Rupert Murdoch, the ruthless, ethics-free, arch-reactionary global
media baron and political kingmaker (and breaker), has apparently
hired back his political hitwoman Rebekah Brooks.
Brooks used to run Murdoch's United Kingdom print propaganda operations as chief executive of "News International," a role she was forced to step down from after being criminally indicted in the massive phone-hacking and police bribery scandal of Murdoch's Minions in "Great" Britain.
Now, according to the UK's Financial Times (cited by Reuters), Brooks will be back in her old executive chair, as boss of all of Murdoch's British “news”papers. There she will resume her former duties of overseeing the poisoning of the British public mind with neo-fascist agitprop, political slander and vituperation directed at opponents of Murdoch and at any public figure with the slightest evidence of a progressive tendency; tawdry sexual titillation and innuendo (often with hypocritical puritanical denunciation included); and celebrity and “royals” tittle-tattle and trivia to distract the moronic masses, plus combinations of the above. [1]
No doubt Brooks will be handsomely
remunerated. Murdoch previously gave her a going-away present of 16.1
million British pounds when she resigned her post in Murdoch's
empire. (At the exchange rate on the date she resigned, July 15,
2011, of around $1.615 per pound, that's about $26 million. Of course
she didn't get the money on that exact date. On top of that, Murdoch
paid her lawyers fees, probably over a million pounds. Not bad for
doing your boss' dirty work.)
Murdoch's actual biological daughter,
Elisabeth, apparently has some ethical standards (thus indicating
that morality is not genetic) and has even offered some veiled
criticism of her father's media practices in public. She has kept a
greater distance from the Great Man than has his sons. Murdoch's
mother is also named Elisabeth, so presumably he named his daughter
after his Mum.
But with Brooks, the years of
closeness, the fact that they have matching personalities (completely
ruthless, and free of the burden of a pesky conscience) and
amoral-reactionary politics, and the great trust Murdoch places in
her, plus the tremendous support he has provided her rather than
treating her as expendable as he did his other underlings caught in
scandal, whom he unsentimentally threw overboard, and adding the
descriptions of people in a position to observe the relationship,
leads one reasonably to the conclusion that Rebekah is The Daughter
Rupert wishes he had had.
Rebekah and Rupert, Together Again at Last.
Another person who privately stood foursquare behind Brooks
during her period of tribulation (and apparently has a soft-spot for
her) is the current Prime Minister of Britain, the Tory toff David
Cameron, a social friend of Brooks. The two met at least several
dozen times over a period of several years, and apparently exchanged
numerous emails and texts- most of them kept hidden by Cameron and
his accomplices. Obviously both share reactionary politics also. [3]
“I
don't want them to see what I'm hiding behind my back.” British
ruling
class toff and prime minister David Cameron.
Brooks is a woman who had wormed her way into the British elite, socially and politically. Her precise social standing currently is opaque to his outsider and not-close observer of British society. I will leave that to others to analyze.
Murdoch waited a decent interval, about one year, after Brooks' unjust acquittal in her trial to openly bring her back on board his pirate vessel. (The evidence of her guilt is overwhelming. Andy Coulson, one of her former underlings and a co-defendant at trial, who was formerly the top Murdoch editor at News [sic] of the World, and later chief propagandist for Tory Prime Minister David Cameron- yes, him again- was not so lucky.) [Footnote 2.]
Coppers can't
lay a hand on her.
Speaking of Crime and No Punishment, throughout his career as a global propaganda czar, Murdoch has personally been above the law, as his enterprises mostly have been.
In the UK scandal, Murdoch's U.S. parent corporation was in blatant violation of U.S. law against bribing foreign officials. Also his minions hacked some victims' phones on U.S. soil.
Yet, with utter predictability, the Obama regime refused to prosecute “News” Corp. for the very blatant violation of the Federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which criminalizes US companies from even attempting to bribe foreign officials, let alone succeeding. (British police officials were regular recipients of Murdoch bribes.)
In typical smarmy fashion, the Obama regime kept the news as quiet as possible (it came out in a corporate filing by Murdoch's “News” Corp. in the U.S.), reneging on a promise to keep his stateside victims apprised of the progress of the “investigation.” [4]
Contrast that with Obama's and
Holder's (Loretta Lynch going forward) targeting of journalists and
persecution of whistleblowers. There's the secret indictment of
Julian Assange, the lawless attacks on the finances of Wikileaks, the
mass tapping of the Associated Press's telephones, the targeting of a
Fox News (irony there) reporter in a criminal “investigation,”
the persecution of government whistleblowers, and most recently, the
adoption of a new Pentagon policy of assassinating journalists they
don't like, labeling them “unprivileged belligerents” in official
military doctrine. [5]
And then there was the assassination
of Michael Hastings.
Other examples of Murdochian
lawbreaking with impunity was his illegal ownership of TV stations
when his corporation was still Australian, before he incorporated in
the U.S.; his illegal ownership of newspapers and television stations
in the same cities; one of his companies hacking into the computers
of a rival company, a much more serious crime than what the U.S.
wanted to send Aaron Swartz away for 30 years over; his companies
"non-profit" and thus non-taxable status in New York State;
and probably a lot lot more.
But the Federal government has more
important things to do- like locking up marijuana sellers. (And under
Obama, locking up medical marijuana clinic owners too. Thanks,
President Choom Gang! Great to see you on the job!)
Reason to be
Cheerful: Look Ma, I'm Above the Law!
But Hold the presses! Murdoch's criminal legal troubles in Britain may have another chapter or few to run. See “Phone hacking: CPS may bring corporate charges against Murdoch publisher- Metropolitan police hands over file of evidence on Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm to Crown Prosecution Service,” Guardian, 28 August, 2015.
Let's hope.
“That's
right, reactionary plutocrats like me should rightly rule the
world! What of it!”
1] “UPDATE 3-Rebekah Brooks returning to News Corp as UK chief – FT,” Reuters, August 28, 2015. In March it was reported that Brooks was being set up in a U.S. position by Murdoch. Possibly that was a trial balloon surreptitiously floated by Murdoch himself, either by him making a “casual” comment to someone through whom he knew it would get into the media, or by his minions “leaking.” See "Rebekah Brooks about to be rehired by Rupert Murdoch for US operation, "Guardian (UK), 1 March, 2015.
2] Andy Coulson, who admitted to listening to stolen voicemails of David Blunkett to his mistress, only has to serve less than 9 months in jail. The former top editor of the Murdoch Sunday rag News [sic] of the World, where thousands of private messages of other people were surreptitiously stolen, was sentenced to 18 months, less than the 2 year maximum, and since he's a “non-violent” offender, he automatically only has to serve half, with additional reductions. Blunkett was a cabinet minister, the “Home Secretary,” similar to an Interior Minister or the U.S. Attorney General, that is, a guy in charge of internal security/domestic repression. The voicemails were publicized and used by Murdoch's minions to force Blunkett from office. Numerous subordinate editors and reporters were also mildly sentenced. Most pled guilty. For the various sentences, see e.g. “Andy Coulson jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to hack phones,” Guardian, 4 July, 2014, an inaccurate title since the article reports he'll only have to serve under 9 momths; “Andy Coulson sentenced for 18 months in phone hacking trial,” UK Telegraph, 4 July, 2014; “Jules Stenson admits phone hacking at News of the World,” Telegraph, 12 December, 2014.
3] See e.g. "David Cameron put on the spot by cosy texts to Rebekah Brooks: Messages about horse riding and conference speech from cache of texts and emails handed over to Leveson inquiry," Guardian, 3 November, 2012.
This was only a fraction of Cameron's texts exchanged with Brooks, as he kept the rest hidden on the Leveson inquiry commission set up to ostensibly get to the bottom of the Murdoch empire scandal, which involved deep and numerous ties with the top echelons of British power and with the police at various levels, including bribery and police coverups of the crimes of Murdoch's minions. See “David Cameron acknowledges there may be more Rebekah Brooks texts,” Guardian, 4 November, 2012.
4] “News Corp won't be prosecuted in US in relation to phone hacking,” Guardian, 2 February, 2015.
5] For an overview of some of the Obama regime's depredations against actual journalists, see “Leak investigations and surveillance in post-9/11 America,” Committee to Protect Journalists, October 10, 2013.
For the Pentagon's new “kill reporters who don't toe our line” policy, see “Bush Created 'Enemy Combatants.' Now Obama Has Invented 'Unprivileged Belligerents, Formerly Known as Journalists,” August 11, 2015, and “From The Horse's Mouth: Pentagon Lawyer Confirms Targeting of Journalists,” August 16, 2015
