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| Elon Musk |
Zuck loves Elon….You can bet Meta/Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg is praying that Elon Musk pulls off his $44B shotgun marriage with Twitter. A judge set Oct. 28 as the deadline to close the deal.
With Musk at the helm at Twitter, Zuckerberg will no longer be the No. 1 target of Congressional reformers eager to reel in the power of Big Tech.
Musk’s foolish outreach to Kanye West (aka Ye) after his anti-Semitic spiel sets the stage for more social media shenanigans.
His tweet indicates that Musk is ready to junk Twitter’s moderation policies. “Welcome back to Twitter, my friend,” tweeted Musk to Ye after Twitter locked the rapper’s account.
But Musk’s cozy relationships with Russia and China loom as the biggest reasons for Congress to clip his Twitter wings.
Musk reportedly disabled Ukrainian access to his Starlink satellites while they were in Crimea, since he feared Vladimir Putin would go nuclear if he lost control of the peninsula.
He told Eurasia Group head Ian Bremmer that he met with Putin to discuss his own peace plan to end the Russian invasion. That plan featured Ukraine accepting Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, which is something that president Volodymyr Zelinsky will never do.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Musk argued that China should take over Taiwan and govern it as it does Hong Kong.
China’s ambassador to the US tweeted his thanks to Musk for his idea of creating a special administrative zone for Taiwan. China is Tesla’s No. 2 market.
Congress may want to dust off the 1799 Logan Act, which bans unauthorized private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments having a dispute with the US.
Musk also may be required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He may rue the day that he got the impulse to buy Twitter.
He should just focus on electric cars, satellite communications and rocket ships. Twitter is a waste of his time.
Sign of our violent times. There is a big upswing in demand for children’s books that deal with violence and trauma in the wake of high-profile school shootings.
NFD BookScan reports that the sales of books for young readers about dealing with trauma have doubled since 2012.
After the massacre at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School, the book “I'm Not Scared…I’m Prepared” was reprinted several times to meet demand.
The book is about a teacher who tells her students what they should do if something dangerous is in their school.
Another book in demand, “A Gun is Not Fun” aims to raise the awareness of gun violence, especially in communities of color.
PR goes back to school. American University’s School of Communications has launched a PR firm to provide students real-life experience in working with clients on ESG and social corporate responsibility issues.
MikeWorldWide founder/CEO Michael Kempner made the SOC Communication Collaborative for Change possible.
The AU trustee and alumnus donated $500K to get SOC3 off the ground. His shop is committed to providing in-kind support (media relations, creative design, program guidance) to SOC3.
Kempner said SOC3 will give students the “professional experiences they would normally only receive in external settings by working side by side with practicing branding and communications professionals.”
SOC’s initial client is DC Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners, which delivers fresh and frozen produce, as well as healthy snacks, to corner stores in D.C.’s low-income communities at wholesale prices.
The firm will use video, infographics and social media posts to create storytelling from a Gen Z perspective to increase awareness of and participation in DC Central’s program.
Boom time for management consultants. McKinsey & Co., Bain & Co. and Boston Consulting Group are expected to chalk up revenues of $30B in 2022. That works out to about $400K revenues per employee.
That haul towers over the $140K revenue per employee that the Big Four accounting firms (Deloitte, PWC, EY and KPMG) will record.
The Securities and Exchange Commission requires firms to disclose the annual fees paid to auditors.
Companies should also be required to disclose the amount that they paid to management consultants.
Greater transparency could help management consultants shed their snake-oil salesman image.
At the very least, it couldn't hurt.
A huge PR opportunity looms for a firm that is willing to take some heat by promoting Immigration & Customs Enforcement... Disgraced New York mayor Eric Adams couldn't wait to make another pilgrimage to Israel to stick it to his successor Zohran Mamdani... Hats off to Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett for writing his always engaging and witty annual reports over the years.
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Andrew Cuomo's political career is not dead yet... Steve Bannon says Republicans should learn from Zohran Mamdani and his Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America, instead of mocking them... Internet advertising model is on the way out, says Tim Berners-Lee... Gannet rebrands as USA Today Inc. What about its other 200 papers?
Thomas Jefferson warned about the dangers of an imperial president who would deny an election loss in a bid to cling to power. Sound familiar?... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says reporters don't need his permisson to take a photo of the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial, as long as they are not on the job... Kirkland and Ellison lawyers need some negotiating tips. 
Shareholder activitism is poised to hit an all-time high for 2025... Kamala Harris’ “107 Days” reads like an autospsy of her failed presidential run. Democrats need to look forward, not backward... The Reagan Foundation dishonored The Gipper by providing PR cover to tariff-loving Trump.
