Tabloid phone hacking scandal involving kidnapped girl roils Britain

[Admiral Yi]

What he said there wasn't stupid at all.

What Marty said didn't make a lot of sense and Raz is stalking him.

Smoke and mirrors suggests Murdoch engineered the phone hackery to have an excuse to close the Mirror.  If by smoke and mirrors Marty meant this scandal served to hasten a move Murdoch was going to make anyway for other reasons, then that's a misuse of smoke and mirrors.

[Josquius]

I can't wait for the death of tabloid/Murdoch newspaper's influence on UK elections; then all we're have to cope with is Facebook and googles emerging political muscle. 

But...but...then voters would have to pay attention to facts and make up their own mind!
Who will tell them what to get angry about then?

[Agelastus]

...an excuse to close the Mirror.

Careful Yi; could this be your political biases showing?

[Admiral Yi]

Careful Yi; could this be your political biases showing?

More likely my ignorance.

[Agelastus]

I can't wait for the death of tabloid/Murdoch newspaper's influence on UK elections; then all we're have to cope with is Facebook and googles emerging political muscle. 

So you want the average educational and intelligence quotient of the media (in the most general meaning of this term) sources that effect the outcome of British elections to decline even further?

Besides, the influence of the tabloids on UK elections is overstated; their average readerships are the voters least likely to change party affiliation at a general election.

[jimmy olsen]

Epic Headline 

http://jonslattery.blogspot.com/2011/07/was-this-news-of-worlds-best-headline.html

[grumbler]

What he said there wasn't stupid at all.

"I heard the opinion voiced by some" isn't exactly deathless prose.  I follow Napoleon's adage and don't attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.

[Razgovory]

I only notice you and respond to your posts when you say stupid things.  Unfortunately that means I respond to "almost every post" you make.

What he said there wasn't stupid at all.

It doesn't make sense.  Newscorp discrediting itself (and ruining the careers of some it's top employees) to facilitate the replacement of one of their newspapers by another one doesn't make any sense.  If Newscorp wanted to replace one paper with another they could just do so.  No need to embarrass themselves while doing it.  Fabricating a scandal to embarrass themselves just makes no sense.

[Admiral Yi]

Very good point Raz.  I wish I could have thought of that.

[Razgovory]

Bleh.

[Martinus]

I only notice you and respond to your posts when you say stupid things.  Unfortunately that means I respond to "almost every post" you make.

What he said there wasn't stupid at all.

It doesn't make sense.  Newscorp discrediting itself (and ruining the careers of some it's top employees) to facilitate the replacement of one of their newspapers by another one doesn't make any sense.  If Newscorp wanted to replace one paper with another they could just do so.  No need to embarrass themselves while doing it.  Fabricating a scandal to embarrass themselves just makes no sense.

I didn't say they engineered the scandal, you tard. But that them axing the tabloid was already planned, so it is hardly an act of contrition they purport it to be.

[grumbler]

I didn't say they engineered the scandal, you tard. But that them axing the tabloid was already planned, so it is hardly an act of contrition they purport it to be.

I'd say the "tard" in this case is the bozo who used the idiom "smoke and mirrors" without understanding what it meant.  What you are describing isn't "smoke and mirrors" at all.  Please keep in mind that the misuse of idioms is the classic symptom of tardness. 

[The Brain]

You're an idiom. Stat.

[Razgovory]

I didn't say they engineered the scandal, you tard. But that them axing the tabloid was already planned, so it is hardly an act of contrition they purport it to be.

I'd say the "tard" in this case is the bozo who used the idiom "smoke and mirrors" without understanding what it meant.  What you are describing isn't "smoke and mirrors" at all.  Please keep in mind that the misuse of idioms is the classic symptom of tardness. 

I'm reminded of the time when Marty speculated that framing your self for rape was a good political move.

It wouldn't actually be such a bad idea for him to actually pay a woman to accuse him of rape, only so that later on she admits someone hired her to do so - knowing the French, if it turns out DSK is a victim of a plot, he could very well succeed in his bid for the Presidency.

http://languish.org/forums/index.php?topic=5140.msg261125#msg261125

Both are good examples of conspiratorial thinking you seen the East.

[Martinus]

Rebekah Brooks Savaged In Final News Of The World Crossword Clues


Even as Rebekah Brooks, the embattled head of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper division, arrived at his London residence on Sunday afternoon, signs were everywhere that her former employees want to see her forced out of power.

One big sign? The final crossword puzzle in the News of the World, which was shut down thanks to the phone hacking scandal that has plunged Murdoch's News International into one of its gravest crises ever. Some very fishy clues managed to sneak their way past the editors (or, rather, managed to sneak their way in with the consent of the editors).

Some of the clues in the paper's Quickie crossword include "Brook," "stink" and "catastrophe."

Another crossword included the clues "criminal enterprise" and "string of recordings," which could reference both the hacking scandal and the leaked recordings of Brooks' chat with News of the World staffers. There was also "woman stares wildly at calamity." The answer to that particular clue? "Disaster." Other answers included "menace," "deplored," "stench" and "tart."

Moreover, The Guardian spotted a rather direct attack on Brooks that was posted in the Irish offices of the News of the World: a picture of her head on Adolf Hitler's body, complete with drawn-on Hitler mustache.

Even with all of the ire directed towards her, Brooks is still running News International. Murdoch professed his "total" support for her just before he flew to London to meet with her, and emerged from his residence on Sunday with his arm around her. Meanwhile, the hacking scandal shows no signs of diminishing.

Pawned.  Apparently, she had Sun journalists comb the edition for any "hidden messages" but they missed the word puzzles.