Mary Margaret Cooke

@BillAckman @X Make her file an EEOC Claim. It will fail in mediation. I had an EEOC claim that went to mediation and was given a “right to sue”. Seven months later I was terminated in a reduction in force and the case was closed with prejudice. She has nothing.

I am reaching out to the @X community for advice with the likely risk of sharing TMI. I have been sufficiently upset about the whole matter that I have lost sleep thinking about it and I am hoping that this post will enable me to get this matter off my chest. By way of background, I started a family office called TABLE about 15 years ago and hired a friend who had previously managed a family office, and years earlier, had been my personal accountant. She is someone that I trusted implicitly and consider to be a good person. The office started small, but over the last decade, the number of personnel and the cost of the office grew massively. The growth was entirely on the operational side as the investment team has remained tiny. While my investment portfolio grew substantially, the investments I had made were almost entirely passive and TABLE simply needed to account for them and meet capital calls as they came in. While TABLE purchased additional software and other systems that were supposed to improve productivity, the team kept increasing in size at a rapid rate, and the expenses continued to grow even faster. While I would periodically question the growing expenses and high staff turnover, I stayed uninvolved with the office other than a once-a-year meeting when I briefly reviewed the operations and the financials and determined bonus compensation for the President and the CFO. I spent no time with any of the other employees or the operations. The whole idea behind TABLE was that it would handle everything other than my day job so that I would have more time for my job and my family. Over the last six years, expenses ballooned even further, employee turnover accelerated, and I became concerned that all was not well at TABLE. It was time for me to take a look at what was going on. Nearly four years ago, I recruited my nephew who had recently graduated from Harvard and put him to work at Bremont, a British watchmaker, one of my only active personal investments to figure out the issues at the company and ultimately assist in executing a turnaround. He did a superb job. When he returned from the UK late last year after a few years at Bremont, I asked him to help me figure out what was going on with TABLE. When I explained to TABLE’s president what he would be doing, she became incredibly defensive, which naturally made me more concerned. My nephew went to work by first meeting with each employee to understand their roles at the company and to learn from them what ideas they had on how things could be improved. He got an earful. Our first step in helping to turn around TABLE was a reduction in force including the president and about a third of the team, retaining excellent talent that had been desperate for new leadership. Now here is where I need your advice. All but one of the employees who were terminated acted professionally and were gracious on the way out (excluding the president who had a notice period in her contract, is currently still being paid, and with whom I have not yet had a discussion). The highest compensated terminated employee other than the president, an in-house lawyer (let’s call her Ronda), told us that three months of severance was not enough and demanded two years’ severance despite having worked at the company for only two and one half years. When I learned of Ronda's request for severance, I offered to speak with her to understand what she was thinking, but she refused to do so. A few days ago, we received a threatening letter from a Silicon Valley law firm. In the letter, Ronda’s counsel suggests that her termination is part of longstanding issues of ‘harassment and gender discrimination’ – an interesting claim in light of the fact that Ronda was in charge of workplace compliance – and that her termination was due to: “unlawful, retaliatory, and harmful conduct directed towards her. Both [Ronda] and I [Ronda’s lawyer] have spoken with you about [Ronda’s] view of what a reasonable resolution would include given the circumstances. Thus far, TABLE has refused to provide any substantive response. This letter provides the last opportunity to reach a satisfactory agreement. If we cannot do so, [Ronda] will seek all appropriate relief in a court of competent jurisdiction.” The letter goes on to explain the basis for the “unsafe work environment” claim at TABLE: “In early 2026, Pershing Square’s founder Bill Ackman installed his nephew in an unidentified role at TABLE, Ackman’s family office. [His nephew]—whose only work experience had been for TABLE where he was seconded abroad for the last four years to a UK watch company held by Ackman—began appearing at TABLE’s offices and conducting interviews of employees without a clear explanation of his role or the purposes of these interviews. During this period, he made a series of inappropriate and genderbased [sic] comments to multiple employees that created an unsafe work environment. Among other things, [his nephew] made remarks about female employees’ ages (“Tell me you are nowhere near 40”), physical appearance (“Your body does not look like you have kids”), as well as intrusive questions about family planning and sexual orientation (“Who carried your son? Who will carry your next child?”). These incidents were reported to senior leadership at TABLE and Pershing Square. Rather than being addressed appropriately, the response from senior management reflected, at best, willful blindness to the inappropriateness of [his nephew]’s remarks and, at worst, tacit endorsement.” The above allegations about my nephew had previously been brought to my attention by TABLE’s president when they occurred. When I learned of them, I told the president that I would speak to him directly and encouraged her to arrange for him to get workplace sensitivity training. The president assured me that she would do so. When I spoke to my nephew, he explained what he actually had said and how his actual remarks had been received, not at all as alleged in the legal letter from Ronda’s counsel. I have also spoken to others at the lunch table who confirmed his description of the facts. In any case, he meant no harm, was simply trying to build rapport with other employees, and no one, as far as I understand, was offended. Ironically, Ronda claims in her legal letter that TABLE didn’t take HR compliance seriously, yet Ronda was in charge of HR compliance at TABLE and the person who gave my nephew his workplace sensitivity training after the alleged incidents. In any case, Ronda, as head of compliance, should have kept a record or raised an alarm if indeed there was pervasive harassment or other such problems at the company, and there is no evidence whatsoever that this is true. So why does Ronda believe she can get me to pay her nearly $2 million, i.e., two years of severance, nearly one year of severance for each of her years at the company? Well, here is where some more background would be helpful. Over the last two months, I have been consumed with a major family medical issue – one of my older daughters had a massive brain hemorrhage on February 5th and has since been making progress on her recovery – and I am in the midst of a major transaction for my company which I am executing from a hospital room office next to her . While the latter business matter is publicly known, the details of my daughter’s situation are only known to Ronda because of her role at our family office. Now, let’s get back to the subject at hand. Unfortunately, while New York and many other states have employment-at-will, there has emerged an industry of lawyers who make a living from bringing fake gender, race, LGBTQ and other discrimination employment claims in order to extract larger severance payments for terminated employees, and it needs to stop. The fake claim system succeeds because it costs little to have a lawyer send a threatening letter and nearly all of the lawyers in this field work on contingency so there is no or minimal cash cost to bring a claim. And inevitably, nearly 100% of these claims are settled because the public relations and legal costs of defending them exceed the dollar cost of the settlement. The claims are nearly always settled with a confidentiality agreement where the employee who asserts the fake claims remains anonymous and as a result, there is no reputational cost to bringing false claims. The consequences of this sleazy system (let’s call it ‘the System’) are the increased costs of doing business which is a tax on the economy and society. There are other more serious problems due to the System. Unfortunately, the existence of an industry of plaintiff firms and terminated employees willing to make these claims makes it riskier for companies to hire employees from a protected class, i.e., LGBTQ, seniors, women, people of color etc. because it is that much more reputationally damaging and expensive to be accused of racism, sexism, and/or intolerance for sexual diversity than for firing a white male as juries generally have less sympathy for white males. The System therefore increases the risk of discrimination rather than reducing it, and the people bringing these fake claims are thereby causing enormous harm to the other members of these protected classes. So what happened here? Ronda was vastly overpaid and overqualified for the job that she did at TABLE. She was paid $1.05 million plus benefits last year for her work which was largely comprised of filling out subscription agreements and overseeing an outside law firm on closing passive investments in funds and in private and venture stage companies, some compliance work, and managing the office move from one office to another. She had a very good gig as she was highly paid, only had to go into the office three days a week, and could work from anywhere during the summer. Once my nephew showed up and started to investigate what was going on, she likely concluded that there was a reasonable possibility she would be terminated, as her job was in the too-easy-and-to-good-to-be-true category. The problem was that she was not in a protected class due to her race, age or sexual identity so she had to construct the basis for a claim. While she is female and could in theory bring a gender-based discrimination claim, she reported to the president who is female and to whom she is very close, which makes it difficult for her to bring a harassment claim against her former boss. When my nephew complimented a TABLE employee at lunch about how young she looked – in response to saying she was going to her 40-year-old sister’s birthday party, he said ‘she must be your older sister’ – Ronda immediately reported it to our external HR lawyer. She thereby began building her case. The other problem for Ronda bringing a claim is that she was terminated alongside 30% of other TABLE employees as part of a restructuring so it is very difficult for her to say that she was targeted in her termination or was retaliated against. TABLE is now hiring an external fractional general counsel as that is all the company needs to process the relatively limited amount of legal work we do internally. In short, Ronda was eminently qualified and capable and did her job. She was just too much horsepower for what is largely an administrative legal role so she had to come up with something else to bring a claim. Now Ronda knew I was a good target and it was a good time to bring a claim against me. She also knew that I was under a lot of pressure because on March 4th when Ronda was terminated, my daughter had not yet emerged from consciousness, she was not yet breathing on her own, and my daughter and we were fighting for her life. I was and remain deeply engaged in her recovery while at the same time I was working on finishing the closing for the private placement round for my upcoming IPO. Ronda also knew that publicity about supposed gender discrimination and a “hostile and unsafe work environment” are not things that a CEO of a company about to go public wants to have released into the media. And she may have thought that the nearly $2 million she was asking for would be considered small in the context of the reputational damage a lawsuit could cause, regardless of the fact that two years of severance was an absurd amount for an employee who had only worked at TABLE for 30 months. She also likely considered that I wouldn’t want to embarrass my nephew by dragging him into the klieg lights when her claims emerged publicly. So, in summary, game theory would say that I would certainly settle this case, for why would I risk negative publicity at a time when I was preparing our company to go public and also risk embarrassing my nephew. Notably, she hired a Silicon Valley law firm, rather than a typical NY employment firm. This struck me as interesting as her husband works for one of the most prominent Silicon Valley venture firms whose CEO, I am sure, has no tolerance for these kinds of fake claims that sadly many venture-backed companies also have to deal with. I mention this as I suspect her husband likely has been working with her on the strategy for squeezing me as, in addition to being a computer scientist, he is a game theorist. My only advice for him is to understand more about your opponent before you launch your first move. All of the above said, gender, race, LGBTQ and other such discrimination is a real thing. Many people have been harmed and deserve compensation for this discrimination, and these companies and individuals should be punished for engaging in such behavior. Which brings me to the advice I am seeking from the X community. I am not planning to follow the typical path and settle this ‘claim.’ Rather, I am going to fight this nonsense to the end of the earth in the hope that it inspires other CEOs to do the same so we shut down this despicable behavior that is a large tax on society, employment, and the economy and contributes to workplace discrimination rather than reducing it. Do you agree or disagree that this is the right approach?

@DellWhite133669 @FOX26Houston When we went to get the POA notarized for my Mom the notary asked if she knew what she was signing. She said yes, it was so I could put her in a Home if needed. We all laughed. She did finally end up in a Home but it was the Taj Mahal of Homes and she picked it out.

@FOX26Houston Nobody wants to go to a nursing home & she was right where she belongs( at her home)! You wouldn’t want your kids to put you in no nursing home! Doesn’t matter how old you are! My kids would never put me in a nursing home to be abused & i know this!

Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie, has been missing for over two months after she vanished from her southern Arizona home. fox26houston.com/news/nancy-gut…

She was perfectly fine where she was. Until you have had to put a parent in assisted living, shut up. I sold my mother’s house in El Cajon in a gated community. She was perfectly fine until she had a stroke. She could have stayed there forever. We could have afforded live in care as she got older. There is no reason to move someone until they can’t take care of themselves.

@FOX26Houston The family offered millions in rewards but couldn’t afford to put their Mom in an assisted living home? The other way would have been to have someone living with her to help her with daily chores needed for a home that big. This seems a strange situation.

@DerrickEvans4WV At least Carnival won’t have to deal with throwing them off the ship for the same behavior.

Of course this is at the gate for Spirit Airlines. Probably headed to a carnival cruise….

@GovMikeHuckabee @marklevinshow @realDonaldTrump April Fools!

Wow. Tucker Carlson just called-wants to come to Jerusalem to share Easter Sunday with me. Said he's been wrong about Israel, Jews, Iran, criticizing @realDonaldTrump & wants to publicly renounce stuff he's been saying and do it right in heart of Israel!

@HustleBitch_ This great! How to get passengers to loosen us and get over the stress of the day.

🚨 DELTA GATE AGENT MAKES PASSENGERS BREAKDANCE FOR FIRST CLASS UPGRADES — AND IT’S ALL CAUGHT ON CAMERA At a packed gate in Salt Lake City… a Delta agent grabs the mic and turns boarding into a literal performance. • “Anyone willing to break it down… gets a free upgrade” • Passengers start dancing in front of the entire gate • Strangers watching… filming… judging • First class seats handed out like it’s a talent show This isn’t a joke. This is a live boarding process at a major U.S. airport. Dancing for a seat. So what is this now… airline entertainment… or are upgrades turning into public humiliation rituals?

@EricLDaugh It’s extra funny that they are all black. Moron leftist.

🚨 JUST IN: ICE agents are now laughing IN THE FACE of leftists harassing them in airports "You guys are the foot soldiers of a fascist regime!" *The whole group cracks up* Liberal: 😡😡 Freaking hilarious! These men are patriots 🇺🇸

@Real_Ames @AmericanBear76 Where’s my LOL button?

🚨 Airport Meltdown Goes Viral — Man Smashes His Own Stuff While Screaming “Fascism” at ICE A chaotic scene unfolded at Newark Airport when a man completely lost it in the security line—screaming “fascists” at ICE agents, pacing, and causing a scene while travelers just tried to get through security. Then it escalated… He ripped off his sunglasses and stomped them into the ground. Pulled out his phone… smashed it… and kept yelling. All while agents stood calm, doing their jobs and keeping the line moving. Other passengers? Just watching in disbelief. At a time when airports are already dealing with delays and staffing issues, this guy turns the terminal into a one-man meltdown—destroying his own stuff and screaming at the top of his lungs. Meanwhile, most people just want to catch their flight without the chaos. At what point does behavior like this cross the line—should someone acting like this even be allowed to board a plane?

@CollinRugg Flight attendant was ejected out the front while still in her seat. 💺

NEW: New video footage captures the moment an Air Canada jet and a fire truck collided at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Here is what we know: - The plane’s two pilots sadly died. - 41 passengers and crew members were taken to the hospital. - Audio from the air traffic tower suggests the controllers may have been distracted by an earlier incident at the airport, according to the New York Times. - Two officers in the fire truck were injured. - This is the first fatal accident at LaGuardia Airport since 1992. - Passenger Jack Cabot says: “The plane landed pretty hard, you heard a loud bang and suddenly everything was out of control. The plane was veering back and forth. No one was driving at that point.”

@MichaelARothman You missed one of the best parts. It’s the Green Party gay boy toy. You know Starmer likes the boys and they stuck that in there.

𝗦𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗠𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗞𝗘𝗜𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗘𝗥. 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗧. Saturday Night Live has launched a UK version. Its very first cold open was a parody of Keir Starmer desperately trying to manage his relationship with Donald Trump while refusing to join the Iran war effort. Trump watched it. Then he reposted it to Truth Social. The sketch is brutal in the way only comedy can be — because it is rooted entirely in reality. George Fouracres played a visibly anxious Starmer seated at his desk, a framed photograph of Trump behind him, nervously asking his adviser: "Oh, golly! What if Donald shouts at me? What do I say?" When Trump answered the phone with a simple "hello," Starmer immediately hung up in terror and buried his face in his hands. The message Starmer ultimately leaves Trump via voice note is the line of the night: "Hi, Donald. I'm afraid I can't go to war with you, but that doesn't mean we can't be chums. Remember the good times. Remember D-Day? Remember Live Aid? Remember Iraq? The first week and none of the rest." He then invokes Friends. He compares their relationship to Ross and Rachel being on a break. He offers consolation: "You can, however, use the naval bases whenever you want." The sketch closes with Lammy congratulating the Prime Minister: "Good work, sir. You did the bare minimum, and that's all people expect from you." Comedy works when it captures something true. This sketch captures exactly how Britain's allies — and apparently Britain's own satirists — see Starmer's performance during the Iran crisis. Caught between wanting American goodwill and refusing American requests. Offering the bases but not the ships. Sending voice notes instead of warships. Trump didn't need to say a word. He just hit repost. Trump had already told reporters he was "a little surprised at the UK — they should have acted a lot faster." Amplifying the sketch that made the same point — in front of a global audience — was considerably more effective than any press statement. 𝗞𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗱𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹. gbnews.com/celebrity/dona…

@bluestein @FosterT43453343 Thank a Democrat.

Welcome to Atlanta, where you need to arrive three+ hours early for a two hour flight.

@EYakoby This was British SNL and Americans aren’t going to get half the jokes but it’s bloody brilliant. Wonder if anyone gets arrested? LOL

BREAKING: Trump posts the clip making fun of Keir Starmer on Saturday Night Live. The skit was about how a phone call between the two would go.

@BGatesIsaPyscho Americans aren’t going to get half of these jokes. Wonder if anyone will get arrested?

🚨🇬🇧🇺🇸 Donald Trump continues to troll UK PM Keir Starmer by reposting a new UK Version of SNL which mocks him ‼️

@BuzzPatterson @InsanityCrushr1 The only thing close was the re-ticketing line during Crowdstrike because the line didn’t move at all. I spent 3 hours in line and I was in the Sky Club with drinks. I spent 13 hours in the airport before cancelling my flight. Reticketed twice.

I’ve flown out of ATL a million times over the last 25 years, as a Delta pilot and a passenger. I’ve NEVER seen this! Ever.

@EWErickson Oh come on… The peach and ricotta flatbread would make a great 4th of July appetizer

I'd just like to say nothing on the menu appeals to me except the steak and onion rings.

@BuzzPatterson I lived in Macon, GA. I right under the flight path to Robins. Always fun to sit on the deck and watch them lumber across the sky.

The C-17 landing at LAX. As seen from the In N Out off of 24R.

@EWErickson @SavvyTamz_57 @marcorubio Those pictures are the best!

At this point, my family group chat just consists of trading the AI pictures of @marcorubio to each other. My father loves Marco and his wife.

Now this is funny

@marcthiessen They think that the American Public are stupid. Everyone knows it the Dems that are ruining lives across the country by holding the Budget Bill hostage.

What about the Coast Guard? What about FEMA? You are just panicking because Americans are pissed about the long TSA lines you created. Stop holding ANY federal salaries hostage

@PatriotInSF @gusrock @MichaelARothman He missed the part that it was Iranian militias infiltrating Iraq. The Apaches are also gunning along the coast of Iran.

@gusrock @DixieDownLow @MichaelARothman Nope… she meant Iran! And that’s they az!

𝗩𝗗𝗛: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗚𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡. Victor Davis Hanson has spent fifty years studying how wars end. When he says the tide is turning, it's worth listening to why. His argument isn't based on what the Pentagon is saying. It's based on how everyone else is behaving. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀. VDH's rule: Europeans never agree to go anywhere near a conflict unless they think the winning side has already been determined. They didn't help in the early days. Now they're starting to move. That movement is not idealism. It's a calculation. They've looked at the battlefield and decided which way this ends. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝘂𝗹𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗼-𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. The Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris — these governments have survived for generations by reading the regional climate with precision. When they expel Iranian military attachés, when they intercept Iranian missiles over their own capitals and say nothing about American strikes, when the UAE reaffirms its $1.4 trillion investment commitment to the United States mid-war — they are not making ideological statements. They are placing bets. And they are betting on the United States. 𝗔𝗹 𝗝𝗮𝘇𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗮. This is the one that should stop you cold. Al Jazeera — the Qatari state media network, historically critical of American military action, the network Tucker Carlson and the anti-war right love to cite against Israel — is now calling the U.S. bombing campaign brilliant and effective, and saying it has been underestimated. When the media outlet of a nation that hosts both the largest American air base in the Middle East and a Hamas political office starts praising American military effectiveness, the message is unmistakable: 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹. A-10 Warthogs and Apache helicopter gunships are now flying strike missions in Iranian airspace at will. VDH's point: you only deploy those aircraft when there is effectively no air defense left to threaten them. They are slow, low-flying, close-support platforms. Their presence confirms what the Pentagon has been claiming — Iran has no meaningful air defense remaining. Iran's strategy now is rope-a-dope. Run out the clock. Wait for American public opinion to shift. Hope the midterms create political pressure on Trump to stop. It is the only play they have left. VDH's conclusion: if Trump sees it through — and he believes he will — the regime falls. Not in years. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻. 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆. 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮.