As the phone-hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s media empire widens, attention is increasingly being focused on his son, James Murdoch.The Guardian reported on Friday that the younger Murdoch, who has already admitted misleading Parliament, “could face criminal charges on both sides of the Atlantic.”
James Murdoch is the deputy CEO of News Corp, the US company which owns the British company News International that allegedly paid police officers in the United Kingdom for information. This could make him liable to prosecution in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits American companies from bribing foreign officials.
Investors in companies controlled by Rupert Murdoch have been dumping the shares amid fears on both sides of the Atlantic over the fallout from the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World.
Shares in broadcaster BSkyB are down 5% in the last week, wiping some £666m off the value of the business, while News Corp had lost 2.6% – slicing some $400m off the value of the News of the World's ultimate parent company.Many hedge funds which had bought into BSkyB in the hope of making a quick profit from the bid have been selling the shares on fears that the deal now faces substantial delay.
Closing the News of the World may seem like the most radical step Rupert Murdoch could take to stop the telephone hacking row from engulfing his News Corporation empire.
But it may not be enough to insulate his son from the fall-out — and preserve him as his heir apparent.
The 200 staff who were effectively made redundant by News International when it shut down the News of the World are set to sue the company for unfair dismissal - and it could cost the company £14million.
Many of the paper's journalists believe they have been badly mistreated because they had no involvement in the phone hacking scandal, and the large majority were not even working on the paper when the alleged offences took place.
There is the belief among the staff that the axed journalists have been used as scapegoats for NI's chief executive Rebekah Brooks and BSkyB's James Murdoch.
Legal experts said that if the staff did chose to sue for unfair dismissal, each of the 200 could receive £70,000 at employment tribunals.
That would leave News International with a £14 million bill, reported the Evening Standard.
There was yet another problem for News International today as car manufacturer Renault become the first company to extend its bar on advertising to all of News International's title, not just the defunct NotW.A source in the NotW newsroom told The Independent: 'Murdoch has sacrificed a newspaper to save one woman.'
Prior to the plug being pulled on the paper, a flood of major advertisers began withdrawing their custom from the News of the World specifically. If Renault's boycott proves the be the first of many, it could have serious repercussions for its other title such as The Sun,The Times and the Sunday Times.(Think BIGGER..) And:
I'm curious as to how much Rebekah Brooks knows about everything. Thank god I've been stocking up on popcorn, as this is going to be a pretty fun and funny scandal! And I do love a good comedy.. Let the shoe dropping and hilarity begin!
Paul Ryan caught buying $350 bottle of wine. Hopefully, somebody will be picking up on the "Paul Ryan: Man of the People" ads that are begging to be written, produced, and viewed on YouTube..
Murdoch's people allegedly deleted voice mails from family members to the murdered girl imploring her to get in touch with them (they didn't know she was dead already). The paper then found that the voice mail was filling up, and they wanted to hear more messages,so they deleted some of the current messages for the dead girl, making the family think the girl was checking her messages and was still alive.The paper then interviewed the family who talked about their hope that the girl was still alive, while the paper said nothing about how it had helped create this false hope.
Excerpted from The Guardian..
Then, with the help of its own full-time private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, the News of the World started illegally intercepting mobile phone messages. Scotland Yard is now investigating evidence that the paper hacked directly into the voicemail of the missing girl's own phone.As her friends and parents called and left messages imploring Milly to get in touch with them, the News of the World was listening and recording their every private word.
But the journalists at the News of the World then encountered a problem. Milly's voicemail box filled up and would accept no more messages. Apparently thirsty for more information from more voicemails, the paper intervened – and deleted the messages that had been left in the first few days after her disappearance. According to one source, this had a devastating effect: when her friends and family called again and discovered that her voicemail had been cleared, they concluded that this must have been done by Milly herself and, therefore, that she must still be alive. But she was not. The interference created false hope and extra agony for those who were misled by it.
The Dowler family then granted an exclusive interview to the News of the World in which they talked about their hope, quite unaware that it had been falsely kindled by the newspaper's own intervention. Sally Dowler told the paper: "If Milly walked through the door, I don't think we'd be able to speak. We'd just weep tears of joy and give her a great big hug."
The deletion of the messages also caused difficulties for the police by confusing the picture when they had few leads to pursue. It also potentially destroyed valuable evidence.
For Murdoch,thisis serious. These allegations could be pointing to systemic criminality not only at NOTW, but in potentially ALL of Murdoch owned media. Investigations will spread, and more evidence will surface. I wonder what those investigations will find? Fox News has pissed a lot of people off--Don't you think those people won't want every shred of evidence they can get? How ever will anyone come to a fair and balanced decision without every last shit nugget?
Rupert is now 80, and facing what will probably be the largest and most destructive scandal of his career. In the spirit of Fox News itself, I wish you well, Rupert, in all your future endeavours..
Rumors About Gavins Point Dam FalseAt least on 7/7.. This is an unusually heavy flood season along the Missouri River. And in no way is it close to over. The stress of containing more water than some of these dams have ever held back continues..
Claims of man made terrorism aside, the threat Nature poses to Gavins Point, Fort Peck, and the dam and levee system all along the Missouri River is very real, and should be treated as such. Lest we forget that Ft. Calhoun Nuclear Plant is already flooded.. How badly would several reservoirs worth of water compound the situation at Fort Calhoun?
Come on deteriorating infrastructure: Please continue to hold fast..
Scientists are closely monitoring unusual underground activity that could signal a massive explosion at a volcano dubbed the 'Gateway to Hell.'
The Heckla volcano in southern Iceland is capable of producing four times the debris of the country's last ash-producing blast that caused flights to be cancelled across northern Britain in May. .. 'No eruption has started in Hekla volcano. But it might start without any warning.' said Icelandic volcano expert Jon Frimann. .. If Heckla blows, the amount of disruption it causes will depend on it size and the speed and direction of the wind. (Obviously, experts expect this to be a substantial eruption..)
Both of Iceland's latest eruptions provided warning signs several hours before, but Hekla is known for having a very short fuse.
'Hekla never gives you much of a warning,' said Mr Einarsson, In 2000, it began rumbling an hour and a half before the outbreak of magma, which was actually an unusually long warning. In 1970 we only got 25 minutes notice,' he added.
Sweet. The potential or active catastrophes continue to pile on, don't they? In honor of Hekla resurgence, here's some B-52's. Fuck it; let's dance..
I don't care. I'm sorry a little girl is dead, but in no way, shape, or form is National News. The investigation, incarceration, and trial had no national significance. It has no political or economic impact. It is, however, Hyper-Sensational and MediaSexy As Hell, and concluded its three year run with a substantial chunk of the country hanging on every move, and now, passionately attacking or defending the outcome.
In terms of global significance, Fukushima is way, waaaaay more important. The unfolding collapse of Greece, then Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and the E.U. is more important. America's continuing economic stagnation-into-collapse is more important. Missouri River flooding and potential Nuclear Nightmare scenarios are more important. Los Alamos wild fire and potential Nuclear Nightmare scenarios are more important.
And yet, day in, day out, breathless condemnations disguised as coverage, a real time television lynchin' that failed to deliver when the verdict was read. Now everybody's talking about their huge, blue judicial balls, and still the important stories continue to go on unnoticed. Fuck, man, this was not the climax the NewsPeople promised. The people that are madabout this verdict are really mad, and the crazies mad about this verdict are crazed. My guess? Someone will take matters into their own hands, and she'll be maimed or dead by Labor Day. Obsessed fans or Avenging Angels, The Crazy Peopleare really riled upby Casey Anthony's very existence.. And no, this isn't wishful thinking, just an estimation based on the level of crazy surrounding the investigation/media circus/frenzy dating all the way back to her public conviction back on Day One.
As an aside, I'm looking forward to Casey Anthony's civil suit against Nancy Grace. Will Nancy Grace sentenceNancy Grace guilty of slanderand the character assassination of Casey Anthony? So much evidence alreadycommitted to tape..
The story will continue, as the media and public hound her every move. If anything, the story might have just begun. Again, why should we care? We're being irradiated every day. But the media got some stellar ratings, so everything worked out fine.
The 33-page brochure underscored that General Electric Co. (GE)'s Mark I containment system was employed at the Fukushima plant, while containing speculation and describing fuel melting in the spent fuel storage pool,which never took place. On its last page, the brochure concluded that Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) apparently had not released most of the information it held. (And yet, it's hard to get worked up about someone smearing TEPCO..)
The leaflet sent shockwaves around Tokyo and Washington, as well as GE officials, who were busy responding to the nuclear crisis.Areva lobbyists stressed that the accident was peculiar to Japan when they handed out the leaflets, hinting that similar accidents would never occur with nuclear plant systems provided by Areva.It was obvious to the recipients of the brochures that they were part of Areva's maneuvering to quash its competitors in the nuclear power business.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Japan on March 31almost coincidedwith the distribution of the leaflets.During a meeting with Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Sarkozy made assurances that Japan will recover from the crisis and promised to offer the country his full support.He further requested Kan to deliver the opening speech at the G8 summit meeting starting on May 26 in Deauville, France --marking the first time for a Japanese prime minister to do so. .. Japanese nuclear reactor manufacturers were also overwhelmed by France's marketing strategies.They were effectively overtaken by Areva when the company appealed to TEPCO that it has a better purification system to decontaminate radioactive water released from the Fukushima plant than any other manufacturers and that it could deliver the system swiftly. "We had no choice but to put up with the unendurable," lamented a senior official with a Japanese manufacturer.
After successfully receiving an order from TEPCO, Areva's Lauvergeion stated that the era of low-price competition in the nuclear power business was over, signaling her confidence in Areva's products.She subsequently resigned in late June.
Areva proves they are soulless. Kinda funny, then(if this were a movie, mind you..) that theirdecontaminationsystem is apiece of shit.. Yup. Here in the real world, the joke's on us.
Throughout the months of lies and misinformation, one story has stuck: “The earthquake knocked out the plant’s electric power, halting cooling to its reactors,” as the government spokesman Yukio Edano said at a March 15 press conference in Tokyo. The story, which has been repeated again and again, boils down to this: “after the earthquake, the tsunami – a unique, unforeseeable [the Japanese word is soteigai] event - then washed out the plant’s back-up generators, shutting down all cooling and starting the chain of events that would cause the world’s first triple meltdown to occur.”
But what if recirculation pipes and cooling pipes, burst, snapped, leaked, and broke completely after the earthquake -- long before the tidal wave reached the facilities, long before the electricity went out?This would surprise few people familiar with the 40-year-old Unit 1, the grandfather of the nuclear reactors still operating in Japan.
The authors have spoken to several workers at the plant who recite the same story:Serious damage to piping and at least one of the reactors before the tsunami hit. And: The reason for official reluctance to admit that the earthquake did direct structural damage to reactor one is obvious. Katsunobu Onda, author of TEPCO: The Dark Empire (東京電力・暗黒の帝国), who sounded the alarm about the firm in his 2007 book explains it this way:“If TEPCO and the government of Japan admit an earthquake can do direct damage to the reactor, this raises suspicions about the safety of every reactor they run. They are using a number of antiquated reactors that have the same systematic problems, the same wear and tear on the piping.” .. Onda notes, “I’ve spent decades researching TEPCO and its nuclear power plants and what I’ve found, and what government reports confirm is thatthe nuclear reactors are only as strong as their weakest links, and those links are the pipes.”
Radioactive cesium-137 was found in Tokyo’s tap water for the first time since April as Japan grapples with the worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.The level was below the safety limit set by the government. (Which, I'm sure, is comforting..)
Cesium-137 registered at 0.14 becquerel per kilogram in Shinjuku ward on July 2 and none(?!!) was discovered yesterday, compared with 0.21 becquerel on April 22, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health.No cesium-134 or iodine-131 was detected, the agency said on its website. And: Products including spinach, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tea, milk, plums and fish have been found to be contaminated with cesium and iodineas far as 360 kilometers (224 miles) from the station.Prolonged exposure to radiation in the air, ground and food can cause leukemia and other cancers, according to the London-based World Nuclear Association.
A worker doing the routine inspection of the site in the morning of July 3 noticed the seawater gushing from the pipe that connects to one of the two temporary RHRS (residual heat removal system) pumps for the Reactor 5. The rupture on the pipe was 30 centimeters long and 7 centimeters wide. .. TEPCO called it "leakage", just like a "puddle" that turns out to fill the turbine basement or reactor building basement.An understatement.
Not a water purification plant or at a waste water treatment plant, but a plant that burns regular, household garbage in eastern Tokyo was found with a high level of radioactive cesium in the fly ashes caught in the incinerator filter.
Edogawa-ku is located at the eastern end of Tokyo. Along with its northern neighbor Katsushika-K, Edogawa-ku seems to have been in denial of the elevated radiation levels throughout the ward,and has only recently (June 18) started to measure the radiation at multiple locations within the ward.
The Edogawa waste disposal plant is located by the Edogawa River that separates Edogawa-ku and Chiba Prefecture. The plant can burn 600 tonnes of garbage per day with 24-hour operation, with 2 incinerators.It's in a mixed residential/commercial neighborhood,with 2 elementary schools nearby, and a nursery school right next to the plant, according to the Google Map. And: As I said above, a nursery school is right next to the plant, and there are 2 elementary schools nearby.
Gary Schaeffer’s grandkids ran to an overlook of Gavins Point Dam. “Ooh, man. Ooh.” Schaeffer followed and looked down in disbelief. A riot of water roiled where he’d spent a lifetime of lazy fishing. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “Nothing even close.” Eight years out of 10, the 14 flood gates, 40 feet wide, spill not so much as a bucket of the brown water into the Missouri River. Now enough is barreling out of Lewis & Clark Lake to cover a football field 3½ feet deep every second. Water will race through the dam at that record rate, ultimately swamping farms and towns for hundreds of miles downstream, through August.
U.S. military forces landed in Somalia to retrieve the bodies of dead or wounded militants after a U.S. drone strike targeted a group of insurgents, Somalia's defense minister told The Associated Press on Friday.
Censorship in Japan: The Fukushima Cover-upDissident Voice via Xymphora. Excerpts:
Today, “four out of fiveJapanesewant to see Tokyo abandon nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima atomic crisis…”3But any professional in industry, government or media would have no chance of career advancement if they spoke out against nuclear power.
Japan's leading business journal Toyo Keizai has published an article by Hokkaido Cancer Center director Nishio Masamichi, a radiation treatment specialist. The piece, entitled“The Problem of Radiation Exposure Countermeasures for the Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Concerns for the Present Situation”, was published on June 27 and is consistent with the critical coverage of the Fukushima crisis that has appeared in independent weekly magazines, notably Shukan Kinyobi, which have taken a strong anti-nuclear stance since the March 11 earthquake-tsunami-meltdown, and have repeatedly focused on the dangers of radiation exposure while calling for far-reaching measures to protect those at risk. Nishio begins by asserting that the Fukushima crisis has caused Japan’s “myth of nuclear safety” to crumble. He has “grave concern” for the public health effects of the ongoing radiation leak. Nishio originally called for “calm” in the days after the accident. Now, he argues, that as the gravity of the situation at the plant has become more clear, the specter of long-term radiation exposure must be reckoned with.
The Reckoning has already begun, and will continue to manifest, becoming clearer and more horrible, over the coming weeks and months. The Bombardment continues..
Master Plan For Gaza
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🇮🇱🇺🇸 EPIC RANT: "F**k Israel. F**k the ADL. If you want me to hate the
people you like, keep doing this!Keep telling me you’re going to put me in
f**ki...
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Question from reader: Dear Mr. Fulford, I have been following your weekly
updates every Monday for the past three or four months, perhaps even
longer. I mu...
How Things Work
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Gawker.com is shutting down today, Monday 22nd August, 2016, some 13 years
after it began and two days before the end of my forties. It is the end of
an ...
Mom Has Stacked Dinner Party Roster
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GOLDEN, CO—Their eyes widening in amazement as the 43-year-old rattled off
the names of heavy hitter after heavy hitter, impressed members of the
Dreesh...
Service Interruption notice
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You may have noticed rigorousintuition.ca is currently down. We're moving
servers. Drew informs me it shouldn't take too long. Perhaps tonight or
tomorrow....
BOOK:
This, ultimately, will be a record of the evolution of my consciousness through life experience. It's a bit of a jigsaw puzzle at the moment, but the archive is close to achieving some form of order.
I'm not sure this.. will have an "end," as much as a stopping point.
BLOG:
I have unusual interests. I seek out alternative news, philosophies, and cosmologies. Heres a sample of my reading life. Thanks for peeking in..
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