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The No. 1 fan of Big Macs dished out plenty of Whoppers during his State of the Union address, especially when it came to the economy.
“In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18T pouring in from all over the globe,” he said. That’s a sharp increase from the $9.7T in investments that is posted on the White House website.
That roster of investments includes vague promises designed to assuage the president. For instance, Is McDonald’s really going to add 375K jobs in the US as part of its workforce expansion effort?
Another gem: Donald Trump inherited record inflation from Joe Biden. When he entered the White House for the second time, inflation was 3.0 percent. Inflation had hit a COVID high of 9.1 percent in June 2022, but Team Biden got in down to 2.9 percent as it left office. The all-time high inflation rate is 23.7 percent, which was set in 1920 following the end of WWI. Blame that on Old Joe?
Trump also wheeled out his trusty old canard about foreigners picking up the tab for his sacred tariffs. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shot that one down in February, reported that “nearly 90 percent of the tariffs’ economic burden fell on US firms and consumers."
But Americans aren’t as dumb as Trump thinks we are. More than half (55 percent) of us say Trump is moving the country in the wrong direction, according to the NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released Feb. 23.
Fifty-three percent say that Trump’s second term policies have had a negative effect on their lives. That includes 13 percent of Republicans surveyed.
The State of the Union simply sucks for a majority of Americans.
Touchy, touchy… The US embassy in London complained about Hanover Communications CEO Gavin Megaw’s online posts criticizing president Trump to its client American Pharmaceutical Group, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Hanover had provided strategic communications to the APG, which represents ten US biopharmaceuticals companies with operations in the UK. That group includes Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson.
The embassy was reportedly “hopping mad” about Megaw’s posts and threatened to cut ties with the APG if it didn’t fire Hanover.
Megaw in January announced on LinkedIn that he was exiting Hanover at the end of February after 15 years. Though he called Hanover “the best thing I’ve ever done,” Megaw wrote that he realized late last year that he was ready for a new challenge.
The APG, which was concerned about its reputation with the embassy, ultimately dropped Hanover, a unit of Montreal-based Avenir Global.
Baltimore’s biggest BID needs outreach help. The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore is looking to hire a director of community engagement and safety.
The city’s biggest business improvement district’s programs include uniformed operations teams of Downtown Baltimore Guides, Clean Sweep Ambassadors and Park Stewards. They strive to make the 106-block area more attractive, vibrant and hospitable.
The director also will oversee Homeless Outreach Managers.
The job specs call for the ability to lead diverse field teams, adapt to a fast-paced environment and communicate effectively verbally, and write across stakeholder groups. Strong interpersonal, crisis management and conflict resolution capabilities are a must.
The position’s pay range is from $80K to $88K.
Send resumes and cover letters to [email protected] with “#CES021002 - Director of Community Engagement & Safety” in the subject line.
China won Olympic gold in the sports-washing category as San Francisco-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu won the half-pipe category and took second in the slopestyle and Big Air events for the team representing the People's Republic of China.
Gu fended off questions about China’s human rights record, saying she needs more evidence related to the genocide of the country’s Uyghur Muslims. “It’s irresponsible to ask me to be the mouthpiece of any agenda,” she said.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Gu earned $23M in 2025 in endorsements.
Her most recent payment from the Beijing sports bureau was for "striving for excellent results in qualifying for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.”
China got its money’s worth.
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. 
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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.
