It's only a gut feeling, but the pond suspects that there's been an uptick in excitement and scribbling about the Murdochians, thanks to that impending Succession-style September trial.
Will Hutton was on about it in the Graudian (Observer edition) in Rupert Murdoch’s secret succession drama is a warning to rein in the super-rich
...It is, as the three children (James, Elisabeth and Prudence) to be stripped of their rights recognised instantly, a naked dynastic power play that makes the hit series Succession look tame. Murdoch, at 93, did not want to end up in court: he tried to use all his guile, dressing up the move as “Project Harmony”, to persuade his daughters Prudence and Elisabeth at a private meeting in London that it would be in their interests – and so not to contest it. The apparent ploy was to isolate James, the son who most openly disavows the maxims of the new conservatism – he is neither a climate change denier nor a supporter of the Donald Trump lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen – and so create a voting majority for the change.
He underestimated his daughters, who reportedly were livid. They have combined with James to challenge the change, which under Nevada state law must be done in “good faith” and for the sole benefits of all the trust’s beneficiaries. The most expensive lawyers in the US will face each other to try to prove Murdoch’s good faith on one side – and bad faith on the other. This more than rivals the most dramatic scene in Succession.
All four children are convinced capitalists and uncomplaining billionaires; that is not the bone of contention. But the trio neither agree with Lachlan’s strategic direction and how the companies have been run, nor with his political judgments that have been so sorely tested by Trump’s political rebirth, after the storming of the Capitol on 6 January. What is at issue is corporate probity, journalistic integrity and the direction of rightwing politics in the US, Britain and Australia.
James Murdoch as CEO and then chair of Sky between 2003 and 2012 was a leading champion of sustainability. A Joe Biden donor, he resigned from the News Corp board in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election citing strategic and editorial differences. He is no Trumpite, and surely will have agreed with his father’s email in the wake of 6 January that Trump should become a “non-person”. But that was then.
His father’s current attempt to ingratiate himself with Trump – though embarrassingly consigned to a mere balcony seat at the Milwaukee Republican national convention – by organising his affairs so his influence will extend beyond the grave must be resisted to the last. It is all part of a rightwing universe in which billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are reported to be organising massive campaign contributions for Trump, while Musk plans to use his own expensive bauble – X – to churn out a tsunami of pro-Trump propaganda.
He underestimated his daughters, who reportedly were livid. They have combined with James to challenge the change, which under Nevada state law must be done in “good faith” and for the sole benefits of all the trust’s beneficiaries. The most expensive lawyers in the US will face each other to try to prove Murdoch’s good faith on one side – and bad faith on the other. This more than rivals the most dramatic scene in Succession.
All four children are convinced capitalists and uncomplaining billionaires; that is not the bone of contention. But the trio neither agree with Lachlan’s strategic direction and how the companies have been run, nor with his political judgments that have been so sorely tested by Trump’s political rebirth, after the storming of the Capitol on 6 January. What is at issue is corporate probity, journalistic integrity and the direction of rightwing politics in the US, Britain and Australia.
James Murdoch as CEO and then chair of Sky between 2003 and 2012 was a leading champion of sustainability. A Joe Biden donor, he resigned from the News Corp board in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election citing strategic and editorial differences. He is no Trumpite, and surely will have agreed with his father’s email in the wake of 6 January that Trump should become a “non-person”. But that was then.
His father’s current attempt to ingratiate himself with Trump – though embarrassingly consigned to a mere balcony seat at the Milwaukee Republican national convention – by organising his affairs so his influence will extend beyond the grave must be resisted to the last. It is all part of a rightwing universe in which billionaires like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are reported to be organising massive campaign contributions for Trump, while Musk plans to use his own expensive bauble – X – to churn out a tsunami of pro-Trump propaganda.
There's more, but the pond will just note that Hutton provided a splendid link to the FT, reminding the pond of the Chairman Emeritus's recent downgrading, From kingmaker to spectator: Rupert Murdoch consigned to Republican sidelines.
Generations of politicians have been willing to fly thousands of miles for an audience with Rupert Murdoch. But last week it was Murdoch, 93, who travelled to Milwaukee to witness Donald Trump accept the Republican party’s nomination for president, watching from a box in the arena.
Murdoch watchers say the media baron had not been to a US political convention in decades, if ever. Some saw it as a conciliatory gesture towards Trump — a man Murdoch has known for many years but never viewed as the best presidential material.
Others, including former executives, saw the trip as highlighting a more fundamental shift: Murdoch’s diminished influence, not just over a Republican party that has been wholly remade in Trump’s image, but across the other strongholds in his conservative media empire.
David Folkenflik, author of Murdoch’s World, said the mogul’s appearance in Milwaukee was an act of “obeisance” to a politician who remains a huge draw to Murdoch’s Fox News network. “What we’re really talking about here is Murdoch making peace with Trump as still the defining figure of the Republican party — and therefore his audience.”
Murdoch may control the most profitable, powerful media voice on the American right. But nothing seemed to go his way in Milwaukee. Trump selected JD Vance as his running mate on the first day of the convention — a pro-regulation, anti-Wall Street senator opposed by Murdoch, who preferred North Dakota governor Doug Burgum.
The Trump family then appeared to revel in ignoring his advice. “There was a time where if you wanted to survive in the Republican party, you had to bend the knee to him or to others,” Donald Trump Jr told a side event at the convention. “I don’t think that’s the case any more.” Fox declined to comment...
There was more, but the image of the Emeritus Chairman in the bleachers in company with that cat man (you know the embittered childless men who are ruining America) made the pond's day ...
But enough of fun, there's the usual herpetology studies to be done, though it required sifting through the Olympics to get to something truly engaging ...
Hold on, hold on, the bromancer's been triggered, and that's always fun ...
The pond must confess - always the confessing - that it didn't watch the opening ceremony and indeed hasn't watched a single Olympics event, but it seems that the French putting on a show did some good, if only by triggering the bromancer and other bigoted Xian fundamentalists.
The pond was so pleased that it followed that reptile link in red, only to discover it stayed inside the reptile hive mind, with another serve of the bromancer ...
It did show the bromancer was ahead of the times, because "weird" has become the word of the week, and the bromancer was fashionably and deeply weird a long time ago ...
Allies of Harris are shifting gears to emphasize not the danger they think Trump poses to the country but instead how “weird” he sounds when he makes outlandish claims.
“Listen to the guy,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” of Trump. “He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter, and shocking sharks, and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind. And I thought we just give him way too much credit.”
Calling Trump and Vance “weird” helps “ratchet down some of the scariness,” Walz, a potential vice presidential pick, said. He went on to add that Trump is rarely seen laughing.
“If he has laughed, it’s at someone, not with someone. That is weird behavior. And I don’t think you call it anything else. It’s simply what we’re observing,” Walz said.
It is certainly true that Trump rarely laughs. CNN’s Gregory Krieg wrote about it in 2016. The magician/comedian Penn Jillette, who spent time with Trump during “The Apprentice” years, has talked about how Trump does not laugh. And so has former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump controversially fired back in 2017. (CNN)
At this point the pond should note the illustrations and visual distractions deployed by the reptiles, including a huge one of the pope defaming a koala, it now being deemed wise and caring to avoid clutching at the creatures for a cheap photo op ...
Meanwhile, the triggered bromancer raged on ...
The pond wishes that the bromancer had demeaned and attacked Islam - let's face it, the whole pack of idolators are ruining the world in their usual way. The bro might even have spared an unkind word for fundamentalist Jews and barking mad Hindu nationalists ...
As for men wearing frocks ...
Beyond caricature, beyond comedy, beyond Priscilla...
Never mind, again the pond followed the link, and stayed inside the hive mind, but somehow the Xian leaders had gone missing and the pond landed on a hole in the bucket man piece ...
Back to the bromancer, still in a state of wild-eyed high dudgeon ...
What's interesting here is that apparently this Barron chap is completely barren when it comes to having the first clue about French history, and how French secularism came to be ...
An even bigger problem was the way that the bromancer apparently consorted with selfish childless people who really should have no say in how the planet is run ...
At this point the pond should note a few more snaps, including one of the man who had helped triggered the bromancer ... and another of a selfish apparently childless man who really shouldn't have anything to say about anything ...
On the bromancer raged ...
The pond dutifully followed the link and began to feel like Alice, because instead of First Things, the pond ended up on a Comrade Dan story, with the bromancer in yet another frenzy of fear and loathing ...
Then it was back for a final gobbet of gospel bro ...
Indeed, indeed, there's much good energy in fundamentalist Xianity in the USA ...
Before moving on to today's groaning, the pond should note that there's nothing like observing the deep fear that frock wearers experience when confronted by other devotees of frock wearing, but the pond isn't wanting to do its usual atheist thing, because the pond's logarithms threw up a splendid example of the best of Xianity, and with 16 million views, it was probably past time to give it a run ...
And so on to Dame Groan, groaning in her usual way about pesky, difficult furriners ...
This is such familiar turf for a groaning that the pond didn't know what to say, except to note that the reptiles went all in on some huge snaps, perhaps as a way to distract from the tedium.
Naturally the pond reduced them down to size ...
Eek, he seemed to be clutching a bible ...
There was also a video clip, carefully neutered by way of screen cap ...
The pond suddenly realised there was one visual that would fit... if you can imagine that instead of cards, you're seeing furriners, and instead of Alice, there's a besieged Dame Groan ... sure, it's a real stretching of the imagination, especially the Alice bit, but it can be done ...
It's roughly akin to the bromancer being assaulted by drag routines ... and then there were just two short gobbets to go ...
Bloody families, why can't we have childless cat people coming into the country? And what deluded possum thinks a furriner has the skills to replace Dame Groan doing a damned good Groaning?
So humble, so modest. Pesky, difficult furriners have been the number one obsession of Dame Groan for years ... only matched, but never surpassed, by her deep fixation on the weevils of renewables ...but if she has her way, it might shift the electoral dial ...
See if you can spot Dame Groan in the picture ...
Never mind, there's nothing like utter predictability to make for a quiet life...
As Mr Pooter once noted ...
After my work in the City, I like to be at home. What’s the good of a home, if you are never in it? “Home, Sweet Home,” that’s my motto. "Get lost foreigners" is another one. I am always in of an evening. Our old friend Gowing may drop in without ceremony; so may Cummings, who lives opposite, and thankfully they're not bloody foreigners. My dear wife Caroline and I are pleased to see them, if they like to drop in on us. But Carrie and I can manage to pass our evenings together without friends... because who needs foreigners? There is always something to be done: a tin-tack here, a Venetian blind to put straight, a fan to nail up, or part of a carpet to nail down—all of which I can do with my pipe in my mouth; while Carrie is not above putting a button on a shirt, mending a pillow-case, or practising the “Sylvia Gavotte” on our new cottage piano (on the three years’ system), manufactured by W. Bilkson (in small letters), from Collard and Collard (in very large letters). It is also a great comfort to us to know that our boy Willie is getting on so well in the Bank at Oldham. We should like to see more of him... if only the foreigners hadn't clogged up the transport system and the education system and ruined the banks ...
And so to an Olympics-themed 'toon to wrap up a splendid day ...
The reptile content has become so tedious (just when we thought it could not go any lower into that slough of despond) that it is difficult for this observer to find any kind of entertainment in it. Oh - last night, on ADH pretend TV, one could watch Flinty supposedly interviewing Angela Shanahan. Actually trading vapid observations of how Pell was done down, and so on. No - that is not a suggestion to watch; you will not get those 10 minutes of your life back again.
ReplyDeleteBut if one casts a little wider, one can find unexpected solace. For example -
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz5r2mk18k1o
- which tells us that some Norwegians have a touch of guilt because their governments set up that global pension fund, and made them perhaps the richest people in the world. All done by charging a market rate for access to hydrocarbons.
So we should be thankful that our governments have not gathered such filthy lucre from our mineral and gas resources, so subjecting us to risk of feelings of guilt. In fact, most of our governments have made it easier for the diggers and drillers to rake off all the economic rent than most other nations, and have added extra tax concessions, so the d'n'ds feel particularly welcome.
Oh those silly Norwegians, having guilt attacks when they are the envy of most of the world. Not including Australia, of course because we've never heard of not allowing ourselves to be screwed over. Somehow we've projected the British (once-upon-a-time) Empire on to the world and so we're supportin everybody. Just like we did back when the Victorian gold-rushes imorted a large swag of "immigrants" (lots of Chinese and Americans) such that Victoria financed the Threadneedle financial "empire".
DeleteBut at least we got some great buildings out of it (eg Royal Exhibition Building where everybody sat their year end exams for one).
But truly, yes, it is a bit sad that the reptiles have all gone seriously downhill in their "contributions". At one stage some of them were, at least, just a tad more entertaining than NickC and KillerC - but now ? And especially the Bromancer and Groany One-note.
"The pond must confess - always the confessing - that it didn't watch the opening ceremony and indeed hasn't watched a single Olympics event...".
ReplyDeleteSeconded
The Bromancer: "The Christian faith is booming in Africa, Asia and Latin America but still declining in the West." Yeah, well the Africans and Asians haven't had 2000 years of it like we have. What's the excuse for the Latins I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteThe Bro may not have checked the fine print; a lot of that growth has been amongst Pentecostalist groups, with all that entails. Given his admiration for Scotty From Marketing though, that may well be fine and dandy from the Bromancer’s perspective.
DeleteI think the Bro would be quite happy with whatever that entails.
DeleteBecause the bromancer believes in fairytails he thinks the whole world is with him well it may surprise the old goat that may not be true. From my years on this earth I meet more and more people who do not believe in religious fantasy. Science has replaced religion with facts of evolution and not some fantasy that the world was created by some mythilogical being.
ReplyDeleteWhat mock-indifference in great redeye energy, much of it for good, between a light source and being blinded by the light, to a grotesque fraud of a napkin-scribbler peddling absurd demi-denial about an overwhelming lack of insight?
DeleteJust for the record - 'The reptile content has become so tedious (just when we thought it could not go any lower into that slough of despond) that it is difficult for this observer to find any kind of entertainment in it'. Entertainment, or, for the cult of Dame Groan - to find anything remotely new, let alone inspiring in any way.
ReplyDeletePerhaps next week she will be screeching at power lines - if she can find any of that distinctive kind that carries only electrons from wind or solar generation, on the landscape around her sunshine coast hinterland where she currently is 'at home'.
The pond is afraid that the old biddie has run out of steam (perhaps the problem of relying overmuch on coal-fired inspiration?) She is in a rut deeper than chariot wheels on an ancient Roman road, and her attempts at restraint - "immigration could easily become an issue" - are richly comical. She's harped for years on the topic, and it "could easily become an issue that shifts the electoral dial" is just her understated way of saying urging Captain Potato to go full Trumpian and erect a border wall.
DeletePity our road/ wheelbases are still based on roman roads. Maybe a while before we fill in the ruts.
DeleteTalking about running out of steam, I recall reading (a long time ago) that 'loophole sex' is what Mumtaz Mahal provided for Shah Jahan's pleasure when she was pregnant and hence vulnerable.
DeleteWorthy of a Taj Mahal, wasn't it ?
We’re turning neo-Pagan? Well if we can’t go atheist, that sounds fine by me. While some pagan belief systems had a few unfortunate aspects (that whole human and animal sacrifice thing…), I think that on the whole pagan faiths generated a lot less in the way of violent conflict than have monotheistic or nationalism-focussed religions. An approach of “Hey, you’ve got a sun god, and a wind god, and a water god? Great, so have we! We call ours….” certainly sounds preferable to “DEATH TO THE UNBELIEVERS!” Who knows, some form of nature-based worship might even generate greater environmental awareness than “ Let’s strip-mine everything because Jesus is coming back any day now”.
ReplyDeleteStruth, the poor old Bromancer got sucked in well and truly, didn’t he? His outraged squawking would have been exactly the sort of response the Olympic opening ceremony would have loved. Look Bro, it’s simple…… they’re French.
ReplyDeleteI wonder who picked up the tab for the Bro’s US prayer retreat? It’s difficult to see how it’s relevant to his supposed “defence and foreign affairs” beat. Still, perhaps he justified it by chatting with a few MAGA nutters and defence hawks.
They really are weird aren't they? The Artistic director Jolly confirmed “The Last Supper” was “not my inspiration.”
ReplyDelete“There is Dionysus who arrives on this table. He is there because he is the God of celebration in Greek mythology,” Jolly said. “The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus. You will never find in me a desire to mock and denigrate anyone.
But the crazies see a long table and shout 'Last Supper'! even though the main figure is naked, sitting on the table and painted blue (like a Smurf).
Maybe Henry will set them right soon
Joe
It is of course more than likely that the presumed "last supper" did not, and could not have occurred. Who could have witnessed it! It is a classic example of propaganda created by the early institutional church to enforce its political authority.
ReplyDeleteAll of the various depictions of this presumed event are of course entirely fictional. None of the artists who created these image witnessed this presumed event, nor did any of the usual "catholic" propaganda hacks.
Meanwhile this reference provides a comprehensive critique of the monstrous Napa outfit with which J D Vance is associated.
http://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/resurgence-of-the-catholic-political-right-under-trump
Back in March, the Reptiles in the Sky were promoting one Adrian ‘Adi’ Paterson, sometime head of ANSTO, as their tame expert on nuclear power plants. At that time, I checked ‘Adi’s background further, and found he had come to us when his job in South Africa, to develop Pebble Bed Modular Reactors, had been wound up from 2008, because the South African government could not interest potential investors in the plants, nor possible buyers of the power they would generate.
ReplyDeleteNone of which stopped ‘Adi’ from telling viewers of Sky that it was all too easy.
Little update on pebble bed reactors, from ‘New Scientist’ for this week. Seems the Chinese have brought such a plant on line in Shandong, and have just tested its safety. The claimed advantage of the pebble bed design is that it is inherently safe. Because the fuel is in many small pebbles, if anything goes wrong with the cooling system, they tend to cool down, rather than try to melt the entire plant from within.
And so it happened. The operators shut down the cooling systems for full power, and the entire system slowly cooled. Reference is Joule, doi.org/m87r, but it is in an Elsevier publication, so full text either costs a slab of money, or you need institutional access - which I no longer have.
The interest is more in how the Chinese have built one, got it operating, and demonstrated the virtue of the pebble bed design, where this one of Sky’s ‘experts’ could not. But is still readily available to tell viewers how nuclear is absolutely the way to go, and it will happen soon.
Hmmm "Pebble Bed Modular Reactors" ? I wonder just how 'modular' they would have been. But it's not altogether surprising to see the Chinese succeed where others have failed - lots of very smart people and lots of resources (people, industry and money) - however I wonder if the Chinese version was in any way 'modular'.
DeleteBut like you, I have no desire to contribute to the Elsevier coffers (and I never had any institutional access).
GB - part of the item in 'New Scientist' - after pointing out that the pebble-bed arrangement cannot be adapted to existing reactors 'but could be a blueprint for future ones'.
Delete'Small, working prototype reactors have been built in Germany and China, but now Dong and his colleagues have demonstrated that the system works with a full-scale nuclear plant, the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Pebble-Bed Module (HTR-PM) in Shandong.
To test the plant, which became commercially operational in December 2023, Dong and his team switched off both of HTR-PM's modules as they were operating at full power . . . . They found that HTR-PM naturally cooled and reached a stable temperature within 35 hours after the power was removed.'
Good of them to condense High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Pebble-Bed Module to HTR-PM.
Ah well, at least the fuel comes in small 'modules'.
Delete