UN

Lobbyists mob the United Nations' plastics pollution conference. The Center for International Environmental Law predicts plastic and fossil fuel lobbyists will thwart efforts by the United Nations to hammer out a treaty to reduce plastic pollution.

It counts 220 industry lobbyists registered to participate in the UN’s conference in Busan, South Korea. That session runs from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1.

Industry lobbyists outnumber the 196 delegates from member states of the European Union and the 140 representatives from the host nation.

Dow Chemical and ExxonMobil have sent the most lobbyists, five and four, respectively.

Delphine Levi Avlares, CIEL’s global petrochemicals campaign manager, has accused industry lobbyists of resorting to “tactics of obstruction, distraction, intimidation, and misinformation” that is straight out of the climate conference book that just wrapped up in Azerbaijan.

Their goal is to “preserve the financial interests of countries and companies who are putting their fossil-fueled profits above human health, human rights, and the future of the planet,” added Avlares.

The plastic companies, of course, have a right to make their case before a body that wants to regulate their business.

But their argument that waste management, rather than production cuts, doesn’t hold up.

About 460M tons of plastics are produced annually with production set to triple by 2060.

Waste has more than doubled to 353 tons in 2019, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

A mere nine percent of plastic gets recycled, according to the OECD. That means a lot of plastic trash is polluting our land and water.

Riled about Rudy….Ken Frydman, CEO of New York’s Source Communications PA/strategic communications shop wrote a guest editorial in the Nov. 27 New York Daily News slugged “Who is my Rudy Giuliani troll?”

It dealt with an anonymous text from a burner phone that Frydman received after he appeared on CNN to discuss Rudy’s refusal to comply with a court order to turn over his assets to two Georgia poll workers that he defamed.

Frydman, who was Giuliani’s campaign press secretary in 1993, reported the full unedited text of the exchange in the editorial.

“Ken why are you speaking to the media about mayor Rudy Giuliani. You aren't his friend you're not involved in his life so what information could you possibly have. Mayor Giuliani is a national hero who has been lied about repeatedly” texted the troll.

He said if Frydman continued to “lie” about Giuliani, “he has people who are prepared to come out and talk about you and your track record with the mayor.”

Frydman has shared the text threat with his attorney and the NYPD. Smart move.

Putin’s war on journalists…Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty freelancer Nika Novak is the first journalist to be sentenced under Russia’s law about cooperating with a foreign media outlet.

The court ruled that Novak was paid to prepare inaccurate materials to discredit the Russian army and state authorities. She was sentenced to four years in prison.

Her sentencing “handed down behind closed doors in the Russian Far East demonstrates that the Russian authorities are continuing their relentless, silent crackdown on journalists,” said Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia program director at the Committee to Protect Journalists.

CPJ demands that Russia release Novak and all jailed journalists.

That’s not going to happen, especially as Putin’s media-bashing buddy, Donald Trump, returns to power.

Bye, bye DEI…Mighty Walmart, which projects $642.6B in fiscal 2025 revenues, is the latest company to cave to anti-DEI zealot Robby Starbuck.

It’s not as if the Bentonville, AR-based behemoth was manning the barricades on the DEI front.

Walmart is even going to expunge the term “diversity, equity and inclusion” from corporate documents.

The retailer hasn’t gotten around to eliminating the “purpose” section of its website.

Here’s how it defines purpose: “We aim to build a better world — helping people live better and renew the planet while building thriving, resilient communities.”

That sounds pretty good to me. It’s something that even Starbuck could agree with.

Million-Dollar Payoffs…Paramount Global executive VPs Doretha Lea (global policy & government relations) and Nancy Phillips (chief people officer) are in line for $1M “transaction awards” if they stick around for completion of the takeover of their company by Skydance Media.

Those windfalls are equal to their annual base salaries as on November 15, according a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, and will be paid in a single lump sum (less applicable withholdings) on the day of the closing date of the Skydance deal.

Leading up to the closing, “it is vital that we continue to deliver on our business priorities despite the inherent uncertainty and personal distractions we all experience, and we cannot do this without you,” says a letter from Phillips to the lucky transaction award winners.

“To acknowledge your significant role and level of involvement in the transaction process, which will undoubtedly require commitment and effort above and beyond that of your normal responsibilities, I am pleased to offer you a transaction award,” she wrote.

Not everybody is in line for bonuses. Paramount urges recipients to keep mum about the payments “out of consideration for your colleagues and to ensure the integrity of the special transaction program.”

The merger is expected to close during the first-half of next year.

There has been a lot of quibbling about the media use of words like “landslide,” “smashing,” “resounding” or “sweeping” to describe Trump’s electoral victory over Kamala Harris.

That’s just sour grapes. It doesn’t matter that Trump won by a tiny 1.58 percent margin. He is going back to the White House. Kamala isn’t.

Instead of griping about Trump’s ridiculous claim of receiving a “powerful mandate” to lead, Democrats need to develop messaging that attracts rather than repels a large portion of America’s voters.