Tabloid phone hacking scandal involving kidnapped girl roils Britain

[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.

[mongers]

The most recent allegations encompase The Sunday Times and The Sun as well; apparently they gained access to the medical records of one or more of former-PM Brown's children, sickening. 

edit:
Apparently this illegal behaviour might be the source for The Sun revealing in 2006 that Brown's son had cystic fibrosis.   

[Martinus]

The most recent allegations encompase The Sunday Times and The Sun as well; apparently they gained access to the medical records of one or more of former-PM Brown's children, sickening. 

edit:
Apparently this illegal behaviour might be the source for The Sun revealing in 2006 that Brown's son haq cystic fibrosis.

Can we expect to see Rebekah Brooks hang for this (figuratively at least)? It seems like the rot has eaten through pretty much the entire Murdoch's empire in the UK and I expect the British public is calling for blood.

[jimmy olsen]

The most recent allegations encompase The Sunday Times and The Sun as well; apparently they gained access to the medical records of one or more of former-PM Brown's children, sickening. 

edit:
Apparently this illegal behaviour might be the source for The Sun revealing in 2006 that Brown's son had cystic fibrosis.

That's just fucked up! 

[mongers]

The most recent allegations encompase The Sunday Times and The Sun as well; apparently they gained access to the medical records of one or more of former-PM Brown's children, sickening. 

edit:
Apparently this illegal behaviour might be the source for The Sun revealing in 2006 that Brown's son had cystic fibrosis.

That's just fucked up! 

Yes, more here on the allegations:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-14112097
including this:

.....
On the reports on Fraser Brown having cystic fibrosis, the Brown family believe only medical staff treating their son had access to the records, and are worried they may have been accessed illegally.

A well-placed source has told the BBC that in 2006 when she was editor of the Sun, Rebekah Brooks called the Browns to inform them she knew that their son Fraser had the condition.

Friends of the Browns say the call caused them immense distress, since they were only coming to terms with the diagnosis, which had not been confirmed.
.....

[Razgovory]

When it rains, it pours.

[Agelastus]

 

[Richard Hakluyt]

One thing that should be borne in mind is that Murdoch and his companies have been despised by a section of the British public for years. For example, I have refused to buy any of his products for decades, not caring to subsidise activities which I consider to be detrimental to the political health of the UK. These "revelations" confirm that the suspicions of this group were correct.

There are two other groups whose reactions are of far more importance. The general (and apolitical) public may be sufficiently disgusted to turn on Murdoch and his companies; I doubt this, they have the attention-span of an autistic hamster. The other group is the political elite which have crawled to Murdoch in order to get his support in that part of the media he controls. I think that they may maintain solidarity and give him a good kicking, apart from anything else it diverts attention fron their shortcomings and gives them a chance to be sanctimonious...................of course they may have supped with the devil to an extent that precludes such attacks 

[Gups]

• Scotland Yard has discovered references to Brown and his wife, Sarah, in paperwork seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who specialised in phone hacking for the News of the World.

• Abbey National bank found evidence suggesting that a "blagger" acting for the Sunday Times on six occasions posed as Brown and gained details from his account.

• London lawyers Allen & Overy were tricked into handing over details from his file by a conman working for the Sunday Times.

• Details from his infant son's medical records were obtained by the Sun, who published a story about the child's serious illness.

Summary of the Brown material. It's important for a number of reasons - it's not just phone hacking, it's by the Sun and the Sunday Times, not the NOTW and Brooks is directly implicated to the extent that any last vestiges of plausibility in her denials have evaporated.

[Neil]

How could Murdoch possibly be any worse than the other press barons of ages past?

[Gups]

He's Australian.

[Grey Fox]

His reach is international.

He's a Nazi.

His mother is still alive, she's 102.

[grumbler]

His reach is international.

He's a Nazi.

His mother is still alive, she's 102.

On the other hand, he has also increased coverage of international affairs in every paper he has taken over, and underwrites more foreign bureaus than anyone.  If he goes down, there will be downsides as well as upsides.