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| JD Vance |
Sign of terrible things to come. Donald Trump has vowed to be the retribution president, settling old scores with perceived enemies.
A weaponized Justice Dept. flush with Trump toadies will make life miserable for companies, reporters and politicos who stand up to the Mango Mussolini.
Consulting giant Deloitte may be the first company to feel the wrath of MAGA.
A Deloitte consultant supplied the Washington Post messages that he received from JD Vance in 2020 that were critical of Trump.
Vance wrote that Trump “thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism.” In another message, Vance predicted Joe Biden would win the 2020 election.
The Post did not name its source or where he worked.
That was the work of Donald Trump, Jr. who outed consultant Kevin Gallagher, and suggested: “Maybe it’s time for the GOP to end Deloitte’s taxpayer funded gravy train.”
Deloitte does about $3B in annual business with the Pentagon and Dept. of Health and Human Services.
Right-wing media platform Breitbart joined the fray, saying Gallagher’s action “could have very serious consequences for Deloitte.”
Junior shared the Breitbart article on X, adding: “Why is an executive at Deloitte conspiring with the Washington Post to help Kamala Harris?
Missouri Republican Senator Eric Schmitt got into the action, demanding that Deloitte “immediately and publicly respond to this scandal.”
What scandal, Eric?
Deloitte noted that Gallagher shared his own personal messages with WAPO, and was acting on his own volition. He did so without the consulting firm knowing anything about it.
And so what? We still have free speech in this country.
Is MAGA going to launch a jihad against Deloitte because one of its 175K US workers shared the thoughts of a possible future Vice President? The guy should be praised, not punished.
Maximum MAGA fever can’t break soon enough.
Journalism's carnage. The Committee to Protect Journalists counts 128 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza since Israel responded to its Oct. 7, 2023 invasion by Hamas.
All but five of the dead were Palestinians. Israel Defense Forces killed nearly all (126) of the victims.
Airstrikes killed three quarters of them. Shootings, drones and tank fire killed the rest.
More journalists and media workers have died in the Israel-Gaza war than in any other year since CPJ began tallying the journalist killings in 1992.
Israel has arrested 66 Palestinian reporters since the war began.
CPJ notes that on a per capita basis, Israel holds the highest number of detained journalists in the world, followed by Turkey, Iran and China.
Call it the anti-media quartet.
Bad timing department. WPP on Oct. 8 announced a global partnership with Roblox, the immersive gaming and creation platform, designed to capture the attention of the Gen Z generation, which spends millions of hours daily in the digital worlds.
Bob Reilly, WPP’s chief creative officer, called Roblox “an amazing platform for brands to engage creatively with a young, expanding and valuable audience.”
On the same day that WPP was touting its alliance with Roblox, short-seller Hindenburg released a report, alleging the video game company exaggerated user data and compromises child safety. It charges that Roblox prioritizes growth over safety measures to protect children from pedophiles and mature content.
Hindenburg said it registered as a 13-year-old on Roblox and claimed to find chat rooms with tens of thousands of users soliciting sexual favors and trading child porn.
Roblox quickly put out a statement to reject Hindenburg’s allegations. “Safety and civility have been foundational to Roblox since its inception nearly two decades ago, and the company has invested heavily throughout its history in its trust & safety efforts,” it said.
The company also noted as a short seller, Hindenburg has a vested interest in driving down Roblox’s stock price.
That is so but Hindenburg has a lot of fans on Wall Street. The Journal dubs it “the market’s pre-eminent short-selling firm.”
Hindenburg’s report on green transportation company Nikola in 2020 killed a deal with General Motors and led to the fraud conviction of its founder. Its 2023 battle with Adani Group helped wipe out more than $100B of the conglomerate’s valuation.
You can be sure that WPP will pay attention to the Hindenburg/Roblox showdown.
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