Law And More

Plunge of Trust in Institutions Helps Create In-Your-Face Cons like Kevin Trudeau

Tonight, "Court TV" revisited the saga of TV infomercial pitch man Kevin Trudeau.

The 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals rejected the appeal of Trudeau's 2013 conviction for exaggerated claims by his weight-loss book. Trudeau contended there had been not enough evidence, the jurors had been given wrong instruction, and his sentence had been too long (10 years).

The meme that "Court TV" hammered was this: The consumers' lack of trust in traditional institutions opened them to blind trust in Trudeau's claims for unorthodox treatments. In addition to weight loss, they ranged from cures for baldness to reduction of memory loss.

Annually, Edelman Public Relations measures trust worldwide. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer documented that trust in establishment institutions remains low. However, there is an uptick in trust in what the person experiences directly, such as the relationship with an employer. 

Trudeau certainly made his pitch an experience those in need could grab onto.

His infomercials were totally in-your-face. There was no middleman institution between the consumer and the products which were presented as able to solve their problems. The contention was that those products traditional institutions didn't want consumers to know about. 

The dynamic is that mistrust in the establishment creates blind trust in outliers. Sometimes those outliers might be authentic in their ability to provide society what they need. An example had been the innovations by iconoclastic Steve Jobs. More often the outsiders are scammers. 

That phenomenon should be analyzed when teaching critical thinking. It can also be used by prosecutors chasing a convictions for other kinds of fraudsters. The loss of belief can set up an intense yearning for something, anything human beings can wrap their minds and hearts around. Yest, that's what prosecutors should explain to jurors.

Takeaway: Beware a trust vacuum.

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Drudge Report - Business Seems to Trump Politics (pun intended & don't expect Matt Drudge to blink)

Matt Drudge and his new conservative digital political tabloid became household names in January 1998.

That's when the Drudge Report broke the "intern story," that is, that U.S. president Bill Clinton had some kind of sexual relationship with assistant Monica Lewinsky. 

The impeachment process eventually kicked in. 

Drudge's outing was no surprise. After all, he was a conservative player. 

What surprised some, but not everyone, has been this: In the past several months that conservative tabloid went negative on the Trump Administration. It was at the time that the U.S. president Donald Trump seemed headed toward possible impeachment.

Darkness was falling. And Matt didn't miss any of that in the aggregation.

Now, reports the Daily Beast based on its sources, Trump himself has noticed the shift away from blind loyalty. Of course, he doesn't like what he is reading. According to the Beast, he requested that his son-in-law Jared Kushner find out what's going on. 

Those who are not surprised understand both the influence game and the business of media. 

Given the Drudge Report's extreme influence, Matt would be a fool to limit support to any rigid ideology or a player whose own influence could be on a downward trajectory. The Drudge Report is read regularly not only by conservatives but also a growing number of liberals, as well as those on mainstream. Its reach keeps growing. Meanwhile, HuffPost, launched as a liberal push-back, is up for sale. 

In the volatile media industry, the Drudge Report also is one of the not very many of native digitals which continues to scale as a business. Axios is another.

Matt understands the business, whereas other players in the space seemed too caught up in increasing traffic, at any cost. That cost wound up ranging from losing advertisers to losing litigation, as had Gawker. In a sense, they are chasing exposure, not profits. 

Media is a business. Matt is a businessperson who is operating a media enterprise. 

If Trump is smart he will leave his relationship, if any, with the Drudge Report twitter-free. Matt has acquired too much power and is too independent (unlike the folks at Fox) to have to cave to Trump. 

Reflection: Given the undertow of tension between Matt and Trump, more readers will probably flock to the Drudge Report to check out the tone of all content associated with the Trump Administration or Trump himself.

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The Business of Discrimination - LA Times Looks at CBS-Owned TV Stations, More and More Question Traditional Capitalism

The term "discrimination" usually brings up images of mean-spirited decision-makers.

But, the bias, if it really exists, could be from simple business reasons.  That's the real issue: the overall values of business. 

In an article in the LA Times, there are presented allegations of age discrimination at CBS-owned television stations. Yes, the EEOC has investigated. So, there could be something to those clams. 

However, if age bias exists the reasons why may be based on the needs of the business. They may have nothing to do with antipathy toward older workers. Or, how older anchors appear on-air. 

For example, because the media landscape has changed, those television stations are no longer as profitable as they had been. Those earning top salary are targeted. And those are usually older employees who moved up the food chain to the big money.

The stations can replace them with those willing to accept much less. The same pattern is being played out in other forms of media such as publications. The memoir "Disrupted" by Dan Lyons chronicles being tossed out of Newsweek at age 50-something. 

In addition, the brutal reality is that advertisers demand viewers in the 18 to 45 demographic. That kind of audience, in turn, bonds with those their own age. So, the older anchor becomes vulnerable. Soon enough, those aging on-air personalities are gone.

Not that any of this seems ethical. It just doesn't smell right. 

But that's the way it is.

Yes, that's capitalism. No, capitalism isn't pretty.

In fact, the ethos of capitalism is being questioned right now in myriad nations. That probably had been kicked off by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Harvard Business School has an elective course on reimagining capitalism.

The Business Roundtable pushes for the needs of other stakeholders than just investors to be factored into the operations of a business.

And a meme in the 2020 Election is about embracing aspects of socialism. 

Reflection: Could traditional capitalism be going the way of the low-IQ phone?

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

The Rhetoric of Policy-Making - The Evolution of "Radical"

The headline in Thomson Reuters uses the term "radicalize" associated with Mohammed Saud Alshamrani.

Of course, in that context the connotation is negative. And, skilled policy-makers know to avoid that word.

But that wasn't also the situation.

Language, like all human institutions, keeps changing.

During the late 1960s counterculture, "radicalize" had a cool meaning.

The "enlightened" was the radicalized. They were the ones who attracted love, speaking engagements, and jobs in emerging industries such as counterculture retail. Being radical was also a lot of fun. All that theatre in the streets. 

The unenlightened became isolated, at least in some hubs of political and cultural activity such as Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

Recall also, the founding fathers of America were considered radicals.

Currently, radical scares. It does, however, grab media headlines. What the far-left proposes is always the top of the news, both in liberal and conservative media. 

Instead of being positioned and packaged as "radical," those struggling to get support for a policy or establish a presence should aim to be known as "innovative." That's now a platitude. But it still represents effective rhetoric. 

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

Prism - REMOTE - Reporter on Gender Justice

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Exclusive to Law and More: Sanford Heisler Sharp Responds to Jones Day's Filing of Sanctions in "Tolton et al. v. Jones Day"

It could have been thought of as The Clash of the Titans.

In the gender discrimination litigation "Tolton et al. v. Jones Day," the defendant filed a motion for sanctions against the law firm representing the plaintiffs. Here is the background information on that procedural move. 

That law firm firm is the brandname in employment bias lawsuits - Sanford Heisler Sharp.

I requested a statement from Sanford Heisler in response to that motion. 

Here is that exclusive to Law and More:

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"Jones Day's sanctions motion is a groundless procedural ploy designed to distract from its facially unlawful 'black box' pay secrecy policy. We look forward to responding in our papers within the Court."

Russell Kornblith, partner at Sanford Hesiler Sharp LLP.

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Compliance Technical Writer, Seattle, WA

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Brandname Law Firm, Vancouver, Canada - Marketing Coordinator

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November 2019 Jobs Report - Legal Services Adds 2,900 Jobs

Throw the confetti.

According to the numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor, legal services added 2,900 jobs during November 2019. Here are more details from Law.com.

This is at a time when optimism is growing about the state of the U.S. economy, despite the economic slowdown in other parts of the world. In November, the U.S. added 266,000 jobs. Employment remains low.

If this trend holds up, it's good news for the JD Class of 2020. 

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.

 

Clash of the Titans: Jones Day Takes on Sanford Heisler Sharp

The high profile gender bias lawsuit "Tolton et al. v.  Jones Day" just got a lot more high profile. 

Call it the Clash of the Titans. Recently the six named plaintiffs in that litigation filed a motion for class certification. That got plenty of media attention. Here you can consider the details.

Now, defendant Jones Day takes on the lawyers at Sanford Heisler Sharp representing the plaintiffs. 

As Law.com reports, Jones Day filed a motion for sanctions against the lawyers at Sanford. Here is a copy of that motion.

Essentially, Sanford in the brand in employment discrimination litigation. Its signature case was the settlement for Kerrie Campbell.

Jones Day contends that the lawyers for the defendants did not do their research to support their claim that that females did not receive equal pay with males for doing the same kind of work. For example, the litigation did not prevent the Sanford lawyers from interviewing Jones Day male associates about their compensation. Also. research would have turned up that, with the exception of the New York City market, male associates did not receive Cravath level compensation. So all references to that are flawed. 

Jones Day claims that there are among the plaintiffs those who talked with male colleagues before the litigation and did not find evidence of a pay disparity. 

What Jones Day is demanding in its motion are:

•  All claims based on disparate pay be eliminated from the lawsuit
•  An order granting fees and costs associated with the motion.

The world awaits how Sanford will manage this motion to sanction. David Sanford has evolved into a superhero to those females perceiving gender bias. 

Smart global ghostwriting, with social networking know-know. Emergencies welcome. Complimentary consultation (pressure-free) janegenova374@gmail.com.