Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

At his press conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about his thoughts on the "Twitter universe" in light of a recent scandal involving an EMS lieutenant who was suspended after the New York Post revealed a series of racist statements he made on the social media site. Mayor Bloomberg described it as evidence people need to be far more careful about what they post online and suggested he'd even warned one of his fellow media moguls, Rupert Murdoch, to stay away from Twitter.

"Everything you send out is going to be retweeted, re-Facebooked, re this, re that and ... if you write it down, some day somebody's going to FOIL it or get it based on a judge's order," said Mayor Bloomberg. "You should write down, number one, only things you believe and, number two, then think about how it would look if somebody else sees it."

Mayor Bloomberg went on to say parents should explain the need to be discrete on social media to their children.

"There are just a lot of young kids who are doing things on their Twitter account, their Facebook account that later on is going to come back and bite them," Mayor Bloomberg said. "I know you want to share information and I know it's nice to be able to express yourself but you just have to have the maturity to understand."

Though the mayor, who has a robust social media presence, said he expects children will make mistakes on Twitter, he expressed surprise the EMS lieutenant who got in hot water and other adults still don't realize the site has a public audience.

"It's kind of hard to understand how anybody like that would not think that some day somebody's going to take a look at what they do," said the mayor. "The bottom line is, it's very addictive, it's easy, you hit a button and nobody thinks that the rest of the world is looking."

The questions on the Twitter scandal came from New York Post reporter David Seifman. After getting the mayor's initial thoughts on the situation and the site in general, Mr. Seifman asked the mayor if he would ever enact a policy to prevent public employees from using social media inappropriately or would just leave it up to "common sense." Mayor Bloomberg said it would be difficult to institute any specific policy.

"There are all sorts of First Amendment issues. I've looked into it," Mayor Bloomberg said. "Companies face this all the time, just like governments do. It's embarrassing to a company to have somebody go out and insult or worse."

To demonstrate just how dangerous he believes Twitter can be for businesses, Mayor Bloomberg told Mr. Seifman he had warned his "boss" to stay off the site. Mayor Bloomberg's comment seemed to be an obvious allusion to Post owner Rupert Murdoch, whose frequent tweeting has not come without controversy.

"I've told your boss I think he should stop twittering," Mayor Bloomberg said to Mr. Seifman. "It's dangerous because people can take things out of--you know, 140 odd characters doesn't give you a chance to explain what you really mean. It's just a phrase that gets taken out of context."

Mayor Bloomberg was coy when another reporter followed up by asking him to confirm he was referring to Mr. Murdoch.

"I don't know who that would be," he said with a laugh.

Luke Russert (Photo: Facebook)

Today, political types were focused on mastering the English language, reading up on Ron Paul and dubious honors. Here’s our roundup of the day’s best Tweets from the campaign trail.

NBC News reporter/heir Luke Russert made an exciting discovery.

The New York State Senate honored the mascot of baseball's worst team.

ABC newsman Jake Tapper sang a few bars.

New York Daily News editor Tracy Connor was reminded of Mitt Romney's canine controversy while reading the police blotter.

Rupert Murdoch came to an interesting, somewhat unintelligible conclusion after reading about Ron Paul.

Reuters reporter Sam Youngman had a tough time while following Mitt Romney on the campaign trail in Michigan.

Rupert Murdoch (Photo: Twitter)

Prolific Tweeter and Fox media mogul Rupert Murdoch is reading a book about Ron Paul and he would like to discuss it with his fellow social media enthusiasts.

"Just reading new book on Ron Paul. Fascinating. Ron sure model of consistency, right or wrong. Any tweeters wish to debate?" Mr. Murdoch wrote on his Twitter page a few minutes ago. 

So far, Mr. Murdoch hasn't engaged in any Paul-related discussion yet. A few minutes before he polled followers on Mr. Paul, he posted a rather cryptic, unrelated political observation.

"When? Women voting is best thing in a hundred years," Mr. Murdoch wrote, a propos of nothing.

Mr. Murdoch's interest is Mr. Paul is rather surprising. Many of Mr. Paul's supporters  believe the mainstream media, including Fox News, have ignored their candidate. Mr. Murdoch is pretty much the archetype of an establishment Republican, it will be interesting to see if his recent reading causes him to embrace some of Mr. Paul's more libertarian ideas about drugs and banking.

Rupert Murdoch (Photo: Twitter)

News Corporation media mogul Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter today to weigh in on Mayor Bloomberg's State of the City address. Mr. Murdoch praised Mayor Bloomberg's education proposals, encouraged the United Federation of Teacher's to drop their opposition to the initiatives and wondered how New York's "chicken" governor will respond.

"Bloomberg's bold teacher proposals today terrific. How will chicken Cuomo respond? If UFT refuses this money good teachers will scream," Mr. Murdoch wrote.

In his speech, Mayor Bloomberg proposed merit pay and teacher evaluation programs. Teacher's unions have generally fought similar programs. The UFT has already clashed with Mayor Bloomberg about his evaluation plans.

Mr. Murdoch joined Twitter to great fanfare on New Year's Eve. Though he's been on the site for less than two weeks, but he's already written several postings on the social media site expressing admiration for Mayor Bloomberg. His 16th Tweet dubbed Hizzoner "New York’s best mayor in memory." On January 4, he described Mayor Bloomberg as one of the "three greatest philanthropists" along with Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.

Full Disclosure: From June 2010 until November of last year, this reporter worked at The Daily, an iPad newspaper owned by Mr. Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch (Photo: Twitter)

Rupert Murdoch shared some kind words for his fellow billionaire and media mogul, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Mr. Murdoch joined Twitter this weekend and his first social media musings included compliments for Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, movie reviews, New Year's resolutions and a glowing assessment of Mayor Bloomberg. "Great to see Mike Bloomberg getting some rewards for being New York's best mayor in memory!" Mr. Murdoch wrote last night. 

Mr. Murdoch wasn't entirely clear which "rewards" he was referring to. Perhaps the honor he had in mind was the now infamous New Year's kiss Mayor Bloomberg received from Lady Gaga.  Whatever he may have meant, Mr. Murdoch's comment that Mayor Bloomberg is the best city leader he remembers carries some weight. As an 80-year-old, Mr. Murdoch's memory may stretch all the way back to the administration of Tammany Hall heavyweight Jimmy Walker.

Sadly for Mayor Bloomberg--and his press office, Mr. Murdoch's love for Mayor Bloomberg doesn't extend to the editorial page of the New York Post, which is owned by Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation. In recent months, Post editors have slammed Mayor Bloomberg for letting the Occupy Wall Street protesters stay too long, barricading the Wall Street bull, taking vacations outside the city and hating cats.

Full Disclosure: From June 2010 until November of last year, this reporter worked at The Daily, an iPad newspaper owned by Mr. Murdoch.

Steven A. Schwarzman (Getty)

After his company announced hundreds of millions in losses yesterday morning, Blackstone Group chairman and co-founder Steven A. Schwarzman did his best Henny Youngman impression with a political roast routine at last night's annual Al Smith dinner. Mr. Schwarzman's schmaltzy speech at the Waldorf Astoria white tie bash included zingers about Occupy Wall Street, the News Corporation phone hacking scandal and New York Senator Chuck Schumer. Hey-O! Fortune's Katie Benner described all of Mr. Schwarzman's "borscht belt glory" in recap of the yearly charity event for his daily "Term Sheet" email.

"Anyone who got near the mic managed to fire off a strained "Occupy the Waldorf Astoria" joke," Ms. Benner wrote.

Mr. Schwarzman's best line may have been a crack that referenced both his mother and Rupert Murdoch's phone hackers.

"After I read some of my jokes over the phone to my mother, Rupert called and told me I had pretty good material."

The Al Smith dinner is a white tie event benefitting a foundation run by the New York Archdiocese that started in the late 1940's. Over the years, it earned a reputation for hosting political heavyweights. Past keynote speakers include JFK, Winston Churchill, President Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Senator John McCain, Winston Churchill, and former Presidents Reagan, Bush Senior, Nixon and Carter.

NY1 posted a clip of Mr. Schwarzman joking about two New York politicians who were conspicuously absent at this year's dinner.

"I'm a bit disappointed our two senators couldn't be here tonight, but ... there's some votes in the Senate. I wanted to personally congratulate Senator Gillibrand who looked stunning in that photo spread in Vogue. I so admire her poise, professionalism and ability to find the one news outlet that Chuck Schumer couldn't monopolize," Schwarzman said.

You can't blame Mr. Schwarzman for wanting to yuck it up and blow off some steam. Earlier that same morning, Blackstone Group posted a nasty $342 million third quarter loss.

"The third quarter presented extremely challenging market conditions," Mr. Schwarzman said.

Take my portfolio ... please!

Rupert Murdoch's residence at 834 Fifth Avenue. (Observer)

Occupy Wall Street is moving on up to the East Side -- literally, with a coalition of activist groups is marching on the homes of some of New York City's richest residents tomorrow.The "Millionaire's March" was organized by three of the groups that helped plan last Wednesday's Occupy Wall Street megamarch; UnitedNY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, and New York Communities for Change. It will include stops at the homes of News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, energy executive and conservative activist David Koch, real estate developer Howard Millstein, hedge fund manager John Paulson and JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon.

According to a press release for the march, the targets were, "specifically chosen for their willingness to hoard wealth at the expense of the 99%."  The "Millionaire's March" begins tomorrow at 12:30 PM on the corner of 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Interestingly, one of New York's best known billionaires, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, isn't on the marchers' list. Perhaps he earned some goodwill with his promise to let the Occupy Wall Street crowd remain in Zuccotti Park.

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 12: Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive officer of News Corp., is driven from his apartment on July 12, 2011 in London, England. Allegations emerged yesterday that private investigators working for The Sun and The Sunday Times newspapers, owned by Mr Murdoch's company, targeted former Prime Minister Gordon Brown to obtain bank details and his son's medical records. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

No one in News Corp.’s New York headquarters knew quite what to do when the pie landed on Rupert Murdoch.

“The newsroom stopped,” said one person inside the Wall Street Journal offices at the time, where the hearing was being broadcast on the televisions in the bullpen.

Outside, two NYPD cars were parked directly opposite of the building’s main entrance on Avenue of the Americas, while a CNN reporter filmed a report with Mr. Murdoch’s flagship building in the background. Inside, Mr. Murdoch’s operations tried to carry on: Fox News ran the London hearing live, and the Journal reporters—upon recovering—prepared a front-page story for the next morning.

But the pie-stained moment—which included Mr. Murdoch’s wife, Wendi Deng, slapping the assailant, and his son, James, complaining to the police—was, in many ways, tailor-made for Mr. Murdoch’s favorite local outlet, the tabloid he had twice bought and most closely resembles the embodiment of his life’s work: Turning dry dispassionate reports of government bodies into dramatic, personal narratives of powerful men and business elites behaving badly. And yet, if any Murdoch news outlet had something resembling an emotional desire to protect the 80-year-old Australian on what he called the “most humble” day of his life, it was the New York Post, the money-losing property that has long felt like a physical extension of its doting owner. The Post ran the story on page 35.

“He cried when he lost the Post the first time,” said Marc Kalech, who was managing editor of the paper when Mr. Murdoch bought the paper for a second time, in 1993. Mr. Murdoch had first purchased it in 1977, but was forced to relinquish it in 1988, when he bought a television station in the same market, which, at the time, was prohibited by federal rules.

“He would call the Post every day,” said Mr. Kalech, who started as a copy boy at the Post in 1966 and recalled how Mr. Murdoch turned the tabloid into an extension of himself. “The Post was his baby. It was his voice. He loved the Post. I can’t tell you how many times I was alone on a Saturday putting together the Sunday paper and he’d call from his yacht in the South Pacific.”

Sometimes, the message was delivered in person.

Jared Paul Stern, who had been under contract to write for Page Six, remembered his boss’s unmistakable influence didn’t need to be spelled out in a memo to staff.

“The Clintons were a very rich target. Anything you could get on them, embarrassing or otherwise, would be welcomed with open arms,” Mr. Stern recalled. Then, one day, Mr. Clinton “showed up in the news room with Rupert. He had gotten friendly with Rupert. After that, we couldn’t touch them. They would kill anything we got on the Clintons. The most we could muster is a blind item.”

One reporter was told by his editor that “Rupert ordered” a look into the connections between then-governor David Paterson and the lobbying activities of his father, Basil Paterson, according to a Post insider. It was, in fairness, a sound story to investigate, but there was an implied understanding that the reporter should turn up something, since his editor felt the need to mention where the idea came from.

Mr. Murdoch’s influence was so unambiguous and obvious, that often times, his preference was simply assumed.

One former reporter said his own editor requested a week’s worth of stories about the New York City public schools because “Rupert was going to be in town.” It was coveted real estate in the paper, and the reporter reluctantly obliged.

For Mr. Murdoch, the value of the paper has always been its ability to rattle the echo chamber. It helped thrust Ed Koch into Gracie Mansion (and mistakenly drafted him to run for governor), mercilessly mocked Governor Paterson until he dropped his bid for a full term as governor, and literally sent the clowns into Albany when a sloppily executed coup in the State Senate brought state government to halt.

None of which has translated into financial success. Unlike the News of the World, which Mr. Murdoch was quick to shutter despite boasting the largest circulation in England, the Post has never made money under Mr. Murdoch.

While the Journal enjoys a sleek office and comfortable furniture, Post staffers said they haven’t seen new computers in ages, and some important positions have lately gone unfilled. The paper’s well-respected politics editor, Gregg Birnbaum departed abruptly for Politico in December, after clashing with Editor-in-Chief Col Allan, and has yet to be replaced.

All of which has led to questions about how long a paper can survive on Mr. Murdoch’s affinity alone. Mr. Murdoch’s son, James, reportedly pushed the company to shutter News of the World, and he has yet to evince his father’s old-school affection for the printed product.

“I’ve always felt that when Rupert is gone and the bean counters look at the company, the parts that lose millions of dollars a year are unlikely to fare well,” said one person who agreed to be identified only as “a person employed at a News Corp. tabloid in New York City.”

The difficult part might be finding a buyer for a money-losing operation that has yet to adapt to the web.

“It has to be bought by somebody who is willing to absorb those kind of losses,” said John Catsimatidis, who estimated the annual shortfall at somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million dollars. Mr. Catsimatidis would seem to be just the kind of person interested in owning the Post—what with his deep pockets and longstanding interest in pushing New York politics to the right. But Mr. Catsimatidis said he hadn’t thought about it, and anyway, he prefers to read his news online. “The problem with newspapers is you’re reading yesterday’s news,” he said.

apaybarah@observer.com

"I have no reason to think Rupert Murdoch knew about it, or that anyone from the New York Post, Fox News, knew about it, so I’m not going to get into that," King said at a breakfast event hosted by the Observer yesterday. "I think this is corruption that could be in any organization. I just thought this had to be tracked down and investigated."

King asked the F.B.I. to investigate whether journalists at News of the World had tried to hack into the phones of September 11 victims' families, and said he was "pleasantly surprised" when, within 24 hours, the bureau launched a probe. (King also got a call from Murdoch in that span, reassuring him the scandal didn't touch the U.S.)

"Ordinarily one allegation made would not be enough for me to call for a congressional investigation," he said. But the congressman, who represents a number of families who lost relatives in 9/11, said the investigation was the only way to ease their anxiety at the rumored hacking.

"This to me, it’s a moral issue," he said. "Norman Siegel is saying for the first time in 40 years, he and I agree on a major issue."

He was hopeful the investigation won't strain his "good relationship" with Murdoch, and the Post, and Fox News. "We’ll see what happens," he said.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 19: U.S. President Obama arrives in the Brady Press Briefing Room for a brief statement on ongoing debt ceiling negotiations with congressional leaders July 19, 2011 in Washington, DC. Obama said a proposal offered by the bipartisan group, the 'Gang of Six', was 'a very significant step' on resolving the stalemate over the debt ceiling issue. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Tonight: Rangel does live online town hall at 5:30. [We Harlem]

Tonight: Gianaris on NY1 with Errol Louis. [Twitter]

Tonight: Dominic Carter makes TV debut as guest on RNN Richard Frech's show, tonight and tomorrow. [ Jerry Barmash/ FishbowlNY]

2013: "Fall internship positions with NYC citywide campaign." [Twitter]

2014: DiNapoli has just $53,000 on-hand. [Liz Benjamin / Capital Tonight]

Debt Ceiling: Obama embraces bi-partisan plan, hoping the House will too. [James Calmes and Jennifer Steinhauer / New York Times]

Silicon Alley: Bloomberg's plans for new college is "a shot across the bow of Silicon Valley." [Samantha Gross / AP]

Silicon Alley: New school could create 30,000 temp and permanent jobs [Patrick McGeehan / New York Times]

Phone Hacking: Murdoch maintains his innocence. [Alan Cowell and Graham Bowley / New York Times]

Phone Hacking: "The hearing ended with another MP saying, 'Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook.'” [Keach Hagey / Politico]

Phone Hacking: Why Joel Klein was sitting behind the Murdochs today. [Jacob Soboroff / Twitter]

Cuomo: Phase II, creating jobs. [Cara Matthews / LoHud]

DiNapoli: Top aide, Dennis Tompkins departs for job with state Education Dept. [Ken Lovett / Daily News]

Same-Sex Marriage: Paul Singer, GOP who advocated for same-sex marriage, donated to Conservative Party. [Liz Benjamin / Capital Tonight]

Same-Sex Marriage: Lottery system to handle the influx this Sunday. [NY1]

Same-Sex Marriage: "We want to make sure that Sunday is not like a trip to Motor Vehicles," said Quinn, about city preparations. [Julie Bolcer / Advocate]

Headline: "Christian Clerks Face NYC Same-Sex Marriage License Dilemma." [Jennifer LeClaire / Charisma Magazine]