Kim Kardashian Makes Headlines in a Banner Year for Billionaires

When William Gibson published Mona Lisa Overdrive in 1988, he portrayed a future that featured multinational corporations and high tech outlaws competing for power against a backdrop of cyberspace and celebrity culture.  And today, what do we see? The machinations of cybercriminals and high tech corporations are so massive that even international leaders are scared, and celebrity worship is more massive than ever.

I find it interesting that not only does wealth turn people into celebrities(eg. Bezos, Musk, Gates, Zuckerberg), celebrities now turn celebritydom into wealth. (eg. McCartney, Kylie Jenner) 

So it is that Kim Kardashian has now  "made the grade" and earned her place on the Forbes Billionaire List this week. After her first appearance on the cover of Forbes in 2016 she teasingly Tweeted, “Not bad for a girl with no talent.” 

Correctamento. Not bad indeed, though it will be a while before she cracks the top ten. Her current rank is 2,674. That is a lot of billionaires to surpass.

It's also somewhat astonishing that this year's Billionaires Club has nearly one-third more billionaires than last year (2,755), despite the purported negative economic impact of the pandemic. A case can be made that the rich get richer while the poor scramble about for crumbs.

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I learned about KK's billionaire status via Twitter where the news happened to be trending. Here are a few of the Tweets I read:

Renee Libby Kim Kardashian becoming a billionaire is precisely everything that is wrong with America rolled into one surgically enhanced nutshell.

British Glamour As Queen Kim herself would say: 'Not bad for a girl with no talent!'

CNN
Kim Kardashian West is joining the ranks of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other moguls.

Kahled Beydoun Kim Kardashian is officially a billionaire. Meanwhile, the poverty rate in the U.S. has increased to nearly 14%.
Andrew
Is Kim Kardashian the first Porn Star Billionaire?

(EdNote: This last Tweet is a reference to a "leaked" video that was published via Vivid Entertainment, a leading porn merchant. She initially sued, but then dropped it. It was making her famous, and fame opens doors, right?)

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Naturally the story was carried in nearly every media channel. She's a Celebrity. Here's a short list followed by a couple of story examples.  BBC, NBC, TMZ, Billboard, YouTube, NDTV, USA Today, PageSix, Fox Business, Deadline, US Magazine, EW, Harpers Bazaar, High Snobbery, Cosmopolitan, Hindustan Times, Eon Line, RTE, India Today, Glamour, Newsday, Women's Health, Chicago Tribune, Hollywood Insider and even Seventeen. 

Variety
Kim Kardashian Is Officially A Billionaire

E! News
Kim Kardashian Has Officially Become a Billionaire, According to Forbes

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Related Link
Celebrity Culture: How Did It Happen and Where Is It Going?

Today's Top Stories

"I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one." ~ Mark Twain

It is one of my rituals to walk out to the road and bring in the morning paper at the start of each day. I like the walk, about three hundred feet, to our rural mailbox. I also enjoy reading the headlines on the way back toward the house.

It has to be tough being a newspaper editor. With so much happening in the world, how does one decide what will be the big stories of the day, and especially the big story that blares out above the fold. Here's what you see above the fold in today's Duluth News Tribune. And as a profession, newspaperfolk sure have to put up with a lot of guff.

Top banner above the masthead: Northland Golf Guide in fairly large letters with a close up photo of a golf ball on a tee and the head of a driver. More than 70 area courses and a look at how the economy is affecting the game is the subhead. For a lot of folks that might be enough to get a person to fork over a buck and a half.

The major feature has its headline split in two with a photo of grave markers filling a good section of the page in letterbox style aspect ratio. Above the photo: As bones of loved ones erode into the Nemadji River, the Fond du Lac tribe wonders... And below the photo, in largest font on the page: What will be done to respect their dead?

The right hand column has a box with a dotted line that contains two marketing messages. $88 IN COUPONS INSIDE and then "Where to find your TV today" with a blurb pointing out that the TV grid was inadvertently printed in the wrong place. Ooops.

The last news item above the fold is also in the right hand column. Sent in '67, letter finally gets an answer. LBJ was president, Penny Lane was at the top of the charts and Dragnet had just premiered. A form letter was sent from the Duluth city attorney's office to comparably sized cities seeking salary information for legal stenographers. Utica, New York answered this week.

The last front page story in today's paper declares, 100 days, trillions spent, Obama's success unclear. A closeup photo of President Obama has this caption: Has signed executive orders in 100 days than any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The article, which came in through a syndicated feed from the McClatchy Newspapers, is essentially about how the economic crisis has given the president the opportunity to strengthen executive power. The headline, though, is curious to me. Obama's success unclear? Some of the laws being written into the books won't take effect for years, and the impact of all this legislation being rolled out at a dizzying pace may not be fully recognized for decades. In short, the phrase "Obama's success unclear" is a tautology.

One thing I do like about the Sunday paper, besides the comics, is the Opinion section. I especially like when they take an issue and present pro and con perspectives on an issue. Today's debate deals with the Aad Shrine Circus which is coming to town next weekend. Just plain fun or Just plain cruel is the headline.

A picture of smiling kids mounted atop a brightly decorated elephant fills much of the page. The kids sure are cute. It might be interesting to explore the ethics of circuses some time. Right now, I think I'll finish getting dressed so I can start my day.

What are today's headlines on your local paper? If you don't want to post just send an email. I'd be interested in hearing what's hot in your neck of the woods.