Madden Mischief

It’s 2084, less than a year out from the next presidential election. Temperature 125° Wind 128 mph. Relatively nice day with less flooding.  The candidates, the latest tech systems, are all out campaigning hard against soft incumbent, AI. AI is now considered much too old, too slow, too full of glitches to hold the high … More WILL IOT MAKE UNITED STECHS OF AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?

I was born on Yom Kippur 1938 in the City of Brotherly Love, but no worries, I will not be part of that pack of wolverines seeking the presidency as there’ll be enough incumbents, maybe by then even inmates in or around their eighties strutting and fretting their hour upon a stage hopping or limping … More Where’s the vaccine for that pandemic Antisemitism?

Imagine folks living in a small country abroad and all they hear about America are the mass shootings that have become so insanely popular among America’s lunatics.  Having once looked up to us as the shining city on the hill, are they now scratching their heads? They’re undoubtedly asking why a sicko Maine mass murder … More ARE WE GIVING DEMOCRACY A BAD NAME GLOBALLY?

Let’s say Israel retains you as a crisis manager during this horrible retaliatory war in Gaza aimed to prevent another equally horrible Oct. 7.   How do you respond? Resign effective immediately? Jump out of the nearest window, hoping you’re on a high floor? Or bite the bullet and accept the ultimate crisis management assignment? I … More CAN THERE BE A CRISIS MISMANAGEMENT RAPPROCHEMENT IN GAZA?

Politics is our national sport, a grueling gridiron.  Whether you play on FACEBOOK or TRUTH SOCIAL, it’s a perfect metaphor for FOOTBALL. Only instead of grilling meat and fish over an open fire, you grill people and parties who have a different perspective on what making blocks and tackles and scoring goals means for America. … More FANS, WELCOME TO META 4 FOOTBALL

Who advises you on buying and selling securities on the stock exchange?  For me, I can’t help believing who my stockbroker is.  I’m sure it must be Jesus. Every time I make a successful trade, I turn from my laptop toward this picture of Him atop my dresser nearby and I say, “thank you Jesus.”  … More MEET MY STOCKBROKER

I want to register a formal complaint against NPR station WLRN for programming that’s over-the-top absorbing, much too captivating and flagrantly addictive to drivers like me in sunny, sometimes too sunny, South Florida.  But to whom do I complain? The FTC?  The FCC?  The CIA?  Gov. DeSantis? What’s the appropriate federal government agency to contact … More I DON’T CARE WLRN, IF YOU’RE THE #1 NPR STATION, I CAN’T STAY PARKED IN MY CAR LISTENING THIS LONG

Chaplin’s protean quality was often puzzling, wrote an earlier biographer David Robinson in his definitive biography of the comic wonder of the ages. People who knew Charlie Chaplin well described him as modest, vain, prodigal, mean, generous, shy, show-off, ruthless, timid, kind, patient and impatient.  Having lived the most dramatic of all rags to riches … More AMERICA ONCE EXILED HIM, NOW ENDLESSLY WATCHES HIS HILARIOUS HIGHNESS, THE CROWNED KING OF CLOWNS, CHARLIE CHAPLIN

Over the many years I’ve been doing PR, I’ve come across some wild stories, but this one takes the confounding cake.  If even a small percentage is true, I can see headlines bulging. A couple weeks ago, I got a call from Nicholas Fiorillo, a real estate developer preparing a corridor of land in Connecticut … More IS BULGER ALIVE?  WAS IT REALLY HIM FIORILLO SAW AT CANNES? OMG, HAS A ‘DEEP STATE’ BENT ON SILENCING FIORILLO PULLED WHITEY WOOL OVER EVERYONE’S EYES?

Next day after that climactic event, the closing, comes a few nostalgic moments.  Yes, like so many offices today, mine has come home, not to roost, but to continue to thrive. Sure, it was rewarding and gratifying for my public relations firm TransMedia Group to own the egg nest for 25 years where we hatched … More AFTER SELLING THE CHICKEN COOP WHERE HAPPILY HATCHED SO MANY PROFITABLE EGGS COMES A TINGE OF SADNESS

Dear Gov. DeSantis, You’re a gentleman.  We share many of the same values: respect for family, love for our children, faithfulness to our wives and other core values we hold sacred, such as loyalty to those who look to us for leadership.  And we respect The Flag. Neither of us was born wealthy or elite.  … More Gov., you waltz across ballrooms, not borders!

Like most writers, I’m a voracious reader.  I treasure books.  Love to dive into all kinds of writing.  I’m a sponsor of I Love to Write Day on November 15.  Once I devoured the complete works of Irish playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw through tiny prism glasses.  Where?  In a hospital flat on my … More Take a Free Tour Through Madden’s Presidential Library

We live in a world divided by democracy and autocracy.  Its become a colosseum sprawling with mighty adversaries glaring ominously at one another with super swords in their sheaths capable of annihilating their enemy.    President Biden has made “democracy and autocracy” a signature phrase of his administration as the world seems bent on spiraling … More ENTER THE NEW COLOSSEUM WHERE GLADIATORS FOR DEMOCRACY AND AUTOCRACY BATTLE FOR ALLIES

Those who are aloof usually aren’t very warm and friendly fellows.  They’re reserved and emotionally cold and detached persons who keep to themselves, drink espresso and read philosophy. In Middle English, aloof was originally a nautical term; the loof (now spelled luff) is the windward side of a ship. Sly sailors wanting to avoid a hazard on the leeward side would give … More A NEW WORD SOON MAY LAND IN OUR LEXICON JOINING THAT REMOTE, DISTANT, UNFRIENDLY WORD ‘ALOOF.’  WHAT WOULD YOU THINK OF SOMEONE WHO’S ‘AROOF?’

Let’s say after a couple glasses of wine an idea buzzes in Phillup’s sleepy mind inspiring him to opine. The preposterous question swirling among his neurons is what role misogyny plays in artificial insemination.  What?  But how do you spell misogyny?   No worries, Professor Microsoft or another tech tutor rushes in, fixes misspellings, corrects grammar, … More HOW CAN WE SPELL WITH PEN AND PENCIL TODAY WHEN WE’RE SO DEPENDENT ON OUR TECH TUTOR?

If only sea turtles could talk.  They wouldn’t freeze, mumble or stumble, but I’m sure they’d grumble about the heat we humans cause with our carbon emissions and greenhouse gases. While it’s shaping up to be a record-breaking year for sea turtle nests on the  South Florida coast, let’s hope a large percentage of males … More ARE YOU CONCERNED WHAT THIS HEAT’S DOING TO OUR QUIETLY NESTING, MAYBE FESTERING SEA TURTLES?

Take it from me, a reformed SPIN MAN (title of my first book), who graduated to WORDSHINE MAN (my day job at TransMedia Group), but now every morning I arise and play a whole new exhilarating character.   Meet the Cinnamon Man!  It’s a cushy job I have making oats not just sweeter, but tastier, … More WANT A HEALTHIER, MORE COLORFUL MORNING OATMEAL? SPRINKLE CINNAMON AND WATCH EVERY OAT GLOAT!

There will be a funeral Mass celebrated today for my dear departed billionaire friend and esteemed former client of my PR firm, Carl DeSantis, at Ascension Catholic Church in Boca Raton.    May God rest his soul, but that’s going to take some doing as I seldom saw my high-flying entrepreneurial friend, the ever-creative Carl, … More KEEPING AMERICA HEALTHY, HE MADE A FORTUNE; AS HIS PUBLICIST I MADE SURE MEDIA KNEW!

In the spirit of keeping history on track as much as possible, I had to correct something my son Andrew said to me.  No, I wasn’t an altar boy at St. Michael’s.  That church was directly across from the Venice Restaurant on Mississippi Avenue next to Frank Moratti’s poolroom, a classroom I attended where I … More SWEET SUNDAYS AT GRAM’S

History will undoubtedly dub 2023 as the year of indictment excitement! When’s the last time someone got so many criminal indictments in a single year, let alone a former President of the United States?  Future historians may have to explain what happened to the word “united” back in those tumultuous times. Has Donald J. Trump … More IN 2024 WILL A VICTORIOUS TRUMP THANK GRAND JURIES FOR IGNITING, MAYBE KNIGHTING HIM ONCE AGAIN? OR WILL A DEFEATED TRUMP BLAME INDICTMENT INCITEMENT?

Are we to speak low when we speak love or politics?  Will the cupped ear become a trademark, a political symbol, a familiar sight at political rallies? When you’re in PR like me and have been doing crisis management forever, you can’t help thinking how you would handle the ultimate cases you see swirling in … More DO WE NEED CRISIS MANAGEMENT TO HEAR POLITICAL CANDIDATES WITHOUT HAVING TO CUP OUR EARS?

A while ago, a salty new moneymaking opportunity washed ashore in South Florida just at its beaches were becoming nature’s dumping ground for seaweed.  To change the scene, Miami-Dade Innovation Authority (MDIA) offered bundles of green to any entrepreneurs who could come up with clever ways to remove and recycle that insulting seaweed called sargassum. … More WILL ENTREPRENEURS AWAKEN US FROM THOSE SEAWEEDY NIGHTMARES?

For many, yearning to breathe free air is a costly affair.  Especially for the shabby, defeated army of migrants driven to do whatever it takes to flee their lethally distraught homelands tormented by climate change.  All hunger for a better life in an infinitely safer promised land, where there’s work, food and most of all, … More WOULD LADY LIBERTY’S EYES BE TEARING IF SHE WERE ON THE TEXAS BORDER WITH MEXICO?

My miracle happened decades ago. His more recently. Miracle No. 1: As an adventurous young lifeguard in Atlantic City, NJ., after work one day, to cool off, or maybe show off, I rowed my lifeboat out to take a swim.  Thinking I was far enough out in the ocean to take a nice high dive … More DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? FATHER DRISCOLL DOES, AND SO DO I

Among the most important communications in my line of work—public relations– are the pitches we send out not just to media, but to prospective clients.  You’ve no doubt heard of someone with perfect pitch in music?  And, of course, in baseball.  Well, there’s such a thing in PR too—well, sometimes!  Here is certainly a timely … More WOULD YOU KNOW A PERFECT PITCH IF YOU SAW ONE HANGING IN YOUR CLOSET?

Many of us often wonder what it would be like to be like them . . . filthy rich!  But why do we make wealth sound like a dirty word?  Why use adjectives like filthy?  Can’t you be clean and rich?  Good and wealthy?  A charitable, well-meaning fat cat?  A kindly thoughtful investor/philanthropist like Warren … More ARE MANSIONS AWAITING BILLIONAIRES IN HEAVEN? OR WILL THEY FINALLY GET THEIR COMEDOWNANCE?

We hear every day about Ukraine’s counteroffensive against those ruthless Russian invaders who everyday attack Ukrainian civilians, including children, with deadly missiles, shelling, and those killer drones. Now comes a book by Ukrainian refugee Karina Safarova who tells us how without guns and tanks we can launch our own counteroffensives . . .  this time … More WHAT TIMING! AN INSPIRING BOOK FOR INTENSE TIMES

They keep saying at commencements “Follow Your Passion,” but I say it’s not passion, but friction that challenges and teaches you to persevere.   Keep rising from falls and you’ll have a better life.  If friction teaches us the most about ourselves, why not follow your friction?  For aren’t mistakes, difficulties and as Albert Einstein … More Commencement Address by Mr. Spin Man & Ms. Rita Pierotti-Madden

No, there’s nothing I like more than saluting my friends, colleagues and clients who are all descendants of Shakespeare and other great writers doing just what I like to do myself, inspire others with uplifting, inspiring words in articles, blogs and books. Among them are Jack Alan Levine whose Addiction and Recovery Handbook has pulled … More WORDS WORDS WORDS, I’M SO CRAZY IN LOVE WITH WORDS!

Could government officials in Ireland actually be mulling over a plan to kill hundreds of thousands of cows because they’re a problem for climate? Because what they burp is bad for the environment?  Give me a break! Still, those were the stories I read recently online citing reports in The Irish Mirror that Irish Department … More KILLING COWS FOR CLIMATE WOULD BE A COWTASROPHY?

Yo Mad, a shipment of words just arrived.  Get your ass over to loading dock four.  Start putting them words where they belong.  Yes sir, Madden responds wishing they’d call him by his right name.  Not make him sound like a mad man.  So, maddening! Hurry, Mad, more words will be unloading gates six, seven … More WORKIN’ IN A WORD FACTORY

Why is it so chic, so smart to say any octogenarians running for office, or in Joe Biden’s case, for reelection as President, are way too old and should call it a day? As the new publisher of Boomer Times, serving the senior community in Florida, and with my own big toe dipping into that … More WHY SHOULD OCTOGENARIANS BE OUTCASTS IN AMERICAN POLITICS?

Are we not all feeling about now like sailors trapped aboard the SS Brinkmanship going down in a storm off the coast of Acrimony?  What is it about edges and coming close to the brink of disaster that’s so alluring, so tempting to our political leaders?  Why do they love to come as close as … More WHY DO POLITICIANS LOVE ROLLER COASTERS, COMING CLOSE TO THE EDGES OF DANGEROUS CLIFFS AND BELLICOSE BRINKMANSHIP?

The classical literary drone lands quietly, seductively in my inbox bearing this enticing subject line: “We are Robin to your Batman, Watson to your Sherlock.” The beguiling cleverness hooks me. Captures me, for I’m a sucker for classical cleverness.  Once, I wrote how important subject lines were to capturing recipient’s attention, so they’ll be inspired … More AS THE ‘WORDSHINE MAN,’ I’M OFT TOLD: ‘THOU ART A SENTIMENTAL SUCKER FOR A SWEETIE PIE PITCH’

How long am I going to need this pillow guy? Well, the management above has granted me an extended stay at this luxury resort hotel called planet earth for which my wife Rita and I are most grateful. We’re relieved the chest x-ray taken yesterday at the ER at Boca Raton Regional Hospital turned out … More WHEN IT’S ABOUT YOUR HEALTH, GOOD NEWS IS GREAT NEWS!

Preview of article to be published in the new Boomer Times By Tom Madden Yes, for many seniors cyberdefenses may be as necessary as bananas, exercise and vitamin C.  That’s because it’s very possible, perhaps likely, that hackers may have you, Mr. and Ms. Senior, or your business, in their villainous crosshairs. These days we’re … More DO SENIORS NEED CYBERDEFENSES AGAINST THIS CREEP?

This is a picture of my mom, Clementine Madden, whose 11 brothers and sisters nicknamed Lena growing up on North Georgia Avenue in Atlantic City, NJ.  Her picture had been tucked away in a closet atop a chest of drawers in our oceanfront condo apartment in South Florida.  My dad, William J. Madden, was a … More TOGETHER AGAIN, MY MOM AND DAD AND HIS VIOLIN

Why did the Wades feel heat enough to sell their $22 million Miami Beach mansion and leave tax-friendly Florida to live in a state with monstrous taxes?  According to recent revelations, they felt that with Florida’s ever-expanding LGBTQ+ legislation, they would not be accepted.  Why?  Because they have a 15-year-old transgender daughter. So, two new … More ‘TRANSCONTROVERSY’ AND ‘TRANSTROVERSY’ ARE NEW WORDS THAT EXPLAIN WHY FORMER MIAMI HEAT STAR DWYANE WADE FLED FLORIDA

After years of experience doing crisis management, something I’ve learned is that at its heart is common sense!  And Gov. DeSantis, yours may be on vacation at Disney World.  Or figuratively, maybe just out to lunch. I’ve learned what helps companies and organizations survive media storms and disruptions they themselves sometimes create, setting off blistering … More IS A GOVERNOR’S COMMON SENSE ON VACATION AT DISNEY WORLD? OR JUST OUT TO LUNCH?

It was a long day and a lot of driving on a light breakfast, now nearly 3 PM. So, when I left the Stonewall Museum conference, I was eager to get to IL Mulino Cucina Italiana, a short distance north on Sunrise, from the Courtyard by Marriott. With the torrential rain the day before, I … More Wake Up, Pilgrim. You’re a Guy on Gal’s Saddle

For finding that “true meaning of justice in a free and open country” often fun and satire can be effective learning tools that also provide some “comic relief from political outliers.”   Yes, I’ve always felt that humor is a solid punch at that which divides us. It provides that precious comic relief so essential in … More SOMETIMES YOU PUT ON BOXING GLOVES TO FIND THE TRUE MEANING OF JUSTICE!

My daughter, Adrienne Madden Mazzone, keeps telling me about accidents, from minor to serious to fatal, involving electrocution and too often resulting from falling from a ladder. So, she tells me “Dad, please stay off ladders and be careful even on that step stool of yours.  IN THE NEWS….are so many reports of injuries and … More My Daughter Enlightens Me About Safety: ‘Want to Stay Safe, Stay Off Ladders’

Attorney Peter Ticktin’s TicktinTok, will be different from TikTok as his APP will be ridin’ herd on grownups presenting their fun and sometimes not-so-fun rides on the legal system. This APP intends to bring some comic relief to a legal system that sometimes strains too hard for political purposes and excesses of a few overzealous … More LOOK OUT ‘TIKTOK,’ THERE’S A NEW APP SHERIFF COMIN’ TO INTERNET TOWN, ‘TICKTINTOK,’ ONLY AIMED AT GROWNUPS

Disasters are etched in our memories and well they should for if we don’t learn from them, we’re doomed to have them repeat.  Writing with fiery passion about the Norfolk Southern Crash, Elizabeth Nickson pulls no punches when she asks if it was the result of incompetence.  She sees the disastrous train derailment that spread … More WAS IT A PLUME OF INCOMPETENCE THAT SPREAD DEADLY DIOXIN?

The dashing, charismatic inventor of the 1920’s, Thomas Midgley Jr., was both a genius and, as it turns out, also a menace to us all. His brilliance back then has now put us all under a gathering storm resulting from his committing two of history’s biggest blunders. According to a well-written article by Steven Johnson … More Unintended Consequences from Shortsighted Inventiveness Puts Us All on a Dangerous Collision Course with Nature

No, it’s not a Steven Spielberg or another Mel Brooks movie!  Besides the wildfires, floods and hurricanes, which have become our terrifying new normal thanks to the onslaught of climate change, comes a possible new prehistoric threat. It’s a zombie virus recently revived by scientists who’d better know what the heck they are doing. Last … More After Frozen 48,500 years in Permafrost,  Awakening Is Another Dire Consequence of Global Warming, The ‘Zombie’ Virus!

It’s time to adjourn ageism, to get rid of the concept altogether in all professions. The fact is we don’t just age.  We become smarter, more experienced, wiser! Today in advertising, marketing and many businesses, when you reach that foreboding 50 mark, some smiling shadowy figure in finance will invite creatives out to that cliff. … More It’s March Madness, For me ‘Maddeness,’ Time Agencies Temper That Madness in the Workplace Called ‘Ageism’

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL.–If it was a national hate day yesterday for one group, you wouldn’t have seen anything but love last night for another community gathered at the Stonewall National Museum Archives & Library’s 50th Anniversary Gala joyously celebrating “History = Pride” at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. More than 400 members of the … More ‘GAY’ GETS STANDING OVATION LAST NIGHT IN FORT LAUDERDALE

Ahh to live in that sunny DeSantis fairyland on Presidents’ Day 2023 in a state where anything the least bit disturbing, discomforting, upsetting is kept far out of sight or hearing, stuffed away in closets, kicked under rugs, definitely out of classrooms, except for one perennial, persistent agitator ever present in those occasional war zones … More Ahh Life in Florida’s Condo Land Full of Fun, Frolic and Frenzy

Yes, my dauntless daughter Adrienne Mazzone is a highflyer!   First, she’s President of TransMedia Group, the PR firm I founded in New York when I left NBC where my executive position was at a nosebleed level before I parachuted to that reputational skating rink called public relations. While at NBC, I was proud as … More I Taught My Daughter to Take Reasonable Risks, But Wear A Parachute on Her Sky-High Ventures Over Hollywood

Some conduct Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms.Her symphonies crescendo in my arms! Rita’s my lottery, power ball, clarion callShe’s to me what to Bogie was Becall My Brazilian maestro; my conductress of love.  Empress from Campinas, female Toscanini from above. Her playful pizzicatos spread my smiles miles wide.Her rapturous melodies into my heart they glide. She … More ♫ Rita in Concert with Me

Please Christian Right, you must ban my book.  I’m sorry I wrote it as it’s bound to make young people in schools uneasy as it deplores cultural cruelties in America like slavery.  If that’s not bad enough, it extols the bravery of former slaves helping other slaves escape to freedom.   Spare them from knowing … More BETTER BAN THIS BOOK BEFORE TOO MANY READ IT!

The Montreal protocol is a model of cooperation. It is a product of the recognition and international consensus that ozone depletion is a global problem, both in terms of its causes and its effects.                                                                                                                                                                                                PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN Yes, the good news today is that a panel of scientists gathered by the … More Our Friend, The Ozone Layer, is Recovering Thanks to the Power of Bipartisan Support

Pence is sparing in his resentment over a mob incited to lynch him. He instead dwells on stuffy things like loyalty.  Loyalty to the Constitution on which his country was founded.  His oaths to uphold it. His Catholic upbringing, growing up in Hoosier country, dull things like that, not nearly as juicy, humorous, and resentful … More Mike Pence’s book is no flamethrower like Prince Harry’s, the Duke of Sussex’s hardcover, Spare

With President Richard M. Nixon’s 109th birthday on Monday this week, I thought I’d share this story about the time I met up with him in Philadelphia.  He was still in The White House at the time and reporters like me, and The Senate Watergate Committee, were hot on his tail. I trace acquiring my … More Happy Birthday Mr. President and Thank You, For I Got Much of My Resilience from You, Sir

Plastic is everywhere. It’s in our clothes and phones, in our sunscreens and supermarkets. Where it bothers me the most is seeing it strewn over our otherwise pristine beaches, those plastic rakes, shovels and buckets kids mindlessly leave behind.  Then there are all types of plastic fish, miniature boats and airplanes, stars, dinosaurs, castles, and … More ARE WE RECYCLING PLASTICS OR ARE THEY RECYCLING US?

Some of mine come by the spoonful’s. Like the time way back when I was promoting chicken soup, actually an iconic kosher delicatessen in Queens, NY called Ben’s Best Kosher Deli.   Back then it was famously located on Queens Blvd., until the city made bike lanes there and Ben’s lost a big chunk of … More NEW YEARS ARE TIMES WE LOOK AHEAD, RESOLVE TO EAT LESS CALORICALLY, YET OFTEN THEY’RE NOSTALGIC, EVOKING MEMORIES

Harry and Meghan seemed nowhere even near to being villainous in their six-part docuseries on Netflix. Yet, while most see Meghan as a charming and innocent victim, others see a more self-centered, manipulative side to her. And some like the law firm representing Meghan’s half-sister Samantha see a vastly different, more devious Duchess of Sussex. … More Yes, Harry and Meghan boldly aired their grievances, Yet there are other takeaways from that dramatic docuseries

There are always first times and the more inventive we are, the more of them we’ll have. Take Dr. Zvi, a brilliant retired orthopedic surgeon, today a daring doctor who just traded his home for an RV to take his wellness wisdom on the road. He is living with his dog in an RV parked … More FEET HURT?  SEE DR. ZVI, THE RV MD

No, I’m not a scientist, just a theoretician, highly unlicensed.  My laboratory is my bedroom.  My medicine my bed. My patients: myself and my wife Rita who must exercise a bit of patience with me sometimes. Shortly before World Mental Health Day on 10/10 this year, I developed a hypothesis based on personal research that … More Can Making Your Bed Keep You Mentally Fit?

Remember “brain drain?”  Smart people fleeing dumb places for more rewarding lives. Today a bigger problem is brain train or retaining our brains to think differently about something that has us all in its deadly grips—climate change. The problem is retraining brains stuck in the immediate, says Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime, a pediatric neurosurgeon at the … More BEFORE WE CAN GET CONTROL OVER CLIMATE CHANGE WE HAVE TO FIRST UPGRADE OUR ANTIQUATED BRAINS

When you’re trying to make sense of things, seeking to describe, decipher, and define . . .  looking to fill an eclectic pot with facts, yet wondering from where they’ll come, and from whom will come the names they bear . . .  there’s always that resourceful guide to lead you through thickets of unknowns, … More Out of the Weeds of Ignorance Comes Cool Cardigan Knowledge on Wikipedia

Whether you’re traveling across country or to some far-off destination, don’t make it turn into a vacation from hell . . . for your feet.  Make sure your feet are fit for travel or you’ll feel them whining and complaining wherever you go. One of the most important parts of your body you’ll need to … More BEFORE TAKING YOUR FEET ON VACATION MAKE SURE THEY’RE UP FOR THE JOURNEY

Here are some media pitching examples from my latest book WORDSHINE MAN. Some are calling them exemplary among many in my highly available new book, jumping up and down and pounding its front cover chest on Amazon.   They include these three pitches I made on behalf of a guy already serving 20 years in … More BASEBALL PITCHERS HATE HOMERUNS WHILE IN PR PITCHERS LOVE WHEN THEY HIT JAW-DROPPING HOMERUN HEADLINES

Was the sudden demise of The News with Shepard Smith on CNBC a symptom of cancel culture creeping over from social media into network television?   Or was cancelling the program so swiftly simply a case of realizing it was inappropriate content for an audience interested mainly in just financial news? Perhaps Shep was just … More BREAKING MUSE FROM FLORENCE

Hey you, Mr. Hammerhead, maybe you’re allegiant to the wrong flag, one with a hammer on it.   Hitting speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in the head with a hammer was more Kim Jong-un, more Putinesque than American, more hammer and sickle than red, white and blue. Our Flag, the Flag of the United States of … More DISUNITED WE HAMMER

Hey Chief Twit:  let this think sink in.  That bird Twitter of yours should be able to fly in all directions, left, right, progressive, etc., for somewhere in the middle of the many different points of view in a democracy such as ours lies truth.  So as long as there’s not a clear and concerted effort … More LET THIS THINK IN

“I Love to Write Day,” founded by Delaware freelance writer and author John Riddle, is a grassroots campaign that has spread globally, inspiring people of all ages and walks of life to spend time writing every November 15. My latest book WORDSHINE MAN about how to make writing inviting will be among books awarded as … More ‘WORDSHINE MAN’ TO BE AMONG BOOKS RECOGNIZED AND AWARDED AS PRIZES DURING 20TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF ‘I LOVE TO WRITE DAY’ ON NOV. 15

It reads like a steamy novel, “The Return of Rosenberg.”  It tells a compelling story about the state of affairs at a major university where incidents may have taken higher education to a lower floor, maybe ground level. Mark resigned as president of Florida International University in Miami amid allegations of misconduct with a woman … More Sure, We All Err, but Some Wonder if a University President’s Mistakes Could Drag Higher Education Down to Ground Level?

It’s too darn hot. Those lyrics music genie Cole Porter wrote for the 1948 musical Kiss Me Kate.  They’re sadly truer today than they were back then, thanks to a fossil-fueled phenomenon called climate change. Yet, despite living up in the perspiring Big Apple, my playful son Andrew still maintains a fluid sense of humor.  … More Wasting Water is Not Funny!  Or is It?

P:  What’s wrong with you?  Why are you perspiring? CM:  Nothing’s wrong.  Just warm, thank you. P:  Warm?  Nonsense!  Are you crazy, it’s cool as hell!  There’s a/c cranking everywhere. We’re Russia, we’ve got energy to burn.  You see a bead of sweat on me?  I’m burning mad yet cool as a cucumber. So, what’s … More SCENE: PUTIN’S PERSPIRING CRISIS MANAGER COMES TO MEET HIS HIGHNESS ON VACATION TO DISCUSS HOW TO PASIFY MOMS MAD ABOUT HIS MOBILIZING THEIR SONS

Not everyone can say a volcano did them a favor, but I’m remembering a big one, a giant one, Mt. Etna did for me forty years ago, still vivid in my mind as if it were yesterday.  It erupted in my memory as my PR firm TransMedia Group just formed a partnership with Nunzio Panzarella … More Amico Mio Mt. Etna

“Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” This is a bit awkward for me as I’m a fairly conservative guy who usually votes  Republican, depending on whether the candidate is worthy. … More Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sends plane loads of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard.  From a crisis mgt. standpoint, how effective was this political stunt?

My tech-minded wife wants me to buy a car with the latest technology that automatically puts on the brakes if someone suddenly steps out in front.  And if I’m not up to steering, it will steer by itself. After all, I’m not getting any younger she seems to be intimating like a car horn constantly … More SOMETIMES I FEEL I’M IN A RACE WITH TECHNOLOGY AND LOSING!

America’s Most Famous Throne of ContentionByTHOMAS J. Madden FADE IN: INT RITZY PALM BEACH RESTAURANT — LUNCH TIME George Belweather, chairman of the Palm Beach Historical Society, at table with attorney Frank Cravat whose law firm represents billionaire Donald J. Trump, circa 1980s. GEORGE Thanks again for having lunch with me. There’s something important we … More Act 1 Mar-a-Lago Empire

Seeing Trump’s residence Mar-a-Lago on television day after day on local and national television news, I couldn’t help asking myself this Trumpish question: Why isn’t there a TV docuseries about former President Donald J. Trump’s sprawling residence in Palm Beach, Florida when it’s so incredibly newsworthy? It reminds me of another blockbuster TV series set … More WHY ISN’T THERE A TV DOCUSERIES ABOUT THE MOST FAMOUS RESIDENCE IN THE WORLD, MAR-A-LAGO?

Love is not all thought.  And not just words, either, but actions! As Eliza sings in My Fair Lady: “Tell me no dreams, filled with desire. If you’re on fire, show me!” No, it’s not a “language” either as pastor Gary Chapman proclaimed 30 years ago in his popular book, “The 5 Love Languages.”   … More TO KEEP LOVE FIT REQUIRES DAILY KISSING WORKOUTS

I was just diagnosed with supination by a foot doctor who took my sneakers away from me that he said were causing it. He said they needed emergency treatment, or what he described as a medical version of wheel alignment.  What? The malalignment stems from my putting too much pressure or weight on the small-toe … More DO YOUR SNEAKERS NEED THIS?

What I call Hi Society is what you normally do when someone’s approaching you while you’re walking along the avenue, boardwalk or beach.  In Hi Society, the common practice is to say “hi” with or without a short wave and maybe a slight smile depending on your mood and how friendly you are with the … More Do You Belong in Hi Society? 

Here’s my dad in Texas in the 1940s where he, my mom and me lived at the Buccaneer Hotel in Galveston way before Glen Campbell sang that immortal song. Dad was wowing them nightly playing his violin at Sam Maceo’s ritzy private club, where there was gambling, lots of booze and my dad’s beautiful gypsy … More Galveston

Having breakfast one steamy hot summer morning outside, I couldn’t help looking up from my oats to the source of my discomfort. The blistering sun was pouring down such intense, almost wrathful heat so early.  “Stop overdoing it,” I impulsively scolded the sun. Then I quickly realized it was partly the fault of We the … More Who’s at Fault?

A DRESSING DOWN FOR PUTIN. In the first days of the war, when Kyiv was besieged from all sides, many Americans in the arts wanted to know what they could do.   Museums and orchestras made their requisite statements of revulsion and allegiance. The Ukrainian national anthem was sung at the Metropolitan Opera; a Ukrainian … More A PR CAMPAIGN AGAINST RUSSIA’S ATROCITIES IN UKRAINE: RUSSIAN AGGRESSION DRESSING TO BE RENAMED ‘UKRAINIAN DRESSING’

Enough of this aging like there’s no tomorrow.  We have to start taking Dr. Z’s advice, his empowering supplements like Immune X 2.  Follow his fitness example. Live actively as he does in Idaho.  Stay more youthful longer! Far too many of us are heading in the wrong direction, hurting ourselves, spiraling into discomfort and … More Time to put caps on a sometimes-clumsy process called aging. Hit pause buttons, gain control.  And Dr. Z knows how!

Of all my book signings, the ones for my first book, “SPIN MAN,” published in 1997, were the most fun and learning experiences I’m happy to share with new authors.  This memoir chronicles my adventures and misadventures in public relations after I left NBC. I remember as if it was yesterday my signing a copy … More The Spin Man’s Adventures in Book Signings Starts With Maiden Flight at Trump Taj Mahal

With thousands of giant discount department stores serving millions of shoppers daily throughout our country, sometimes ugly situations can occur when occasionally customers try to return defective merchandise. Some shoppers like to wave at cameras that they’re coming in to exchange or return something, which sometimes badly backfires and can turn into an embarrassing situation … More EMBARRASSING THINGS CAN HAPPEN IN BIG BUSTLING DISCOUNT STORES

From the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building came Moe breathless. Probably winded because he was carrying two weighty tablets each with five bullet points he wants sent out on the newswire . . .  redemptively spreading good news about something called salvation. “But Moe, you’re not even a client,” I had to point … More Biblical Blog About a . . . PR Client Who Cometh From on High

That’s right, all the activities I’ll be enjoying mentally over this jam-packed weekend with my feet up on my easy chair or maybe stretched out on a chaise lounge chair on our sun-drenched balcony overlooking hopefully a tranquil ocean or see me sleepwalking on the beach.  On my imaginary program will be the rip-roaring Houston … More I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I’VE GOT AN ACTION-PACKED JULY 4TH WEEKEND PLANNED IN THE BEST OF ALL PLACES–MY MIND!

Who really won? Citing irregularities in certain swing states, many still questioned who really won the Presidency.  Sound familiar?  Only this was the 1960 general election.  Was the winner really John F. Kennedy?  Or would Richard Nixon pull it out?  Irregularities had surfaced in Illinois and Texas. Nixon had lost by fewer than 120,000 popular … More CLOSE CALLS WITH PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES

A shortage of chemical fertilizer, worsened by the war in Ukraine, is making growers desperate.  Some are finding something that has the very nutrients crops need, but has a repulsive name. So, let’s reduce the ick or yuck factors by calling it “treasurine.” We’ll refer to it as Buried Treasurine in our growing fields instead … More Peecycling? It’s a No. 1 Idea to Help Farmers Fertilize. No Sh-t!

Reading one of my favorite newspapers, The Boston Globe, I came across a story that debunked what many still believe is botanical sexism.  The Globe is one of the half dozen papers to which I subscribe, plus the mags and digital pubs, endless NBC-TV where I used to work, then CNN and FOX TV.  Yes, … More A CLOSER LOOK AT BOTANICAL SEXISM

Here’s my poetic take on a modern-day Sir Lancelot successfully kicking Queen Guinevere out of the castle and into the poor house after the pair fought like two uppity alley cats over millions of morsels.     He stars in a farcical film flippantly called life, A chivalrous hero battling a bed pooper wife.  If he … More Most Depp-th Charged Trial Anyone’s Ever Heard Of

On this Memorial Day we mourn not only our brave military, but those innocent children whose lives were taken out by an assault weapon in the hands of a sick and senseless young man inside what has become one of our country’s most vulnerable spots, our classrooms. So, besides our fallen heroes, let us today … More This Memorial Day Let’s Us Pledge To Protect Kids in Schools From Sickos Like Him

Yes, I urge my fellow countrymen to join the 963 government officials and Americans whom the Russian Foreign Ministry has banned from entering Russia.  While this self-imposed ban I’m proposing is symbolic, my hope is that it will send a clear message that we Americans are against autocrats invading other countries and is in reaction … More I’m Proudly Joining the List of Americans Banned From Russia and I Hope You Will Join with Me!

Is this self-imposed monotony we’ve become so unaccustomed to at home about to return to more blissful boredom in our former boardrooms, offices or cubicles?  Oh, how this persistently perilous pandemic has slammed and dunked us, scrambled our brains, baked our spirits until we’re well done, overcooked, and overlooked.   So, are we about to … More WHO WANTS A HOME-BOUND MONOPOLY ON MONOTONY? LET’S GET BACK TO BLISSFUL BOREDOM IN THE BOARDROOM!

When I first laid eyes on Rita de Cassia Pierotti it was far from Philly and a lot warmer. Sitting there so voluptuously across from me one glorious afternoon in magical Deerfield Beach, she instantly turned my neighborhood Duffy’s bar into a swanky Parisian nightclub. I don’t know if she was wearing silk stockings that … More I LOVE ALL OF YOU

There’s a place on our websites, often under the heading “team” or some other title where we present or march in our backgrounds, resumes, experience, hopefully in an impressive way that tells why we’re worth the fees we charge.  So, do we just list or give a litany of our past positions, titles worn, achievements … More WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES ON OUR WEBSITES?

As a subscriber to CISION ProfNet, my PR firm TransMedia Group, often receives queries from reporters and writers seeking information for stories they’re working on.  Recently we heard from a writer doing research on armpits. She was seeking dermatologists who could answer such questions as: What should armpits typically smell like? What would foul smelling … More HOW CONSCIOUS ARE YOU HOW YOU SMELL?

Ted Turner, the colorful founder of CNN, and myself, the colorful PR guy and author, will soon be in the digital dark. Ted and I were among the earliest subscribers to CNN+, but suddenly now the digital doors to the new streaming service are being shut in our faces.  How dare they.  Now we want … More NOW STAY TUNED FOR . . . SORRY WE’RE CLOSING!

Beginning to wind its way around Hollywood production circles is a TV Series called Xtra Terresla™ whose main character is modelled after Tesla titan, Elon Musk.   The creator of the series, Tom Madden, made Musk the hero, but lately, he’s wondering maybe he should change him to an arch villain, based on how rough … More While Musk Seems Hell Bent on Giving Billionaires a Bad Name, Should Main Character in TV Series Modeled on Him Be Hero or Villain?

What are your plans 🤷‍♀️? my daughter asks me in one of her succinct early morning emails.  Sleepily I respond: Easter?  Plans?  What are those?  Are they like maps?  Do plans come with directions?  Do you plan for a moment of promise, renewal in that time of Easter standing, sitting, or lying down?  Are there … More Subject Easter

Yes, our world sure has become more digital. We do everything online these days. We work online, play online, watch online, talk online, exercise online and learn online more than ever before. Is that trend is going to stop? Hardly, as the NFT genie’s out of the bottle. With advancements in 5G, virtual reality and … More As Our world Becomes More Digital, NFTs Are 0ur Digital Property Rights

BOCA RATON, FL. –Author, blogger Tom Madden makes a living polishing words at his PR firm TransMedia Group where he mostly rewrites articles, news releases, media pitches and even books, like his latest Wordshine Man about how to make words sparkle.  https://www.amazon.com/Wordshine-Man-Polishing-Words-Sparkle/dp/1637550537/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34WB3EBP2RGGZ&keywords=9781637550533&qid=1649440661&sprefix=9781637550533%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-1 “Dad, can you polish this release one of our interns wrote?” texts his … More IF YOUR WORDS DON’T SHINE, BUT LAY SUPINE, THEN CONSULT THE ‘WORDSHINE MAN,’ TOM MADDEN’S NEW BOOK OF TIPS TO INVIGORATE WRITING, MAKING IT INVITING!

Was Will Smith’s resigning from the Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences same his saying, ‘You can’t fire me, I quit?’ Or like a kid stomping off the playing field after a fly ball smacks him in the face?  The actor said he had “betrayed” the Academy’s trust with “shocking, painful, and inexcusable” … More YOU CAN’T FIRE ME, COACH. I QUIT!

Want to be famous?  Get standing ovations wherever you go?  Have everyone wishing you’d come to their home for dinner, be at their next party, come to their wedding? To become a legend overnight, not in your mind, but in your time, all you need is to be on the receiving end of a Smith … More MORE THAN AN OSCAR, WHAT I WOULDN’T GIVE FOR A WILL SMITH SLAP!

It was a joke, maybe a bad one. Maybe it was intentional, maybe not, but to some it was off-color, apparently aimed at an Oscar-winning actor’s wife who has an illness sadly destroying her hair Yet the wife of Will Smith, still looked ravishing and beautiful at the 94th Academy Awards with her short-cropped hairdo … More THAT PUTINESQUE MOMENT DURING THE ACADEMY AWARDS

Another gruesome day watching Putin massacring children. Then comes a passionate writer’s blog in The Times of Israel about how Zelensky misspoke.  Tumultuous day ends ironically with heavy-hearted Tevye pulling his horseless cart on TCM while Fiddler serenades yet another pogrom.  Norman Jewison’s Academy Award-winning musical soup puts Ukraine in a new dark light. Writer … More Did a Misspoken Holocaust Comparison Make Fiddler Fall From a Smoldering Rooftop, Crushing His Violin? Moral: Never Offend Whom You’re Beseeching to Rescue You!

A splash of mischief, a few pinches of salt, some soupcons of absurdity and you have a recipe for capturing attention, a mystical mixture that will poke us out of our platitudinous plodding along the straight and narrow. The ad agency Mischief @No Fixed Address has skyrocketed to the top of the wildly hip, heraldic … More I KNEW MISCHIEF WOULD GET ATTENTION WHEN I NAMED MY BLOG ‘MADDEN MISCHIEF.’ NOW THE MAVERICK ‘MISCHIEF’ AGENCY HAS BECOME FAMOUS IN ADVERTISING!

PUTIN: Mr. Madden, despite objections from my staff, and the coterie of oligarchs at my side, I’ve decided to at least listen for a few minutes to what a crisis manager would say from the country that’s so stubbornly blind as to what’s really going on in Ukraine—the United States.  So go ahead, enlighten me, … More I AM REVEALING A CRISIS MANAGEMENT MEETING I HAD WITH VLADIMIR PUTIN. OKAY, IT WAS A DREAM, BUT IT WAS REAL AS HELL AND REVELATORY!

Abella, the World’s First Tooth Fairy are cheerful, heart-warming tales told in a series of award-winning children’s books by author Zane Carson Carruth and today a shipment of them is flying off to children in Ukraine. “I want more than anything in this world for my books to give children there a happy lift from all the … More ‘ABELLA, THE WORLD’S FIRST TOOTH FAIRY’ IS COMING TO UKRAINE IN COLORFUL BOOKS TO CHEER UP CHILDREN UNDER ATTACK BY RUSSIAN BOMBINGS

Rita and I spent a rodeo romantic weekend in Houston.  It was so delicious, and I don’t mean just the food, but all the exuberance, Texas hospitality and the phantasmagoria of action, competition and entertainment we enjoyed immensely at the truly awesome Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™! It was a heady combination of out-of-this-world scrumptious, … More IN TEXAS EVERYTHING’S BIG, BUT THE ‘HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW AND RODEO’ WITH SO MUCH TO BEHOLD, CHEER AND ENJOY IS FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF RODEO FANS NO LESS THAN . . . A GIGANTIC PARTY!

I had this idea during a radio interview on Rhett Palmer’s popular podcast from Vero Beach, Florida, to do a video of Ukrainian kids asking Putin to please stop hurting them and their families.   So far 14 Ukrainian children have been killed! I wanted to record a child shivering in an underground shelter in Ukraine … More Does Pugnacious Putin Have a Soft Spot in His Heart for Children and Pets Under Russian Bombardment in Ukraine?

Tim is a real-life baseball player trying to stay alive long as possible.  To keep in the game, Tim says he keeps rolling up his sleeves and taking whatever shots are required for continuing on this often-thorny path we call “living.”  Tim has learned over the years that just as helmets and face masks, chest … More ‘WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?’ ASKS BILL. TIM SAYS HE’S LIKE A BASEBALL CATCHER WEARING A HELMET AND FACE MASK, ONLY HIS PROTECTORS ARE VACCINES

So, is emperor Vladimir now proposing to drop nuclear bombs on those few dauntless Ukrainians daring to kneel in front of Russian tanks advancing into their beleaguered country? Then why has the emperor given such a preposterous order during a televised meeting with his ministers to place Russia’s nuclear forces on alert? Not only are … More BY PLACING HIS NUCLEAR FORCES ON ALERT, IN WORLD’S EYES PREMIERE PUTIN LOOKS MORE AND MORE PREPOSTEROUS!  

A young man fresh out of college is hired by a firm where he was an intern and given the title Director of Public Relations. Fred was flabbergasted by the title.  Maybe humbled would be a more accurate description. He emails his department head saying: “I would have liked to have had a title more … More Think of Job Titles as Mere Steppingstones

That’s right, I’m going to stick my neck out as a prognosticator, and despite President Biden’s firm belief he will, I will predict Putin will not invade Ukraine. Will Putin add military to Ukraine enclaves he already controls?  Yes.  Will there be shelling?  Yes.  Will Putin’s apply pressure and scare tactics that will come right … More DOUBLING DOWN ON ENCLAVES HE ALREADY CONTROLS, EMPEROR PUTIN WANTS TO IMPRESS THE WORLD HOW POWERFUL HE IS, BUT HE WON’T FULLY INVADE UKRAINE!

Nebraska schools receiving pushback on Holocaust teachings – KLKN-TV . . .   Why is Indonesia’s first-ever Holocaust Museum sparking backlash? . . .  Holocaust stories from Florida added to global Shoah Foundation archives | Miami Herald . . . ‘TikTok improved its awareness of cheapening the Holocaust’ – U.S. News – Haaretz.com . . … More WEEKS AFTER ‘HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY,’ THE HOLOCAUST IS STILL VERY MUCH IN THE NEWS! AND WHY NOT?

Along Florida’s shores are many tall buildings called condos.  Once in a while they collapse due to neglect or incompetence with sorrowfully fatal consequences.  This happens when condo residents elect those to serve on their boards of directors based mostly on how friendly, cheerful and to use their favorite word, how “transparent” they are, but … More Here’s a Sample of Political Insanity in CondoLand in the Heart of Florida’s Rust Belt by the Sea

I suggest you take THE MADDEN MOVIE MEMORY TEST while watching classic films on TCM to check if your mind’s still firing on all cinema cylinders! Do you like old movies?  If you do, you can learn a lot . . . about yourself and how close or far off in the distance is Alzheimer’s! … More WOULD YOU KNOW WHO IS BRODERICK CRAWFORD IN THE OLD MOVIE YOU’RE WATCHING? OR ANTHONY PERKINS OR JOAN FONTAINE? OR IS YOUR MOVIE MEMORY SLIPPING?

Dear World Leaders, President Joe Biden and leaders of the free world, I strongly recommend that you de-escalate rising tensions from this potential Russia-Ukraine conflict by preventing Ukraine from joining NATO for five years to allow things to cool off. It’s obvious after surrounding Ukraine with his forces poised to invade his neighbor, Russian President … More MR. PRESIDENT, PLEASE DE-ESCALATE TENSIONS BY PUTTING OFF UKRAINE ENTERING NATO FOR FIVE YEARS, PROVIDING PUTIN WITH A FACE-SAVING OPTION TO RETREAT!

First, let’s review what that foregone, antiquated greeting was like back in the late 21st Century as by now many have forgotten what a hug is, thank goodness or c’est la vie, sweetheart.   In olden times back in a place called earth, a hug was a term that described a practice when two earthlings would … More HUGGERS ARE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES THANKS TO COVID

The Rust Belt used to be a region of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States experiencing industrial decline starting around 1980 with the transfer of manufacturing jobs overseas, increased automation, and the decline of the US steel and coal industries. Today it’s a different type of rust belt occurring in communities along Florida’s beautiful and captivating oceanfront. Many believe it’s resulting from … More IS FLORIDA THE NEW RUST BELT IN THE UNITED STATES REPLACING CLEVELAND, DETROIT, TOLEDO, ETC.?

Three-time Industry Showcase Winner Dequan Starnes, aka Q-Starnes, will sing and record new Planetary Lifeguards theme song “Help Momma Survive” to benefit The Global Warming Foundation.  And buy one of Planetary Lifeguard t-shirts manufactured by Tim Beasley, founder, and CEO of Gent Row LLC from which part of proceeds will go to the Foundation. Planetary … More DON’T MISS RECORDING ARTIST DEQUAN STARNES SINGING PLANETARY LIFEGUARDS’ THEME SONG ‘HELP MOMMA SURVIVE’

With no cameras, microphones, or bosses around, professionals sometimes disclose startling truths, like the other day up on my breezy oceanfront condo balcony undergoing yet another restoration. I had invited the well-respected construction engineer to check out my balcony currently undergoing that periodic noisy, messy process and asked if she knows a company called Basanite … More BALCONY RESTORATIONS LIKE THIS WOULD BE HISTORY IF CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES WOULD ONLY USE A REBAR THAT WON’T RUST

I’ve never seen so much food on the market today boasting or pretending to be something that it’s not. Take yogurt.   They’re what’s called “alternatives” that look like yogurt.  Taste like yogurt, but they’re not yogurt.  One is “So Delicious” (that’s its name) but it’s dairy free coconut milk and you can get it with … More IS WHAT YOU’RE EATING WHAT YOU THINK IT IS?

Wanting to write critically about Supreme Court jurists taking political nose dives into proceedings, I was tempted to be facetiously irreverent.  Then I thought that would not be too cool on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  This venerable day might not be the right occasion to criticize the Supreme Court after all the good the … More WHAT WOULD DR. KING SAY ABOUT TODAY’S SUPREME COURT? WOULD HE SEE IT LEADING TO STOP COVID-19’S DISPROPORTUNATE IMPACT ON BLACK AMERICANS?

Not too long ago here was a story in that paper in the city that never sleeps, The New York Times, about Ron Perelman that struck several chords, or maybe a few high notes in my own life, yet not anywhere on quite as grand or towering a level, but still up there. Like once … More Although Not Nearly on as Lofty a Level, Ron Perelman’s Story Kind of Intersects with Mine

My nose was still bleeding from my meteoric ascent up the executive ladder at NBC when my boss, the late TV wunderkind Fred Silverman, told me something I’m reminded of practically every night watching television. Advertising messages laced with sardonic wit and a splash of humor penetrate deeper and last longer in consumers’ minds then … More NOT AGAIN!

Once one in the riveted crowd following Jesus couldn’t help asking him which commandment was the greatest. Decades later he was reported to have replied: To revere God is the first commandment; the second is to love one’s neighbor as yourself, which today we call the golden rule.  “There’s no commandment greater than these.” (Mark … More WILL HOW WE TREAT OTHERS BE NOT OUR OWN FATE?

A few days ago, Pope Francis celebrated yet another milestone in his norm-shattering life.  Despite his pandemic-defying jaunts to far-off countries like Iraq and Slovakia, his recent intestinal surgery and the weight of history on his stooping shoulders, he made it to a ripe old age only one other pope, his predecessor, had reached before … More Still Running Like a Spring Chicken Toward Needed Reforms, Pope Francis Hardly Notices He’s . . . How Old?

As a PR and marketing aficionado, I have to salute Kraft Heinz for not letting a cream cheese crisis go to waste.  I applaud Kraft Heinz for its “Spread the Feeling” campaign as a response to the nationwide schmear shortage caused by a home baking and breakfast boom, then exacerbated by a cyberattack. Together they … More SEEMS I’M NOT THE ONLY CONSUMER WHO CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE SCHMEARED BY AVAILABILITY ISSUES

Instead of extrapolating, I wish to exCAPulate from the Juvenalian satiric, purposeful parody social movement, Birds Aren’t Real, and aim its fundamentals at the tons of plastic bottles and caps embarrassingly accumulating on our defiled beaches. In case you don’t know it, Birds Aren’t Real as reported in The New York Times is a lunatic … More WARNING! JUST LIKE WHAT WE ONCE BELIEVED WERE BIRDS, DISCARDED PLASTIC BOTTLES AND CAPS AREN’T REAL EITHER!

We Americans treasure our history.  Call it a solemn parade of profound moments etched forevermore in our collective memory. Certainly, one of them is President George Bush standing on the still smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center reduced to rubble in that brazen attack on our county on 9/11, another day etched in our … More One of the Most Poignant Moments in History Is Bob Dole Saluting George H.W. Bush as he Laid in State in Washington

That’s right!  What does come first, job or family?  I’m not a big fan of the former touchy-feely governor of New York, nor am I one of his brother Chris’s biggest TV fans on CNN.  Still, I can understand what loyalty to a family member is all about.  And I not only approve, but bless … More ARE NOT JOURNALISTS ENTITLED TO FAMILY LOYALTY? SO, WHAT COMES FIRST? JOB OR FAMILY?

I’m sure Mark Zuckerberg knows something I don’t, but the word ‘platform’ reminds me of the messy balcony restoration being noisily done at my condo. Every day I see weary hard-hat-wearing workers standing on dirty wooden platforms dangling in the wind, held up by ropes along the side of my hi rise, The Chalfonte, in … More ANY ROOM FOR PR ON MARK’S ‘PLATFORM?’

I respect humor.  Dabble in it myself.  Often incorporate it into my blogs, articles and news releases. Swim backstrokes and freestyle in it as I love to entertain. Who doesn’t enjoy making people chuckle, especially when you hit the grand slam, that jackpot with the initials LOL.   Who doesn’t like to chortle?  We all do! … More DOES ONE OF MY FAVORITE COLUMNISTS NEED CHRISTMAS CRISIS MANAGEMENT?

I’m often asked by inquisitive CEO’s and their doubting Thomas CFO’s how fast our PR firm can make them well known and hugely successful. First thing I tell them is there are no guarantees.  We don’t control what media will do or how long it might take to impress them enough to act.  We plant … More WHICH ROAD TO TAKE TO THE MAGIC KINGDOM WHERE MEDIA EXPOSURE BRINGS FAME AND FORTUNE?

It’s always refreshing to hear Gov. Mike Huckabee speak.  Last time was at a benefit Rita and I attended in Aventura, Florida for Meir Medical Center in Israel.  As usual his energy filled the room early in the pandemic before facemasks would become so startlingly fashionable.   Huckabee credits sleeping pills he’s taking called Relaxium®, which … More Meir Medical Center Event Speakers Gov. Mike Huckabee and Judge Jeanine Pirro Greet Author/Attorney Peter Ticktin and his wife Debra

Each fall comes this blizzard of TV commercials for the so-called Medicare Advantage plans featuring 60’s football star Joe Namath urging seniors to call the Medicare Coverage Helpline . . .  “FOR FREE!” Are they a shameful piece of TV marketing aimed at a most vulnerable and hard-pressed segment of our population—seniors?  Or are the … More IS JOE NAMATH FUMBLING AROUND IN THE DARK THROWING PASSES FOR A COMPANY THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GOVERNMENT, YET ITS FIRST NAME IS ‘MEDICARE?’

If not, then why were three University of Florida professors swiftly silenced after daring to offer to assist plaintiffs in a lawsuit to overturn a law restricting voting rights? Is criticizing your state now in the same bracket as don’t bite the monarch’s hand that feeds you?   Don’t shout fire on a crowded campus?   Yes, … More HAS FREEDOM OF SPEECH BECOME PASSE AT A STATE UNIVERSITY IN FLORIDA PERHAPS NOW BOWING TO AN EMPEROR CALLED GOVERNOR?

I fell in love with words while confined to a hospital bed for eight eternally long weeks after I foolishly broke my neck one summer day lifeguarding in Atlantic City, NJ–everyone but myself!   It was a silly, almost slapstick diving accident while I was a young lifeguard in the popular resort where my dad … More From Here Cometh My Love for Words

I don’t know Sen. Joe Manchin, but he strikes me as a stand-up senator who is just looking out for a major constituency in his state of West Virginia, the coal miners and their families who probably voted for him.  Makes sense, I guess. But is Sen. Manchin not seeing the havoc and suffering climate … More The senator fueling opposition to Biden’s climate plan favors warming America with coal. Is coal also warming his wallet?

Often when I meet people, I’m asked if I’m related to Steve Madden, the shoe guy, or the football guru and game creator John Madden.  No, but I did meet big John once at the then Bing Crosby Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach, CA .  At the time I was representing Bing’s wife, Kathryn Crosby, … More FROM MADDEN MISCHIEF TO MADDEN MUSINGS

They’re little white message boards I find inhabiting my wallet like sleeping cave dwellers fearful of coming out into a barren wasteland ruled by facemasks and  social distancers. Today if you gave someone your business card, they’d be looking for a Kleenex tissue before they touch it. I was just thinking I not only haven’t … More CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THESE ARE FOR?

Talk about being “subtle,” how’d you like to be that sissy letter “b” in belittling words like “subtle?” Can you imagine what it’s like being the lonely, silent “B” in “B-quiet” words like “doubt,” or “debt” or “debtor?” It’s about as sissy-subtle as a letter can get. No, I’d want to be a bold “b” … More HEY, DON’T BELITTLE B

A zest for drama, potboilers and brinksmanship appear innate in politicians, something they have deep down inside them that wants to come out and play!   Our political leaders don’t want to just win, they want to vanquish, score a triumph, a knockout, pull off a last-minute historic victory, like Tom Brady behind in the points, … More IS THERE ENOUGH BRADY IN BIDEN TO WIN THE inSUPERable BOWL* WILL MCCONNELL INTERCEPT THE PASS IN THE END ZONE AND SCORE A GOP TD?

This pandemic has made many of us overweight, or to put it more geographically, we’re a fatter Nation.  Here’s my broccoli-filled strategy to rescue Americans who are looking more and more rotunda working virtually or just existing at home not far from those fattening refrigerators? Forced to stay home so much hiding from COVID, many … More A SURE-FIRE WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT IS TO ‘MAKE FOOD BORING!’

“Dursturbed” was TransMedia’s contribution to the cover of now one of the hottest books in the country – Sex and the Serial Killer: My Bizarre Times with Robert Durst For media inquiries, interview requests, speaking engagements, contact TransMedia Group 561-750-9800 or email direct at pr@transmediagroup.com.  Besides an inveterate blogger, Tom Madden is an author of countless published … More National Enquirer Reports Convicted Murderer Robert Durst Once Tried to Hire as Hit Man TransMedia Group Author Client William Steel  

I’ll make this a short and sweet drive to shout out my car window “Thank you, Miami Dade” for making Dixie Highway history, at least in your part of Florida.  Finally, the roadway there was officially renamed Harriet Tubman Highway. While I would have preferred the more alliterative “Harriet Highway” as I suggested in a … More Hooray! Another victory against racism!

Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will be retiring this month after 16 years as one of the world’s most respected leaders and probably the busiest.  Even when in power, she still does her own grocery shopping.  Now with her conservative Christian Democratic Unition party losing to the left-leaning Social Democrats in the parliamentary election, she’ll … More Angela Merkel Shopping Before Checking Out as Chancellor

Going to hospitals today is like you’re an astronaut landing on the moon. “Sir, it’s going to be several more hours before the doctor can see you,” the weary nurse said. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic,” she added. “Never-mind,” I told the nurse. “Thank you, but we’ve been here already over four hours.” So, … More MY MINI ADVENTURE AT BOCA RATON REGIONAL HOSPITAL WHERE BRAVE MEDICAL WORKERS WORK TIRELESSLY WHILE EMERGENCY WAITING ROOM PATIENTS WAIT AND WAIT!

After a six-year legal battle, Andy Pham’s attorney Peter Ticktin recently won in Nevada District Court a judgement to return Pham’s Las Vegas property and put it back in his name after it was stolen from him by scammers. Peter Ticktin, Andy Pham’s Attorney, and Founder and Managing Partner of The Ticktin Law Firm, knows … More Why Is Property Identity Theft One of the Fastest Growing Cybercrimes? You Can Ask Attorney Peter Ticktin who Relishes Bringing the Bad Guys to Justice

Heavens no, freedom has its limits during wartime, I tell my friend Nancy J. Hite, The Strategic WealthAdvisor®️ CEO and Fiduciary.  Thankfully mandates are winning the war against COVID-19.  To back it up, I send her this article from MSN:   Agencies that issued mandates before  Biden’s push show some early success WASHINGTON — President Biden’s new … More ISN’T THIS IS A FREE COUNTRY WHERE YOU’RE FREE TO INFECT WHOEVER COMES NEAR YOU WITH A DEADLY VIRUS?

Knowing how Nancy with the unlaughing face is so against mandates, I keep trying to ice pick my way through her icy opposition. She is adamantly against requiring schoolchildren to wear facemask in schools and is as dead set as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is against vaccination mandates.   She and Gov. DeSantis are fierce believers … More NANCY AND I HAVE STRONG OPPOSING VIEWS ON MANDATES

Everybody in PR this century has I’m sure a Willard Scott story.  Mine, if you’ll pardon the expression, is a doozy, which I’m remembering on the eve of the  Jewish high holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur amid the gloomy weather report that the jovial rotund, retired NBC forecaster has died at 87, no not … More Willard Scott Helped Make My Jewish Penicillin Story Front Page News

You must be well adapted to harsh conditions to call the southern-most continent your year-round home. It’s sort of like that in the topsy-turvy continent called the District of Columbia. There, it seems helpful to be well adapted to climb steep snowbanks each day, dodge ice picks hurled at you from all directions and tolerate … More WHAT’S THE BEST PRESIDENT, A PUGNATIOUS PENGUIN OR CUDDLY PUSSYCAT?

What’s better, preserving freedom in schools to spread the virus or mandating facemasks to thwart it? To a friend who believes Florida governor’s saying “let the parents decide” is a reasonable response to the public outcry for mandating masks in schools, I say phooey.   Children going to school unmasked as Covid surges throughout Florida is … More IS A SCHOOL CHILD UNMASKED CARRYING A LOADED PISTOL?

While I’m not the biggest cancel culture fan, in the case of dropping the chosen replacement for legendary Alex Trebek as host of “Jeopardy,” I’d say it was the right call. The decision by Sony to yank Mike Richards as the host stemmed from racist and sexist comments the would-be saint’s successor had made years … More CRISIS MGT. RULE #1: NEVER TRY TO REPLACE A SAINT WITH A SINNER

Sorry, Governor DeSantis, but I have to mandate that my precious Myan sculptures wear masks while in Florida. Let’s put it this way, these valuable pieces have survived already thousands of years, so I can’t risk they’re contracting COVID, not after all they’ve been through. I’ve had this marvelous piece for many years and with … More DON’T MESS WITH MY MASKED MYAN

But I am a good writer, in case you haven’t noticed yet from my many articles, books and hundreds of blogs, but there are content limits to my eclectic nature.  So, when my daughter Adrienne, President of TransMedia Group, emailed me that Coin Writer was looking for writers for cryptopubs who would pay writers for … More Who’d Hire a CryptoNumbskull Like Me to Write Cryptopically?

Take it from the SPIN MAN himself, Tom Madden, who has prepped America’s top CEOs for the most important interviews of their careers, here’s how to make your next interview a contender for a PR gold medal. First, Fear Not!  An interviewer on a news program can spot right away if you’re anxious about a … More TIPS ON PREPARING FOR THAT ALL-IMPORTANT NEWS CONFERENCE OR MEDIA INTERVIEW

In another time or place, perhaps it wouldn’t be quite as bad, but not today, no sir not now with so many women coming out with similar stories of the NY Gov’s alleged indiscretions. Gov. Cuomo’s biggest mistake was not being a head of state during the Renaissance or perhaps in ancient Rome instead of … More CUOMOPHOBIA OR JUST CALLING IT LIKE IT IS?

To mask or not to mask: that is the question. Whether tis nobler to suffer the pings and arrows of outrageous FOXers like Tucker, or take political arms against insolence of gubernatorial office holders like DeSantis, those who doth spirally spurn mask mandates. Why Gov no vaccine orders even for workers in those undiscovere’d places, … More I’Vacted – A PANDEMIC PLAY BY SHAKESPEARE

WARNING: READING THIS MIGHT CAUSE NIGHTMARES!  Please don’t read this if you scare easily as you might not sleep tonight.  It’s a horror story with present day relevance in certain parts of our polarized country and places where vestiges of racism and violent tendencies still are lurking.   A short story called “The Lottery” written … More Was ‘The Lottery’ Friendly or Too Horrible to Fathom

We Americans have a deep-rooted problem with mandates.  It’s inbred in all of us, maybe starting when our mom ordered us to eat all of our carrots and broccoli.  We distrust and detest orders.  We hate to be compelled or forced to do something, especially by our government, which is why we find income tax … More Why Do We The People Reject Mandates?

Hey Gov, why is Florida now the U.S. Covid epicenter?  Just curious why you eschew mask mandates. And who’s this Dr. M?  Not your doctor, is he?  Some say he and others are spreading COVID misinformation.  Is that right?  How far right? Why do you loathe the word “mandate” so much when we had double … More No maskquerade parties, huh Gov. DeSantis?

After called the Cleveland Indians for 100 years, the team will soon remove its feathers and warpaint and officially drop its controversial “Indians” nickname. Was it really insensitive to call themselves Indians?  Was it that hurtful to our native Americans for a baseball team to have that moniker?  I guess so.  But could the hurt … More Cleveland’s Baseball Team Will Replace ‘Indians’ With ‘Guardians’

This past week has been nothing short of historic for the region where we live in perpetual amazement and excitement, ironically under ceaseless, yet often discordant sunshine. It used to be just the occasional hurricanes that kept our attention and our hearts pounding.  Now there are human hurricanes erupting in headlines and images emanating from … More SURFSIDE, CUBA AND HAITI. A TRILOGY FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS

Not too many of us have had their Richard Branson moments looking down at mother earth from near the edges of outer space. I had mine one unforgettable day back in 1980.  That’s right, 1980.  I was on a supersonic Concorde flight returning from Europe.  We had reached a high enough altitude one day to … More MY BRANSON MOMENT LOOKING DOWN FROM MY THEN ‘SPACECRAFT’ AT THE EARTH’S CURVATURE 41 YEARS AGO

Our oceanfront high-rise condo, The Chalfonte, will undergo an inspection more stringent than required by any 40-year inspection certification. The Chalfonte will have structural engineers inspect its twin modernized, well-maintained buildings even more stringently than what would be required if there were a 40-year inspection certification required in Palm Beach County. Meanwhile, all our deepest … More WE’LL ALL SLEEP BETTER IN BOCA

Between phone calls from my son and daughters this past Father’s Day, I read a story in The Times of Israel that blew my mind, tugged at my heartstrings and brought me close to tears.  It was so powerful and timely on that day we celebrate fathers. It came at a time when my PR … More What killed grandfather was a feeling he didn’t ‘belong anywhere’

Am I oversimplifying, or what?  After so many reports of cracking sounds and spalling in the condo that tragically collapsed in Surfside, FL, it’s probably no surprise to structural engineers that there was concrete deterioration. And this can be due to rusting rebar. I’m sure Basanite Industries (OTCQB:BASA), a Florida company that ironically manufactures a … More IF BUILDINGS COLLAPSE WHEN REBAR RUSTS, WHY NOT BUILD WITH RUST-PROOF REBAR?

The unvaccinated among us are walking around stark naked . . . like they’re living in a nudist resort like one in North Woodstock, Conn.  Amazing! Refusing to cover yourselves against the now more dangerous COVID variants, makes no sense.  Why are you stubbornly refusing to wear the protective clothes of effective vaccines?  Either you’re … More HEY, ALL YOU VACCINEPHOBICS, AMERICA’S NO NUDIST COLONY. YOU NEED TO COVER UP AGAINST COVID!

A federal judge’s ruling brings to mind one of the most famous crowded elevator scenes in movies when Cary Grant’s mom asks in North by Northwest: “you gentlemen aren’t really trying to kill my son, are you?”  Now imagine multi-storied floating elevators with thousands occupying spaces so crowded that the person’s nose next to you … More FEDERAL JUDGE RULES AGAINST PASSENGERS HAVING TO SHOW A VACCINATION PASSPORT BEFORE BOARDING CRUISE SHIPS

Sure, some will say it was a trivial moment compared to all the media hype and furor over some the President’s remarks.  Still, in my mind the optic of the President’s jacket on the floor didn’t play very well on a world stage.  President Biden was speaking rather eloquently at the concluding news conference about … More WHY DID NO ONE HELP PRESIDENT BIDEN AT THE PODIUM IN GENEVA WITH HIS JACKET?

You could call me Rex.  But please!  Not Tyrannosaurus rex, although some mornings I feel that vintage.  Still, most days I’m practically a spring chicken, or at least I feel that way bouncing along the beach. Just don’t ask how old I am.  Oy, the numbers. They’re unlisted. But now I’m fully vaccinated so I … More ONE COMMON DEFENSE I’M AFRAID WE’LL NEVER GET!

As life begins to open up this summer and many of us hope to travel, to finally hit the road or just surrender to a beach blanket or plop on a chaise lounge parked under a flapping umbrella, think about reading a good book as we return to ole normal-like times. Here are five titles … More PLANNING TO TRAVEL? Here’s MaddenMischief summer reading list to cart along

Strange dystopian strains of thought run through my mind as I imagine conducting my PR orchestra, trying earnestly to keep apart the woodwind and brass sections at TransMedia Group.  First, I listen to the lilting clarinets play a rhapsodic variety of health and medical passages from traditional doctors, surgeons, and assorted specialists predicting a melodic … More WHERE IN THE PUBLICITY ORCHESTRA ARE YOU?

That’s right, I’m angry.   I have animus for cannabis posing as simple cookies. I almost lost a dear relative recently who collapsed and was rushed to hospital after eating a bunch of them.  Little did he know the sweet little cookies were laced with pot.  Stuffed with weed.  Mired in Marijuana! He was hungry.  Was … More MY ANIMUS FOR CANNABIS

That’s what my mother would ask me when we took her with us on a trip from Florida back to where she was born and raised in “The World’s Playground,” Atlantic City, NJ.  “Where is home?” Soon we’re about to celebrate “The Longest Day” on June 20, the day with the most light– summer solstice. … More ‘WHERE IS HOME?’

Take Cramer’s scowling reaction to the transformational deal of AT&T spinning off its Time Warner media assets with Discovery (DISCA) to create an entertainment colossus. He said AT&T should apologize to its shareholders for making such a “stupid” deal in the first place that was light years from “transformational” and now is forcing the company … More CAN YOU BE SMART BUT SHORTSIGHTED LIKE WISENHEIMER TV PERSONALITY JIM CRAMER?

After checking my blood pressure and listening to my heartbeat, somehow the subject shifted to diet the other day at my doctor’s office during a routine checkup.  He started telling me what I should eat less of to stay healthy.  When I told him that I liked hot oatmeal for breakfast with blue berries and … More PLEASE DOC, DON’T ‘RAISIN’ ON MY PARADE

When you have a product that kills someone, don’t just “peloton,” do something! In other words, don’t just apologize, take action so it won’t happen again. Thus, it seems a new word has entered the PR crisis management lexicon. Perhaps “don’t peloton” will now join phrases like “stop Boeing a dead horse.” Stop blaming others.  … More NEW WORD ENTERS CRISIS MANAGEMENT VOCABULARY: DON’T ‘PELOTON’ ME, PAL.’ DO A RECALL!

In the PR field, to get media momentum you first need to plant seeds.  We call it pitching to the media.  Then you water those seeds until it’s time to harvest delicious headlines. Yet sometimes clients ignorant about farming grow impatient too soon.  They’ll try it for a month and then want to quit before … More MEDIA MOMENTUM STEMS FROM SEEDLINGS PUBLICISTS PLANT AND HARVEST

Gorgeously regal with tiny wings flapping, no plant or plastic was he or she.  Only the cutest, bravest live little bird that flew into paradise we call our pandemic playground. Our winged visitor landed in our playground full of plastic toys and objects Rita and I scoop off our beach and recycle into artworks. This … More A Bird of Paradise Comes to Visit

The long road to Harriet Tubman’s name replacing Dixie Highway is now a lonelier road without Coral Gables supporting it in Miami-Dade County, Fl. Maybe a dead end.   Would it help to go with just her first name?  HARRIET HIGHWAY? Did you know slaves were not legally allowed to marry in 1844?  So, Harriet just … More WHAT’S BETTER, A HIGHWAY NAMED AFTER SECEDING STATES THAT FOUGHT FOR SLAVERY OR A HEROINE WHO RISKED EVERYTHING FOR FREEDOM?

Did you know the last name of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has long been in ill repute in dictionaries worldwide? The word chauvinism is typically used in the senses of either “an attitude of superiority toward members of the opposite sex” or “undue partiality or attachment to a group or place to which … More Will We Now Hear the Word ‘Chauvinism’ More Often?

Hey Hollywood, America needs you once again if we’re ever going to reach that safe zone called herd immunity.  You need to come out strong against hesitancy Back in the 1960s it was Hollywood stars like Elvis Presley who flashed their iconic smiles and stuck out their arms to counter trypanophobia, an irrational fear of injections … More Once Again Hollywood Needs To Come Out Against Hesitancy

It’s obvious in media these days there’s prejudice, anywhere from slight to blatant.  Sometimes so apparent on TV it leaps out and depending where you are on the bias barometer yourself, it either bites or pets you. Depending on where their readers or viewers are, news media noticeably lean in that direction, either to the … More HOW FAIR OR BIASED WAS MEDIA COVERAGE OF THE CHAUVIN TRIAL?

I couldn’t help writing to one of my favorite columnists, Bill Bonner, who asked in his Diary column last week for a moment of silence.  It was for the passing of Bernie Madoff, architect of the largest Ponzi scheme in history who died last week in prison.  Here’s what I wrote to Bonner to where … More ONE OF MADOFF’S VICTIMS WAS MY LATE FRIEND, THE LEGAL MASTERMIND AND PICASSO LOVER, MEL WEISS

Like so many Americans these days we’ve become veritable pincushions. First it was the flu shot in my arm to thwart the latest influenza. Then came vaccinations one and two to ward off the creepy crawling Charles Manson-like COVID. Yesterday I took another needle for pneumococcal pneumonia and again my brave arm is wounded and … More Arms on the Battlefield

Do you ever come upon an article in one of those relics we call newspapers and it pounds your mind into attention and elicits your respect? Well, one written by nationally syndicated, Pulitzer-Prize-winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. yanked me into reading every word, and then into rereading what stood out so powerfully in the Miami … More IS LEONARD PITTS JR. A SORT OF MODERN-DAY MESSIAH OF JOURNALISM?

When President Biden answered that fateful question at his first press conference whether he would run for a second term, many reporters noted solemnly he would then be 82, while some seemed to snicker he’d be President Methuselah.  The more conservative media commentators on FOX NEWS pronounced 82 as if he’d be comatose by then … More HOW OLD WILL BIDEN BE WHEN HE RUNS AGAIN?

Welcome to art in plastics. The Pandemic Playground is a surreal composition comprising a phantasmagoria of plastics my wife Rita and I collect each day off the public beach in front of our stately oceanfront condo, The Chalfonte. Behold the plastic toys, buckets, shovels and rakes.  Plastic seahorses, smiling starfish and pearly fish wearing underwater … More BEHOLD THE PANDEMIC PLAYGROUND

Will besieged Gov. Andrew Cuomo like his dad before him be the second Hamlet on the Hudson?   New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign, following a report of the sixth woman accusing the governor of sexual misconduct.   Would now the governor look at a picture of his dad and say alas poor … More To Resign or Not to Resign, That is the Question for Another Hamlet on the Hudson

Is there a doctor in the ocean?  No, but there are medics . . . called sharks! Sharks will never replace dogs as man’s best friend, but maybe they’re ocean’s best friend, so perhaps they need better public relations or sometimes even crisis management stressing the good things they do for our ecosystem.  Certainly, never … More THINK YOUR REPUTATION NEEDS AN UPGRADE? CONSIDER HOW UNFAIRLY WE REGARD SHARKS

This is William Hawley’s first breath of free air in over 18 years.  Even through a face mask, to him freedom tastes deliriously sweet and wonderful beyond words even for an author with his talent for writing books.  I’m Bill’s close friend, publicist and talent agent.  Besides my blog, I write books too.  My 5th … More BILL IS FREE AT LAST AFTER MANY YEARS IN PRISON

Feel The Force of JENN As She Blasts Off Clients Into Media Orbit There’s no PR pro quite like Jennifer Weinstein.  We call her an astro-publicist as the new Executive Vice President of TransMedia Group brings not only a supersonic journalism background, but a stack of media contacts tall as the Empire State Building, having … More Publicist or Media Astronaut?

If you don’t know what a kerfuffle is, or what some call a karfuffle, you’ll have to ask Boris Johnson or Merriam-Webster.   Frankly, I never heard the word until Boris, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, used it in describing Donald Trump’s recent impeachment. In an interview with a U.S. television reporter, Johnson used … More Heard the latest Kerfuffle About Senator Cruz? Did He Really Leave His Family Poodle in The Texas Deep Freeze? Fact Checkers Bark ‘False’

Most businesses today are considerably challenged by what we’re confronting these days as the virus keeps spreading and vaccines have only now gotten into high gear as they race to our immunity-starved arms.  Among the hardest hit by the pandemic are those sanctuaries for our souls, not just our churches and synagogues, but those serene … More ARE CLUB MEMBERSHIPS PRIVATELY PLUMETING OR ARE THESE BELOVED SANCTURIES PANDEMIC PROOF?

I rooted for Brady last night, but he didn’t seem to need too much to win his seventh Super Bowl. It was a piece of cake. Back in 2017, I wrote a book about the 2016 Presidential election and how President Trump was then putting his White House in order, so he could carry out … More COULD BRADY’S SEVENTH SUPER BOWL WIN HAVE MADE ANOTHER TOM’S BOOK SEVEN TIMES HOTTER WITH BRADY’S NAME AND ‘inSUPERable BOWL’ ON THE COVER?

Unhappy with the MyPillow guy Mike Lindell’s supporting former President Trump, David Hogg is ready to start a pillow fight in the first round of Pillow Politics. And Tuesday comes the ultimate pillow fight, an attempt by pillow-armed Democrats to smother any chance for Trump to ever become president again.  They’ll be betting on another … More AS IF THERE’S NOT ENOUGH POLITICS, HERE’S ONE YOU CAN TAKE TO BED BUT DON’T EXPECT TO SLEEP: PILLOW POLITICS

BOCA RATON, FL.–It was on January 25, 1994 when TransMedia Group helped to arrange and promote a major media event for one of its esteemed clients, the unveiling of Rexall Sundown’s new headquarters in Boca Raton. Celebrity spokesman Dick Clark was on hand when Boca Raton’s then Mayor Bill Smith presented the company’s chairman Carl … More MEMORABLE MOMENTS IN TRANSMEDIA GROUP’S 40-YEAR-HISTORY IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

There is so much newness and blueness in our lives these pan-demonic days that it might not only be appropriate, but necessary to consider expanding our vocabulary. So, here are some new terms that will take us into the far reaches of this pandemic as we hide from the wicked witch virus from the far … More WELCOME TO A STARTLING NEW PANDEMIC VOCABULARY

The international PR firm, TransMedia Group that I started back in 1981 will celebrate its 40th year in business on Feb. 1.  And like the iconic “Energizer Bunny,” TransMedia still keeps going.    Over the years TransMedia has served clients worldwide with distinction, starting with AT&T as its first, which at the time was the largest … More TRANSMEDIA GROUP TO CELEBRATE 40 YEARS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS STARTING WITH AMERICA’S LARGEST COMPANY AS ITS FIRST CLIENT

The vaccine was supposed to roll out to us citizens 65 and older at “warp speed.”  But I think it’s coming to our starving arms more at “warped” speed, not “warp speed.”  “Warp speed” means extremely high speed, but what we’re seeing and definitely not feeling in our arms is a far cry from that. … More IS THE COVID VACCINE COMING AT ‘WARP SPEED’ OR MEANDERING AT SNAIL’S PACE TOWARD OUR ARMS

THIS ONE? “NO, I’M AFRAID WE’VE GOT NO CHOICE.” Watching the classic film “Citizen Kane” on TCM last night, I could just imagine Orson Welles licking his chops wanting so much to play a remake called “Citizen Trump.” I couldn’t help thinking how much “Citizen Kane” was similar to current events or maybe it was … More CHANGE ‘ELECTED’ TO ‘REELECTED’ AND SCENE FROM ‘CITIZEN KANE’ EERILY EQUATES TO CURRENT EVENTS

After you urged that mob so forcefully to “fight” and march on the Capitol, you need emergency crisis management.  What happened afterward is a despicable event that will live in infamy to the peril of your legacy if you don’t do something right away to counter the strong political tide now running against you.    … More ONLY DAYS LEFT, MR. PRESIDENT, SO BE BRADY! THROW CRISIS MANAGEMENT TD PASSES TO QUELL FALLOUT FROM CAPITOL CHAOS YOUR RHETORIC INCITED

First, if you don’t mind, I would like to add a few pardons of my own.  I want to pardon my daughter for giving me so many nuts for Christmas. They were in this humongous bag stuffed in a large wicker basket wedged between  two odd couple bottles, one containing rubbing alcohol, the other my … More PLEASE PARDON THIS PARODY ON PARDONING

I don’t know about you, but I’m ninety percent satisfied with Joe Biden’s “most diverse” cabinet in history.  I just hope we continue to fill cabinet positions with people who are not just diverse, but super smart, fully capable.  Yes, certainly the president elect has taken steps in the right diverse direction.  No question.  And … More WILL THERE BE ENOUGH DIVERSITY IN THAT WHITE IGLOO IN WASHINGTON?

Hello.  Can you tell me where the herd is?  I’d like to join it, the one with the immunity everyone’s talking about.  I need it bad! I’ve been waiting impatiently cloistered in my condo pasture, while immunity is taking its sweet time to come home to me.  Meanwhile, I see no sign of any herds … More I’M A DOMESTIC ONE HOOFED HUSBAND ANXIOUSLY AWAITING HERD IMMUNITY

Everybody looks like somebody, right?  Well, take a quick look at some of these CEO’s in the news, like Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America and Pfizer CEO, Albert Bourla.   Occasionally, I see a slight resemblance to some of the stars in the classic movies my wife and I see on TCM?   Brian runs … More Do Some CEO’s Remind You Of Movie Stars You See on TCM?

HOW WE PICK LEADERS IS MORE LIKE A HORSE RACE The contenders in this past America Derby were the favorites, “The Economy” (3 to 2) ridden by Donald Trump and “Pandemic” ridden by Joe Biden (2 to 1).  Pandemic is the only horse with blinders while besides conventional hat and goggles jockey Biden proudly dons … More THE AMERICA DERBY

Know ye this immutable fact.  The all-powerful rulers in Florida are a privileged, high-and-mighty class called the condostocracy. All societies, countries, communities, corporations and Florida condominiums  have the same basic structure.    First there are the aristocrats, the privileged few comprising dictators, elder statesmen, governors, CEOs, FED chairmen and the condo kings and queens with the … More KINGS, CONDO PRESIDENTS AND SNOWBIRDS ARE THE PRIVILEGED FEW IN FLORIDA

You want words to tell her you love her? But not so many that’ll smother? Here’s what I advise you brother Go see the Wordshine Man. Once scuffed, dirty shoes needed polish Nowadays it’s words that won’t shine So I tell you bro, consult a word pro Go see the Wordshine Man. A magician with … More WORDSHINE MAN™

Yes, we’re a Nation of firsts.  And we don’t exactly skimp on pardons either. Starting with Abraham Lincoln, we were the first to pardon a turkey for Thanksgiving.   And the pardons kept coming. Then we were first to elect a black President, Obama.  Next, we elected the first billionaire businessman President, Trump.  He set the … More Happy Thanksgiving America! Look at all the Firsts We’ve Achieved

They’re dragging PR through the mud. Media are reporting President Trump’s inviting Republican state leaders from Michigan to The White House and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani’s unsubstantiated charges at a recent press conference as just “PR moves.”  What’s a “PR move?”  It’s sounding like a purely theatrical exercise to convince people to believe something … More I’M WORRIED ABOUT ‘PR’ AND THE BATTERING MY PROFESSION’S SHORTHAND NAME IS GETTING IN THIS POST-ELECTION BROUHAHA

With cases of COVID spiking, deaths mounting and hospitals overflowing with victims in her state, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem opposes government- imposed mask mandates. She argues masks have not been proven to halt the spread of infections and doesn’t feel it’s right for her to force people to wear them. Really, Governor?  If South … More Why Are Some of Our Leaders So Mask Averse?

The technical name for it is trypanophobia, which is an extreme fear of injections or hypodermic needles.  Could a new term now be about to enter the lexicon of medical mythology?  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may have fathered a new myopic malady called Cuomophobia, defined as an unfounded fear of being politically vaccinated.  Congratulations, Gov.  Cuomophobia!  … More WILL WE NEED ANOTHER ELVIS TO COMBAT CUOMOPHOBIA?

So will the Blue Wave and Red Wave now please stop breaking chops, flow forward and shake waves!  Listen you wrangling waves, there’s only one true wave in America and while its colors are red and blue, let’s not forget that strip of white between them.    We are the red, white and blue.  You … More IN AMERICA THERE’S ONLY ONE WAVE!

Questions keep arising about whether our country’s assiduous vote counting might have leaned a little too much in favor of one candidate over another in certain places.  But systemic fraud?   Don’t see a case there yet!  Unfairness?   Yes, there seems to be some systemic unfairness in certain places, such as discovery of a number of … More WHEN DOES THE OINTMENT HAVE TOO MANY DEM FLIES? WHO’S THE FAVORITE CANDIDATE AMONG DEAD VOTERS?

Finally, it’s come.  Predilection Day when we exhibit our penchant for this or that party and our perhaps presumptuous preference for President. It’s been a long stormy voyage to reach this destination, yet we may still not be able to drop anchor nor end our rancor for probably several more anxious days.  But at best, … More IT’S HERE. PREDILECTION DAY

If a cliché is an expression used so much its become trite or irritating, why do so many TV commentators still use them over and over?  Unabashedly.  I guess thinking they’re clever.  Or cute.  Ugh! Lately, CNBC takes the cliché crown.  It’s almost becoming a cliché hangout. Yes, it seems clichés are “the order of … More WHY SO MANY CLICHÉS SWARMING OVER TV?

How frighteningly different will be this Halloween! We’ll all have these same two trick or treaters racing to our doorstep. One is a sleepy-looking, but intensely irritated Joe Biden wearing a monstrous facemask.  He says “Don’t believe this clown next to me.  He has no fracking sense how to be a president of ALL the … More HAPPY HALLOWEEN VOTERS

Larry Klayman’s latest book “It Takes a Revolution,” pulls no punches just like Larry, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, does boldly, but politely in courtrooms across the country, often to the exasperation of legions of federal judges who are perhaps not as uncomfortable or outraged as he is over injustices and corruption he … More NO, HILLARY, MORE THAN A VILLAGE, IT WILL TAKE ‘A REVOLUTION’ TO RESTORE THE NATION TO THE VISION AND CREATION OF OUR FOUNDING FATHERS, SAYS LARRY KLAYMAN!

I’ve spent practically my whole life trying to navigate . . . unchartered waters. Today you hear that term a lot.  So many of us are endeavoring to survive this pandemic that’s forcing us to try new ways of doing things, apply different approaches, adopt new methods to put food on our tables, make ends … More LOOK OUT! WE’RE ON UNCHARTERED WATERS!

We all use words loosely, casually, repeatedly.  We say certain words over and over, so often they become anemic, insipid, commonplace expressions, losing their vigor, their impact.  Their oomph! One of the most lightly tossed around words in everyday discourse is becoming a conventional expression, yet it represents the most profoundly beautiful, poignant, most touching, … More WHEN YOU FEEL THE MEANING OF WORDS

I had just distributed my latest MaddenMischief blog “Three Howls for Wily Wolf Versus Smiling Pelosi.” In it, I commended WOLF BLITZER for bravely holding the dug-in feet of mechanically-smiling speaker Pelosi to the fire on CNN for turning her back on President Trump’s $1.8 trillion stimulus offer while many of her constituents can’t pay … More The Poignant Side of the Stimulus Stalemate

BLITZER bravely held the feet of mechanically-smiling speaker Pelosi to the fire on CNN last night for turning her back on President Trump’s $1.8 trillion stimulus offer while many of her constituents can’t pay rent or afford food. I couldn’t believe my eyes watching speaker Pelosi beaming and smiling broadly in the face of CNN’s … More THREE HOWLS FOR WILY WOLF VERSUS SMILING PELOSI

I see why Biden loves swinging at soft balls so much. And gets lots of practice. Last week some of the so-called “undecided voters” at the NBC-Biden town hall who were lobbing soft balls at him were once identified as Biden supporters when they previously appeared on TV . . . on MSNBC.  Really?  If … More Biden Was The Clear Winner in NBC’s Town Hall in Miami, But Were Soft Ball Questions Lobbed at Him Coming From Voters Only Pretending to be Undecided?

At the end of each NBC Nightly News, news anchor Lester Holt looks straight into the camera and earnestly says: “Please take care of yourself, and each other.” It’s a beautiful thought.  He delivers it sincerely.  Superbly! I would just like to suggest one thing.   I’d invite Lester to consider adding these  words, which would … More THIS WOULD ALMOST SANCTIFY LESTER’S SIGNOFF ON NBC NIGHTLY NEWS BY ADDING . . . ‘NO MATTER WHAT SIDE YOU’RE ON, WE’RE ALL AMERICANS’

Just a few days before the news broke about President Trump testing positive for coronavirus, I attended a virtual interview session on CommPRO.biz featuring President Nixon’s former lawyer John Dean, who played a starring role in one of our country’s most jarring political disasters–Watergate. While I was a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, I taught … More FROM SINNER TO SAINT, THE SAGA OF JOHN DEAN, WHOSE LATEST BOOK ‘AUTHORITARIAN NIGHTMARE’ IS ABOUT PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HIS ‘ALPHA MALE’ FOLLOWERS

Mr. President, soon as you’re out of danger and feeling up to it, I offer you this crisis management advice as I have helped the CEO’s of some of America’s largest corporations to deal with crises effectively, turning scalding water into bubbling cool springs.  And I’m sorry to say yours is a doozy!  Meanwhile, there … More A CRISIS MANAGER’S PR ADVICE TO PRESIDENT TRUMP

I would say that two new measures need to be added to scoring Presidential debates: 1) an Interruption Index; 2) Name Calling Count as last night both were through the roof. Yes, to put it mildly, it was over-the-top NASTY! President Trump scored the most interruptions ever recorded during a Presidential debate interrupting his opponent, … More HOW MANY INTERRUPTIONS DID TRUMP MAKE IN LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE THAT WAS ANYTHING BUT ‘PRESIDENTIAL.’ HOW MANY NAMES DID BIDEN CALL HIM BESIDES ‘A CLOWN?’

COULD THERE BE A VIRUS WORLD WAR ONE DAY THAT WIPES OUT HUMANITY LEAVING NOTHING TO JUDGE OUR CIVILIZATION BY, BUT BOTTLE CAPS? Judging from this pandemic, I can’t help thinking there may come a time when super viruses replace nuclear bombs as the ultimate end-all weapon in international warfare. Could souped-up, vaccine-proof viruses be … More WHY IS THIS LIFELESS PLANET SO FULL OF BOTTLE CAPS?

William Hawley has only a few months left on a 15-year sentence for a non-violent offense.  He is now begging Martin County Circuit Court in Florida to release him before COVID kills him. Bill is the author of “Sex and the Serial Killer; My Bizarre Times with Robert Durst” he wrote under the pseudonym William … More WHY MUST THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK SERVE EVERY BLASTED MINUTE OF HIS PRISON SENTENCE RISKING COVID-19 WHEN HE HAS THE GOODS ON A POSSIBLE SERIAL KILLER

You know what happens to mice in mousetraps, don’t you?  Well, they meet an unhappy end because they think the cheese is free.  So, is it right to just plunk down those tasty cheese balls?  This is what I’m going to ask attendees at the virtual conference “20 Days To Save The USA” Oct. 15 … More As Guest Speaker at the ‘20 Days To Save The USA’ Conference, I’m Going to Suggest Giving to Those Who Riot, Destroy Property and Curse Police—Free Cheese

A growing number of Americans believe China should pay reparations for their bungling of COVID-19 in a Wuhan lab, then for their initial coverup allowing it to spread into a global pandemic. Reparations mean the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been … More SHOULD CHINA PAY REPARATIONS FOR BACTERIOLOGICAL WAR ACTS?

These queer, unsettling days I don’t know if I’m in public relations or pandemic relations at TransMedia Group, the firm I started back in the days when you caught something, most likely it was a cold. How unnervingly different and dangerous today. Take the other day when one of our bright, young college interns tells … More GREAT NEWS! FRANK TESTED NEGATIVE. HOORAY!

Soon as our country’s battle with Coronavirus is won, another will start, which is rebuilding and repairing America’s infrastructure, its bridges, tunnels, buildings and highways  . . . all rusting away. This time, however, it will need an infrastructure that will last.  Fortunately today there’s a vaccine for infrastructure called BasaFlex, manufactured by Pompano Beach, … More BREAKING NEWS: There’s a Vaccine for America’s Endangered Infrastructure . . . Rebar That Won’t Rust

These days staying at home so much we’re all in need of getting out into the fresh air and sunshine and stretching our legs and what’s more inviting than our beaches, but we need to be careful of others around us as we might be a bit out of practice with umbrellas. So much so … More DON’T COMMIT UMBRELLACIDE BY LETTING WIND UNLEASH YOUR UMBRELLA

WEST PALM BEACH, FL.–Entry points are probably the most sensitive, most vulnerable parts of any business, especially now during the pandemic. You might say the personnel greeting visitors at our schools, hospitals and businesses here and across the country are on the front line for us, our nation, our economy. Today, protecting them are new … More DID YOU KNOW THERE’S A COMPANY HERE SAFEGUARDING WORKERS GREETING VISITORS AT BUSINESSES NATIONWIDE?

LET’S TWIST AGAIN LIKE WE DID LAST SUMMER, ONLY A LITTLE FURTHER APART PLEASE THAN WE WERE BACK THEN It was a simple dance called the Twist because all you did was that–twist. It would work perfectly today in our socially-distant society.  So let’s twist again. The twist originated in the late fifties among teenagers and was popularized by … More THE PERFECT, SOCIALLY-DISTANT DANCE FOR A PANDEMIC!

I have the pleasure or insanity of living in a hi-rise condominium in Boca Raton, FL where I just finished reading a torrent of emails blasting my beleaguered condo board’s alleged aloofness and arbitrariness. Hmmmm. Not only that, but there were a litany of allegations of incompetence, scapegoating and charges of board members speaking derogatorily … More ARE CONDO PRESIDENTS RULING MONARCHS OR POOR SCHNOOKS DOING A THANKLESS JOB?

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE GRAPHIC TO MAKE A POINT So my grandson Johnny Madden texts me a photo of himself flying a small airplane. He’s sitting next to someone in the cockpit and neither are wearing facemasks. So, I tell him if he wants to fly like a bird, he’d better wear a facemask … More GRANDSON, WEAR YOUR FACEMASK!

WHERE’S THE BEEF OR PLANT-BASED MEAT SUBSTITUTE? To be successful in PR, messages need to be deliciously to the point, satisfyingly substantive and most of all, PURPOSEFUL!  I tell this to my staff all the time at TransMedia Group on purpose! Most get the point that without proselytizing, cloaking intent, trying to razzle dazzle or … More THE LAW OF PURPOSEFUL PR

Yes, with this damndemic, we’re all on edge, feeling threatened, often nervous, uptight, vulnerable as COVID-19 surges.  Every night we hear on the news what the death toll is up to.  Sounds even higher on CNN. So much talk of death.  We can see the grim reaper in our rear-view mirror, on tattoos, hiding under … More TALE OF TWO PARTNERS: LIFE AND ITS EERIE OPPOSITE

Hopefully, this prolonged pandemic I call a damndemic, won’t have lasting effects after social distancing, wearing masks and staying home so much.  Yes, it’s keeping us safer, but I don’t think it’s making us any healthier or friendlier. So, how many masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes will it take for us to return to those … More Looking For Someplace to Work Safe From COVID? PleXus to Resuscitate Those Empty Areas Called Offices?

IN 2018 I WAS DEVELOPING A TV SERIES THAT NEVER WENT ANYWHERE. NOW SOMETHING HAPPENED IN TEXAS THAT COULD MAKE IT A HOT PROPERTY Exactly two years ago this month, I was developing a TV Series titled “XtraTerresla.” I asked back then in my blog, MaddenMischief, if you can tell by the title what it’s about.  Don’t … More TIMING IS EVERYTHING, PILGRIM!

Tough Journalism or Culture Food Fight What does Trump giving a thumbs-up to Goya Foods have to do with a young New York Times reporter giving a thumbs down to the publisher in her letter of resignation. I see them somehow related as often these days it’s hard to tell when journalism ends and bias … More A Maddening View Of America

Fans of the Late Great Charlie Daniels, My Daughter Adrienne Mazzone And Her Sweetheart Michael Razler, at one of Charlie’s Country Music Concerts Only half-way through 2020 and we’ve lost already a bevy of stars not to the pandemic, but to that perpetual antagonist of mostly older folks, those natural causes that ultimately do us … More WHEN BELOVED BODS MAKE THAT FINAL BOW, SING THAT FAREWELL SONG TO NATURAL CAUSES, THE BRIGHTEST STARS MAY GO DARK, BUT THEIR FAME FLICKERS ON

 LEGENDS BETTER WATCH WHAT THEY SAY AS THEY’LL BE JUDGED NOT BY THE STANDARDS OF THEIR TIMES, BUT BY  CURRENT EVENTS, PRESENT DAY BIASES–THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY Protests over police brutality have brought hundreds of years of American history bubbling up through so many of our country’s historic monuments and statues, now … More WATCH WHAT YOU SAY, PILGRIM

Open Letter to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg In Houston, TX From  Court of Public Opinion Advocate Demanding Freedom for Lamar Burks Dear District Attorney Ogg, you probably believe Lamar Burks is guilty of murder and deserving his 70-year prison sentence, of which he has served already 20 long, hard years, but with all … More IS LIFE IN PRISON ANOTHER KNEE ON AN INNOCENT BLACK MAN’S NECK UNTIL HE CAN’T BREATHE?

After “Thank you” you might as well add “YOU SCHMUCK” for staying on hold so long. For that’s what we’re all becoming as we wait, wait, WAIT to finally talk to a live human being about credit card mischarges, our Internet having a mind of its own, another bank statement vagary. So, are you as … More ‘THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO HOLD’

Like many in my profession, I’ve lived a good part of my princely peripatetic life on Planet Publicity.  Our mission?  Making enterprising earthlings rich and famous!  My name’s Tom Madden. A boisterous boutique PR firm I launched in Manhattan in the early 80s rocketed the careers and bottom lines of many entrepreneurs and their businesses … More Meet The Real Me From Planet Publicity

You probably carried their A-Pass® with you when you last took a cruise.  It was your identity card throughout your voyage.  When you presented it upon your return from excursions at different ports,  they’d swiftly check you into their security ID system as back onboard. Happily this great company, Sisco Corp, the leader in Visitor … More YOU GOTTA LOVE A LEADER ESPECIALLY WHEN ONE RETURNS AS YOUR PR CLIENT

If Social Distancing Is Impossible in Prisons, Why Not Free Non-Violent Offenders with Little Time Left to Serve on Their Sentences? Why, Governor, do we continue to imprison non-violent offenders who have obviously reformed themselves and have served almost all their sentence? Please, Governor, when it comes to COVID-19-vulnerable prisoners, don’t let your legacy from … More OPEN LETTER TO GOV. RON DESANTIS