Politics – Page 3

July 26, 2011August 2, 2011

Debt Ceiling Impasse 1 — Social Media 0

American Idol, Ari Emanuel, Ben Silverman, Bruce Gowers, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Freemantle Enterprises, Gaude Lydia Paez, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Zucker, John Pritchett, Kara DioGuardi, Ken Warwick, Kevin Reilly, Khan Manka, Manka Bros., Nigel Lythgoe, Nikki Finke, Paula Abdul, Peter Rice, Randy Jackson, Rupert Murdoch, Ryan Seacrest, Scott Grogin, Sharon Waxman, Simon Cowell leaving American Idol, Simon Fuller, Terry Semel, Haley Reinhart, James Durbin, Scott McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Jennifer Lopez, Ben Silverman, Jimmy Iovine, Accel Partners, Ben Silverman, Bob Iger, Chris Hughes, David Kirkpatrick, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Gerald Levin, Greylock Partners, HBO, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Zucker, Jill Kennedy, Joanna Shields, Jon Miller, Khan Manka, Li Ka-shing, Manka Bros., Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Cohler, MySpace, Nicolas Carlson, OnMedea, Owen Van Natta, Paul Buchheit, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch, Sheryl Sandberg, Sumner Redstone, Toy Story 3, Mitch McConnell, President Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Michele Bachman, John Boehner, Sarah Palin, Jo Bonner, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Spencer Bachus, Terri Sewell, Don Young, Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, Paul Gosar, Trent Franks, Benjamin Quayle, Ed Pastor, David Schweikert, Jeff Flake, Raul M. Grijalva, Gabrielle Giffords, Eric Crawford, Tim Griffin, Steve Womack, Mike Ross, Mike Thompson, Wally Herger, Daniel Lungren, Tom McClintock, Doris Matsui, Lynn Woolsey, George Miller, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Lee, John Garamendi, Jerry McNerney, Jackie Speier, Fortney Pete Stark, Anna Eshoo, Michael Honda, Zoe Lofgren, Sam Farr, Dennis Cardoza, Jeff Denham, Jim Costa, Devin Nunes, Kevin McCarthy, Lois Capps, Elton Gallegly, Howard McKeon, David Dreier, Brad Sherman, Howard Berman, Adam Schiff, Henry Waxman, Xavier Becerra, Judy Chu, Karen Bass, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Maxine Waters, Jane Harman, Laura Richardson, Grace Napolitano, Linda Sanchez, Edward Royce, Jerry Lewis, Gary Miller, Joe Baca, Ken Calvert, Mary Bono Mack, Dana Rohrabacher, Loretta Sanchez, John Campbell, Darrell Issa, Brian Bilbray, Bob Filner, Duncan Hunter, Susan Davis, Diana DeGette, Jared Polis, Scott Tipton, Cory Gardner, Doug Lamborn, Mike Coffman, Ed Perlmutter, John Larson, Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, James Himes, Christopher Murphy, John Carney, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jeff Miller, Steve Southerland, Corrine Brown, Ander Crenshaw, Richard Nugent, Cliff Stearns, John Mica, Daniel Webster, Gus Bilirakis, Bill Young, Kathy Castor, Dennis Ross, Vern Buchanan, Connie Mack, Bill Posey, Thomas Rooney, Frederica Wilson, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Theodore Deutch, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Mario Diaz-Balart, Allen West, Alcee Hastings, Sandy Adams, David Rivera, Jack Kingston, Sanford Bishop, Lynn Westmoreland, Henry Johson, John Lewis, Tom Price, Rob Woodall, Austin Scott, Tom Graves, Paul Broun, Phil Gringrey, John Barrow, David Scott, Madeleine Bordallo, Colleen Hanabusa, Mazie Hirono, Raul Labrador, Michael Simpson, Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson, Daniel Lipinski, Luis Gutierrez, Mike Quigley, Peter Roskam, Danny Davis, Joe Walsh, Janice Schakowsky, Robert Dold, Adam Kinginger, Jerry Costello, Judy Biggert, Randy Hultgren, Timothy Johnson, Donald Manzullo, Robert Schilling, Aaron Schock, John Shimkus, Peter Visclosky, Joe Donnelly, Marlin Stutzman, Todd Rokita, Dan Burton, Mike Pence, Andre Carson, Larry Bucshon, Todd Young, Bruce Braley, David Loebsack, Leonard Boswell, Tom Latham, Steve King, Tim Huelskamp, Lynn Jenkins, Kevin Yoder, Mike Pompeo, Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, John Yarmuth, Geoff Davis, Harold Rogers, Ben Chandler, Steve Scalise, Cedric Richmond, Jeffrey Landry, John Fleming, Rodney Alexander, Bill Cassidy, Charles Boustany, Chellie Pingree, Michael Michaud, Andy Harris, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Donna Edwards, Steny Hoyer, Roscoe Bartlett, Elijah Cummings, Chris Van Hollen, John Olver, Richard Neal, James McGovern, Barney Frank, Niki Tsongas, John Tierney, Edward Markey, Michael Capuano, Stephen Lynch, William Keating, Dan Benishek, Bill Huizenga, Justin Amash, Dave Camp, Dale Kildee, Fred Upton, Tim Walberg, Mike Rogers, Gary Peters, Candice Miller, Thaddeus McCotter, Sander Levin, Hansen Clarke, John Conyers, John Dingell, Timothy Walz, John Kline, Erik Paulson, Betty McCollum, Keith Ellison, Collin Peterson, Chip Cracaack, Alan Nunnelee, Bennie Thompson, Gregg Harper, Steven Palazzo, Wm. Lacy Clay, Todd Akin, Russ Carnahan, Vicky Hartzler, Emanuel Cleaver, Sam Graves, Billy Long, Jo Ann Emerson, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Denny Rehberg, Jeff Fortenberry, Lee Terry, Adrian Smith, Shelley Berkley, Dean Heller, Joseph Heck, Frank Guinta, Charles Bass, Robert Andrews, Frank LoBiondo, Jon Runyan, Chrisopher Smith, Scott Garrett, Frank Pallone, Leonard Lance, Bill Pascrell, Steven Rothman, Donald Payne, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Rush Holt, Albio Sires, Martin Heinrich, Stevan Pearce, Ben Ray Lujan, Timothy H. Bishop, Steve Israel, Peter King, Carolyn McCarthy, Gary Ackerman, Gregory Meeks, Joseph Crowley, Jerrold Nadler, Anthony Weiner, Edolphus Towns, Yvette Clarke, Nydia Velazquez, Michael Grimm, Carolyn Maloney, Charles Rangel, Jose Serrano, Eliot Engel, Nita Lowey, Nan Hayworth, Christopher Gibson, Paul Tonko, Maurice Hinchey, William Owens, Richard Hannah, Ann Marie Buerkle, Brian Higgins, Louis McIntosh Slaughter, Tom Reed, G.K. Butterfield, Renee Ellmers, Walter Jones, David Price, Virginia Foxx, Howard Coble, Mike McIntyre, Larry Kissell, Sue Wilkins Myrick, Patrick McHenry, Heath Shuler, Melvin Watt, Brad Miller, Rick Berg, Gergorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Steve Chabot, Jean Schmidt, Michael Turner, Jim Jordan, Robert Latta, Bill Johnson, Steve Austria, John A. Boehner, Marcy Kaptur, Dennis Kucinich, Marcia Fudge, Patrick Tiberi, Betty Sutton, Steven LaTourette, Steve Stivers, James Renacci, Tim Ryan, Bob Gibbs, John Sullivan, Dan Boren, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole, James Lankford, David Wu, Greg Walden, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader, Robert Brady, Chaka Fattah, Mike Kelly, Jason Altmire, Glenn Thompson, Jim Gerlach, Patrick Meehan, Michael Fitzpatrick, Bill Schuster, Tom Marino, Lou Barletta, Mark Critz, Allyson Schwarz, Michael Doyle, Charles Dent, Joseph Pitts, Tim Holden, Tim Murphy, Todd Russell Platts, Pedro Pierluisi, David Cicilline, James Langevin, Tim Scott, Joe Wilson, Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney, James Clyburn, Kristi Noem, David Roe, John Duncan, Charle Fleischmann, Scott DesJarlais, Jim Cooper, Diane Black, Marsha Blackburn, Stephen Lee Fincher, Steve Cohen, Louie Gohmert, Ted Poe, Sam Johnson, Ralph Hall, Jeb Hensarling, Joe Barton, John Abney Culberson, Kevin Brady, Al Green, Michael McCaul, Michael Conaway, Kay Granger, Mac Thornberry, Ron Paul, Ruben Hinojosa, Silvestre Reyes, Bill Flores, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Randy Neugebauer, Charles Gonzalez, Lamar Smith, Pete Olson, Francisco Canseco, Kenny Marchant, Lloyd Doggett, Michael Burgess, Blake Farenthold, Henry Cuellar, Gene Green, Eddie Bernice Johnson, John Carter, Pete Sessions, Rob Bishop, Jim Matteson, Jason Chaffetz, Peter Welch, Donna Christensen, Robert Wittman, Scott Rigell, Robert Scott, Randy Forbes, Robert Hurt, Bob Goodlatte, Eric Cantor, James Moran, Morgan Griffith, Frank Wolf, Gerald Connolly, Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Doc Hastings, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Norman Dicks, Jim McDermott, David Reichert, Adam Smith, David McKinley, Shelly Moore Capito, Nick Rahall, Paul Ryan, Rammy Baldwin, Ron Kind, Gwen Moore, James Sensenbrenner, Thomas, Petri, Sean Duffy, Reid Ribble, Cynthia M. Lummis, Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby, Mark Begich, Lisa Murkowski, Jon Kyl, John McCain, Mark Pryor, John Boozman, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Mark Udall, Michael Bennett, Joseph Lieberman, Richard Blumenthal, Christopher Coons, Edward Kaufman, Bill Nelson, Marco Rubio, Saxby Chambliss

For the past week, I’ve been instructed by a few Facebook friends to update my status by cutting and pasting a sentence or phrase that reflects their outrage of the current Debt Ceiling Impasse...

… or to email my Congress person…

… or to Tweet THIS if I want change…

… or to text someone that ‘I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.’

And after all that updating, and reposting, and retweeting, and Google+ing, what’s the result?

– Debt ceiling impasse.

– Unstable global financial markets.

– Multiple stories about the inevitable downgrade from our AAA credit status and a coming stock market collapse.

Now, perhaps there are a few young congressional aides that are monitoring the ‘Facebook Status Update Situation’ and how many constituents actually posted the sentence of choice – but, really, is Congress listening?

Of course not.

Support or dissent from social media is like “American Idol” voting. So silly – but since it’s so easy to participate… why not?

It’s just another reason I feel Facebook is worthless. Superficial passion. “My day was awesome!” “My kids are the best students!” “Here’s the greatest recipe for Apple Pie!”

On “American Idol”, viewers are urged to phone or text (standard text message rates apply) as many times as they can for their favorite contestant. If you can’t get through – please keep trying!

Millions and millions of “votes” for Scott McCreary. Millions and millions for Lauren Alaina. Yet more millions and millions for Haley Reinhart (why, I’ll never know – don’t be hating me Haley fans – I just don’t think she’s talented).

And the winner is? Oh, I don’t know… we don’t care. The producers have agreed on… I mean, America has voted on… let’s say… Scotty!

You realize the votes aren’t counted, right?

If they actually did count the votes, the viewers would see those counts. Because that would add an interesting dynamic.

But producers can’t do that because then they wouldn’t be able to kick off the contestants they don’t like.

The same thing applies when social media takes on politics. When one person can re-post something a thousand times, it’s a superficial reading of what is really going on.

“Millions of emails have flooded the in-boxes of members of Congress.” Yeah, millions and millions of emails from three guys in Utah. And all went straight to the Congressional Spam folder.

And every political party is doing it – which creates nothing but muddle.

I am fairly certain the Tea Party people are flooding their status updates with “Don’t Raise The Debt Ceiling At All. Take Back America!”

And Republican Facebookers are pasting “Make Obama a one-term President.”

And the Democrats: “Don’t let the corporate jet owners win again!”

Is there anyone counting who is updating their Facebook status the most times? What do you think? And what do they win if they post the most? At least Scotty McCreary gets a record contract. Social Media activists get… ignored.

We all know where the Debt Ceiling Impasse is headed no matter how many Tweets are Tweeted – and so does President Obama. The U.S. will be kicking the can further down the road and a six month or one year debt ceiling extension that will accomplish very little and will be reluctantly signed on August 1st or 2nd.

Then Congress goes on vacation for the month of August.

The issue will be taken up again in early 2012 – two weeks or so before another possible default. And the Facebook status posting and Tweeting will begin another cycle… just in time for the new season of “American Idol”.

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

July 19, 2011July 19, 2011

The Woman Who Saved News Corp.

Allen & Company retreat, Anne Mulcahy, Ari Emanuel, Barry Diller, Ben Silverman, Bob Iger, Bobby Kotick, Carol Bartz, Charlie Rose, Cory Booker, DumbDumb, Electus, Eric Schmidt, Erin Burnett, Gina Bianchini, Harvey Weinstein, Herb Allen, Herb Allen Sun Valley Conference, Herbert Allen, Jean-Bernard Levy, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Zucker, Jeffrey Immelt, Jerry Yang, John Donahue, Ken Auletta, Khan Manka, Lachlan Murdoch, Lady Gaga, Leslie Moonves, Lionel Barber, Lloyd Grohl, Manka Bros., Marc Andreessen, Marissa Mayer, Mark Pincus, Mark Zuckerberg, Martin Sorrell, Mathias Dopfner, Mike Bloomberg, Niall FitzGerald, Peter Chernin, Phillippe Dauman, Reid Hoffman, Richard Parsons, Ricky Van Veen, Rob Wiesenthal, Robert L. Johnson, Ron Meyer, Rupert Murdoch, Sergey Brin, Sheryl Sandberg, Steve Jobs, Sun Valley Retreat, Sun Valley Retreat 2010, Terry Semel, Tom Freston, Tom Friedman, Ursula Burns, Vivi Nevo, Warren Buffett, World's Largest Media Company, Rupert Murdoch, Jose Maria Aznar, natalie Bancroft, Peter Barnes, Chase Carey, Kenneth Cowley, David DeVoe, Viet Dinh, Rod Eddington, Joel Klein, Andrew S.B. Knight, James Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, Thomas Perkins, Arthur Siskind, John Thornton, Stanley Shuman, Rebekah Brooks, Les Hinton, Teri Everett, jack Horner, Julie Henderson, Reed Nolte, Roger Ailes, Janet Nova, John Nallen, Beryl Cook, Michael Regan, Genie Gavenchak, Brian Lewis, Irena Briganti, Dan Berger, Rosabel Tao, Steven Rubenstein, Suzanne Halpin, Elisabeth Murdoch, Wendi Deng Murdoch

With one mighty slap, Wendi Deng Murdoch may have saved her husband’s company.

No longer was the story about hacking or impropriety or ethics, it was about a wife coming to her 80-year-old husband’s defense when he was attacked.

Rupert Murdoch is a hated man, obviously. He runs a company without ethics or moral compass with a history of crushing anyone who got in his way.

At the Phone Hacking Scandal Hearing, as question after question came from the Members of Parliament, he denied denied denied.

Rupert sat there stone-faced, acted like he couldn’t hear questions (maybe he actually has bad hearing) and then calmly placed blame on junior executives.

James Murdoch sat there red-faced, embarrassed – a completely worthless deer-in-headlights.

All of their answers were the answers of cowards.

Social networks were salivating at the possibility that Rupert’s empire would fall. The press were poised to rake them over the coals without mercy…

… and then he was attacked by an idiot comedian with a pie tin full of shaving cream (or whipped cream) – and Wendi Deng Murdoch went into action without thought or fear. She smacked that guy with a mighty right hand and he went down.

With one slap, the narrative of the story had changed, the old man got a little boost of sympathy and the entire hearing became a circus.

Any public judgments against News Corp. or Rupert or James had been pushed to the back – almost forcing news outlets to refocus the story on “Who is Wendi Murdoch and Where Did She Learn To Punch?”

Splitting the media attention was what was needed to get Rupert off the hot seat and this dumb ass activist being punched to the ground by Wendi Deng Murdoch accomplished that to perfection.

It makes you wonder if it was planned that way by News Corp.

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

May 19, 2011May 20, 2011

LinkedIn Acquired By Monster.com For $37,242

Jeff Weiner, Nick Besbeas, Steve Cadigan, Mike Gamson, David Henke, Robby Kwok, Deep Nishar, Erika Rottenberg, Steve Sordello, Reid Hoffman, Allen Blue, Konstantin Guericke, Eric Ly, jean-Luc Vaillant, A George "Skip" Battle, Leslie Kilgore, Stanley Meresman, Michael J. Moritz, David Sze, Sal Iannuzzi, Timothy T. Yates, John Gaulding, Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani, Cynthia P. McCague, Jeffrey F. Rayport, Roberto Tunioli, James M. Langrock, Andrea Bertone, Darko Dejanovic, Ted Gilvar, Edward Lo, Michael C. Miller, Lise Poulos, Mark Stoever, Patrick W. Manzo, OnMedea, Jill Kennedy, Manka Bros., Khan Manka, Ben Silverman, Sumner Redstone, Jeff Zucker, Ari Emanuel, Rupert Murdoch, Bob Iger

The year is 2014.

The people of the world have abandoned social networking after going out on too many creepy dates.

LinkedIn, once a Wall Street darling, was acquired today by Monster.com for $37,242 – basically the value of the copper wire in the walls of their unfinished (and unpaid for) $1 billion dollar office complex in The Presidio.

At its peak in late 2011, LinkedIn (a groundbreaking social network in which people could send messages to each other) had a market cap of $560 billion – more than the top 2 companies in the world combined.

The stock began its plunge after CEO Jeff Weiner cashed out and left the company to become CEO of Apple at the beginning of 2012. Ironically, Apple’s stock began its plunge immediately after he became CEO.

It’s really a tragic story of greed and the inability to create a product that people can actually use. And if they did use it, it was only because they thought they should be doing it – because others were – and no one wants to be left out. But now everyone is left out.

About the sale, Mr. Weiner said: “I work at Apple now. I’m just thinking about running this company. LinkedIn was just a blip in my long career. It was really Reid’s baby, Reid’s vision (State Senator Reid Hoffman D-Palo Alto). I just worked there.”

And made over $2 billion while there.

Senator Hoffman was unreachable by phone but did release a statement through his office: “LinkedIn should have been my ticket to wealth beyond my wildest dreams. Thinking back, I wish I would have sold all (or even some) of my stock when it peaked like Jeff Weiner did. That bastard made $2 billion! It’s a God damned shame. State politics don’t pay shit.”

So LinkedIn, you were great once (in valuation), but now you’re gone. To quote The Lion In Winter – “The sun was warmer then…”

Shine on you crazy diamond!

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011

All The Facebook’s Men

1000Memories, Accel Partners, Amish Jani, Andrew Hyde, Andrew Mason, Andy Sack, Ashton Kutcher, Aydin Senkut, Ben Silverman, Bin 38, Bob Davis, Bob Iger, Brad Feld, Brian Kempner, Chris Hughes, Christopher Steiner, Dan Nova, Daniel Gaisin, Danielle Hootnick, Dave McClure, David Brown, David Cohen, David Kirkpatrick, Demi Moore, Demo Day, Diego Gutierrez, Dustin Moskovitz, Edmond Yue, Eduardo Saverin, Emmett Shear, Eric Lefkofsky, Fergal Mullen, FirstMark Capital, Founders At Work, Francis Duong, Gaurav Tewari, Gerald Levin, Gerald Poch, Greg McAdoo, Greylock Partners, Harjeet Taggar, HBO, Highland Capital Partners, Irena Goldenberg, Jared Polis, Jeff Bewkes, Jeff Weiner, Jeff Zucker, Jessica Livingston, Jessica Mah, Jill Kennedy, Joanna Shields, John Hsin, John Palfrey, Jon Miller, Jr., Justin Kan, Justin.tv, Khan Manka, Larry Wilson, Laurence Albukerk, Lawrence Lenihan, Li Ka-shing, Loopt, Manish Patel, Manka Bros., Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg, Matt Cohler, Matt Nichols, Michael Arrington, Michael Gaiss, MySpace, Nick Marsh, Nicolas Carlson, OnMedea, Owen Van Natta, Paul Buchheit, Paul Cianciolo, Paul Graham, Peter Bell, Peter Thiel, Reddit, Richard de Silva, Richard Heitzman, Rick Heitzmann, Robert Morris, Ron Conway, Rudy Adler, Rupert Murdoch, Sand Hill Road, Scott Shane, Scott Switzer, Sequoia Capital, Sergey Nazarov, Shabbir Dahod, Shawn Broderick, Sheryl Sandberg, Sterling Phillips, Sumner Redstone, Tapzilla, TechCrunch, TechStars, TextPayMe, Toy Story 3, Trevor Blackwell, Y Combinator, google, Eric Schmidt, Tina Brown, The Daily Beast, Barry Diller, Dan Lyons, Google Smear campaign, Burson-Marsteller, Chris Soghoian, Jim Goldman, John Mercurio,

As soon as I read The Daily Beast story about Facebook’s alleged smear (whisper) campaign against Google, I immediately thought of the scene in “All The President’s Men” with all the newspaper editors sitting around deciding which stories to run the next day.

When Watergate is brought up, there is stiff resistance from a couple of the editors.

This scene (replacing ‘Watergate’ with ‘Facebook’) could easily have played out at The Daily Beast with the change of a few words in the screenplay:

INT. THE DAILY BEAST – BUDGET MEETING

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: Let me tell you what happened when I was having lunch today at Locanda Verde–

TINA BROWN: Correction – when you were drinking your lunch at the bar of Locanda Verde–

The room erupts in laughter.

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: –this Facebook guy, a good one, a pro, came up and asked what is the “Google smear” compulsion with you guys and I said, well, we think it’s important and he said, if it’s so goddamn important, who the hell is Dan Lyons?

INNOVATION EDITOR: Fake Steve Jobs for one – but I digress. Ask him what he’s really saying – he means to take the story away from Dan Lyons and give it to his people at the Sexy Beast.

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: Well, I’ve got some pretty experienced people sitting around, wouldn’t you say so?

INNOVATION EDITOR: Absolutely, and that’s all they do, sit sit sit – every once in a while they reprint Michael Arrington, some reporting–

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: Well, what if Dan Lyons get it wrong–

TINA BROWN: Then it’s Barry Diller’s ass, isn’t it? And we’ll all have to go work for a living.

The room clears, only a couple of Editors and Tina Brown stay behind:

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: I don’t think we should cover this story, period.

TINA BROWN: Go on.

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: It’s not that we’re using unnamed sources that bothers me, or that everything we print Facebook denies.

TINA BROWN: What then?

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: I don’t believe the goddamn story, Tina, it doesn’t make sense.

TINA BROWN: It will, it just hasn’t bottomed out yet, give it time.

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: Look, why would Facebook do it? My God, Google is self-destructing before our eyes – just like MySpace did, Friendster, the bunch of ’em. Why would Burson-Marsteller send emails to bloggers urging them to write negative stories about Google, unless they wanted to get caught? Why would Burson go to Politico, The Washington Post and The Huffington Post, unless they wanted to get caught?

TINA BROWN: Are you saying Google started a whisper campaign against itself?

SEXY BEAST EDITOR: Jill Kennedy at OnMedea thinks it’s possible – Google needs some positive press, corruption’s always a good one. Get off the story, Tina – or put some people on Google’s public relations team – fair is fair, even in our business.

—————————————-

Hey, we’re early enough in this conspiracy where all theories are in play.

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

Click here to read the scene from the original script of “All The President’s Men”

May 4, 2011February 1, 2017

The Huffington Post Is Dead – R.I.P.

Manka Bros., Khan Manka, Arianna Huffington, Eric Hippeau, Roy Sekoff, Jai Singh, Thomas B. Edsall, Willow Bay, Daniel Froomkin, Nico Pitney, Colin Sterling, Ashley McAdams, Ryan Grim, Howard Fineman, Peter Goodman, Anya Strzemien, Danny Shea, David Flumenbaum, Kimberly Brooks, Cara Parks, Alan B. Elias Kornfeld, Katy Hall, Sara Wilson, Adam Rose, Marcus Baram, Jonah Green, Jennifer Sabella, Ethan Axelrod, Amy Hertz, Bianca Bosker, Leah Finnegan, Whitney Snyder, Billy Silverman, Kate Auletta, Paul Raushenbush, Ben Craw, Nicholas Graham, David Weiner, Mark Blumenthal, Emily Swanson, Russell Bishop, Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald, Dan Collins, Simon Johnson, Dean Ornish, Lloyd I. Sederer, Susan Blumenthan, David Katz, Mary Kyman, Rachel Naomi Remen, Mark Smith, Michael Roizen, Janet Taylor, William Sears, Elyse Siegel, Ryan McCarthy, Jeff Muskus, TJ Ortenzi, Alexander Belensy, Carly Schwartz, Clay Chiles, Meghan neal, Hilary Moss, Katla McGlynn, Michael Klopman, Jack Mirkinson, Travis Donovan, Stuart Whatley, Matt Sledge, Derstin Picht, Sebastian Howard, Grace Kiser, Lila Shapiro, Gazelle Emami, Hallie Seegal, Jason Linkins, Sam Stein, Arthur Delaney, Amanda Terkel, Shahien Nasiripour, Chris Kirkham, Laura Bassett, Nicholas Wing, William Alden, Amy Lee, Craig Kanalley, Rob Fishman, Rebecca Harrington, Hunter Stuart, Nora Ephron, Greg Coleman, Phil Cara, Andy Wiedlin, Taylor Gray, Sam Figler, Peter Cherukuri, Terry City, Brian Kaminsky, Hanna Volkman, Cindy Murphy, Marc Walker, Marcia Greenblatt, Laura Krebill, John Shankman, Lauri Baker, Jennifer Carroll, Robert Schmerler, Jennifer Cherniske, Mandy MacKay, Stephanie Barolomeo, Mehmet Cereb, Adam Gross, Rachel Taxman, Lindsey Rempell, Julia Steers, Daniela Perdomo, Camille Norris, Maeve Kennedy, Victoria Wright, Morgan Holland, Lindsay Warren, Stephane Bejhar, Sophie Dabuzhsky, Diana Smith, Trey Green, Michael Macher, Paul Berry, Cindy Jeffers, Sandeep Chayapathi, Theo Burry, Ben Regenspan, Travis Morrison, Mike Sparks, Jim Bartus, Rich Ochoa, Rodrigo Garcia, Amanda Chan, Mari Ruiz, Eric Ashman, Chris Davis, Ellen Shell, Alex Maccallum, Jackie Greaney, Melaine Fuentes, Sharon Dhanraj, MIranda Cheng, Scott Hoos, Mike Cardarelli, Patty Elvey, Jeff Swafford, Lorraine Baker, McCall Marshall, Kathleen Kane, Rachel Truong, Jonah Peretti, OnMedea, Jill Kennedy, World's Largest Media Company, Tim Armstrong, Kathy Andreasen, Jon Brod, Ned Brody, Brad Garlinghouse, Alexander Gounares, Lauren Hurvitz, Jared Grusd, Julie Jacobs, Jeff Levick, Artie Minson, Maureen Sullivan, Alberto Ibarguen, James Stengel, Fredric Reynolds, Michael Powell, Patricia Mitchell, Susan Lyne, Karen Dykstra, Richard Dalzell

You had a really great thing going, Arianna.

The Huffington Post was one of the more exciting and visually striking destination sites on the Internet. There was a fantastic sense of community – a “we’re-all-in-this-together” kind of feeling that will be nearly impossible to replicate anywhere else.

Whenever I went to the Huffington Post (before the buy-out), I could literally see the hustle and the bustle (new stories posted by the minute with user comments multiplying before your eyes).

You rallied and recruited celebrities and experts who blogged about subjects that were important to them. So important they didn’t want or need to be paid. Huge communities sprung up overnight on hundreds of topics. It was an amazing success story.

But it’s gone.

You cashed out.

You became an employee of AOL. AOL? One of the most hated brands in the world.

When I go to the Huffington Post now, the excitement is gone.

Topics have been slashed. HP content is painfully lacking in any kind of passion. The only interesting things to read are those that are reposted (some say stolen) from other websites.

You alienated those that meant the most to you – the celebrities and citizen bloggers – because you couldn’t share the wealth. You became irrelevant and for what? $315 million (for which, reports say, you received $18 million). You were already rich. Was it worth that extra $18 million to become irrelevant?

Dumb question. We all need an extra $18 million. But politically you are nothing now – just another rich person on the cocktail party circuit (which may have been all you wanted anyway).

As for AOL… there’s really nothing to say. It will always be AOL. And that’s who you work for, Arianna.

I guess if things really go into the shitter, you can always write columns for the Brentwood Patch.

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

October 20, 2009January 7, 2014

Ayn Rand Was NOT A Conservative

There was a story posted on The Daily Beast by Rebecca Dana titled AYN RAND POWER DRESSING in which she writes:

“Ayn Rand–author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, mother of Objectivism, and the conservative movement’s most rapacious cougar–leapt back into popular culture this year as the hero of the Obama-hating far-right.

But it’s not just Glenn Beck and his minions who are drawing inspiration from the writer, who died in 1982. This fall, the dowdy Russian émigré is en vogue with a whole different set: the free-wheeling, Obama-loving, arugula-eating fashion world.”

Now, I do not follow the antics of Glenn Beck (though I may follow a few of “his minions” depending who they are) and I realize that Rebecca Dana did not actually call Ayn Rand a Conservative (just “the movement’s most rapacious cougar”)… but I just need to put down for the record that she was a staunch anti-Conservative and actually speaks with an almost hatred of them in this extensive audio interview (about 3:30 into the interview she states “I am not a Conservative nor is Objectivism a Conservative philosophy.”):

http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reg_ar_cvo

For readers of Ms. Dana’s blog who may not actually research her statements, I fear they would form a completely wrong opinion of Ayn Rand – especially by carelessly linking Ms. Rand to Glenn Beck. (Having done a little quick research on Mr. Beck, I will refrain from opining on him as I do not want to draw the bloodthirsty freaks in his audience into this discussion.)

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

October 7, 2009April 26, 2011

The Nobel Prize For Chemistry

YOU’VE GOT TO BE F-ING KIDDING ME!!

I apologize but this cannot stand! I am shocked and saddened by today’s news of the 2009 Nobel Prize winners for Chemistry.

Seriously? Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath?

Somebody please tell me if this is a joke! Because it’s NOT FUNNY!

The Noble Prize Committee (who have lost an infinity amount of respect from me for this decision) said that the winners were awarded for:

“Studies of one of life’s core processes: The ribosome’s translation of DNA information into life. (I won’t stoop so low as to explain what ribosomes do.) This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry awards Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath for having showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.”

Unbe-fucking-lievable! Well, good luck to you all… hacks. My five-year-old daughter could poke more holes in your research than she currently does to my couch cushions.

I know I normally focus on on TRUTH IN MEDIA (i.e., the cover up of Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” ghost-writer Lynn Vincent) – but this announcement today threw me for a loop.

This is the beginning of the end of the Nobel Prizes!

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

October 2, 2009April 28, 2011

Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (AND LYNN VINCENT)

The cover of Sarah Palin’s latest work of fiction “Going Rogue: An American Life” was released today by publisher HarperCollins.

Anyone waiting to see if Ms. Palin can write in complete sentences WON’T be able to find that out anytime soon because she didn’t really write the book. Most likely she talked into a speaker phone from her Chevy Suburban to Ghost Writer Lynn Vincent who turned Ms. Palin’s incoherent thoughts into a simple, easy-to-understand prose that will further separate the growing division in America.

What do we know about Lynn Vincent? Not much lately. I have a feeling Ms. Vincent has been locked in Dick Cheney’s bunker and will remain there until “Going Rogue: An American Life” is safely in the $1 bins at Costco (or when Ms. Palin becomes President – whichever comes first).

What we DO know about Lynn Vincent (46) OFF-THE-RECORD is that she is a total Christian Right wacko with hardcore beliefs about abortion, gay marriage, Jews, Democrats, Muslims, etc. In general, she’s a woman with a deep hatred in her heart for all those who are not like her.

ON THE RECORD, she’s a fairly solid writer who (I’m sure) has gay and Muslim friends. OK, maybe gay friends. OK, in the closet gay friends. OK, maybe not.

Over the next few weeks (until the book is released in November), there will be numerous attempts by the “Illegal-should-be-abolished” media on the left to dig up more about Ms. Vincent. But I have a feeling she will be “unavailable for comment” (though Fox News may be able to land an “Exclusive”. Hannity will be “tough but fair” and manage to wring out what her favorite flavor of Jell-o is).

As tempting as it is to go after whatever low-hanging fruit there is on Ms. Vincent, I say the real focus should remain on Ms. Palin – who, frankly, must be stopped.

Somewhere buried in the digital universe there is further proof that she is completely out of her mind and… dangerous. For the good of the world, it is our duty to dig it up before she writes again.

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea

P.S. – Sarah, you should have gone more “Coulter” with your cover. The men want to see you in a black mini-dress (especially Sean Hannity and his repressed sexual urges).

May 12, 2009May 12, 2011

All The President’s Men – Washington Post Budget Meeting Scene

Here is a companion to “All The Facebook’s Men” – the actual scene from the original screenplay of “All The President’s Men”

INT. WASHINGTON POST – CONFERENCE ROOM

NATIONAL EDITOR: –let me tell what happened when I was having lunch today at the Sans Souci–

ROSENFLED: –correction–when you were drinking your lunch at the bar of the Sans Souci–

NATIONAL EDITOR: –this White House guy, a good one, a pro, came up and asked what is this Watergate compulsion with you guys and I said, well, we think it’s important and he said, if it’s so goddamn important, who the hell are Woodward and Bernstein?

ROSENFELD: Ask him what he’s really saying– he means take the story away from Woodstein and give it to his people at the National Desk–

NATIONAL EDITOR: –well, I’ve got some pretty experienced fellas sitting around, wouldn’t you say so?

ROSENFELD: Absolutely. And that’s all they do, sit sit sit – every once in a while, they call up a Senator, some reporting–

NATIONAL EDITOR: –well, what if your boys get it wrong?

BRADLEE: (after a beat) Then it’s our asses, isn’t it?

SIMONS: (indicates the meeting is over) And we’ll all have to go to work for a living.

As the men rise and head for the door, the FOREIGN EDITOR moves toward BRADLEE and SIMONS who remain seated as before.

FOREIGN EDITOR: I don’t think either Metropolitan or National should cover the story.

Bradlee and Simons look at him.

FOREIGN EDITOR (CONT’D): I don’t think we should cover the story, period.

BRADLEE: Go on.

FOREIGN EDITOR: It’s not that we’re using unnamed sources that bothers me, or that everything we print the White House denies, or that almost no other papers are reprinting our stuff.

SIMONS: What then?

FOREIGN EDITOR: I don’t believe the goddamn story, Howard, it doesn’t make sense.

BRADLEE: It will, it just hasn’t bottomed out yet, give it time.

FOREIGN EDITOR: Ben, Jesus, there are over two thousand reporters in this town, are there five on Watergate? Where did we suddenly get all this wisdom?

Bradlee and Simons say nothing. They respect this guy.

FOREIGN EDITOR: Look – why would the Republicans do it? My God, McGovern is self-destructing before our eyes — just like Muskie did, Humphrey, the bunch of ’em. Why would the burglars have put the tape around the door instead of up and down unless they wanted to get caught? Why did they take a walkie-talkie and then turn it off, unless they wanted to get caught? Why would they use McCord–the only direct contact to the Republicans?

BRADLEE: You saying the Democrats bugged themselves?

FOREIGN EDITOR: The FBI thinks it’s possible–the Democrats need a campaign issue, corruption’s always a good one. Get off the story, Ben — or put some people on McGovern’s finances; fair is fair, even if our business.

He leaves.

Jill Kennedy – OnMedea