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| Tim Walz |
What happened to Tim Walz? Did he even prepare for the debate showdown with the loathsome Ohio Senator JD Vance?
The Minnesota governor looked nervous, appeared discombobulated, and gave rambling and convoluted answers to questions posed by CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Sullivan. On a few occasions, he appeared to be on the verge of tears.
Walz’ demeanor was in contrast to Vance. Though he spouted lie after lie, Vance was sharp, poised and civil. Saying Donald Trump saved Obamacare was beyond pale. Trump, who has tried to kill the health insurance plan for the past nine years, now has “concepts" to replace it.
Vance scored points when he called out Walz on his claim that he was in Tiananmen Square in 1989 during the massacre of Chinese students by the People’s Liberation Army.
Walz said he misspoke. “I’ve tried to do the best I can, but I’ve not been perfect,” he said. “I’m a knucklehead at times.”
You can count on Team Trump highlighting Walz’ embellishments about Tiananmen and his National Guard duty as the campaign winds down to the wire.
Walz in 2018 referred to the “weapons of war that I carried in war.” The governor was deployed in Nebraska, Texas, Arkansas, Minnesota and Italy.
Harris may be wishing that she selected Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate.
He would have pounded Vance during the debate. In choosing Shapiro, Harris would have locked up the Keystone State, which would have just about guaranteed her election to president.
Shapiro, 51, also would have been in position to run his own presidential campaign after Harris’ second term. Picking Walz may turn out to be Harris’ first and biggest mistake.
Move over Lachlan and Rupe. Viet Dinh, former chief legal and policy officer, ranked as the highest paid executive at Fox Corp. during fiscal 2020. Dinh hauled in $27,329,545 in total comp, which includes $24,329,545 in severance pay.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch earned $23,808,025, while dad Rupert took home $21,169,943.
Dinh also entered into an advisory services agreement with Fox, dated Aug. 9, 2023. The two-year pact went into effect Jan. 1, 2024 and is worth $2.5M a year. His job is to assist Fox on all ongoing litigation and remain on call for any pressing legal matters.
Though Fox has showered Dinh with compensation, it has not shortchanged Rupert for his 71 years of service to the company.
The board approved a prorated 38.5 percent portion of his annual incentive compensation in connection with his retirement. That amounts to a payment of $2.3M.
The compensation committee also agreed to pick up the security costs of its top named executives, especially for 93-year-old Rupert, "who are synonymous with the FOX brand and face enhanced personal risk from being viewed as extensions of the FOX brand," according to the company’s proxy statement for its Nov. 17 annual meeting.
The proxy notes that “a core aspect of our business involves broadcasting extensive news coverage of elections, sociopolitical events and public controversies and related opinion programming, which sometimes produces strong reactions from viewers and critics.”
It got that right.
That old cop mentality. Embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams’ legal team has filed a motion to dismiss the federal bribery charges filed against him.
Adams claims those heavily discounted Turkish Airlines tickets and luxury hotel stays weren’t bribes, rather they were “courtesies” or “gratuities.”
The former New York police captain is stuck in a time warp.
I remember the old days in my Sunset Park, Brooklyn neighborhood, where street cops would get free lunches at local delis.
In paying off cops, store owners thought they were doing the right thing (and perhaps buying some additional protection of their property) but it sure did build up resentment among the “civilians” living in the nabe.
The world has changed, Eric. And btw, a flight to Paris or Kotoka International Airport in Ghana via Istanbul, is hardly the same courtesy or gratuity as a ham and cheese on rye.
Even if you are the mayor of NYC, you got to pay your own way these days.
Ukraine struck PR gold as its launches drone attack on St. Petersburg oil depot ahead of 'Putin's Davos' designed to put a positive spin on Russia's economy that is reeling under the 'special military operation' that has cost the lives of more than 500K soldiers... Defense Secretary Hegseth ups war against reporters... Extremist government ministers marching in NYC Israel Day Parade further hurts the country's image. 
Cuba will make or break Secretary of State Marco Rubio's bid for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination... Ballard Partners and BGR Group push for justice for the family of Robert Levinson, who was abducted and vanished in Iran 19 years ago... Robert Daley, the pistol-packing larger-than-life PR guy who was PA chief for the NYPD, dies at 96.
Pope Leo's encyclical on dangers of AI has JD Vance rethinking his justification for Trump's war with Iran... Software tools remove guardrails on Google, Meta AI models that aim to protect against biological war, child sex abuse, stealing credit card info, reports the Financial Times... US tech sector drops nearly 100K jobs during first four months of the year.
The audacious autocrat who occupies the White House has achieved what was thought to be impossible. He has united the Hatfields and McCoys of the editorial world in opposition to his $1.776B slush fund... Sign of these sorry times: George Soros' Open Society Foundations plans to spend $300M to promote democracy and economic security in the US... PR play of the week goes to Steven Rosenbaum, author of “The Future of Truth."
Even the most effective communications team couldn't help Shein, which is renowned for its lousy human rights record, recoup its $100M outlay to acquire the beloved Everlane ethical fashion champion... College graduates are tired of baby boomers, such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, talking up the wonders of AI. They are the ones facing bleak job prospects.
