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AT&T is lining up support for its acquisition of T-Mobile from a slew of liberal groups with no obvious interest in telecom deals -- except that they've received big piles of AT&T’s cash.

In recent weeks, the NAACP, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the National Education Association have each issued public statements in support of the deal. The groups all say their public positions have nothing to do with the money they received from AT&T. And AT&T says it supports nonprofit groups because it’s the right thing to do — and not because of any quid pro quo. “For decades, AT&T has proudly supported numerous diverse groups and organizations,” a company spokesperson said. But not everyone’s buying it.

“The money that nonprofits receive from their corporate sponsors sticks not only in their bank accounts but in their minds,” Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to government transparency, said. “This is what I think of as deep lobbying — there is an expectation that when push comes to shove, these groups will come out in favor of their benefactors.” AT&T’s corporate giving arm, the AT&T Foundation, doled out $62 million in 2009 to support a variety of arts and education programs, charities and organizations. Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior vice president and top lobbyist, chairs the foundation. AT&T’s record of corporate giving is widely touted by recipients, many of whom cite the company’s extensive record on promoting minorities, women, schools and the arts. But some public interest groups question whether the company is cashing in on its status as one of the country’s biggest corporate donors.

AT&T has assembled a platoon of more than 72 outside lawyers and consultants to work the FCC and Justice Department on the deal. And it’s brought on public relations agencies and other consultants to craft a message that the merger is more about spreading wireless broadband to underserved populations across America than about enriching the company’s shareholders. To build support, AT&T employees and consultants have been making personal visits and calls as well as holding luncheons. Out of about a dozen supporters interviewed by POLITICO, the vast majority said they decided to issue a statement supporting the AT&T/T-Mobile deal after being approached this way. The company has put much of its efforts into winning support from left-leaning groups like labor unions, environmentalists and minorities. Support from these groups may give pause to Washington Democrats who might otherwise rail against wireless industry consolidation.

Whoever dreamed up the legend of Faust, the sad tale of the man who traded his soul for unlimited knowledge, could well have been thinking ahead to Facebook and its fascination with China.

What to make of Facebook -- which holds itself up as an icon of openness -- and its flirtation with the largest authoritarian nation on earth? Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the social-networking behemoth, sees an inevitability to China. "How can you connect the whole world," he asked a group at Stanford in October, "if you leave out a-billion-six people?" And then Zuckerberg hinted at how he'll answer those who worry about compromises Facebook might make to get into China: "I don't want Facebook to be an American company," he said. "I don't want it to be this company that just spreads American values all across the world. ...For example, we have this notion of free speech that we really love and support at Facebook, and that's one of the main things that we're trying to push with openness. But different countries have their different standards around that. ...My view on this is that you want to be really culturally sensitive and understand the way that people actually think."

Soon afterward, Zuckerberg made the rounds of Chinese Internet companies, visiting Baidu and Sina. Facebook continues to explore possible partnerships, and Zuckerberg, who is studying Mandarin, may travel to China again this year.

"This is a train wreck waiting to happen," says a businessman in Beijing familiar with China's Internet legacy. He and others believe Facebook will be allowed into the country, subjected to the same treatment Google and Yahoo received, and then spit out -- its reputation for openness damaged, and its technology metabolized by a China eager to find new ways to spy on its citizens. The potential price for Facebook: its standing in the U.S., its most important advertising market.

The latest threat to the shopping-mall hierarchy is an unlikely one. But Apple is challenging the dominance of department stores. The technology giant isn't branching into clothing or furniture. It is, however, expanding its presence in malls. That is a territory where department stores have long been treated better than other tenants because they attract shoppers.

Often, such so-called anchor tenants pay little or no rent. But Apple has arguably become an equally important attraction, thanks to a consistent string of blockbuster products. Indeed, Apple stores have overtaken many traditional anchors by revenue. In Apple's fiscal year through September, it had sales of $34.1 million per retail store. Macy's much larger stores generated $29 million on average in sales last year, and J.C. Penney, just $16.1 million, estimates Michael Exstein of Credit Suisse. And yet, Apple isn't getting anchor privileges. Steve Sakwa of ISI Group estimates Apple pays $50 to $80 a square foot in annual retail rent. For a store with 6,000 square feet, Apple would pay as much as $480,000 annually. That compares with the $439,000 per leased store that J.C. Penney paid last year, Exstein estimates. Department stores are often 20 times larger than an Apple location. For now, department stores are unlikely to lose anchor status. Landlords are struggling to keep large spaces filled, and many leases last 30 years. The bigger headache may be for landlords who benefit from Apple. Simon Property Group, the country's largest mall owner by revenue, has Apple stores in 20% of its locations, says Cedrik LaChance of Green Street Advisors. Smaller rival Taubman Centers has Apple stores in 65% of its malls, he says.

The chief of the federal car safety agency served notice that he'll fight unsafe infotainment technology that tries to convert vehicles into smartphones on wheels.

"I'm just putting everyone on notice. A car is not a mobile device," said David Strickland, administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "I'm not in the business of helping people tweet better. I'm not in the business of helping people post on Facebook better." Strickland, speaking at the Telematics Detroit 2011 conference in Novi (MI), acknowledged that there are useful in-car applications that help drivers, dealerships and automakers diagnose mechanical problems and find solutions faster. And he praised navigation systems and automatic notification of emergency responders after accidents as valuable technologies. But there is a difference, he said, between technology that supports a driver or enhances vehicle safety and services that simply distract people from driving safely. "It's OK not to be connected when you're operating a car. I'm not going to dispute that people want these services. They do."