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| Stormy Daniels |
You can say that again, Meridith…The Girl Scouts of Greater New York organization has a PR problem. The troop is headquartered at 40 Wall Street, which is better known as The Trump Building.
That's bad enough for the Girl Scouts, but it gets worse. Donald Trump conducts his post-hush money trial rants in the lobby of 40 Wall, which is located near the courthouse and scene of his criminal trial.
“There’s a lot of disalignment between what we stand for and the brand on the building,” Meridith Maskara, CEO of the NYC Scouts, told the Wall Street Journal.
She spoke before porn star Stormy Daniels testified and provided salacious details about her alleged encounter with Trump, beginning from when he greeted her at the door while wearing silky pajamas, and exiting with the line “Let’s keep in touch, honey bunch.”
Daniels' testimony turned the stomach of Judge Juan Merchan, who warned the prosecution team that the nitty-gritty of the tryst was unnecessary. Millions of Americans will second that motion.
The Girl Scouts signed the Trump lease in 2014, a time when the Mango Mussolini was known mainly for bankrupting companies and hosting a reality TV show.
The group partnered with a guy who was then, and is now, a serial violator of the Girl Scout Law:
“I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, and use resources wisely, make the world a better place.”
Trump must have given the Scouts a deal they could not refuse.
Better To Let Sleeping Dogs Lie… It’s hard to figure out why Trump Media & Technology Group decided to issue a press release on May 6 to trumpet the appointment of Semple, Marcel & Cooper as its new auditor.
Headquartered in the accounting hotspot of Phoenix, SM&C officially came on board on May 4, and was appointed “after a detailed evaluation process,” according to TMTG
C'mon. One wonders how detailed that search was. It was only a day earlier that the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it charged TMTG’s former auditor, BF Borgers, with “massive fraud” and “deliberate and systematic failures” in more than 1,500 audits.
Borgers, which was based in Lakewood, CO, only began work for TMTG on March 28. The SEC did not accuse the firm of screwing around with the TMTG audit.
Borgers took over the duties of Adeptus Partners, which was hired by TMTG’s predecessor blank check company, Digital World Acquisition Corp.
DWAC retained Adeptus on Aug. 8, 2023 following the resignation of Marcum LLP on July 27.
In its audit of DWAC for 2013, Adeptus expressed “substantial doubt” about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.
To settle the SEC charges, BF Borgers agreed to pay a $12 million fine, while its owner Benjamin Borgers agreed to pay a fine of $2 million.
Both have agreed to permanent suspensions, effective immediately, that will prevent them handling SEC-related matters as accountants, which paved the way for SM&C to enter Trump World via a press release.
Cops Didn't Learn Their Lesson. Reporters Without Borders has condemned the wave of arrests, criminal charges and violence against journalists, and urge law enforcement agencies and university administrators to protect and respect the rights of reporters covering the current campus unrest.
Clayton Weimers, executive director of RWB USA, said the arrests at protests criticizing Israel’s devastation of Gaza are reminiscent of the wave of press freedom violations that swept the country in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
The cops arrested and charged 146 journalists during the BLM protests four years ago, according to the US Press Freedom Tracker.
They are up to 19 reporters arrested/charged during the Gaza protests. That number will rise as the college protests spread.
Police departments failed to protect the media’s First Amendments rights in 2020, and are doing it again.
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.
The ADL plans a Mamdani Monitor to track down any whiff of antisemitism from the policies and appointments made by his administration. It should have given him a chance to live up to Election Night promise... Brendan Carr, Alden Global Capital, Alphabet, Meta and Elon Musk make Reporters Without Borders' roster of Press Freedom Predators.
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.
