfrog 8mo ago
  You know how "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," contains a moral lesson? Don't lie because eventually people won't believe you. We're about due for, "The Jester Who Meant It."
  - watwut 8mo ago
    Maybe the boy who cried wolf is actually about a boy who successfully saved the flock multiple times in a row, by making noise and commotion. Then he fails one night and the wolf eats him. The villagers, instead of sayin "oh, so there was a wolf after all" insisted on blaming the boy, because otherwise they would have to admit they were wrong. That would be 100% realistic. And looking at past years, maybe the wolf even have eating a sheep every night, because the people who were accused of hysteria and false panic were 100% correct and right.
    - kelseyfrog 8mo ago
      You should go through all of Aesop's Fables and critique them like this.
  - y0eswddl 8mo ago
    Relevant short skit I ran across recently: It appears Trump was never joking... | This Hour Has 22 Minutes https://youtu.be/j2gZGKzN3ho https://youtu.be/j2gZGKzN3ho
linkjuice4all 8mo ago
An analog to this would be Flock inviting the highway patrol into a staff meeting to 'remind' them about the penalties of speeding - under the implied threat that you would be locked up, transported to a different country, and not given due process to even validate the infraction or face your accusers for merely disregarding civil laws. I'm sure that Mr. Benioff would never use the threat of deportation to keep employees in line.
ChrisArchitect 8mo ago
Earlier source: https://sf.gazetteer.co/marc-benioff-makes-cruel-ice-jokes-at-company-event https://sf.gazetteer.co/marc-benioff-makes-cruel-ice-jokes-a... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966256)
cosmicgadget 8mo ago
> Benioff thanked international employees for traveling to the United States for the meeting, and asked them to stand. Benioff then said that ICE agents were in the building to keep tabs on them. I mean he's more or less saying ICE is like the Stasi which isn't normally a flattering comparison. There are a few reasons it could be considered distasteful but it doesn't sound like he was cheering ICE on.
- shakna 8mo ago
  His previous comments should be taken into account [0], when making that judgement call. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/us/marc-benioff-san-francisco-guard.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/us/marc-benioff-san-franc...
yoyohello13 8mo ago
Wouldn’t it be awesome to live in a world where powerful people were held accountable for the shit they say?
t0mas88 8mo ago
I find it amazing that anyone still uses Salesforce. They were innovating in their early days, but it has been legacy bloatware with more marketing than engineers for a decade now.
- adi_kurian 8mo ago
  $40bn High revenue to active user
  - t0mas88 8mo ago
    That could also mean captive customers + maximum extraction in the legacy phase of the product portfolio. Doesn't necessarily mean users are happy with the product and customers aren't looking for alternatives.
wolvoleo 8mo ago
https://archive.is/N2tLZ https://archive.is/N2tLZ
wolvoleo 8mo ago
It was a bad joke but I'm not travelling to the US anymore including for work. Especially since we now have to give all kinds of social networks. I'm part of the lgbt diversity team also which I'm sure will cause problems.

86 points by felineflock 8mo ago

fyrn_ 8mo ago

About as funny of a joke as Trump 'joking' about canceling the midterms. I think we should frame these kind of things more like "so and so said they would do x to gauge if they could get away with it or not". Calling either of these a joke doesn't make sense. Not funny.

finkstein 8mo ago
It's the gaslighting politics era. Anyone who points this out is insulted because they are insecure and can't take a joke. Once the joke becomes real they will insult you for not getting with the program. This is White House policy at this point, so you can't blame Marc Benioff for playing along.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 8mo ago
  You can blame Marc for playing along. Marc made a conscious decision to be a fuckwad, and he should not get a pass for making that decision
kelseyfrog 8mo ago
You know how "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," contains a moral lesson? Don't lie because eventually people won't believe you. We're about due for, "The Jester Who Meant It."
- watwut 8mo ago
  Maybe the boy who cried wolf is actually about a boy who successfully saved the flock multiple times in a row, by making noise and commotion. Then he fails one night and the wolf eats him. The villagers, instead of sayin "oh, so there was a wolf after all" insisted on blaming the boy, because otherwise they would have to admit they were wrong. That would be 100% realistic. And looking at past years, maybe the wolf even have eating a sheep every night, because the people who were accused of hysteria and false panic were 100% correct and right.
  - kelseyfrog 8mo ago
    You should go through all of Aesop's Fables and critique them like this.
- y0eswddl 8mo ago
  Relevant short skit I ran across recently: It appears Trump was never joking... | This Hour Has 22 Minutes https://youtu.be/j2gZGKzN3ho https://youtu.be/j2gZGKzN3ho

linkjuice4all 8mo ago

An analog to this would be Flock inviting the highway patrol into a staff meeting to 'remind' them about the penalties of speeding - under the implied threat that you would be locked up, transported to a different country, and not given due process to even validate the infraction or face your accusers for merely disregarding civil laws. I'm sure that Mr. Benioff would never use the threat of deportation to keep employees in line.

ChrisArchitect 8mo ago

Earlier source: https://sf.gazetteer.co/marc-benioff-makes-cruel-ice-jokes-at-company-event https://sf.gazetteer.co/marc-benioff-makes-cruel-ice-jokes-a... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46966256)

cosmicgadget 8mo ago

> Benioff thanked international employees for traveling to the United States for the meeting, and asked them to stand. Benioff then said that ICE agents were in the building to keep tabs on them. I mean he's more or less saying ICE is like the Stasi which isn't normally a flattering comparison. There are a few reasons it could be considered distasteful but it doesn't sound like he was cheering ICE on.

shakna 8mo ago
His previous comments should be taken into account [0], when making that judgement call. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/us/marc-benioff-san-francisco-guard.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/us/marc-benioff-san-franc...

yoyohello13 8mo ago

Wouldn’t it be awesome to live in a world where powerful people were held accountable for the shit they say?

t0mas88 8mo ago

I find it amazing that anyone still uses Salesforce. They were innovating in their early days, but it has been legacy bloatware with more marketing than engineers for a decade now.

adi_kurian 8mo ago
$40bn High revenue to active user
- t0mas88 8mo ago
  That could also mean captive customers + maximum extraction in the legacy phase of the product portfolio. Doesn't necessarily mean users are happy with the product and customers aren't looking for alternatives.

wolvoleo 8mo ago

https://archive.is/N2tLZ https://archive.is/N2tLZ

wolvoleo 8mo ago

It was a bad joke but I'm not travelling to the US anymore including for work. Especially since we now have to give all kinds of social networks. I'm part of the lgbt diversity team also which I'm sure will cause problems.