I haven't posted here in a long while. But since I referenced BlueSky in my newsletter today, I figured I should share it here.
I wrote about how I stay informed in the news hellscape we’re living through without spiraling. bit.ly/4b9fHjP
Sharing some good news:
Where is the “but her emails” crowd at now?
Slack being down on the first warm, sunny day in NYC in months feels like a sign from the universe to just log off and touch grass.
This makes me very sad.
Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin's reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.
My productivity hack: turn off all notifications and set a 20 minute timer. Do the work and when the timer goes off, give yourself a little treat.
You can schedule that email, Slack, or Teams message.
There is no reason to send a 10pm message 99% of the time.
When I was a Hill staffer in 2009, a Dem trifecta was trying to pass universal healthcare. In response, Senate GOP released a memo detailing all of the tactics they in the minority could use to delay the effort as much as possible. I'm recirculating that 2009 GOP memo here. Take inspiration from it.
These are the good guys supporting DEI. Reward them with your business.
Costco
Meijer
Kroger
Giant Grocery
Ben & Jerry’s
Ulta, Macy’s
Old Navy
Nordstrom’s
TJ Maxx
GoTo Foods ( Moe’s Southwest Grill, Mcalister’s, Auntie Anne’s, Jamba, Cinnabon…)
Dollar Tree
Walgreens
Wegmans
Hundreds of subreddits are considering banning all links to Twitter/X in a pretty powerful display of collective action:
www.404media.co/hundreds-of-...
This feels like it should be an April Fools joke…
Since we’re sharing insurance stories: I had medically necessary sinus surgery this year. Thankfully my insurance fully covered the surgery. However they only partially covered the anesthesia. How does that make sense? They’ll cover the procedure but not the thing that makes the procedure possible?!
The anxiety PR people feel in the time between an embargo lifting and the first news article publishing on a big announcement day is a special kind of anxiety.
I don't know who needs to know this, but Pro Publica has an online thing that will format a letter to your US health insurance company to demand the records behind a claim denial. (which the insurance is then legally required to provide in most cases)
projects.propublica.org/claimfile/
Who else is going to the @axios.com communicators event tonight in NYC? I'm looking forward to seeing all my PR folks in person!
Today’s Connections was built for comms people.
